ZIMBABWE Parks and Wildlife Management Authority (ZimParks) opened for tourism activities yesterday amidst the on-going national coronavirus (Covid-19) lockdown.

ZimParks is responsible for conserving Zimbabwe’s wildlife and wilderness resources, in national parks, protected areas and on other State-owned land.

The authority’s spokesperson Tinashe Farawo yesterday confirmed the latest development. “I am happy to announce that ZimParks will be open for tourism activities.”

The development is set to boost only domestic tourism considering national borders are still shut for visiting tourists in line with Covid-19 regulations. The government announced last week that national parks could reopen to boost local tourism.

Zimbabwe’s parks and wildlife authority doesn’t receive funding from the government, it has to fund itself, mainly through tourism.

But that income was heavily disrupted by the coronavirus-induced lockdown, which saw all of Zimbabwe’s national parks shut down for three months.

Director-general Fulton Mangwanya said last month that there was an increase in poaching because the authorities didn’t have the resources to conduct as many anti-poaching patrols as they usually did.

Like any other businesses, ZimParks suspended operations during the onset of the lockdown as part of their efforts to fight the pandemic.