Sebakwe Conservation and Education Centre

Facility

SCEC provides camping facilities both for educational tours and non-educational ones. Depending on the groups expectations for educational tours, schools (colleges) may suggest topics for us to cover for their learners, or SCEC provides an exciting learning program for them.

• Doritories, $7 per head.
  
• Bungalow, $8 per head.
  
• Chalet, $10 per head.
  
• Conference Hall Hire, $50 per day.
  
• Dining Hall Hire, $60 per day.
  
• Hire of cooks, $10 per cook per day.
  

A total number of 45 children can be accommodated in the dormitories.
A total of 12 adults can be accommodated in the bungalows and chalet.

Groups have the option of bringing own food, own cooks & hire the dining hall at the cost outlined below. There is also the option of SCEC providing meals, whereby SCEC buys and prepares meals for groups, though the costs related are borne by the visitors.

Their impressive infrastructure includes offices, classrooms, chalet, bungalow and dormitory accommodation, a conference hall and kitchen and dining room which can cater for up to 100 people. They do research on wildlife in collaboration with local university students, carry out school environmental education projects including wilderness camps and promote sustainable livelihoods projects. These include: sweeping for snares, beekeeping, community gardens, micro-financing schemes, infrastructure development of local clinics and schools, community outreach and borehole drilling. ^[1]

Activities

The Centre promotes environmental conservation and sustainable development through education, research, community involvement and training. .
Teaching and learning at SCEC is covered through lectures, games, role play, videos, and a lot of field/practical work. These increase/decrease depending on the length of stay of groups but general areas covered include:

• Nature Interpretation: Done through presentations, nature walks and various activities in the Midlands Black Rhino Conservancy or at Sebakwe Recreational Park.
• Various ecological topics covered include spoor identification, birds & mammals, vegetation & habitat studies and many more.
• Aquatic studies: This includes basic introduction to water/wetland related studies e.g. water testing experiments, aquatic species etc.
• SCEC also offers leadership and team building training for groups.

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Further Reading

Despite many years of conservation interventions Human-wildlife conflicts persist and communities still have ‘disjointed and conflicting perspectives regarding how they can enjoy and benefit from conservation of the natural resources around them.’ Palloma Pachiti, head of SCEC is very aware that only long-term education that progressively changes attitudes and values is going to make a significant difference, and schools are her central points – schools in these rural areas bring parents, teachers and young learners together. < br/> Tagwireyi (school) staff, learners and the school head visited SCEC for a 2-day camp in November 2017. The camp generated so much interest that participants of their own initiative put their learning into action by starting an orchard (a mix of indigenous and exotic fruit trees illustrated below). ^[3]

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