Unizul walks on the wild side

Signing a Memorandum of Understanding between the University of Zululand and Ezemvelo KZN Wildlife - (back) Unizulu Head of the Department of Recreation and Tourism - Dr Thandi Nzama, Executive Dean: Faculty of Arts - Prof Nomahlubi Makunga, Ezemvelo KZN Wildlife representatives - Sthabiso Chiliza, and Sudhir Goorah; (front) Unizulu Vice Chancellor - Prof Fikile Mazibuko and Ezemvelo KZN Wildlife Chief Executive Officer - Dr Bandile Mkhize

A shared love for South Africa’s rich wildlife heritage has brought the University of Zululand’s Department of Recreation and Tourism and Ezemvelo KZN Wildlife together in the first partnership of its kind. A Memorandum of Understanding was signed on Thursday, opening the way for a strong working partnership at both research and undergraduate levels. Ezemvelo’s Chief Executive Officer, Dr Bandile Mkhize, said the memorandum would seal the existing working relationship with the department and create more opportunities for academic staff to conduct research on various aspects of recreation and tourism within protected areas. Some of this research would be collaborative, conducted jointly with Ezemvelo, and also with neighbouring communities. Dr Mkhize, who is a Unizul alumnus and serves as a member of the university’s Council, said Ezemvelo KZN Wildlife was open to developing working relationships with any faculty or department within the university because such partnerships helped develop a conservation conscious society geared towards tourism. ‘Goals in the distance are better reached together,’ he said.