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A
Working Ranch -- With a Mission
 We
are a working ranch dedicated to ensuring that all our practices are
ecologically sound, socially responsible, and economically viable. Toward
that end, we engage in a number of interrelated enterprises:
- Organic
Gardens - Our large gardens provide fresh fruit and vegetables
over most of the year for our guests. Gardening without chemicals
or synthetic fertilizers is not as big a challenge as devising ingenious
ways to thwart the depredations of porcupines, bushbuck, warthogs,
elephants and baboons!
- Poultry
- Our free-range chickens provide eggs for guests and staff, but also
have chores to perform, like de-ticking the cattle when they are in
the kraal, and cultivating, fertilizing and debugging garden beds.
-
 Cattle, Goats, Sheep and Pigs - We herd our stock because
fences would inhibit wildlife movement and feeding patterns. And because
we want to encourage the presence of predators, which are crucial
for keeping prey populations in balance and their behavior natural,
we house our livestock in lion-proof kraals each night. The livestock
not only provide revenue, but more importantly serve as our main land
reclamation "tools." We use them to graze firebreaks, to
rejuvenate decadent stands of grass, and to break up hard, bare surfaces
so new plants can grow. Oxen, though not a revenue-generating enterprise,
provide much of the power that vehicles and tractors normally would,
and do a better job far more economically.
 Thatch Harvesting
- Dimbangombe is noted for its tall-grass vleis from which
we can harvest enough thatch each year to roof several large homes.
What we don't use for our own purposes or give to the thatch cutters,
we sell to builders in town. - Hunting - As part of our wildlife
management and training, we occasionally allow hunting on Dimbangombe.
Dimbangombe
is jointly owned by Holistic
Management International, based in Albuquerque, New Mexico,
and its sister organization, the Africa Centre for Holistic Management,
based here at the ranch. Dimbangombe serves as a learning site and
college campus for students from all over Africa who attend courses
to acquire the knowledge and skills needed to assist others in restoring
degraded land to health, eliminating conflict over its use, and
enhancing a community's ability to generate wealth without sacrificing
its cultural values. We provide the same training for our neighbors
in the Wange Communal Lands whom we work with through the Community-Based
Conservation Program (see box), and employ on the ranch.
Community-Based
Conservation Program
This is a joint program of Holistic Management International
and the Africa Centre for Holistic Management that includes a
series of interrelated projects. Funding for the program is provided
through grants from a variety of foundations and development agencies,
contributions from local and regional businesses, and individual
and corporate donors from around the world.
- Village
Banking: The Africa Centre capitalizes
micro-banks to encourage the creation and development of small
businesses in the community. Until recently our 27 micro-banks
were run by women for women. A pilot project started in 2005
will create up to 10 banks that allow families, including men,
to borrow using livestock as the currency in an attempt to beat
up to 700% hyperinflation.
- Grazing Management: This project brings area herders
together to create holistic grazing plans for their consolidated
herds. The intent of the project is to improve the ground cover
and water cycle conditions and to better provide for livestock
and wildlife nutritional requirements. The planned grazing of
the larger herds leads to improved soil aeration, water penetration,
seed germination, and ultimately ground cover – thus reversing
desertification and poverty in the area.
- Enterprise Training: The Africa Centre staff collaborates
with other local institutions to provide marketing and financial
planning skills to Wange villagers involved with various business
enterprises ranging from crafts and textiles to farming and
ranching.
- Permaculture Gardens: The Africa Centre helps villagers
learn and practice the basics of permaculture in the gardens
around their homesteads. This training includes overall garden
planning and specific techniques for compost making, liquid
manure, mulching, nitrogen fixing plants, worm farming, and
pest and disease management. The result has been a growing number
of productive gardens that can feed more people.
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