How was the Centre established?

Back in 1998 when Steve and Anna first arrived in Zambia they were fortunate enough to be given some land by the late Chief Kakumbi on which to build the Centre. They established a Zambian charitable trust and used all their personal savings to finance it. Chipembele Wildlife Education Centre opened in May 2001.

In 2005 a charity was established in the UK called Chipembele Trust which helps raise funds for the running of the Centre and supports the other Chipembele projects, particularly the improvement of local schools and pupil sponsorship.

About Steve and Anna Tolan - Trust Directors

Steve and Anna Tolan were married in 1983 and lived in Oxford, England until they emigrated in 1998.

Before moving to Zambia they were both Police Officers with the Thames Valley Police but in their private lives Africa was their passion. They went on African safaris, bought old African tribal artifacts, read African wildlife and travel books and watched and recorded every African wildlife video that appeared on the television.

Their video collection amounted to over 300 hours of African wildlife and is now used to show the children during their day at the Centre. Their book collection (a mixture of modern and antiquarian) went to form the basis of the impressive Africana library.

Steve retired from the Police in 1998 after 27 years service and Anna resigned after 17 years service. Steve's Police pension is used to help run the Centre and other Chipembele projects as well to support his and Anna's living costs.

Steve is now actively involved in anti-poaching work in the area working with both the Zambian Wildlife Authority and the South Luangwa Conservation Society (SLCS). He is an Honorary Wildlife Police Officer and an Honorary Forestry Officer. Chipembele holds a seat on the Board of Trustees of SLCS and Anna is Secretary. Steve and Anna are also Consular Wardens for the British High Commission.

Anna has a B.Sc. in Environmental Science from the 1970s and is pleased to be at long last able to put her life long interest to good use. She has developed her interest in and love of animals by rearing orphaned wild animals that are brought to her from all over the area. She runs a Pupil Sponsorship Scheme for orphaned and otherwise vulnerable children who are unable to find the fees and uniform necessary to attend school. She has also managed a large number of school improvement projects using donated funds.

Together Steve and Anna have also developed a new interest… discovering fossils, old pottery, stone tools etc. They have made a number of important finds in the area.

The Luangwa Valley is their permanent home and all the projects they now run have become an integral part of their lives.

About Our Staff and Volunteers

Lisa Gower
Lisa Gower is the Conservation Education Manager for Chipembele. Originally from Maidenhead in the UK she has spent the last 10 years living in the Richmond area in the North East. Qualified in Hotel Management Lisa held a number of management roles in hotels before working for Orange as Operations Manager for the corporate division. Following a visit to South Luangwa on holiday in 2008 Lisa met Anna Tolan. After spending time with her she decided to refocus her life and took up the volunteer position to manage the Chipembele Pupil Sponsorship Scheme and schools improvement projects. In March 2010 Chipembele Wildlife Education Trust formally established the Conservation Education Programme in the local schools in partnership with Zambian Carnivore Programme. Lisa manages the programme across six schools and works with the teachers at the schools to help facilitate more fun and interactive Conservation Club meetings. Another part of her role is to oversee the Chipembele Rangers scheme and to co-ordinate conservation campaigns and projects with the pupils, including an anti-litter campaign, a tree conservation project and an inter-schools tree planting competition. Lisa is also coordinating a carbon offset scheme at one of the local schools on behalf of Norman Carr Safaris. She lives in the grounds of Mfuwe Secondary School where there is also a Chipembele Office and she is much endeared by the local community.

Chipembele volunteers Jude and Kaye and Chipembele Conservation
Education Manager, Lisa. (Left to right)

Jude Price and Kaye Brown
Chipembele’s ‘online’ volunteers from Adelaide, Australia, Kaye Brown and Jude Price have been long time supporters of Chipembele’s projects and Wildlife Education Programme. Both are employed by Trade Unions -Kaye as an Industrial Officer and Jude as an Office Manager. Their passion for Africa’s wildlife grew following their first visit to Southern Africa in 2005. Since then they have been travelling to Africa regularly. They have visited Chipembele twice, each time bringing a huge quantity of much needed goods donated by friends and work colleagues for our sponsored pupils or to be used as prizes for the pupils who attend the Wildlife Education Centre classes. Kaye’s forte in video production has seen the making of several short video clips about Chipembele’s programmes and projects. Jude is the administrator of the Chipembele Facebook fan page, the Chipembele Wildlife Channel on Youtube and assists with our website design and administration work. They work collaboratively on international, online and Australian-based fundraising initiatives. As the world is increasingly ‘online’ Chipembele needs to be part of the international online community and through Jude and Kaye’s work Chipembele has a strong web-presence.