OBITUARY: Chiinga Siavwapa, friend of humans and animals who dedicated his life to nature

Chiinga Siavwapa

HIS last words to his wife were, “I hope I survive this day.”

That same day he was killed by an elephant. His death reverberated throughout the nation. Yet, he was just a tour guide. However, it seems there was more to him than just that.

On September 13, 2019, Livingstone (no, the nation) woke up to news of the death of renowned tour guide Chiinga Siavwapa, 45, who was undertaking a walking safari with a tourist in the Mosi-oa-Tunya National Park.

Chiinga, as he was fondly known took an unidentified tourist on an early morning safari walk in the national park when the incident happened.

It is believed to have happened between between 06:00 and 08:00 hours near Maramba River Lodge after the Maramba River Bridge. The tourist managed to escape unhurt.

We caught up with his widow Nina Siavwapa, a German national who shared with us some of the last moments she had with her husband who was evidently popular and loved in Livingstone and beyond.

“The day started normally as it always does. I woke up and prepared the kids for school while he got busy on the computer and left for work,” she says. 

“His last words to me on that day were, ‘I hope I survive this day’. He would say that because he usually had very busy days. I told him, ‘no, don’t worry, you will manage just fine.”

Nina says the conversation ended with the usual pleasantries of “I love you” before he left. It was the last stare she was to have of him alive.

“There was a funny wipe in town, I don't know how but no one was telling me what had happened when I left home for the pickup point to go for work,” Nina who was accompanied by her close friend Claire Powell during the interview says.

She says her nephew who somehow got wind of the accident had asked her about it. “He told me that people are saying that there was an accident in the park and asked me whether I knew anything. I said, no, I don't. He then told me to check my phone, and it was at that point that I realised that I had left my phone," she says.

“We tried to call my phone and someone was already at my place and they also tried to communicate with me and they asked me to rush to the Department of National Parks and Wildlife (DNPW) offices."

On her way there, she met a few people she knew. They knew about the accident but did not tell her anything.

Chiinga on a walking safari

“I met a few people who were asking me about the accident. I was like, ‘do you know any more than I know?’ Tell me more, but everyone was like, I don't know. I think it was very difficult for people to tell me,” she says.

When she arrived at the DNPW offices, Nina was notified about the passing of her husband.

“They told me Chiinga was gone and that there was nothing they could do to save him,” she says.

Chiinga and Nina met in 2009 on a walking safari. After several meetings, they fell in love and got married in 2011 and they have two children together - eight-year-old Chipo and five-year-old Marlin.

“They are energetic, smart, beautiful boys. Much like their father, they are nature-loving,” she says.

The boys are aware of what happened to their father.

“They want everything to be as normal as possible. They say they miss their father. They say, ‘daddy was the best chef’. We were talking about food and they said the best chef will always be daddy. The one who knows most about birds, it is daddy always and forever and in everything else, they just knew their father to be the best in the whole wide world.”

Chiinga was more than just a tour guide. He was an artist as well as an environmental and wildlife conservationist who spoke about the protection of wildlife including against the disruption of the elephant corridor.

“In these past few days, people have told me that everything has a purpose, God has a purpose for everything in life and if there is a purpose in my husband, leaving this earth, this early and in this way, it is to show that even one of the best guides in the country can be killed by an elephant on his job,” she says.

"Maybe it's high time we give these animals their space. There is plenty of land to build things in Livingstone, up north, there is plenty of land. The true Africa knew how to live with animals, and Chiinga knew this and that is what he wanted.

“Chiinga would always say, ‘let’s protect the elephants, let’s protect that animal’ and anyone who knew my husband would say the same thing."

Chiinga was born on February 27, 1974 in Ndola. He is the son of David and Elenora Siavwapa. The fourth born in a family of six, he moved to Livingstone at the age of six where his father was a lecturer at David Livingstone College of Education (DALICE).

He did his secondary education at Hillcrest Technical Secondary School, where he graduated in 1992. He also went to Evelyn Hone College in Lusaka and Chipata Trades Training Institute.

“But all that time, Livingstone which was his home kept calling him,” the widow says.

Chiinga later joined the Livingstone Walking Safaris where he worked as a guide for many years before quitting and starting his own company, Savannah Southern Safari’s together with his wife Nina, who does all the administrative and marketing work for the company.

“Most walking safari tour guides here in Livingstone where trained by him and he never hesitated to take on anyone with the talent and passion for tour guiding on internship,” Nina says.

Following his death, Chiinga was cremated on Monday after a funeral service at Villa Grounds in Livingstone. “It was his wish,” Nina says.

“He mentioned it to me, his siblings and his family that he wants to be cremated. He used to say that the thought of being confined in a box, being eaten by worms would be unbearable for him. He loved nature, and all he wanted was for his ashes to be free in nature.”

It is not the end of Chiinga though.

The Zambia Association of Tour Guides (ZATG) have suggested setting apart September 13 as a day dedicated to conservation in memory of Chiinga.

He has left indelible memories.

“Always a big smile, extremely passionate. He was very hopeful that there is always a way and he believed that good would come. And I think that is what he was trying to spread, it was the philosophy that people would believe that if one person would make a change everyone would change,” Claire, who owns Thorntree Lodge, says. 

"I think young people got the message, it’s just us adults that are still yet to get the message."

At his funeral service, a little girl, a daughter of someone close to the family came with a plastic bag to pick the litter at Villa Grounds where over 1, 000 people were in attendance.

“I was so happy and proud to see that because that is exactly what Chiinga was like,” says Nina.

Claire adds: “We had 400 bottles of water and it wasn’t enough for even half the people there. There were people everywhere. Chiinga was a people person, he had friends from all walks of life.”

Quentino Mbinji, a Livingstone-based tour guide, says Chiinga was a good person.

“Yes of course he was a good guy! He used to lecture our high profile guests at the lodge each time a group arrives on the second day about David Livingstone's history. He was supposed to come and lecture two days after he died, unfortunately he's

unreachable,” Mbinji says.

Zambia Tourism Association (ZTA) senior promotions manager Jocelyn Mutinta, who has known Chiinga for more than 20 years, says he was a seasoned tour guide who was passionate about nature, wildlife and cared for all that surrounded him.

“I remember him telling me to try and walk as opposed to driving on some days and Mother Nature will be happy with me while I would be healthier," Jocelyn says.

"When I travelled with him to the Netherlands, he made an impact when he emphasised on why his business was more on walking safaris and not game drives. He said that brought people close to nature and only then would they realise that both animals and trees were important and needed their space without disturbance.

“His [trade] mark was a smile. A loving brother, a tourism ambassador and lover of nature. He truly died doing what he loved.” she says.

Livingstone residents knew him very well.

“He was a unique person who believed in exposing his passion for the environment. A man who was always putting on a smile of humility. We shall always remember him as a hard working tour guide,” Neto Halwabala says.

Daniel Ngoma adds: "He was ever smiling and had vast knowledge of birds and was a fountain of knowledge about the hospitality industry and was a very good artist as well.”

Journalist and former Livingstone resident Matongo Maumbi remembers Chiinga's smile. “I am a smiler and he was a smiler. We always found ourselves smiling at each other," Matongo says.

"The first time we met, when we smiled at each other I started thinking about where I knew him from. From that day on it was 'hi my brother'. But we didn't know each other that close. He brought to life the belief that people with dreads naturally bring happiness to the people around them,” the dreadlocked Matongo says.

His younger Michelo, popularly known as Shyman Shaizo, who is now based in Maryland, U.S.A says Chiinga was more than just a brother to him and his siblings.

"He was an uncle to many, brother to my friends too, father to his sons, a husband to my sister Nina. I remember him in so many ways but mostly is how much he cared for the environment. How he wouldn't walk past litter without picking it up and putting it in a trash can," he says.

“He was different from all of us. He never took life for granted. He cared for anything that has life or that would endanger life, starting from plants to animals. He was art, he would turn any piece into art and explain it to you into an artwork.

“His untimely death has changed my life forever. I never thought I would ever have so much pain in my life. Pain that you can't wish for anybody. He was proud of my works and a critic at the same time because he wanted the best out of me. 

"I miss him so dearly, his jokes, his love for nature and above all, his wisdom and advice as an elder brother. He was one person who preferred walking so that he could meet a lot of people.”

The neighbours noticed something about Chiinga. “We lived in opposite houses in Luena crescent. Away from that, I watched him live a life that appreciates nature. He made me appreciate animals more and the love for young souls that are passionate about their talents was impressive,” Davison Munsanda says.

National Art Gallery resident artist Chansa Chishimba describes Chiinga as a very creative artist. “I knew him since he was a young man and he grew up among artists. Such a great loss,” Chansa says.

Clare Mateke, a scientist working at the Livingstone Museum, also has fond memories of Chiinga. “I worked with him for many years on birds and animals study projects and I was deeply disappointed and hurt when I heard he died. We should continue with his fight of wildlife conservation. He was a good man.”

Chiinga wasn’t popular to locals only.

“Chiinga, our guide from Savannah Southern Safari knew every plant, bird, animal, and bug to be seen. I hold advanced degrees in biology and there wasn't a thing he didn't know - he spoke to me just as easily and technically as a professional colleague but using language and ways that everyone in our party understood. Precious few have this gift and he uses it well,” someone posted on TripAdvisor, a travel and hospitality website.

This article was published in the Zambia Daily Mail Newspaper on 21, September, 2019. You can find it on this link http://www.daily-mail.co.zm/friend-of-humans-animals/

MEET UNCLE BEN: 74-year-old passionate tree planter who has planted countless trees

THE same way India has Jadav Payeng, known as the 'Man of the Forest' after he single handedly planting an entire forest and Kenya’s 2004 Nobel Prize winner Wangari Maathai, Livingstone has Benjamin Mibenge.

Like the famous Jadav and Prof. Maathai, Benjamin fondly known as Uncle Ben here in Livingstone has planted quite a number of trees.

He is the one behind most of the trees planted in Livingstone, some of them dating as far back as 1985.

He may not have planted a forest like Jadav, or won a Nobel Prize like Prof. Maathai, but Uncle Ben is can be credited for being behind most of the green vegetation in the tourist capital.

In fact, as Lusaka mayor Miles Sampa would clearly confess, you may not cut down any trees in the tourist capital without facing the ‘wrath’ of Uncle Ben.

One morning, while Mr Sampa was provincial minister, he decided to bring down what he called overgrown trees at his house - a ministerial residence.

That didn’t go well with Uncle Ben.

“Somebody just came up and told me that they have cut down four trees in the minister's house. The following day, I went to the minister’s office in the morning and I sat there for quite some time because I really wanted to see him over the same,” he recollects.

Despite being told that Mr Sampa is busy and won’t be seeing him anytime soon, Uncle Ben waited. “I said I will wait and when he finally came out, I approached him and confronted him about the trees he cut down. He agreed and said it was his house and he had every right to cut down the trees. He said there were snakes and what not.

“I argued with him saying the house was a public house and if indeed, there were snakes in those trees, he would have called the Department of National Parks and Wildlife,” he recalls. Well, the heated argument, on that day ended with Mr Sampa getting into his ministerial vehicle and driving off - angrily albeit.

“After two or three weeks, in the morning, I got a call and it was from Mr Sampa. He told me that he was coming in a weeks’ time to bring with him a hundred trees to replant at the ministerial house and surrounding areas. I organised my members from the Chongololo club and we planted a couple of them and continued with the rest at a later stage,” he says.

Since that day, Uncle Ben has but only nice words to say about the Lusaka mayor. “It is from there that I have a lot of respect for that young man [Mr Sampa] because very few people at the top would do what he did - realise their mistake, accept and make amends. They are very few and up to date, I really praise him for that. It was a heated thing but what he did is something very few people in this world, at his level would do,” he says.

Uncle Ben, the conservationist was born on April 3rd 1945, in Mansa's Kalembula Village in Matanda area.

He is Ushi by tribe. "I grew up with my grandfather whom I share the same name and it is from him that I learnt a lot of things," he says. He adds: "The things he used to do, you would think that he was a very cruel man."

Uncle Ben says it was not until growing up that he realised that the disciplinarian upbringing was actually going to yield positive results in the future.

"He a very good environmentalist because of the activities he was involved in. He was a hunter, a subsistence farmer, a fisherman and a lot of other things. Most of these things, the was very strict. If it was ploughing, he would always mix crops. If we went for fishing, he would only use the appropriate nets, those starting at 3 inches and above," he says.

He did his primary school in Kafue and his secondary school in Mkushi at Nkumbi International College in 1968. "When I completed school, my wish was to become a teacher, but my principal refused and suggested that I go and study art and that is how I went to Evelyn Hone College," he says.

He was at Evelyn Hone College from 1971 to 1974. After graduating in 1974, he worked for the Zambia Printing Company for one year and later went on to work for Zambia Information Services (ZIS) now Zambia News and Information Service (ZANIS) from 1975 to 1985 as a graphic designer and exhibitions officer.

Throughout that time, the environmentalist and conservationist aspect of him was always with him. "It’s something that is inborn because of the people I grew up with, especially my grandfather who was always cautious of the environment. When I started work in 1975, that’s when I started this thing of planting trees and things like that. So, from 1975 to date, I have always been planting trees. 

He plants approximately 12 trees a week, translating to over 25, 000 in a space of 44 years. “Wherever I go, each house I stayed in, I try to see if I can plant trees,” says Uncle Ben who is a member of the Wildlife and Environment Conservation Society of Zambia since the 1980s.

He is married to Selina Shwaba, his high school sweetheart and they have seven children - three boys and four girls.

He moved to Livingstone in 1985 when he joined National Heritage. “I was also an honorary member of the Wildlife police and also an honorary member of the forestry department where I was very strict,” he says.

He says while working for the National Heritage, he attended environmental conservation trainings in the United Kingdom.

Asked why he has so much passion about environmental conservation, Uncle Ben's retraces it back to his grandfather and a Sylvester Chisumpa whom he worked with while at National Heritage.

“...he was working under a certain white man and we worked with him for many years. He had a lot of passion for trees. He always moved with a knife, he would crack trees and seeds and I only learnt that you can actually plant indigenous trees,” he says.

Uncle Ben also recalls a time in 1989 when he protested to First Republican President Kenneth Kaunda in one of his visits to Livingstone to halt the cutting down of trees at the Munali Hills area.

“I took advantage of the President’s visit here and wrote two placards saying ‘Protect the Munali Hills, the forest is going’ and among the crowd, he saw the poster and he called me to show everybody what the placards were talking about," he says.

He is now calling on people to continue supporting him and his cause. “When I was starting, it wasn’t easy because many people didn’t take me seriously. But today, that has changed,” he says.

Today, most of the trees planted within and around the central business district were planted by him.

“Planting is the easier part, but taking care of these trees is the most difficult. Many are times I have to push the council to water these plants,” he says.

He also says there is a need for more awareness campaigns to sensitise the people on the importance of planting trees.

This  article was published in the Zambia Daily Mail Newspaper on September 12, 2019 on this link  http://www.daily-mail.co.zm/uncle-ben-passionate-tree-planter/