Norman Carr: Pioneer of Community-based Wildlife Conservation

Norman Carr (1912-1997) devoted his life to the conservation of wildlife and their habitat. He saw that this could only be achieved with the involvement and support of the local people who should benefit from it. He was the founder of game viewing safaris in Zambia. In the 1950s he enabled the establishment of a game reserve which became the Nsefu Sector of South Luangwa National Park and with Chief Nsefu he established the first camp for tourists within it. He was also influential in the development of the Kafue National Park. Carr skilfully manipulated central and local bureaucracies before and after Zambia's Independence, established a safari company which outlived him and now runs five lodges in the Luangwa Valley, pioneered walking safaris, wrote several books and raised two lion cubs which were successfully returned to the wild.