Five Minutes With Boaz Chizuwa

Five minutes with...

BOAZ CHIZUWA

Guide - Chiawa Camp

Meet Boaz Chizuwa, the first Zambian guide at Chiawa Camp.

When did you join Chiawa Camp?

I joined Chiawa Camp on 22nd June 1999.

How did you join Chiawa Camp?

I knew the Cummings family from late 1970s; they used to come to Musungwa Lodge in Kafue National Park over weekends, mainly for fishing. I came to Lower Zambezi National Park on 1st June 1996 and was working for Tongabezi as a guide/assistant at their camps in Lower Zambezi National Park - Sausage Tree Camp and Potato Bush Camp, now called Old Mondoro. I worked for them for three years. I then joined Chiawa Camp on 22nd June 1999 as a guide and I have been a guide here for 18 years now.

What has been your career highlight?

Towards the end of the 1980s, when I was a spotter at Kapani Lodge, Prince Philip, the husband of Queen Elizabeth, came to South Luangwa National Park for a holiday and I was his spotter during the game drives. I was also among the first guides to be licensed here in Zambia under Norman Carr, and we had examiners like Robin Pope, Phil Berry, John Coppinger, Evans Mulonda (ranger from the then National Parks and Wildlife) and Daudi Chimbali, who was warden for National Parks and Wildlife.

What do you love most about guiding?

I love birds, and sitting and watching the animal behaviour.

What do you look for in a client?

Generally guests vary; some come to see lion and leopard, others birds, others from insects to flowers. I love a guest who loves to know and learn about everything on safari.

When you are not guiding, what are you doing?

I love reading guiding books and making sure my car is in good order.

Have you won any top awards?

Not me as an individual but as Chiawa Camp guiding team. We won the best guiding team in Africa for 2016.

Any final words?

I would like to thank the late Norman Carr for training me and the Cummings family for giving me this opportunity to work for their camp.