If you've never been to Zimbabwe before, you're in for a treat. After all, it's one of the most beautiful, enigmatic, diverse and friendly countries in Africa.  At Imvelo, we aren't just about luxury lodges and there's more to us than spectacular photographic safaris - we believe in enriching the lives of those who live around us as well as our guests. We are determined to ensure that it's the local people and wildlife that directly benefit from our visitors.

Our guests can expect to be pampered in exciting lodges by friendly staff with experienced guides who will show them a unique safari experience that gets them involved and actually does make a difference to wildlife and local people's lives – connecting people and nature.  We recently organised a workshop to help the teachers, give books and also take primary children into the National Park so they could experience a game drive for themselves.

Teachers, facilitators and friends of schools around southern Hwange National Park gathered together  for a groundbreaking workshop supported by materials from leading educational publisher Oxford University Press.  The workshop was organised by Imvelo Safari Lodges which has two lodges in the area.  Imvelo have made strides in improving the schools within the communities of its operational areas since inception, but this support has mainly taken the form of classroom blocks, teachers' housing, furniture and teaching aids.

Poor grades at national exam level, however, were attributed to poor English reading and communication skills necessary for these exams, so a project was launched to support the teachers in their teaching of English as a second language. Imvelo communities officer Thembinkosi Mlauzi and the 'Friends of Ngamo Schools' hatched the plan for a Teachers Workshop, which was held this year at Ngamo Junior School.

Attended by 14 teachers from 8 schools - 6 primary and 2 secondary - all within the Mlevu cluster adjacent to southern Hwange National Park, teachers received training from two senior Ministry of Education facilitators - Matabeleland North provincial education officers Personal Ncube (junior schools) and Margaret Chiname (high schools).

Junior schools participating were Ngamo, Kapane, Mtshayeli, Mlevu, Mpindo and Ziga and senior schools Ngamo and Kapane. The workshop was also attended by heads from Ngamo junior and high schools. 

All attendees received a suite of English teaching books, dictionaries, stationery and handouts from Oxford University Press, in addition to a significant donation of books for the library. An arts and crafts day was also run for the primary school children.

The workshop was rounded off with a game drive for the participants into Hwange National Park around the Ngamo plains area. And what a finale; elephant, buffalo, lion were all seen, as if to help show appreciation to the teachers. Plans are afoot to run two similar workshops next year.