Unravelling the mystery of Mmamoriri – the maned lioness

We had been at Mombo for nearly a week when we heard the call over the radio – the Western Pride had been located. This was significant for me because I am trying to create identification cards for all the lions on the Mombo concession for monitoring, but mostly because I am intrigued about Mmamoriri. As we drive into the sighting, one of the guides points her out. Lazing under the shade of a rain tree with her pride members is a maned lioness with a full black mane. Written by: Robynne Kotzee

Mmamoriri is not the first of the Western Pride to sport a mane, nor is she the only maned lioness on Chief’s Island in the Okavango Delta, Botswana. Martina, her predecessor, was regularly sighted around Mombo, and while her mane was much blonder, it was equally impressive. Recently, in a more southern pride on the concession, another young maned lioness has been spotted flaunting the first few tufts of a maturing mane. While this is not the norm, there has been an increase in reported incidences of these unusual felines on and around Chief’s Island over the last few years.

Later in the afternoon, the entire Western Pride came together to rest in the centre of the island, where they were located earlier in the day by guides at Mombo Camp. Here, we had a good chance to gauge her size and compare her features to the rest of the females in the pride and the pride male.

In an attempt to discover the reasons behind this anomaly, Simon Dures, while conducting his PhD research on the genetic diversity of lion populations in northern Botswana, took blood samples from Mmamoriri to conduct genetic and hormone tests. While the research, in association with the Zoological Society of London and Imperial College London, is still ongoing, initial testing has started to unravel the mystery. Molecular testing aimed at examining chromosomes – the genetic material which determines sex – has revealed that Mmamoriri is genetically a female, despite her masculine features. This rules out at least one of the theories that she may have possessed an extra Y-chromosome (usually unique to males) that would have led to her ambiguous sex characteristics.

So what is it that led to Mmamoriri’s unusual appearance?

“Due to the location of the maned females, the prevalence of the condition and the symptoms, it is unlikely not to be a genetic trait – but this still needs to be confirmed,” Simon adds. Given what we know now, it seems quite likely that Mmamoriri’s condition developed in the womb. Certain genetic conditions may result in the exposure of the foetus to excess androgens, which could result in the development of male sex characteristics in females. In the lion’s case, this may be a mane and a slightly larger body size.

While this condition is well-documented in humans, it is quite uncommon in the animal kingdom.

What does this trait’s propagation mean for the Okavango lions?

“Implications of the trait are limited due to the current low prevalence, but if the trait is recessive, and with the number of incidences appearing to increase, this could change. She (Mmamoriri) appears infertile and, if this is true, any lions with the condition are essentially removed from the gene pool, reducing the breeding population, and thus increasing the risk of population decline,” Simon states.

Botswana safari — The Western Pride hunting buffalo. While at first glance, it appears as if the pride males are doing all the work, the maned lion hanging onto the back of the buffalo is Mmamoriri. Her large size and strength have, on numerous reported occasions, proven advantageous to the rest of the western pride in taking down large prey and defending kills from hyenas. © Kai Collins

Simon’s data analysis has further revealed that genetically, the lions of the Okavango Delta are more isolated than lions from elsewhere in northern Botswana. This means that there has been somewhat limited movement of genetic material between the Okavango and surrounding conservation areas. This type of isolation over time may cause certain genetic traits, such as the maned lioness Mmamoriri’s, to increase in frequency.

Escalating human-carnivore conflict on the edges of protected areas, where lions are killed in retaliation for predating on cattle, is one factor that may limit genetic flow both to and from the Okavango. Young male lions, whose dispersal is the key to gene flow between different populations, are particularly vulnerable, as they often turn to prey on cattle during this stage of their lives.

Another factor which may be relevant, particularly on the northern section of Chief’s Island, where the trait keeps surfacing, is swelling water levels. Over the past decade, an increase in flood regime has caused the Mombo concession to become increasingly isolated as swamps surrounding the island have expanded and have remained flooded for longer. While this is not an impenetrable barrier to movement, it may deter young, inexperienced male dispersers from leaving the island to cross seemingly endless and unfamiliar swamps.

While the trait is something of a marvel and does not as yet pose a significant threat to the lions of the Delta, it is a reminder that on a larger scale, we need to ensure genetic flow between increasingly isolated populations of species such as the lion. Corridors linking sub-populations need to be maintained and, if lost, restored to allow for the natural dispersal of such wide-ranging predators.

By the time we reached the Western Pride it was late afternoon, and they had congregated in the shade in the middle of the island. The pride male is there, and I notice that while bigger than the other females, Mmamoriri is still noticeably smaller than him and does not share the same bulk and broader face typical of mature males. Nevertheless, seeing such an exquisite and unique maned lioness while on safari is a wonder.

A younger Mmamoriri on a zebra kill. Her stature and broad chest strongly resemble a build of a male lion. © Kai Collins

READ about Botswana as a safari destination

Ethiopia’s church forests

In the highlands of Ethiopia, American scientist Meg Lowman is working with local forest ecologist Alemayehu Wassie to protect ancient church forests.
As in many developing countries, much of Ethiopia’s original forests have been cleared for subsistence agriculture and for harvesting timber and firewood, diminishing northern Ethiopia’s forest cover from 45% of its territory in the early 20th century to less than 5 percent today.
A large portion of the remaining forests is concentrated in the northern part of the country, especially in the Lake Tana area. There, bright-green patches of trees surround 3,500 Orthodox Tewahido Churches – a consequence of the Church’s belief in maintaining a woodland home for all God’s creatures around the place of worship. These are Ethiopia’s church forests.

Ethiopia's church forests — Worshippers make their way through a church forest. ©Meg Lowman.
Worshippers wait under old-growth trees at the Aunara, Bahir Dar region church. ©Raïsa Mirza.
A white cheeked-turaco is just one of many extraordinary birds depending on the forests. ©Christian Boix.
Debresna church forest from above. Image by Google Earth.

The tree canopy is believed to prevent prayers from being lost to the sky

The forests are said to be necklaces around the church, and the tree canopy is believed to prevent prayers from being lost to the sky. According to the Alliance of Religions and Conservation, an estimated five to ten percent of wild lands across the globe are currently held by religious organisations.
Ranging in size from five acres to more than 1,000, some of Ethiopia’s church forests are more than 1,500 years old. All are remnants of the country’s Afromontane forests, are cooler and more humid than the surrounding lowlands, and many have freshwater springs. These church forests have become the centrepiece in the struggle to conserve what remains of northern Ethiopia’s biodiversity.
“They are native seed banks for the future of that landscape,” says Dr Wassie.

15A_9911-2_church-forests — People gather at the church in Aunara underneath old-growth trees to mourn the loss of the Archbishop of Bahir Dar region. ©Raïsa Mirza

Spiritually designated woods sequester
carbon, conserve water, reduce soil erosion
and provide shade and medicine

Besides being rich in biodiversity, these spiritually designated woods sequester carbon, conserve water, reduce soil erosion, and provide shade and natural medicine. They also harbour pollinator species, including native bees and other insects that add value to outlying crops.
But threats to Ethiopia’s church forests are many. Villagers harvest the timber, cattle trample and eat seedlings, and farmers cultivate the wooded edges. Pressure from a rapidly growing population, 80% of whom live in rural areas and rely on subsistence agriculture, and warming temperatures that have forced farmers to shift their plantations to higher elevations, have taken their toll.

15A_0020_ag-and-15A_9948-ethiopian-churches — (Top and Bottom) Ethiopian land is rapidly turning to agriculture as populations rise. ©Justin Brice.
(Middle) In contrast to the surrounding lands, the churches are necklaced by trees. ©Raïsa Mirza.

Pressure from a rapidly growing population has taken its toll

Lacking alternatives, the priests sometimes use the wood to repair their church, make charcoal for church activities, and carve sacred utensils. Plants from the forest are eaten or used to make dyes. Deadfall is sold to congregants for cash.
“The biggest solutions to these forests come from inside: the church members and clergy who believe they are the stewards of all of God’s creatures, a similar mission to us as conservation biologists. We all understand that the sad thing about vanishing forest islands is once they are gone, we will never know what used to live there or what might be missing or extinct.”

“Forest patches are like families of trees, and trees are the building blocks of life on Earth. One of the most successful ‘machines’ for storing carbon, trees transform sunlight into energy and food. Forests worldwide provide homes for up to half of the species on our planet. They also provide spiritual sanctuary. Humans could not live if trees and forests were not part of our environment,” Lowman says.

A parent of two grown boys, Meg Lowman compares trees to mothers: “We have a great deal in common.”
Trees are the heart of the productivity of many ecosystems. Just as mothers function as the biological centre of birth and life, trees provide sustenance for their entire community. They quietly drive important functions that make all life possible in the surrounding ecosystem.
“If only I, as a mother, could have achieved as much as a tree,” Meg says with a smile.

Sacred places are being recognized for their value as conservation sites

“If we can better understand the complexities of biodiversity, then the chance of survival for all Earth’s life forms will certainly grow,” says Wassie. On the twenty-eight Church sites he identified as containing high biodiversity, the team is helping the local people build protective rock walls around the forests.
“The locals consider the forests as jewellery to the church, and the walls are the clothing. We have invoked a cultural shift for conservation because now all the churches want walls built around their ‘naked’ forests,” says Meg.

When viewed from above, it’s apparent that unsustainable deforestation has rendered these church woodlands as green island sanctuaries scattered among bare land, fields, pastures and human settlements.
Thanks to researchers like Lowman and Wassie, these sacred places are beginning to be recognised as conservation sites worth studying and protecting. “The Church and scientists like Dr Wassie and I have the same mission. They call it God’s creatures, and we call it biodiversity, but we’re all trying to conserve it,” says Lowman.

For more about this project, visit the Tree Foundation.

Visit Ethiopia

Travel in Africa is about knowing when and where to go, and with whom. A few weeks too early / late and a few kilometres off course, you could miss the greatest show on Earth. And wouldn’t that be a pity? Contact an Africa Geographic safari consultant to plan your dream vacation.

Contributors

LORI ROBINSON sold her California home and most of her belongings in 2009 for a simpler, more nomadic life. As a lover of the wild, Lori strives to live more connected to the rhythms of nature. She rotates between California, New Mexico, Wyoming and Africa, writing about wildlife and wild places and working on her memoir. She designs and leads safaris to Africa and is a contributor to Africa Geographic, Travelers Tales and Conscious Lifestyle Magazine, and the founder of SavingWild.com where you can find interviews with the world’s top conservationists, book reviews, and stories about Lori’s lifelong friendship with Dr. Jane Goodall.

RAISA MIRZA grew up between Bangladesh and Montreal, Canada, spending most of her time reading National Geographic magazines and dreaming of wild, open spaces. She works in the intersection of community development, food security and behaviour change communications. Through her photography, she aims to portray the diversity of the world’s people and wild spaces while changing people’s perceptions of the developing world. You can find more of her work on her Facebook page.

9 Fascinating baobab tree facts

Baobab tree in Australia, formerly used as a prison © Simon Espley

The baobab tree is a strange-looking tree that grows in low-lying areas on the African mainland, Madagascar and Australia. It can grow to enormous sizes, and carbon dating indicates it may live to 3,000 years old. They go by many names, including baobab, boab, boaboa, tabaldi, bottle tree, upside-down tree, monkey bread tree, and the dead-rat tree (from the appearance of the fruit).

So, do you love seeing baobabs while on safari as much as we do?

Well, here we provide some interesting facts about your favourite African tree:

1. There are eight species of the baobab tree (genus Adansonia) – six from Madagascar and one each from mainland Africa and Australia.

2. The baobab’s biggest enemies are drought, waterlogging, lightning, elephants and black fungus.

3. Baobabs are deciduous, and their bat-pollinated flowers bloom at night.

4. Baobabs store large volumes of water in their trunks, so elephants, eland and other animals chew the bark during the dry seasons.

5. Humans utilise baobabs for many purposes, including shelter, ceremonies, food, medicine, fibre, juices and beer.

6. Animals like baboons and warthogs eat the seed pods; weavers build their nests in the huge branches; and barn owls, mottled spinetails, and ground-hornbills roost in the many hollows. The creased trunks and hollowed interiors also provide homes to countless reptiles, insects and bats.

7. Cream of tartar (a cooking ingredient) was initially produced from the acidic baobab seed pulp but is now mainly sourced as a by-product from the wine-making process.

8. The massive trunks (the largest circumference on record is 47 metres) have been used as jails, post offices and bush pubs, amongst other creative uses.

9. Many baobabs live to a ripe old age – with one recently collapsed Namibian tree known as “Grootboom” thought to be 1,275 years old.

ALSO READ: The Demise of the Baobabs – a Climate Change Warning?

Hand-rearing a black-bellied pangolin

I admit it. I’m addicted to Africa. I became hooked on my first safari to Kenya in 1992 and while I was fixated then on seeing the Big Five, I now get even more excited to see the lesser-known species that make Africa so special and diverse – like the black-bellied pangolin. On my 12th safari to Africa in March 2015, I ventured into the equatorial forests of the Central African Republic (CAR). Written by: Joel Gunter

I had been following the sad political events in CAR closely and befriended a lodge owner in the region, Rod Cassidy. When he gave the “all-clear” to visit, I set out for Sangha Lodge and the Dzanga Sangha Special Reserve.

Rod and his wife not only run the lodge, but they also are passionate about the area’s flora and fauna. The rainforest is on the front lines of human-wildlife conflict as the demand for bushmeat threatens to strip the forests of life. It’s no longer hunter-gatherers like the Ba’aka forest people eating just what they need, but it has turned into a mass supply for markets in the villages, which is unsustainable.

At Sangha Lodge, I was privileged to “meet” one of the most mysterious and mythical creatures of the forest, the black-bellied pangolin. Rod and Tamar have rescued many a pangolin headed for the dinner table. They clean them up, check their health and release them back into the forest as soon as possible. However, they have taken on the difficult task of raising orphaned pangolins when the mother has either been sold at the market or eaten, and that’s how “Pangi”, the black-bellied pangolin arrived at Sangha Lodge.

Orphaned by the bushmeat trade, Pangi was brought to a local lodge by villagers. Raising a pangolin is incredibly difficult. In fact, it’s unknown whether any human has ever successfully raised a black-bellied pangolin. So little is known about their habits, and pangolins, one of the most trafficked animals on the planet, are notoriously difficult to keep alive in captivity. So it’s a monumental task to raise an orphaned pangolin (plus an orphaned baby blue duiker or two) and run a lodge simultaneously!

Dzanga Sangha Special Reserve is known for “The Greatest (Elephant) Show On Earth” at Dzanga Bai (see BBC Planet Earth series) and the groups of habituated western lowland gorillas, which you can track. You can also see bongo, but truth be known, I was just as excited to meet “Pangi” as I was to see the other more charismatic species in the park. For an animal covered in scales, she seemed so delicate. This “pine cone-looking thing”, or something akin to a mammalian artichoke, moved precisely like a motorised toy. She emitted not a sound, save for the snuffling of her nose checking the air for food. Her caretakers told me she spent a lot of time curled in a ball napping when back in camp, but when I followed them out into the forest, she came alive – visibly excited and active to be in her element.

In the first few weeks, Pangi was bottle-fed milk for sustenance. But as she grew older, she seemed to develop an intolerance for the milk, and after a couple of scary nights, it was clear that she needed more ants in her diet. How interesting to watch these caregivers trying to think like a mama pangolin while reaching out to the few experts worldwide via the internet to keep this rare animal alive. Every day the lodge staff and Ba’aka co-workers would enter the forest to scout out and mark locations where ant nests were in the trees. They would then take Pangi into the forest to learn to be a wild pangolin and feed like one, and I would follow along behind.

In search of ants in the forest: https://youtu.be/PsR58YxECE0

Black-bellied pangolins are arboreal and have extremely long prehensile tails that cantilever out, freeing up their forelegs to dig in with their claws and tear open the ant nests. Pangi was very particular about what kind of ants she would eat. After digging into a nest in the crook of a tree, darting her long tongue in and out of the crevices, her face and scaly exterior covered in ants, she would stop eating as suddenly as she started. I was told the ants emitted a pheromone or something unappetising, and Pangi would move on even though there were still plenty of ants she could eat – nature’s way of preserving itself! Then she would climb upward towards the canopy, her instincts kicking in.

My visit to the Central African Republic fulfilled a dream I had for many years, but the opportunity to observe one of the most mysterious creatures on the continent made it all a richer experience. When I posted photos and videos, most of my friends back home had never seen such an animal. It’s hard to secure the future of a creature no one knows exists!

The day of my departure, a new orphan arrived – a white-bellied pangolin.

Elephant charities – the good, the bad & the gly

In September 2013, a high-profile announcement was made in New York about a bold Clinton Global Initiative, bringing together NGOs, governments and concerned citizens to stop the slaughter of Africa’s elephants. Making international headlines, the Initiative pledged $80 million over three years to counteract the elephant crisis with a three-pronged strategy to “stop the slaughter, stop the trafficking, and stop the demand”. However, it emerged that of the $80 million in pledged funds, $78 million comprised the already-funded budgets of over a dozen conservation organisations working in Africa. There was no funding from the Clinton Foundation; indeed, a significant portion was European Union funding that had long been committed to protected areas in Africa. The impact for elephant charities was all in the packaging.
Such is the confusing world of wildlife conservation, where initiatives to save iconic species compete in a game of recognition and power, often completely missing the conservation goal. With hundreds of NGOs proclaiming to protect elephants, how do philanthropists decide who to support? The answer is not easy, and the givers themselves are often motivated by personal goals, simply wishing to feel virtuous with an easy click and credit-card swipe entry on a website. NGO websites encourage this approach: for a few dollars, you can supposedly sponsor an orphaned elephant or equip a park ranger. But how much of the money really goes there?

The status of Africa’s elephants

Available research data indicate a population of +- 550,000, but some scientists swayed by the poaching onslaught claim the number is as low as 250,000. Media headlines shout about an apocalypse; they predict that Africa’s elephants will be extinct in 20 years while ignoring the fact that elephants breed at 5% per annum – helping to offset poaching statistics. NGOs benefit from alarmist talk, and every poaching outrage ensures an influx of funds into their coffers. But responsible conservation should present considered facts and opinions, genuine action, and accountability. Africa’s elephants may not be on their way to extinction, but in many regions, they are being lost with breathtaking speed. West Africa is almost devoid of elephants, and a huge swathe of central Africa has lost its savannah herds. Tanzania and Mozambique are the current elephant-killing fields, and central Africa’s forests are an unseen frontline where the future of the forest elephant is at stake. These are real threats, and an alarmed Western world is responding with shock, anger and unprecedented amounts of funding. Governments, foundations and individuals are desperate to help but are bamboozled by the plethora of headlines and funding options.

If donors want to contribute effectively, the role of different NGOs needs to be understood, their literature examined, and quantifiable results sought. Donors also need to understand the relevance of data – if poaching arrests increase, have anti-poaching efforts become more effective or have poaching pressures increased? Are arrests translating to prosecutions or to bribed releases? If more rangers are deployed, are they being effective or actually contributing to the problem by colluding with poachers? The only real measure of success is an increase in population numbers or the slowing of a downward trend – but accurate statistics have been difficult to establish.

How do you determine which among the many NGOs best deserves your support?

The Global NGOs

Global NGOs dominate Africa’s conservation space with big budgets and high profile marketing campaigns. WWF, WCS, IFAW and CI (World Wide Fund for Nature, Wildlife Conservation Society, International Fund for Animal Welfare and Conservation International) have an annual budget of over $1 billion, with over $100 million spent in Africa. But being a big player also means multiple layers of command, hefty overhead costs and major marketing spend to ensure donations continue. For each donor dollar channelled to these NGOs, at least 15% goes to overheads – 26% in the case of WWF and 34% for IFAW.
Of the global NGOs, Wildlife Conservation Society is credited with doing the most effective work in Africa. Based out of New York’s Bronx Zoo, WCS is at heart a scientific organisation, and much of Africa’s wildlife census work has been conducted by its people. But in recent years, WCS has strived to become more hands-on, taking on the co-management of several protected areas in partnership with governments. In 2012 WCS earned respect for entering into territory where few NGOs will venture – the Niassa National Reserve in northern Mozambique, an area the size of Denmark with one of the most threatened elephant populations in Africa.

Operating in a country with massive corruption, WCS has had its work cut out, compounded by the fact that 35,000 people live in the reserve. Tanzanian poachers cross the border into Niassa, often reportedly aided by officials. Poaching has ravaged Niassa’s elephants, with numbers plummeting from 20,000 in 2009 to 13,000 in 2013. Yet under the helm of South African conservationist Alistair Nelson, WCS has taken on the challenge, investing in anti-poaching efforts that have helped slow the onslaught and lobbying the government for increased penalties – until recently, neither ivory poaching nor trading warranted incarceration in Mozambique. In September 2014, there was a breakthrough when a major poaching gang with 39 recent elephant kills was arrested. But, as in the past, the poachers escaped from prison – indicative of the systemic corruption that makes conviction so difficult. WCS swung its publicity machine into gear, spotlighting the case to ensure that it will be harder in the future for officials to turn a blind eye or take part in corruption.
Mozambique was teeming with elephants a hundred years ago, including some of Africa’s biggest tuskers. Today, Niassa’s 12,000 elephants are the country’s largest population, and their number is dwindling. But thanks to WCS’s presence, Niassa’s beleaguered elephants at least stand a chance.

The Park Managers

NGOs like African Parks, which manage protected areas in partnership with governments, are increasingly attracting donor funds because they are accountable for their actions. In signing formal public-private partnership (PPP) agreements, they secure full management responsibility for a protected area and are held responsible for what happens under their watch.
The Republic of Congo had the foresight to engage in PPPs for three of its national parks – Odzala-Kokoua in partnership with African Parks, and Nouabale-Ndoki and Conkouti-Douli in partnership with Wildlife Conservation Society. Less than five years underway, if these partnerships prove successful, the future of 12-13,000 forest elephants could be secured.

Through an amnesty program, poachers are turned into protectors

Odzala-Kokoua has about 9,600 forest elephants, probably the largest population remaining in a single protected area. African Parks has managed Odzala-Kokoua since 2010, and whilst high levels of corruption make it difficult to bring poachers to justice, their conservation efforts are bearing fruit. Odzala’s elephant population is stable, with the effects of any poaching offset by compression as elephants congregate in the safety of the park to avoid threats in surrounding areas. African Parks has been lauded for its poacher-to-protector amnesty programme, which allows poachers to surrender their weapons and apply for work in the park; to date, 45 have been trained and deployed in the field as eco-guards or wildlife monitors. A major achievement was the arrest of a regional ivory kingpin who was sentenced to five years in jail, almost unheard of in Congo’s dysfunctional judicial system.
African Parks is known for its no-nonsense approach, and donors like the fact that almost all incoming funds go towards their efforts on the ground while proceeds from an endowment fund cover most of the overheads.
WCS protects about 3,000 elephants at Noubale-Ndoki and Conkouti-Douli national parks. Together with Odzala’s population, this comprises about 15% of forest elephants remaining. Says Lee White, head of Gabon’s national park agency, Agence Nationale des Parcs Nationaux: “We’re fighting for the survival of the forest elephant. Already far too many forests are silent.”
WCS estimates that 65% of forest elephants have been lost to poaching since 2002 and that fewer than 100,000 remain – 400,000 are thought to have been lost over 20 years.

The Scientists

Hardened field rangers can be disparaging about scientists’ predilection to count and collar wildlife, but this neglects the important contribution they make in researching population sizes, ranges, movements, behaviours and trends – work vitally needed to inform conservation management.
Africa’s biggest elephant population is in Botswana, where up to 200,000 elephants roam more-or-less freely, venturing across its borders into neighbouring Zimbabwe, Namibia, Angola and Zambia. Botswana-based scientist Dr Mike Chase is the expert on these movements – his PhD study on the spatial ecology of north Botswana’s elephants helped define the borders of the Kavango Zambezi Transfrontier Conservation Area (KAZA), which spans these five countries. Chase’s NGO, Elephants Without Borders, has highlighted the return of elephants from Botswana into Angola since the end of its civil war, where elephant numbers in southern Angola have grown from 36 in 2001 to more than 8,000 today. Providing safe passage across political boundaries is key to the future of elephants like these.

EWB-team-w-Paul-Allen — Paul Allen (3rd from right), Mike Chase (2nd from right) and the EWB team. ©EWB
An elephant family in Chobe’s Okavango Delta. ©EWB

Safe passage across political boundaries is key to the future of elephants

In 2014, EWB took on its most challenging project yet – a pan-African survey of savannah elephants spanning 18 countries and covering 80% of their rangeland. Funded by Microsoft co-founder Paul Allan, the Great Elephant Census involves 50 scientists, African governments, and NGOs, totting up to 600,000 km of aerial transects. Although impressive in scale, the $8 million project has excluded forest elephants which are notoriously difficult to count, giving an incomplete picture of the African elephant story. Some conservationists question whether the census is the best application for $8 million of donor funding and say the data must have management applicability. Chase says the goal is to use the data to marshal conservation efforts across Africa; a continental elephant management strategy would be ideal.

Big-Life-FIlm-Still- — Members of Big Life’s anti-poaching team flank a spotter plane as they head towards the camera for a promotional film. ©Big Life

The Anti-Poachers

No one is closer to the coal face than the anti-poaching ranger – and no one more subject to its dangers. Over the last decade, over 1,000 rangers have lost their lives in the field, mostly to elephant poachers. As poaching becomes more militarized, many donors have been keen to fund sophisticated weaponry and aerial drones. But in reality, old-fashioned boots on the ground (supplemented by expert bush pilots) have proven the most effective. There is no silver bullet to ensure anti-poaching success. It takes hard work, training, discipline, and good ground intelligence based on trust with local communities.
Big Life is a dedicated anti-poaching initiative in Kenya’s Amboseli-Tsavo region that impresses philanthropists. Founded by English photographer Nick Brandt in partnership with Kenyan Richard Bonham, it is the first outfit to achieve coordinated cross-border operations between Kenya and Tanzania. Brandt has long celebrated Amboseli’s magnificent tuskers in stirring images that have captivated global audiences. But during a visit to the National Park in 2009, he was horrified to discover that poachers had killed many of the elephants he photographed. The other shock was the dearth of rangers and the inability to pursue poachers across the border into Tanzania. “Clearly, what was needed was teams of rangers on both sides of the border working in close communication,” he says. “It was obvious, but no one was doing this.”

VET-JEREMY-GOSS-BIG-LIFE — A contingent of Big Life’s anti-poaching rangers. ©Big Life
Veterinary operations are also performed under the banner of Big Life. ©Jeremy Goss/Big Life

“If you don’t have the local community on your side, you’re screwed”

Within five months of Big Life’s inception, it established 12 anti-poaching outposts, bought nine anti-poaching patrol vehicles, recruited platoon commanders and a training instructor to oversee 85 rangers, acquired a microlight for aerial monitoring, brought in tracker dogs and established an informer network on both sides of the border. In no time, Big Life had broken up the worst of the poaching gangs operating in the Amboseli region. Says Brandt: “You have to have your leader on the ground to see, direct and coordinate operations first-hand, to marshall resources and to have an open door and ear to the local community. If you don’t have the local community on your side, you’re screwed.”
Since 2010, Big Life’s rangers have made 1,790 arrests and confiscated over 3,000 weapons and poaching tools. Today the NGO employs 315 rangers at 31 outposts in the region, protecting 800,000 hectares of wilderness that support 2,000 elephants. Big Life’s teams now apprehend poachers almost every time they kill an animal. But Brandt says that Big Life is doing far more than anti-poaching, with human-wildlife conflict a major area of focus. With its clear agenda and focused action, Big Life is clearly a model to replicate.

The Grassroots NGOs

Generally, organisations working closest to the ground use donor funds the most sparingly. Some of the most effective, in terms of bang for donor dollar, are lean local NGOs staffed by dedicated, lowly-paid people, working tirelessly to protect wildlife in rough or dangerous circumstances.
In 2005, Zimbabwe’s flagship Hwange National Park had a devastating drought. The National Parks and Wildlife Authority, suffering from the economic collapse in the country, had no funds to keep borehole pumps going to fill the park’s waterholes and thousands of animals were dying of thirst. Hwange lies in a transition zone between desert and savannah woodlands and has virtually no natural water. When it was first proclaimed a National Park in 1928, fewer than 1,000 elephants remained. In a bid to establish Hwange as a wildlife haven, founding warden Ted Davidson drilled dozens of boreholes and established 60 pans. As long as the pans remained filled, the wildlife would be sustained during the dry winter season. But with the pans dry, the 2005 winter looked set for disaster.

A small band of concerned Zimbabweans averted a crisis

A small band of concerned Zimbabweans sprang into action and bought enough diesel to get ten borehole pumps going again. That simple act averted the crisis. Since then, Friends of Hwange has kept up the good work, buying diesel and maintaining ten waterholes in the park. Today Hwange supports over 22,000 elephants, thanks in part to this small NGO comprising a handful of committed people.
This illustrates what focused efforts on the ground can achieve without millions of dollars and global campaigns. However, there is another side to the Hwange story. The artificial water supply has fuelled a huge rise in the park’s elephant population, and the consequent destruction of habitat is drastically impacting other wildlife. The ever-full waterholes attract elephants that would normally only be there in the rainy season. Such is the paradox facing elephant conservation in Africa – numbers plummeting in most regions while Chobe in Botswana and Hwange in Zimbabwe seem to have too many.

Elephant-mock-charge-Raisinphoto.com-3 — ©Pieter Ras

The Advocates

Small NGOs are busting their guts all over Africa, trying to expose the corruption inherent in wildlife poaching and trafficking. By shining a light on criminal syndicates, corrupt government officials and those in the criminal justice system, they can often score gains that anti-poaching field units cannot.
Naftali Honig is a man on such a mission. His small organisation, PALF (Project for the Application of Law for Fauna), based in Congo’s Brazzaville, investigates wildlife crimes, helps secure arrests and lobbies Congo’s judicial sector into jailing the culprits. Against almost insurmountable odds, PALF is succeeding. In 2013, an ivory poaching kingpin was jailed for five years, a sentence previously unheard of in Congo. Since then, PALF has helped secure several ivory busts and arrests. Naftali and his small team follow every step of the judicial process, lobbying the media, politicians and civil society and attending court cases to ensure due process is followed. It takes unshakeable resolve to achieve this, but not huge quantities of funds.

In Tanzania, the UK-based Environmental Investigation Agency (EIA) is shining a light on the Government corruption fuelling its massive poaching industry. Nearly half of Africa’s annual ivory haul is thought to hail from Tanzania, with its elephant population plummeting from 109,000 in 2009 to less than 70,000 today. Vanishing Point, the EIA’s pull-no-punches report published in November 2014, details how Chinese-led criminal gangs conspired with corrupt Tanzanian officials to move huge amounts of ivory out of the country. Tanzania vehemently denies the allegations, but the Government is under the spotlight and struggling to avoid international censure. EIA’s executive director, Mary Rice, is also trying to change international laws and government policies.
NGOs such as these eschew flash offices and business class travel, work on frugal budgets, and often perform dangerous undercover investigative work. Although small and unassuming, both PALF and EIA’s successes are on the radar screens of global philanthropists.
Dr Ian Douglas-Hamilton exemplifies the genre of zoologists who have migrated from the field to the global advocacy platform. In the 1970s, he conducted the first pan-African elephant survey and was the first to alert the world to the ivory poaching crisis that halved Africa’s elephant population in the 1980s. Under the banner of his NGO, Save the Elephants, he has spent 30 years lobbying for elephants on global platforms, including addressing the US Senate’s Foreign Relations Committee on Ivory and Security in 2012 and attending White House meetings that fed into Obama’s 2013 Executive Order on Combatting Wildlife Trafficking.

poacher handcuffed — A handcuffed trafficker with illegal ivory in Congo.
©PALF

“When the buying stops, the killing can too”

Other NGOs are committed to combatting the demand for ivory in the East. The WildAid media campaign makes waves with popular Asian celebrities conveying its powerful message: “When the Buying Stops, the Killing Can Too”. However, proponents of the ivory trade claim that for Africans to conserve elephants, economic value is needed. Dr John Hanks, former CEO of WWF SA and Peace Parks Foundation: “Campaigns to eliminate consumptive use of wildlife are well-meaning, but they ignore the realities of poverty in Africa, human-wildlife conflict and the underfunding of protected areas. Unless local people and their national governments want to conserve wildlife, it will not survive.”
Over the next three years, hundreds of millions of dollars will pour into elephant conservation, some of it misguided and frittered away, with little concrete outcome. What is heartening, though, is the increasing demand for results, with foundations and government agencies insisting on detailed objectives, strategies and outcomes before parting with funds. The smart money is demanding accountability from donor recipients and has realised that often the most effective outcomes lie in the hands of dedicated, low-key people, working exhaustive hours in the field or in scruffy offices. With so much money and the future of Africa’s elephants at stake, donors and recipients must be held firmly accountable. This is not the time for glib marketing campaigns or gratuitous gloom and doom. It is the time for facts and focus.

Featured NGOs:
African Parks
Big Life Foundation
Elephants Without Borders
Environmental Investigation Agency
Friends of Hwange
PALF
Save the Elephants
Wild Aid
Wildlife Conservation Society
World Wide Fund for Nature

Disclaimer:
As previous manager of Nedbank’s green affinity programme in partnership with WWF SA, and previous marketing and philanthropy director for African Parks, Author Jane Edge is well informed. Still, she does not work for or receive fees from these or any organisation that could benefit from the publication of this article. Many other NGOs do valuable conservation work in Africa; the philanthropy community respects all the organisations featured here.
More about the author.

Contributors

JANE EDGE is a former environmental journalist who cut her teeth reporting on the elephant and rhino poaching crisis in the 1980s. She subsequently became a director of Phinda Resource Reserve, communications director of CC Africa (now &Beyond), and manager of Nedbank’s green affinity programme in partnership with WWF SA. She was the marketing and philanthropy director for African Parks before leaving in late 2014 to establish her consultancy, Afrothropic. She has also served on the board of Fair Trade Tourism, where she was acting general manager for a period.

Finding gold in Gabon – the golden cat

I was used to working in the savannahs of eastern and southern Africa, where the animals I studied roamed in full sight. I was used to the relative comfort and safety of getting around in a 4×4, and my camera went everywhere with me. Then, in 2010, I arrived in the Central African country of Gabon to begin studying the African golden cat in and around Ivindo and Lopé National Parks. I stubbornly kept my camera with me for the first few days but soon realised it slowed me down. I could no longer rest it on my lap as I scanned the horizon. I had to carry it for nine hours daily as I surveyed the humid forest on foot. I had to be ready for a hasty retreat in case I stumbled upon elephants – quite easy to do when visibility is restricted to a few metres by thick vegetation.

mandril-and-bee-eater — Stumbling upon elephants hidden by thick vegetation is one of the hazards of Laila’s research in the forests of Gabon.
A mandrill caught on one of the author’s camera traps, just one of many wonderful forest creatures Laila recorded.
A black bee-eater perches on a forest vine.
©Laila Bahaa-el-din

Of course, not carrying my camera meant I could not photograph the gorillas and chimpanzees I encountered or the colourful birds that provided the soundtrack to my exploration. But soon, I accepted that my eyes (and camera) would no longer be my key tools. Now I needed to rely on my ears and nose to experience this new wilderness and to stay safe.

Of the African cats, the one you’re least likely to have heard of is the African golden cat. It lives in the rainforests along the Equator, is very shy, and successfully avoids people – that is until it falls into a hunter’s snare. Imagine a stocky caracal but without the pointy, tufted ears. It weighs 10 kg on average and, despite the “golden” moniker, it varies in colour from red to grey and sometimes black. It generally has markings on its underbelly and the inside of its limbs, but they sometimes extend across the whole body. We know almost nothing about its behaviour and breeding biology in the wild. This tough cat briefly found fame a few months ago when a film showing it hunting red colobus monkeys was released online (watch it above, it’s worth it!). A handsome creature, the golden cat is often called the leopard’s little brother. When it has the misfortune to be captured by hunters, its skin is used for ceremonial purposes, and its meat is eaten.

Camera traps provided me with eyes to see things my ears and nose were sensing

So what was I doing here, deep in the forests of Gabon? My study aimed to estimate how many golden cats there are and to see how human activities affect them. I collected data from six different areas in Gabon, some of which were protected, some were subject to logging, and some were regularly hunted.
The camera trap is the obvious tool to study such a shy animal in the forest. Set up to work remotely; the camera is activated by an infrared sensor every time an animal passes by. These traps gave me the eyes to see everything my ears and nose were sensing as I walked the forest trails. Looking through the images was the highlight of my work – a silverback gorilla proudly standing his ground, a giant pangolin searching for termites, a goshawk clasping a squirrel it has just caught, and some elephants greeting each other. Sadly, there was also the occasional hunter, catch in hand. But most importantly, there were many photos of golden cats, providing me with the data I needed to make my assessment.

gorilla-and-pangolin — A western lowland gorilla, a giant pangolin, a pair of elephants greeting one another and a hunter with his pangolin catch were some of the scenes captured by the author’s camera traps. There were also many golden cats, one seen here making off with its prey and another showing its distinct markings. ©Laila Bahaa-el-din

elephant-and-poacher — A western lowland gorilla, a giant pangolin, a pair of elephants greeting one another and a hunter with his pangolin catch were some of the scenes captured by the author’s camera traps. There were also many golden cats, one seen here making off with its prey and another showing its distinct markings. ©Laila Bahaa-el-din

I felt honoured to be let in on its secret life

We have learned so much from these photographs. It is clear that golden cats are active at all times of day and night, and they like to make use of trails opened up by elephants and people, and they are indeed solitary. Interestingly, their coats vary in colour and pattern, even within one small site.
From images of a female carrying her prey past a camera to videos of a youngster batting at the camera with his paw, the mysterious golden cat was being revealed to me daily, and I felt honoured to be let in on its secret life. On one exceptional day three years into my study, when I was carrying my camera with me, a beautiful golden cat female allowed me to see and photograph her. I lowered the camera with shaking hands to watch her disappear into the forest. I turned to Arthur, my field assistant, and we grinned madly at each other as he whispered ‘chat doré’ (golden cat in French)

Dependent on forests, this plucky little cat will become even rarer

Then came the time to count the cats. You can identify individuals of other cat species by their coat patterns. Take, for example, a leopard’s rosettes or a tiger’s stripes – each individual is different. Although it’s the same with golden cats, their markings aren’t so easy to see in camera trap photographs because they are smaller and on less visible body parts. So, as I wasn’t 100% confident of my identifications, I enlisted two cat researchers to double-check my efforts. One of them described the exercise as the most frustrating thing he had ever done! But we got there in the end, and we can estimate the number of golden cats for the first time.

These figures will be officially released in a few months. As expected, golden cat numbers were at their highest in the pristine, undisturbed areas. Though hunted at low intensity, the village hunting area held very few golden cats, with wire snares proving to be the greatest threat. These snares are indiscriminate killers and, when not checked regularly, can be wasteful as animals are left to rot. There is also evidence from other areas that golden cats are highly sensitive to hunting. In areas where hunting intensity is high, golden cats are virtually extinct.
The golden cat is dependent on its forest habitat – a precarious lifestyle because trees are often considered a resource to be extracted by people. With African rainforests predicted to host major booms in mining activity and clear-cutting for development and oil palm plantations, this plucky little cat will become rarer and rarer, along with its fellow forest dwellers such as great apes, forest elephants, pangolins and many more. But there is hope too! The population size of the golden cat at the pristine site was comparable with forest cats from other continents (such as the leopard cat in Borneo and the Ocelot in Belize, both of which have density estimates of between 10 and 16 individuals per 100 km2). This is an encouraging result for a previously considered naturally rare cat.

Gabon-forest3 — A female golden cat that the author saw with her own eyes (also pictured in the headline image) and the tall forest canopy of Gabon. ©Laila Bahaa-el-din

The experience of living in an African rainforest often left me breathless (and not just due to elephant-induced sprints). Light slanting through the dense vegetation that the golden cat calls home gave me a glimpse of what it will take to protect the species. If deforestation can be slowed and the use of wire snares for hunting bush meat reduced, Africa may well hold on to its only forest-dependent cat.

ALSO READ: Camera traps photograph black honey badgers in Gabon

Contributor

LAILA BAHAA-EL-DIN first escaped to Africa in 2007 after completing her degree in zoology at the University of Nottingham. She has since found it almost impossible to leave and has worked on research projects in eastern, southern, and central Africa. Laila’s work has thus far concentrated on the predators of land (cats) and sky (raptors). The golden cat project, funded by the global wild cat conservation group Panthera, is part of Laila’s PhD research with the University of KwaZulu-Natal and the Wildlife Conservation Research Unit (WildCRU) at the University of Oxford.

How to sketch lions in watercolour

My field sketches start with a fairly simple pencil drawing (see my previous post) to which I add watercolour. This sketch of a pair of mating lions was created early one morning in Kruger National Park, but the watercolour was added later in the day when I returned to the lodge.

I often have to add watercolour later because animals move on before I finish or because I am sketching in a vehicle, and it is more convenient to add colour when I return to camp. I will choose colours based on my memory of the scene and my personal preference, but I don’t refer to photos or videos at any stage of the field sketch process. This is because I want my field sketches to be created in the field, from life.

Stage 1 is perhaps my favourite part of a field sketch – adding the base colour with a large brush. I am covering the parts of the lion and lioness, which will be in shadow, but ensuring that plenty of white paper remains too. In watercolour, your whitest white is your untouched paper, so it is important to know where to leave the paper visible. You can always add more colour, but you can’t easily remove it, so leave an area white if in doubt. I am using the colour on the male’s body to show the outline of the sleeping lioness.

Stage 2. Now I add another watery layer of colour, this time beneath the lions, to ensure they are grounded and don’t look like they are floating in the air. You can see that the yellow used in stage one is still wet.

Stage 3. I add some of the colours from the ground into the still-wet areas of yellow on the lions. I know that all the colours will dry much paler than they appear when wet, so I’m not worried that they will be too bright. Now I need to wait for the paint to dry before I continue. I seem to remember this involved a lovely cup of tea while listening to the chatter of squirrels and babblers.

Stage 4. Now I’m using a smaller brush for the background vegetation. I paint around the lion’s face and mane, using the darker vegetation to highlight these areas – a technique I use frequently and find very useful in my studio paintings too. I add slightly different amounts of yellow and blue in different areas of the vegetation, blending them with clean water to ensure variety in the background and interest.

Stage 5. The final touches are with a smaller brush, using the same blues, yellows and greens from the vegetation. I usually limit my colour palette and find that using the same few colours across the painting brings it all together nicely. So, I add detail on the faces, ears and mane using these same colours. I prefer only to use as much detail as I need, never adding too much and always remembering that this is a field sketch.

Join Alison on an art safari.

Garamba poaching: a child’s picture is worth a thousand words

These drawings by school children from Garamba conservation clubs have revealed how horrific poaching attacks on elephants have seeped into the hearts and minds of even children – in this case, 11 to 17-year-olds.

school children artwork — © African Parks

Incidents involving poaching attacks by unidentified helicopters are common knowledge in local communities, fueling controversy and speculation about their origin and inevitably reaching youngsters’ ears too. The suggested solutions by children in conservation clubs range from practical to heartwarming. Several have stated that they plan to pursue a career as a park ranger. In contrast, others argue that traditional leaders should find a way to make Garamba’s elephants invisible to poachers in helicopters.

The three drawings are part of a collection of artworks by pupils who are members of the seven conservation clubs that operate at schools in Dungu and Faradje, the two towns closest to the park. In addition, Garamba hosts overnight conservation visits for children to the park for them to experience first-hand the benefits of conservation and the value of their rich wildlife heritage. Last year the park hosted more than 1,100 students and 55 teachers on visits.

ALSO READ: Okapi conservation in DRC gets a boost.

Canines take command of Akagera National park

Rwanda’s Akagera National Park has recently acquired seven Belgium Malinois and one Dutch Shepherd to help track and restrain poachers in an attempt to protect biodiversity.

Akagera safari — © Akagera National Park/ African Parks

A gruelling selection of dog handlers is underway and once the selection process is complete the successful candidates will undergo another four months of intensive training and bonding with their dog. The Rwanda National Police will join this program as they have provided four staff to train as handlers.

Akagera dog unit — © Akagera National Park/ African Parks

The chosen handlers must be able to interpret their dogs’ behaviour and each dog will have two handlers (a primary handler and a secondary handler) to ensure there is someone attending to the dog 24/7.

The eight dogs reside in the newly built kennels at Akagera’s park headquarters. On completion of their training, the dogs may also operate in the two other Rwandan parks: Volcanoes National Park and Nyungwe National Park.

The dogs, named Reza, Gozer, Max, Duco, Barak, Bruno, Bronco and Tigo, are all three-year-old males. The dogs arrived with two professional trainers and a handler who will be instrumental in training new handlers over the course of the year. The Rwanda Development Board is funding the programme.

The dogs will predominately be used to track poachers and will be deployed in areas where there is evidence of poaching or along the periphery of the park to monitor the fences. They are capable of restraining poachers until the rangers can arrest them, but the focus is on tracking.

The program hopes to prevent illegal poaching activities, respond quicker to intel and help secure the 1,122km² park’s boundary. The dogs will be protecting the park’s elephants, Masai giraffes and grey crowned cranes, to name a few.

Malinois could also sniff out bushmeat and an illegally trafficked African grey parrot in Odzala-Kokoua National Park, another park under African Parks management. The use of dog units in African reserves has been highly successful, and breeds like Malinois, Anatolian Shepherds, Weimaraner and Bloodhounds have proven to be invaluable to conservation.

To see these dogs in action, go on safari to the Big 5 Akagera National Park and stay at African Parks lodges, where 100% of profits go to wildlife conservation and community upliftment.

Ivory dealers busted thanks to German travellers on safari

Monday the 16th of March 2015: two German travellers on safari, Martin and Christin Kotthoff, led to the arrest of two ivory dealers. The bust, which involved the sale of four elephant tusks, took place at a safari camp near Kasane, Botswana.

The couple were on a safari holiday when they were approached by Karunga Makuyungo, a local safari camp staff member, who asked if they wanted to buy “elephant horn”. Four tusks were offered to them for a price of US$6,000. The couple pretended to be interested but went immediately to the local Wildlife Anti-Poaching Unit to report the offer.

Together with a team of five members from the Wildlife Anti-Poaching Unit and the local police, they managed to apprehend Karunga and his accomplice Shadreck Kaimbanemoyo, a staff member of the same camp. The two were caught red-handed during the camp’s handover of the four tusks.

The camp owners were not involved in the operation and were shocked when informed about the incident. Karunga Makuyungo and Shadreck Kaimbanemoyo are now awaiting trial in prison.

ivory bust botswana — The two ivory dealers, Shadreck Kaimbanemoyo (left, in green t-shirt) and Karunga Makuyungo (right, in a beige t-shirt), just after their arrest.

The Kotthoffs currently live in Cape Town and have travelled extensively through Africa. Christin Kotthoff, a conservationist and member of the non-profit organisation OSCAP (Outraged SA Citizens Against Poaching), says, “Botswana is the leading country on the continent when it comes to protecting African wildlife. President Ian Khama understands the importance of wildlife for the country’s income from tourism. We are impressed by how professionally the local authorities handled the whole operation.”

selling ivory — The two ivory dealers and the four elephant tusks they offered to the German travellers for US$6,000.

Martin Kotthoff points out, “Botswana has a strong political will to fight corruption. Hence we were optimistic that the authorities would take our report seriously. We hope the ivory dealers will get the punishment they deserve, which will also deter other wildlife criminals.”

busted selling ivory — The police read Shadreck Kaimbanemoyo and Karunga Makuyungo their rights.

Christin Kotthoff explains, “Tourists from overseas visit Africa on safari to experience its unique wildlife. Today not only elephants are highly threatened, but also rhinos and lions. Less wildlife means fewer tourists, fewer jobs and less income. Thus poaching and the illegal wildlife trade is not just a threat for the animals, but also for the African economies and the African people.”

arrest selling ivory — The police lead off the two ivory dealers.

The ivory – evidence of two dead elephants.

The Mozambique turquoise coast – from above

Cover: São Sebastião Lagoon – south of Vilankulo. Lesser and greater flamingos occur in a profusion of colour in the estuaries and shallows along the Mozambique coastline.

The vast Save River empties into an enormous estuary north of Nova Mambone.
It is said that the sand and silt carried by this vast river system is what created the Bazaruto Archipelago. Here a fisherman sails the shallows in a dugout canoe at low tide.

Ilha de Moçambique – a small island on the northern Mozambique coastline that has played an inordinately significant role in shaping the history of the east coast of Africa.

The fisherfolk of Vilankulo fish the shallows south of Bangue Island in the Bazaruto Archipelago.

Off the southern tip of Benguerra Island, a shoal of giant stingrays glide through the turquoise shallows of the Bazaruto Marine Reserve.

Traditional fishing and cargo dhows glide serenely along a lush coastline dotted with small villages in Northern Mozambique. With the monsoon winds in their sails, they have decorated the ocean horizons with their sails for hundreds of years.

North of Zalala, the fishing dhows head out to sea at sunrise and return around midday to trade their catch. Here small boys help pull the fishing dhows up the beach as the tide rises.

Fishermen pull in their nets at low tide off the island shallows of Bazaruto Archipelago.

Fishing is the mainstay of communities living along the Vilankulo coastline. Using seine nets, fisherfolk pull in a bounty of fish each day. This form of fishing is destroying the seagrass beds upon which the critically endangered Dugong survive. There are said to be only around 250 Dugong left on the Mozambique Coastline, and the Endangered Wildlife Trust is currently involved in trying to save these mermaids of the ocean by tightening up controls in the Bazaruto Marine Reserve to provide sanctuary.

The photographer’s view.

Diary Entry – Meeting the Great Zambezi. “The flight up the coastline of Mozambique between Vilanculos and Pemba was awe-inspiring and daunting in its enormity. River upon river snaked through the dense green of the mangrove swamps and hardwood forests, emptying spectacularly into the turquoise depths of the Indian Ocean. Emerald green and ochre brown fingers of freshwater met the salty blue sea, having travelled countless miles through the old continent. The anticipation of flying over the Zambezi Delta was akin to the nervous expectation one might feel when meeting some great soul, Mandela or Gandhi perhaps. We were silenced to the core as we glided over the vast and muddy depths of the Zambezi. This river is the life and soul of all that it touches. Its massive presence changes you forever. I couldn’t help thinking that the last time we saw this juggernaut of a river, it was crashing in frothy mayhem through the jagged gorges of Victoria Falls in Zimbabwe. Again, it was giant and sloth-like, peacefully joining the ocean with no major fanfare. What stories it must have to tell.” Jay Roode

Contributors

Led by their love of aviation, travel and conservation, husband and wife team JAN & JAY ROODE have flown over 50,000 nautical miles across Southern Africa’s deserts, vast plains and endless coastlines, capturing these great wildernesses from above. Their photography allows us to truly grasp the beauty and magnitude of the African landscape and, most importantly, will enable us to see whole landscapes and ecosystems as living, breathing entities to be conserved. By partnering with conservation organisations, Skyhawk’s images are used to raise awareness of the importance of conservation, and a percentage of the sale of each of Skyhawk’s Fine Art prints goes directly to an organisation working with the environment in the country in which it was taken.

Cape fire – life in the Ashes

Walking through the ashes of Table Mountain National Park after last week’s monumental fire, I didn’t expect to see it as a landscape teeming with life, and yet it was. The sensation was one mixed with awe at the devastation and wonder at the nature that has survived or is already emerging. The fire raged through 5,500 hectares of the Cape Peninsula for five days with strong winds and extreme temperatures making it difficult for firefighters to control. Table Mountain National Park was by far the most affected area, a pristine environment which is home to about 2,000 species of plants – more than the entire British Isles.
But as I walked between the blackened fynbos on Silvermine, I saw a rock kestrel hovering above, no doubt tracking a rodent exposed by the lack of foliage; succulent green shoots pushed up through the ash at my feet, and pink proteas were poised to blossom at the end of roasted stems.

capefire-Otomys-christian-boix — An African vlei rat forages in the detritus of the fire. ©Christian Boix
Trails probably left by a leaf borer feeding on a leucodendron leaf. ©Christian Boix
A live tortoise which miraculously survived the rapidly advancing flames.©Christian Boix

Fire is a rebirth for the ecosystem, without which the system winds down and dies

Christian Boix, teamAG’s safari director and resident ornithologist, met up with me after walking in the opposite direction, towards Muizenberg. He had seen a peregrine falcon and an African marsh harrier, the latter unusual in this region, probably having flown in to capitalise on vulnerable prey. White-necked ravens had also arrived to scavenge and clean up the show. He showed me pictures of a live tortoise – a relief from the images of dead ones too encumbered to escape the flames – and he showed me insects working the flowers and millions of seeds which have been scattered after the flames.
‘When we get a fire like this, our instinctual reaction is to feel a lot of sadness for losing our flora and fauna. But this flora is adapted to burn; it needs to burn to live,’ said Dr Adam West from the Department of Biological Sciences at UCT in a radio interview last week. ‘If fynbos doesn’t burn every 15 years or so, we lose a lot of species, we lose a lot of diversity from the system, and the system effectively starts to wind down and die. Fire is really important. It’s really a rebirth for the ecosystem.’
I’m excited at the opportunity to witness this rebirth: not far beneath the soil, dormant seeds triggered by the heat await the coming rains; burrowing animals and insects are re-emerging, and birds are flying in to claim them. Ants scurry to reach seeds they will bury for food, aiding germination, and rodents race to beat the ants to it. But this is my layman’s sense of it.

The Lottery of Fire

As fynbos specialist Prof. Richard Cowling explains, a big lottery is currently at play. ‘There’s a lot of sorting going on right now in how fynbos regenerates. We’ve had a fire that raged over four or five days, and in some places, the wind-driven fire went into old, dense bush. The intensity would have been phenomenal. That would have had a very different effect on regeneration to another area where the veld was less dense, and the fire was burning on a cool day.’ Indeed one of the fire days was cooler and even brought some rain. In contrast, on the day before, Cape Town recorded its hottest temperature in 100 years, at 42 degrees celsius.

‘A really hot fire stimulates germination of your large species’ seeds, like pincushions and buchus, that have been buried in the soil. Some might have been waiting for 50 years,’ he adds, recounting the story of a species thought extinct that suddenly re-emerged after an intensely hot fire. ‘But your smaller seeded species, your ericas and daisies, get absolutely singed by this heat, and that is why fynbos is so bogglingly diverse: each fire is unique in its effect on the species. It’s a lottery, a random process. You can’t predict what the fire is going to be like. And what happens after the fire is so important.’
The timing of this latest fire has been perfect for many of the plants, occurring as it did just before the rainy season. The taller plants like proteas and leucadendrons that release seeds after the fire are favoured if the rains arrive soon. But if the fire had occurred in September, for example, these seeds would lie on the soil surface right through the summer, where they can be scattered by wind and eaten by rodents.

protea-seeds-cape-fire-simon-espley — Triggered by the heat, proteas release their seeds after the fire passes. ©Simon Espley
Life pushes up through the ashes of Silvermine. ©Christian Boix
Many species of protea seeds are adapted to be scattered by the wind. ©Christian Boix

capefire-silvermine-regrowth-christian-boix-Anton-Crone-2 — Triggered by the heat, proteas release their seeds after the fire passes. ©Simon Espley
Life pushes up through the ashes of Silvermine. ©Christian Boix
Many species of protea seeds are adapted to be scattered by the wind. ©Christian Boix

The plants gamble with their seeds. Sometimes they hit it big, sometimes they don’t

‘If we get good winter rains starting in April, then that complement will germinate well. But that has another implication. You get a really dense over-story of proteas and leucadendron which selectively suppresses the plants in the understory.’ This shading out of smaller plants means it is cooler there, and plants producing seeds dispersed and buried by ants will suffer because ants don’t venture into cool areas. Conversely, rodents like living under proteas because it is cool; it provides them with shelter from raptors and food in the way of seeds. So when the next fire comes, even if it is intensely hot, there are not enough of those hard seeds available for germination.
‘Ultimately, this is a complex process,’ says Cowling. ‘The plants gamble with their seeds. Sometimes they hit it big, sometimes they don’t, and there’s a local crash in the population. It’s that up and down in populations with each fire that enables this huge number of species to coexist in this small region of the Cape Peninsula.’

The Winners and Losers

This “gamble” applies to flora, insects, and animals that thrive on the fynbos in all its incredible diversity.
‘Fire takes everything down to its bold, most naked competitive arena. It’s a fight for limited resources,’ says Dr Phoebe Barnard of the Birds & Environmental Change Program at the South African National Biodiversity Institute.
She explains that birds are going into the burnt area as opportunists, birds of prey like buzzards and goshawks, which capitalise on vulnerable mammals, and herons and hadedas, which capitalise on insects. Then some birds can feed for a long time in “roasted” areas, like cape canaries which feed on the seeds of leucodendron bushes, often roasted in their little cones. ‘I suppose it’s like having toasted sunflower seeds,’ she adds.

Some birds have evolved to respond to fire by making use of nectar resources elsewhere

‘You’ve got winners and losers in a frequent fire. The winners tend to be some of the fynbos endemic species like the Cape rock-jumper. Birds like them do very well because fire exposes the ground, the birds clean up any insects injured or killed by the fire, and for the next four or five years, they’ve got a relatively open habitat of newly growing fynbos. One of the losers might be something like the Cape sugarbird, which requires mature proteas and Proteoideae, such as pincushions, to be able to drink nectar. They cannot rely on things that come up in the new fire age, so they have to go elsewhere.’
Barnard studies the movement of fynbos endemic bird species in such events. Each of the six endemic fynbos bird species has a different movement strategy. Some of these birds hang around in their territories, like the orange-breasted sunbird, and they are very vulnerable to fire. But the Cape sugarbirds move on, sometimes very long distances. Like them, some birds have evolved to respond to large-scale fire by using nectar resources elsewhere; others are less evolved in that way.

They have found that over the past 10 or 15 years, more birds have been moving down into the suburbs in the event of a fire. The sugarbird has an unfortunate name as the association might encourage more people to place sugar water feeders in their gardens after fires to help the birds. ‘I have mixed feelings about this,’ says Barnard. ‘I feel the way people provide resources for wildlife is, on the whole, a negative thing because it creates a dependency. Doing so alters movement patterns, survival patterns, health and disease vulnerability.’ Barnard stresses that she is not talking only about fynbos endemic birds but species in general. ‘But at the same time,’ she says, ‘we have manipulated the area around natural fynbos, and we have caused more fires than is natural, so we cannot help but try to compensate by providing food in the event of such a large scale fire.’

What you can do to protect species in the event of fire:

In the Cape Town suburbs, Barnard encourages people to plant more locally indigenous water-bearing and flowering species for the long term. Only if they cannot, and only in the short term, should people provide nectar bottles and feeders for birds, making sure not to provide artificial sweeteners of any kind, including xylitol, because they can kill sugarbirds.
West says we can help in the event of a fire by protecting the natural system, such as stopping the encroachment of houses into the fynbos and stopping the propagation of alien vegetation that adds significant fuel to the fire and risks it running completely out of control.
Fynbos involves thousands of species. It’s not just proteas; it’s birds, insects, reptiles and mammals. ‘Some are winners, and some are losers, but we must cater for all of them by keeping a mosaic in the landscape,’ says Barnard. This ideal would mean a landscape of fynbos at differing cycles of fire age so that all species can thrive by moving easily between habitats.

The ideal is a mosaic landscape of fynbos at differing cycles of fire age

But we humans are a crucial species. The fynbos has survived for more than 3 million years. Lightning would have been the key factor in starting fires back then, and humans have been starting fires here for at least 200,000 years. You can say we are part of the system. But a fire that occurs too frequently or in the wrong season means that plants do not have time to seed or the seeds are wasted, eliminating species, including plants, birds, insects, reptiles and mammals. It’s a heady responsibility for our species.
I often speed over Silvermine on my way somewhere else, ignorant of the incredible ecosystem on either side of the road. But I will spend more time here, and I look forward to seeing new life take hold. One of the most rewarding sights on Silvermine was seeing a different aspect of life in the ashes: two young boys clearing up the broken bottles that were once hidden by the undergrowth, now revealed by the flames.

Dedicated to all the firefighters and volunteers who worked tirelessly to contain the blaze, and to the memories of helicopter pilot Willem “Bees” Marais and firefighter Nazeem Davies who died in service to the Cape of Good Hope.

Contributors

ANTON CRONE quit the crazy-wonderful world of advertising to travel the world, sometimes working, and drifting. Along the way, he unearthed a passion for Africa’s stories – not the sometimes hysterical news agency headlines we all feed off, but the real stories. Anton has a strong empathy with Africa’s people and their need to meet daily requirements, often in remote, environmentally hostile areas cohabitated by Africa’s free-roaming animals.

CHRISTIAN BOIX left his native Spain, its great food, siestas and fiestas. He now works in teamAG – as a safari consultant and Director of the company.

Rejuvenating cacao industries in the Congo

The lives of four communities are being transformed by planting 40 000 cacao saplings outside Odzala-Kokoua National Park in the Congo. The programme, involving rehabilitating old cacao fields, is expected to improve harvest yields and the quality of beans to generate income for local villages.

Note: ‘Cacao’ refers to the tree and to the product made from non-roasted seeds, and ‘cocoa’ refers to the product made from roasted seeds.

The programme is being funded by Rapac (Réseau des Aires Protégees d’Afrique Centrale). It is designed to improve the potential of cacao as an alternative income alternative to bushmeat poaching, a significant conservation challenge that threatens the forests of the Congo Basin. Agricultural production needs to increase by 70% by 2050 to ensure global food security and avoid adding additional pressures on natural resources in emerging countries.

70% of the world’s annual cacao production comes from the African continent, and subsistence farmers provide 90 % of this. These smallholders are not organised and do not have access to equipment or financial institutions. In the northern sector of Odzala-Kokoua National Park, this is changing. African Parks is managing a plantation rehabilitation programme at Odzala-Kokoua National Park that will create income-generating activities and divert communities from bushmeat poaching, promoting the development of natural resources for local communities.

Four nurseries have been set up north of the park in the villages of Goa, Biessie, Boutazab and Batekok, the sites of old plantations, almost all dating back to colonial times. The saplings are nurtured and tended to by community members until they are five to ten months old and ready for planting. Once planted, the trees will begin bearing fruit in two to three years.

The climate and soil in the northern area are very suitable for the crop, but a marketing infrastructure is lacking. In addition to improving the marketing, the project will establish cacao nurseries in the community, improve the productivity and quality of cacao produced, increase the area under protection and strengthen existing farmer organisations.

All villagers involved in the initiative have received formal and in-field instruction in growing and harvesting cacao from agricultural experts who were trained in Brazil. Topics covered include rehabilitation and maintenance of plantations and treatments to improve their yields.

The programme is also exploring options for cacao growers to collaborate with Cameroonian cacao farmers to secure higher crop prices.

Historically cacao production flourished in the Congo with frequent training given in the 1970s and 1980s. In the 1970s, the Congolese authorities took over cacao cultivation due to the financial implications and its essential economic function. However, pressure from the World Bank to liberalise the cacao market resulted in decreasing market prices, government withdrawal, and the closing of the project. This meant that the farmers had to take care of their own cacao.

To read more on the history of chocolate in central Africa, read: The chocolate Isles and to learn more about Odzala-Kokoua National Park click here.

When a melanistic serval meets a spotted serval

Daylight retreats fast on the equator, quickly overtaken by night. In Africa, the empty darkness is full of possibilities. We were looking for lions with no luck. Instead, nature delivered a real gem – a melanistic serval.

All of us trapped in end-of-the-day-thoughts, eyes focused on the narrow beam of light as the spotlight swept. Rhythmically, back and forth, and then someone yelled, “Stop! Eyes!” But what eyes? Too tall for a nightjar, too suspicious for a hare. Worth a closer look.

As we moved, so did the animal. We stopped, our action mirrored again. Slowly, we got close enough to see through the tall grass… An elegant serval cat on a soundless night-time patrol. The cat started to move again but stopped, ears pricked. We swung the spotlight around and found another set of eyes.

But this approaching creature failed to take a form in the darkness, just a set of illuminated orbs floating towards us. My brain scanned for a match and found none. This was something new.

The spotted cat in front of the vehicle made a mewing sound, reciprocated by the approaching shadow. And then I realised that the shadow was a rare melanistic serval – black as the night sky.

A meeting seemed inevitable, but how would it end? Two cats, identical in shape and form but for a genetic mutation that had left one with a black coat. The dark animal approached cautiously, nearer and nearer, until the two bumped heads.

Watch the two servals interact here:

And the sounds began. Meowing, purring, hissing, low guttural statements. One cat seemed interested, the other apprehensive. The two rubbed heads and pawed softly at each other, seemingly oblivious to our presence. We watched, mesmerised. The two animals continued to interact for about fifteen minutes, moving around but never moving away from one another. Eventually, we reluctantly decided to leave them in peace in case our presence influenced the outcome of what we were watching.

I have no idea what kind of behaviour we witnessed. Maybe it was a courtship ritual, and maybe it was two acquaintances refreshing bonds. Maybe it was an exchange of passive aggression and acts of submission. I know this was a once-in-a-lifetime experience, and driving home, I was elated and excited to remember that every trip into the African bush can produce unbelievable surprises. Read more about servals here.

Rehabilitated Cape parrot thriving

Happy news for Cape parrot fans is that “Red”, a wild-born female Cape parrot rehabilitated from a deadly viral infection and released back into the wild in 2011 has been seen on several occasions visiting a suburban birdbath, apparently healthy and living the life.

The female Cape parrot (Poicephalus robustus) was one of four placed in my care in May 2011. All four were severely malnourished and apparently suffering from the deadly Psittacine Beak and Feather Disease (PBFD). My wife and I (plus a few willing helpers) nurtured the four parrots for six intense months before releasing them back into their native range in South Africa’s Eastern Cape Province.

cape-parrots — Red visiting a suburban birdbath – June 2013. © Rodnick Biljon

The ailing parrots could barely walk out of their holding cages when they arrived, but a healthy diet of indigenous food (including their favourite yellowwood kernels) and a stress-free environment led to a steady recovery and eventual successful release for all four of the parrots.

wild cape parrots — Red (flying, yellow leg band) mingles with wild birds shortly after her release – Oct 2011. © Rodnick Biljon

We nicknamed this female “Red” because of the large amount of red on her forehead. Usually, young Cape parrots show various amounts of red on the forehead, which almost disappears in males as they mature. Females, however, usually retain the red forehead – the amount of red varies from a few specks to a bright red band.

The rehabilitated parrots mingle with wild parrots shortly after their release – Oct 2011. © Rodnick Biljon

Red was the weakest of the four rehabilitated and released parrots, so we hope the other three are also doing well and have dispersed back to their preferred territories.

The Cape parrot is endemic to the high-altitude Afromontane mistbelt forests of South Africa, where they nest and roost, but they also forage in lower-lying forests and farmlands. Fewer than 2 000 individuals are left in the wild, making this Africa’s rarest parrot. Major threats include PBFD, habitat loss and illegal capture for the caged bird industry.

cape parrots rehabilitation — Three of the parrots during rehabilitation. © Simon Espley

Thanks to Lizz Espley, Shelley Prince, Michelle Connolly and Philip Connolly for their help during those six crucial months in these parrots’ lives. Their invaluable help included a strict daily feeding and cleaning routine and harvesting of food from neighbourhood trees (yellowwood, wild plum, assegai, Cape ash etc.).

Keep the passion.

release cape parrots — The release cage. Red can be seen on the front right. © Simon Espley

Running the Gauntlet in the Serengeti

Blood-red dawn spills across the savanna in Tanzania’s Serengeti National Park. The first hoofbeats drum in the distance. Soon a sea of swishing tails and dust obscures the horizon as hundreds, then hundreds of thousands of wildebeest thunder north toward Kenya’s Masai Mara and greener grasses. Some 1.3 million wildebeest and 200,000 zebras cycle through the Serengeti every year in the wake of monsoonal rains. It’s a widescreen drama spiced with life, death, and attackers in the shadows. Wildebeest that make it across the Tanzania-Kenya line reach a promised land: newly verdant pastures. A minefield, however, awaits south of the border – wire snares set by villagers illegally hunting bushmeat as the animals pass through their settlements.

snares poaching serengeti — Confiscated snares are commonly used by villagers to catch wildebeest. ©Norbert Guthier

The “great migration” is the target of hunting for bushmeat

Before game reserves and national parks were formed, subsistence hunting was a legitimate means of survival for locals. But today, such hunting threatens wildebeest and other migratory species, say scientists Dennis Rentsch of the Frankfurt Zoological Society-Africa and Craig Packer of the University of Minnesota.
The migration’s predictability makes for easy targets for villagers in the western Serengeti, Rentsch and Packer report in a recent issue of the peer-reviewed scientific journal Oryx. Wildebeest, zebras, Thomson’s gazelles, and other grazing animals that trail behind run the gauntlet.
The study was conducted in villages on the edge of Serengeti’s Ikorongo and Grumeti Game Reserves and Ikona Wildlife Management Area. The game reserves and wildlife management area serve as buffer zones between human activity and Serengeti National Park. But the biologists state that communities along these boundaries “are the major source of illegal wildlife hunters in the region.”

The researchers collected dietary recall data from eight villages in the Serengeti and Bunda districts to the west of Serengeti National Park. These districts, they say, have the highest levels of bushmeat hunting in the Serengeti ecosystem. The villages were selected randomly, with the requirement that no two villages border each other.
Four sub-villages were chosen from each village and four to five households from each sub-village. Over 34 months, some 132 households were visited. Dietary recall questionnaires requested information on meat-based protein sources cooked and consumed each day during the previous week.

serengeti safari — As the dry season takes hold of northern Tanzania in April, the wildebeest begin migrating north towards Kenya and greener pastures. ©Daniel Rosengren

How methods of assessing bushmeat
hunting are compared:

Scientist Eli Knapp of Houghton College in Houghton, New York, and colleagues compared that method of assessing bushmeat hunting with two others. Two of the methods involve household interviews, while the third depends on data collected by anti-poaching enforcement officers.
One household interview method is based on a self-assessment of poaching activity; respondents are asked to admit to hunting for bushmeat. In the other – dietary recall of bushmeat consumption, which Rentsch and Packer used – participants report on what they’ve recently eaten. The strength of the dietary recall method, researchers have found, is that it decreases participants’ fears of responding truthfully, especially when bushmeat consumption is asked about on a list of other food sources, such as fish.
The results were contrasted with those from the enforcement method: the total number of arrests from anti-poaching patrols.

Zebra-migration-serengeti-Daniel-Rosengren — 200,000 zebras move through the Serengeti each year ©Daniel Rosengren. A dead Wildebeest in the Serengeti ©Philip Sheldrake. A young Maasai villager ©Yulia Sundukova

Estimates are that tens of thousands of wildebeest vanish each year

Rentsch’s and Packer’s results are a first look at wildebeest offtake based on direct measures of household consumption. The numbers were highest during or immediately after months when migratory wildlife species passed through the study area.
Scientists estimate that significant numbers of wildebeest, on the order of tens of thousands, vanish each year. The losses are higher than those derived from past ecological models. Those models, the biologists say, were based on wildebeest population data for 1992-93. At the time, around 370,000 people lived in the western Serengeti; in 2010, it was 600,000. By 2050, it may be 940,000.

Africa’s human population is expected to quadruple by 2100

One billion people currently tread on African ground. “Before the end of the century, Africa’s human population is expected to quadruple,” Packer says. “Tanzania alone could reach 200 million. It had less than 10 million in the late 1950s when the Grzimeks wrote Serengeti Shall Not Die.”
As the number of people goes up, the demand for bushmeat increases. The mean consumption of bushmeat between 2007 and 2010 was 2.2 to 2.8 meals per household per week. What will happen if that intensity continues?
To date, the situation hasn’t reached a point of no return. The Serengeti wildebeest population, it’s believed, is faring well at this time. But there’s more to the story than meets the eye, says ecologist Grant Hopcraft of the University of Glasgow, who also conducts research on Serengeti wildebeest.
The explanation that the population seems healthy when so many wildebeest are being taken, Rentsch and Packer say, and Hopcraft also suggests, maybe that most wildebeest caught are males, leaving females to reproduce and keep population numbers up.

Wildebeest-migration-Yulia-Sundukova — Crossing rivers during their migration, Wildebeest often succumb to crocodiles that lie in wait or injuries sustained while descending the steep river banks.
A bustling Tanzanian market. ©Yulia Sundukova

serengeti — Crossing rivers during their migration, Wildebeest often succumb to crocodiles that lie in wait or injuries sustained while descending the steep river banks.
A bustling Tanzanian market. ©Yulia Sundukova

“The demand for protein needs to be met”

“Males spend more time in woodlands,” says Rentsch, “while females and young are mostly on the plains, where there are fewer places to attach snares.” And males are the front-runners, adds Hopcraft, the first to leave one area and arrive in another – and be caught.
Poaching data from the Ikorongo and Grumeti Game Reserves show a 1.5-to-1 male-to-female ratio of wildebeest caught, Rentsch says, and studies in other locations near the Serengeti indicate a ratio of 14-to-4.
The bottom line, state Rentsch and Packer, is that “wildebeest offtake cannot remain sustainable if communities continue to grow at an exponential rate and the per capita demand for bushmeat remains at the current level.”

In sync with the results, Tanzania National Parks warden William Mwakilema maintains that “one of the biggest challenges in managing wildebeest and other wildlife is poaching for bushmeat, which has advanced from a subsistence to a commercial level.”
Packer agrees. “It will be important to watch the status of the Serengeti wildebeest population.”
Is there another source of protein for villagers near the Serengeti? Freshwater fish from Lake Victoria are available year-round. But what that means for wildebeest and bushmeat hunting is unclear.
“Lake Victoria’s fish are also at risk from commercial fishing operations and increasing demands on the lake as a freshwater resource,” says Rentsch. “Should the fish stocks fail, it remains to be seen what would, in turn, happen to Serengeti wildlife.”
Freshwater fish may be little more than a finger in the dike of wildebeest losses: the farther villagers live from Lake Victoria, the less fish and more bushmeat they already consume.
“The demand for protein,” Rentsch says, “needs to be met.”

What lies on the Serengeti horizon?

“These findings give a glimpse of the darkest cloud that lingers on the horizon for the survival of the migration, the Serengeti and all conservation areas in Africa: our never-ending need for more land, more water, more natural resources,” says Markus Borner, an ecologist at the University of Glasgow who has long studied the Serengeti.
Are wildebeest, gazelles and other species – such as the lions, leopards and cheetahs that depend on herbivores for food – doomed? Hopefully not, say the researchers.

Bushmeat is the cheapest, most readily available source of protein

The task is convincing starving people to spare wildlife, says Rentsch, “when a high poverty rate is coupled with a high human population density – and access to one of the world’s largest intact wildlife migrations, hungry humans will likely continue to rely on bushmeat, the cheapest, most readily available source of protein.”
Adds Mwakilema, “We need comprehensive and enforceable land use plans, as well as a study to determine livelihoods other than bushmeat as a major source of food and income.”
Ecologists are working to alleviate the pressure on wildebeest by helping communities develop alternatives, according to Rentsch. Chicken farming and beekeeping are becoming profitable and conservation-compatible businesses, he says. “The challenge is scaling this up to the magnitude of the bushmeat hunting pressure.”
If the wildebeest population dies out, zebras and gazelles may, in turn, fall, lying in a snare-line boneyard baked clean in the Serengeti sun.

NSPCA’s formal stance on selective breeding wild animals for colour mutations

In South Africa, there is an exploding trend of selective breeding of certain wild animals, mainly antelope and, to a lesser degree, lions, for unnatural colour mutations or morphs. This is done for profit as the novelty of these colours has created a demand all on its own. This type of breeding or management of wildlife has no benefit to the individual animal, the species, biodiversity or conservation. By the NSPCA

Selective breeding is the deliberate selection of and breeding for selected animal traits, usually in controlled conditions. This has been practised extensively with domestic species and has caused numerous animal welfare concerns. “40% of commonly traded antelope species have colour morphs and 69% commonly traded antelope have been genetically manipulated” Rushworth, I. SAWMA. 2014

Intensive farming:

As colour mutants and hybrids are selectively bred and worth a large sum of money, they are farmed intensively as opposed to the usual extensive farming that is done with most antelope in South Africa.

Farming of animals is a profit-based industry, and as with all profit-based businesses, a successful operation involves decreased costs and increased production.

When this is translated to live animals, unethical practices are used to increase profits. This includes confining animals to the smallest spaces possible, feeding animals unnatural feeds (often containing enhancement drugs or antibiotics to combat stress-related illnesses) to increase production or size, and removing young animals before they are weaned to bring the mothers back into oestrus so that they may be mated again to produce more offspring, and physically altering or maiming animals to prevent them from injuring one another when confined to small spaces.

Coupled with all of these concerns, antelope and lions remain wild animals that are not domesticated. They do not seek solace from being near humans, and captivity, confinement and manipulation are foreign and very stressful to wild animals.

Animals are housed in small camps that are securely fenced. These camps are often too small to sustain the animals naturally without human intervention.

These camps are often barren, with the bare minimum provided in terms of shelter and grazing. Overgrazing and soil erosion are often found, and this type of farming is just as damaging to the ecosystem as domestic farming.

Inbreeding and loss of genetic diversity:

Inbreeding is actively practised and used to create these colour mutations, and species are intentionally hybridised to create oddities. The ultimate result of continued inbreeding is a terminal lack of vigour and probable extinction as the gene pool contracts, fertility decreases, abnormalities increase, and mortality rates rise.

The physical effects of this inbreeding are clearly visible, and we have seen the following physical ailments at predator farms: blunted and shortened faces, corkscrew tails, leg deformities, cubs born with missing limbs and cleft palates, eye and heart defects and neurological problems.

Colour-mutant antelope are well known for being prone to skin cancers, heart and eye complications, and other ailments. Inbreeding causes a variety of ailments, including sickness, deformities, sterility and infant deaths.

Loss of disease and parasite resistance:

With intensive farming of animals comes associated chronic stress and distress, which leads to decreased production and illness. To counteract this, farmers often supplement feed with antibiotics and other growth supplements. Parasite burdens are greatly increased when animals are confined and farmed intensively, so anti-parasiticides are used continuously.

The use of the above-mentioned substances is not closely monitored, controlled or used as per the manufacturer’s instructions. This leads to the creation of resistant bacteria and viruses and “super” parasites.

With captive animals, there is a hugely increased risk of disease outbreaks. This affects the welfare of captive and wild animals that may contract the diseases. Wild, free-ranging animals have natural immunities that make them able to cope with parasites and some diseases. However, once in captivity or farmed intensively, these animals are very prone to disease and illness.

Persecution of predators and injury to other wild animals:

Due to the high financial value of these colour-morph antelope, farmers take extreme measures to protect them from their natural predators, including lethal control methods. It is morally reprehensible that wild predators are being persecuted for predating on their natural food sources.

The extensive fencing that is used to keep these antelope contained causes untold injuries and deaths to smaller animals like tortoises, pangolins, pythons, small mammals and birds. These fences also prevent the natural distribution of small terrestrial species.

Lack of suitability to environment:

Wild animals with abnormal coat colours are not suited to their natural environments. These animals do not survive in the wild. Wild animals have specifically evolved coat colours and patterns that enable them to survive in their environments. Black animals suffer more in high temperatures. Hetem et al 2009, 2011

Animals treated as commodities:

Due to the inflated prices of these animals, there is fraud occurring with normal animals being sold for high prices. We have received complaints regarding this as the animals purchased have never sired colour animals.

People are buying colour mutants as investments. Some of these people do not even own land to keep the animals on or know anything about animals. This leads to welfare concerns as the animals are not properly monitored.

Lack of contribution to bona fide conservation, education and research, therefore an unjustifiable use of wild animals in captivity:

Intensively farmed antelope and predators should be seen as completely separate from their wild counterparts. They have absolutely no benefit to the conservation and protection of their kind in the wild.

The genetics of these animals are of no value to the wild populations due to the unscientific and uncontrolled manner in which they are bred. Introducing these inbred animals (accidentally or intentionally) to our wild populations will compromise the genetic integrity of our wild populations.

In an ideal world, facilities that house wild animals in captivity or intensive conditions should not be able to breed these animals unless the animal is endangered and the progeny form part of an ex-situ population base to ensure the return of surplus progeny back to the wild. Merely breeding for profit is unethical and is a welfare and conservation disaster.

Inhumane and unregulated slaughter methods:

Other commercially farmed production animals are subject to regulations and strict controls regarding slaughter methods and processes. Farmed wild animal slaughter is unregulated, and often inhumane methods are used. When an animal is hunted, there is no way of ensuring a quick, humane death, nor are there stunning methods that are used to render the animal insensitive to pain. There is ample evidence of inhumane hunting methods. We have tried to prosecute these cases, but this type of cruelty is accepted by courts as a routine hunting method and, therefore, not prosecutable.

Even in canned lion hunts, when the lion is caged in a small area, lured into one position and obviously not scared or wary of humans with no chance of escape or evasion a hunter will rarely kill a lion outright with one shot. Often these animals need multiple shots to kill them finally. Hunters use a shot to the lung area to sever the aorta. This is rarely achieved, and most of the shots are lung shots which lead the animal to choke on its own blood over an extended time. Novel hunting methods, such as the use of bows and arrows, add even further cruelty.

Slaughter/ meat processing:

The Game Meat Act is not finalised, and these intensively farmed animals put people at risk if they are consumed as they do not go through the Meat Safety Act. Other intensively farmed livestock used for ingestion is controlled by rigorous standards and conditions – abattoir and meat safety inspections. Intensively farmed wild animals are not subjected to this even though the disease risk is just as high. These animals remain wild and cannot be processed via abattoirs, and there are no legal standards or monitoring regarding the slaughter and processing methods. In the interest of human safety, animal welfare and biodiversity, we appeal to our government to ban the intensive and selective breeding of wild animals in South Africa.

ALSO READ: Farming wild animals – is China the model for South Africa

Living Wild in Liuwa

I have always wanted to meet Lady Liuwa, so I must admit to a touch of celebrity fever as we approached her and four other lions sheltering in the scant shade offered by a patch of shrubs. She’s clearly an older lady now, what with that gaunt face and sunken eyes, but she still has the body of a power athlete, and her eyes burned through my skull as she conducted a quick risk assessment, then flopped down to resume her siesta. The three curious cubs and their cautious mother (Lady Liuwa’s constant companion) were not so quick to relax and kept vigil until we left the scene.
Lady Liuwa put Liuwa Plain National Park on the map in the eyes of an adoring public always keen to associate with an animal heroine. Even in her twilight years, an incredible individual, she is the torchbearer for the many people who work so hard to keep the Park in shape and for the local communities who play such an important role in that regard. Perhaps she is ready to hand over her torch to the children of Liuwa – the young eco-warriors who are growing up understanding the vital roles played by animals, like lions, that were previously considered pests and exterminated on sight.

This is Zambia’s only National Park where communities live within its boundaries

31% of Zambia is made up of national parks (government-controlled, in which community is involved) and game management areas (controlled by chiefs/indunas), and of Zambia’s 20 national parks, Liuwa and Sioma Ngewzi are the only two that have communities living within the park boundaries. I had been invited by African Parks to take part in a lion and buffalo vaccination program and to meet some of the amazing people involved, from local chiefs (Indunas) to ZAWA officials, district councillors and the African Parks Zambia team.

Time and again, I am struck by the gulf between the perceptions of the far-away public (usually in sanitised, comfortable “first world” environments) and the reality for the people who live in Africa’s wild areas.
I enjoy most types of wild areas and tend to celebrate each for its uniqueness rather than try to compare or find fault. But on the whole, I do tend towards areas that are less frequented and less manicured for everyday tourists.

How does one describe such a place? Would that mean anything to you if I said that Liuwa ‘fed my soul’? Maybe it’s the vast open plains that span the curved horizon, or the lack of human impact, or the knowledge that for much of the year, this vast floodplain is submerged in water and inaccessible. Whatever the reasons, Liuwa is for those who have graduated from the school of Big Five and infinity pools.
One moment that encapsulates Liuwa for me was a late afternoon when we came across a group of self-drive tourists settled into their canvas chairs a stone’s throw from a small pool of water, each doing their own thing – reading, sleeping, sketching or photographing – totally absorbed, at one with the environment and themselves. They had clearly been there for a while.

Pelicans, spur-wing geese, wattled cranes and a variety of smaller water birds worked the shoreline, and a massive flock of black-winged pratincoles hawked the skies for insects, swarming like quelea over a sorghum field. The late afternoon sky behind the pool was bruised with angry thunderclouds of purple, pink and grey while shafts of sunlight exploded between them. Beyond the pool, countless zebra and wildebeest slowly made their way to the water for a later afternoon drink. The moment was at once peaceful and dramatic. We moved on silently, realising that our presence might disturb this perfect moment. We found our own moment as we enjoyed G&Ts in the fading light, surrounded by a clan of 20 curious hyenas.
I had the opportunity to visit one of the public campsites called Kwale. This is rough and remote camping for the intrepid 4×4 driver who is totally self-reliant. There is cool shade under large trees, cold showers, flush toilets and a camp attendant, but that’s all and it’s wonderful. I chatted to Siyoto Siyoto Derrick, or just “Derrick”, a humble and proud man who runs this neat camp. He proudly pointed out a pair of brown (Meyers) parrots nesting in the campsite trees and showed me how to use the manual water pump.

This is rough and remote camping for the totally self reliant

There are four community-run campsites in the park, all charging US$15 per person per night – which goes towards the upkeep of the campsites and anti-poaching efforts. African Parks has plans to build a luxury lodge in Liuwa that will be operated by Norman Carr Safaris for five months of the year when the water in the park has receded. This year, while the luxury lodge is being constructed, Norman Carr Safaris is operating the existing re-furbished and revamped Matamanene Camp, located in an area of the park where the lion pride is regularly seen, much to the delight of guests. African Parks also has plans to build self-catering accommodation in Liuwa that will be managed by the park team. The legendary walking safari expert, Robin Pope, has been leading safaris to the area for many years and will continue to do so. Robin and I shared a tent during this expedition, and he was a fountain of information and anecdotes that gave me a wonderful insight into one of Africa’s least-known and newest tourism areas.
Probably the most defining moment of the trip was a visit to Lumei Primary School and other primary schools in and around the park – this really connected the dots for me between Lady Liuwa, this vast ecosystem and the people that depend on it.

liuwa buffalo zambia — The author with a buffalo that has been darted for vaccination.
The determined headmistress of Lumei Primary School, Ellen Kakunda. ©Simon Espley

liuwa-Espley-3.-Lumei-School-Headmistress — The author with a buffalo that has been darted for vaccination.
The determined headmistress of Lumei Primary School, Ellen Kakunda. ©Simon Espley

School children form clubs to educate parents and communities about conservation

The school is remote, and the drive took 3 hours each way. Until the school was built in 1997, children had to walk 1 ½ hours each way to another village school to get their education. Lumei Primary School has 300 pupils between the ages of 7 and 17 and 4 teachers under the firm guidance of Headmistress Ellen Kakunda. It’s a tough job because parents want the kids to help with chores such as tending livestock, working the fields and cutting papyrus reeds. Other challenges include providing food, clean water and educational material for pupils.

I was taken with Ellen – her dignified but firm demeanour demanded respect, and her sense of determination filled me with hope.
Another significant issue is that ZAWA requires a minimum of grade 12 for students wishing to qualify as park scouts. To this end, African Parks has a scholarship program at the distant Kolabo High School for promising pupils from Lumei and other Primary Schools in and around the Park. African Parks also promotes an environmental education program with 18 schools in the area, whereby children form conservation clubs to educate and sensitize their parents and communities towards conservation issues. It was on learning this concept that my mind did backflips, and the dots connected. Worldwide there is a huge need for education of this nature – and here, the children are doing that job. All that youthful energy harnessed for a great cause!

We saw countless villagers preparing fields for crops and tending their cattle during the drive to and from the school. How do you explain to them that re-introduced buffalo that come to eat their crops should not be killed and that they should rather change their farming ways so that the buffalo won’t target their crops? How do you explain that lions are vital to the survival of the entire park and surrounding areas and their own lives? The best way, surely, is for the younger generations to educate the older.

The rains arrived during my last few days in Liuwa, and overnight, the plains became a maze of flowers of all shapes and sizes. Wildebeest started arriving from much deeper in the park (Liuwa is home to Africa’s second-biggest wildebeest migration). The next cycle of life in this wonderful place commenced. Within months the entire area will be flooded (where do the burrowing animals, reptiles and insects go?), and the humans will undertake their own migration, the famous Kuomboka ceremony, as the Litunga (the king) leads his people to high grounds near the town of Mongu.

cheetah liuwa plains zambia — A cheetah lies on the calcified sand of the plains during the dry season. ©African Parks.
A ranger stands on his motorcycle to get a better radio signal. ©Paul Godard/African Parks.
Indunas lead their people to higher ground during the annual Kuomboka ceremony as the plain floods. ©Noeline Tredoux/African Parks

ranger liuwa zambia — A cheetah lies on the calcified sand of the plains during the dry season. ©African Parks.
A ranger stands on his motorcycle to get a better radio signal. ©Paul Godard/African Parks.
Indunas lead their people to higher ground during the annual Kuomboka ceremony as the plain floods. ©Noeline Tredoux/African Parks

The bond between communities and the wild animals they live with is not always respected

As my homebound plane rose above the vast plains and a different perspective settled in, I considered the challenges of keeping these remote areas safe from poaching and human expansion. I pondered the powerful bond between local communities and the wild animals they live with, a bond not always appreciated or respected. I thought of the many people I had met during this wonderful adventure and of the incredible landscape and hardened inhabitants.
There is no doubt in my mind that Liuwa is in good hands with African Parks, Zawa and the Barotse Royal Establishment. But there is little doubt that those of us fortunate enough to enjoy the comforts of modern society have to undergo a quantum leap to redefine our perceptions – even to begin to understand the plight of the communities that live in Africa’s wild areas and the reality of the task at hand. Every time I think now of Lady Liuwa, I think too of the communities with which she shares her domain and the children who are set to take over that torch for Liuwa Plain National Park.

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Contributor

SIMON ESPLEY I am a proud African of the digital tribe, and honoured to be CEO of Africa Geographic. My travels in Africa are searching for wilderness, real people with interesting stories and elusive birds. I live in Hoedspruit, next to the Kruger National Park, with my wife Lizz and 2 Jack Russells. When not travelling or working, I am usually on my mountain bike somewhere out there. I qualified as a chartered accountant but found my calling in sharing Africa’s incredibleness with you. My motto is “Live for now, have fun, be good, tread lightly and respect others. And embrace change”.

Treating Africa’s tuskers

A Tusker is a bull elephant with tusks that each weigh over 100 pounds (45 kilograms) and are so long that they often touch the ground. There are fewer than 100 tuskers estimated to be left across Africa, so when the David Sheldrick Wildlife Trust and KWS Mobile Veterinary Unit successfully treated three injured elephants in a 36-hour period last week – they were, in fact, arguably saving 3% of the tusker population.

Our aerial surveillance pilot spotted the first elephant on a routine afternoon aerial patrol with a huge poison arrow wound on his side. With nightfall fast approaching, our aerial team coordinated with our mobile veterinary unit to treat the tusker the next morning. The next day our pilot was airborne and searching for the injured tusker.

With elephants roaming up to 80km a day, the race was on to find him before the poison could enter his bloodstream, leading to an agonising and slow death. But whilst in the air, our pilot spotted a two further massive bulls, each hit with poisoned arrows. Noting their GPS position, our teams now had three tuskers to treat, all in thick bush.

The first in line for treatment was the third bull that had been spotted. Heading out to where he had been sighted, our DSWT/KWS Vet Unit led by Dr Poghorn and our nearby Anti-Poaching Team soon found him, darted him and set to work to remove the bull’s poisoned and dead flesh.

After a swift operation, the bull was up on his feet, and the team moved to treat the second bull who had moved into the open. A well-aimed dart by Dr Poghorn caused the bull to go down, and another quick operation saw Dr Poghon remove a bent poisoned arrow from the large wound. Soon the bull was assisted to his feet and on his way.

The three tuskers were attacked with poisoned arrows, which can slowly kill an elephant depending on the freshness of the poison, the location of the arrow and how deeply it penetrates.

All three are expected to recover fully thanks to rapid treatment, but spotting injured animals early is key and locating any animal in the vastness of the Kenyan bush is the first hurdle.

ALSO READ: Where the giant elephants still roam

Southern African bearded vulture decline

Scientists have turned to outer space to explain the mysterious disappearing act of one of Africa’s most famous birds – the bearded vulture. Satellite trackers attached to 18 bearded vultures have confirmed conservationists’ worst fears: humans are largely to blame for the rapid demise of the species. By: Dr Arjun Amar

Once widespread throughout much of Southern Africa, the bearded vulture is now critically endangered in the sub-continent, with a nearly 50 per cent reduction in nesting sites since the 1960s.

And the main reasons for their decline are collisions with power lines and poisoning, two major vulture hazards that killed half of the birds in the satellite tracking survey.

Once widespread across South Africa, the bearded vulture population is now restricted to the Drakensberg mountains in Lesotho and South Africa. But even in these isolated mountains, the population continues to decline due to human encroachment on nesting sites and feeding territory.

These are some key findings in two new research projects published this month. The studies paint the most detailed picture of the challenges facing the bearded vulture, also known as the ‘bone breaker’ due to its habit of dropping bones from a height to feed off the marrow inside.

The first paper, published in the international ornithological journal The Condor by scientists from EKZN Wildlife and the Percy FitzPatrick Institute at the University of Cape Town, found that human-related factors were the common denominator in differences between abandoned and occupied bearded vulture territories. Lead author of the study Dr Sonja Krueger said, “We explored where the biggest difference lay between abandoned and occupied territories and found that human-related factors such as human settlement density and power lines were consistently different between these sites”.

The study found that power line density and human settlement density were more than twice as high within abandoned vulture territories compared to occupied territories.

Results also suggested that food abundance may influence the bird’s overall distribution and that supplementary vulture feeding schemes may be beneficial.

By contrast, climate change was not found to be a major contributing factor in nest abandonment.

“Though not definitive, the results strongly suggest that humans are our own worst enemies when it comes to conserving one of Africa’s iconic birds,” Krueger said.

The study recommended a new approach to vulture conservation management: “Based on the identified threats and mechanisms of abandonment, we recommend that conservation management focuses on actions that will limit increased human densities and associated developments and influence the attitudes of people living within the territories of (vulture) breeding pairs,” the study concluded. “We recommend mitigation of existing power lines, stricter scrutiny of development proposals, and proactive engagement with developers to influence the placement of structures is essential within the home range of a territorial pair.”

The study’s findings are backed up by a second paper published in the open-access journal PLOS ONE, which relied on data from satellite trackers attached to 18 bearded vultures. The trackers not only showed the exact location of the tagged birds every hour, they also provided critical information on movement patterns and mortality. Tagging enabled dead birds to be quickly recovered and their cause of death determined.

The study confirmed that, in addition to power lines, poisoning was considered the main threat to vultures across Africa and contributed to the so-called “African Vulture Crisis” – a large decline of many vulture species across the continent.

The tracking data also provided new information about the birds’ ranging behaviour. It revealed that non-breeding birds travelled significantly further than breeding birds and were more vulnerable to human impact. Some young non-breeding birds patrolled an area the size of Denmark. The average adult bird had a home range of about 286 square kilometres, but the range was much smaller for breeding adults at just 95 square kilometres.

The tracking study, conducted between 2007 and 2014, required innovative fieldwork. Researchers used meat lures to capture the birds at vulture feeding sites. Each captured bird was fitted with a 70g solar-powered tracker designed to relay detailed information every hour between 5am and 8pm – including GPS coordinates and flight speed.

Tracking results also prompted the study authors to suggest several possible strategies to combat the threats posed by human infrastructure, such as wind farms and power lines. These include: “ i) the mitigation of existing and proposed energy structures to reduce collision risks; ii) the establishment and improved management of supplementary feeding sites to reduce the risk of exposure to human persecution and poisoning incidents, and iii) focussed outreach programmes aimed at reducing poisoning incidents,” the study said.

Dr Arjun Amar from UCT said detailed knowledge about bearded vulture home ranges could hugely benefit vulture conservation: “We knew the species was likely to have large home ranges, but our results show just how far these birds travel – and therefore how exposed they are. The more they travel, the more they risk colliding with power lines or falling prey to poisoning. These two new studies suggest that human activity’s impact on the bearded vulture’s survival is even more serious than we suspected. Plans for multiple wind farms in and around the highland regions of Lesotho will likely place even more pressure on this vulnerable species and may just be the final death nail in this species’ coffin”.

African penguin release on Boulder’s Beach

It was a picture of a slightly different kind as the sun beat down on the huge granite rocks that make up Boulders Beach in Simon’s Town. Instead of the familiar penguin or two (a popular safari request, by the way), a twisting line of red and blue-clad members of SANCCOB drew the attention as it made its way down the boardwalk towards the beach, each person holding a large brown box with bold black letters warning: “handle with care”. By: Halden Krog

Slowly the boxes were lined up on the dunes, and the boardwalk suddenly became packed with onlookers all talking in hushed tones, some pointing, while others tried to capture the moment with their cameras.

All went silent just before the boxes were opened. The boxes were tipped over to reveal their monochromatic passengers inside. Seven plump African penguins plopped onto the white sand before slowly surveying their surroundings. Guided by instinct, they took to the cool water.

The only adult of the group took the lead showing the youngsters the way down through the gauntlet of rocks, seaweed and rude local penguins (it would seem penguin colonies are not necessarily welcoming to newcomers). Eventually, all seven waddled into the surf, shaking their tails and ducking their heads in the Atlantic water. There were cheers and congratulations as another successful release was successfully concluded.

The African penguin (Spheniscus demersus) is found on the southwestern coast of Africa in established colonies on 24 different islands and rocks off the Namibian and South African shorelines. While they breed within this range, their presence has been recorded as far north as Gabon and Mozambique. Historically, penguins avoided mainland nesting sites due to the risk of large-animal predation, particularly by leopards, caracals and jackals. However, a burgeoning human population reduced potential threats and kept large predators at bay. As a result, the first trailblazing penguin pairs began to nest on the mainland around forty years ago. Today, the two best-known mainland colonies are in South Africa: Boulders Beach in Simon’s Town and Stony Point in Betty’s Bay.

A response to the hunting debate

We recently published an article titled, The Thing About Hunting. In the article, Simon Espley explains how the hunting conversation hurts conservation. In response to his article, conservationist Gail Potgieter published an insightful comment that we thought we would share with you:

“Simon, thank you for the article. I sometimes think that the (hunting) debate gets to the point where no one is listening to anyone else anymore, so it is a waste of time to continue. However, you have reminded me that we can’t just stop talking to each other if we want to face the common enemies of conservation.

Firstly, I think there needs to be a better understanding of what conservation actually is among the general public (i.e. those who have not studied it formally). The purpose of conservation is to maintain ecologically intact communities of plants and animals in such a way that these communities will continue to function in future. ‘Future’ here is an indefinite period, and this is my unofficial definition, but I think it covers the basics. I believe that all activities should be measured against the long-term conservation goal to see whether they are assisting or hindering our progress towards that goal. This is the view I take when assessing both consumptive and non-consumptive uses of wildlife.

The hunting industry (i.e. consumptive use) can assist us in achieving conservation goals. However, this does not mean it always does in every situation. As you point out, not all hunting is the same, and not every situation is the same, so each case must be examined on its own merits. For example, game farming in Southern Africa has had several conservation benefits:

1. Habitat is maintained rather than being converted

2. Areas that are not naturally beautiful can still maintain a reasonable level of biodiversity

3. Many game farmers contribute to anti-poaching efforts

However, this same game farming system has some conservation drawbacks:

1. Many game farms are fenced, which inhibits natural migratory patterns and can cause ecological damage if not carefully managed

2. Some game farmers in Southern Africa have taken antelope breeding to such a controlled level that their farms can no longer be described as natural or contributing to biodiversity (e.g. breeding exotic species, artificially increasing carrying capacity to the detriment of other species)

3. Predators are not always tolerated and are often removed as ‘problem animals’ for killing their natural prey species

Similarly, the photographic/ecotourism industry has both positive and negative effects on conservation. As above (in the interest of fairness), I will provide three of each.

On the benefits side

1. Tourists bring in much-needed revenue to developing countries and thus incentivise conservation at the government level

2. The value placed on wildlife by photographic tourists drives a large industry that provides jobs, which incentivises conservation at the local or regional level

3. As most of the funding for conservation comes from the developed world, tourists that come on safari may support conservation efforts through donations after they have returned home.

There are, however, some drawbacks if the lodges etc., do not toe the line

1. Some ultra-luxury lodges have a much greater impact on wilderness areas than they should have

2. Some tour guides harass animals to get better views and thus better tips (e.g. approaching breeding herds of elephants too closely)

3. Some lodges do not support local communities, and most of their staff are not from their immediate vicinity, thus denying the people living with the wildlife any benefits from that wildlife

You will notice that the ‘drawbacks’ I list for both industries apply to “some” game farmers or tourism operators only. These happen in both industries, although not everyone involved in that industry are culprits. Similar lists can be made for other aspects of hunting (e.g. trophy hunting), but I think game farming will suffice as an example.

I agree with you, Simon, that the debate should become more productive. I think we should focus on minimising the negative aspects and promoting the positive aspects of both consumptive and non-consumptive wildlife use for conservation. I also think that the people within those industries are the best people to address these issues. I will provide some examples of this.

Hunters that stand for sustainable use and ethical hunting should be at the forefront of destroying the canned hunting industry in Southern Africa. They should also help enforce quota systems and report any corruption in the hunting permit system in the countries where they operate. All hunting outfitters should find ways to benefit the local communities living in or around the areas in which they hunt.

Tourism operators must actively look for ways to reduce the environmental impact of their lodges and activities, even if this means imposing a little discomfort on their guests. Operators should have a strict code of conduct for their guides when it comes to approaching animals and driving off-road. Just like hunters, tourism operators must work with local communities and provide benefits to these people as much as possible.

A lot more can be done to achieve conservation goals by all stakeholders who rely on wildlife for their income. We must remember that both industries (hunting and photographic tourism) are for profit, even though many on both sides of the fence claim that they do everything for conservation. Making a profit out of wildlife can be a good thing as long as the positive effects outweigh the negatives for conservation.

Vic Falls – Africa’s adventure capital

As we lined up for the Victoria Falls canopy tour one of my fellow flyers asked our guide, ‘On a scale of one to white water rafting, how scary is this?’ I laughed because I didn’t understand her question. Yet.
Not far away, another group lined up for the gorge swing. Hysterical screams echoed across the Batoka Gorge as a woman (or perhaps a man) jumped off the cliff to swing over the wild waters of the Zambezi River. I had booked my white water rafting adventure for a few days later – New Year’s Day at 7am, to be exact. Maybe not the best timing, but trust me, I was wide awake and decidedly sober by the end of the first rapid. In fact, I may as well have fastened my lifejacket, put on my helmet, grabbed my paddle and jumped headfirst into the raging waters beneath Victoria Falls because I tumbled out before we even reached the first rapid.

microlight vic falls — Flying and jumping in all of its forms, including the 111m jump from Victoria Falls Bridge and a tandem swing over Batoka Gorge, can be had at Vic Falls. ©Tom Varley.
Rafters get ready to take a plunge. ©Wild Horizons.

bungee jumping gorge swing vic falls — Flying and jumping in all of its forms, including the 111m jump from Victoria Falls Bridge and a tandem swing over Batoka Gorge, can be had at Vic Falls. ©Tom Varley.
Rafters get ready to take a plunge. ©Wild Horizons.

People leapt from cliffs to swing like pendulums over our heads

So there I was heading towards what is known as The Wall. This rock face turns the cascading water up into a perpetually exploding white froth, holding on to my paddle for dear life with a finger that was broken in three places (in a sailing incident a few days before). But I made it, and I made it down nineteen more raging rapids, passing under the Victoria Falls Bridge where bungy jumpers put their faith in elastic cords, between the cliffs of the Batoka Gorge where people leapt to swing like pendulums over our heads, and past the smallest crocodile in the world, watched over by its much, much larger mother.
As we floated between rapids with names like The Washing Machine, The Devil’s Toilet Bowl and The Three Ugly Sisters and Their Mother, I marvelled at a place that can only fully be experienced in this way. Sheer cliffs covered in emerald foilage towered on either side of the dark green water, baboons watched from the branches laughing at our white-knuckle antics, and a fish eagle sat in a tree, picking at the catch of the day. Apart from the daredevils in the boats, not another soul could be seen. This was bliss. Not the same bliss we had experienced on the Zambezi pleasure cruise along the calmer waters above the falls, replete with G&Ts and bathing hippos. Not the colonial, high-tea that the brochures advertised. This was the Vic Falls adventure we had come for.

gorge swing zambezi victoria falls — Oh, my %å$*#© &*$! ©Janine Maré

We had arrived in Zimbabwe a few days before, eschewing the fancy hotels and percale sheets for a little tent at the Vic Falls Rest Camp – one of the best campsites I have ever stayed at. Despite loving adventure, I find the actual putting-up-of-tents part of camping particularly challenging. Still, thankfully Gypsy Outpost had set up and kitted out our tent for us, leaving us to focus on our primary goal – enjoying ourselves and seeing in the New Year with adventure and fun. We were all ready, sporting our Jameson Vic Falls Carnival armbands.

canopy tour victoria falls — There’s even time for selfies on the Batoka Gorge Canopy Tour. ©Wild Horizons.
Mosi-oa-Tunya or ‘The Smoke that Thunders’ is an apt local name for Victoria Falls. ©Tom Varley.

victoria falls — There’s even time for selfies on the Batoka Gorge Canopy Tour. ©Wild Horizons.
Mosi-oa-Tunya or ‘The Smoke that Thunders’ is an apt local name for Victoria Falls. ©Tom Varley.

Some chose the extreme adventure experience of bargaining for curios

On the first evening, we boarded a train to Zim-knows-where, and stopped way out in the bush to view the setting sun and rock out to some of Southern Africa’s top DJs. The next day, a little worse for wear, we harnassed up and ziplined over the Batoka Gorge on the Canopy Tour. Admittedly, it is not at the pointy end of the one-to-white-water-rafting scale. Still, it was an adventure nonetheless, with spectacular views through what should be renamed “The Gorge of Adventure” towards the iconic Victoria Falls Bridge. Others in our group opted for more sedate, yet still wild, adventures with game drives, canoeing and all manner of wildlife activities. At the same time, some chose the most extreme of all adventure experiences – bargaining for curios at the local market.

The high flyers among us took to the skies in microlights or helicopters for a fish eagle’s view of what we had all come to see: Victoria Falls itself. Words cannot describe it, so I will not try. Perhaps the fact that it is one of the world’s seven natural wonders says it all. Or maybe the local name Mosi-oa-Tunya, which means The Smoke that Thunders. It simply left me awestruck.
Standing at the edge of the falls with my mouth agape, I looked across the misty chasm to neighbouring Zambia, where more adrenaline junkies sat or swam in Devil’s Pool – a calm, protected pool on the very edge of the falls, just inches from where the Zambezi plunges into the abyss.

goldfish-and-colour-party — Headline act Goldfish get the crowd into the spirit of New Year at the Jameson Vic Falls Carnival. Revellers enjoy Zimbabwe’s first colour festival. ©Khyle Henderson/Jameson Vic Falls Carnival.
An African sunset is best enjoyed with a helicopter ride over Victoria Falls. ©Wild Horizons.
Revellers party the night away (©Khyle Henderson/Jameson Vic Falls Carnival) before crawling into tents neatly set up by The Gyspy Outpost.

helicopter vic falls — Headline act Goldfish get the crowd into the spirit of New Year at the Jameson Vic Falls Carnival. Revellers enjoy Zimbabwe’s first colour festival. ©Khyle Henderson/Jameson Vic Falls Carnival.
An African sunset is best enjoyed with a helicopter ride over Victoria Falls. ©Wild Horizons.
Revellers party the night away (©Khyle Henderson/Jameson Vic Falls Carnival) before crawling into tents neatly set up by The Gyspy Outpost.

After soaking up the romance of the falls, we turned our attention back to our New Year adventure and the Vic Falls Carnival. We danced ourselves psychedelic at Zimbabwe’s first colour festival before welcoming in the New Year to the opening track of the Lion King thundering through the speakers: Nants ingonyama bagithi Baba! (Here comes a lion, father!). A torrential thunderstorm soon accompanied the music, but headline act Goldfish took it in their stride, playing “Oo, when we come together, no matter the weather” to an adoring crowd. The thunder rolled through the clouds, and the rain cascaded down, but that wasn’t stopping the revellers. We had all come for adventure, and the storm was just another part of it.

READ MORE ABOUT

Victoria Falls – the smoke that thunders

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Zambezi River – more than a river

For accommodation options in and around Victoria Falls / Livingstone at the best prices visit our collection of camps and lodges.

victoria falls seven wonders — It’s no surprise that Victoria Falls is one of the Seven Natural Wonders of the World. ©Tom Varley.

Contributors

JANINE MARÉ is the first to confess that she has been bitten by the travel bug… badly. She loves all things travel, from basic tenting with creepy crawlies to luxury lodges; she will give it all a go. Janine is passionate about wildlife and conservation and comes from a long line of biologists, researchers and botanists. Janine is a former marketing manager at Africa Geographic and is now a freelance content marketing specialist.

TOM VARLEY was raised in the Zimbabwean bush. At age 10, he moved to Victoria Falls, where he graduated from being a safety kayaker to a raft guide and then a videographer. After earning his Learner Guide’s License at sixteen, Tom joined the British Army, serving in The Royal Green Jackets Recee Platoon for three years. During his service in Bosnia, Tom was responsible for aerial reconnaissance photography for Nato. In 2002, Tom returned to Victoria Falls to pursue his passion for kayaking. After producing rafting videos and photographs, he progressed to filming and photographing wildlife and scenery in Zimbabwe, Southern Africa and Israel. Tom now has a well-established production company, Victoria Falls Productions, and has worked with several international TV channels, including BBC and National Geographic. He published a coffee table book, ‘The Magnificent Victoria Falls’ in 2010.

The Thing About Hunting

The thing about hunting is that the topic is so polarising that it prevents meaningful discourse between people who probably have more in common than they care to admit. And, while the protagonists battle it out, the grim reapers continue to harvest Africa’s wildlife and other natural resources.
We humans tend to silo information to suit our personal requirements and make enemies out of those who feel differently. We might agree on 99% of things, but the 1% apparently makes us enemies.
Let’s face it, we either hate Kendall Jones or we adore her – there is no middle ground. So the chatter around her tends to be angry, emotional, defensive and meaningless in the greater scheme of things – which is of course what she wants: the more attention she can generate the higher she ranks in the race for social media fame. And while we are distracted by her, the process of turning Africa’s incredible biodiversity into trophies, trinkets, medicine and lifestyle products continues apace. The enemies of conservation are well-resourced, focussed and not distracted by the chatter about who has the moral high ground.

I find myself discussing hunting with people from all walks of life. I make a point of speaking to hunters to try and understand their motivation. In my experience, people are mostly either rabidly for or against hunting – on ideological grounds. This rabid focus results in an inability to see facts or opinions that are not directly in the line of sight, and this kills the opportunity to learn from each other and work together towards a common goal.
Many NGOs that tend towards emotional campaigns and demand-side strategies to solicit donor funding are from the “developed” world. In contrast, many more practical approaches and supply-side campaigns come from within Africa. While some “developed” world protagonists call for tourism boycotts on African countries that offer trophy hunting, they tend to ignore the fact that it’s largely their fellow countrymen who are doing the hunting and that damaging the tourism industry via boycotts will remove livelihoods, reduce protected areas and drive more people and resources into hunting. Try explaining that to a rabid anti-hunting campaigner.

Tourism boycotts on countries that offer trophy hunting cause more harm than good

I find the act of killing animals for pleasure or ego unconscionable, and it’s sad that many trophy hunters resort to the default argument that killing animals is good for conservation. There are indeed examples where community-based hunting programs in remote unfenced areas that are not suitable for tourism do provide meaningful funding for communities and, ironically, lead to the recovery of the targeted species. Namibia has a few such examples, but this is by no means the norm. And many trophy hunters get upset when it is suggested that these examples are few and far between and that the overall picture is not as pretty as they portray.

One of the problems with hunting as a topic is that people are, by and large lazy, so little research is done outside of a narrow range of personal interests. And yet hunting is a complex topic that requires research. There are so many types of hunting, and each has its own set of implications. Examples include subsistence hunting by communities on their land, hunting on fenced private farms that choose wildlife over livestock, canned hunting and trophy hunting in unfenced areas near national parks. And there are moral/ethical considerations to weigh with the conservation implications. In my view, you shouldn’t lump all hunting debate into one pot and stir; instead, you should try to understand each situation and then debate based on its merits. In that way, you avoid generalising and insulting large groups of people (on both sides of the debate).

I was recently asked to attend the preview of a rhino horn pro-trade documentary film and to provide constructive feedback. The documentary was put together by a group of experienced, respected people (some of whom I know personally and have great respect for), and I was one of an audience of about 50. The documentary makes a passionate plea for CITES to permit the trade in rhino horn – and some of the content is compelling. Unfortunately, the documentary came across as one-sided, with some claims being made that were rather ambitious and others that were simply inaccurate. For example, it claimed that Kenya’s wildlife has been decimated since the ban on trophy hunting in 1977, and that hunting is, therefore, essential for the survival of African wildlife. I pointed out to those gathered that Tanzania and Mozambique have ongoing hunting industries, yet their wildlife has also been decimated. Therefore, the attempt to position hunting as the cure for poaching was disingenuous and did not cater to the situation’s complexity. I was hoping for intelligent debate, but sadly the panel of experts shied away from the issue, folding their arms and avoiding eye contact. Even the chairman tried to move me away from my question. It was awkward. I stood my ground and requested clarity on the issue. A well-known hunter who remained silent that evening subsequently described me on social media as an “animal rightest” – I think he meant it as an insult. And therein lies the problem – when intelligent probing questions result in insults, censorship and cessation of discussions, what chance does conservation stand?

TeamAG has to deal with ongoing attacks from people on both sides of the hunting debate – alternatively describing us as ‘bunny-huggers’ or ‘right-wing hunting promoters’, depending on the nature of the content on that day. We suffer insults, profanities and even death threats. Our mission is to educate and inspire people to celebrate Africa and do good for the continent. As difficult as some of it is to stomach, we are determined to bring you content that meets that objective.

The only thing separating him and me in our respective pursuits was the act of killing

In my discussions with hunters, I find that the reasons they commonly give for pursuing their passion just don’t add up as being exclusive to hunting. They relate to being outdoors, the bush skills required, the thrill of being close to danger etc. – all of which I get in spades when I walk in remote areas and track wild animals to observe their natural behaviour. During one recent fireside discussion, a hunter called me “ignorant and stupid” for doing all that without a gun. He had no knowledge of my bushveld experience. When I suggested that the only thing separating him and me in our respective pursuits was the act of killing, he became defensive and insulting. But after a while, he admitted that it was the act of killing that gave him the ultimate rush and that my strategy of bushwalking without weapons just can’t measure up in that regard. I respect him for coming clean on that issue and suspect that it was a cathartic discussion for him – it certainly was for me.
On the other hand, in my discussions with anti-hunters, I have found that many have the same knee-jerk response and laager mentality. It seems impossible to get them to accept that there are examples where hunting does work to keep communities gainfully employed and relatively free from animal-human conflict and that sometimes the target species even recovers and grows in numbers. The anti-hunting lobby seems to rely largely on emotion to win votes, and contradicting facts seem to be an inconvenience.

Lets take on the threats as a united force and face the real enemies

It’s a complex situation, but the facts deserve to be considered. The Kruger National Park, South Africa’s flagship conservation and tourism drawcard is a classic example of the complex situation, but the facts are compelling. Afrikaner “Voortrekkers” moved into the Kruger area in the mid-1800s, utilising the wildlife to survive – there seemed to be no limit to the available wildlife. The arrival of gold prospectors also put pressure on wildlife, with active trade in horns, skin and meat, and the arrival of “sportsmen” (trophy hunters) from Europe finally resulted in the decimation of most of the wildlife by the early 1900s. The government at the time tried to implement a series of laws to regulate hunting, none of which were successful. Eventually, some game reserves were proclaimed, the beginnings of what is now the Kruger National Park (KNP). Today some private farms sharing unfenced borders with KNP – the Greater Kruger – offer hunting. Much of the Kruger wildlife can migrate into these areas, putting them at risk, but not as much risk as they face on nearby livestock and citrus farms with little tolerance for wild animals. And so the Kruger area has recovered from historical plunder, and there is an uneasy truce between hunting, tourism and conservation. There are examples of foul play, but broadly the system works, and it stands as an example of how things can progress if different groups cooperate for the common good.

My parting thought is to challenge you to get involved in the debate. Whatever your views please try to respect others and their opinions and harness your emotions to fuel your energy and not to override your common sense. Let’s take on the threats to Africa’s biodiversity and wild areas as a united force and face the real enemies.

Keep the passion.

Contributors

SIMON ESPLEY I am a proud African of the digital tribe and am honoured to be Africa Geographic’s CEO. My travels in Africa are searching for wilderness, real people with interesting stories and elusive birds. I live in Hoedspruit, next to the Kruger National Park, with my wife, Lizz and 2 Jack Russells. When not travelling or working, I am usually on my mountain bike somewhere out there. I qualified as a chartered account but found my calling sharing Africa’s incredibleness with you. My motto is “Live for now, have fun, be good, tread lightly and respect others. And embrace change”.

9 amazing facts about the AARDVARK

“Aardvark” is the first word in the English dictionary – ‘A is for aardvark‘. It’s also a fascinating and elusive animal that many experienced travellers to Africa desperately want to see. Here are some amazing facts about this wonderful creature:

1. Aardvarks can eat up to 60 000 ants and termites in one night, thanks to its 30cm-long sticky tongue

2. They can seal their nostrils, to keep out dust and ants

3. They have poor eyesight but a very keen sense of smell and good hearing

4. Their spoon-shaped claws are like steel – and used to rip into extremely hard ground and termite mounds

5. Their burrows, often in termite mounds, can be up to 13m long and have several entrances

6. They change burrows frequently, providing opportunities for subsequent residents like wild dogs, pythons, warthogs and South African shelduck

7. They are nocturnal and travel up to 16km every night, foraging for food

8. They grow up to 2m meters long and weigh up to 60kg

9. With the body of a pig, ears of a rabbit, tongue of an anteater and tail of a kangaroo, this creature is the only species in its order and probably most closely related to elephants

Which snake is Africa’s deadliest?

One of the most frequently asked questions about snakes is which one is the most poisonous. Most snakes are not poisonous but venomous. Some plants, like certain mushrooms, are poisonous if eaten, while snake venom has to be envenomated for the venom to take effect. So, generally speaking, provided that you do not have major lacerations in the throat or open wounds in the stomach, you can safely swallow snake venom without any ill effect. Not that I am recommending this as some people may well be allergic to snake venom and may go into anaphylactic shock. Written by: Johan Marais of the African Snakebite Institute

So then the question changes – which snake is the most venomous? This is quite a debate as the most venomous snake in Africa is often not considered very dangerous – the boomslang (Dispholidus typus). Drop for drop, the boomslang has the most potent venom of any snake in Africa, and the amount of venom that it requires to kill a human is so small that one can barely see it with the naked eye. There are seldom more than one or two boomslang bites a year in South Africa, and the victims are often snake handlers. The snake is unlikely to bite, and if severely provoked, it will inflate its neck, and once it does this it will strike out with intent. The boomslang is back-fanged with short fixed fangs far back in the mouth, and, like most snakes, it can open its mouth very wide – up to 170˚- and easily latch onto an arm or a leg. While most venomous snakes have full control over their venom glands, back-fanged snakes have quite primitive glands, and to envenomate their prey they need to strike a few times, putting pressure on the venom glands to ensure that venom is released from the duct. A boomslang will often bite a chameleon, release it, bite it again and repeat the process a few times. This is to make sure that envenomation takes place. It is not uncommon for people to be bitten by a boomslang (or any other snake, for that matter) without being envenomated; this is known as a dry bite.

Boomslang venom is haemotoxic, affecting the blood clotting mechanism, and very slow to take effect. Victims seldom experience serious symptoms in the first few hours, and untreated cases may result in human fatalities after 12 hours or even after a few days. There is a monovalent anti-venom made especially for boomslang envenomation, and this is kept at the South African Vaccine Producers and supplied when required.

In Africa, where there are around 20 000 snakebite deaths a year, the main culprit is the saw-scales viper (also known as the carpet viper) of the genus Echis. It has a potent haemotoxic venom that affects the blood clotting mechanism, but part of the problem is a lack of anti-venom and medical facilities in northern Africa.

In Southern Africa, the Mozambique spitting cobra (Naja mossambica) accounts for the majority of serious snakebites, followed by the puff adder (Bitis arietans) and the stiletto snake (Atractaspis bibronii). These three snakes account for more than 80% of our serious snakebites. Still, the mortality rate is extremely low as the venoms are cytotoxic, causing severe pain, local swelling and tissue damage and the majority of victims are treated successfully. However, some may lose limbs or suffer severe tissue damage. The stiletto snake has not caused any human deaths in Southern Africa, but those further north in Africa have.

Of our cobras, the Cape cobra (Naja nivea) has the most potent venom and, along with the black mamba (Dendroaspis polylepis), accounts for the most human fatalities. Information on snakebite deaths is hard to come by but totals around 12-24 deaths yearly in Southern Africa. These snakes have predominantly neurotoxic venom that rapidly affects breathing.

As for the most dangerous snake in Africa or the world, I would go with the black mamba. It is by far the largest venomous snake in Africa, historically reaching 4.5 m, although specimens over 3.8 m are unheard of nowadays. Due to its size, it has a lot of venom, it bites readily (often more than once), the venom absorbs rapidly and may have a severe effect on breathing 20 minutes after a serious bite. Although often labelled an aggressive snake, the black mamba is very shy, nervous, and quick to escape when it has the choice, but if cornered or hurt, it will not hesitate to strike. Another problem is that because of its length, it may bite quite high up in the chest region, and such a bite would be far more severe than a bite on an extremity.

There is no two-step snake – the mythical snake that bites, and you die after two steps. A severe untreated bite from a black mamba can kill a human in anything from 4 – 16 hours and, in severe cases, within an hour – but that is unusual. People die within minutes of a bee sting or eating a peanut, but that is the exception and not the rule.

ALSO READ: Snakes – everything you need to know

Exploring East Africa’s coral reefs

With the stadium lights of Durban fading into the night and the water lapping at the side of the boat, our small team had high hopes. Little did we know this would be our last night of restful sleep for a long while. Using a minimal budget and a team of six divers, one filmmaker, a boat and its crew, we aimed to survey the coral reefs spanning 3 500 km of coastline from northern South Africa to northern Kenya over four months. Ultimately we wanted to provide a quantitative baseline dataset for the entire East African region – to improve our knowledge of the coral reef ecosystems.

East-african-coral-reef-diving--3 — Free diving off the Lazarus Banks, a seamount 50 nautical miles off Pemba, Mozambique. ©Mike Markovina.
As a storm hits south of Lurio Estuary in Mozambique the team tow a fishing pirogue towards the safety of the closest shore village.
After the team were marooned in Mozambique, Ocean Adventurer 2 came to the rescue. Here OA2 chases a storm off Inhambane. ©Caine Delacy.

east-africna-coral-reef-diving-DSC_0407-copy-3 — Free diving off the Lazarus Banks, a seamount 50 nautical miles off Pemba, Mozambique. ©Mike Markovina.
As a storm hits south of Lurio Estuary in Mozambique the team tow a fishing pirogue towards the safety of the closest shore village.
After the team were marooned in Mozambique, Ocean Adventurer 2 came to the rescue. Here OA2 chases a storm off Inhambane. ©Caine Delacy.

The weather turned from unpleasant to downright terrifying

It was quite an ambitious idea, but after much cajoling and the promise of adventure, we eventually had our team – and what we thought would be our vessel. David Livingstone once wrote, “If you have men who will only come if they know there is a good road, I don’t want them. I want men who will come if there is no road at all.” This quote became a mantra over the next few months.
Due to rough seas, seasickness took hold shortly after leaving Durban harbour. Most on board were a deep shade of green, and within a few days, the weather turned from mildly unpleasant to downright terrifying. We found ourselves at the front of a major storm off Leven Point on South Africa’s North Coast. To make matters worse, our engine broke down, and over the next 12 hours, the storm grew to a force with wind speeds exceeding 100km/h and 20ft waves that snapped our boom. Just one week into our trip, we found ourselves limping into Richards Bay with a broken boat.

There, we had to divide the team – three heading to Mozambique to begin the survey dives while the rest remained to await repairs and spare parts. The plan was to reunite in Tofo, where we would have to dive aggressively before cyclone season hit. In a week, we managed to get the boat into seaworthy shape. Spirits were high as we sailed towards Mozambique, but testing times were still ahead.
Crawling towards Tofo on the Mozambique coast late one night, there was an ominous ‘thunk’ from the bowels of the boat. Our hearts sank, and the engine stopped working once and for all. This boat wasn’t going on any expedition. We had to abandon ship, remove all our gear and head for dry land, where we installed our entire team in a small house kindly offered to us in Inhambane. Marooned there, we struggled to find justification for this faltering expedition.

coral reefs — Diving a transect with the help of rescue vessel Ocean Adventurer 2. ©Caine Delacy

We were working on scant information in areas that hadn’t been dived before

I firmly believe in Karma, and maybe we racked up a boatload of it because just when we felt we must abandon all hope, we were given a gift. The crew from OA2, who had heard about our situation, offered us their 82-foot power-driven catamaran to continue our expedition. We only had to wait a month in our little Mozambican shack in the heat of Christmas.
With the boat’s arrival after that long, drawn-out month of kicking up beach sand and agonising over our next move, we approached the project as people possessed. Our new team of 11 (boat crew and survey team combined) moved along Mozambique’s shoreline towards the spectacular Quirimbas islands, and we made up for the lost time by conducting eight dives a day for weeks on end unless bad visibility or weather forced us to take a break.
Our greatest challenge was finding all the dive locations. We were often working on scant information in areas that had not been dived before. Making decisions on which direction to head in, which side of an island to dive off or how much time to spend in a certain location became a stress-filled ritual. We quickly learned not to second-guess our decisions or spend precious time agonising over unpredictable outcomes. Every hour that went by served to remind us how far we still had to go and how little time we had.

coral-reef-diving-east-africa-IMG_0258-22 — Clear conditions finally favour the teams as an exploration dive is conducted off Lazarus Banks, Mozambique – the calm before being rushed out of the water due to pirate vessel warnings. ©Mike Markovina

Everyone dug deep into their physical, mental and financial reserve. To say this wasn’t a pleasure cruise would be an understatement. But we slowly ticked off the dive sites, edging our way through the 2,500km of Mozambique’s coastline and into Tanzanian waters, up through Zanzibar and Pemba islands and past Pangani. Each time we crossed out another site, our hopes rose. You could still feel the tension when we hit minor setbacks like sickness, fatigue and losing team members to their real jobs, but the atmosphere lifted as the days went by. After deciding to forgo Lamu due to potential piracy issues, we crossed into Kenya and lumbered into Malindi, our last stop. Turning around to recover all our missed dive sites, there was a definite feeling that somehow, we might be able to complete this expedition.
Before embarking, a mentor told us to write down everything we thought could possibly happen to us on this expedition. Ultimately most of the worst-case scenarios, like the storm, the breakdowns and having to abandon ship, came to fruition, and we could finally talk about them with gay abandon. I think the universe has a way of dropping you down a peg, forcing you to face greater challenges, and overcoming them. Maybe that is what adventure is all about: Not letting your fears and failures alter your chosen course.

diving-east-africa-coral-reef-IMG_3746-copy — The hull of Ocean Adventurer above the beautiful coral reef off the Quirimbas Islands in Mozambique. ©Caine Delacy.
Team Scientists Dr Rhett Bennett and Mike Markovina prepare stereo video cameras for a new dive, often one of eight completed each day. ©Linda Marikovna.
A green turtle hatchling before being released into the ocean. Its nest had to be relocated to a safe section of Tanzanian beach to avoid poachers. ©Linda Markovina

In February 2013, weather-beaten, smelly and a little skinnier, we returned to Cape Town harbour’s safety. We managed a total of 224 survey dives and 26 recreational and filming dives in rapid succession. We were beat, but we were successful, and that would not have happened without the help of so many different people who fed, housed, motivated and encouraged us. We come across the same kinds of people with every expedition we take, and we tell ourselves that if we ever come across people in similar situations, we will take them in. You have no idea the difference it makes.

So, after all that drama, what did we end up discovering?

Often the dive teams would find creatures like this camouflaged octopus resting off the shoreline of Tanzania. ©Caine Delacy

Certain no-take zones were effective in protecting important species

While no two dives were the same, a common thread emerged as we analysed the data for over a year. Encouragingly, we observed some reefs in near pristine condition, with high fish diversity and well-developed coral communities with endless large, old coral heads, which were a privilege to dive on. Numerous reefs also exhibited little evidence of fishing, with large predatory fishes and herbivorous fishes in high abundance. Potato groupers, large snapper species and a wide range of size classes and trophic levels showed us that certain well-established no-take zones in Mozambique, Tanzania and Kenya were effective in protecting important species – an analysis that favours well-managed marine no-take zones as useful fisheries management tool for the future.
But we also spotted signs of overexploited reefs in areas closer to coastal access points and around well-established local fisheries. Less large predatory fishes and a creeping dominance of algal cover signified that even herbivorous fishes had been overexploited.

A high dependency on marine life by local populations means that even the fin of a turtle is a means to a livelihood. @Caine Delacy
A sting ray is cut up for market in Vilanculo, Mozambique. ©Anton Crone
A stereo video system developed by SeaGIS in Australia recorded all fish in a given area. This method of counting and analysing fish biodiversity reduces many biases associated with more traditionally used visual census techniques and is cost-effective and easily replicated. ©Caine Delacy

When one of these bombs explodes underwater it sends a jarring pain through your bones

With the larger predatory fishes disappearing, local fishermen resort to more effective but devastating methods as they redirect their efforts towards smaller species and species in lower trophic levels, such as spearfishing to access large parrot fishes and small-mesh gillnets to target shoals of fish too small to take baited hooks. On more than one occasion, we dived up against massive monofilament gill nets, un-fondly referred to as ‘hanging walls of death.’
In addition, the destructive effects of dynamite fishing have devastated the corals in many areas, an illegal practice entered into more boldly than one might expect. Being underwater when one of these homemade bombs goes off sends a jarring pain through your bones. This happened to us regularly while we dived on the Tanzanian coast. The destruction is total and devastating, leaving behind eerie uninhabited craters of coral rubble.
What is most disturbing, however, is that many of these observations of coral damage and nets were recorded within some marine reserves or no-take zones. We can only surmise that there is either a lack of knowledge and/or respect for protected area boundaries or ineffective management.

To avoid making sweeping statements about the status of reef fishes or the health of the corals, the effectiveness or ineffectiveness of no-take zones or the noticeable changes in reef status from one country to the next, we will leave these simply as observations for now, until it is possible to back these observations up with scientific fact.
Information sharing and scientific study, in combination, can be incredibly powerful in creating awareness, and that was the core belief that drove us to complete our expedition. The scientific community is now picking up the data and hopefully can be used to help improve resource management in the regions and facilitate the planning of future management initiatives and surveys. In fact, a second survey is potentially in the works – we are suckers for punishment and adventure, it seems. What was it that Livingstone said again?

The survey data is free to download for all to use:
Click here for access

Dedicated to Aaron, who tragically lost his life in a diving accident just after we completed our expedition. A dear soul who loved the ocean as much as we do and whose family took in a bunch of stragglers and gave them a Christmas when they needed it most. Thank you.

Contributors

LINDA MARKOVINA is a freelance travel and photojournalist. She blogs on behalf of Moving Sushi for various online platforms and writes travel guides specifically focusing on African destinations. Her main loves are writing about travel, the natural world, and how we interact with it.
Dr RHETT BENNET is a passionate fisheries scientist interested in the African oceans. Growing up along the Eastern Cape coast, he spent most of his life in the blue, studying, observing, and marvelling at everything beneath the waves.

Also read: Killifish – suspended animation

Why people kill lions

You will never hear the approach of lions. Perhaps the darkness may quiet slightly, or you might be lucky enough to hear an alarm call from another creature, but the night belongs to these great predators.

As the cats draw closer, you may wake from your fragile slumber to the sounds of your cattle, agitated, stamping their feet. The smell of their fear. Not knowing what the blackness holds, you wait for calm or chaos.

And so it goes every night across the East African savannas. Humans and predators live together here, each eking out an existence in a rapidly shrinking world for both. There are no lines, few fences. This is a landscape where there is rarely a local word for ‘nature’; there is no need. Nature is not one thing; it is everything. And humans are part of it.

A Maasai warrior herds cattle in southern Kenya. Livestock form the backbone of the economy in these rural rangelands. — A Maasai warrior herds cattle in Southern Kenya. Livestock form the backbone of the economy in these rural rangelands.

But it is naively romantic to think that the relationship between humans and predators was ever peaceful, and things are deteriorating fast. A week ago, an escalating series of incidents in northern Tanzania left seven lions dead and five people injured.

It started on New Year’s Eve when a pride of eight lions were seen in a village outside Tarangire National Park. That night they attacked a boma and killed two donkeys. In response, several warriors (young men) gathered and killed one of the lions with spears. In the early morning, the lions had also entered a different boma where a woman was milking a cow with her child. The lion showed aggression, but the two managed to retreat. The warriors later tracked and also killed this lion with spears.

As the day progressed, the situation steadily descended into chaos. Warriors and others gathered in large groups, some numbering greater than a hundred, and started to hunt down the lions. Community rangers were the first to get to the scene and brought some calm. However, the arrival of other national park rangers was not enough, and the crowds got out of control. Tanzania People and Wildlife Foundation, and Lion Guardians, both of whom are doing excellent lion conservation work in the area, were also on hand but unfortunately unable to stop the hunting parties. Over the coming hours, another five lions died, three of them shot.

Seems a bit extreme, doesn’t it? Mob mentality is a scary thing, and no one will ever be able to say for certain exactly what led to this reaction, but it is likely to be something more than two dead donkeys. You see, we humans are complicated beings; no human action exists in isolation, and nothing that we do can be examined in a vacuum. Each daily decision we make is the product of years of experiences, attitudes, beliefs and relationships. And so it is with human-wildlife conflict.

Killing a lion in return for killing your livestock may sometimes be a simple tit-for-tat, but in many cases, it is representative of much deeper issues and anger. It may be the result of years of being ignored by the central government, lack of access to historic natural resources because of conservation measures, worries that land will be appropriated for national parks, severe poverty and economic stress, the list goes on.

And this is what makes it just so difficult to solve. These are complex problems requiring complex solutions that need to be tailored very carefully with an intimate understanding of local circumstances. This applies to conflicts in general across Africa and the world rather than this specific incident in Tanzania. The conservation groups around Tarangire National Park have spent a long time working with local communities, but things got out of control in this case.

But there is hope, and with only an estimated 30 000 (ish) lions remaining in Africa, and numbers dropping fast, we need hope. In the Amboseli ecosystem of southern Kenya, lions are going against the trend. The lion population has made a remarkable comeback from near extinction at the turn of the century. Why? Because conservationists listened to local communities.

Big Life Foundation has set up a compensation scheme to partially compensate people for the economic losses from predators on the condition that predators are not killed in retaliation. The Lion Guardians have employed young warriors to monitor the lions, warning local herders when lions are around and intervening when others may want to hunt lions. The Maasai Olympics is a sporting event created to engage these same young men, providing conservation education and an alternative platform for them to demonstrate their physical prowess. These interventions all address slightly different aspects of this very convoluted problem and, together have been incredibly successful.

There is no doubt that Africa’s predators have a rocky road ahead, and the recent lion killings in Tanzania highlight this. Still, conservationists across the continent have to stay positive, learn from successes elsewhere, and, most importantly, listen to the people affected by the conflict!

Forest saved as community says no to oil

Not long ago, in a land not that far away, there was a forest. A magical forest, wrapped in warm moisture snaking inland from the Indian Ocean. It ran the length of the east African coastline, an unbroken paradise full of exotic birds, shrews the size of cats, and elephants the size of… well, elephants.

In a previous post, I wrote of my visit to a tiny remnant of this forest. Humans have chewed up and spat out everything in between, and the green canopy levelled to meet the demands of population growth, but the Arabuko Sokoke Forest persists.

See the isolated green spot in the centre of the map below. That’s the Arabuko Sokoke Forest and all that remains of this once sprawling expanse of life. For scale, the coastline in this image is about 500km long. Needless to say, this fragment is more important than words can express to the rare species hanging on within its bounds, as well as our collective human conscience.

Let’s play ‘spot the threatened habitat’.

So you may imagine my fury when I heard about plans to conduct a seismic survey within the forest, looking for oil and natural gas. I am no clean-energy angel, but surely there are better places to get these resources than a critically threatened habitat?

Despite the oil company’s efforts to spin a story of nature and mining happily walking hand in hand, the discovery of liquid gold here would have sounded a death knell for the forest. I am under no illusions about the nature of capitalism, but I could not believe that a company would stoop to these lows and that a government would allow it to happen in the name of profit and the individual gain of a few.

Cameroon-American Company (CAMAC) is a global energy services firm based in Texas but focused on extracting resources in Africa. Already sounding unsavoury? CAMAC then subcontracted China National Petroleum Co. (BGP) to conduct the seismic surveys. Excuse the generalisations, but foreign oil companies and Chinese contractors do not have a reputation for playing nice in other people’s yards.

The Environmental and Social Impact Assessment (ESIA) was conducted by Earthview Geoconsultants Limited. Please bear with me for these details because it’s so scary as to be almost funny. These supposed ‘specialists’ went as far as to propose mitigating the threat to the Grevy’s zebra (Gravy’s zebra in the report). This is indeed noble, but some might argue overcautious, considering that the nearest Grevy’s zebra (which does not inhabit forest) is 240km away, in Tsavo East National Park!

The Arabuko Sokoke Forest is considered the second most important forest on the African mainland for bird species in terms of species diversity and uniqueness.

Something was up. Despite ‘reportedly’ having been involved from the start, the communities that live around and depend on the forest knew nothing of the project even as the crews arrived on site.

Reading up to this point, you should be tired of the same story that is repeating itself worldwide. Faceless corporations exacting a heavy toll on people and the environment wherever they go. Thanks to wealthy lobbies and a steady flow of cash, governments either remain quietly in the background or go as far as to support the pillage. But what do we do about it in all of our different countries and communities? Do we just continue with our lives, tell ourselves it’s the way of the world, and head home to cook dinner?

Not in this case. Local community groups teamed up with local conservation organisations to take a stand. Led by the Arabuko Sokoke Forest Adjacent Dwellers Association (ASFADA), the group delivered petitions to county government representatives, as well as national resource ministers and management bodies, requesting copies of the Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) and mining licences, and wanting to know why no one had consulted them. Local and international media stepped in to provide exposure.

Members of the local communities are able to take advantage of income generating activities in the forest, such as this butterfly collector. — Members of the local communities can take advantage of income-generating activities in the forest, such as this butterfly collector. These ‘farmers’ release female butterflies into large enclosures and then harvest and export the ova laid by these individuals to live exhibits and butterfly houses in Europe and North America.

The pressure built, and in a fantastic turnaround, CAMAC announced just days ago its decision to cancel the two seismic testing transects running through the forest (no mention of the transects that run along the forest boundaries). Whether this was a last-minute intrusion of conscience (pigs do fly, don’t they?), or worry about the fallout from the growing media attention, is unknown. But it doesn’t matter. The fact is that these communities did not roll over. And thanks to them, and the decision by CAMAC, this patch of forest is safe (for now).

The moral of the story: don’t stand by. As our planet’s natural resources dwindle, these fights will become more commonplace, pitting local communities against outside interests. We cannot rely on governments, and so it is up to every one of us to stand up and cause a stink. The worst we can do is try, and the Arabuko Sokoke Forest communities have shown we can win.

New shrimp species discovered in False Bay

EXTRACT FROM THE FOLLOWING THIRD PARTY SOURCE: Written by Helen Swingler for the University of Cape Town

A tiny shrimp with banded, stalked eyes, and gaudy red ‘warning’ colouring, is the latest of several new marine species to be found by UCT researchers in the extensively sampled waters of False Bay.

The new species of shrimp named after UCT alumnus and computer scientist Guido Zsilavecz who discovered it, and described by Emeritus Professor Charles Griffith in a co-authored paper with Prof Karl Wittmann of the University of Vienna. © Guido Zsilavecz

The small crustacean, a mere 10 to 15mm long, goes by the charming name of stargazer mysid, so called by divers who first saw it, because its eyes seem to gaze permanently upwards.

But don’t be fooled, those apparently large, upward-staring eyes are just a trick of nature, as the eyes of shrimps don’t have a pupil or iris. Instead, they’re compound eyes like those of insects and consist of many simple elements that each look in a different direction.

The vivid ringed patterns are thought to be there to make the eyes appear to belong to a much bigger creature, and hence to scare off predators.

Though previously unknown to marine biologists, the pretty shrimp is a common sight among divers, says UCT alumnus Guido Zsilavecz, an avid underwater photographer who brought it to university marine biologist Emeritus Professor Charles Griffiths for identification.

Griffiths was unable to identify the species and surprised by the shrimp’s bawdy colouring and “fake eyes”.

“They act like the eye spots on moths’ wings,” he explained.

Emeritus Professor Charles Griffiths and Guido Zsilavecz discuss the stargazer mysid, a new species of southern African Mysidopsis, found in False Bay. © Michael Hammond

Griffiths sent the samples to international shrimp expert Professor Karl Wittmann off the University of Vienna in Austria, who confirmed it as being a new species and named it Mysidopsis zsilaveczi, after the diver who collected it.

The species is described in a research paper co-authored by Griffiths and Wittmann and published in the journal Crustaceana, and is the ninth Mysidopsis species to be found in Southern African.

The find is the latest ‘catch’ in an ongoing partnership between UCT and citizen scientists like Zsilavecz, who augment the university’s scientific knowledge in botany and zoology. “We’re a bridge between the public and science,” said Zsilavecz.

The computer scientist and co-founder of the Southern Underwater Research Group (SURG) learnt to dive as a UCT student and has been exploring the Cape’s waters since 1989 (as well as many other exotic locales in both the northern and southern hemispheres). Fascinated by the sub-marine world, and wanting to share the visual largesse, he bought a Nikonos V underwater camera to capture it all in pictures. He soon began contributing to marine guidebooks and identifying new species, like his favourite discovery, the recently described blue-spotted klipvis (Pavoclinus caeruleopunctatus). Having something named after him gives him a shot at immortality, Zsilavecz quipped during a presentation in the Department of Biological Sciences last week, a celebration of Griffiths and Wittmann’s just-published paper on his discovery.

“This confirms that the coastal waters of this subcontinent are one of the biodiversity hotspots in this genus,” said Griffiths.

But there’s a twist in this tale.

When Wittmann found he was dealing with a new species, but only had males among the first few samples sent to him, he asked Griffiths and Zsilavecz to collect and send him female samples of the stargazer mysid. They collected eight more specimens from the same reef, which they thought looked different to the males.

“I thought at least one of them must be a female,” Griffiths said. But each of the first two vials Wittmann opened revealed something else, not females, but two more completely new shrimp species – and there may be more in the unopened vials!

“These can form the topic of another paper next year, but we wanted to get the description of this first species published in the interim,” said Griffiths. “It’s amazing that we’re still finding so many new species in heavily dived waters like False Bay, right on our doorstep.”

Just recently Zsilavecz also found a new species of nudibranch (a soft-bodied sea slug) at Long Beach, a flashy, fleshy little creature with large green lobes and ‘wings’ that resembles the Sydney Opera House. (Zsilavecz has written a guide on nudibranchs of the Cape Peninsula and False Bay.)

“Some 30 new marine species are found in South African waters annually,” added Griffiths.

Dogs save African greys in Congo

Meet Rick and Shon, the dogs who helped rescue two African grey parrots, a crocodile and turtles on a canine mission on the periphery of Odzala-Kokoua National Park in the Congo.

Images blurred for security reasons © Save-Elephants — Images blurred for security reasons © Arthur Sniegon/PALF

The wild animals were being illegally trafficked out of the park but were sniffed out by the dogs. The turtles and the crocodile have subsequently been released back into the tributary of the Congo River. However, the African greys were in poor condition and are currently being rehabilitated at the park headquarters in Mbomo.

© Save-Elephants — © Arthur Sniegon/PALF

Wild African grey parrots are targeted for the pet trade and are trafficked from the Congo to South Africa illegally where they are then sold to breeders and exotic bird collectors around the world.

While at the park, the dogs also discovered an undisclosed amount of bushmeat that was burned on sight.

These malinois form part of a national project in its test phase as a component of the Application of Law for Fauna (PALF). Rick and Shon are used to sniff out ivory, bushmeat and weapons at the airport and various other checkpoints around the Congo.

PALF is a Congolese member of the EAGLE Network, a group of projects operating in eight African countries, aiming to ensure that environmental regulations are met, and environmental crimes follow through with legal consequences.

Zander of African Parks states that it is important to realise the difference between smuggling and transporting. Most people in the Congo are unaware bushmeat is illegal and carry small quantities of it openly – transporting it to feed their families. The problem is when people actively try hiding or disguising large amounts of meat, this is considered ‘smuggling’ and where the canine’s distinct sense of smell is used.

If the dogs are not working they are kept stimulated with obedience training or exercise. Rick is sweeter by nature and loves human company; he also pays close attention to detail. Shon is extremely athletic and loves to play all the time. Both are excellent sniffer dogs with their own personal strengths.

The malinois breed is a highly intelligent and athletic, work-orientated breed. Rick and Shon are ready to do wonders for conservation in the Congo, and there are hopes to grow the canine unit once they have succeeded in helping with more arrests and prosecutions.

PALF and African Parks, who manage Odzala-Kokoua National Park, hope to work closely with the dogs in the near future to help protect the world’s second-largest rainforest.

To read more about dogs working for conservation in Africa, click here.

Rwanda photo gallery

PHOTOGRAPHIC ENCOUNTERS
IN RWANDA – THE VERY HEART OF AFRICA

Images by
KARIM SAHAI
21 November, 2014

The Siverback named ‘Guhonda’, the largest gorilla in Volcanoes National Park and patriarch of the ‘Sabinyo’ group of which all the gorillas pictured here are a part. ©Karim Sahai

A baby mountain gorilla feeds on a fern, Volcanoes National Park. ©Karim Sahai

RWANDA_female_mountain_gorilla_bamboo_jungle

A female mountain gorilla walks between bamboo thickets, Volcanoes National Park. ©Karim Sahai

Female mountain gorilla in a tree, Volcanoes National Park. ©Karim Sahai

Vervet monkey. ©Karim Sahai

Cinnamon-chested bee-eaters. ©Karim Sahai

Black and white colobus monkeys in the forests of Nyungwe National Park. ©Karim Sahai

A marabou stork feeds in the waters of Akagera National Park. ©Karim Sahai

A sight not normally associated with the lush hillsides of Rwanda – zebras in Akagera National Park. ©Karim Sahai

Road to Lake Kivu and the Virunga volcanoes in the background. ©Karim Sahai

Woman in a rice plantation. ©Karim Sahai

Rwandan family. ©Karim Sahai

A young boy runs to catch up with his family. ©Karim Sahai

A young woman flashes a smile at the camera. ©Karim Sahai

Further reading:

Nyungwe National Park

Rwanda – into the heart of Africa

Contributors

Inspired by the elegance of the natural world, Norway-based photographer KARIM SAHAI strives to recreate the moments that nature produces so effortlessly. Sahai’s work has been showcased in photography exhibitions around the world. Alongside his photography, his digital visual effects creations have been featured in numerous high-profile motion pictures such as The Lord of the Rings, Avatar and The Hobbit. Travelling from the forests of Rwanda to the High Arctic islands of Svalbard, Sahai’s latest project is a collection of photos that tell a story about the world as few will ever see it. When not in the field, Sahai teaches master classes and leads photo adventures. https://www.karimsahai.com/

Monkey business

A tiny black face peers through the open gate, not daring to go out. A few minutes later, another furry body runs past – he is the first vervet monkey to step into a land of unknown mysteries, his new home. Soundlessly, other troop members follow – the juveniles first, the females and their babies last. Some climb the bridges of tree stumps that have been placed over the fence. Some prefer to walk through the gates of the enclosure as if they know it was opened just for them. As they explore, they smell the air and climb the trees; they scan the horizon and mark their new territory, oblivious to the observers taking pictures. They are free, and this is all that matters.
As a wildlife journalist, I have visited many wildlife sanctuaries. When I first arrived at Riverside Wildlife Rehabilitation Centre (RWRC) in Phalaborwa, South Africa, I expected to meet people who cared about animals, and I was not disappointed. The owners of this 12-ha primate rehabilitation facility, Primatologists Bob and Lynne Venter, are a delightful couple. The 400 vervet monkeys and 96 chacma baboons they look after are in several good-sized and exceptionally well-kept enclosures.
Bob and Lynne’s unlimited passion and vast scientific (and legal) knowledge means their work goes beyond providing a haven for abused or injured wildlife. At the RWRC, the animals are not only brought back to health but they are also reintroduced into their natural habitat.

SLEEPING-MONKEY — A rescued newborn vervet monkey finds warmth at the rehabilitation centre. ©Jessica Bloye

Origins

It all started in 1992. Bob, who ran a construction company then, rescued a three-day-old vervet monkey from a farmer. The farmer had shot the mother and intended to smash the tiny creature against a wall when no one volunteered to keep it. As a reward, 14 charges were made against Bob for defending the animal.
Back then, South African law listed vervet monkeys and chacma baboons as vermin and pests. Interfering with a person in the process of killing any of these animals was a criminal offence. Bob was sent to court and asked to hand the baby monkey to the authorities, who would no doubt kill it. Naturally, Bob refused.

14 charges were made against Bob for defending a monkey

On the day of his trial, Bob took the monkey with him. The magistrate and members of the court were not impressed. Still, after a lengthy trial, they could not find him guilty of any of the charges brought against him ‘because I acted inexplicably by saving this animal,’ Bob recalls with satisfaction. ‘It was the first time this happened in South Africa. That’s how it all started and what made me want to start a rehabilitation centre for these animals.’

baby-monkeys-at-play — 1. Monkeys are measured, checked for diseases and given a deworming injection to ensure they are ready for release.
2. Rescued baby vervet monkeys at play at the rehabilitation centre.
©Jessica Bloye
3. Vervet monkey skull. ©M.Purves

Right to life

In late 1994, his wife Lynne joined him to help run RWRC, which grew over the years and was soon able to welcome vervet monkeys, chacma baboons, bush babies and other wildlife casualties. The operation increased in size after 2002 when the RWRC began receiving volunteers from every corner of the world, all of whom work around the clock cleaning the enclosures, preparing food for the animals, bottle-feeding babies and other such jobs.
The Venters have never stopped fighting for the rights of these animals and have studied primate ecology and South African law. After many attempts, they successfully helped establish the National Environmental Management Biodiversity Act (NEMBA), which became law in 2004, protecting all CITES (Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species) listed animals. Vervet monkeys and chacma baboons have appeared on this listing since 1974.

The Venters managed to change the law to give these animals protection

‘The first thing we wanted to do was to change the law, to give these animals proper protection,’ explains Bob. ‘The second was to create a facility where casualties could be brought for proper treatment, and thirdly, to reintroduce and release all our animals back into the wild. These animals predate on insects that are quite harmful to agriculture – they are also big pollinators. They eat seeds, and their digestive system assists in the germination of the seeds when they drop them in their faeces. So why would we try to eradicate these animals crucial to our survival?’

Jessica-3 — 1. Photographer and volunteer Jessica Bloye joins a troop of chacma baboons.
2. A baby baboon and a baby vervet. ©Jessica Bloye
3. The author carries a vervet monkey for release into the temporary enclosure. ©Geraldine Morelli

comp 2 — 1. Photographer and volunteer Jessica Bloye joins a troop of chacma baboons.
2. A baby baboon and a baby vervet. ©Jessica Bloye
3. The author carries a vervet monkey for release into the temporary enclosure. ©Geraldine Morelli

Care and Release

As soon as a monkey arrives at RWRC, it receives 24-hour attention and any necessary medical treatments. It is then placed in quarantine for 40 days, where volunteers and staff monitor it. Once the quarantine is over, it is introduced to a larger enclosure with other babies or monkeys of various ages. Once this integration phase is successful, the monkey group is released into a natural enclosure sufficient in size to be exposed to natural predators occurring in the area, such as martial eagle, giant eagle owl, spotted eagle owl and African rock pythons.

Exposure to predators before release hones their natural instincts

‘Occasionally, the primates get to see black-backed jackals and caracal outside of the rehabilitation enclosures and instinctively recognise them as dangerous,’ explains Bob. ‘Their instinct towards predators and other dangers, including humans, are honed by the given exposure. They demonstrate recognition of danger and predators with specific alarm calls and how they react to such threats, which are passed on to the young and other members to follow the fight or flight behavioural response.’
Once a troop of monkeys has become stable and self-sufficient, they are moved to a specifically chosen release site where they will be tolerated and not hunted, and it is here that they regain their freedom.

Tasting freedom

The reintroduction process into the wild is lengthy and involves discipline and hard work. This I came to realise during my three-month stay at Riverside. We started capturing 31 vervet monkeys in their semi-wild enclosure in mid-July 2014 to be released in a temporary 51m x 51m enclosure erected at Wydehoek, a beautiful, hunting-free, private game reserve containing enough natural food and medicinal plants to sustain the animals for many years.
Placing a temporary enclosure at the release site is a fundamental step that most so-called rehabilitation centres tend to ignore. ‘One cannot simply set animals free where they can disperse in all directions and end up dead or injured or starve to death’, Bob explains. ‘Successful reintroduction, or release, depends on these animals being capable of defending themselves, being able to populate their species, identify predators, know whether to fight or flight. They must also have developed a fear for humans, find their food and be able to distinguish plants for their nutritional and medicinal properties.’

More than 600 monkeys and baboons have rehabilitated and released thus far

Two weeks after the animals arrived at the Wydehoek site (which, Venter estimates, is enough time for the animals to have established scented markings and recognise features of the environment) the electrified fence was deactivated, log and branch bridges were placed over the fence, and the gates were opened.
It was an emotional moment as we all watched the monkeys taste their newfound freedom. ‘I don’t have words for it anymore,’ says Lynne Venter. ‘It makes me happy and proud that these monkeys are returning to being wild. It reminds me of everything I’ve given up to do this and why it is worthwhile.’
To date, the Venters have successfully rehabilitated and released 19 troops of vervet monkeys – more than 600 individuals – and one troop of 24 chacma baboons. Another troop of baboons – the second to be released into the wild – will be set free this year. Ten years on, these animals will still be monitored in the wild to learn about their progress and improve rehabilitation methods.

An uncertain future

With the growing public awareness of the plight of primates and other wildlife species, programs like these must be maintained to cope with future casualties. However, sadness fills Bob’s eyes as he tells me about the threats that hang over their operation.
When the new South African government took effect in 1994, it was decided that certain land must be returned to claimants under the land reform act. In 2005, the RWRC’s land was claimed. At the time, the government compensated farmers and landowners for their losses, but because certain tribes disagreed on who should get the Venter’s land, no decision was taken. While they were able to stay longer on their property, it also means that should they lose their property now, they will not be compensated. The new claimants said they would use the enclosures for poultry farming, and they have refused the Venter’s request to rent the property and/or stay on the land.
Bob adds that a dam will soon be built on a river close to RWRC, flooding 50% of the land, including three of their enclosures and their volunteer accommodations. ’We will have to remove the animals. We don’t know where we will go. That’s why we don’t sleep.’ Meanwhile, they continue to rehabilitate as many animals as possible for as long as possible.

Contributors

MAHINA PERROT is a Tahitian-born journalist with a passion for telling stories of conservation. In 2013, she founded Wildlife Sanctuaries Worldwide. This non-profit organisation aims to raise awareness about wildlife sanctuaries and rehabilitation centres around the world via the publication of articles in newspapers and magazines. WSW aims to become a label which will be awarded to sanctuaries and projects that are working towards creating a sustainable future for communities and wildlife. Mahina currently bases herself in France and regularly travels to Africa.

JESSICA BLOYE is a first-year veterinary student from Lancashire, England. She travels as much as possible in her spare time and documents her journeys through photography. During her gap year, she spent ten months at Riverside Wildlife Rehabilitation Centre, where she formed close relationships with the chacma baboons and vervet monkeys; this awakened her passion for rehabilitation, and after she’s finished her degree she would love to carry on volunteering in rehabilitation centres around the world.

The Tribe

The Samburu are a Nilotic people, originally hailing from the plains alongside the Nile River. As part of a Maa-speaking group, they moved south under pressure from the Borana expansion in the late 16th century. The earliest settlement of the Maa was just south of Lake Turkana. This group became known as the Samburu, while another group moved further south and eventually became known as the Maasai. Their languages and rites of passage remain closely related to one another, as do their rituals and spiritual beliefs.

In essence, the Samburu are semi-nomadic pastoralists, whereas the Maasai retained a completely nomadic lifestyle until recent colonisation and land ownership confined both tribes to a more sedentary existence.

Living in a more remote area than the Maasai, the Samburu remain a little more traditional in attitude than the Maasai, whose younger members, particularly, feel the city’s call and modern education. Because of the arid climate of the Samburu region, cattle, goats, and camels make up much of the Samburu’s wealth.

The colour combinations of their clothing can identify different Samburu clans. A great deal of time is spent on personal decoration. Most distinct are the bird feathers men use in headdresses in combination with plastic flowers – a modern addition. Men wear elaborate beaded collars, and their chests are crisscrossed with strings of beads. Women wear many circular beaded necklaces and keep their hair short, unlike the men who will braid and colour their hair with red ochre.

Dirk-rees-samburu-PORTRAIT-II5A1610 — ©Dirk Rees

Dirk-rees-samburu-GROUP-II5A1817-2 — ©Dirk Rees

Dirk-rees-samburu-PORTRAIT-L1008848-w2 — ©Dirk Rees

Dirk-rees-samburu-GROUP-L1008828-v2 — ©Dirk Rees

Dirk-rees-samburu-PORTRAIT-II5A1621 — ©Dirk Rees

Dirk-rees-samburu-PORTRAIT-L1008700 — ©Dirk Rees

Dirk-rees-samburu-RIVERBED-L1008803-2 — ©Dirk Rees

Dirk-rees-samburu-RIVERBED-L1008963 — ©Dirk Rees

Contributors

Photographer DIRK REES was born in Cape Town, raised in Germany and currently lives in London. This Afro-European perspective has led him to work for clients and top agencies around the globe. Extensive travel in Africa cultivated his passion for landscape, natural environments and iconic tribes throughout Africa. Dirk has been described as a force of nature – his passion translates into every element of his work, maximising the creative potential of each project. He has worked with major editorial brands such as GQ, British Journal of Photography and the Sunday Times. View more of his work on his website.

Samburu Sensations

I was enthusiastic about my team’s bid to get me twitching in Samburu National Reserve because they weren’t so mischievous as to give me a rare bird challenge. The list was compiled to demonstrate the diversity and splendour of the region’s birds, and there was the added prospect of seeing many lifers. I began preparing by searching for a birding guide – the team didn’t specify that I couldn’t get help from a true pro, and to add a modern flavour to the quest, the guide I chose was a man I met on Facebook. I had noticed Sammy’s frequent posts on our Facebook page, and how keen he was to share his knowledge with our community. His passion is infectious and he seemed very clued up on Kenya’s birds. So, when planning my Samburu bird quest, I naturally thought of him. Later, during a memorable few hours in a bird hide overlooking a Samburu waterhole, Sammy explained his strategy for the Africa Geographic Facebook community. He aims to share his photos as widely as possible, give out free advice and make as many friends as possible. Then, when those friends decide to visit Kenya, he might be top of mind as a guide. It’s a simple and clever plan that embraces how people gather information and make travel decisions in the tech age, and it’s working. It’s also refreshingly different to the stodgy marketing we see from so many other travel industry brands.

SARUNI_SAMBURU_high-res-11 — Saruni Samburu sitting area ©Saruni Samburu

Sammy learned his trade as a young man guarding his family’s livestock and making meticulous notes about the habits of the birds he saw. He is a walking encyclopaedia of Kenya’s birds: along with Lorenzo Barelli and Jaques Pitteloud, he recently co-authored the largest publication on birds in Kenya titled ‘Wings of Kenya’. Sammy is also a wonderful travelling companion, and his assistance in planning my quest and organisational skills during the safari were of great comfort, freeing me up to absorb as much as I could.

I was completely unprepared for the sight that greeted me

I picked Sammy up in Nanyuki, and we arrived at our first lodgings in total darkness, so I was completely unprepared for the sight that greeted me the next morning. Saruni Samburu Lodge is perched atop one of many rocky kopjes with breathtaking views across the dry Samburu countryside. My chalet (some might say palace) seemed to hang in mid-air, and the hilltop pool enhanced this sensation, perched, as it was, at the highest point of the kopje.

Saruni-Samburu-postcard — Relax Bedouin style at Saruni Samburu ©Saruni Samburu

Villa-5-deck — Relax Bedouin style at Saruni Samburu ©Saruni Samburu

But there was no time for incredible vistas or a full appreciation of the scrumptious breakfast, I had birds to tick off, so I spent my first morning exploring the hilltop I was to call home for two nights. The sound of lions, hyenas and Nubian nightjars calling all night had whet my appetite. Being a newbie in this part of Kenya, I soon scribbled down stunners like the fan-tailed raven, Abyssinian scimitarbill, d’Arnaud’s barbets and Somali bee-eater – to name a few.
Sammy and I enjoyed walking with Saruni Samburu’s guide, Sumaro Lechakaole. Sumaro is an excellent birder, so I was in good hands and could relax, taking in the area’s rugged beauty while my guides worked the flocks. In the heat of late morning, we had an amusing encounter with a distracted warthog that came trotting along the game trail towards us. With its mind on the fresh water ahead, it noticed us just 10 metres out, levitated in fright, and then galloped off in undignified retreat, his stiff tail showing full cell reception.

A late afternoon drive deep into the reserve offered a harvest of delights, including Gambaga flycatcher, Somali golden-breasted bunting and purple grenadier.
After two wonderful nights at Saruni Samburu, we headed into the lowlands and our home for the next two nights – Elephant Bedroom Lodge. This relaxed tented camp is so named because elephants often loiter in camp, spread out as it is along the banks of the Ewaso Nyiro River. As you can imagine, this part of our birding quest was frequently interrupted by sightings of tuskers. Still, we were also treated to lion and leopard, giraffe-necked gerenuk and Grevy’s zebra, a long-time bucket list tick for me.
Our driver and guide was Elephant Bedroom’s Antony Sawiana, who knows the area like the back of his hand. By the time we reached the riverine area, we had ticked off many of the birds on our quest, so the focus switched to pursuing specific species. We encountered a horde of beauties, including African golden oriole, Nubian woodpecker, Lichtenstein’s sandgrouse and steel-blue whydah. And on a few occasions, we bumped into our feline friends while scouring the thick riverside tangles for birds.

Samburu — Lounging by the water at Elephant Bedroom ©Atua Enkop

The red and yellow barbet magically re-appeared as a young leopard

At one point, the red and yellow barbet we were ogling disappeared into a shady thicket and magically reappeared as a young female leopard. She kept us mesmerised for quite some time as she sidled around our car before sashaying off on her mission. During the last few hours of our anxious bird search, we rounded a corner to find a resting lioness with a rotund belly and an attendant swarm of flies. Do we work the last few minutes of daylight to find the birds or spend time with the lioness? The lioness won.
My time in this dusty paradise was up all too soon, and thanks to a full day of strong winds that whipped up great flurries of dust, my birding days were cut short. Despite that, we ticked off 12 of the 15 species on the quest, plus hordes of others and 41 personal lifers. Rather than list every bird we saw, I thought I would pay homage to those that sparked my imagination by handing out a few awards. Have a look at the winners below.

The “Eye-Candy Award” goes to the elegant golden-breasted starlings with their bright yellow bellies, iridescent blue backs and long tail feathers – they reminded me of miniature versions of the blue-and-gold macaws I have seen in Brazil. The orange-bellied parrots come in for a special mention – parrots are always a highlight for me – as they screech past at high speed like they have somewhere important to go.

The “Amusement Award” goes to those crazy bush chickens, the vulturine guineafowl, which we frequently encountered in large chaotic flocks.

The “Busy Award” (and the birds I find most interesting) goes to the massive mixed flocks of small birds working the dry grassland for scraps of sustenance. Sometimes the ground seemed alive with industrious little birds like chestnut sparrows, white-headed buffalo-weavers and Donaldson-Smith’s sparrow-weavers.

The “Looks like nothing until you see its trump card” Award goes to the elegant Rosy-patched bush-shrike, which blends into the drab shrubbery until you catch a glimpse of that bright pink splash, like an open-heart surgery patient on the loose.

The “Neatest dresser Award”, and my favourite sighting, was a 30-strong flock of black-cheeked waxbills flitting through the thick bush near a village.

And lastly, the “Cheeky Award” goes to a common but magnificent little fellow called the superb starling – this great character of East Africa was always on hand in the camps, negotiating for table scraps and performing tricks. We had wonderful sightings of magpie, Fischer’s and wattled starlings as well.

Samburu is a wonderful dryland birding area, with some impressive game viewing thrown in for good measure. There is no doubt I will be back – for those three that escaped. I think I’m ready for that rare bird list.

Headline image of vulturine guineafowl by Ana Zinger.

SEE FOR YOURSELF

For Samburu accommodation options at the best prices, visit our collection of camps and lodges and check out our safari packages.

Contributors

SIMON ESPLEY is a proud African of the digital tribe and honoured to be CEO of Africa Geographic. His travels in Africa are searching for wilderness, real people with interesting stories and elusive birds. Simon lives in Hoedspruit, next to the Kruger National Park, with his wife, Lizz and 2 Jack Russells. When not travelling or working, he is usually found on his mountain bike somewhere out there. He qualified as a chartered accountant but found his calling in sharing Africa’s incredibleness with you. Simon’s motto is “Live for now, have fun, be good, tread lightly and respect others. And embrace change”.

SAMMY MUGO was born in Central Kenya near the Aberdare Mountain ranges and spent his youth visiting the beautiful Aberdare Mountain Park. It was here, while watching guests birding, that his interest in birds was triggered. Sammy’s elder brother worked as a game ranger and he would visit him as often as he could. When his brother gave him a book on the birds of Africa, and a small pair of binoculars, he knew he wanted to see all the birds in his country. His real love of ornithology and photography of different bird species began. Sammy is co-author of Kenya’s largest publication on birds, ‘Wings of Kenya’.

Gallery – The Meaning in the Masks

WEIRD AND WONDERFUL
CHARACTERS IN ONE OF AFRICA’S
GREAT MASQUERADES

Images by
Andrew Brukman
7 November, 2014

In the gule wamkulu, or great dance, hundreds of different characters guide society in the moral code of the Chewa people. Some are in the shape of animals, some are roughly humanoid, and some are completely outlandish. Here are but a few of the central characters and the meaning behind their masquerade.

(L) Chadzunda is the ancestor of all the other characters. His great age, which is shown by his wrinkles and missing teeth, belies his virility, power and energy. (R) Maliya, the wife of Chadzunda, is deeply connected to the Christian Mary. Although she dances to illustrate sexual taboos, she is also very sensual towards her husband so displaying the sanctity of intramarital sex. She is the perfect wife. Images ©Andrew Brukman

(L) Matako alingana (the buttocks are the same) is a baboon-like character that jumps around and behaves promiscuously to – ultimately – teach people that there is no point in sexual infidelity because, basically, all people are the same when you “get down to it.”
(R) Mbaula appears to be generous, even allowing people to make food on his burning head, but really he uses his pseudo generosity as a way to impose obligations on others, and to further exploit them. Images ©Andrew Brukman

(L) Magwiragwira – Mr Grab-Grab, is a thief who has stolen protected property, which has made him sick. His nose, like Pinocchio’s is growing longer from his disease and bad deeds. He symbolises the fact that bad deeds follow their owner, and the evil you do can turn against you.
(R) Chuma cha ana is a multi-horned mask that teaches about inheritance and warns of the greed of the extended family over the nuclear family. This mask, or character, is relatively new, and dances at funerals where there is some conflict over inheritance. Images ©Andrew Brukman

(L) Adapundula looks a little under the weather – and he is. He is a warning against the improper use of magic, because it will cripple you – and make you sick.
(R) Bonya is a type of fish that is smaller than a usipa (which is the size of a tiny sardine) and that is not very nutritious and sometimes makes people sick – but it is cheap. So this mask or character warns against buying cheap imported goods instead of well-made traditional goods. Images ©Andrew Brukman

(L) Mandevu, also called Chigayo or Wokwerakwera, symbolises a foreigner or stranger to the village. His red face, long nose and beard indicate someone of European extraction. He sometimes rides a bicycle or carries a radio, and his purpose is to warn villagers to use caution when adopting modern practices or using new-fangled devices.
(R) Chimbano – the bull that keeps jumping out of the kraal and represents an unfaithful husband. This mask is used to emphasise the need for sexual fidelity in marriage and for abstinence before marriage. Images ©Andrew Brukman

Contributor

ANDREW BRUKMAN is a photographer currently living and working in Cape Town. His roots are in documentary photography with strong influences from conceptual art. You can see more of Andrew’s work on his website, www.andrewbrukmnacreate.co.za.

Gule Wamkulu – when the ancestors dance

In various parts of Malawi, Zambia and Mozambique, the spirits of the ancestors take on corporeal form and dance for their living descendants. Not just to entertain but also to inform, chastise and guide. The forms they take are varied and spectacular, and the occasion of their portrayal is called the gule wamkulu – the great dance.
I first saw the spirits dancing at a lakeshore hotel years ago. It was a spectacular piece of dinner theatre, and, of course, the dancers were paid performers, but it had a power and immediacy that I have not forgotten in over a decade. But there is much more to the gule than mere tourist entertainment.
The dancers prepare weeks in advance by carving masks and making the outfits in secret. These are not thought of as costumes but as actual spirits, each representing a character that fulfils a purpose or delivers a message. Uninitiated people may not see the masks, and the dancers must keep their identity secret, compartmentalising their daily lives from their parallel existence as spirit dancers. The outfits are stored in secret places, and the dancers change far from the village in the forest before making their way from the relative wilds to the civilisation of the village.

‘Gule wamkulu is a cosmic celebration of life and death,’ says Father Claude Boucher (Chisale) of Mua Mission. ‘It comments on and influences issues affecting society – materialism, dispossession and inequality – and reflects the rich cultural heritage of the Chewa people.’ The rituals, traditions, taboos and social etiquette portrayed by the gulu represent and document mwambo – the moral code laid down by the ancestors.

It wasn’t long before Father Claude started questioning the Church’s policy

It’s worth noting here that ancestor veneration, as practised by many African tribes, is not ancestor worship. The ancestors are respected, remembered and – when they have something important to communicate to their descendants – heeded but not worshipped. This common misconception may be one cause of the long-standing conflict between Christian missionaries and the gule wamkulu. The refusal to allow converts to take communion unless they relinquish all links to gule is one example. This situation greeted Father Claude when he arrived at Mua Mission in 1967. But it wasn’t long before he started questioning the Church’s policy of accepting other African traditional practices while demonising the gule. Questioning led to understanding; understanding led to acceptance, and acceptance led to his becoming initiated into the gule wamkulu. In the intervening years, he has documented over 400 gule characters and collected and preserved well over 200 masks.

Gule_Wamkulu_Andrew-Brukman---2 — 1.Mua mission chapel.
2. In some interpretations of Chewa spirituality, Mbona, the rain deity, often takes the form of a snake and speaks through his wife, Salima.
3. Father Claude Boucher (Chisale) has been initiated into the gule wamkulu and taken the name of the Chewa family, Chisale.
4. The abbey at Mua mission.
©Andrew Brukman

Keen to gain a deeper understanding of the gule and its significance, I visited Mua Mission. I’m not sure what my expectations were, but the reality vastly exceeded them. Beautiful brick buildings with spectacular sculptures and frescoes depict the history, culture and values of the local Chewa, Yao and Angoni people and that of the Catholic Church – and if you think combining all that into one harmonious whole is a tricky feat, you’re right. But somehow, they have. I chatted to Boucher in a vain attempt to understand in a day what he had taken four decades to internalise, and probably the most important thing I learned is that it is almost impossible for a verbal-dominant Westerner like myself to fully grasp the pre-literate symbolism of a society as old as the Chewa. But I think I have achieved a vague comprehension.

Superficially, gule dancers can take four basic forms. The oldest and most traditional is a naked man smeared with ash or mud – representing death – and wearing a mask. As norms changed, a loincloth was added, but the look remained the same. More recently, the ash or mud has been replaced by a full costume of tatters – long strips of colourful rags that symbolise the clothes of the dead. And then there are full costumes that consist of a solid structure that may be supported by one person or by two people as with Mkango the lion, made up in the familiar form of the pantomime horse. It is a bit scary, as it rushes around roaring, but it’s also kind of whimsical and quirky.

Two of the more recent forms are Barack Obama and Ebola

There are literally hundreds of forms or masks. Some are in the shape of animals, some are roughly humanoid, and some are bizarre and outlandish. What they have in common is that they are all deeply symbolic and can, in almost no instances, be taken literally. And new ones appear rapidly in response to changing situations – two of the more recent are Barack Obama and Ebola.
I watched a performance of the gule with Father Claude on hand to explain what was happening. The most important dancers are Chadzunda – the father of all the gule characters – and his wife Maliya or Mariya. Chadzunda’s mask is a fearsome black visage with wrinkles and missing teeth signifying his great age and wisdom. He limps into the Bwalo, but is revitalised when he starts dancing with his young and lovely wife. Mariya’s character has clearly been influenced by the missionary history of Malawi. She is represented as of European origin and is – strangely considering her Virgin Mary connections – sensual and seductive as she dances with Chadzunda. While it is true that the gule represents traditional conservatism, it does move with the times. Mariya’s dancing and devotion to Chadzunda represent both feminine submission and a protest against polygamy.

Andrew-Brukman-Gule_wamkulu_11 — 1. Kasiya maliro spins to the frenetic beat of drums.
2. Mbaula allows people to make food on his burning head, but he uses his pseudo-generosity to impose obligations on others.
3. A wooden sculpture takes the form of the giver of life, Kasiya maliro. The intricate forms within depict Chewa rituals.
4. Chadzunda and his wife Maliya’s dance illustrates the sanctity of intramarital sex.
©Andrew Brukman

But possibly the most important, ancient and interesting mask is that of Kasiya maliro – Mariya’s animal counterpart. The name means “the one who accompanies the corpse to the graveyard,” but it is a symbol of life, not death. Kasiya maliro is represented by a stylised antelope, but that’s just there to hide her real nature from the children – and the uninitiated. The antelope is depicted as the tiniest head and tail on top of a huge inverted uterus and vulva. I didn’t spot it at first and when Father Claude explained it to me, he admitted that it took him a long time to work it out, too. I guess for a Catholic priest, that’s not so surprising. Kasiya maliro is the universal feminine, the womb of the world and the tribe. She is the giver of life, and she is there at every important ritual, including death and the initiation of both boys and girls.

A black-faced mask topped by a pot of smoking coals

Another dance I witnessed was that of Kalulu – a cute but strange hare that symbolises the chief and represents desirable qualities like boundless energy, the willingness to serve, and the ability to listen, as indicated by the large upright ears. This is in stark contrast to Mbaula – a complex character portrayed by a fiercely-horned, black-faced mask topped by a pot of (real) smoking coals. Mbaula dances around, giving gifts, and even allows people to make popcorn on his head, but this generosity is a deception to hide his true character. He is really after power, someone else’s wife, undeserved wealth, or all three. This mask appeared only in the 1980s in response, some say, to the despotism, acquisitiveness and sexual incontinence of Malawi President Kamuzu Banda. Many of the masks are used as a satirical mirror and have an overt political message and a covert moral one.

But some, while still communicating a serious message, are just adorable. I fell in love with Chilembwe, a cute, hilariously funny roan antelope character displaying some of the best physical comedy I have ever seen. It had the crowd falling about with laughter at the Kulamba ceremony.
Dances are held for many different purposes, such as initiations, funerals, the appointment of chiefs, the interpretation and treatment of spirit possession and the placation of the ancestors. Gule can guide or reprimand the community or specific people who have behaved contrary to accepted custom. That’s where characters like Mbaula come in, and others warn against sexual infidelity, theft, domestic violence and the abuse of magic. The ancestors are very conservative and demand adherence to a strict moral code in terms of interpersonal relations, distribution of resources, succession, inheritance, gender issues and sexual norms.

The dancers also perform at important ritual and political events, like the Kulamba. This is a gathering of Chewa people from all over Malawi, Eastern Zambia and Western Mozambique to pay homage to Gawa Undi, the king of all the Chewa. Dating back hundreds of years, this is a real “gathering of the clans.” But it has changed somewhat in nature and is now complete with busloads of people, buckets of beer, ephemeral markets selling anything from Kariba kapenta (small fish) to Chinese widgets, political glad-handing, long sycophantic speeches, loud music, hot sun, dust and spectacular gule dances.

I made a mental note to jump out the car if his head caught fire

The journey to the Kulamba was perhaps more instructive than the actual event. We got a lift from Lilongwe to Zambia with the acquaintance of a friend, a minor but ambitious politician. Stopping off en route, he surprised us by handing out thousand-kwacha notes to a succession of pretty girls that, recognising his car, came up to the window to greet him. I was reminded of Mbaula and made a mental note to jump out of the car if his head caught fire.
Before we left Lilongwe, we chatted to a few people about the gule, and were surprised at their response. The waiter who served us in a popular coffee shop said, ‘They are bad. They rob you and beat you up and cut you with pangas.’ And the coffee shop owner nodded in agreement. Was this attitude a result of the ongoing demonisation of the gule by the churches and mosques, or was there something more to it, I wondered. Well, I was soon to find out.

On the way to Zambia, as we neared the border, we came across three men walking down the road. Clad in dirty loincloths with their skin smeared with ash, they wore unelaborate but sinister Hannibal Lecter-like masks. And they each carried a panga and a big stick. Their body language was aggressive in the extreme, and there was nothing quirky or whimsical about them. I – jokingly – suggested to Andrew, who is usually a rather intrepid photographer, that he hop out of the car and take a pic. He refused, wisely realising it would be akin to walking up to a pride of lions for a whisker-sharp close-up. These were so obviously not nice guys – and they clearly were not real gule either – but they used the combination of fear and anonymity offered by the masks to commit crimes against the community. And the worst part is that many people, like those we chatted to in the coffee shop, don’t understand the difference. The ancestors would not be amused.

VIEW Gallery: The meaning of the masks

With special thanks to Father Claude Boucher (Chisale).

Contributors

JENNIFER STERN is a Cape Town-based travel writer who has been trawling southern Africa for fantastic adventures, fascinating and little-known museums, awesome food, great coffee and interesting encounters since the previous century. She is fascinated by how people shape the world – and how the world shapes people, and she sees every new project as another adventure. But adventure, she believes, is not about risking your life. It’s risking your preconceptions about life. Jennifer’s latest adventure took her to Malawi and Zambia to learn more about the mysterious gule wamkulu or great dance.

ANDREW BRUKMAN is a photographer currently living and working in Cape Town. His roots are in documentary photography with strong influences from conceptual art. While on an adventurous road trip through southern and east Africa, Andrew spent time with Jennifer Stern to photograph Malawi and Zambia’s ‘gule wamkulu’. You can see more of Andrew’s work on his website, www.andrewbrukmnacreate.co.za.

Ebola: Is safari travel safe during outbreaks?

Ebola is scary – it’s a very serious rare disease

Africa is the world’s 2nd largest continent. At 30 million square kilometers, it is SO large that United States fits inside of it 3 times over!

And yet infrequent outbreaks of Ebola affecting the West coast of Africa (specifically the countries of Liberia, Sierra Leone and Guinea) have some people cancelling safaris to this vast continent.

If you’re going on safari, you are going to be a very, very long way from these countries – in many cases, even further from them than you were before you left home.

Here are some places that are closer to the Ebola outbreak than the popular safari countries of South Africa, Kenya, Tanzania, Botswana and so on:

London, England – 2 924 miles / 4 707km from Ebola

Paris, France – 2 780 miles / 4 474km

Rome, Italy – 2 794 miles / 4 497km

Barcelona, Spain – 2 292 miles / 3 688km

Is Ebola keeping you from travelling to these places?

Only a crazy person would warn you against visiting Rome, London or Paris because of Ebola, yet they are both closer and receive a higher volume of West African travel than typical safari destinations.

Get a clear perspective on where the outbreak is happening.

Have a look at our map below for a clear, realistic perspective on where outbreaks have occurred, in relation to where you would travel to on safari.

The 2014 Ebola outbreak and proximity to safari travel destinations by Luke Hardiman

Ebola virus disease (EVD), formerly known as haemorrhagic fever, is a severe, often fatal illness affecting humans and other primates. The virus is transmitted to people from wild animals (such as fruit bats, porcupines and non-human primates) and then spreads in the human population through direct contact with the blood, secretions, organs or other bodily fluids of infected people, and with surfaces and materials (e.g. bedding, clothing) contaminated with these fluids.

For more information: World Health Organisation

The bloodhounds of Virunga in DR Congo

Written by: Landia Davies

Bloodhounds. In a high-tech world where electronic devices infiltrate every sphere of our lives, one often hears about advanced technology being used in conservation efforts – from satellite tracking and GPS mapping to drone surveillance. In the Democratic Republic of Congo’s Virunga National Park conservationists have taken a different approach in the fight against poaching – they got themselves some good old-fashioned bloodhounds.

It all started when chief warden at Virunga, Dr Emmanuel de Merode, heard about the success of bloodhound man-trailing in other parts of the world and decided to try using bloodhounds within the park to help protect its wildlife. De Merode contacted a world-renowned expert in bloodhound man-trailing, Dr. Marlene Zahner, with over 20 years of experience in training bloodhounds for search and rescue as well as crime scene investigation.

Marlene was at first sceptical about the prospect of using bloodhounds to track poachers in such an extreme tropical environment but agreed to explore the concept and in 2011 arrived at Virunga National Park with six bloodhound puppies.

Bloodhounds, also referred to as man-trailers or people-search dogs, have been bred to track people for centuries. Their highly developed sense of smell enables them to pick up a single scent from clothing, vehicles, tools or poachers’ traps and follow the scent for miles, even when it is days old.

This unique sense of smell, combined with their independent yet loving natures, makes bloodhounds ideal for working alongside rangers to track down poachers and assist with search and rescue operations.

Dr Marlene Zahner has owned bloodhounds for over 37 years and has been training them for almost 20 years, so bloodhounds are, not surprisingly, her favourite dog. She says, in terms of the training “the dogs are bred to do this, so it’s easier for them. Humans take much longer to learn”.

Back in March 2011 when Marlene arrived at the Rumangabo headquarters in Virunga with six bloodhound puppies, the Congohound Canine Unit was established and the training program began. The unit now consists of 12 people, five of which are dog handlers and seven security members. The head of Section Canine is Christian Shamavu, the oldest and most experienced of the handlers. The dogs include Dodie (the star), Sabrina and Lila (the sisters) and Furaha (joy).

Watch this video:

The entire canine unit is involved in training the dogs and members of the defence unit are active participants too. The team of bloodhounds has grown with the addition of two English springer spaniels to help search for contraband. Headed by Londoner David Claridge, the spaniels (Molly and Tumaini) arrived at Virunga in 2013. These spaniels were trained as sniffer dogs in Switzerland and can detect CITES-listed items like ivory and bushmeat, when inspecting vehicles.

The dedicated and heavily armed rangers of Section Canine work together like a family, committed to their cause. Virunga is still a volatile place with militants and poachers posing a constant threat in certain areas, which means that the rangers are risking their lives daily. There are about 250 rangers working in Virunga and in the last 15 years over 130 rangers have been killed. Dr Emmanuel de Merode himself was shot in April but has subsequently returned to work. His return reaffirms his deep commitment to Virunga and its continued survival as a stabilising force in the region. Addressing the rangers on his return de Merode said, “no matter what happens, our work must not stop”.

Marlene and police dog trainers (Marzel and Uschi Maierhofer and Swen Busch) share this devotion and commitment, returning to Virunga regularly to work with the park’s man-trailing team. The belief that conservation efforts in Virunga can succeed is evident in the morale of the rangers and those involved with the park. Over the decades of war and unrest, Virunga has not as yet lost a single species to extinction and more recently Soco International, a British based oil company, was persuaded to halt its hunt for oil in Lake Edward.

Through the dedication of its rangers and people who believe in the park, Virunga is not only surviving but is actually thriving. Marlene fully believes in the project and says, “If Congohounds continues like this, we will succeed. The handlers are all very willing, really listening, strongly motivated, and have a talent with animals. In this place, there’s discipline, something you don’t always find in other places”.

The Congohounds project is a great example of the commitment to maintaining this world heritage site. The project not only improves the park’s ability to apprehend poachers by tracking them from the site of a kill, but also adds some valuable stress relief through engagement with these amazing dogs. It just goes to show that even with rapid technological advances, in a truly global operation, there remains room for man’s best friend to make a difference, even in the Democratic Republic of Congo.

Virunga in context

Virunga National Park protects unique habitats and rare animals in the eastern part of the DRC and was thus designated a UNESCO world heritage site in 1979. The oldest National Park in Africa, Virunga National Park is home to two of the most endangered animals in Africa – the Okapi (aka zebra giraffe) and the African Mountain Gorilla.

Virunga spans over 300km from north to south, averaging just 23km wide, and is located along the DRC border with Uganda and Rwanda. This over 7800 square kilometres of protected area is home to an abundance of wildlife spread over its diverse habitats. The park covers everything from snowcapped mountains and cloud forests to savannah, even boasting eight volcanoes!

This diverse area has always been linked to the political landscape of the Democratic Republic of Congo, placing it under severe stress since the 1994 Rwandan genocide. For the last 20 years, the park has been caught between wars, becoming a zone of conflict itself. Only very recently has the national park’s future started looking up, with tourist numbers rising from zero in 2008 to over 3000 in 2011.

Through the efforts of the Virunga Alliance, the park is now contributing towards the stabilisation of the region. Virunga National Park is serving as a model for sustainable development, agro-industry, and eco-tourism that actively engages with the surrounding communities. “We have to show people that nature conservation can pay and has economic benefits, otherwise Virunga won’t survive,” says Emmanuel de Merode, the park’s director over the last five years.

Read more about dogs in conservation here.

Africanis

In the dusty rural villages of South Africa, one can expect to see dogs of all shapes and sizes roaming freely, seemingly uncared for and feral. To those who are used to the regulated pedigree world of dogs, these ‘village dogs’ are widely thought of as un-domesticated and most likely carriers of the rabies virus. Whilst this is true in some cases, others are considered precious commodities and companions. This is the story of Africanis.

The Africanis, or indigenous dogs of Africa and Southern Africa, have adapted over thousands of years to the specific conditions and regions they inhabit. Having no extravagant demands on their owners; highly resistant immune systems; keen instincts for hunting, and a naturally subservient nature; these dogs are widely sought after in pastoral regions.

Mandla, taught by his grandfather how to hunt with dogs, is now passing on this ancient tradition to his cousin Banny – a muscular young man dressed in leopard print who, with the click of his fingers, commands the two dogs. ‘You see, he is symbolising that he is strong and ready for hunting’, Mandla says to me as the tiger-striped dog kicks up the dust around him marking his territory.

Africanis are a far cry from the shepherd breeds but are by no means less effective

The dogs serve their owners in a variety of ways and are both diligent and uncompromising in their tasks. In these rural communities, cattle are a symbol of a man’s wealth and status, and so naturally, they need protecting and herding. ‘If they stray too far or run away, the dogs run up and help to control the movement of the cattle,’ Mandla explained. These unlikely custodians of cattle are a far cry from the sheepdogs and shepherd breeds usually associated with herding but are by no means less effective.
Before game reserves, national parks and protected areas were created, Southern Africa was a vast open space where wild animals roamed freely, and people had a bountiful source of meat from the bush. ‘The hunting dogs of our forefathers offered both protection and a way to hunt these animals,’ Mandla recounted. Today a similar alliance exists. During the rainy season, parts of the game reserve fences can wash away and wild animals such as lions and buffalo break free into the community. These animals pose a genuine threat to the community and the livestock surrounding the reserve, and the Africanis act as an early warning system.
As I spoke to the two men about the potential hazards and health risks to the dogs and their owners in this environment, the dogs were relaxed but alert, rarely taking their eyes off their handlers.

Rabies and canine distemper are both endemic to this region and pose a threat to wildlife populations inside the reserves, as well as throughout Africa. Preventative measures are essential in controlling the spread of these viruses. Every domestic dog that enters a protected area without a permit is destroyed on-site by the state veterinarian department and conservation officials. The dog is shot in the body, avoiding the head so that the brain can be preserved for the state vets who sample and test for the virus.

Domestic dogs are destroyed on sight

This is particularly important when it comes to preserving wild dog populations. ‘When park boundaries are on the community doorstep, the risk of contamination is high,’ says Chris Kelly, a Director of Wildlife Act. ‘The wild dogs are such closely bonded animals that if one dog is contaminated, the whole pack can be wiped out in weeks.’ Wild dog populations that are intensely managed are now vaccinated against rabies to reduce this threat.
‘The number of confirmed rabies cases in domestic dogs found in the nature reserves to the west of the KNP, as well as in the adjacent local communities of the eastern Bushbuckridge area, has recently experienced a downward trend,’ say Dr Bjorn Reininghaus, the local State Veterinarian from the Mpumalanga Department of Agriculture. According to him, the intensified vaccinations of domestic dogs by veterinary services and a massive upscale of anti-poaching measures are seen as the most important factors. However, there is no time for complacency, as maintaining sufficient dog rabies vaccination coverage, high awareness about rabies, and adequate disease surveillance are of utmost importance to combat this serious disease and depend to a great extent on available resources and logistics.

Hunting-pack-dogs-conservation-Catherine-Corrett-2 — A hunter and his pack of dogs are confronted by a weimaraner, trained by K9 conservation to track poachers.
©Catherine Corrett

Although many hunters and their Africanis dogs still operate illegally in game reserves throughout South Africa, with the increase in rhino poaching, many game reserves now have a formidable security force that patrols the boundaries day and night and has little tolerance for trespassers. These larger commercial reserves with a significant budget for security and anti-poaching have experienced a massive reduction in bushmeat poaching and snaring activity. The risk to the hunters’ lives has become far too high. Smaller private game reserves that do not stock rhinos and farms that are not as well protected are easy targets for bushmeat poachers. In many instances, game fences are in disrepair, affording hunters and their dogs easy access and opportunity, or the hunters cut fences to gain access. Outside the reserves, smaller species such as scrub hares, common grey duiker, cane rats and steenbok are pursued. Even though the reward is now much smaller, the dogs are guaranteed part of the action and are rewarded with the “matumbos” or insides of their kill, which are cooked up and fed to them back at their homestead.

But for some, hunting with dogs is not a matter of survival. It is a profession that sees hunters and their packs of dogs competing against each other for cash prizes fetching up to tens of thousands of Rands, adding further to the controversy surrounding this ancient tradition. However, as hunters find it increasingly difficult to infiltrate protected areas due to increased levels of security, the tradition of hunting dogs appears to be facing a slow death of its own. Whilst a plus for conservancy, it does beg the question: what next for the Africanis and the hunters in these communities?

Contributors

CATHERINE CORRETT grew up and lived in the heart of London for twenty-five years. Africa stole her heart eight years ago, and she eventually moved to South Africa in 2011 to become co-founder of K9 Conservation. Catherine has spent the past four years deeply involved in conservation, working with some of the finest reserves and conservation programs in South Africa in many different fields, from relocating animals and rehabilitating threatened species to anti-poaching operations, reserve management and environmental monitoring. Catherine holds a BA Honours degree in Social Anthropology and a Master’s degree in Television and Current Affairs Journalism. She has also trained as a photojournalist, cameraman and editor and has worked for the BBC and Reuters. Her greatest passion is conservation through journalism and bringing awareness to a global audience through visual media.

The dog: conservation’s best friend

One of Aesop’s fables tells of a vixen taking her numerous pups out for an airing. She comes across a lioness proudly carrying a single cub. ‘Why such airs, haughty dame, over one solitary cub?’ sneers the vixen. ‘Look at my healthy and numerous litter here, and imagine, if you are able, how a proud mother should feel.’ The lioness lifts her nose and says, ‘Yes. I’ve only one. But remember, that one is a lion.’
Haughty indeed, but such is the hierarchy of the wild. Most recently, a dog named Vixen had a more violent confrontation with a lioness. In this case, Aesop’s fable would be overturned for honour favours the dog. She was a rare East German shepherd. Her back was straighter, and her temperament more persistent and alert than the common German shepherd. She was trained to track and apprehend poachers on a private game reserve bordering the Kruger National Park and worked alongside her devoted handler Jonas, who also happens to be a pastor.
After a night patrol, Jonas was driving back with Vixen at his side. It was one of their last patrols together before she was to be put into a breeding programme. Jonas stopped at the game reserve gate and talked with the gate guards.

The lioness became aware of Jonas as he left the vehicle

An injured lioness that had been displaced from her pride was lurking nearby. She’d been drawn to the light of the guard hut and the smell of food from the nearby community. There, skinny and starving, she had watched the guards and contemplated an easy meal. She became aware of Jonas as he left the vehicle. And Vixen became aware of her.
Vixen immediately put herself between Jonas and the beast. The lioness attacked classically, clamping her jaws around Vixen’s throat and suffocating her.
There was little Jonas could do but call for backup. As the hungry lioness fed on Vixen’s hindquarters, the K9 team tried to force her off by advancing toward her with the vehicle. Finally, they poured water on the lioness – for there are few things a cat hates more – and she ran off, leaving them time to recover Vixen’s body.
Jonas owes Vixen his life. She was buried at her home and training facility. Flowers were laid on her grave, and Pastor Jonas led the ceremony.

k9-conservation-vixen-jonas — Vixen and Jonas.
©K9 Conservation

Since the first canid tentatively accepted food from a human, dogs have been an integral part of our lives. Our best friend, protecting and serving, often just loving. By our hands, many dogs have had the wild bred out of them. But the most progressive step in our manipulation of the dog is to rekindle their friendship with the wild. In essence, dogs like Vixen now play a role in protecting endangered species, even lions.
K9 Conservation has been operating since 2011 and has more than ten such dogs working on game reserves near Kruger National Park, a region that has seen some of the worst rhino poachings in Africa. As well as German shepherds, they work with and train weimaraners and Belgian malinois. Weimaraners are 300-year-old German dogs bred for tracking and hunting stag and other large game. Their refined hunting instincts enable them to be essential in locating animals injured or killed by poachers. This complements the malinois’ more aggressive nature, endurance, agility and superior skill in tracking humans, so the two breeds are often used in tandem. When a poached animal is located by the weimaraner the malinois takes over, picking up the scent of the poachers so tracking and apprehension of the culprits can begin.

dog — 1. Dog handler with snares found by a weimaraner as well as a lion skull.
2. K9 Conservation director Conraad de Rosner patrolling with weimaraners.
3. A weimaraner on the scent.
©K9 Conservation

k9-conservation-patrol-22 — 1. Dog handler with snares found by a weimaraner as well as a lion skull.
2. K9 Conservation director Conraad de Rosner patrolling with weimaraners.
3. A weimaraner on the scent.
©K9 Conservation

‘Not one rhino has been lost in over a year and a half’

‘The poachers are very weary of patrol dogs and are more willing to give themselves up in a confrontational situation if there is a dog with gnashing teeth in the equation,’ says Director of K9 Conservation, Conraad de Rosner.
There are many arrests in the Kruger National Park region, but unless suspects are found with evidence, they can only be charged with trespassing. Often poachers throw their guns into the bush when they realise they will be caught. But the dogs serve another role by finding those guns and the bullet casings near the poached animals. Fingerprints on weapons and ballistic evidence can lead to stronger convictions. ‘In the areas we operate in, not one rhino has been lost in over a year and a half,’ says co-founder Catherine Corrett. Eight arrests of rhino poachers have been made over that time, and the intelligence from the arrestees has led to more arrests higher up the chain. K9 Conservation is expanding its operations to other key wildlife areas in South Africa. It is developing and consulting on using working dogs in Kenya, Malawi and the Central African Republic.

Congo-hounds-community — A handler shares a moment with his bloodhound in a Congolese community.
©Congo Hounds

The Virunga National Park in the Democratic Republic of Congo is a world heritage site. It’s also a hot zone for poaching and war, and 150 rangers have been killed there in the past 17 years. The Congo Hounds Canine Unit, which has been operating since 2011, consists of three bloodhounds and two English springer spaniels. In such a densely forested region with difficult terrain, the bloodhounds are extremely useful because they can follow trails that are days old. They can locate injured rangers or track down poachers intent on killing endangered mountain gorillas and elephants. But that’s where their work stops, as they are too gentle to get involved in actual apprehension. The spaniels are specially trained to sniff out ivory, bush meat and other contraband, so they are used to search vehicles and villages in the region.

dog — 1. At the site of an elephant carcass, a bloodhound gets on the scent of poachers.
2. An English springer spaniel sniffs for ivory, bush meat or other wildlife contraband.
©Congo Hounds
3. Didi, the mix-breed stray turned top tracker. Didi has brought in 6 poachers since being rescued from the ASPCA.
©Big Life

Congo-hounds-springer-spaniel — 1. At the site of an elephant carcass, a bloodhound gets on the scent of poachers.
2. An English springer spaniel sniffs for ivory, bush meat or other wildlife contraband.
©Congo Hounds
3. Didi, the mix-breed stray turned top tracker. Didi has brought in 6 poachers since being rescued from the ASPCA.
©Big Life

The Big Life Foundation operates on the wildlife-rich plains of East Africa. Launched 4 years ago by British photographer Nick Brandt and Kenyan conservationist Richard Bonham, the foundation now employs 300 rangers in 31 outposts in Tanzania and Kenya. One of their most effective anti-poaching initiatives, the first in Tanzania, is a canine unit comprising German shepherds and German shepherd mix breeds used to track and apprehend poachers. A recent addition to the team is Didi, an abused Nairobi stray Bonham picked up from the ASPCA. With care and training, she has proven herself invaluable, already bringing in 6 poachers and finding two lost community members. Says Leyian, one of her handlers: ‘When we are on the track, we can switch off our minds, Didi is our eyes, and we trust her; she will take us where we want to go.’

Further north within sight of Mount Kenya is Ol Pejeta Conservancy and the last six northern white rhinos on earth. The last of the breeding males died recently, and the fact that he succumbed to natural causes and not a poacher’s gun might well be thanks to Ol Pejeta’s canine unit.

Equipped with camera systems and body armour, this is the dog of the future

The unit comprises two bloodhounds, a black malinois assault dog, and 11 younger Dutch malinois introduced as puppies in 2013. The dogs and their handlers are being trained intensively with British ex-military dog instructor Daryll Pleasants and his White Paw organisation. The focus is on creating multiple roles for the new malinois recruits. Referring to Diego, the son of assault dog Tarzan, Pleasants describes how he is trained to search, track and attack. ‘Not only is Diego part of a new strategy in which one dog can accomplish three roles, but he is also fully approachable. In a conservancy where the general public is free to enjoy the fauna and flora, there is no place for an animal that cannot be controlled.’
But poachers will find these dogs far less approachable. ‘Equipped with state-of-the-art dog surveillance head camera systems and bullet/stab proof body armour, these are the dogs of the future,’ says Pleasants, ‘The dogs that are set to give the conservation world the edge in the war against poaching.’

1. A White Paw assault dog wears a camera system and bullet/stab proof body armour.
2. Anatolian Shepherd pups are introduced to livestock herds at a young age in order to grow into devoted protectors.
©CCF/Andrew Harrington

1. A White Paw assault dog wears a camera system and bullet/stab proof body armour.
2. Anatolian Shepherd pups are introduced to livestock herds at a young age in order to grow into devoted protectors.
©CCF/Andrew Harrington

On the periphery of this war, the domestic dog still performs its classic role of friend to domestic animals. Far to the southwest in the arid lands of Namibia, dogs are protecting livestock from predators. Poaching is low in this region, and Namibia’s holistic approach to land use means that livestock and wild animals often cross paths. Because they occasionally prey on livestock, cheetahs and leopards are seen as economic threats and are sometimes killed by farmers. The Cheetah Conservation Fund aims to resolve this conflict using Anatolian shepherd dogs. The dogs, introduced to goat herds at a very young age, have minimal contact with humans, so they grow into devoted protectors of their adopted herd.

CCF-AndrewHarringtonPC — A native of Turkey, the Anatolian Shepherd was bred to resemble the size and colour of the livestock he defended so predators would not detect him among the flock. ©CCF/Andrew Harrington

Anatolian shepherds are not herding dogs and do not move livestock, which can trigger a predator attack. Rather, they place themselves between the livestock and the threat, barking loudly. If the predator persists they do attack, but often their presence is intimidating enough. Since 1997 over 400 dogs have been placed on farms, with 92% of farmers reporting no loss of livestock or at least a significant reduction.
Working with the Ruaha Carnivore Project, the CCF recently introduced young Anatolian shepherd dogs to Barabaig herders near Ruaha National Park in Tanzania. Here, the greatest threat to livestock is not cheetahs and leopards but those haughty lions. The Barabaig people have traditionally protected their herds or even retaliated for kills by spearing and poisoning the cats. But, once the Anatolian shepherd dogs have bonded to the herds and are successful in warding off lion attacks, they may be the lions’ best friends. Perhaps Aesop needs to do a bit of a rewrite.

Contributors

ANTON CRONE quit the crazy-wonderful world of advertising to travel the world, sometimes working, and drifting. Along the way, he unearthed a passion for Africa’s stories – not the sometimes hysterical news agency headlines we all feed off, but the real stories. Anton strongly empathises with Africa’s people and their need to meet daily requirements, often in remote, environmentally hostile areas cohabitated by Africa’s free-roaming animals.

How to draw lions – the stages of a field sketch

When sketching in the African bush I don’t have time to photograph the stages of my pencil sketches because I need to finish them before the people or animals I’m sketching move away. I sketch using very faint lines, which will become almost invisible when I add watercolour, but these lines are very difficult to photograph outdoors. I use the technique to demonstrate how to draw lions.

I also work without an easel, constantly moving around to find different subjects, making it difficult to document my technique as I’m sketching. So, to show you the stages of a field sketch, I am recreating a sketch in the studio, using pen instead of pencil. The piece I have chosen is Powernap, originally sketched in Kruger National Park, South Africa.

Here is how I created the sketch:

I started with the lioness and used oval shapes to show her hindquarters, belly, shoulders and head. These first few shapes are the key to the sketch. If I get them right, they will hold the sketch together, but if I get them wrong, they will tear it apart. So even though these are the simplest of shapes, they must be the correct size, the correct shape, and they must be positioned correctly in relation to each other. These lines, like every other, are drawn only after careful observation of my subject.

I also draw a line indicating the centre of the lioness’ back and continue it through her neck and down what will become the middle of her face. This line is my guide and ensures that her body and facial features will be aligned correctly so that her shoulders meet her belly and neck accurately and her eyes and ears are correctly spaced on either side of the line.

Once I have the basic shapes I join them together. Two simple lines show the start of the tail, and immediately the lioness begins to appear. The hindquarters, belly, shoulders and neck are joined by a long flat line, showing the lioness lying flat on her side. The front legs are simple, and the back legs are nowhere to be seen (if you can’t see them, don’t sketch them).

The ears and facial features are next. I redraw the line down the middle of the face because the first line wasn’t quite right. Using this new line I add the eyes, nose, mouth and eyebrows, along with a few dots to indicate where the hair of the chin will be. The features on the right side of her face are pressed against the ground, so they are angled slightly. I add no further detail to the front legs or body – the lioness is finished!

I use the same process for the male, starting with the big, simple shapes and adding a line to show the centre of his face, which is at a slight angle, and another to show the level of his eyes.

Using these two lines, I add his eyes, nose and mouth. Mouths can be difficult as it is very easy to make an animal look as if they are smiling. I find a minimal amount of detail helps to prevent this.

Adding the lion’s ear and mane makes all the difference. I have added very little to the left side of the lion’s face (the right side of my sketch) because I will use watercolour to create the outline of his face and mane. I also decided that the original line of his shoulder was too high, so I drew another. I don’t erase any incorrect lines, although they are far less visible when using pencil. I don’t add shading to my sketches either because I will create effects of light and shade with watercolour. So at this stage, I consider my pencil sketch complete.

The simplicity of my best sketches is partly due to working from life and having no control over my subjects, but also the fact that I love simple lines. Generally, the simpler the sketch is, the more I like it. Years of practice have allowed me to develop my style, and I believe that what you choose to leave out of your art is just as important as what you choose to include.

If you prefer the motivation of being surrounded by other sketchers, join me on an Africa Geographic Art Safari. We will spend four days in the South African bush sketching wildlife in beautiful settings. You’ll have plenty of time to improve your sketching skills and receive instruction and companionship in a friendly atmosphere.

Cry Wolf

The wolves came to Africa when the ice receded. The hypothesis goes that, as the land warmed about 100,000 years ago, relatives of the grey wolf crossed the land bridge from Europe and colonised the Afro-alpine grasslands and heathlands in the horn of Africa. The continent’s new immigrants would remain there, refining their skills at hunting rodents on the alpine plateaux, developing longer limbs, muzzles and smaller set-apart teeth until they were masters of the Afroalpine – efficient, lean, killing machines of mole rats, grass rats and hyrax.

Ehtiopian-wolf-will-burrard-lucas-4 — 1. An Ethiopian wolf silently stalks its prey.
2. The wolf pounces.
3. A female brings a freshly killed hare to a male. Being small prey specialists, Ethiopian wolves do not hunt in packs.
4. The most common victim of the Ethiopian wolf is the grass rat.
©Will Burrard-Lucas

Offering — 1. An Ethiopian wolf silently stalks its prey.
2. The wolf pounces.
3. A female brings a freshly killed hare to a male. Being small prey specialists, Ethiopian wolves do not hunt in packs.
4. The most common victim of the Ethiopian wolf is the grass rat.
©Will Burrard-Lucas

There were never many wolves because of their limited habitat – probably a few thousand at best. Today there are little more than 500 alive, making the Ethiopian wolf the rarest canid species, three times rarer than the panda bear, and Africa’s most endangered carnivore.
‘They are victims of their success. They evolved to thrive as specialists in the Afro-alpine grassland. But because of the warming continent and the pressure of humans, now they are restricted to tiny mountain pockets, and the pressure continues ever upwards,’ explains the founder of the Ethiopian Wolf Conservation Programme, Professor Claudio Sillero, a conservation biologist at the University of Oxford’s WildCRU.

wolf-ethiopia-crossing-stream-Will-burrard-lucas — An Ethiopian Wolf patrols its territory in the Web Valley. This remote and inaccessible area is one of the last remaining strongholds of the Ethiopian Wolf. It is superb wolf habitat due to the very high density of rodents it supports. ©Will Burrard-Lucas

It is not for lack of food that their numbers are small. Their Afroalpine environment has particularly high rodent biomass. ‘It holds more prey biomass than a typical East African grassland. We’re talking three thousand kilos of rats per square kilometre. It’s an amazing resource for wolves, other carnivores and many raptors,’ explains Sillero. But this environment is also a resource for cattle and goat herders, and the peril they bring is rabies by way of domestic dogs. The dogs are there to protect herds from spotted hyaenas and other predators. Ethiopian wolves do not prey on such large animals, but it doesn’t stop dogs from interacting with wolves, and inevitably they contract the virus too.

3000kg of rats per sq.km means the Afroalpine is an amazing resource for wolves

Sillero began studying Ethiopian wolves in the late eighties. Throughout that time and long before, the interaction between domestic dogs and wolves was relatively common, even resulting in hybrids. Through the neutering of hybrids and reducing the occurrence of free-ranging dogs in wolf habitats, the EWCP team is pushing hard to stop cross-breeding. ‘But in the late eighties and early nineties, we had a bunch of odd-looking wolves out there,’ Sillero jokes. He reminds me that it is through biting that rabies is transferred. The animal’s behaviour changes once the virus takes control, altering its behaviour and driving it to increase the dispersal of the virus. The animal becomes more aggressive and ranges widely, biting other creatures, including livestock and humans.

Wolf-family-ethiopia-will-burrard-lucas — 1. The Taura pack in the Web Valley, Bale Mountains National Park.
2. Domestic dogs can transmit rabies and other diseases to the wolves but are needed by the locals to protect their livestock from leopards and hyenas.
3. The alpine terrain makes things difficult for the EWCP team and, like the herders, they will often use horses to cover more difficult terrain.
4. Professor Claudio Sillero and the EWCP team vaccinate a wolf in the Bale Mountains.
©Will Burrard-Lucas

dog-ethiopia-Will-burrard-lucas — 1. The Taura pack in the Web Valley, Bale Mountains National Park.
2. Domestic dogs can transmit rabies and other diseases to the wolves but are needed by the locals to protect their livestock from leopards and hyenas.
3. The alpine terrain makes things difficult for the EWCP team and, like the herders, they will often use horses to cover more difficult terrain.
4. Professor Claudio Sillero and the EWCP team vaccinate a wolf in the Bale Mountains.
©Will Burrard-Lucas

Rabies is not unusual among Ethiopian wolves and comes around in cycles. But the latest cycle of rabies was particularly bad. ‘We have major outbreaks every ten years, but the last one was after five years, so they appear to be occurring more frequently now.’
EWCP’s team comprises 35 Ethiopian nationals and is supported by the Born Free Foundation. The Bale Mountains National Park, containing the highest population of wolves with just over three hundred individuals, is the core area of their work. On 10 July, the EWCP picked up their first carcass here. By 11 August, they had found four more carcasses testing positive for rabies and Sillero and his team began vaccinating the wolves. ‘Unless we step in and vaccinate, the impact is dire. You lose three out of four wolves in the affected population.’ In this case, a population of 66 lost an estimated 25 wolves before it appeared to be under control. Sillero remains cautious and will not declare the wolves out of danger until he and his team have monitored the situation for a few more weeks.

For the last few years, Sillero has been moving away from a reactive vaccination approach in order to implement a pro-active approach with a proven oral vaccine that is put in food. This could enable them to prevent or lessen the impact of future outbreaks and build some immunity in the population. They were testing this process when the last outbreak occurred and were able to monitor the animals that had taken the oral vaccine. They all survived. But the team’s work is never done. Specialised creatures require special management, and Sillero takes all factors into account, particularly humans.

Humans colonised the Ethiopian landscape long before the wolves

Ethiopia is also the home of Lucy, our ancestor. The discovery of this 3.2 million-year-old hominin fossil confirmed this northern stretch of the great rift as one of the cradles of humankind. Humans crossed the same land bridge as the wolves about 700,000 years earlier, in reverse. But many of us remained and shaped the land of Ethiopia over hundreds of thousands of years, particularly through farming over the last 8,000 years and domestic livestock for even longer. A lack of resources makes it incredibly difficult to prevent traditional pastoralists from entering Ethiopia’s National Parks.

cattle-will-burrard-lucas — Cattle make their way across a valley. They compact the ground reducing rodent density. ©Will Burrard-Lucas

Domestic dogs outnumber wolves in the National Park by more than two to one

Sillero understands the prevalence of humans, livestock and agriculture in the national parks and takes a holistic approach. ‘In the horn of Africa, the landscape is human-dominated. There is no conservation without taking the local communities into account. In the big conservation areas in Southern and East Africa, many are working with local communities because it’s the right thing to do. But in Ethiopia, you can’t afford not to.’
In the last four weeks, EWCP vaccinated 700 domestic dogs inside Bale National Park alone. They aim to vaccinate at least 70% of the dog population, but there are always new dogs coming in with the seasonal herders, and this trickle is impossible to plug with the limited capacity of Sillero’s team and the national park rangers.
EWCP educates herders about the impact of the virus on themselves and their livestock. Ethiopia has one of the world’s highest casualty rates for rabies in humans, and it also has an economic impact. ‘Some households lose about US$70 of livestock in a year. To a Bale highlands family on an income of US$200 a year, that is a significant number.’ The Oromo herders rely on horses for travel, and they also succumb to the virus adding another severe economic factor.
But the Ethiopian wolves bear the brunt of the virus. It is the one thing they are not specialised to overcome, and without Sillero and the EWCP’s work, they might very well be extinct by now.

Wolf-release-ethiopia-will-burrard-lucas — Sillero releases a wolf after vaccination.
©Will Burrard-Lucas

‘In my time, we’ve seen the wolf population in Bale oscillate between one hundred and fifty and three hundred and fifty. Social canids can reproduce well. You can have a litter of six or seven puppies annually. In a good year, you might see thirty percent growth. Then a few years down the line, you have an epidemic, and you might lose three-quarters of that population. We discourage getting too fixated on numbers.’
They try to stabilise those numbers with better enforcement of park rules, education of shepherds, vaccination of their dogs, and of course, the wolves. ‘Even if we were to reintroduce wolves to places where they are currently absent, we might be looking at six hundred, seven hundred wolves across Ethiopia, never more than that. They are inherently rare, and they are going to remain rare. Unless we succeed with our conservation efforts they will get rarer still.’ Sillero is incredibly pragmatic in his approach. He doesn’t cry wolf and remains determined, after decades of challenges, to preserve this rare species. His is a rare trait indeed.

Contributors

Wildlife photographer WILL BURRARD-LUCAS first developed a passion for wildlife living in Tanzania as a child. Since then, he has photographed wildlife all over the world and primarily in Africa. Will aims to inspire people to celebrate and conserve the natural wonders of the planet through his imagery. He has partnered with several conservation organisations donating his time and images for their fundraising activities. Working with the Ethiopian Wolf Conservation Programme he draws attention to the challenges this species faces. You can view more of Will’s work on his website.

ANTON CRONE quit the crazy-wonderful world of advertising to travel the world, sometimes working, sometimes drifting. Along the way, he unearthed a passion for Africa’s stories – not the sometimes hysterical news agency headlines we all feed off, but the real stories. Anton has a strong empathy with Africa’s people and their need to meet daily requirements, often in remote environmentally hostile areas cohabitated by Africa’s free-roaming animals.

A good sign for the buffalo at Liuwa Plain National Park

“You’re running the boma dismantling project,” I did a little dance in my seat when Simon, the operations manager at Liuwa Plain National Park, told me. “It’s going to be three days of hard physical work,” he’d warned but, while we took down the smaller of the buffalo re-introduction camps, it also meant two nights of camping under the stars in the park! By Noeline Tredoux

Liuwa-Plain-National-Park-African-Parks-Buffalo-herd

Driving through the various woodlands to the boma, I noted the new growth and flowers coming into bloom, evidence that the rains are not far off. Soon after passing the Kwale woodland, we encountered the boma’s namesakes, calmly grazing in the tall grass.

Extensive poaching and hunting in the 1980s and 90s eradicated the African buffalo from the park and surrounding area. Between 2008 and 2012, African Parks re-introduced 50 buffalo from various regions of Zambia to restore Liuwa Plain to its former diversity. As part of this program, a fenced release pen was built in a woodland, which the locals call the “Buffalo Boma”, to monitor and acclimatise the buffalo to their new surroundings. Since then, the boma has periodically been used for housing the buffalo at night, vaccinating programs and re-collaring.

These days the buffalo are left to roam freely, with scouts on motorbikes monitoring them routinely. Although buffalo poaching has not become a problem, the buffalo have taken a certain liking to the villagers’ rice fields planted along the park boundary and in the game management area. Liuwa Plain National Park is one of the few parks in Africa that has a historical resident human population around and within the park boundaries. This mobile unit helps to control the human-wildlife conflicts that may arise during the rice season and beyond.

Liuwa-Plain-National-Park-African-Parks-staff

Liuwa-Plain-National-Park-African-Parks-boma

Over the next three days, the seven men and I worked from sunrise to sunset, breaking for a couple of hours over the hottest time of the day. Working in teams we took down the electrical wire and fencing, removed the support poles and cleaned up the scout camp.

On the last morning, we had one final challenge – the steel poles at the corners of the enclosure, which had been cemented quite firmly in place. Luckily the guys were all game to show off their prowess with the pick-axe, and it soon turned into a competition to determine which team could break their block first. Much shouting and cheering resulted when the first block cracked, and the pole was run around, reminiscent of a player who’d scored the winning goal at a major soccer game!

By lunchtime, all that was left to do was collect everything neatly and wait for the truck. Before the truck could arrive, a group of tourists had a breakdown, and my vehicle was called to assist. No rest for the wicked here at Liuwa Plain…

Meet the Wolfpack

Ethiopian wolf pups look out on a new world after emerging from their den for the first time. Pups spend the first three weeks of their lives hidden inside their den ©Will Burrard-Lucas

The lakes and ridges of the Sanetti Plateau in Ethiopia’s Bale Mountains, home to little more than three hundred Ethiopian wolves. ©Will Burrard-Lucas

Playtime as mother wolf looks on. ©Will Burrard-Lucas

A pup finding its legs as it prances across the plateau. ©Will Burrard-Lucas

Pups greet a parent in a typically boisterous manner. ©Will Burrard-Lucas

A Chestnut-naped Francolin, just one of the many creatures that these pups are going to send scattering in fright. ©Will Burrard-Lucas

There’s always time for play. ©Will Burrard-Lucas

A curious pup hesitantly approaches the photographer. ©Will Burrard-Lucas

A couple of boisterous two-month-old pups playing on a frosty morning. ©Will Burrard-Lucas

A young male surveys the frosty landscape at dawn. ©Will Burrard-Lucas

The sun touches the unique granite landscape of Rafu in the Bale Mountains, remnants of an ancient lava flow. ©Will Burrard-Lucas

Ethiopian wolves patrolling their territory. ©Will Burrard-Lucas

ethiopian-wolf-gallery-will-burrard-lucas

An Ethiopian wolf walks through white heather on the Sanetti Plateau. ©Will Burrard-Lucas

Ethiopian wolves are typically very social animals. ©Will Burrard-Lucas

A juvenile bearded vulture (lammergeier) cruises over the plateau. ©Will Burrard-Lucas

Ethiopian-wolf-gallery-will-burrard-lucas-31

Greeting one another after returning from solitary hunting. Specialising in small rodents Ethiopian wolves do not need to hunt in packs. ©Will Burrard-Lucas

Certainly the most elegant and handsome of wolves. ©Will Burrard-Lucas

Starting a new family. Ethiopian wolves can reproduce well. But rabies epidemics can decimate populations making it increasingly harder for them to recover. ©Will Burrard-Lucas

Contributor

Wildlife photographer WILL BURRARD-LUCAS first developed a passion for wildlife while living in Tanzania as a child. Since then, he has photographed wildlife all over the world – and primarily in Africa. Will aims to inspire people to celebrate and conserve the natural wonders of the planet through his imagery. He has partnered with several conservation organisations donating his time and images for their fundraising activities. Working with the Ethiopian Wolf Conservation Programme, he draws attention to the challenges this species faces. View more of Will’s work on his website.

One Month with the Himba

I studied nature conservation in South Africa and then went away for 13 years, but the vast landscapes, extraordinary wildlife and ancient cultures drew me back. So, in 2014, I found my way to a Himba community in Namibia’s Kunene region.
After a 10-hour bus trip from Windhoek and another few hours in a car, I arrived at the regional capital Opuwo, a town of 15,000 people. I was stunned when I first saw a Himba woman. It was surreal to see a person wearing animal skins in a shopping mall. What followed was a month-long stay with the Himba along the Kunene River near Epupa Falls. This formed part of a long-term documentary project called “Wild Born” that focuses on tribal women worldwide.

himba-goat-namibia-alegra-ally-2 — Clockwise: The author photographs a Himba woman along one of the tributaries to the Kunene River.
A pen prevents goats from escaping and protects them from predators.
The author and a group of Himba mothers walk with infants in traditional carriers.
Himba huts are constructed by plastering mud over a wooden framework.
©Alegra Ally

himba-hut-namibia-walking-alegra-ally-2 — Clockwise: The author photographs a Himba woman along one of the tributaries to the Kunene River.
A pen prevents goats from escaping and protects them from predators.
The author and a group of Himba mothers walk with infants in traditional carriers.
Himba huts are constructed by plastering mud over a wooden framework.
©Alegra Ally

While with the Himba, I encountered a fascinating world that is rich and complex. The communities I stayed with were predominantly female. Some had just six members, others more than a hundred women sharing their lives. The Himba are polygamous, so traditionally, a woman would settle in her husband’s household, where she would live with his other wives and extended family.

Himba children are raised with the support of other women

The men are often away tending cattle at outposts, where they might have another wife or partner or may even go to towns to find work. As a result, many women stay permanently in their traditional villages, conducting their daily activities without men’s involvement. And many of them raise their children without fathers but with the support of other women. It was the resulting strong sense of womanhood on which I focused my documentary work.

Himba-women-namibia-alegra-ally-10 — During an initiation ceremony, a traditional leather crown is placed on a young woman’s head to signify that she is marriageable. ©Alegra Ally

Most Himba ceremonies and rituals are directed at ancestral spirits thought to have supernatural powers. One of the most significant is that of the holy fire, called Oruzo, which burns continually in each village and represents the link between the living and the ancestral spirits.

On reaching puberty, a girl leaves the village until she is initiated into womanhood

I witnessed several social rituals, including a girl’s initiation. On reaching puberty, she must leave the village until she has been ritually brought into her new social standing. Supported by the women in the group, she is taken to a special enclosure where she is spiritually protected during her first menstruation. She is given many gifts at this time, and ultimately, once she is presented to the spirits, her change in status is official, and a traditional leather crown is mounted upon her head as a symbol that she is marriageable.

himba-hair-namibia-alegra-ally-3 — Clockwise: Much of the women’s and children’s time is spent tending goats.
Herbs and roots are ground with a stone to make a perfume to scent the woman’s body.
The author rests with a Himba child on the rocky bank of the Kunene River.
The same ochre and butterfat mixture that colours Himba skin is also rubbed into women’s hair.
©Alegra Ally

himba-hair-namibia-alegra-ally-2 — Clockwise: Much of the women’s and children’s time is spent tending goats.
Herbs and roots are ground with a stone to make a perfume to scent the woman’s body.
The author rests with a Himba child on the rocky bank of the Kunene River.
The same ochre and butterfat mixture that colours Himba skin is also rubbed into women’s hair.
©Alegra Ally

The Himba arrange their hair in very special ways. Girls have two primary braids that face forward, but when they reach adulthood, the braids are swept back and transformed into the familiar long, red plaits that are covered with Otjize, a mixture of butterfat and ochre. This is also regularly rubbed into the skin because the Himba seldom wash with water, which is scarce in this arid region. The mixture serves to protect and clean the skin and is an attractive adornment giving the Himba their distinctive ochre colour. Himba women and girls also like to perfume themselves in a morning ritual. They collect aromatic tree roots, which they mix with herbs, crushing them together using a hot stone, and then burning them to create heavily perfumed smoke. They sit close to the fire, covering themselves with a blanket to absorb the scent.

It is usual to find young boys in the villages but as they grow older, they build strong brotherhoods forming tight-knit groups that move around, stopping at villages for a few days and then moving on. It was common to see such groups in Opuwo and at Epupa Falls. Most of them are looking for jobs but, as I realised, there is little opportunity in the towns, so the boys spend their time walking around without any work.

The Himba often find themselves confused, not fitting into their village or town

The Himba find it hard to adjust to modern life and often find themselves confused and feeling “different” – not fitting into their village or town. But progress is inevitable and has both positive and negative effects. One of the most profoundly detrimental is the opening of bars and the selling of alcohol. Directly or indirectly, it affects almost everyone – from elders to young children.
During my time in the villages, several cars and safari trucks stopped by. The Himba women are sought after by photographers for their striking beauty and ochre body colour, and their warm and accepting character helps tourists feel welcome.

Himba-women-namibia-alegra-ally-5 — A young girl looks over the shoulder of a donkey. Tradition dictates that she wears her hair in two plaints reaching forward over her forehead. Upon reaching puberty, they will be separated, swept back and impregnated with ochre and butterfat, giving her the distinct red plaits of the Himba.
©Alegra Ally

Despite being exposed to tourism and development, the Himba remain predominantly traditional and seem to enjoy the attention. They benefit financially from tourism, as they sell souvenirs from small markets and sometimes accept money for photographs. But, while there is nothing wrong with photography, the tourists’ experience seldom goes deeper than that, and there is no understanding of the effects of progress on these fragile communities.
We can learn a lot from the Himba way of life, from the concept of communal living based on sharing, caring for each other, and living sustainably. As Westerners, we are so occupied with our sense of self, trying to achieve personal success and growth, that we forfeit quality time with family. I also believe that indigenous people like the Himba, who live closest to nature, are often our greatest allies in trying to protect it.

View Ally’s photo gallery Himba – Wild Born.

Contributor

ALEGRA ALLY is a Documentary photographer and a Fellow member of “The Explorers Club NYC”. She currently lives in Sydney, Australia, where she is completing her MA studies in Applied Anthropology. Ally is committed to working on issues relating to empowerment of women and girls, diminishing cultures and the environment. As part of her project ‘Wild Born’, Ally spent the last four years travelling to some of the most remote corners of the world where she lived with isolated tribes.

Himba – Wild Born

A GIRL’S RITUAL JOURNEY
TO WOMANHOOD

Images by
ALEGRA ALLY

As part of her ‘Wild Born’ project, Alegra Ally spent four years travelling to remote corners of the world where she lived with isolated tribes. Through film, photography and writing, this project documents the ancient ways, intimate ceremonies and rituals of tribal women. One of those tribes was Namibia’s Himba people, and these images explore the Himba girl’s ascent into womanhood as well as aspects of her everyday life.

A young Himba girl plays with one of her short plaits of hair. According to tradition, she will grow her plaits, arranging the two front plaits forward, so they grow over her face until she reaches puberty. from then on her hair will be swept back in multiple plaits which are adorned with butterfat and ochre. ©Alegra Ally

Goats play a significant role in the life of the Himba people, providing meat and milk, as well as skins used for clothing and decoration. ©Alegra Ally

Relaxing beside a traditional Himba mud hut after a day of milking goats, collecting water and other tasks. ©Alegra Ally

Goat skirts are a common form of dress for girls and adult women. ©Alegra Ally

Girls gather in a small structure for an initiation ceremony to introduce a girl into womanhood at the start of her menstrual cycle. As part of this ceremony, and on regular occasions, the women burn various roots and herbs to create aromatic smoke that is used to perfume their bodies. ©Alegra Ally

Otjize, a mixture of butterfat and ochre that is rubbed regularly onto a woman’s skin. It is also used in their long, plaited hair. In this arid land where water is scarce, the Himba seldom wash with water. The mixture serves to protect and scent the skin and hair, as well as enhance their appearance. ©Alegra Ally

As part of a Himba girl’s initiation into womanhood, a traditional leather crown is mounted upon her head as a symbol that she is marriageable. ©Alegra Ally

Posing for the camera on a tributary of the Kunene River which forms the border between Angola and Namibia. ©Alegra Ally

A young woman carries baby goats in search of their mother so that they can be fed. Anklets decorate and protect women’s legs from venomous animal bites. When a mother passes away, her daughters will remove one anklet from the left leg for a year. ©Alegra Ally

While men are away tending cattle or looking for work in the towns, women remain in the household of their mother’s clan or, if they are married, in their husband’s clan. ©Alegra Ally

Himba woman wearing her wedding headcover. Himba people are traditionally polygamous, and a married woman will often share the household with her husband’s other wives and extended family. ©Alegra Ally

Young mothers carrying infants in traditional baby carriers look over the Kunene River. There are distinctive baby boy and girl carriers. If a woman only has boys and wishes for a girl, she will borrow a baby girl carrier from another woman. According to belief, the ancestors will hear her heart wish and deliver a baby girl. ©Alegra Ally

Read more about Ally’s time in Namibia with members of the Himba tribe

Contributor

Gallery – down by the Zakouma waterside

IN CHAD’S DRY SEASON, THE WATERS
OF ZAKOUMA ATTRACT A
VERITABLE NOAH’S ARK OF ANIMALS

Images by
MICHAEL LORENTZ

Renowned safari guide Michael Lorentz has been immersing guests in the wildlife lore of Africa for 26 years. He is always in search of authentic experiences and he has taken this to new levels in Chad’s Zakouma National Park, a place he now ranks as his favourite destination.
Many of Africa’s safari operators cater for the luxury market, but as Lorentz points out, ‘To truly appreciate the wonder of the wilderness, one needs the luxury of just “being”. It is a surprisingly rare luxury in today’s over-regulated safari world, and therefore all the more special when indulged. Sitting for hours at the waterholes of Zakouma, as a Noah’s Ark of animals and birds came to drink and socialise, fulfilled a lifetime of longing for being a part of a natural whole.’ And so we bring you a few images of that ark, taken by Michael down by the waterside of Zakouma.

Nothing stops these white-faced whistling ducks and Defassa waterbuck from getting a drink, not even the obvious threat of crocodiles. ©Michael Lorentz

Northern carmine bee-eaters commonly nest on the Zakouma’s river banks. ©Michael Lorentz

A Buffon’s Kob tentatively makes its way to the waterside, while northern carmine bee-eaters can be seen at their nests which they have excavated in the river bank. ©Michael Lorentz

Young baboons at play. ©Michael Lorentz

A leopard makes his way to the waterside flanked by yellow-billed storks. ©Michael Lorentz

A pair of red-throated bee-eaters with a freshly caught moth. ©Michael Lorentz

A baboon mother, infant clutching her chest, dashes away from a male. ©Michael Lorentz

African catfish, or barbel as they are better known, populate a muddy pool. ©Michael Lorentz

A hammerkop goes fishing for smaller fare amid the gaping mouths of barbels. ©Michael Lorentz

Vervet monkeys keep a wary eye on the horizon as they take a drink. ©Michael Lorentz

Lelwel hartebeests stop in their tracks as they spot the photographer. ©Michael Lorentz

An Abyssinian roller feeds in a muddy patch. ©Michael Lorentz

A lion at a fresh kill buffalo kill. ©Michael Lorentz

Thousands of red-billed quelea take flight. ©Michael Lorentz

Black crowned cranes depart the waterside before a setting sun. ©Michael Lorentz

MICHAEL LORENTZ is passionate about wildlife, wilderness and elephants in particular. Born in South Africa, he knew early that his true vision and happiness would lie in Africa’s wild places. A passionate and award-winning photographer, Michael’s work has been featured in several publications, as well as at the Smithsonian Museum of Natural History in Washington DC. Having guided for 26 years, this remains his first professional love, conducting safaris throughout Southern, East and Central Africa.

Zakouma – beyond the infinity pool

‘The current buzzword in the travel industry is “experiential”. But it’s been used to death. It’s old. It’s dull,’ says renowned safari guide Michael Lorentz. ‘A colleague of mine in Kenya, Peter Silvester, was talking about making spears the old way by smelting them in the sand, and other off-piste stuff, and he said to me, “Mike, screw it. Experiential travel is for the birds. What we want to be doing is experimental travel.”’
Lorentz recently returned from Zakouma National Park in Chad, where he was guiding guests for the first time. Chad isn’t on the romanticised safari circuit like Kenya and Tanzania. Chad’s recent political instability means the country’s tourism infrastructure is almost non-existent. But that’s what attracted Lorentz: a sense of the unknown – and the fact that Zakouma was being managed by African Parks, an organisation he thinks of as Africa’s conservation heroes.

Michael-Lorentz-Zakouma-2 — 1. Mud is ideal protection against Zakouma’s relentless sun and insects.
2. Northern carmine bee-eaters on a river bank.
3. This Lion has its sights locked on prey.
4. One of Zakouma’s newly trained and equipped rangers, a determined force against poachers. All images ©Michael Lorentz

Michael-Lorentz-Zakouma-3 — 1. Mud is ideal protection against Zakouma’s relentless sun and insects.
2. Northern carmine bee-eaters on a river bank.
3. This Lion has its sights locked on prey.
4. One of Zakouma’s newly trained and equipped rangers, a determined force against poachers. All images ©Michael Lorentz

‘The guests I took to Zakouma were hardcore safari enthusiasts, each with over 20 safaris under their belt. Doing something like this attracts guests looking for something beyond the infinity pool. Granted, we weren’t going into a war zone. We weren’t on the frontlines of anti-poaching patrols like the rangers are. But it’s not a family holiday. It’s incredibly remote. It’s uncomfortably hot. The Tsetse flies were so vicious in some parts that between eight and fifteen were biting you at one time – there were moments I wished I had a beekeeper’s suit. But it’s a privilege to be able to go to a place that has that kind of experience. It’s a real adventure.’
And Lorentz’s guests agree. Despite all of the incredible African trips they have under their belts, they said Zakouma was the safari highlight of their lives.

walking-zakouma — In the wake of Zakouma’s elephant herd, which moves in a tight, mutually protective group due to a long history of poaching. ©Michael Lorentz

Tourism professionals spend so much time trying to avoid any hardships for their guests that the safari experience loses its wild edge. But there’s a breed of traveller who wants to go places where they are not mollycoddled and where authenticity isn’t manufactured. ‘We are at such a scary period in history. Everything is frightening. We need to retrain people to be adventurous,’ says Lorentz. ‘We may have thought that by taking away risk, we have created a happier life. But it’s not true.’

Some travellers want to go places where authenticity isn’t manufactured

Lorentz is quick to point out that the tourism industry would never put clients in harm’s way, but that it’s people’s perceptions of risk that need to be challenged. It rings true when it comes to tourists’ perceptions of Africa. Thousands are cancelling trips to the big safari hubs like Kenya, Tanzania and South Africa because of the Ebola outbreak, even though these regions are so distant from the affected areas that saying one is cancelling a trip to South Africa because of an Ebola outbreak in West Africa, is like cancelling a trip to Florida because of an outbreak in Alaska.

Michael-Lorentz-Zakouma — 1. Fly camping is the ideal way to immerse oneself in nature – nets offer protection against insects.
2. Ablution facilities at one of Zakouma’s fly camping stops.
3. Winding down after a long day of walking.
All images ©Michael Lorentz

Michael-Lorentz-fly-camping- — 1. Fly camping is the ideal way to immerse oneself in nature – nets offer protection against insects.
2. Ablution facilities at one of Zakouma’s fly camping stops.
3. Winding down after a long day of walking.
All images ©Michael Lorentz

But if a tourist is willing to be a little more adventurous, the reward is far greater, and for a guide like Lorentz, who is extremely well-versed in conservation issues, it is doubly rewarding because it enables him to find out what is happening on the edge of conservation and beyond, which is where African Parks operates.

DID YOU KNOW that African Parks offers safari camps (lodges and campsites) where 100% of tourism revenue goes to conservation and local communities? Find out more and book your African Parks safari.

‘In many parts of Africa, conservationists are at war,’ says Lorentz. ‘And African Parks are going into the hardest areas knowing how important they are to conservation. Governments throughout Africa have struggled to manage their parks. But the Chadian government had the foresight to let African Parks manage Zakouma. And the results speak for themselves. The park would hardly have any elephants left without them.’

elephant-herd-zakouma — Zakouma’s elephants from the air. ©African Parks/Michael Nichols

Zakouma is considered one of the last strongholds for central African wildlife, but demand for ivory has sky-rocketed over the last decade, and Zakouma’s elephant population has suffered terribly under the poacher’s gun. An estimated 4 300 elephants in 2002 were reduced to 450 by 2010.
The massacre of Chad’s elephants is nothing new. Going back two centuries, Sudanese gangs mounted on horseback regularly made their way to the region to hunt elephants using spears. They would load the ivory onto camels and donkeys and return to Sudan with the loot. ‘Today, they use AK 47s and belt-fed machine guns. There have been massacres of 60-80 elephants at a time,’ says Zakouma National Park manager Rian Lubuschagne. ‘In Chad, the elephants are known for moving in tight groups for mutual protection. It was originally a defence against the horseman with spears who would have to separate individual elephants to kill them. But that dense grouping has become their greatest downfall. It now makes it easier for mounted poachers to corner the elephants, herd them in a direction, and ambush them with machine guns, shooting into the group.’

Michael-Lorentz-Zakouma-6 — 1. A group of elephants bunch together in mutual protection.©Michael Lorentz
2. Take off from one of Zakouma’s many airstrips, which have proved vital in the fight against poaching. ©African Parks

African-parks-flight — 1. A group of elephants bunch together in mutual protection.©Michael Lorentz
2. Take off from one of Zakouma’s many airstrips, which have proved vital in the fight against poaching. ©African Parks

Zakouma’s elephant population is now stable at just over 450 but might have been wiped out if African Parks hadn’t taken over in 2010. It wasn’t easy to convince Chad’s government to give them the sole mandate of managing the park – and to do so beyond the usual five-year project basis. ‘This had to be for the long term,’ says Labuschagne, ‘But steadily, once the government started seeing results and how we were working with the Chadians as partners, they started accepting it. They are very serious about it now. President Déby is driving it, and we get their full support.’

But how did they turn it around? Labuschagne explains that one of the keys was studying the history of Zakouma, particularly where and when the elephants were most threatened. It became clear that, for about three months during the wet season, when the park closed down, there was intensive poaching. The elephants moved in a very wide area to try and escape – moving up to 100 kilometres beyond the periphery, but it was here that poachers found it even easier to pick off the herds. The key was for African Parks to stay in the park and conduct operations for 12 months of the year.

12 airstrips were opened to deploy rangers and conduct extensive aerial patrols

‘If you look out here now, it is one big lake. We’re on an island. We can just get to the headquarters with a 4×4 tractor,’ says Labuschagne. To resolve this, one of the first things they did was build an all-weather airstrip right next to the park. With good planning and the stockpiling of food, equipment and fuel, they could operate year-round. They also opened 12 small airstrips at key places throughout the park, and within the first year, they could follow the elephants as they moved. ‘10 to 12 satellite collars were fitted to elephants so we could track the main herds. This and the airstrips allowed us to plan and execute our ranger deployment and perform aerial patrols with efficiency.’

rangers-on-patrol — Horses enable rangers to patrol further for longer and are particularly useful during the wet season when much of the park is inaccessible. ©African Parks

One of the other major issues was that rangers were informing locals – and poachers directly or indirectly – about their patrol areas and the location of the herds. African Parks eliminated this by withholding all information about upcoming patrols from the rangers until they were at central command and ready to be deployed. This way, they had no opportunity to inform anyone.

Putting rangers on horseback meant they were on a par with poachers

Approximately half of the rangers are now on horseback. This puts them on a par with poachers regarding ground operations, and the horses are even better utilised during the wet season when vehicles cannot negotiate the park. It also allows them to cover larger distances, carry more provisions and conduct patrols over a longer period. Thanks to the donation to African Parks of a thoroughbred stallion to breed with local mares, their horse stock has been improved. Also, as a contribution to community understanding and enrichment, the sire services have been extended to the local people’s horses.

Michael-Lorentz-Zakouma-horses-rangers — 1. Rangers show of their horsemanship during a display. ©Michael Lorentz
2. Lion cubs at rest. ©African Parks/Nuria Ortega
3. A giraffe and leopard cross paths on a Zakouma river bed. ©Michael Lorentz
4. A male lion ventures into the water at one the author’s “infinity pools”. ©Michael Lorentz

Nuria-Ortega-APN_000289 — 1. Rangers show of their horsemanship during a display. ©Michael Lorentz
2. Lion cubs at rest. ©African Parks/Nuria Ortega
3. A giraffe and leopard cross paths on a Zakouma river bed. ©Michael Lorentz
4. A male lion ventures into the water at one the author’s “infinity pools”. ©Michael Lorentz

But Zakouma is still probably the most dangerous park in Africa to be a ranger. ‘They have lost 23 rangers since the 90s in conflict with poaching gangs from Sudan,’ says Labuschagne. In September 2012, six Zakouma rangers were murdered while they were at morning prayer in what is considered a reprisal attack by poachers. French ex-military and ex-police Special Forces officers now conduct training.
This story of Zakouma is what Michael Lorentz wanted his guests to know and appreciate. Lorentz’s infinity pool is of a different sort. It is a place in Zakouma, a natural water point abundant in wildlife called Tinga Junction. ‘Sitting here for hours, with no weapon, no vehicle backing you up, you are just one of the elements,’ he says. ‘Creatures are reacting to you – your movements, your body language. That’s being in nature. That’s very hard to achieve at a typical infinity pool.’

RESOURCES

Blown away by Zakouma National Park – a trip report from a visit to Zakouma

Celebrating Zakouma National Park – a celebration of the Zakouma National Park’s creation

Keeping up with the Kordofans – more about the Kordofan giraffe

Contributors

MICHAEL LORENTZ is passionate about wildlife, wilderness and elephants in particular. Born in South Africa, he knew from an early age that his true vision and happiness would lie in Africa’s wild places. A passionate and award-winning photographer, Michael’s work has been featured in several publications, as well as at the Smithsonian Museum of Natural History in Washington DC. Having guided for 26 years, this remains his first professional love, conducting safaris throughout Southern, East and Central Africa.

ANTON CRONE quit the crazy-wonderful world of advertising to travel the world, sometimes working, sometimes drifting. Along the way, he unearthed a passion for Africa’s stories – not the sometimes hysterical news agency headlines we all feed off, but the real stories. Anton strongly empathises with Africa’s people and their need to meet daily requirements, often in remote, environmentally hostile areas cohabitated by Africa’s free-roaming animals.

Extinct snail rediscovered in Seychelles

EXTRACT TAKEN FORM THE FOLLOWING THIRD PARTY SOURCE: Seychelles News Agency

Amid news of rising sea levels, extreme weather patterns and species under threat of extinction, a tiny snail on a tropical island in the western Indian Ocean archipelago of Seychelles is giving scientists hope that nature may be more resilient than originally thought.

The Aldabra banded snail has a distinctively-hued purple shell intersected with bands of bright pink © Catherina Onezia/SIF — The Aldabra banded snail has a distinctively-hued purple shell intersected with bands of bright pink. © Catherina Onezia/SIF

The Aldabra banded snail (Rhachistia aldabrae), with its distinctively-hued purple shell intersected with bands of bright pink, endemic to the UNESCO World Heritage Site of the Aldabra Atoll, was last seen in 1997 on the islands of Picard, Malabar, Polymnie, Esprit and Grande Terre. After extensive searches of all the islands in the atoll, the species was declared extinct by Justin Gerlach in a paper published in 2007.

The Aldabra Atoll is one of the largest and most pristine raised coral atolls in the world. Designated a World Heritage Site by UNESCO in 1982, Aldabra is managed and protected by the Seychelles Islands Foundation (SIF), a Public Trust established in 1979.

Aldabra is an undisturbed refuge for a variety of endangered species, including the world’s largest population of Aldabra giant tortoises and plays host to one of the largest congregations of nesting green sea turtles in the Indian Ocean.

It was thought that decreasing rainfalls in the atoll was the cause of the Aldabra banded snail’s demise, leading to widespread claims that the species was one of the first known casualties of climate change.

Aerial view of Aldabra ©SIF — Aerial view of Aldabra. © Seychelles Islands Foundation

Happily, however, it seems that the rare invertebrate has lived to fight another day after a junior staff member of SIF discovered a snail he did not recognise on 23 August 2014, according to a press statement from SIF. Junior Skipper Shane Brice was exploring dense mixed scrub in a rarely-visited area of Malabar, the second-largest island in the atoll.

“I was bush-bashing through the scrub when I spotted a mysterious snail that I’d never seen before on the island, I was very excited!” he said.

After hearing that the snail was found on an endemic tree, Senior Ranger and Assistant Training Officer Catherina Onezia felt a faint glimmering of hope that it might be the extinct snail. “When Shane showed me the snail I thought deep down, surely it can’t be the endemic snail! I only dared to believe it once I checked it out back at the office”.

After conducting further searches of the area, several other snails were found, including juvenile snails, which was viewed by the conservation experts as a very encouraging sign as the last juvenile snails were seen by scientists in 1976. The discovery was confirmed by Dr Vincent Florens, a mollusc expert from the University of Mauritius and famed Seychellois naturalist Pat Matyot.

The SIF believes that the discovery provides an: “incredible second chance to protect and study this historical species in the wild and ensure that it is not lost again”. Even though climate change may not have caused the snail’s actual demise as a species, changing weather patterns still put the rare snail at risk for its continued survival.

The re-discovered Aldabra banded snail © Catherina Onezia/SIF

SIF’s Chief Executive officer, Dr Frauke Fleischer-Dogley said the re-discovery proved that investment and effort placed into protecting endemic island biodiversity were not in vain.

“This snail provides hope for other island species, of which we have already lost too many,” said Fleischer-Dogley. “I hope that those of the international community, who are meeting at the third international conference on small island developing states, take note that their investment is needed to generate such success. Nature has a resilience that may surprise us”.

The Rise of the Huntress

While working at Africa Geographic, I have been privy to every side of the hunting debate. Though no one in the office hunts, and many of us have moral and evidence-based objections to trophy hunting in particular, there are times when we can understand the merits of some forms of ethical hunting – when the benefits for biodiversity and local people are measurable.
Leading conservationists have shown that if managed correctly, hunting can benefit communities and wildlife populations in areas where tourism does not appear to be a viable option. And I can understand why people hunt – the thrill of the chase, a sense of accomplishment, satisfying a primal urge that exists in us all, or to harvest a natural food source. In a Hollywood-esque moment, I can even picture myself clad in tight camo, weaving through the forest undergrowth, bow and arrow poised while my hair blows in the wind. But that is where my fantasy ends because looking into the eyes of a magnificent creature and then killing it doesn’t fit into my movie.
But to understand women hunters, I decided to explore their history and rationale. From women who hunt for food to those who hunt for the thrill and the trophy, each is truly different; each forms part of the history of the huntress and lends insight into who she is today.

louis-10 — Top: Diana the Huntress, by Gaston Casimir Saint-Pierre.
Middle: Louis XIV and the court hunting at the Castle of Meudon, Adam Frans Van der Meulen.
Bottom: A studio portrait of Annie Oakley at the height of her fame.

The idea of the huntress is nothing new. In classical times, the goddess of the hunt (Diana to the Romans and Artemis to the Greeks) was not only lauded for her prowess with a bow but also for her beauty, fertility and vulnerability. Historically, prominent women have stood alongside male hunters with bows or high-powered rifles. Elizabeth I of England was a keen hunter in the 1500s, as were the ladies of Louis XIV’s court and Queen Anne of Denmark in the 1600s; George Washington’s wife, Martha, in the 1700s, and so on, right up to Sarah Palin, who proudly demonstrates her hunting skills to – perhaps bolster her image in the rough world of American politics.
To some, it may seem that these women fall into affluent societal groups where animal life seems to hold less value and hunting is an entertaining sport. But many women involved in hunting throughout history are seen as bold, brave figures who stood for freedom in an oppressive age, fended for otherwise forsaken families and lent gravitas to feminist movements and women’s rights – and did so gracefully and with aplomb.

Some women rose to prominence by hunting for necessity. Take Annie Oakley, for example. Among many others of her time, she started hunting as a young girl to provide for her family during tough times. And this holds in the USA even today. Surveys show that the number of women hunting has risen from roughly 1.2 million between 1996 and 2006 to 1.5 million in 2011. Richard Aiken, Natural Resource Economist at US Fish and Wildlife, states, ‘We are not sure why there was such an increase, but our educated guess is it had to do with the low ebb in the economy. Unemployed and underemployed people had more time to hunt.’ And on the other side of the world, women of Australia’s Aboriginal Martu tribes hunt extensively – mostly smaller animals that are shared with children and other women to maintain cooperative relationships.
If there ever was a lull in women’s hunting it was when men were hunting one another. In her book, Heart Shots, Women Write about Hunting, Dr Mary Zeiss Stange writes that American women were often featured in hunting publications like Forest and Stream before World War II. Still, during the war, they assumed more traditional roles, nurturing roles.

But the sexuality of the Diana/Artemis hunting goddess is a familiar archetype in popular culture. Examples include the 1947 release of the sexy DC Comic, The Huntress, followed by the self-sacrificing, rebellious bow hunter Katniss Everdeen in The Hunger Games, and the new-style Disney princesses. Unlike the sweet, subservient Cinderella and other traditional damsels in distress, these strong, taciturn women, like Princess Merida in Brave, have more time for a bow and arrow than a man.

Whether it’s the influence these characters have had on real life or that real-life trends have inspired these characters, it is true that hunting, and particularly archery, have become increasingly popular with the fairer sex. In 2013, Jay McAninch, president and CEO of the US-based Archery Trade Association, stated that one-third of all archery participants were women.

huntress DC and Katniss 2 — Left: The Huntress, a DC comics heroine created in 1947.
Middle: ‘Katniss Everdeen’, huntress of the Hunger Games trilogy.
Right: Sharp shooting Disney character, Princess Merida.

The US Fish and Wildlife Service reported a 25% increase in the number of women that hunted between 2006 and 2011, making up 11% of the total US hunting population. The Pennsylvania Game Commission found a 20% increase in female hunters between 2009 and 2012. Roberta Owens, the membership manager for the Dallas Safari Club, told me that 25% of their members are female. And it’s not just the US that’s seen an increase in women hunting. Enter Japan’s new hunting buzzword, kari-gaaru, which means ‘hunting girls’. According to Japan’s Environment Ministry, the number of women in the hunting industry grew significantly during the first decade of the 21st Century, despite the overall number of hunters decreasing over these years.
But this trend is nothing new. In his 1877 book Fox-hound, Forest, and Prairie, Captain Pennell Elmhirst wrote, ‘It will, I think, be admitted by everyone that the number of ladies who hunt now is at least tenfold as compared with a dozen years ago.’
The increase in women who hunt has led to the establishment of several organisations, such as the US-based Women in the Outdoors, which had over 10 000 members a little more than a year after opening in 1998. A 2012 report from this organisation stated that ‘women have become the fastest-growing segment of the hunting and shooting community.’

Some companies now offer women-only hunting classes and trips. One such is Charmaine van Vuuren’s Woman Hunt SA, which began operating in 2013. Van Vuuren says that her company is ‘also involved in the transformation, and training of black professional hunters. In the intake for this year [2014] three black ladies had undergone training and were successful in graduating as professional hunters, a first for the industry.’

Pink arrows, bow strings and camouflage are firm favourites

Ladies’ hunting gear is now widely available, with pink arrows, bow strings and camouflage as firm favourites. Just look at the website Women Hunt Too, where you can buy a camo tee that boldly states, I don’t wear bows… I shoot them! One statement I found from a former Mississippi State University student sums it up, ‘I love my bow. It’s camouflaged and has all sorts of pink accessories on it. There are all sorts of colours. You can make bow hunting girly.’ A quick Google search will give a girl insights on making beer-basted rabbit or springbok pie, while articles like 10 ways to decorate with antlers lie within the same blog as bridal shower ideas and wedding details.
As the above blogs and recipes demonstrate, it’s not all rough and tumble in the world of the huntress. There is something about a girl who can take care of herself that is undeniably appealing, but an air of femininity and vulnerability still underscores the huntress.

893861_722059637821602_855891593_o — Top: Eva Shockey. Courtesy Eva Shockey and Jim Shockey’s Hunting Adventures.
Middle: ©BIANCA VENERAYAN kastorandpollux.com
Bottom: A popular slogan for women bow hunters

As per the hunting goddesses and Annie Oakleys of this world and the Martu women who focus their hunts around community and children, fertility and family still seem to play a big role, particularly with subsistence hunters. And this filters down to mainstream movies like The Hunger Games, in which Katniss hunts to provide for her family but still has respect for the natural world and an empathetic side with which girls all over the world identify.
Interestingly, a 2007 poll by Field and Stream showed that 25% of women hunters had hunted while pregnant. One particular writer on the site Muley Madness went as far as to comment that ‘the cutest thing’ he had ever seen was his ‘wife, seven and a half months pregnant, strolling up a hill packing her Remington .308 with a big ol’ smile on her face.’
Author of ‘Call to the Mild: Learning to Hunt My Own Dinner’, Lily Raff McCaulou, mentions family as an integral part of the hunt, “To hunt and butcher an animal is to recognize that meat is not some abstract form of protein that springs into existence tightly wrapped in cellophane and styrofoam. Meat is life. So I seek out recipes that make the most of it. I cook it with care. I share with friends and family. I make sure every bite gets enjoyed.”
Marilyn Kite, Wyoming’s first female state Supreme Court justice and an instrumental player in Wyoming’s inaugural Women’s Antelope Hunt, says it’s a sense of fellowship that has women dreaming of the hunt, ‘We’ve found it to be just great recreation, lots of fun, and the camaraderie of it is why you do it, really.’
Tiffany Lakosky of the hunting/outdoor travel TV show, Crush with Lee and Tiffany, echoes these statements in a National Geographic article, ‘Women are realising how much fun hunting is and how close it can bring them in their relationships with their families.’

Social media and American TV channels are plastered with women like Tiffany leading hunting shows with titles like Dressed to Kill, Whitetail Freaks and Winchester’s Deadly Passion. At the same time, Sarah Palin’s Alaska sees “the first lady of the outdoors” enjoying some mother-daughter bonding over a spot of hunting and fishing.

For some huntresses, any publicity is good publicity

A sense of bonding and affinity for the family doesn’t seem to be the only draw card, with trophy hunting becoming a new realm of the huntress. Some outspoken female hunters, such as Kendall Jones and Melissa Bachman, who bare perfect dentition as they pose smiling with fresh lion carcasses on social media sites, have become household names and whipping girls of anti-hunting lobbyists. Jones stated in a recent interview with First for Hunters, ‘I find it odd that only women have been targeted by these organisations. Why would these huge, powerful organisations go after me, a woman, a minority in the hunting community and attack me with their anti-hunting rhetoric? I am not the first to go on African safaris, yet these groups attack me nonetheless.’
On the other hand, for women like Kendall, it seems any publicity is good publicity. Despite having to remove some of her hunting images from her Facebook fan page as requested by the social media giant itself, she has shot to fame garnering over 685 000 likes on her page since she launched it in February this year.

On the rise of powerful huntresses in the media, Larysa Switlyk, host of Larysa Unleashed on the Sportsman Channel and Destination America, says, ‘It is a great thing because it is breaking the stereotypes on women and showing the world we can hunt just as good or even sometimes better than men! Also, it is making it more acceptable to the general population that doesn’t understand hunting.’
With movie hits like Hunger Games, shooting a bow becomes cool and sparks an interest in girls to try hunting. Switlyk herself only started hunting at age 22 and, unlike many other female hunters, was not introduced to hunting by male family members despite having three older brothers. No one else in her family hunts, and they were the first to criticise her when she took up hunting.

‘Katniss is a good representation of female hunters. We’re not what you expect.’

Brenda Valentine, a spokesperson for the National Wild Turkey Federation in the United States, put it all into perspective in a National Geographic article, ‘Across the board, women are more independent than they’ve ever been, and they realise they are capable of hunting.’
And Mikayla Lewis, a 15-year-old huntress from Oregon, told CNN why it is that young girls look up to media-born hunting characters as role models, ‘Katniss is a good representation of female hunters. We’re not what you expect. We can be pretty like any other girl, even if we’re not afraid to get dirty.’
Perhaps we have come full circle to the goddess we worshipped in ancient times, a sensuous, strong woman who flirted and manipulated her way into our lives. It seems today’s huntresses still hold the same appeal, no matter if they hunt for food or fun. Love her for the woman she represents and the ideals she fights for, or hate her for the same reason. Either way, it seems the huntress is here to stay.

ALSO READ: Is lion trophy hunting sustainable?

Contributors

Redfin minnow – swimming under the radar

The “species” is a currency scientists use to measure the diversity of life on planet Earth. Although “a species” is just a term invented by humans, it has proved a powerful tool for categorising life forms into units that can be conserved. There is no hard and fast definition, but biologists generally agree that if two organisms can interbreed and produce fertile offspring, they are members of the same species, and vice versa. The redfin minnow is such a species.

The giant redfin Pseudobarbus skeltoni feeding in a riffle in the Krom River in du Toitskloof © Craig Garrow

The streams flowing through the Cape Floristic Region (CFR), a biodiversity hotspot at the southwestern tip of Africa, are home to a unique and ancient group of freshwater fishes. Although until recently, only 19 freshwater fish species were known from the region, scientists suspect that there may be far more diversity swimming through these rivers than what meets the eye. This suspicion is founded on the fact that the mountains through which the CFR streams flow have been geologically stable for millions of years, resulting in the isolation of fish populations in different catchments. When a population is isolated for a long time, it can slowly change and may eventually reach the point when it can no longer interbreed with individuals from other populations to which it was once connected – in essence, a new species has evolved.

The Krom River in du Toitskloof (left) where a small population of giant redfin occur, and the Wit River in Bainskloof (right) where giant redfin once occurred but are now likely extinct © Jeremy Shelton

Sometimes, new species look almost identical to their ancestors, making it difficult to tell them apart based purely on their morphology (physical features). By analysing the genetic makeup of individuals from different populations and comparing their morphology and behaviour, our ability to distinguish one species from another has been greatly improved. Using this approach, researchers at the South African Institute for Aquatic Biodiversity (SAIAB, Grahamstown), Dr Albert Chakona and Dr Ernst Swartz recently uncovered a new species of redfin minnow (one of the groups of freshwater fishes unique to the CFR) – the giant redfin Pseudobarbus skeltoni – named after Professor Paul Skelton in honour of his inspiring research on South African freshwater fish. The species was discovered in the Krom River, a tributary of the Molenaars River in du Toitskloof, and in the Riviersonderend River above Theewaterskloof Dam, and is thought to have also once occurred in the Wit River that flows through Bainskloof. This discovery is exciting if one considers that previously only seven redfin species were known from the region.

Redfin species from the Breede and Berg River systems including the giant redfin P. skeltoni (top, © Craig Garrow), the Berg River redfin P. Burgi (bottom left, © Jeremy Shelton) and the Breede River redfin P. Burchelli (bottom right, © Jeremy Shelton) — Redfin species from the Breede and Berg River systems including the giant redfin P. skeltoni (top © Craig Garrow), the Berg River redfin P. Burgi (bottom left © Jeremy Shelton) and the Breede River redfin P. Burchelli (bottom right © Jeremy Shelton)

Some subtle differences exist between this new species and its closest relatives; the Breede River redfin P. burchelli and the Berg River redfin P. burgi. As the name implies, the giant redfin is notably larger than the other species, reaching lengths above 155mm compared to the other species, which do not exceed 135mm and 120mm in length, respectively. The head of the giant redfin is long and slender, and its mouth is terminal (forward-facing), while the other two species have relatively short, stubby heads with sub-terminal (downward-facing) mouths. These features suggest that the giant redfin feed on prey drifting in the water column, unlike the other two species, which consume most of their food from stone surfaces on the stream bed.

Unfortunately, exotic predatory fish like bass and trout appear to have severely depleted the giant redfin populations in the Krom and Riviersonderend rivers to the point where now probably only a few hundred adults remain. This situation places the new species at serious risk of extinction, but now that conservationists are aware of its existence, and critical status, measures can be taken to safeguard the remaining populations and give them a fighting chance of survival. It is, however, possible that additional populations of giant redfin exist, and we appeal to fishermen, hikers and members of the general public to please report any locations where fish fitting the description of the giant redfin are seen.

Chakona, Swartz and other researchers SAIAB are now busy analysing samples collected from streams throughout the CFR with the objective of better understanding how many species of fish exist in our fynbos streams and which of these species require special conservation attention. Without such work, we cannot hope to appreciate and protect the unique and threatened freshwater fish heritage of the CFR.

Please report any giant redfin sightings to Dean Impson (freshwater fish scientist at CapeNature) dimpson@capenature.co.za or Dr Albert Chakona (research scientist at SAIAB) a.chakona@saiab.ac.za.

For further information, click HERE to download the scientific article documenting the discovery of the giant redfin

ALSO READ: Blind cave catfish needs research

Walking with a myriad of wildlife in Tsavo

A few days ago, Iain Allan wrote this piece regarding his guiding experience during our Walking with Giants travel expedition to Tsavo National Park:

“I’ve just returned from my fifth consecutive walking safari in Tsavo of the 2014 season, and I still have two more to go. At this point of the summer, I’m at my fittest, and hindrances such as knee, ankle and toe aches have been reduced to mere irritations unworthy of thought.

Of far more importance to me now is an awareness that my senses have become more tuned to where I am. I am noticing things which didn’t come naturally four months ago, in early June, when our season began. This natural ‘involvement’ doesn’t only manifest itself in seeing, hearing or smelling better rather, it’s about feeling more. It’s hard to explain but I now know that an elephant or lion is behind the trees and bushes ahead of us minutes before I’ve seen, heard or smelt it.

Past clients on this walk have commented upon this feeling, that as each day unfolds they experience a heightening of the senses. I revel in it, fully in the knowledge that it’s perhaps the most basic instinct that our animal has lost since we lived in caves, hunting daily for a living.

The last walk we did was unbelievably productive. On the fourth day, our group of seven emerged from the thick brush and forests of the Tsavo River. We’d caught occasional glimpses of elephant, buffalo, and kudu, but everyone was ready to see more wildlife in closer proximity. Now the spectacular Galana river, home to the biggest elephant herds in Africa, with its palm-draped banks and wide, open sandy beaches, lay welcoming ahead.

We had a week on foot to experience Tsavo East, and it didn’t let us down. During the ensuing six days, we hiked the length of the Galana, through a veritable elephant paradise, and exciting wildlife moments just kept on coming: the enormous sleeping crocodile that we silently walked to within thirty feet of, basking on the bank with a striped hyena in its mouth; the elephant ‘retirement group’ of seven magnificent bulls crossing the river fifty feet away, oblivious to our existence; the maneless lions on the beach; the elephant family crossing the river beside us, making their way towards two families numbering upwards of thirty on the opposite shore; and finally, the lioness and her cubs…

We’d left our camp early for the final day’s hike. The previous two walks had produced little during this final day owing to unseasonal rain showers, but this time it was a blue-sky-day. It felt good.

By mid-morning, we’d had excellent sightings of elephant, warthog, lesser kudu, spotted hyena, and a massive herd of Cape buffalo on the far shore. It was beginning to warm up when our tracker, Lajori, noticed a sleeping lion in a gully close to the river about 150 yards away. The wind was in our favour, and I could see through my binoculars that she was lying facing the opposite direction towards the river. I judged that if the group could walk quietly, we might move in close enough to see her well. We made our way carefully through the saltbush and reached a point where we could all look down on her from the gully’s edge. She was about sixty feet away, we had an unrestricted view, and she was still sleeping soundly. Lying close to her was the partially eaten carcass of an oryx. There was movement beside her when suddenly the heads of two cubs appeared, sat up, and looked straight at us. One bared his teeth, emitted a cat-like hiss, and mother raised herself into a crouching position before us. The cubs disappeared round the corner of the gully behind her as she confronted us, and growling, she made for her kill.

We all watched spellbound as the air reverberated to her growls. She lay by her kill, mouth firmly clamped upon it, and it was obvious she wasn’t giving an inch. Our group backed away in the direction we’d come from, sure in the belief that it was time to leave her alone.

When we’d reached the end of our walk, we had listed eighteen different species of wildlife that day – including a perfect striped hyena, this one bounding joyfully along the beach, not the unsuspecting meal of the crocodile we’d seen earlier upriver.

Then, someone said… “well, what would you expect? This isn’t the good walk of Africa; it’s the Great Walk of Africa.”

The story of Seymour the shoebill

So ugly he’s cute: Seymour is a shoebill chick with a bottomless stomach, named ever so fittingly after Seymour in the Little Shop of Horrors. The chick was rescued by an environmentally conscious villager in Zambia’s Bangweulu Wetlands and is now in the care of the Bangweulu Wetlands Project.

African Parks employ guards to watch the known shoebill nests every season to protect the nests from people and fire, all of which threaten these prehistoric-looking birds. A local villager heard stories that people from another nearby village were planning to steal the newly hatched shoebill. When he noticed footprints around the nest he believed the shoebill was at risk and took the baby bird into his care. The man kept the bird at home and later notified the project staff about its location.

Seymour arrived at the project ravenous after living on a diet of cassava for two days. Although unsure of the chick’s sex and not entirely in favour of naming wild animals the handlers christened the chick Seymour. Since then, Seymour built up a robust appetite, continued to grow and spent most of his time with his wooden figure of a mother ‘protecting the nest’ as his parent would have done in the wild. At night he was put in a quiet box with a hot water bottle and a heavy blanket to stimulate brooding.

As with crane-rearing, human contact is limited to prevent Seymour from imprinting. He was fed five to six times a day by a person in a grey sheet and sock puppet not to break the human form. The sheet is also left in the enclosure so that there is always something familiar for the chick. Since Seymour is a waterbird he needs to be watered. Watering is done using a large syringe that is dribbled into the chick’s open mouth or onto the chick when it is hot. This simulates the parent dribbling water for the chick from its beak.

As Seymour got bigger he was fed only three times a day, and bigger pieces of fish were left around the nest to encourage him to peck and forage. Older shoebill chicks spend a vast amount of time by themselves in the wild while their parent is on the hunt. Seymour, however, does have visiting hours in which people can see him through a sheet of glass.

Seymour is now in a large enclosure in his natural environment, where he will continue to be attended to until he is ready to fledge. When that day arrives Seymour will be fitted with a satellite transmitter to monitor progress. Seymour will also have his own ‘birdy ID’ – a ring that helps project managers to identify him.

If the villager had left the chick where it was, the Bangweulu Wetlands Project would have employed him as a shoebill guard for that nest for the season. The community facilitator at the Bangweulu Wetlands Project has since visited him on several occasions to make sure he understands how the shoebill guard program works and that removing the chicks from their parents is a last resort.

The Bangweulu Wetlands is listed as a RAMSAR sight and is home to 200 – 300 shoebills and the endemic black lechwe. The wetlands support a local fishing community that generates US$8m in fish which is traded and provides an income for some 50 000 people. The Bangweulu Wetlands Project is constantly working to protect the wetland and its wildlife from people, fire and poaching.

Kalahari: photographing life in the desert

Open spaces, thousands of antelope and abundant predators are what the Kalahari desert, particularly Kgalagadi Transfrontier Park, is all about. In addition to the quadrupeds, the birdlife is spectacular. The smell of the first rains, the flowers after the rainy season, the birth of hundreds of springbok and, of course, seeing a big black-maned lion against the backdrop of a red dune. These are just a few features that draw one to this arid landscape, and for photographers, this place is hot, and sweaty – but with enough patience, heaven on earth.
In 1995 I saw a photograph taken by Chris Johns of a big black-maned lion in a dust storm, and I was immediately hooked on the Kalahari and dreamed of becoming a full-time wildlife photographer. This was only realised a decade later, but the memory of that photograph inspires me to uncover more photographic stories in the Kalahari.

Six years ago, I grabbed my equipment and tent and headed for this region, but instead of the two years I had planned, I stayed for five. My first project was called ‘Colours of the Kalahari’, for which time I tried to capture the essence of the region. Two and a half years ago, I started on ‘The Dark Side of the Kalahari’, documenting the life of a leopard called Luna, as well as the nightlife that surrounded her.
I adore leopards. Although one has to work hard to find them, the Kgalagadi Transfrontier Park is probably home to the most beautiful specimens. I have spent time at twelve different leopard den sites, watching the little ones grow up and seeing their personalities develop. The sad part is seeing cubs getting killed by other predators, but it’s part of a tale played out in nature, and it’s wonderful to see the mother rear her next litter to full adulthood.

Initially, I kept to normal National Park gate hours, but during the last two years, while focusing on night photography, I was going out at 4 pm and returning at 10 am. This meant I had to sleep in a hot tent during the day – impossible at around 40°C in the summer shade, so I was always tired. Conversely, the winters get down to -12°C at night, which you can’t escape in an open safari vehicle.
Scorpions and snakes often surround your tent. Hyenas try to eat everything in your camp, even your car tyres, and jackals and lions run away with your pots and pans. There’s also the primaeval sensation of being stalked by young lions and tasting almost every bug the Kalahari has to offer while photographing with spotlights during the rainy season

lion-claw-hannes-lochner — Young lions get up close and personal with the photographer’s cameras. ©Hannes Lochner

During my entire stay I drove 220 000 km and went through 16 tyres

When working at night, using a telephoto lens became difficult, so I relied on shorter lenses. I also set up a remote system, attaching cameras in and around my vehicle to capture interesting angles. Lions are always curious, and they never let you down, especially the younger ones. When one stops at a pride of youngsters, they always run towards the vehicle and chew on everything, nibbling on the bull-bar and the wheels. Consequently, it becomes essential to protect your cameras from such unwanted attention.
During my entire stay, I drove 220 000 km and went through 16 tyres. But life in the Kalahari got less lonely after my wildlife filming partner, Noa Köfler, joined me for the last two years, capturing behind-the-scenes footage.

A mother leopard presides over her den. Can you spot her cub? ©Hannes Lochner

The dry period (May to September) is the best season for action. It’s then that everything revolves around the waterholes, where all living things intermingle and if you are patient, you will get great photographic results. The winter months offer gorgeous sunshine, but the riverbeds are very cold, and the predators tend to stay in the dunes where it is warmer.
Ultimately, every living thing is out to survive in this arid landscape, and the motto “eat or be eaten” is a stark reality. But this is the reality that makes the Kalahari magical.

Contributors

HANNES LOCHNER is a Cape Town-born photographer who has become synonymous with the Kalahari, having spent 5 years photographing the bounteous wildlife of this arid region. Before becoming a full-time wildlife photographer, Hannes was a graphic designer and travelled the world kayaking her rivers intensely. It was on returning to South Africa that he started his own rafting company, acting as a field guide on the Orange and Kunene Rivers. But his love for the fauna of Africa triumphed, and his career as a photographer took off. You can view more of Hannes’ work on his website.

The dark side of the kalahari

PHOTOGRAPHER HANNES LOCHNER
GIVES US A GLIMPSE OF
WHAT KEEPS HIM UP AT NIGHT

HANNES LOCHNER shares some of his favourite Kalahari night images

A barn owl takes flight after the rains. ©Hannes Lochner

Hannes-Lochner-Kalahari-brown-hyena-apple

A brown hyena carries a Kalahari melon in its jaws. ©Hannes Lochner

Hannes-Lochner-Kalahari-jackals-over-kill

Jackals fight over a kill. ©Hannes Lochner

A young leopard approaches. ©Hannes Lochner

A lion dozes as a lightning storm approaches. ©Hannes Lochner

Hannes-Lochner-Kalahari-spotted-eagle-owl

A spotted eagle owl is drenched by a rare downpour. ©Hannes Lochner

A pair of spotted hyenas close in on the camera. ©Hannes Lochner

Hannes-Lochner-Kalahari-leaprd-milky-way

A leopard eats a kill beneath the milky way. ©Hannes Lochner

Hannes-Lochner-Kalahari-brown-hyena-eats-spotted-hyena

A brown hyena eats a spotted hyena. ©Hannes Lochner

A black-maned lion in repose. ©Hannes Lochner

A pair of spotted eagle owls check out their next meal. ©Hannes Lochner

Hannes-Lochner-Kalahari-wildebeest-lightning

A wildebeest makes its way through the scrub as a lighting storm pummels the horizon. ©Hannes Lochner

A barn owl flies over a sleeping lion. ©Hannes Lochner

A spotted hyena appears to pose with an ostrich egg. ©Hannes Lochner

ALSO READ: Photographing life in the desert – Hannes’ story of five years in the Kalahari photographing the incredible desert-adapted wildlife. He started his Kalahari adventure with a planned two-year odyssey that turned into five thoroughly enjoyable years

Contributor

Fascinating Pangolin Facts

The pangolin is a fascinating creature. Also known as the scaly anteater, these mammals are covered from head to toe in scales made of keratin, which is the same substance found in our nails and hair.

Tragically, pangolins are the most trafficked mammals in the world – poached from their habitats in Africa and Asia, their body parts sold in countries like China and Vietnam as a delicacy or used for their claimed ‘mythical healing properties’.

However, there are organisations out there doing their best to protect pangolins, such as the African Pangolin Working Group, a non-profit organisation committed to the conservation and preservation of Africa’s four species and the habitat they occupy.

Join us as we look at fascinating facts about these incredible but threatened species.

Cape pangolin — Pangolins, such as this ground pangolin (*Smutsia temminckii*), use their long sticky tongues to eat ants and termites © Rare and Endangered Species Trust (REST)

1. The word ‘pangolin’ comes from the Malay word ‘penggulung’, which means ‘roller’. This refers to the defensive stance – rolling into a ball – that pangolins assume when startled or when protecting themselves against potential predators. Another term used for pangolins is ‘scaly anteater’ – this name comes from the fact that their diet is exclusively ants (and termites).

2. Pangolins typically give birth to only one baby per pregnancy after a gestation period of 69-150 days (species dependant). The babies are born with soft scales, which soon harden. The young are usually weaned at around three months of age, though at about one-month-old, they will start to eat ants and termites. In the meantime, they cling to their mother’s back while she forages.

3. They are not related to anteaters, sloths or armadillos. In fact, they are more closely related to carnivores.

4. Pangolins are the only mammal with scales, which make up about 20% of their body weight.

**Clockwise from left:** 1) *A baby ground pangolin is carried on the back of its mother* © Maria Diekmann/Rare and Endangered Species Trust (REST); 2) *Pangolins are bipedal, walking on their hind legs with the front limbs and tail held off the ground* © Christian Boix; 3) *The scales of pangolin are made out of keratin, the same substance found in our nails and hair* © Scott Hurd

5. Pangolin scales are among the most sought-after items in the illegal wildlife trafficking market. In mainly China and Vietnam, their scales are highly prized by consumers who turn to traditional Chinese medicine as a means of recovering from various ailments. The scales are believed to cure various problems, from asthma to arthritis. Scales have no medicinal benefits, considering that the scales are made of keratin – the same material that a human’s fingernails and hair are made from. Rhino horn, the “teeth” of baleen whales, and the claws of bears, lions and other clawed animals are also made from keratin.

6. They defend themselves by rolling into a tight ball to protect their soft bellies. Their sharp-edged scales can easily cut predators, and they emit a putrid fluid from anal glands to ward off predators.

7. Pangolins have no teeth and use their long sticky tongues to eat ants and termites – up to 70 million per year. The tongue can reach up to 41 centimetres when extended! It is attached to the pelvis and the last pair of ribs, and the rest is stored in the chest cavity.

8. They locate their meals using their acute sense of smell and dig for ants using their strong claws. They eat small pebbles to aid with digestion. Pangolins can constrict their ears and nostrils while feeding – to keep insects out.

A black-bellied pangolin rolled up — Pangolins, such as this black-bellied pangolin (*Phataginus tetradactyl*) defend themselves by rolling into a tight ball to protect their soft bellies © Rod Cassidy/African Pangolin Working Group

9. They have poor vision and hearing but an excellent sense of smell.

10. Pangolins have long curved claws on their front feet, which they use to turn over rocks, pull bark off trees and logs, and excavate ant nests and termite mounds. Tree pangolins also have long claws on their back feet, plus a soft pad on the tip of the tail to assist with climbing trees.

11. They are solitary and predominantly nocturnal, although they become active earlier during cold weather. Young animals are also prone to be more active during the day.

12. Pangolins do not dig their burrows but use abandoned aardvark, porcupine and warthog burrows. They may also shelter in termite holes, caves, in-between rocks, shrubs or piles of debris.

13. Pangolins are bipedal, walking on their hind legs with the front limbs and tail held off the ground and used for counter-balance.

**Clockwise from top left:** 1) *A white-bellied pangolin (Phataginus tricuspis)* © Darren Pietersen/African Pangolin Working Group; 2) *A muddy dung bath* © Christian Boix; 3) *All pangolins have long curved claws on their front feet which they use to break into ants nests and termite mounds* © Scott Hurd; 4) *The black-bellied pangolin’s tail can be twice the length of its body, hence the species’ name* © Rod Cassidy/African Pangolin Working Group

Pangolin species

The four species found in Asia are the Indian pangolin (Manis crassicaudata); Philippine pangolin (Manis culionensis); Sunda pangolin (Manis javanica); and the Chinese pangolin (Manis pentadactyla). The Sunda and Chinese pangolins are ‘Critically Endangered’ – the most threatened of all pangolin species.

The four species found in Africa are the black-bellied pangolin (Phataginus tetradactyla); white-bellied pangolin (Phataginus tricuspis); giant ground pangolin (Smutsia gigantea); and Temminck’s ground pangolin (Smutsia temminckii).

Here we take a closer look at the four African species:

**Clockwise from left:** 1) *Black-bellied pangolin (Phataginus tetradactyl)* © Rod Cassidy/African Pangolin Working Group; 2) *Ground pangolin (Smutsia temminckii)* © African Pangolin Working Group; 3) *Giant ground pangolin (Smutsia gigantic)* © David R. Mills/Panthera/WCS; 4) *White-bellied pangolin (Phataginus tricuspis)* © Darren Pietersen/African Pangolin Working Group

Smutsia temminckii – ground pangolin (also known as Temminck’s ground pangolin or Cape pangolin)

This terrestrial species is the only species that is found in southern Africa. Its range extends from southern Africa through most of East Africa to Sudan and southern Chad. It inhabits dry savannah and desert environments. Adults grow up to 1.2 metres in length and weigh 19 kg, but average 10-15 kg. This species often use the burrows of other animals, such as aardvarks and aardwolves.
• IUCN Red List: Vulnerable

Smutsia gigantic – giant ground pangolin (also known as the giant pangolin)

This is the least common of the two terrestrial species and occurs in forests and forest-savannah mosaics in Central and West Africa. It is the largest species, with adults growing up to 1.5 metres in length and weighing up to 35 kg.
• IUCN Red List: Endangered

Phataginus tricuspis – white-bellied pangolin (also known as the tree pangolin)

This is a small, arboreal species. It is the most widespread of the two tree species, occurring widely in West and Central Africa, where it inhabits forests, dense woodlands and even secondary forests and agricultural lands (especially oil palm plantations). Adults are small, reaching a maximum length of 1 metre and weighing 1.5-3 kg, but typically only 1-2 kg. Certain physical characteristics separate the arboreal pangolins from ground pangolins: They are smaller, have very small first forelimb claws, their eyes are larger, their scales have an irregular arrangement, and they have tails pads which are used for climbing. While both of the tree-dwelling species have long tails, the white-bellied pangolins are notably shorter.
• IUCN Red List: Vulnerable

Phataginus tetradactyl – black-bellied pangolin (also known as the long-tailed pangolin)

This species is also arboreal and is the rarest of the two tree species. It occurs in forests in Central and West Africa and is mostly restricted to swamp forests and riparian vegetation. It is also said to be the most aquatic of the four African species, regularly taking to water to escape predators or to cross rivers. Adults are also small, attaining a maximum length of 1.1 metres and weighing 2-3.5 kg.
• IUCN Red List: Endangered

Up close with a young ground pangolin © Christian Boix

Elephants, communities and conservation

Whilst driving through Sorris-Sorris Conservancy on the main road, I had the privilege of seeing an elephant drinking at a water reservoir near the road. The reservoir was in the farming area of the conservancy with a settlement just across the road. At the same time that the elephant was drinking, a herd of cattle was at the nearby trough, and a herd of goats came in for a drink. This is conservation at ground level.

conservation — The elephant is disturbed by goats running past it to the water trough.

As I watched this scene, it struck me how it exemplifies the story of elephants and tourism in this region. These tourists experienced a sighting of a completely free-ranging elephant, without any restrictive rules common in national parks. The elephant we were watching was drinking water that was pumped by the local people and posed a disturbance if not a slight threat to the goats coming in to drink (I have heard a reliable account of an elephant stepping on a goat’s head in another conservancy).

We were witnessing the costs that these people face when they live with elephants, yet this sighting (and countless similar ones in Sorris-Sorris) provided no benefits to the people living nearby. This might not seem like a real concern to many armchair conservationists, but it means many communities in Africa do not respect elephants. Elephants are sometimes killed or injured in retaliation for causing damage or as a preventative measure. It also ups the likelihood that locals will turn a blind eye to poaching for ivory or take part themselves.

Granted, the use of several litres of water and the potential for harming livestock are may not appear to be very significant costs. However, I visited an elderly man on his farm in Sorris-Sorris, and he told me his story about an elephant encounter.

Several years ago, he hitch-hiked into town and back to do his shopping. As a hitchhiker has little choice about when they leave town, he came back late at night and was dropped off some distance from his farm. He then asked someone from his family to pick him up with their donkey cart. By the time they got home, it was the middle of the night. When they pulled up to the gate of his yard, they brought the donkeys to a halt, and the driver went to open the gate. The old man was still on the cart but had stood up to get out when all hell broke loose. Unbeknownst to them, an elephant was standing in their yard. Upon hearing the gate open, the elephant made a noise, and the donkeys realised it was there. The donkeys then took off in fright – the old man’s leg got tangled in the donkey cart’s chains, so he was dragged along the ground behind the fleeing donkeys. When the donkeys finally stopped, several kilometres from home, the man had suffered severe injuries. Several years after the incident, he showed me his scars from that day. He walks with a crutch, as one side of his body no longer functions properly due to his injuries.

This man has not received any form of compensation for his injuries, as compensation is only available for people who are killed by wildlife (and that only covers funeral costs). Perhaps the only benefit he has seen from elephants is a few kilograms of meat from a recent hunt. Yet the government had to pass through the fire of international protest to grant him even this small benefit. I encourage the people who howled the loudest about the injustice of hunting an elephant to come and talk to this old man at his home, face-to-face. It is a humbling experience.

I have read some articles by hunters who think hunting and conservation are synonymous. I disagree. I think hunting is one way we can generate income for conservation, provided it is done correctly. Similarly, many camera-toting tourists think that photographic tourism and conservation are synonymous. Once more, I beg to differ. Photographic tourism has the potential to provide income for conservation, but it often does not live up to this expectation. Some lodge owners loathe paying their dues to conservancies, as they see it as a ‘waste of money’; they try every trick in the book to get out of paying or to pay less than they should. All this happens in the background, and the tourists who think they are ‘doing their bit’ for conservation remain none the wiser.

When working in areas where people and wildlife coexist, real conservation work is a day-to-day test of patience, resilience and diplomacy. In these areas, a typical conservation support organisation helps conservancies to do everything from drafting a letter to providing advice on multi-million Namibian dollar contracts with tourism companies. This support also ensures that tourism companies abide by their agreements, thus weeding out the unethical ones. Working with the financial bookkeepers from each conservancy is another vital, yet largely under-valued, form of support. By establishing robust financial management systems, corruption can be nipped in the bud. This behind-the-scenes work is vital to the operation of conservancies, yet it is not very glamorous, and local NGOs struggle to find sponsorship to provide this kind of support.

Community conservation is all about addressing the cost-benefit ratio for living with wildlife. If we can reduce the costs, even small benefits can provide greater incentives for tolerating wildlife. However, increasing the benefits is just as important, as without any benefits, even the smallest costs will not be tolerated.

The things I mention here are constant, long-term challenges. These challenges need to be overcome with carefully considered, long-term plans. This takes vision, communication and dedication from all stakeholders involved. This way, we can establish robust mechanisms that incentivise local people to stand up and defend their wildlife. Considering the increasing threat of poaching, this work is vital if we are to conserve Africa’s iconic wildlife.

In the face of these challenges, there is hope for a bright future for Sorris-Sorris Conservancy. One key part of that hope is the tourism companies who have recently signed deals to manage a lodge and a campsite located in the conservancy.

It is early days yet, but the two companies seem to be committed to paying their way. The future tourism-generated income for this cash-strapped conservancy will be a massive boost to them. They will finally be able to repair their conservancy vehicle, hire more community game guards, and go on anti-poaching patrols. Importantly, they can provide tangible benefits to their members who suffer costs from living with wildlife.

If you are a tourist who wants to contribute to conservation, please consider this advice; Before embarking on your trip, find out which lodges or campsites assist in conservation. Many real conservation-supporting accommodation options are also the most wonderful places to stay. If you would like to support the kind of conservancy support work I mentioned here, a list of these supporting NGOs can be found here. I recently saw a tagline of one conservation-supporting tour operator (Kunene Conservancy Safaris), which I think sums up my advice neatly – make your footprint count.

Pangolins: chinks in the armour

More than one million pangolins have been taken from the wild in the past decade. Pangolin populations in Asia are in freefall, and inter-continental trade in African pangolin parts to Asia is now on the rise.

This trade involves live animals as well as meat, considered to be a luxury food item in Asian consumer markets, most conspicuously China and Vietnam. Pangolin scales are also traded heavily here – used as ingredients in traditional Asian medicines.

Recent confiscations of tons of pangolin scales have highlighted this growing problem. The fact that pangolin scales have no medicinal properties does not prevent their extensive use for ailments, such as reducing swelling and improving blood circulation. As for rhino horn, recent rumours of cancer-curing properties have led to increased demand.

This trade occurs despite pangolins being a protected species in most countries they occur in, being listed in Appendix II of CITES, and being subject to zero export quotas in Asia.

Some practitioners of Asian traditional medicine believe that eating a pangolin foetus increases a man’s virility. Both photos © TRAFFIC

The recent increase in commercial trade between Africa and Asia adds a whole new perspective to the security of African pangolin populations. I thought that this reference from a 2007 article in The Guardian, which quotes a Chinese chef from Guangdong explaining how pangolins are kept alive, and then slaughtered, displays the enormous gulf between the East and the West’s attitude towards pangolins and other animal species:

“We keep them alive in cages until the customer makes an order. Then we hammer them unconscious, cut their throats and drain the blood. It is a slow death. We then boil them to remove the scales. We cut the meat into small pieces and use it to make a number of dishes, including braised meat and soup. Usually, the customers take the blood home with them afterwards.”

In Southern Africa, the Cape pangolin is also threatened by land management practices such as the installation of electric fences, which are responsible for a significant number of fatalities each year due to their scales catching on the wire, and the pangolin’s protective instinct to roll into a ball, thereby prolonging the electric shock.

African pangolins are also hunted and poached locally as a food source, and their scales are used in traditional African medicine.

African pangolin conservation faces some major issues, and focused conservation efforts are required to halt the slide. The African Pangolin Working Group is instrumental in developing an understanding of the issues facing the four species. This energetic and dedicated team would appreciate your assistance and financial support.

ABOUT THE AFRICAN PANGOLIN WORKING GROUP

The African Pangolin Working Group is a non-profit organisation committed to the conservation and preservation of Africa’s four pangolin species and the habitat they occupy. The organisation is focused on a range of activities throughout Africa, including the launching of new scientific studies on pangolin natural history, genetics, parasitology, ecology and the use of pangolin derivatives in traditional cultural practices.

In addition, there is work being done with law enforcement to assist in retrieving pangolins from the illegal wildlife trade and to present courses to magistrates, prosecutors and police on the gazetted legal procedures for handling pangolins.

A large focus of this organisation is the hospitalisation, rehabilitation, and final release of those pangolins fortunate enough to survive the trade. The African Pangolin Working Group further provides presentations to the public to raise awareness about the most poached and traded group of mammals in the world.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR, SIMON ESPLEY

Simon Espley is an African of the digital tribe, a chartered accountant and CEO of Africa Geographic. His travels in Africa are searching for wilderness, real people with interesting stories and elusive birds. He lives in Hoedspruit with his wife, Lizz and two Jack Russells, and when not travelling or working, he will be on his mountain bike somewhere out there. His motto is ‘Live for now, have fun, be good, tread lightly and respect others. And embrace change.’

The Luckiest Pangolin Alive

Katiti, which means “little one” in the Herero language, might be the luckiest pangolin alive.

One of my favourite encounters with one of these curious creatures was in Botswana’s Kwando Reserve, just south of Namibia’s Caprivi Strip. “Pangolin! Pangolin! Pangolin!” came the excited cry as our guide, Mark Tennant, gunned the safari vehicle towards a distant group of wild dogs bouncing up and down like pogo sticks in the long grass. As we got closer I counted five dogs, all atwitter as they danced about – in response to what I could not see.

“Call me sceptical,” I muttered from the seat beside him, “but how do you know there’s a pangolin there?”

“That’s what wild dogs do when they find a pangolin!” came Mark’s breathless explanation. And sure enough, there it was, a Cape pangolin curled up in a perfect, armoured ball.

Realising they could do nothing with the pangolin in its protective mode, the wild dogs made off. But instead of following the dogs on their hunt, our eight safari-goers decided to spend time with the pangolin. Such is the allure of this elusive creature.

pangolin-1-APWG — A prime example of a Cape pangolin. © African Pangolin Working Group

It took ten minutes of awed silence for the shy creature to uncurl itself and amble off in that strange floating hovercraft way, unhurried and seemingly unperturbed by his groupies and their whirring shutters. It was broad daylight and although I am privileged to have seen several pangolins on this awesome continent I call home, this was one of my most memorable sightings. I am sure this pangolin lives on in those lucky people’s memories and photo albums.
But the hope is that they don’t only live in memory. The dominant news about Africa’s pangolins is that they are being harvested in great numbers to satisfy the voracious demand for Eastern food and medicinal cures. It’s not surprising that the Asian pangolin species are on the brink of extinction, and now the great Eastern tide is sweeping through Africa, hoovering up more and more of the little “scaled artichokes”. Learn more about the trade in pangolin meat and scales

A Cape pangolin was rescued from such a fate. She was captured (poached) and taken around a Namibian town in a box, no doubt to be sold on the black market. A shop owner felt sorry for the pangolin and bought her before passing her on to Maria Diekmann – founder of Pangolins International – who took it upon herself to rehabilitate the pangolin so it could be released into the wild.

pangolin-maria-diekmann — Top: A strong bond formed between Maria and the pangolin, Roxy. © Dave Lowth
Middle: Roxy rests her head on Maria’s shoulder. © Scott & Judy Hurd
Bottom: Roxy, the expectant mother. © Scott & Judy Hurd

pangolin-3-scott-hurd — Top: A strong bond formed between Maria and the pangolin, Roxy. © Dave Lowth
Middle: Roxy rests her head on Maria’s shoulder. © Scott & Judy Hurd
Bottom: Roxy, the expectant mother. © Scott & Judy Hurd

As she was nursing the pangolin back to health and a strong bond formed, Maria named her ‘Roxy’. As hard as it was for Maria to watch her go, Roxy was destined to return to the wild, but not before leaving a precious gift: her son, Katiti. This gift has grown up and is now an invaluable source of data for efforts to understand pangolins better and to rehabilitate and return poached pangolins into the wild. Katiti is also a lucky charm.

Roxy was destined to return to the wild, but not before leaving a precious gift

Maria explained that after Roxy’s departure, Katiti’s condition deteriorated on his diet of ants and milk. After much experimentation and advice from Lisa Haywood of Tikki Haywood Foundation, the only other person known to have hand-reared a baby pangolin, Katiti’s health started to improve. After a few months, he has weaned off substitutes and foraging naturally.
He now sets his daily routine and forages in the wild for about five hours a day, returning to Maria for a well-deserved rest. He even interacts with the wild pangolins he comes across while foraging. A GPS unit has been attached to the scales on his back, and his every move is monitored for extra security and for collecting valuable data. The plan is to return Katiti to the wild eventually, and work is in progress on a more sophisticated monitoring unit that will send back even more vital information.

baby-pangolin-scott-hurd-5 — Top: Roxy’s infant son, Katiti, not long after he was born. ©Scott & Judy Hurd
Middle: In typical pangolin fashion, Katiti rides on his mothers back for the first few months. ©Maria Diekmann
Bottom: Katiti finding his feet. ©Maria Diekmann

Roxy-and-Baby-Pang- Maria Diekman-web — Top: Roxy’s infant son, Katiti, not long after he was born. ©Scott & Judy Hurd
Middle: In typical pangolin fashion, Katiti rides on his mothers back for the first few months. ©Maria Diekmann
Bottom: Katiti finding his feet. ©Maria Diekmann

Just as valuable is Katiti’s role as a ‘comforter’ to recently rescued pangolins. This increases their chances of successful rehabilitation and release. Experience has taught Maria that immediately returning a confiscated pangolin into the wild, without rehabilitation, often results in the animal’s death. They have to negotiate past established pangolin territories and evade predators – a tough ask if they are injured, stressed or malnourished.

Katiti has taken on the role of ‘comforter’ to rescued pangolins

Two such pangolins were ‘Merel’ (2 years) and ‘Keanu’ (9 months), found together in an old metal drum where they were held for three days awaiting a buyer. They were cold and malnourished, and Keanu had a broken leg. Merel was successfully released, but Keanu died of complications picked up during the three days in the cold without food or water. Pangolins are particularly susceptible to pneumonia due to their lack of fur.
Another completely rehabilitated pangolin that Katiti helped nurse back to health was named ‘Coll’. Like Katiti, he was fitted with a GPS device and released on a neighbouring farm. His monitored wanderings provided valuable data before he died of natural causes – predation by a hyena or honey badger.

baby-pangolin-Christian-Boix — Katiti makes an early morning foray into dewy grass.
©Christian Boix

Apart from comforting other pangolins, one of Katiti’s most important roles is educating people and tugging the odd heart-string. Local Herero people have been thrilled to have their photos taken with Katiti. Importantly, some of those people are Herero chiefs who have returned to their communities, telling them that their picture with the pangolin brings luck to the community because a picture lasts longer than just the taste of meat. They are now motivating their communities to leave the pangolins where they belong, in the wild.

Contributors

SIMON ESPLEY is a proud African of the digital tribe and honoured to be CEO of Africa Geographic. His travels in Africa are searching for wilderness, real people with interesting stories and elusive birds. He lives in Hoedspruit, next to the Kruger National Park, with his wife Lizz and 2 Jack Russells. When not travelling or working, he is usually on his mountain bike somewhere out there. Simon qualified as a chartered accountant, but found his calling sharing Africa’s incredibleness with you. His motto is “Live for now, have fun, be good, tread lightly and respect others. And embrace change”.

A special thanks to MARIA DIEKMANN, founder and director of Pangolins International. Maria has been a surrogate mother to the star of this issue, Katiti, and has rehabilitated and returned many other pangolins to the wild. While balancing this with the work she does to rehabilitate other species, Maria has always been at hand to provide us with vital content to make this issue possible.

CHRISTIAN BOIX left his native Spain, its great food, siestas and fiestas, to become an ornithologist at the University of Cape Town and a specialist bird guide. Time passed, his daughter became convinced he was some kind of pilot, and his wife acquired a budgie for company – that’s when the penny dropped. Thrilled to join the Africa Geographic team; Christian is their resident safari expert and guide.

JUDY & SCOTT HURD are photographers living and working in Namibia, a country they see as the most photogenic on the planet. They have accumulated a huge wildlife library, some of which you can view on their website.

Get To Know The Gorillas

When people talk about the great apes, they probably think of the mountain gorillas that Dian Fossey made famous. The incredible work that she did in Rwanda’s Virunga mountains, as well as her unsolved murder, captured the West’s imagination. This accounts for a good deal of the mountain gorilla’s popularity as a tourist attraction – they are probably the most photographed apes in the world. But they are a subspecies of a much larger and varied gorilla population. All in all, there are two species of gorilla (Eastern and Western) with two closely related subspecies in each:

Eastern Gorilla (Gorilla beringei)

Eastern lowland gorilla (Grauer’s gorilla). Population: 2,000-5,000

Image ©Fiver Löcker
Distribution
• The forests of DRC to the west of the Mitumbar Mountains and Lake Tanganyika
Population
• Hard to determine due to war. Estimated 17,000 in the 90s. Current estimates says between 2,000 and 5,000 individuals
Distinguishing features
• Largest, Stockiest body of all gorillas
• Longer faces and broader chests
• 17 to 20 individuals in a group
• dark hair
Diet
• More diverse than mountain gorillas. Leaves and pith, rely heavily on fruit which makes up 25% of their diet. When they include insects in their diet, eastern lowland gorillas prefer ants.
Range
• Their home ranges vary from 2.7 to 6.5 km², and they forage between 154 and 2280 meters a day.

Mountain gorilla. Population: about 1,063

Image ©Dave Proffer
Distribution
• The mountains of Virunga straddling Rwanda and DRC, and Southern Uganda, as well as the slopes of Bwindi forest in Uganda.
Population
• About 1,063 with a stable to growing population.
Distinguishing features
• Longest, thickest hair for warmth in colder high altitude climate
• Groups can exceed 20 individuals (largest)
Diet
• Very little fruit due to high altitude. They rely primarily on plants and roots, with protein (about 3%) from insects, grubs and snails.
Range
• Home ranges between 3 and 15km². They move about 500 meters or less on a typical day due to mountain terrain and readily available food.

Western Gorilla (Gorilla gorilla)

Western lowland gorilla. Population: Uncertain – less than 95,000

Image ©Pierre Fidenci
Distribution
• The forests of the northern Republic of Congo, Gabon and Southern Cameroon.
Population
• Previous assessments have focused on habitat availability to determine western numbers. The commonly cited figure of 95,000 (Harcourt) is based on the assumption that all intact habitat was based on densities typical of Gabon in the 1980s. However, recent surveys show that commercial hunting and outbreaks of Ebola have had a severe impact on numbers in otherwise intact habitats.
Distinguishing features
• Smallest of all gorillas
• Brown-grey/auburn hair on forehead of adult male
• Bigger skulls with pronounced brow ridges
• Shortest hair
• Longest arms
• Best tree climbers(for fruit)
Diet
• Plants and roots, with fruit being a central component of their diet. Termites and ants are also an important part of their diet.
Range
• Home ranges between 7 and 14km². They move on average 1105 metres on a typical day – the farthest ranging of the gorillas.

Cross River Gorilla. Population: 200-300

Image ©Julie Langford
Distribution
• A small area straddling the southern border of Cameroon and Nigeria at the headwaters of the Cross River
Population
• Between 200 and 300 individuals
Distinguishing features
• Similar to western lowland gorilla in body size
• Smaller cranium vaults and shorter skulls
• Lives in smaller groups of 4 to 7 individuals
Diet
• Not as well studied as the other subspecies. But studies of their faecal matter indicate a diet which includes fruit, plants and some invertebrates.
Home Range
• Restricted mostly to hill areas with home ranges estimated at 20km².

The Ebola Factor

It is estimated that a quarter of Africa’s gorillas have died from Ebola in the last 12 years.
The decline in western lowland gorilla populations led to a change in their conservation status from “endangered” to “critically endangered” in 2007. It is estimated that the total western lowland gorilla population in Odzala-Kokoua National Park dropped from 42,000 to 20,000.
In 2002 an Ebola outbreak killed 130 of the 143 western lowland gorillas primatologist Magda Bermejo had been working with in Republic of Congo’s forests, along with thousands of other primates and humans. Click here to read more about the gorillas with whom Magda works (Takes you to another page in this magazine)
A 2004 Ebola outbreak killed up to 95 percent of the western lowland gorillas that frequented Lokoué forest clearing in the Odzala-Kokoua National Park.
The Ebola virus does not threaten other apes and chimpanzees with extinction. Still, it has reduced the western lowland gorilla population to a point where it can no longer sustain itself in the face of hunting, loss of habitat and other influences. Gorillas breed slowly, and optimistic estimates predict it would take the population 75 years to recover from its present situation. Most gorillas that survived were young males, meaning the social structures changed, and smaller groups predominated. This affects the normally strong sense of social cohesion and protection found in larger groups. This also makes them more susceptible to stress brought on by poaching.
It is understood that the Ebola outbreaks in human populations often come from eating the bushmeat of primates infected with the disease.

Bushmeat and the influence of Logging

The commercial logging of Congo’s forests has a direct impact on gorillas, not through loss of habitat, as one would think, but due to the pressure from poaching for bushmeat.
The dense, road-less forests made hunting access extremely difficult in the Republic of Congo, and gorilla densities were high. Since the 1980’s improvements in transportation infrastructure, devaluation of the regional currency, declining oil stocks, and timber depletion in other tropical regions have led to an explosion in mechanised logging in the forests.
Calculations are that timber production nearly doubled between 1991 and 2000. Previously inaccessible forests have been penetrated by logging roads, providing commercial hunters access to previously inaccessible areas with high ape densities. Much of the bushmeat is transported to commercial markets on logging vehicles, and logging employees eat more bushmeat than the local villagers do. This encourages villagers to hunt commercially, selling bushmeat to loggers.

Gorilla Habituation

Aside from the benefit of tourism revenue directed to the conservation of gorillas, habituation is vital for proper research by scientists. An equally important factor is the education of tourists, journalists, politicians and students. Guillaume Le Flohic, African Parks manager of conservation and research in Odzala-Kokoua National Park, is running a new gorilla habituation program working with primatologist Magda Bermejo and a few other scientists.
“The work before the habituation process – tracking and monitoring a group to the point where we can walk with the group and observe them from a few meters without changing their natural behaviour – is the most challenging because it depends on several factors,” says Le Flohic:
• The right area – not too many insects or swamps, and with ease of access.
• The right population – large enough, not too affected by poaching, which has an aggravating effect on gorilla behaviour and stress levels. The more stressed they are, the riskier it becomes for the habituation team.
• The right group – the dominant male (the silverback) must be quiet and not too aggressive.
• Good human resources – trackers, managers and scientists.
One of the most important aspects of habituation is tracker training. Many trackers are recruited from the local population, and the skills they use for hunting can be put to good use. “Trackers need to process a lot of information quickly, and ex-hunters understand the work in the field very quickly,” says Le Flohic. “I recruit young and old hunters, so the young can benefit from the elders’ experience and be the future “scientific” trackers – being trained and taught to see the forest they know through scientific eyes.”

Sources: International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN); World Wildlife Fund (WWF); National Primate Research Center, University of Wisconsin – Madison.

Things You Find in the Forest

A PHOTOGRAPHIC TOUR
OF ODZALA-KOKOUA NATIONAL PARK,
REPUBLIC OF CONGO

with thanks to
AFRICAN PARKS
and
SOPHIE SMITH

congo-gorilla-1_Michael-Viljoen — A female western lowland gorilla climbs a tree in search of fruit in Odzala-Kokoua National Park, Congo. ©African Parks/Michael Viljoen

Congo-elephant_Sophie-Smith_Go2Africa_023 — A shy forest elephant wades through the river before disappearing into the forest. ©Sophie Smith

Congo-plant_Sophie-Smith_Go2Africa_028 — Musanga cecropioidesis. Odzala-Kokoua National Park is one of the world’s most botanically diverse areas, with more than 4,400 plant species. ©Sophie Smith

congo-gorillas-2_Michael-Viljoen — A young female western lowland gorilla. ©African Parks/Michael Viljoen

Great-blue-turaco-congo_Pete-Oxford — Great blue turaco. ©African Parks/Pete Oxford.

black-and-white-collubus-family_Pete-Oxford — Black and white colobus monkeys with a new addition to the family. ©African Parks/Pete Oxford

African green pigeons descend en masse to feed at the mineral-rich bai. ©Sophie Smith

Congo_flowers-shrooms-Sophie-Smith_Go2Africa_021 — Left: Cleome afrospina. Right: Delicate fungus grows from piles of elephant dung. ©Sophie Smith

African-crowned-eagle_Michael-Viljoen — An African crowned eagle takes flight. ©African Parks/Michael Viljoen

congo-gorillas-4_Michael-Viljoen — A mother and her infant western lowland gorilla. ©African Parks/Michael Viljoen

Congo — African forest buffalo are a common sight on the banks of the marshy bai. ©Sophie Smith

congo-gorillas-1_Pete-Oxford — Pygmy hunters prepare nets towards which they chase small forest animals such as duikers, hogs and rodents. ©African Parks/Pete Oxford.

Odzala — A guide photographs the gnarled bark of an ancient tree. ©Sophie Smith

Contributors

SOPHIE SMITH is a Cape Town-based photojournalist. With a background in journalism, education, and marketing, she aims to use her photography to bring awareness to humanitarian and conservation causes worldwide, particularly in Africa. She also dabbles in wedding photography and portraiture but when she isn’t taking photos she loves road-tripping adventures with her husband, rock climbing, hiking, long runs and quality time with friends (especially when there is good food involved). This photo gallery was possible in collaboration with African Parks.

Meerkat pups and a puff adder

Whilst sorting out my Kalahari photos, I came across this sequence of images I had forgotten about. Looking back, it was up there with the top wildlife experiences I had in the past year as a meerkat research assistant. I think it sums up a lot about meerkats and would have been worthy of a ‘Meerkat Manor’ episode! By: Robin Hoskyns

We had to wake up early, before sunrise, to be at the burrow of the meerkat group I was visiting before they got up and left for the day. Luckily the burrow wasn’t too far from the farmhouse and I knew the meerkats would be there because the dominant female had given birth the week before. Meerkats generally change burrows every few days depending on the group and the territory (probably as a way to reduce parasite load). As a researcher only visited each group for 3 to 4 days per week, if no one had been there the night before, you would need to radio track the group, which could sometimes mean a much longer morning!

Meerkat pups stay underground and don’t emerge for 2 to 3 weeks until their eyes have opened and they are able to react to their environment a little. They then stay at the same burrow for another week or two, just exploring the burrow entrance and the surrounding few metres. During this time, the group generally leave 1 to 3 individuals to babysit at the burrow. Babysitters can be any individual in the group, male or female, but generally, the dominant female doesn’t babysit and will often leave the day after giving birth to forage with the group. Some subordinate females start to produce milk and suckle the pups even if they have never been pregnant themselves.

On this particular morning, I arrived at the burrow and sat down to wait, and waited, and waited. I was starting to get a little worried that they had moved burrows, it could mean that the pups had died or been abandoned. After a while, I ran back to the farmhouse (only 100 metres away) to get my tracking gear to check that the group were still at the burrow and sure enough, I got a strong beep. This got me a little bit more worried as it would have been strange for the dominant male, who was wearing the radio collar, to have died overnight. I knew from the radio (we all had walkie-talkies to keep in contact) that all the other groups were up and had left long ago.

About 3 hours after the usual time for this group to be up (the time each group gets up is usually very predictable, with some groups consistently being late risers), the sunrise had long gone, and it was starting to get hot when I heard noises coming from the burrow. It was a kind of spitting call which would usually be made if a meerkat was startled suddenly, attacking a predator or fighting with a rival group. At least I knew I was in the right place, and at least some meerkats were alive.

Suddenly the group emerged. Usually, a group gets up casually one by one, and they sit about at the entrance for a while to warm up before leaving, but this time was different. It was a frenzy of meerkats coming up from different holes and popping back down again, digging and anal marking (whenever meerkats get really hyped up by anything, especially the dominant, they scent mark with their anal glands).

After about 10 minutes of this activity, I spotted a slightly purplish lump in the middle of the frenzy. At first, I thought it was dead, but I saw it try to raise its head. In the next 20 minutes, they brought up two more pups and then another two, five in total!

meerkat — A Juvenile is dragging a pup from the burrow.

The dominant female checking that the pup is being looked after.

Pups left alone in the confusion. — Pups are left alone in the confusion.

All the pups were alive, but they were being trampled, covered in sand, picked up, dropped, forgotten about and then found again. The action was frantic, but luckily I had my camera, so I was snapping away trying to capture what was happening. At some point, I noticed the dominant female’s leg was badly swollen and bleeding. Due to the swelling, I predicted that it was a snake bite, and sure enough, when I managed to get a glimpse down the burrow I saw the head of a rather angry puff adder.

The group at that time had four juveniles who were almost sub-adults who were all obviously very excited by everything that was going on and kept trying to pick up the pups, which they could only just lift, moving them a couple of metres and running back to the burrow. This carried on for quite some time. Eventually, the dominant female picked up one of the pups and made for the next nearest burrow, probably about 300 metres away! She eventually managed to carry all five pups to the next burrow almost by herself with a now massively swollen front leg whilst hindered by the over-excited juveniles.

All the pups survived their ordeal, and so did the dominant female. Meerkats are very resistant to snake and scorpion venom, and there are multiple meerkats at the project that bear scars from snake bites, even on the head and face. Not all survive, but many do. Later that week, two of the males were captured for routine measurements and hormone samples and were found to have also been bitten; however, the dominant female must have taken the main hit of the snake’s venom.

It was amazing to witness the strength and determination of that dominant female, and I’m glad I took my camera out that day!

Congo: the living forest

In Ombo village, in the heart of the Republic of Congo, pygmy goats jostle for low-hanging leaves near the remains of an abandoned house. Here people are traditionally nomadic and never destroy a dwelling in case they come back to it but the rainforest has begun to absorb the house back into itself – sticks and mud disappearing beneath vines and leaves.
The Congo rainforest is the second-largest rainforest on Earth and serves villagers as a grocery, pharmacy and hardware store. It’s even a bottle store, as demonstrated by the chief and his buddies enjoying locally brewed palm wine. It’s a shock at first, but soon a common sight, to see young men dressed in shorts and flip-flops, armed with machetes and shotguns, disappearing into the lush undergrowth to hunt for bushmeat.
The story goes that there was once a bushmeat trader who came to the village with gorilla meat. He was banished and the gorilla was buried with respect. Here in the Ndzehi region of Congo, bordering Odzala-Kokoua National Park, the killing of gorillas is not just illegal – it is taboo.

congo-gorillas-sophie-smith-header — A baby gorilla hitches a ride on its mother’s back. ©Sophie Smith

While hunting cannot be banned completely since these communities depend on it for survival, there is a growing awareness and activity around conservation. Anti-poaching units patrol the forest, and nighttime hunting is illegal. Hunting endangered species such as leopards, chimpanzees, forest elephants, bonobos and gorillas is outlawed.
Traditionally, the rainforest has been a rich source of protein for villagers – teeming with porcupines, duikers, rodents, reptiles, hogs and numerous species of monkeys – but this once harmonious relationship is becoming strained as many hunters no longer practice subsistence hunting, but instead hunt on a larger scale, either selling meat to urban communities or loggers, where the demand for bushmeat is growing, or selling illegal ivory. As logging increases and Congo infrastructure improves, new roads allow bush meat to get to cities faster, and hunters access modern weapons and technology. READ MORE about the influence of logging and hunting on gorillas.

Congo-gorllias-bush-meat-2©Sophie-Smith — Top: A young pygmy hunter with a rudimentary crossbow. © African parks/Pete Oxford. Bottom left: Scooters are the best way to navigate muddy Congo forest roads. ©Sophie Smith. Bottom right: Bushmeat – a rack of monkey ribs on a scooter. ©Sophie Smith

The villagers recognise how similar gorillas are to humans, and their reverence for these primates is the reason Spanish primatologist Magda Bermejo sought them out 20 years ago, to help her track and research western lowland gorillas.
The people of Ndzehi had seen so many gorillas hunted as trophies, poached and shipped off to zoos that, at first, they were hesitant to take this foreigner straight to them. They led Magda through the dense, green Marantaceae (arrowroot) forests for days, testing her motives and perseverance. After this gruelling trial, they realised Magda was indeed there to help, and they packed up their entire village and moved with her to Lossi, an area just south of Odzala-Kokoua NP with a large primate population. The first tracker to work with her was a talented man named Zepherin Okoko. Two decades later, Zepherin is still working with Magda, and during my visit to Odzala-Kokoua, I was fortunate enough to go tracking with him.

Congo-gorillas-kissing-Sophie-Smith_Go2Africa_018 — A pair of young gorillas play affectionately. ©Sophie Smith

Every afternoon the trackers follow the gorillas to the spot where they make their nests for the night. The following day, the trackers return to the site as early as possible with guests and follow the gorillas’ movements from there. They’ve created a network of paths that they navigate to follow the gorillas, but today the gorillas aren’t sticking to their usual territory, and we quickly move off the beaten track. Years of experience have taught Zepherin to do more than just read tracks. He has learnt to understand gorilla behaviour and anticipate their movements. Surrounded by towering trees, low-hanging vines, and the ever-present shroud of Marantaceae, I quickly lost my bearings and put all my trust in him.

200kg of charging gorilla tends to elevate the heart into the throat

After much muddy trekking, and an uncomfortable run-in with fire ants, we suddenly find ourselves at a clearing and there, spread out in the glade like performers on a stage, are Neptuno and his family. They keep a beady eye on us but spend most of their energy feeding, wrestling stubborn roots from the ground, brushing off the dirt and enjoying their breakfast. As we watch the large silverback and his group, I begin to grasp the affiliation that the people of Ndzehi have with them. Even the hour-long restriction on our sightings is enough to identify individual characters and see their personalities emerging.

congo-gorillas-sophie-smith-2 — Top: Neptuno keeps an eye on visitors. Middle: Visitors and trackers wear masks to prevent passing human diseases to gorillas. Bottom: Roma smirks at visitors after charging across the clearing to provoke a charge from Neptuno. ©Sophie Smith

congo-gorillas-tourists-sophie-smith — Top: Neptuno keeps an eye on visitors. Middle: Visitors and trackers wear masks to prevent passing human diseases to gorillas. Bottom: Roma smirks at visitors after charging across the clearing to provoke a charge from Neptuno. ©Sophie Smith

The trackers know them intimately. One of the best-known females is Roma, a troublemaker who likes to provoke Neptuno, and today is no exception. Barking loudly, she runs across the clearing towards us, her baby scurrying to keep up and, as if on cue, Neptuno rouses himself from his breakfast and comes charging in our direction.
Despite being warned that this display may happen and that it isn’t a threat, 200kg of charging gorilla tends to elevate the heart into the throat, and I’m sure a satisfied smirk crossed Roma’s face as she witnessed our silent panic.
After an hour with Neptuno and his family, Zepherin logs the day’s trek on the GPS, and we head back through the forest.

Calvin is another tracker I spend a morning with, and although he has only been working for Magda for the past two years, he’s been tracking his whole life. Calvin has a soft spot for Jupiter, the second habituated silverback that we visit. The previous evening, Calvin left Jupiter and his family not far from our camp, so we stuck to the trails where it’s easier to watch a tracker at work. His senses seem heightened as he follows Jupiter’s fast-moving family. “They are playing games with us today,” he says. Despite their size, the gorillas move swiftly and silently through the dense growth that the Congolese describe as ‘swimming through the leaves’.

Gorillas move so swiftly the Congolese call it ‘swimming through the leaves’

As we reach a clearing, Calvin points to a young male in the trees and Jupiter emerging from the Marantaceae. A newborn frolics on the ground, walloping his little chest as Calvin chuckles affectionately. The favourite part of his job is not only being able to share the wonder of the gorillas with guests but also getting to know the gorillas personally – learning their behaviour, reactions and movements, which is largely what Magda’s research is about.

congo-gorillas-sophie-smith-4 — Top: A mother breastfeeds her youngster while digging for roots. ©Sophie Smith

Magda’s initial study in Lossi focused on understanding the basic habits and dynamics of the various groups of gorillas. Magda and her husband, German Ilera, were the first to habituate western lowland gorillas to human presence, the first and essential step in the research process. Habituating gorillas is no mean feat – it entails daily human contact with a gorilla group for up to three years.

Ebola killed 130 of the 143 gorillas Magda had been working with

However, tragedy struck when an Ebola outbreak in 2002 killed 130 of the 143 gorillas Magda had been working with, along with thousands of other primates and humans. It’s estimated that the gorilla population in Odzala-Kokoua dropped from 42 000 to 20 000, putting the lowland gorilla on the list of critically endangered species and making research and conservation efforts even more critical.
In 2010, Magda and her team moved their base to Ndzehi. Their current research focuses on the interaction between gorillas and chimpanzees and, with the increase in gorilla-trekking tourism, the interactions between gorillas and humans.

Congo-gorillas-villagers-Sophie-Smith — Left: The Congo rainforest is the source of food, building materials, and medicine. Right: A grandmother weaves a basket from dried leaves.
Bottom: Time out with the village children. ©Sophie Smith

Congo_Sophie-Smith_Go2Africa_036 — Left: The Congo rainforest is the source of food, building materials, and medicine. Right: A grandmother weaves a basket from dried leaves.
Bottom: Time out with the village children. ©Sophie Smith

Leaving Ombo in the glow of dusk, I am struck again by the abandoned house – the roof has caved in as the lush vegetation quietly overwhelms it. The longer I spend in the Congo rainforest, the more I notice the abundance of life supported by a delicate ecosystem; not just the give and take between plants and insects, birds and mammals, but also the delicate balance between humans and the forest. I am dejected by the impact of humans on our world, but I am also filled with hope that the love people have for their homes, combined with conservation efforts, will create a shift in values. And as jobs are created, and families are educated, the inhabitants of this precious Congo rainforest will, in turn, become its most potent protector.

Contributors

SOPHIE SMITH is a Cape Town-based photojournalist. With a background in journalism, education and marketing, she aims to use her photography to bring awareness to humanitarian and conservation causes worldwide, particularly in Africa. She also dabbles in wedding photography and portraiture but when she isn’t taking photos she loves road-tripping adventures with her husband, rock climbing, hiking, long runs and quality time with friends (especially when there is good food involved).

A special thanks goes to African Parks, particularly Cynthia Walley, Guillaume Le Flohic, and Carien Soldatos, who helped us put this issue together by donating their valuable time, information and imagery.

Meet Barkie, the baby aardvark

Meet Barkie, an aardvark baby brought to the N/a’an ku sê Wildlife Sanctuary in late February 2014. Barkie found protection and love in the doting hands of the N/a’an ku sê team.

The tiny aardvark, estimated to be no older than three months, arrived on our bushveldt doorstep after a farmer had shot his mother. Tragically this is a common occurrence in Namibia, where farmers and landowners heavily depend on their livestock to eke a living out of this desert land. The natural burrowing and digging behaviour of aardvarks, inadvertently causes holes in fences that allow the livestock to escape, making them vulnerable to free-roaming carnivores.

Sadly, aardvarks have gained an increasingly negative reputation – a reputation wholly misunderstood. Barkie’s mother herself suffered this fate, with her helpless baby thankfully being taken pity on and laid in the protecting hands of N/a’an ku sê.

baby-rescued-aardvark — © Jack Somerville

Barkie became an overnight sensation, his small pink body devoid of hair, clothed lovingly in pyjamas for the icy winter nights. Feeding pre-dominantly on termites and ground-dwelling insects, Barkie is joined by a group of volunteers on his daily bush walks. This gives him a chance to embrace his natural aardvark instincts fully. At N/a’an ku sê, we carefully consider the natural needs of every orphan, tending away from the feeling of “captivity”. Instead, we create an environment where their instinctive behaviours are nurtured and encouraged.

And Barkie has given us insight into the aardvark world – a world we have barely scratched the surface of. The behaviour of these elusive creatures has remained largely undiscovered – but with Barkie’s help, we hope to erase the misunderstood reputation of these magnificent mammals.

More about aardvarks here: 9 Amazing facts about aardvarks

Lion King or Commodity?

A wild lion is a scrappy thing. A fierce, dishevelled, fly-bitten beast with battle scars from nose to tail and a matted, grimy mane. This is a rug you don’t want on your living room floor. But the beast has been cleaned up and rebranded in one of the greatest wildlife marketing stunts ever.
Since humans painted them on a cave wall in France 30,000 years ago, lions have populated our imagination. Despite being extinct in Britain and Europe for thousands of years, they have grown in stature through myths and legends.
Tens of centuries ago, kings and conquerors of Britain and Europe adopted the mighty lion as their symbol on military shields, tunics and crests, a form of marketing if you will: Look on us in awe. Use of the symbol eventually extended to the nobility, who displayed lions “rampant” and fierce, often human-like, clutching axes and swords or wearing crowns.

lion-canned-hunting-africa-geographic-©WimVorster — ©Wim Vorster

This adulation – or should we say, lionisation – wasn’t unique to Europe. Though not native to China, lions were given to emperors as gifts and sometimes imported via the silk road as far back as 200 BC. Those few lions left such an impression on the Chinese that they are now part of their iconography and pageantry. Lion statues abound, and the famous Lion Dance imitates the beast as a symbol of power, wisdom and good fortune.
Today, we see them on national and institutional coats of arms, sporting emblems, company logos, clothing brands and family crests – even the ignoble ones. If there is one creature we aspire to, it is the lion, king of all creatures.
Of course, identifying with the king is no guarantee of prowess. But the aspiration is there, and in our minds, the king has remained indomitable until now.

canned-lion-comp-3 — Top: Lions painted in Chauvet Cave in France, dating 30,000 years ago.
Middle: Richard the Lionheart (King of England 1189-99) carrying a shield emblazoned with the three lions that make up the royal arms of England. Illustrated by N.C.Wyeth.
Bottom left: Chinese New Year Lion Dance. ©Bob Jagendorf
Bottom right: A Chinese lion statue, Forbidden City, Beijing. ©CEphoto, Uwe Aranas / CC-BY-SA-3.0 (via Wikimedia Commons)

In South Africa, a thriving industry makes it affordable to blow a lion to kingdom come. According to Campaign Against Canned Hunting, there are about 160 lion breeders in South Africa, many of whom supply lions to hunting operators or facilitate hunts on their own land. Various estimates put the number of captive lions anywhere between 6,000 and 8,000(2)(4). That’s more than double the number of lions in the South African wild, estimated at 2,743.
There are between 23,000 and 39,000 wild African lions left on the entire continent(1). So, using the most conservative estimates, captive-bred lions would make up one-fifth of the African lion population. Breeding lions for hunting is good business. And it’s getting better. 4062 lion trophies (more than South Africa’s wild population) were exported from South Africa between 2007 and 2011, compared to 1830 trophies between 2002 and 2006.

The USA is by far the largest market for trophies. The key drivers seem to be a large, wealthy hunting population and a colourful history of African big game hunting featuring iconic characters such as President Theodore Roosevelt, whose year-long African safari is the stuff of legends. In 1909, he and his son bagged over 500 big game, including 17 lions, 11 elephants and 20 rhinos.
Author Ernest Hemingway added to the allure with his 1933 safari, publishing evocative stories about men ushered into manhood by slaying African beasts. He was a romantic character with whom many American men still identify.

The American hunter has weaved his way into African hunting history despite never belonging there

The American hunter has even weaved into African hunting history despite never belonging there. In the film ‘The Ghost and the Darkness’, based on the true story of the man-killing Tsavo lions, “famous” American hunter Charles Remington (played by Michael Douglas) is commissioned to hunt the beasts. But he is an entirely fictional character, conveniently named after one of America’s largest arms manufacturers.
In ‘Out of Africa’, Robert Redford retains his American accent despite playing the Englishman, Denys Finch Hatton. In one crucial scene, he and Meryl Streep (playing Karen Blixen) come across a pair of lions. The female charges. Streep drops her with a single shot. But the male attacks from another direction, and Redford fires both barrels. The king obliterated, Redford takes charge, commanding: ‘Reload now.” They wait, rifles at the ready. Once the threat is over, they lower their rifles, and Redford notices the recoil from Streep’s rifle has split her lip. So he unwinds his sweaty neckerchief and dabs it on the bloody wound. It’s hot, heroic stuff.

Roos-and-Hem — Left: Theodore Roosevelt poses with a lion during his year-long hunting safari in 1909.
Right: Ernest Hemingway posing with a lion during his 1933 safari.

Today, killing wild lions is an expensive exercise involving many hunting days with no guarantee of success. In data collected between 2009 and 2012, the average cost of a lion hunt in Tanzania was US$76,116 lasting over 12 days, with an average success rate of 61.3%. In South Africa, you could bag a lion in 3 days with a 99.2% success rate at half the price or less. A minimum quote in 2012 was US$19,472.(1)
So why the huge price difference? For one thing, Tanzania abides by the hunting principle of ‘fair chase’. The lion has a relatively fair chance because of the size of its range. Here, lions are hunted in hunting blocks that average 1753 km². In Zambia, they average almost 6,000km². That makes for a long, difficult hunt. By all accounts, the lions hunted in these countries have lived in the wild and can use their well-honed instincts to escape from hunters.
In contrast, the hunting blocks in South Africa average 49.9km². Secondly, most lions hunted in South Africa are captive-bred, often hand-raised and accustomed to humans. Thirdly, they are only exposed to the “wild” for a short period before they are hunted in what is known in hunting circles as ‘put and take.’

The South African Predator Association stipulates a minimum of 10km² hunting area for captive-bred lions. The legally required release period for captive-bred lions in the Free State Province and North West Province is 30 and 4 days, respectively (FS and NW are where most captive-bred lions are hunted)(2). It sounds like canned hunting, doesn’t it?
In response to previous outcries against canned hunting, a 2007 ruling instituted by the Ministry of Environmental Affairs and Tourism stipulated that animals be allowed to roam free for 24 months before they are fair game for hunters. But this was overturned by the high court after an appeal by lion breeders. And so the business thrives. By 2010 the number of captive-bred lion trophies exported from South Africa was double the number of wild lion trophies from all other countries in Africa put together.

Price and a 99.2% guarantee are not the only attractive things for hunters. Captive-bred lions yield larger, better-looking trophies. Consistent food supply during growth helps achieve this, as does selective breeding, which is a widespread phenomenon on South African game ranches, so there is little doubt lion breeders practise it. Of Safari Club International’s record book of trophies in 2009, South African skull sizes top the list.(1)
Selective breeding has also led to more ‘exotic’ variants, such as white lions, for which hunters will pay a premium. It’s not just Siegfried and Roy who are in the market for a platinum blonde.
They are indeed attractive, enigmatic creatures, and perhaps one of the greatest evolutions of the industry has been for lion breeders to allow tourists behind the fence. Some of the largest breeding operations also run tourism programs (with no obvious connection to hunting) whereby lion cubs can be petted, and visitors can walk with juvenile lions. The lion petting and walking industry has flourished, with most tourists under the impression they are contributing to conservation by doing so – the operators’ spin is that the lions are bred for release into the wild or for research programs that benefit wild lions. Alongside tourists are young, impressionable “voluntourists” who assist the operators by looking after the lions and tourists, often paying for the privilege.

Lion-jumping-simon-espley — A juvenile lion jumps for bait tossed by a guide during a lion walk with tourists at Ukutula Lodge & Lion Research Centre, South Africa. ©Simon Espley

But few of them consider where all those lions go once they get too old to walk with tourists. Inevitably many of them are laundered into the hunting industry via a slick and secretive network of agents and front companies. These additional revenue streams must be appealing if you consider the overheads of these large operations.
But for captive-bred hunts, SAPA stipulates:
– Minimum interaction with the human environment from birth.
– No hand rearing.
– General “hands-off” management techniques concerning feeding, husbandry, medical care and environmental enrichment.
– No trade in human-imprinted animals.(2)
The reason for this is twofold: A lion familiar with humans will be a much easier target for a hunter, and a lion with less fear of humans will be more likely to attack if wounded.
The ethical issues involved in put-and-take hunting have been widely scrutinised and led to some hunting organisations distancing themselves from the practice. Safari Club International differentiates between lions hunted behind fences and ‘free-range’ lions. In effect, if you’ve shot a lion anywhere in South Africa, no matter how big it is, it will be categorised as an ‘Estate’ lion. As prominent American hunter Craig Boddington put it: “I’m shown a picture of a magnificent lion, so resplendent in the mane that it is extremely unlikely it’s a wild lion. Of course, it’s a South African lion, so now there is little doubt about the actual circumstances.”(3)

lion-king-3-simon-espley — A typical day at Ukutula Lodge & Lion Research Centre, South Africa. ©Simon Espley

Backing up the trade in lions for hunting is the dubious trade in lion bone. Chinese manufacturers of tiger bone wine, believed by many Asians to have strong medicinal properties, reached a hurdle when trade in tiger bones was banned in 1993. But the sale of lion bones is not prohibited in China. Now the words “Panthera Leo” are printed on the wine label, indicating that lion bones are used. Research shows that the number of lion bones exported from South Africa has grown recently, indicating breeders must be capitalising on the market(2). And so the commoditisation of the king of beasts evolves and changes form to meet demand and supply.

Commoditisation of the king of beasts evolves and changes form to meet demand and supply

One argument is that the revenue from captive-bred lion hunting benefits conservation, but indications are that the trickle-down to genuine conservation efforts is marginal compared to the revenue that regular tourists bring in, often just to observe lions in the wild. It makes sense that a wild lion, with thousands of photographic tourists paying to see it over its comparatively long lifetime, will bring in more revenue than a lion bred to be hunted by one person.
Another argument is that captive-bred hunting alleviates the pressure on wild lions. But wild lions are under far greater threat from increasing habitat loss due to human population growth and land utilisation. Captive-bred lion hunting will not put a stop to that. In addition, there appears to be an offtake of wild lions from some African countries to supply new genetic material for South African captive breeding operations.
Ultimately we are not at risk of losing the species as long as there is a market for them. Like cattle, they will be bred, and they will thrive. But this is about saving a king, not a cow.
We need to protect all wild African lions and the wilderness that they depend on, or the creature that we put on the throne so long ago will have no dominion. He will cease to be king. He’ll be a rug for us to walk over and only live in our myths and legends, a reminder of what we once believed ourselves to be.

References:
(1) South African Journal of Wildlife Research Vol. 42, No. 1, April 2012
(2) South African Predator Association
(3) Sports Afield
(4) Campaign Against Canned Hunting

Contributors

ANTON CRONE quit the crazy-wonderful world of advertising to travel the world, sometimes working, sometimes drifting. Along the way, he unearthed a passion for Africa’s stories – not the sometimes hysterical news agency headlines we all feed off, but the real stories. Anton strongly empathises with Africa’s people and their need to meet daily requirements, often in remote, environmentally hostile areas cohabitated by Africa’s free-roaming animals.

Kenya’s magical forest – the Arabuko Sokoke

There is something enchanting about a road straight through a forest. The green draws tight at either end, simultaneously erasing the past and obscuring the future. The result is wonderful anticipation. None more so than at Arabuko Sokoke.

I find myself on such a road through the Arabuko Sokoke forest of the central Kenyan coastline. Our guide is David Ngala but to call him a guide is to do him a disservice. A lifetime student of Arabuko Sokoke, David, appears to be as much a part of the forest as he is human. His speciality is birds, and birds are what my family and I are here to find.

The Arabuko Sokoke forest is a birdwatchers paradise

The East African coastline was once covered with extensive forests, but like a rabid caterpillar, a burgeoning human population has devoured them, leaving only isolated islands. In these islands, there are avian treasures. Species found nowhere else on the planet; names that will make birdwatchers salivate.

We start off into the damp green. David makes the smallest impact on the spaces through which he moves, always listening. So adept is he at emulating the calls of his feathered quarry, he can fool the birds and us. Life in the forest seemed to revolve around him. He is both the conductor of the forest and every instrument in its orchestra.

Slowly, he conjures up life around us. It builds into a frenzy of binocular passing, bird-book page; flipping and the odd bit of frustrated swearing. Just as I am starting to wonder if my neck can take the continued strain of searching for specks in the canopy. David, satisfied that we have recorded the specials from this part of the forest, announces it is time to move on.

David brought the birds in faster than we could keep up with!

The soils change fast, and the vegetation changes with them. Sometimes you must blink twice to remind yourself that you have not teleported to another place entirely. In parts of the forest, the red soils support dense thicket, barely twice the height of a man. In others, a grey substrate is a foothold for gargantuan brachystegia woodland that towers high above you.

Local communities earn money through controlled butterfly harvesting and sale to international collectors. These income-generating activities are critical for ensuring the future survival of the forest.

Amani sunbird and plain-backed sunbird are added to our list of special birds, a build-up to the final prize: the endangered Sokoke scops owl. There are maybe as few as 3,000 birds left in this forest stronghold, or possibly even less. Finding one makes haystack needle-searching seem like child’s play, but David has inside information. He has spent so long with these birds that he knows their favourite haunts, and we follow him through the tangled thicket towards such a spot. There is no guarantee that the birds will be there.

We arrive, and David stands up quietly. We scan the surrounding trees with a sinking disappointment. The birds are not there. Slowly, a smile spreads across David’s face as he delights in the success of the bird’s camouflage. He points, and there, not 10 feet from us, sits a tiny pair of owls. The owls are beautiful, perfect even, huge eyes staring nonplussed at us. They sit there completely oblivious to their own vulnerability of being trapped in a forest surrounded by intensifying human pressure. We watch them for some time and then shrink back, leaving the birds in peace.

The tiny, and very beautiful Sokoke scops owl

In what feels like a heartbeat, our time in the forest with David is over. This fragile green jewel of Kenya’s coastline is a special place, and spending time with David was a privilege. For anyone that wanders into this part of the world, whether you are into birds or not, I recommend a visit. Your entrance fee will not only support the forest’s continued existence, but you will walk away a richer person.

Three years in the wild

Sometimes, I feel like I’m the luckiest person in the world. For the past three years, I have lived almost exclusively in South Africa’s national parks and nature reserves.
On a typical day, while some people sit in city traffic, I could photograph lions in the Kalahari, tracking rhinos with rangers or swimming with turtles. My good fortune is made more palpable because I once had an office job, a so-called successful career working in the cities of Johannesburg, Cape Town and London.
But I spent much time staring out the office window, pretending I could see elephants on the horizon. Perhaps it stems from my childhood. My parents regularly took my two sisters and me to the Kruger National Park. At the time, I probably took these family holidays for granted, but many years later, the memories are still clear.
Interestingly, the most visceral reminders of those holidays are not the sight of wild animals but the smells and sounds of the bush – the unmistakable scents that rise from the dry earth after the rain has fallen, the chirruping of woodland kingfishers, the barking of baboons and the rasping grunt of leopards.

wild — A breeding herd of elephants crosses the confluence of the Limpopo and Shashe Rivers, Mapungubwe National Park, South Africa. ©Scott Ramsay

I only realised later that, while I enjoy the excitement of cities, I felt most alive and connected to myself when immersed in nature.
While at my desk in Johannesburg, I was conscious that I was just a few hours away from places like Kruger, the Okavango Delta and the Drakensberg mountains. It was infuriating and inspiring in equal measure.
But then, after daydreaming for several years – and no doubt annoying my successive bosses – the little voice in my head became a booming demand I could no longer ignore. So I listened.
I approached South African National Parks and proposed travelling through the country’s most important protected areas for a year. I’d write a blog, take photos and tell the stories of South Africa’s wild places, showing why our national parks and nature reserves are so important, what is being done to protect them, which species are endangered, who the people are that live and work there and what their stories are.

7Fv10Wzcco5kFJAtZ2t0rjFw_O_5C9kW1-BFSCmx8yY — Top: Cape vulture, Giants Castle, uKhahlamba-Drakensberg, South Africa. Bottom: The Author takes flight. ©Scott Ramsay

After getting SANParks’ endorsement and working for a year to raise sponsorship to cover the costs, I set off on my “Year in the Wild”. Ford loaned me an Everest 4×4 and other sponsors, like Goodyear and Cape Union Mart, were equally enthusiastic in their support.

wild places transcend social and political divisions

I found that almost everyone I approached believed in supporting conservation and that wild places generally transcend social and political divisions. On top of that, everyone seemed to love a good adventure, and the most common response I got on meeting potential sponsors was, ‘Can we come with you?’
It wasn’t all easy, though. Any wilderness can be a physical test. I’ve sweltered in temperatures of more than 50°C in the Kgalagadi, and I’ve shivered through a few sleepless winter nights in my tent at the top of the Drakensberg escarpment. And the novelty of hiking for days through thick, thorny bushveld wears off pretty quickly, especially when the animals are scarce.

SHGQ7VtQC9IlaWKWMdzipL2XTFjeqCNpKcXwumNmhLI — The author looks over the Orange River cutting through the Richtersveld mountains. To the south is Richtersveld National Park in South Africa, and to the north is Ai-Ais National Park in Namibia.©Scott Ramsay

But being in the wilderness is more of an emotional test, especially if you’re alone. You can’t hide from yourself, and at first, I was lonely. But I learned to find companionship in the land and the animals, and I became grateful for the basics: food when I’m hungry, water (or beer!) when I’m thirsty, the shelter of a rooftop tent in a thunderstorm, sunshine on a cold Karoo day, and my own health.
Often I would go to sleep feeling down, but then I’d wake up in the middle of the night and see the blazing stars. Or I’d rise in the morning to the panorama of the Richtersveld or watch elephants walk past my camp.

30ad7u5yLL6HbHz2rPMTi5UnHmjrYxCdzdtFzeijRfw — Moonrise near Rooiputs campsite in Kgalagadi Transfrontier Park traversing South Africa and Botswana. ©Scott Ramsay

At these times, when the enormity of wilderness swallowed me up, I could transcend my own personal story. It was in forgetting myself that I was able to find myself. Trust me, a violent Kalahari thunderstorm directly above your tent will quickly put your emotional preoccupations into perspective.
The African wilderness is full of these experiences. Here I found belonging and contentment that eludes me in a city. To me, life makes more sense when viewed through the prism of wilderness. In the wild, I sometimes drift into a meditational state and inadvertently achieve an unexpected mental acuity. Perhaps the wilderness gives space for our thoughts and emotions to expand.

It wasn’t all deep and serious. After a few days alone, I’d sometimes find myself laughing aloud for no apparent reason. Or I’d talk to the animals. It may seem nuts, but the animals gave me a sense of community.
But I spent time with lots of great people too. It’s one of the reasons I love my work so much. Generally, conservationists, researchers and rangers are deeply connected to the earth. It’s hard work and poorly paid, but they are driven by something more than money and external validation, and I found them inspirational.
People like Sonto Tembe at Ndumo Game Reserve can imitate almost every bird species’ call, giving visitors an unforgettable experience. Or wildlife vet Dave Cooper and his associate Dumisane Zwane, who work countless hours to treat ill or injured animals, including rhinos that poachers have wounded.
I chatted to Nonhle Mbuthuma, an environmental activist who has stood up to politicians and mining corporations on the Eastern Cape’s spectacular Wild Coast.
‘I live in paradise, and it’s a paradise I want my children to inherit one day,’ Nonhle said. ‘We are not against development, but we have the right to say in what kind of development takes place. Open-cast mining will destroy our area, heritage and sense of identity.’

Not least is Lawrence Munro, a ranger and pilot who, against considerable odds, pioneered and now leads the aerial anti-poaching teams in KwaZulu-Natal after years of being told that such a service was not required.

In 100 years, people will look back and think of Africa’s conservationists as heroes

These are just five of the people I met who are doing vital work, even if our materialistic society doesn’t value their efforts. I believe that when people look back in a hundred years’ time, they’ll think of Africa’s conservationists as the heroes of this century. Human slavery was once considered acceptable, and when Abraham Lincoln worked to abolish it, many people with vested interests in its continuation railed against its abolition.
Today, everyone knows that slavery is abominable. The emancipation of the environment is this century’s greatest challenge. Still, as with human slavery, many corporations, governments, and individuals have vested interests in the sustained destruction of Africa’s natural heritage. Conservationists today are fighting a similar battle to Lincoln’s. And like society today considers slavery detestable, in the future, we will consider today’s abuse of Africa’s wild as one of the most tragic and loathsome periods of mankind’s history.

My first “Year in the Wild” went so well that it turned into two, and by the end of September this year, I will have completed three years of almost continuous exploration of South Africa’s 40 most special protected areas.
It’s one of the many tragedies of apartheid that so many people in South Africa were denied access to the most beautiful parts of the country for so long. Everyone deserves the right to engage with their natural heritage.
So I consider myself extremely fortunate. Not many people – even within SANParks – have been to all the national parks, and even fewer have been to all the other special protected areas. I have visited them several times, explored them extensively, and slept in wild places that few have ever seen.

wss4Mg8cjC8sqhXVQHzlgQFFuBcsFlQ8y_SzicwQj_A — A young white rhino rescued after poachers killed its mother in KwaZulu-Natal. The rhino is watched 24 hours a day by rangers until it can be released again. ©Scott Ramsay

Initially, I was happy just to cover my costs and to complete the journey, sharing the inspiration with others through my photos, social media and articles.
But now, my journey has become somewhat of a pilgrimage. I find myself increasingly bonded to the African wilderness and wildlife. These wild places and their animals have become part of who I am and are probably the greatest source of inspiration in my life. They have taught me that nature is far more important than I ever imagined and that humans need both wilderness and wildlife to live a full, rich life.

South African filmmaker and photographer Craig Foster, who has worked a lot with Bushmen, wrote, ‘It seems like our bond with animals is deeply rooted in our psyches, and we need them just as much as we need wild open spaces. We don’t need them just because they are pleasant – we need them for psychological survival. At a deep level, a land without life, without creatures, is disturbing.’
After three years, I find myself even more determined to make others aware of Africa’s natural treasures. My journey started out as a dream, an adventure, but it has become my vocation.
I’m sure that if other people – especially those in business and government – can see for themselves what I have seen, then they too will be inspired to care more for the few pockets of wilderness that remain.

Contributor

Scott Ramsay is still out there somewhere. But he’s not hiding. Through his work, Scott hopes to inspire others to travel to the continent’s national parks, and nature reserves, which Scott believes are Africa’s greatest assets and deserve to be protected at any cost, not only for their sake but for our own survival. His one-year journey to explore South Africa’s wild places turned into three. Perhaps as the wild places beyond South Africa’s borders lure him, the journey will continue for many years.

ALSO READ: Scott Ramsay’s pick of South Africa’s parks and reserves

Tips for sketching in the field

Leaving the Boma, 11x14” field sketch by Alison Nicholls created during her stay with the African People and Wildlife Fund in northern Tanzania. — *Leaving the Boma, 11×14” field sketch* by Alison Nicholls created during her stay with the African People and Wildlife Fund in northern Tanzania.

When I’m sketching, I often have people looking over my shoulder. It doesn’t bother me now, but I remember how self-conscious I was when I started field sketching. Instead of concentrating on my sketch, I worried about what the people around me were thinking. My mind wasn’t focused; hence my sketches didn’t turn out as well, making me even more self-conscious.

I needed to find the confidence to forget about my audience, and focus on my sketch to create a piece I was happy with and thereby gain more confidence.

But how do you do this?

Where do you find that initial confidence?

One way is to be very familiar with your subject matter. For example, Leaving the Boma (above) involved a herd of cattle, their Maasai owners and the houses within the boma. It could have been very intimidating, but I drew on my existing knowledge of the subject matter to allow me to make quick decisions so I could dive straight into the sketch.

© Maasai and Cattle, watercolor field sketch. Sketching this herd of cattle allows me to decide how much detail is necessary to depict an entire herd. — *Maasai and Cattle, watercolour field sketch.* Sketching this herd of cattle allowed me to decide how much detail is necessary to depict an entire herd.

I knew that cows move deceptively fast, and they would soon be out of sight. My first decision was to start sketching from where I stood instead of searching for the perfect spot. I also knew that some men would remain in the boma and that none of the houses would be getting up and moving anytime soon. So my second decision was to sketch the cows first, then add the people and the details of the boma afterwards.

I am also very familiar with the shape of a typical Maasai cow, having sketched them several times before. Rather than sketching the beasts in great detail, I drew them as ovals: one oval for the body of each cow to show me how many there would be and where. Next, I picked three ovals in the foreground to turn into complete cows. You’ll notice from the sketch that only the grey and white cow in the foreground has its full complement of legs, horns and ears. There are two more cows which have faces (and some legs), but the majority of ‘cows’ are just very rough shapes, maybe with a hump on the back or a curve of a horn. This is something to remember whenever you sketch a large collection of people, animals or even trees – you don’t need detail everywhere, you just need detail in a couple of places, and your incredible brain will fill in the rest.

Cattle, watercolor field sketch. Sketching cattle while they are resting helps me become familiar with their body shapes. — *Cattle, watercolour field sketch.* Sketching cattle while they are resting helped me become familiar with their body shapes.

The trick is not to be intimidated by a complex, moving scene. I was confident enough to break it down into manageable parts: the cows, the people, and then the houses and trees. The entire pencil sketch was completed in less than ten minutes, so I had time for tea with the owner of the boma. I added the watercolour later that day without reference to photos or video. I was able to do this because (you guessed it) I am very familiar with my subject matter. Next time you go out field sketching, try a subject you are very familiar with. It gives you the confidence to go further with your sketching than you ever imagined.

Join Alison on an art safari in Africa. Non-sketching partners are welcome.

Ivory – the burning question

Every tusk costs a life. That was the ominous theme of a 30-second clip on a public-funded billboard in Manhattan’s Times Square. It was direct, bold and all too brief. For one month in the Autumn of 2013, there was an elephant in New York City, flashing on a large screen 24 hours a day for countless Americans and tourists to see. But like so many others fallen victim to gun, arrow and spear, this African giant was eventually taken down for its ivory.

Though far removed from Africa, many Americans are disturbed by the thought of elephants being slaughtered for their tusks. It’s a crisis that’s prompted anger, sadness and an outcry to end it.
It also compelled US federal and non-governmental organisations to act. In 2013, President Obama issued a series of orders to institute an almost complete ban on the commercial ivory trade. Various US-based NGOs, such as the Clinton Global Initiative and the Wildlife Conservation Society, bolstered funding efforts to increase law enforcement, impose stiffer penalties for wildlife traffickers, and ensure better inter-agency cooperation. And then there was the public burning in Colorado in November 2013 of roughly six tons of stockpiled ivory.
The thinking behind this united approach is simple – the only way to end the killing is to adopt a zero-tolerance policy, and the feeling in the US is almost unanimously behind eliminating the poaching. But that’s the easy part.
There are two fundamental differences of opinion in the US about the ivory trade. The first calls for temporary regulated continuation of the trade to satisfy current ivory appetites while simultaneously chipping away at demand. The second follows a more aggressive strategy of banning the trade outright, combatting wildlife traffickers through enhanced policing measures, doing away with reserve supplies, and creating public awareness in one fell swoop. So which is the better approach? I spoke with a couple of American wildlife conservationists to get their take.

Chad president Idriss Déby Itno sets ivory alight in Goza Jarat at the entrance to Zakouma National Park, 2014.
©African Parks/AFP/Marco LongariI

‘Having lived and worked in Africa since the late 1960s and Asia since the 1970s, I’ve learned that corruption is so endemic in the major ivory supply and consumption countries that law enforcement will never succeed in making even a small dent in halting ivory trafficking and the poaching of elephants,’ says Dr Dan Stiles, a Montana native and conservationist who’s spent years studying global ivory markets. He wastes no time explaining his lack of faith in recent bans on commercial sales. ‘The message of zero tolerance is not sent to poachers or traffickers; it is sent to the NGOs who sponsor it, and to the public of mainly Western countries who contribute money to those NGOs.’

The ban consumes more illegal ivory while leaving demand untouched

Stiles says that ameliorating the trafficking through increased law enforcement strategies and burning contraband stockpiles is altruistic but impractical and economically flawed. ‘To turn off supply while demand remains high is like running your house heating and air-conditioning simultaneously. It just consumes more energy and achieves no temperature change. The ban consumes more illegal tusks while leaving demand untouched. It is an extremely bad policy, as the great rise in poaching rates after the decision demonstrated. Demand reduction should come first – then start reducing supply.’

ivory-burn-gabon-africa-geographic-2 — Ivory was set alight by authorities in Gabon in 2012. ©IFAW

elephant-poaching-graph — Ivory was set alight by authorities in Gabon in 2012. ©IFAW

While he certainly sees the trade as evil and is working tirelessly to expose it through countless hours of research, Stiles will not back a complete commercial ban for the time being. ‘Demand reduction is one way, certainly the best and most long-lasting, but this approach will take many years,’ he explains. ‘Elephants can’t wait that long. The most sensible thing is to provide legal raw ivory to the factories that currently buy poached tusks in China and possibly Thailand if the latter can implement an effective regulatory system. Demand is highest in those two countries. It is imperative that the speculative hoarding occurring now in China be stamped out. Speculation and uncertainty about supply are what is wiping out elephants, not so much consumer demand for worked ivory, though that is, of course, a factor.

The message from stockpile destruction is: buy as much ivory as you can afford now, it’s getting scarcer

His arguments are not unsound. Since 2011 the price of ivory in China had skyrocketed, taking off right around the time when ivory stockpiles were destroyed in Kenya. Recent studies funded by Save the Elephants revealed a tripling of ivory prices in China over the last four years. That upswing, according to the study, is increasing the poaching of African elephants. Stiles says, ‘the message sent to ivory speculators by the stockpile destruction is, buy as much ivory as you can afford now; it is getting scarcer.’

ivory trinkets AWF Barbara von Hoffman — Ivory tusks and trinkets. ©AWF/Barbara-von-Hoffman

Chatting with African Wildlife Foundation (AWF) CEO Patrick Bergin felt like conversing with an old friend. He’s soft-spoken and articulate. His wealth of on-the-ground experience in African wildlife conservation and successful implementation of species survival programmes has led him from conservation project officer to his current role as leader of the Washington DC- and Nairobi-based organisation. His initial response to the question of the ivory trade pulls no punches. ‘Elephant poaching is not simply wildlife crime. It directly correlates with other illegal activities such as terrorism, drug smuggling and other high levels of organised crime. We must send the unambiguous message that the time for this is over.’

In July 2013, Bergin was appointed by President Obama to serve on the Federal Advisory Council on Wildlife Trafficking under the US Department of Fish and Wildlife Services and the Department of the Interior. The eight-member panel, co-chaired by Secretary of State John Kerry, Secretary-General Eric Holder and Secretary of the Interior Sally Jewell, provided specific recommendations for combatting and ending the ivory trade. Since confiscated stockpiles cannot legally go onto the commercial market, the decision to destroy them was seen as a powerful public statement with the potential for spillover effects within ivory-hungry nations like China.

If you want to show off your wealth, buy a painting

To their credit, Hong Kong followed suit when in May 2014, it began burning its 28-ton stockpile of seized ivory. For Bergin, this success is attributed to the shift in global opinion and the need to work towards eliminating the ivory trade. ‘There is an amazing worldwide consensus that African elephants can no longer afford the risk of this situation. The only way to handle it is to suppress the trade completely. There is no need to buy ivory anymore. If you want to buy expensive items to show off your wealth, buy a nice piece of art such as a painting.’

ivory-trade-africa-geographic — Ivory trinkets and tusks await destruction at the Hong Kong ivory burn.
©IFAW/Alex Hofford

Bergin’s sentiments show that he has grown tired of negotiating with a bloody trade that’s existed for far too long. It was especially devastating during the 1970s and 1980s when Africa’s elephant population dropped from roughly 1.3 million to 600,000. It wasn’t until CITES banned the international ivory trade in 1989 that elephant numbers started to recover in various populations, for a short period at least. The international ban still applies but in 1997, CITES downlisted elephant populations in Botswana, Namibia and Zimbabwe from Appendix I to Appendix II, thus permitting a limited trade. The result was a one-off sale of ivory stockpiles from these countries in 1999. In 2000, South African elephants were downlisted to Appendix II, and Cites approved another one-off sale of stockpiles from all four countries in 2008.

‘The two objectives were to put money from those sales back into the hands of environmental law enforcement to increase conservation efforts further and to provide support and revenue for local communities,’ Bergin says. The experiment did not work, he continues to explain, because no one anticipated China’s tremendous economic rise, the huge increase in disposable income in that country, and the significant level of money laundering made possible by that new prosperity.

Demand in Japan fell due to consumer awareness about the connection between purchasing ivory and poaching

Those two one-off sales are perhaps at the heart of the disagreement between conservationists. Many posit that the transactions increased the demand because it was in direct contradiction to the international ban. But, while Stiles agrees that they were a bad idea, he doesn’t view them as directly causing an increase in elephant poaching. Recent research, he claims, shows that demand has decreased since 2012. Stiles also informs me that demand in Japan eventually fell because of effective consumer awareness about the connection between purchasing ivory and the killing of elephants. This is the one issue on which US organisations and wildlife professionals from both sides tend to agree. When done right, eliminating demand through awareness and education measures can yield great benefits. But it still echoes Stiles’ warning that NGOs are fighting against a shrinking window of opportunity as elephants continue to be killed at an alarming rate.

AWF is pushing hard to eliminate the appetite for ivory through various education measures with the belief that the market will change when the people do. Through a partnership with NGO WildAid, they have issued key public service announcements in China with popular Chinese personalities like basketball player Yao Ming and actor Li Bingbing supporting the cause. Bergin is optimistic that Chinese people can and will have a dramatic change of heart. ‘A lot of push-back and speculation revolves around the idea that the Chinese have been buying ivory for thousands of years, so why would they stop now? But it’s important to understand that they are changing. I’ve travelled to China to perform public speaking lectures and have witnessed public campaigning there against related issues such as shark fin soup and using bear’s gallbladders in traditional medicine. There’s no reason to believe that attitudes and beliefs, even very old and engrained ones, are not capable of changing – and changing quickly.’
Similarly, President Obama invited all African heads of state in good standing with the US and the African Union to a US/Africa Leaders Summit this week. While the agenda is primarily focused on trade, investment and infrastructure, it is understood that the issue of wildlife trafficking cannot be ignored. ‘What must change is the willingness of these leaders to make this a topic of discussion, especially with the Chinese government,’ Bergin says. ‘Africa wants to do business with China, and that’s fine. But they need to make a noise and say that what’s happening is a problem when outsiders poach their wildlife.’

AWF photo 1 by Billy Dodson — ©AWF/Billy Dodson

Education and awareness seem to be the key to winning the hearts and minds of those likely to purchase ivory. For now, it seems to be garnering some success. But is that good enough? Are there any alternative methods we’re overlooking? And if not, which of the two contested strategies works best: a limited, regulated trade, more prosecutions, a complete ban and the subsequent destruction of contraband stockpiles? Is there some sort of compromise US lawmakers and opposing conservationists can agree on? It seems I’m now left with more questions than answers.
As an American who loves Africa’s wildlife, I, too, am sickened by the unnecessary killings. I hope that whichever direction my country goes, it will help the cause rather than hurt it. Meanwhile, on the other side of my world, what is left of Africa’s elephants resume their march toward a perilous future. The only certainty that can be drawn from this impasse is that if we allow any decrease in elephant conservation initiatives, the outlook for these magnificent animals will be increasingly dire. And much like the temporary billboard of an elephant displayed in Times Square, one thing the real ones are running out of is time.

ALSO READ: Japan – an illegal ivory trader’s heaven

Contributors

With thanks to the following organisations for their contributions of information and imagery:

MICHAEL SCHWARTZ is an American freelance writer, consultant and member of the International League of Conservation Writers. His love of Africa began early in life, and he has since travelled throughout the continent’s southern region. With a BA in Journalism and an MA in African Studies, he has worked as a project specialist and researcher for several USAID-funded initiatives in Kenya, South Sudan, Uganda and Zimbabwe. He has also volunteered as a humanitarian in Malawi. An avid outdoorsman and photographer, Michael desires to continue assisting in efforts to preserve Africa’s pristine wilderness and magnificent wildlife. You can view more of his work on his website.

The painted ape

The mandrill (Mandrillus sphinx) is the largest and most colourful of all monkeys. Covering their lined snouts and prominent rumps, the colours are more pronounced in males, particularly dominant males, and they become brighter when excited.

Mandrills are found only in the dense rain forests of southern Cameroon, Equatorial Guinea, Republic of Congo and Gabon. They are social animals living in troops headed by a dominant male and several females. They have been known to gather in larger multiple male/female troops of 200 or more.

Due to hunting for bushmeat and deforestation, agriculture and human settlement, this colourful species is threatened and classified as vulnerable on the IUCN red list. Total population numbers are unknown. Giovanni Mari took these mandrill images in the 14 000 hectare Lékédi Park of southeastern Gabon where about 120 mandrills make their home in the rainforest. All images by Giovanni Mari.

Shades of Grey

The grey parrot is one of Africa’s treasures, and seeing them bank and wheel in the skies in noisy flocks or chatter in the canopies as they forage is a delight and privilege. They surely represent freedom in its purest form. But grey parrots are also the epitome of life behind bars. These intelligent, enigmatic birds are perhaps best known as the feathered entertainers that chirp, wolf-whistle and mimic their way into our hearts from cages in homes across the globe. So this is the story of a special bird vanishing from Africa’s forests as fast as morning mist under a tropical sun and how our fascination for a species can lead to its extermination from the wild.
The history of the grey parrot’s domestication dates at least as far back as 2000 BC, with Egyptian hieroglyphics depicting grey parrots as pets. The ancient Greeks also valued them, as did wealthy Romans who often kept them in ornate cages.

manet-grey-parrot — French painter Eduoard Manét’s “Young Woman” of 1866 depicts a pet grey parrot.

There are two distinct species. The one we know best is the Congo grey parrot that, as the name suggests, lives in the forests of the Republic of Congo and the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC). Its range extends from western Kenya to Ivory Coast and includes the islands of São Tomé & Príncipe‎ and Bioko.
The lesser known Timneh grey parrot is slightly smaller with charcoal grey colouring, a darker maroon tail, and a light, horn-coloured area on the upper mandible. Timneh parrots are endemic to the western forests of the Guinean shield, from Guinea-Bissau, Guinea, Liberia, Sierra Leone and Ivory Coast. Not much is known about this species, and many experts fear the population has been severely depleted, placing it in an even more serious position than its better-known cousin.
The grey parrot has been heavily trapped for over a century, making it the most traded wild-caught parrot listed under CITES. It is listed in CITES Appendix II, which means that trade should be controlled to avoid utilisation incompatible with survival in the wild. The grey parrot is also classified as vulnerable on the IUCN Red List, meaning there is a ‘high risk of extinction in the wild.’

grey-parrots-shadws-of-grey-2 — Grey parrots in their natural habitat in Ituri Forest, DRC. ©Reto Kuster

Over 1.36 million grey parrots (including Timnehs) have been legally exported since 1975, but factoring in mortality rates before export of 33-60%, the number of parrots harvested from the wild to supply the legal trade could top 3 million. The high level of trade has been fraught with violations from CITES member countries, exports from non-range countries, abuse of export permits with quotas repeatedly exceeded, wild-caught parrots falsely declared captive-bred, and continued trade despite zero quota recommendation by CITES.
Trapping for the pet trade has probably been underway in DRC since the early colonial era. Today, various officials play some role in authorising and taxing the trade here but have little impact on regulating capture or transport.
The grey parrot’s journey from a bustling forest community to a solitary existence in a living room is a long one fraught with danger and death. According to John Hart, the scientific director of Lukuru Wildlife Foundation in DRC, trappers operate at various sites using a range of methods – most commonly trapping along frequently-used fly corridors or at points of aggregation. Large numbers of birds are netted at clearings, where they come to ground to drink or ingest soil. Fledglings are often harvested from nests, and live or wooden decoys lure flying parrots in oil palms, where they are trapped on glue-covered perches as they come in to feed. Oil palms are part of their natural diet.
They are then sold to local buyers who fill orders from exporters based in Kinshasa. In a tragic irony, the parrots spend much of their incarceration in the air with other birds. They are crammed into small containers in Kindu and Kisangani, where Hart focuses most of his research, and then flown to the capital by light plane. The birds are rarely transported by boat or vehicle due to inaccessibility and the high mortality rate.

African Grey Parrot Release--Near Aviary 1a- — Top: Parrots shortly after release from captivity on Ngamba Island, Uganda. ©Charles Bergman.
Middle: Parrots are tethered to palm trees to attract other parrots for trappers in Kisangani, DRC.
Bottom Left: A wild-caught parrot is put in a small cage for transport.
Bottom Right: Fledglings plucked from tree holes for the parrot trade. ©Lukuru Foundation/TL2 Project

grey-parrots-shades-of-grey-4 — Top: Parrots shortly after release from captivity on Ngamba Island, Uganda. ©Charles Bergman.
Middle: Parrots are tethered to palm trees to attract other parrots for trappers in Kisangani, DRC.
Bottom Left: A wild-caught parrot is put in a small cage for transport.
Bottom Right: Fledglings plucked from tree holes for the parrot trade. ©Lukuru Foundation/TL2 Project

About half of the parrots captured for the pet trade die before they reach Kinshasa

Hart calculates that at least 10% of birds die on planes, 24% die while being transported over long distance or when caught as fledglings, and between 10% and 40% die in the hands of local buyers. This reveals that approximately 50% of the birds die before they even reach Kinshasa. And those survivors still have a long, perilous journey ahead.
A 2006 EU import ban on wild birds means grey parrots are no longer transported to Europe, but CITES continues to support export from DRC, Congo, and Cameroon to South Africa, South East Asia and the Persian Gulf. There is rising demand for grey parrots in China, and the presence of Chinese business interests in range countries probably creates avenues for both illegal and legal trade.
South Africa is proving increasingly irresistible to traders, with its toxic combination of excellent infrastructure, porous borders and high levels of fraud and corruption. In 2010, 731 grey parrots died en route by plane from Kinshasa to Durban. Speculation is that they were linked to the “Congo 500” – illegal parrots that had been seized in DRC and taken to a sanctuary for rehabilitation and release back into the Congo forests. They were confiscated from the sanctuary by government officials and then disappeared back into the system.

grey-parrots-captured-shades-of-grey — Wild-caught parrots in a holding cage await collection for transport. ©Lukuru Foundation/TL2 Project

South Africa plays an increasing role in the trafficking of grey parrots (and many other African wildlife species). It has, over the last few years, consistently imported more from DRC than that country’s entire export quota of 5,000 grey parrots.
Not to be overlooked is the number of grey parrots South Africa exports as captive-bred – close to 42,000 in 2012. With this level of captive breeding capacity, there is little justification for the continued import of wild parrots into South Africa, a practice with devastating consequences for wild populations. There is also high mortality in South Africa’s captive exports. The intense breeding practices are a vehicle for diseases, and a large number of the captive-bred greys are affected by the often deadly PBFD (Psittacine Beak and Feather Disease) and other diseases.
Many breeders portray themselves as saviours of wild parrots by producing captive-bred stock and thus supposedly obviating the need to capture wild birds. Yet wild populations are under even more pressure to feed the growing parrot captive breeding industry.

Wild populations are under pressure to feed the pet industry with cheap breeding stock

Wild-caught birds (especially illegal birds) are cheaper than captive-bred birds, so a wild-caught bird is quicker and easier to sell. In addition, many breeders prefer wild-caught birds because they commence breeding almost immediately, whereas captive-bred birds only reach breeding age after four years. To increase yield, breeders often hand-raise fledglings that had been hatched in incubators, thereby robbing the birds of essential life skills handed down by parents. The result is a tame parrot, suitably conditioned for pet purposes but of little use as a breeder – further increasing demand for wild-caught birds as breeding stock.

A Timneh grey parrot at a seller in Pretoria, South Africa. ©Anton Crone

Experts say the grey parrot is so smart that it can perform cognitive tasks at the level of human toddlers, which is one of the properties that makes them so attractive as pets. But most pet parrots are kept alone in cages, whereas in the wild, they are social birds – hard-coded to seek the comfort and security of their peers, roosting in groups and flying in large flocks. Many pet grey parrots end up as well-loved companions, but many more end up unwanted, misunderstood and socially maladjusted – often given away to friends, relatives or rescue centres.
A grey parrot lives for 50-60 years in captivity, which is something many prospective owners don’t fully comprehend. Every responsible parrot owner should have a succession plan – someone reliable to carry on the commitment and relationship.
I would imagine both wild-caught and captive-bred parrots struggle to adjust to a life of solitary confinement in a cage or house a fraction of the size of their natural range. There is also the constant need for humans to prod, pick up, stroke and cuddle their pets, which must be stressful to birds not used to this form of close combat. Paramount is a lack of comprehension about their diet.

Many captive grey parrots end up obese, socially awkward “problem children”

The tradition is to feed pet parrots dry seed, fleshy fruit with no nutritious kernel or “scientifically prepared” biscuits – whereas, in nature, the parrot will commonly feed off a wide array of fresh food, especially the kernels of forest fruit (the flesh is mostly discarded). Unsurprisingly, many grey parrots end up obese, socially awkward “problem children” growling, swearing and screaming at strangers, biting fingers and chewing furniture. And, unfortunately for the naïve purchaser, they don’t become well-adjusted adults at any stage of their lifetime. With the best of intentions, it’s often a lose-lose relationship for parrots and their owners.

Some wild-caught grey parrots are lucky to escape such a future. Parrots seized in Bulgaria were rehabilitated and released by the World Parrot Trust on Ngamba Island, Uganda, in July 2013. The parrots were caught illegally in DRC, shipped to Lebanon (where they were issued with fake papers) and then shipped to Bulgaria. 108 parrots arrived in Bulgaria, but only 17 survived the quarantine imposed by Bulgarian authorities who were poorly equipped for the task. The process of international bureaucracy and rehabilitation took over 3 years before the 17 survivors tasted freedom again.

AGP10 — Top: Jane Goodall, Dr. Rowan Martin of World Parrot Trust and representatives from Uganda Wildlife Authority and Ngamba Chimpanzee Sanctuary release grey parrots on Ngamba Island. ©Sherry McKelvie
Bottom: Parrots are released into a holding pen in Cameroon before release into the wild. ©WPT

AFGR-fly-out-refined — Top: Jane Goodall, Dr. Rowan Martin of World Parrot Trust and representatives from Uganda Wildlife Authority and Ngamba Chimpanzee Sanctuary release grey parrots on Ngamba Island. ©Sherry McKelvie
Bottom: Parrots are released into a holding pen in Cameroon before release into the wild. ©WPT

This iconic bird is clearly under pressure in the wild from habitat loss and from trapping for the pet trade. The proportion of birds dying en route from capture to the market appears very high, and we have no idea of true wild population numbers. CITES has little control over the situation, and member countries view the grey parrot as an inexhaustible harvest resource for revenue and employment.
A positive sign is that thousands of grey parrots have been confiscated from traffickers in several African countries, including Kenya, Uganda, Cameroon, DRC, the Republic of Congo, and Guinea. In special cases, these birds have been successfully released into their former ranges. These confiscation efforts, spearheaded by the World Parrot Trust and many other collaborating NGOs and governments, are proving a valuable deterrent and a source of birds for the restoration of the species in the wild. But much more needs to be done.
South Africa should be a conservation leader of grey parrots. There are more than enough birds in captivity to sustain a healthy gene pool for the pet trade. It should cease all imports of wild-caught grey parrots while applying stricter controls against the illegal trade. Do CITES and member countries have the political will and control over the situation to take this necessary action?

The information in this article was gathered from personal observations and experience, advice and info provided by experts and various print and online resources. Most specifically, I would like to list the following invaluable resources:
1. Rowan Martin, manager of World Parrot Trust’s African Conservation Program, for his advice, guidance and proof-reading skills.
2. John and Terese Hart, of the Lukuru Foundation in Kinshasa, Democratic Republic of Congo.
3. Cristiana Senni and Jamie Gilardi of World Parrot Trust.
4. Mike Perrin, whose book “Parrots of Africa, Madagascar and the Mascarene Islands” was an invaluable resource.

Contributors

SIMON ESPLEY is a proud African, of the digital tribe, and honoured to be CEO of Africa Geographic. His travels in Africa are searching for wilderness, real people with interesting stories and elusive birds. He lives in Hoedspruit, next to the Kruger National Park, with his wife Lizz and 2 Jack Russells. When not travelling or working he is usually on his mountain bike somewhere out there. He qualified as a chartered account, but found his calling sharing Africa’s incredibleness with you. His motto is “Live for now, have fun, be good, tread lightly and respect others. And embrace change”.

DR. ROWAN MARTIN has been of vital assistance in writing this issue. Rowan heads up the World Parrot Trust’s African Conservation Program. He first became involved with WPT during his doctoral studies on the breeding behaviour of Yellow-shouldered Amazon parrots on Bonaire when he was based at the University of Sheffield, UK. Between 2009 and 2013 he held a Postdoctoral fellowship at the Percy FitzPatrick Institute of African Ornithology at the University of Cape Town, South Africa. While in South Africa he became involved in African parrot conservation and as a co-ordinator for the Africa region of the International Ornithologist’s Union Parrot Researcher’s Group, took a lead role in reviewing the state of research and conservation in African parrots.

CHRISTIAN MEERMANN is the photographer of our Congo grey parrot cover image. Based in Germany and active since 2007, his award winning fine art black & white portraits of animals have not only built a strong and still growing reputation in the photographic communities on the web, but also caught the interest of customers like the Sporting Clube de Portugal, Maxim magazine, Getty Images and Nike. You can find his work on his website and also on FlickR, Google+ and on Twitter.

Get to know the grey parrot

There are 25 species of parrot native to Africa, Madagascar and Mauritius, according to the IUCN – with preferred habitats ranging from closed forests to arid zones. Parrots are not as diverse or abundant in Africa as in Australasia and the Neotropics. The grey parrot is found in the primary and secondary rainforests of West and Central Africa. There are in fact, two species of grey parrot.

Congo grey parrot (Psittacus erithacus)
This was the nominate species before the Timneh grey parrot was recognised as a separate species. The Congo grey parrot is about 33 cm long and weighs 400-490 grams, with light-grey feathers, cherry-red tails, and a black beak. Immature birds of up to 4 months have black irises, changing to grey and then a pale yellow by the time the bird is a year old and to deeper yellow as the bird matures, with flecks of orange in very mature birds. The Congo Grey Parrot’s range extends from the southeastern Ivory Coast to western Kenya, northwest Tanzania, the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) and the islands of São Tomé and Príncipe. It is now extremely rare or locally extinct in several of its historic range countries.

Timneh grey parrot (Psittacus timneh)
The Timneh grey parrot is slightly smaller, at about 22-28 cm in total length and weighing 275-375 grams, with a darker charcoal grey colouring, a darker maroon tail, and a light, horn-coloured area to part of the upper mandible. Timneh grey parrots are endemic to the western parts of the moist Upper Guinea forests and bordering savannas of West Africa from Guinea-Bissau and Sierra Leone east to at least 70 km east of the Bandama River in Ivory Coast. Not much is known about this species, and many experts fear that the population has been severely depleted, placing it in a more serious position than its larger cousin.

Population
Little did I suspect when planning the Shades of Grey feature that I would be unable to track down an accurate population estimate for grey parrots. Phone calls and emails to the world’s leading conservation entities drew a blank, and the Birdlife International website suggested a global Congo Grey Parrot population of between 560,000 and 12.7 million individuals (Pilgrim et al. in prep.) – which seems vague at best and outdated.
Of major concern is that population declines have been noted in Burundi, Cameroon, Ghana, Kenya, Nigeria, Rwanda, São Tomé and Príncipe, Togo, Uganda and parts of Congo and the Democratic Republic of the Congo – which seems pretty much the entire range. The same website suggests a population of 120,100 to 259,000 Timney grey parrots.

Diet
Little is known of their feeding ecology – they forage high in the forest canopy, and their presence at feeding sites is spasmodic and unpredictable as they take advantage of fruiting forest trees. Their diet is varied and seasonal, as they pursue seasonal fruiting and flowering plants. They have also been observed eating snails and even clay, the latter in pursuit of minerals and to absorb or filter toxic compounds and tannins from green fruit. They have been known to do damage to maize crops. It was feared that grey parrots would be a major pest on oil palm plantations (oil palms are part of their natural diet), but this has not transpired, and only a tiny fraction of the fruit is eaten by parrots.
Their ability to exploit various food resources has contributed to its unpredictable movements between feed sites. Grey parrots are ‘seed predators’ in that they peel off the flesh to eat the seed/pip. They also drop many fruits and seeds while eating, thus providing the ecological service of seed dispersal near the feed tree and providing food for ground dwellers.

Behaviour
Grey parrots primarily make local flights in search of food. They often roost in large groups, flying in from a radius of up to 20km, forming large, noisy flocks, the birds calling to each other with various squawks, whistles, shrieks and screams, both at rest and in flight. Calls include ultra and infrasonic components, exhibit sex and individual differences and local dialects.

cliff-grey-parrots-nests — Grey parrot nesting cliff in Lusambo forest, DRC. ©Lukuru Foundation/TL2 Project

Breeding
The nest of the grey parrot is generally a simple cavity, high in a tree with the nesting chamber up to 60cm below the entrance and sometimes in the crevices of cliffs. Two to four eggs are usually laid and hatch after an incubation period of 28-30 days, the young leaving the nest around 80 days later.

Ruaha – a walk on the wild side

A middle-aged elephant bull stands in the Ruaha riverbed – towering over five younger bulls that follow him around. It’s a spot on the Mwagusi sand river where the underlying rocks push water toward the surface making it easier for the elephants to dig. The wind has died, and a little ash shaken from an old sock drifts slowly to the ground. The elephant moves his foreleg back and forth shovelling sand away, creating a hole big enough for his trunk to siphon up the cool, sand-filtered water.

One of the younger bulls does the same, his ears waving in a desperate attempt to keep cool in the oppressive heat. The others rest, huddled together as if trying to hide their faces, the ends of their trunks relaxed and flat on the ground. A Tamarind tree provides little shade in its leafless state. Every move is deliberate.

The dry season screams for rain until the soil is hoarse and inflamed

I click my fingers softly to get the attention of the six rangers hunkered down with me behind some rocks. Simon Peterson, a fellow guide, whispers some questions to them: Where is the wind coming from? Are we close enough? Do the elephants pose a threat? Could we be in a better position? Do we have an escape route? Where are the elephants most likely to go should they become alarmed? The leading ranger shakes his ash bag again. The wind is erratic because of the stifling heat that sends swirling thermals up the river, but we judge we’re in a safe place. We watch the elephants a little longer then retreat.

Ruaha National Park in Tanzania gets under your skin. It’s intense. Magical. Extreme. The dry season screams for rain until the soil is hoarse and inflamed, only to make way for thunderstorms that turn gullies into violent torrents, and grasslands into moving sheets of water. Those who come to Ruaha usually visit in the dry season when the watering holes dry up in the surrounding hills, and the wildlife is forced down to the Great Ruaha River. Huge herds of buffalo move between massive lion pride territories creating scenes fit for sensational documentaries.

It’s common to see greater kudu, bushbuck, impala and dik-dik feeding on dark red flowers dropped by yellow baboons sitting high up in the kigelias. Giraffes maintain the browse lines on these sausage trees and, if you look closely, you may notice that one of the eponymous sausages hanging down is, in fact, a leopard’s tail. In more remote areas roan, sable and hartebeest come to drink from less lion-infested springs. But, as those who have seen the seasons change in Ruaha know, its wildness encompasses more than big game. There are more than 1,600 species of plant, and the bird list is over 600 with at least three endemics. Ruaha is also a place of elephants.

20131124_Ruaha_0100 — An elephant crushed by a fallen baobab tree, a victim of her own species’ tendency to denude baobabs in order to access moisture from wood pulp in the dry season. ©Robert J. Ross

But the elephants were so hammered by poaching in the 1970s and 80s that most of the big tuskers have been killed, effectively selecting for genetically small or absent tusks. But even these surviving tuskless matriarchs and their progeny are not immune to the recent surge in poaching. Despite all this, Ruaha boasts the largest elephant population in Tanzania at present – but that’s only because of the decimation of the Selous population by even more intense poaching.

We were here teaching a six-week-long walking safari course for government rangers. Our team consisted of a doctor, a former professional hunter with years of experience in firearms training, and four guides with experience leading walking safaris in Ruaha and other wilderness areas.

ruaha — Top: Ruaha lions are specialist big game hunters. Middle: Wild dogs make up part of a vast selection of predator species in this 13 000sq.km national park. Bottom: The region’s riverine forest is prime leopard habitat. ©Pietro Luraschi

20130707_174625_01 — Top: Ruaha lions are specialist big game hunters. Middle: Wild dogs make up part of a vast selection of predator species in this 13 000sq.km national park. Bottom: The region’s riverine forest is prime leopard habitat. ©Pietro Luraschi

The training was part of a larger project funded by the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) called ‘Strengthening Protected Areas Network in Southern Tanzania’ (SPANEST). Walking safaris in Ruaha had been severely impacted by a series of tragic accidents in preceding years. The reactions of authorities and safari operators to these incidents tended to be impulsive rather than analytical, so something absolutely had to be done to improve safety. Through the vision of Godwell Meing’ataki (Project Coordinator) and Paul Harrison (Technical Advisor to UNDP), funds from the SPANEST project were allocated specifically for walking safari guide training.

By walking you become a participant rather than a mere observer

In Tanzania rangers are government employees whose job is primarily protecting wildlife from poaching, and only occasionally protecting tourists on walks led by professional guides. Their training is limited to law enforcement, and most ambitious new guides tend to set their sights on sitting behind the steering wheel shuttling tourists around places like Ngorongoro and Serengeti. So it is no surprise that the walking safari industry is underdeveloped.

Safe walking safaris provide the opportunity to focus on the more subtle aspects of nature, which are difficult to appreciate from a vehicle. Instead of listening to an engine you hear your own footsteps, and might even realise how loud your breathing is. It’s easier to smell the wild herbs, and feel the textures of bark. You make way for a Sungusungu ant colony coming down an elephant path, and you realize how relative scales of time and distance are. You become a participant rather than an observer. The baboon bark or impala snort is aimed at you as the super-predator, not the leopard or lion. There is a vulnerability that becomes apparent, stimulating your senses to sharpen. It is also incredibly peaceful.

20131126_Ruaha_0142 — Top: Elephants cross the dry Ruaha river bed at sunset. Bottom: With its proliferation of potentially dangerous wildlife, Ruaha is an ideal place for ranger training. Here, rangers are instructed in interpreting elephant behaviour during approach. ©Robert J. Ross

Our course started with five days of first aid training focusing on identifying, managing and preventing medical emergencies in the wilderness. The American definition of “back-country” or “wilderness” for the purpose of emergency medicine is anywhere further than twenty minutes from definitive care. The southern parks in Tanzania are at least six hours from definitive care even with an efficient evacuation plan. So, action rather than reaction is the mantra of the course. Recognising and preventing medical issues is also critical in preventing accidents. For example, participants learned to recognise signs of dehydration because it can result in irrational behaviour or the inability to follow instructions at a critical moment, thereby presenting a safety risk.

The most dangerous animal is a human with a gun

Walking in the vicinity of dangerous animals, particularly elephant, buffalo and lion, is inherently risky so firearms training is an important aspect of the course. There is much truth in the statement that the most dangerous animal in the bush is a human with a gun, so the training is focused on ensuring safe, accurate and professional handling of the heavy calibre rifles.

In the extremely rare case that a potentially dangerous animal actually becomes dangerous, decisions must be made quickly. There is no margin for error when an animal is moving toward you with intent. The high calibre rifles necessary to stop elephant and buffalo shoot one bullet at a time and only carry a few rounds in the magazine. Firing a second bullet requires manually operating a bolt to eject the spent cartridge, and re-chambering the second round. So the first shot is critical.

Some of the more difficult and subtle training involves attitudes and natural history awareness. There is a disproportionate fear associated with some potentially dangerous wildlife that stems from cultural stigmas and false information. One example is the fear of snakes. I grew up in a village, and like most Tanzanian children, we were taught to be terrified of snakes.

Any snake sighting incited hysteria, and people running to kill it with hoes and machetes. Elders would embellish stories of black mambas moving so fast it was as if they were flying. It wasn’t until I was much older that I met people who handled snakes. Through study, I learned to understand that not all snakes are dangerous and that even dangerous snakes usually try to avoid people. Exploring misconceptions about the potentially dangerous game needed our careful consideration. The reason we use the term “potentially dangerous game” is because, under normal circumstances, they aren’t dangerous. We armed rangers with the knowledge and experience to guide crucial decision making.

If you don’t have some fear you don’t understand the risk

It’s a struggle for some of the rangers to reconcile their long-held fears. If your perception of elephants is built on the same sentiments as my previous fear of snakes, sitting on a ridge watching elephant feeding below, or climbing onto boulders to safely let a herd come past, can be terrifying. We spent a lot of time discussing the fact that fear is healthy because it makes you careful. If you don’t have some fear you don’t understand the risk, and this makes you dangerous.

Jane, a single mother with a young son, offers a good example of safely overcoming fear. The first woman to receive an Interpretive Guides Society Walking Certificate, she was initially hesitant to walk in areas with elephants, and the .458 rifle was heavy for her at first. But she has got used to it and, following her training, she is now better able to understand elephant behaviour, and so protect her guests, herself and her son.

Andrew Molinaro (Moli), who leads private walking safaris in Ruaha, has noticed changes in the rangers. ‘From our first course in January 2013, the difference in attitude and competency of the rangers has been extraordinary. They are now well versed in the concept and procedures of a bushwalk. Rangers understand the animals much better now and have far more confidence in themselves. They now form an integral part of any walking safari.’

There’s a long way to go. This kind of training is expensive and requires a good deal of time but it’s a start. Pietro Luraschi, a specialist walking guide and co-trainer, pointed out, ‘You can see the pride of being part of an elite team of qualified walking guides.’ These are important steps, as the neglected southern circuit of Tanzania continues to seek recognition as the world-class wildlife and wilderness destination that it is.

As we return to the vehicle from the elephant sighting, we stop under one of Ruaha’s iconic baobab trees. Brown parrots screech as they fly away, white petals of the baobab blossoms float to the ground where impala, kudu and bushbuck will feed. It’s an opportunity to talk about pollination and baobab ecology.

20131125_Ruaha_0220 — Top: This ancient baobab will soon collapse as the elephant denudes the tree in order to access moisture from wood pulp in the dry season. ©Marius Swart. Middle: Author Ethan Kinsey and trainee rangers examine an elephant tusk embedded in the bark of a baobab. ©Robert J. Ross Bottom: Wooden pegs form a ladder to access honey at the top of the baobab. ©Robert J. Ross

We feel the mud-caked marks where elephants have rubbed their hide, and we inspect the damage where they’ve ripped bark from the tree. In the bark of another baobab, we find the end of a tusk embedded. One side of the tree is covered in hundreds of small holes, a few of them bearing a wooden peg, evidence of honey gathering by humans. Some of the peg marks are recent – honey poachers, as they are now called – but some scars date back 500 or 1,000 years. How old is a baobab tree, really?

This is one of the issues we discuss. Are all these baobabs a similar age because they were able to flourish when there were enough people here that elephants stayed away? As we discuss the history of humans in the park, we notice an old grinding stone, then some shards of pottery. High up in the branches two male scarlet-chested sunbirds bicker, then a greater honeyguide arrives and starts chattering at us. He wants us to follow him to honey, and leave him some beeswax and grubs in thanks. The evidence of our reliance on, and once integral role in, the ecosystem becomes more and more apparent. By walking in the wild we are reminded of who we are.

Contributor

ETHAN KINSEYwas born and raised close to Arusha, where he and his wife now make their home. Being outside, immersed in nature, has always been a part of his life, from catching tadpoles, birding and outdoor pursuits as a child, to winter sports during college vacations. More recently, it has taken the form of sharing wildlife and wilderness experiences with guests, specialized guiding, guide-training, and personal learning ventures. Primarily occupied with designing and guiding private safaris throughout East Africa, he is also active in the training and developing of guiding standards through the Interpretive Guides Society.

Ruaha – wild inspiration

It is very hard to capture the true essence of life in Ruaha in words or paint. I am merely a silent observer of a tiny, tiny portion of what goes on, and has gone on, for centuries.

I distinctly remember when I was 12; I was on a game drive, and I vowed that when I grew up, I would make my life in the bush, and the best thing ever would be to live in Ruaha. In 1994, when I was 34, I found myself driving back to Ruaha. I was excited and curious to see how I would find it. It did not disappoint. Ruaha has been untouched since the beginning of time. It is quite honestly one of the finest wilderness areas on earth. That’s why I stayed, and I have remained here for the past 11 years.

You asked what the challenges are, but I am so used to living remotely that I don’t find it challenging at all; to me, it is ‘normal life.’ I suppose it does require you to be pretty organized, such as when you go on a shopping trip every six weeks. You have to eat fresh stuff in a sequence of what goes off first and then what keeps last – cabbage and squash keep for a long time, but soft fruit does not.

People often ask me what I do if I am sick. Most of the time, it is nothing serious I just spend a few days being quiet. However, on a couple of occasions, I have had to be flown out with a doctor, but it all worked out. The main thing is to be organized and know your mental and physical limitations.

A typical day? I am a very early riser, so I potter about in my pyjamas, before the sun is up, taking in the sounds. I fill up the water baths for the birds and put out a bit of seed for them. My partner and fellow artist, Rob, and I have separate camps, so at about 7.30, he comes over for breakfast: fruit, porridge, toast, tea and coffee. We sit on my verandah for all meals, often joined by birds and small beasts, like squirrels during the day and genets at night. We are usually in our respective studios or out sketching by 8.30 am.

In the evening, I heat up water on the stove in a kettle for a shower – the old-style bucket shower hauled up on a pulley. We eat around 7.30 pm by candlelight with the stars and moon shining above. Even simple things like going down to the river each day to collect water are magical moments for inspiration: colour on the water, a fish eagle or a dragonfly landing on a rock.

What has always fascinated me is how nature comes up with the most marvellous combinations of colour. It is these combinations of colour and design that spark many of my pictures. I have always loved painting birds; their patterns and colours are superb.

When I see something that grabs my attention, be it a sky, an animal, a person or just a combination of colours that I find interesting, I will sketch this in a journal with watercolours and keep it for future reference. Or I may be researching an animal or bird with a definite purpose, in which case I will pay particular attention to all the colours and details and spend a week or more making notes and sketches.

I paint because it is what I love to do. I paint what inspires me or challenges me. It is very hard to catch that same spontaneous ‘inspiration’ from someone else’s idea. In the few commissions I have done, I am constantly wondering: ‘is this what they had in mind?’ I concluded that it would be unwise to accept commissions as, although one might be tempted to follow this route as it brings in money, in the end, it will be detrimental to one’s standard of work and one’s own inspiration. I can afford not to be controlled by fear of not having enough money because I know tomorrow will take care of itself.

I have several things that are firing me up at the moment: I am working on a ‘coffee table’ type book that will be filled with paintings of the Miombo woodlands, a pristine yet underappreciated area of Ruaha. In addition, I am looking to create a flower and tree guide on the plants of Miombo.

I am compiling countless little stories of my encounters and observations of the wonderful wildlife using photographs and sketches. And I have many oil paintings that are simmering away in my head, waiting for the right moment to appear on the canvas. These will be done randomly in between all the other projects. I will also be exhibiting and giving a talk in Vancouver at the Artist For Conservation exhibition at the end of September 2014.

Here in Ruaha, a road network is yet to be developed, so huge areas remain unscathed by humans; there is a tangible atmosphere of peace and tranquillity here. When I am alone in the camp, I spend every waking moment sketching and painting, and with it so quiet, the animals come in very close – I feel like I might melt into the landscape, as somehow they seem to accept me as part of the scene.

A friend of the enemy

When I was 10, I had clear dreams of my future – I would be a big-cat conservationist, driving around in a shiny zebra-striped Land Rover and spending all my time gazing happily at predators. Here in Ruaha, over 25 years later, some of those dreams have come true – I am a big-cat conservationist, and our project owns three Land Rovers (although none are shiny – they are usually broken – and no one will let me paint them in zebra stripes). However, I rarely get to spend any time watching big cats. Instead, I deal with complexities that I would never have imagined, such as tribal identity, people-park conflicts, and trying to figure out how on earth we can expect grindingly poor people to bear the additional costs of coexisting with dangerous carnivores.

Ruaha is a breathtakingly beautiful wilderness supporting some of the world’s most important carnivore populations, and I feel privileged every day to work here. However, Ruaha’s carnivores are not restricted to the park, but sometimes stray into the adjacent populated areas where they cause intense conflict with local people. The Great Ruaha River runs along the southern border of the park, and in the dry season, it is a magnet for prey and predators. But, during the rains prey animals disperse so carnivores range beyond the park, often preying on poorly-protected cattle and goats.

Predators — A Barabaig girl herds the cattle her community depend on. Understanding the value of such livestock is key to to protecting predators from people.
©Andrew Harrington

When the Ruaha Carnivore Project (RCP) was established in 2009, we found that about 60% of local people had suffered attacks by carnivores. This had crippling economic consequences in an area where 90% of villagers live on less than $2 a day. Unsurprisingly, people frequently snared or poisoned carnivores – either to prevent attacks, or to retaliate for them.

Furthermore, very few people saw any benefits from carnivore presence. Usually the only people who did were young warriors who could receive gifts (zawadi) from their community if they speared a lion – one of the few ways young men could earn wealth and status. A warrior could earn 20 cattle (worth around $4000) in zawadi by killing one lion.

In the early years of the project, most of the lion carcasses we found had the right front paw missing – a clear sign that it had been killed for zawadi, as the central claw is removed and taken to prove the killing. These preventative, retaliatory and cultural killings led to the highest documented rate of lion killing in modern East Africa, with over 35 lions killed in just 18 months, the majority occurring around a single village. So we decided to base our field camp there and try to work out how we could effectively improve the situation for both people and predators.

As a long-time vegetarian, I never imagined I would be so happy to receive a huge chunk of meat

But improving the situation depended upon understanding it and gaining the trust of the local community, including the secretive Barabaig, who are notoriously hostile to outsiders. We established a field camp near the village in 2010, but for over a year, our attempts to engage with the Barabaig failed completely. Most villagers would not speak to us, and those who did approach us were beaten up. We tried everything and were almost ready to give up. But then, in mid-2011, it all changed. We installed a solar panel, and bizarrely, that was the breakthrough we needed. The Barabaig suddenly appeared at camp to charge their mobile phones. We would never have imagined that the way to reach this remote and traditional group would be through modern technology, but it provided a reason for people to come to camp, see what we were doing and talk to us. More than two years after the start of the project, the Barabaig invited us to a traditional community meeting. They slaughtered a cow and said they were ready to work with us. As a long-time vegetarian, I never imagined I would be so happy to receive a huge hunk of meat, but I was. It meant that our work could finally begin.

It became clear that the human-carnivore conflict around Ruaha was incredibly complex, involving not only the high costs of depredation but also the lack of benefits to the community, antagonism towards the park, little knowledge about the conservation reasons, and the fact that killing lions was one of the only ways for young men to gain income and status. So we started with the simplest thing – reducing attacks.

Our research showed that 65% of attacks occurred in livestock enclosures (bomas), the majority of which were poorly constructed. We introduced a cost-sharing initiative to construct predator-proof bomas made of diamond-mesh fencing. To date, we have constructed over 70, and they have proved 100% effective at preventing attacks. However, some attacks occur in the bush, so we have begun trials using specially trained Anatolian shepherd dogs to guard livestock. Although the project is in its infancy, the approach seems promising. In addition, we work intensively with village households to teach people how to identify carnivore attacks and how simple, low-tech measures can prevent such attacks from recurring. Together these measures have significantly reduced depredation, reducing economic pressures on people and the need for preventative or retaliatory killing.

Lion_Conflict1450-lores — Amy hard at work in her field camp near a Barabaig village. ©Andrew Harrington

However, living near predators will always mean costs, and long-term conservation depends upon local people seeing tangible, relevant benefits that outweigh those costs. The villagers voted on which benefits they would most appreciate from carnivore presence and chose education, healthcare and veterinary medicines. To improve education, RCP established the ‘Kids 4 Cats’ school-twinning programme, in which village schools are linked with an international school that can help raise funds for much-needed supplies.

We also established competitive ‘Simba Scholarships’ to enable pastoralist children (both girls and boys) to attend secondary school. To improve healthcare, the project equipped a medical clinic in the heart of the pastoralist area, focusing on maternal and infant health. Regarding veterinary medicines, we worked with authorities to help provide subsidised, high-quality medicines to households that had invested in a predator-proof boma. This helps to recoup their initial costs by reducing livestock loss to disease. Although these initiatives are small, significantly more villagers now report seeing a personal benefit from carnivore presence on village land.

Local people are better able to support conservation initiatives if they see tangible benefits
1. Opening of a healthcare clinic.©Ruaha Carnivore Project
2. A newly reinforced boma to protect livestock. ©Jon Erickson
3. Visitors to Ruaha National Park learn about the park’s role in conservation. ©Ruaha Carnivore Project

Despite living so close to Ruaha National Park, most local people have never legally entered the Park and knew little about its role. RCP now conducts weekly trips to the park for villagers, enabling them to learn about wildlife in a non-threatening atmosphere. These have been incredibly valuable, with 95% of people saying the experience had (positively) changed their attitude towards predators like lions and 99% saying it gave them a greater appreciation of the park’s role. Education is also provided through DVD nights, which are very popular, and we are now working with international partners to translate some key wildlife DVDs into Swahili for greater impact.

To address cultural killings, we partnered with Lion Guardians and Panthera to replicate the Kenyan Lion Guardian model around Ruaha. Under this initiative, warriors are trained as lion trackers and community guardians. Through this programme, they are given highly-valued literacy training and receive a good income to buy cattle instead of killing lions to obtain them. The Lion Guardians receive status through their jobs and, as influential warriors, dissuade others from going on lion hunts because their jobs, status and income depend on the survival of carnivores in their zone.

Despite challenges at the start, we are already seeing progress. Local people are more economically secure, are seeing real benefits from wildlife and specifically predators, and are gaining conservation awareness. Hearteningly, the largely-Barabaig community just awarded us land for a permanent camp. And let’s not forget the animals. Carnivore killings in the core study area have dropped by 80% since 2011.

There is much we still need to do as RCP works intensively in only a few of the local villages, but we are hopeful as we go forward. My experiences in Ruaha have taught me that, although real big-cat conservation differs vastly from my childhood dreams, it is richer, more complex and more rewarding than that wide-eyed 10-year-old could ever have imagined.

ALSO READ: The emotions of human-wildlife conflict

Hadza: a short history of an ancient tribe

You sit where you are, a modern man or woman connected: by the internet, airliners, the stock exchange and international trade. So it is a strange and perhaps comforting thought that in an area rich with hominid fossils there is an Apex predator, a fellow Homo Sapiens. Nestled in the Great Rift Valley on the banks of Tanzania’s Lake Eyasi, the Hadza people are among the last of the true hunter-gatherers, a connection to your pre-agrarian past.

In Hadza oral history there is no record of famine. When neighbouring countries and tribes have reported such events, they have remained self-sufficient: never taking more than they need (which is considered rude) and adapting to their environment instead of changing it.

The Hadza (also known as the Hadzabe) are historically nomadic, moving with the seasons and attending to their immediate needs. They have been doing this in the region of Lake Eyasi in Tanzania for the last 50 000 years. However, their once borderless world has become more and more confined due to the pressure of other tribes and agricultural encroachment. Ultimately the Tanzanian government were motivated to create a Hadza reservation in 2011. Although the Hadza now have land rights to 1000 square miles, it is a quarter of their original range.

The Bantu expansion which began about 3 000 years ago resulted in the loss of many of the hunter-gatherer tribes in Africa, one of the greatest influences being domestic cattle taking over the grazing of the free-roaming antelope that hunter-gatherers preyed on. Driven from their lands in Kenya by the Maasi warriors about 2 000 years ago, the pastoralist Iraqw and Datoga tribes started encroaching into Hadza territory from the North East. The Isanzu, farmers of millet and sorghum, settled to the South of Hadza territory and sometimes kidnapped them for the slave trade. Hadza women were kidnapped by the Datoga, and skirmishes would break out when cattle of neighbouring tribes were killed by the Hadza, but marriage between these groups was not uncommon. Today, the Datoga, the fastest growing tribe in Tanzania, live bordering the Hadza and in the dry season, hostility builds up as the Datoga use Hadza watering holes for their livestock, placing considerable pressure on resources in an already agriculturally challenging region.

Among a total population of around 1 200, less than half of the Hadza still adhere to the hunter-gatherer way of life. The population has grown steadily since the 1960s, along with population density, as they now inhabit a smaller area.

Genealogy

The Hadza are not closely related to any other people. Genealogists believe they are so unique at gene level that they could be one of the primary roots in mankind’s family tree. The Hadza will tell you that they originated from a tree: descending from a giraffe’s neck into a baobab and onto Earth.

Language

The Hadza language is simple, yet it has held the fascination of linguists for half a century. Hadzane is one of the oldest languages that employ click sounds, supposedly so as not to scare off prey. It was once believed that Hadzane was related to the language of the Khoisan but it has since been classified as an isolated language – meaning it is entirely unique to the Hadza.

Religion

Having chosen to ignore the holy words of the missionaries, their religion is minimalistic and their society is truly egalitarian.

Modern Influences and Challenges

Ultimately, the Hadza are regarded as an embarrassment to a modernising Tanzania when perhaps they should be an example to a society far too dependent on technology. The Hadza, armed with wood bows, hardly seem to have left a footprint on the land in the tens of thousands of years that they have lived among the megafauna of northern Tanzania.

Tourism, the one industry that could possibly protect the Hadza way of life, has introduced alcohol and alcoholism, and due to their prolonged isolation, the Hadza’s immune systems are unable to cope with western diseases like measles and tuberculosis. The Hadza youth seem to be caught between a rock and hard place: at a young age, Hadza children usually bear the scars of the bush, the harsh lessons of the wild. Increasingly, children are being sent to school and are losing the ability to survive the way their ancestors did, and Hadza children don’t flourish in the Western schooling system. The Hadza’s current situation of disease, land degradation and segregation is not far from a past already written on the Great Plains of America centuries ago.

This tribe has become an egalitarian island, lost somewhere in time. While you take business calls on your cellular phone, there is a hunter following the call of the honeyguide to the hives high up in the baobab tree; arrows dipped in deadly desert rose poison, ready for a baboon raid.

Giving life to Cape vultures

Slowly we chip away at the eggshell, revealing the two-layer membrane beneath. Starting at the site where the chick surfaced, we peel, tear, or fold the membrane, taking care to avoid ripping the active blood vessels running along the inside. This process must not be rushed and can take days. We are assisting in the hatching of VulPro’s fifth Cape vulture chick of the season. This bird and Cape vultures generally have an uncertain future, yet now this one is healthy and being cared for by its parents on the captive-breeding cliff.

The egg was laid 54 days ago. When we removed the egg from the enclosure for artificial incubation, the unusually thin shell cracked. Luckily we could repair it with epoxy glue, and ten days later, it was confirmed fertile.

The mother habitually rolled the dummy egg out of the nest, sometimes off the cliff entirely, for incubation. We routinely replaced the egg in the nest until we integrated a nest box with the natural nest, providing a barrier to stop the egg from rolling off the cliff ledge.

The chick required our assistance hatching before we could return it to the parents because the hardened epoxy was over the egg’s air cell, near where the chick would externally pip (break out of the shell), and the risk of the parents rolling the egg off the cliff was too great.

The chick hatched relatively quickly for Cape vultures, 24 hours from externally pipping to fully detaching from the egg. The chick externally pipped independently, but we helped it break the shell around the epoxy. We kept it in the incubator while all the active and final blood vessels dried up, allowing the chick to detach completely from the shell. We placed it in a specially designed dummy egg for speedy ‘hatching’ on the cliff and returned it to the parents in the nest box. It was immediately accepted and incubated by the mother.

VulPro’s captive breeding cliff now holds five healthy chicks, with another four expected by the end of August.

In Flight

A CELEBRATION OF SOARING

by
MARK DRYSDALE

“The reason birds can fly and we can’t is simply because they have perfect faith, for to have faith is to have wings,” said the author J.M. Barrie. Photographer Mark Drysdale has a perfect appreciation of that faith. He masters the fine art of capturing light and balances it with the skill and patience needed to capture birds in the perfect expression of flight.

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In flight photographer

MARK DRYSDALE has been involved with photography most of his life; educated in the Eastern Cape, he lives in Johannesburg and regularly frequents his home in Dullstroom. He left the mainstream industry to pursue his passion for photography about 5 years ago. His philosophy about imagery is wonderfully insightful: “Light is the essence of all images. Its quality defines the emotional and physical aspects of photography. The subject is the vehicle, which we use to illustrate that light. It can be warm or cool, soft or harsh, vivid or muted. When the light and subject intersect, they can complement or contradict each other, and how we portray that through the lens depicts who we are. It is the perfect point when the two elements combine to form a scene greater than them individually. Birds in flight provide amongst the best examples of this” Click here to see more of Mark Drysdale’s work and here for another gallery of his work.

Hunting with the hadza

Spending time with traditional hunter-gatherers could be likened to spending time with yourself – with the clock wound back several thousand years. It brings to the fore everything we find alluring and appealing about spending time in the bush – the wild animals, the scenery and the savage beauty. And in this case, the Hadza people form part of that environment as one of the apex predators.

I recently guided a wonderful family from the USA through Tanzania. One of the highlights was spending time with one of the least-known tribes of Africa – the Hadza. I am particularly interested in hunter-gatherers, and I knew this would be a special experience for my clients.

Hadza-grouping-2-1280x1797 — Clockwise from left: Hadza steady their arrows with the same feathers of the birds they shoot. Hadza youth. Baboon skulls – common raiders of Hadza settlements. Hadza elder. ©Greg Lederle

Living near Lake Eyasi in northern Tanzania, the Hadza have managed to preserve their hunter-gatherer way of life for over 30 000 – maybe over 50 000 – years. Their language was once classified with the Khoisan due to similar click sounds, but it has since been reclassified as an isolate – a language unrelated to any other. They are also not closely genetically related to any other tribe. This, combined with their location in the Great Rift Valley, only adds to the intrigue and mystique of these wonderful people. Unlike most African tribes, even their oral history does not indicate that they moved to Hadzaland from elsewhere, making them one of the oldest tribes in Africa – if not the oldest.

Our journey took us to the shores of Lake Eyasi where some of the last remaining 1200 Hadza still live as their ancestors have done for centuries. We arrived with the rising sun and soon joined three men on an early morning hunt, following from a respectable distance as they went about the – for them – routine task of hunting for food.

My greatest hope was to hear a honeyguide fly overhead beckoning us to follow. This would have given my clients the privilege of witnessing the unique bond between these interesting birds and these amazing people. The Hadza are able to communicate with the honeyguides using a series of whistles and calls, a symbiosis that anthropologist Richard Wrangham described as ‘the most developed, co-evolved, mutually helpful relationship between any mammal and any bird on earth.’

Using bow and arrow, Hadza hunters shoot tiny birds from 30 yards with deadly precision

But alas it was not to be. In the absence of honeyguides, the three young hunters were more intent on shooting birds than communicating with them. Boubous, barbets, sparrows and other small birds fell prey to the Hadza’s traditionally-made bows and arrows – from 30m away, sometimes even further! It’s not surprising they are such good shots. Young Hadza boys get their first bows and arrows at about three years of age – and so begins a life of constant practising and hunting, resulting in the astonishing accuracy and deadly precision we saw displayed.

As we continued trailing behind the three young hunters, they would split up and lose sight of one another. They did not speak, but communicated using a range of whistles that enabled them to stealthily blend into their environment with very little disturbance.

A few hours (and several small birds) later, the stealthy demeanour of the hunters changed. One shouted out from a distance, his calls echoing through the baobab-dotted landscape. The other two answered loudly and joyfully, their tone signalling that the hunt was over.

As they ran in the direction of the shouting, we followed as best we could. When we caught up, one hunter stood holding an adult Kirk’s dik-dik with a perfectly placed arrow through the shoulder. No sense of pride, celebration or achievement. He had simply done what he had set out to do, and they now had sufficient meat to return to camp. The dik-dik was slung over a shoulder, and we walked off towards a particularly large baobab.

Baobab Trees are common in the area and form a very important part of the Hadza’s existence. The fruit makes up about 13% of their diet, and the trees often conceal large beehives that provide honey for the hunter-gatherers. This one provided shade and demarcated both the kitchen and dining room. The hunters lit a fire in no time and, when it was at its highest, placed the whole, unskinned, unbutchered dik-dik on the leaping flames. They relaxed and sat around chatting, and plucking the birds they had killed. Once all the hair had been burnt off the dik-dik, it was taken off the fire and gutted. The liver, diaphragm and some cuts of shoulder were placed directly onto the now smouldering coals, as were the small birds.

We were all offered a piece of the meat, but the birds were kept for the hunters themselves. They handle different kills in very specific ways. Small birds are eaten in the bush by the hunters, while larger prey that is small enough to be carried is taken back to be shared at camp. If they kill a big animal such as a kudu or giraffe, the whole camp is moved to the food source, where they feast for days.

After being out for several hours, we headed back to camp, walking beneath the cathedral-like baobabs, musing over the day’s events, and the future of these amazing people. Authenticity and the pursuit thereof is something we all strive for, and seek to achieve in our lives. So, when we come across something truly authentic, we are faced with the dilemma of whether to share it or not. These rare gems and special discoveries are most sought after specifically because they are rare and undiscovered.

These beautiful people have remained unchanged for thousands of years, despite incredible difficulties and challenges. The wildlife they depend on and the land where they hunt face many threats. Pastoralists extending their range graze their herds on the hunting grounds, which influences the movement of the animals; and some of the land they have traditionally roamed has been set aside as the private hunting domain of the Abu Dhabi royal family. The Hadza have been kidnapped and sold as slaves. They have been forced out of their hunting areas and compelled to sow crops. And yet they always return to their simple hunter-gatherer way of life.

Birds are cooked and eaten straight after the hunt. The gutted dik-dik is taken back to share with the rest of the tribe. ©Greg Lederle

Their bows and arrows are still the same lengths as when they were first recorded, the height of the men and women are still the same, their favourite decorative colours, the methods they use to pacify bees with smoke and to collect the prized honey, and even the whistles and calls they share with the honeyguides, are all still the same. So little has changed in the Hadza’s wonderful way of life despite long contact with more powerful neighbours, but could the arrival of tourism lead to their downfall? Will the growth of ecotourism and cultural tourism be the Hadza people’s 21st-century challenge?

It’s a real possibility, and the irony is that it would be brought about by the very people who value their culture and want it to stay intact. With tourism comes money, gifts and (sometimes misplaced) generosity – and alcohol, which we know has a long history of destroying traditional cultures. The Hadza are quite aware of this from observing how some neighbouring tribes have changed – usually for the worse.

But perhaps it is tourism that may keep their traditions alive and thriving. It is, after all, largely due to the creation of neighbouring conservation areas, such as Ngorongoro, Serengeti, Lake Manyara, Maswa and Mwiba, that the Hadza can continue to subsist on hunting. These popular tourism destinations create a conservation core from which animals can move freely into and out of the Lake Eyasi region, ensuring a sustainable population of the animals so important to the Hadza’s survival and traditions.

I firmly believe that, with careful management, and with informed and educated guides, tourism can contribute to the Hadza’s survival. Is it not this sensitivity and restraint that has allowed for profound encounters with potentially vulnerable communities – both cultural and wildlife – in other parts of Africa? It would be a tragedy if an irresponsible increase in tourism leads to the destruction of a culture that has remained unaltered for the last several centuries, and for as long as their stories have been told. It’s happened before, and it can happen again. So my wish for the Hadza is that they resist negative outside influences, and continue to preserve their unique way of life.

ALSO READ: Hadza – a short history of an ancient tribe

Contributors

GREG LEDERLE is a multiple award-winning guide and the owner and co-founder of his own safari company – Lederle Safaris. Described by Forbes Life as “…a warm and effervescent personality”, Greg’s connection to and appreciation of Africa and travel is evident in his pursuit of off-the-beaten-track safari experiences.

Shelley’s crimsonwing – no photos in natural habitat

There is no known photograph of a live Shelley’s crimsonwing other than a few caught during biodiversity netting surveys. Cryptospiza shelleyi is a species of forest finch occurring in the highland forests of the Albertine Rift in East Africa. It is classified as ‘endangered’ by due to habitat loss and is likely to have a small, severely fragmented and declining population.

The world’s second known photograph of a Shelley’s crimsonwing. © Colin Jackson — Shelley’s crimsonwing. © Colin Jackson

We spoke to researcher Colin Jackson who photographed a Shelley’s crimsonwing during a biodiversity netting expedition in the Mt Tsiaberimu area, in the DRC, in 1997. The only other photo of this species, also of a netted bird, was taken in 2008, also photographed in the Mt Tsiaberimu area in the Virunga National Park, DRC.

Jackson said, “Very interesting to hear of the story behind the other image of the crimsonwing – that it also came from Tsiaberimu…. We caught ours in the heart of the forest not far from where we first camped in nets going through the edge of bamboo and bordering an open area that included some swampy vegetation. The expedition was one of National Museums of Kenya staff, funded by the Berggorilla and Regenwald Direkthilfte and the Atlanta Zoo. A key objective of the expedition was to survey the surviving gorillas and Titus Imboma (whose hand is holding the bird in the image) and myself were taken along to do bird surveys.”

About Shelley’s crimsonwing

Distribution: A narrow strip of highland forest sandwiched between Burundi, eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo, Rwanda and western Uganda.

Habitat: Inhabits closed moist understory in montane forest, low secondary growth at the forest edge, clearings with Sericostachys, mixed bamboo thickets; sometimes in more open areas near streams and forest clearings.

Habits: Occurs singly or in pairs. Forages on the ground for seeds, known to associate with dusky crimsonwings Cryptospiza jacksoni. Shy, elusive, seldom seen, when flushed, flies rapidly for a short distance, dives for cover and does not reappear.

Ever since 2008 this was the only known photograph of a Shelley’s crimsonwing in the world. © http://www.gorilla.org — Shelley’s crimsonwing © http://www.gorilla.org

A Namibian’s view on hunting in his home country

I was born in a village outside Sesfontein, one of the remotest parts of Namibia. I grew up experiencing daily encounters with wildlife, so I feel qualified to enter the Namibian hunting debate.

The side against hunting reminds me of the era when the colonial government used different means to prevent local people from benefitting from wildlife. The apartheid government regarded us as too irresponsible to look after the wildlife that we lived with. It had to be protected from us, and it belonged to the government. The anti-hunting lobby is behaving in exactly the same way: they, outsiders who want the privilege of seeing wildlife when it suits them, seem to think they are needed to protect our wildlife – from the independent Namibian government and local people because we believe in sustainable hunting. I cannot, right now, think of any explanation that will make me understand why these people are blowing hunting in Namibia out of proportion. Is this a plot by some groups to ensure that rural people do not benefit from sustainable utilisation?

It is very important for people to realise that in most of Namibia, wildlife is free-roaming, outside national parks, in communally-owned conservancies where the local communities have taken it upon themselves to live with wildlife, some of it extremely dangerous such as elephant, rhino and predators. This is in areas where these same people are farming to make a living. The Government of the Republic of Namibia has given its people in communal areas who so wish to live with wildlife the rights to also benefit from it as they would do with their livestock.

I do understand that there are people out there who don’t want to see wild animals being killed. To me, this is illogical as many animals worldwide are being killed every day – be it fish, cattle, pigs, sheep and chicken. And the way most of these animals are being killed is without any respect and crueller than we can imagine. Why are these people not shouting about this? Or are their mouths too full of beef, pork or mutton?

Hunting in our beloved Namibia is a carefully thought-through business by our politicians and our local environmental scientists. We do selective hunting only after an annual game count in conservancies. This is backed up by monitoring initiatives such as routine weekly and monthly wildlife patrols by conservancy staff.

So we do all we can to ensure our hunting initiatives are sustainable. We are not perfect and make mistakes, but our aim is good conservation done in an African way.

I would think if people were so much concerned about wildlife, the focus would be on how to curb the immense poaching activities that are happening in South Africa, Kenya and other countries. Why are they picking on Namibia, where we have found our own road to conserve and increase our wildlife populations while at the same time helping rural people to diversify their local economies?

The Namibian initiative is geared toward empowering our local people. If we did not see some benefits coming from wildlife, most of us would not be prepared to go on sharing our lands with wild animals. Let us not discourage practices that have ensured that today we can proudly say that our wildlife population have increased outside national parks to the point that we have more wildlife outside our parks than inside. This has happened only because ordinary citizens regard wildlife as theirs. Take away this sense of ownership and their right to benefit, and we will lose the ground we have gained. People out there who are shouting about hunting behave as if the wildlife belongs to them, not to us.

We have come a long way to get local people on board with wildlife conservation. Let us not take them backwards. It’s our Namibian communities who help us to do better conservation.

I am asking those against hunting to put yourselves in the shoes of the local people who have to bear the costs of living with elephants, lions and other dangerous animals daily. I am a serious conservationist, but I would not be happy to ask my children to walk to school, knowing that lions roared nearby last night. And what about elephants? Which one of the animal rightists would allow their children to play soccer when an elephant herd is passing? Do they know or care how many people were killed by elephants in Namibia last year?

Our people of Namibia are amazingly tolerant of wildlife. I know of many cases where families have had to stay without water for a day just because an elephant destroyed their water point the previous night. Yet they will continue to live with elephants, even in cases where someone they love has been trampled to death by an elephant. Hundreds of farming families tolerate stock losses to lions, leopards, cheetahs and hyenas. Yet we do our best to manage our predators, not merely kill them all. Hunting is a part of our strategy.

I can argue that Namibia is doing very well in protecting its wildlife, even if we hunt some animals. Please, those of you sitting in your comfortable houses, stop doing damage to conservation in our country. We who live with wildlife are just being realistic and seeing the big picture – we want wildlife to be around for our grandchildren and their children to enjoy.

I invite those concerned about hunting to join me in some rural villages – not a lodge – for three months. Let’s level the playing field. We can only really talk about this once we all have seen what it takes to live in rural areas and how it feels to share your land with wild animals. Only then has one earned the right to comment fairly on this topic.

Lastly, let us focus on the more crucial issue of rhino and elephant poaching, which is devastating populations of these key species. If people want to help with conservation, they could contact us for ideas on how they could support us.

ALSO READ: The link between hunting and tourism in Namibia

Satao – the Giant Who Will Never Die

The battle of David and Goliath was far from a fair fight. The minute the shepherd boy entered the fray, the giant was doomed. Goliath had prepared for hand-to-hand combat, encumbering himself with heavy armour, short-range weapons and a shield. But the nimble shepherd remained at a safe distance, slung a rock and potted the giant with the same practised aim he used to dispatch sheep predators. For David, killing Goliath was no triumph. This is the story of Satao.

There was a giant in Tsavo infinitely wiser and more resilient than Goliath. His name was Satao. When he finally succumbed to a poisoned arrow in late May, he was probably 50 – above the average age for a bull elephant in this highly poached region. Indeed, there was nothing average about him.

Given his age, Satao would have been born in the mid-1960s, when elephants wandered Tsavo in numbers never seen since. It was their era. His genetic makeup would have been the best possible. The herd would have been nurturing and protective of their little protégé. But it wouldn’t be easy for him.

Satao-7 — Satao, in his prime leads a group of elephants. ©Mark Muller

He grew up during one of the most devastating droughts the region had ever experienced. It decimated the herds, taking thousands of his kind – mainly females and juveniles like him. But the little trumpeter endured like the strong bulls that towered over him.

Soon after the drought, the poachers took to killing those bulls for their immense tusks. He would have seen it, smelt the carcasses, seen the remnants of their hacked skulls devoid of ivory, and perhaps he learned. And when the bulls became fewer, and those that remained hid deeper in the wild, the poachers targeted females and then the likes of him – small tuskers yet to pass on their good genes. For two decades, he survived. By the time Richard Leakey declared war on poaching in 1989, the Tsavo elephant population, which had been as large as 42 000 in 1969, had been reduced to 6 000. Satao was one of them.

The poaching onslaught intensified, and still, he endured for two decades more, through more droughts and more poaching despite his magnificent tusks that grew and grew and weighed him down with their sheer bloody value. And he may have known that these would be his downfall – that a human would try to bring him down with devious weapons. They tried and tried. They tried again in February this year. Their poisoned weapon pierced his thick skin, despite his armour of mud. And still, he survived. And when we thought Satao might just be invincible, he finally succumbed to an attack in which the odds were stacked against him.

We have lost a giant so grand that the soil encrusting his back was a world entire. His tusks were so glorious that they stretched back to the time of the mammoth. But his legacy needn’t die. In his time, Satao would have sired many more of his kind. His strong genes live on in the herds of Tsavo, and it’s up to us to ensure that his progeny reach his incredible stature. If we don’t, we will be left with nothing but a dusty legend.

ALSO READ: RIP, Satao 2 and Death of another iconic super tusker – Wide Satao

Satao 8March14 — There are few more imposing figures on earth than Satao. ©Richard Moller

Satao: what you can do:

Support The Tsavo Trust. One of the Trust’s core initiatives is their Large Elephant Monitoring Project set up to protect Tsavo’s magnificent ‘hundred pounders’. The Trust also adopts a holistic approach to Tsavo’s challenges by addressing wildlife and community issues. Click on the logo to visit the Tsavo Trust support page:

How Charcoal Fuels al-Shabaab’s Terror Campaign

Like a good deal of the illegal ivory trade, much of the illegal charcoal trade in Kenya is said to be controlled by Somali Islamist group al-Shabaab, who use the profits to fund terrorist activities. A March 2014 report by journalist Kagondu Njagi for Thomson Reuters Foundation says charcoal worth more than US$1.7 million is being smuggled out of Kenya every month. Kenyan authorities don’t appear to be doing much to curtail it. In fact the Kenyan military have even been accused of aiding it.

In 2012, UN Monitors accused Kenya troops of smoothing the trade through Kismayo in Somalia when they took control of the port as part of the African Union Mission in that country. This was despite a UN Security Council ban on trade. A Reuters report in July 2013 says that Kenya gave their reason for defying the UN ban as concern about angry Kismayo charcoal traders undermining the security of their troops. Not only did the exports continue despite the ban, but they saw a dramatic increase in charcoal exports, said the UN monitors. Given the trading connections and taxation systems, it is believed that much of the profit would have gone to al-Shabaab.

A recent report by the UN and Interpol estimates the revenue from illegal logging at US$30-100 billion worldwide, much of it going towards funding of terror groups. “Al Shabaab’s primary income appears to be from their involvement in the charcoal trade and informal taxation at road-block checkpoints and ports,” states the report. It goes on to say that at a single Somali roadblock in the Badhaadhe District which borders Kenya, al-Shabaab have been able to make up to US$8–18 million per year for taxing passing charcoal. Al Shabaab retains about one third of the income from charcoal exported from Kismayo and Baraawe Ports constituting US$38–56 million. The overall size of the illicit charcoal export from Somalia has been estimated at US$360–384 million per year.

al-Shabaab claimed responsibility for the 2013 Westgate mall attack in Nairobi in which 67 people lost their lives. They are implicated in the recent scourge of bus bombings in Mombasa and Nairobi, and claimed responsibility for a series of massacres in Lamu County and Tana County in Kenya’s north east in which over 89 people have lost their lives. No doubt the link between poaching and terrorist activity is the catalyst for the appointment of UK troops to train anti-poaching units in Kenya. But the loss of habitat through illicit logging is a potentially greater threat to wildlife than poaching. The scourge of terror attacks is also turning tourists – a vital source of income for conservation – away. Another thing Mike Chase counts as he flies over the savannah for the Great Elephant Census is the number of abandoned tourist lodges.

How to count elephants from a plane

The Tsavo Ecosystem is the most important area for elephants in Kenya and warrants concerted attention from wildlife organisations and conservationists. Before Elephants Without Borders’ plane took to the skies, a total aerial count covering 100% of Tsavo was performed by Kenya Wildlife Service using 16 planes from their organisation as well as NGOs such as The David Sheldrick Wildlife Trust, Tsavo Trust and Save The Elephants. This resulted in a preliminary count of 11 076 elephants – down from 12 573 in 2011.

EWB’s survey differed in that it was a sample count which flew 10% of Tsavo using just 1 plane. Chase estimated the number could be around 14 000 elephants at any one time, considering that elephants are seasonal migrants. EWB’s sample survey is a valuable complement to the larger, more comprehensive method. It also illustrates the efficacy of smaller surveys, which could be simpler and cheaper for governments and NGOs. A typical total aerial count covers 100% of the target area, flying strips spaced 1 kilometre apart. A sample count differs in that it flies strips spaced further apart and covers areas chosen by factors such as the concentration of elephants and natural habitat. The strip spacing varies accordingly.

count elephants — KWS analyst Joseph Mukeka and EWB’s Mike Chase measure the distance between wands while pilot Alexi Peltier sets up the camera in the plane.

To set up the plane for counting, wands are set at a precise, parallel distance apart to delineate the strip width. The plane flies at a certain altitude which keeps the area within a designated width of ground coverage, seen between the wands. The observer counts, and photos are taken of the wildlife seen between the wands. This is important for post-analysis for the population numbers to be extrapolated, considering ground coverage that could not be flown. The system is applied on both sides of the plane with at least 1 observer per side.

ALSO READ: Spotting elephants from space

Where the giant elephants still roam

A jetliner is a wondrous thing; a spaceship: stupendous. But an unsophisticated propeller plane is far more significant. Flying no higher than a bird, this machine gives us enviable perspective on the creatures below – things invisible from jetliners, and mere concepts from space. Looking down on our planet must be incredible, but seeing the big picture depends on looking much closer to home, and what could be more incredible than gazing upon elephants – Africa’s giants.

As you read this, Dr Mike Chase, founder of Elephants Without Borders, is in all likelihood perched in a little propeller plane searching for African elephants. Nobody is really sure how many are left. Speculation puts the number anywhere between 410 000 and 700 000 – down from an estimated 27 million in the early 19th century. Surveys in the past have been area-specific and fragmented in both time and space, and some key populations have not been surveyed in 10 years.

EWB conceptualised The Great Elephant Census. Funded by Microsoft co-founder Paul Allen, 18 planes and 46 scientists are racking up thousands of air miles performing approximately 19 000 transects covering 600 000km. This extensive aerial survey, conducted in the relatively short space of eight months, will give an incredibly detailed snapshot of the African continent – in essence, it will be the ultimate ‘Big Picture’.

“It’s far more significant than establishing the number of elephants,” explains Chase. “We’re recording data on all types of wildlife and ecosystems. We’re documenting the effects of human encroachment and poaching. There’s no other data on the status of Africa’s habitat on such an immense scale.”

Chase’s first flight took off in Kenya’s Tsavo National Park in February, and so far, he’s been encouraged by the number of elephants there. Kenya Wildlife Service considers the 41 660 square kilometre Tsavo Ecosystem – about the size of Switzerland – the most important area for elephants in Kenya.

“Given what we’ve read in the press, I was expecting to see a landscape strewn with freshly poached carcasses, but we didn’t see even one after nearly a hundred hours of flying.” The carcasses Chase did see were shown to him by the park warden. “They do indeed have a poaching problem in Tsavo, but it’s not of the magnitude portrayed, and I attribute that to the diligence and commitment of the KWS. Their policing and anti-poaching patrols are paying off.” A total aerial count by KWS gave a preliminary number of 11 076 elephants – down from 12 573 in 2011. They consider this a stable figure, given the poaching problem. EWB’s sample aerial count gave a reliable estimate of 14 000 elephants in the area at any time. Learn how the aerial counts were conducted.

Leakey ignited the world’s imagination by setting 12 tons of ivory alight

Tsavo National Park, established in 1948, has gone through many cycles of success and tragedy and is the embodiment of a typical African national park. Through concerted effort, it has played a key role in reviving elephant populations that were decimated by hunting for both ivory and ‘sport’. By the early 1960s, Tsavo had essentially reached elephant-carrying capacity. In 1969 the Tsavo ecosystem supported an estimated 42 000 elephants. Sadly, a prolonged drought in the early 1970s led to the death of some 6 000 – mainly female and juvenile – elephants. After the drought broke, many surviving large bulls for which Tsavo was renowned became the first poaching victims for their incredibly large tusks. As the remaining bulls became more and more difficult to find, large females were targeted. Then, as demand grew, smaller and younger elephants were slain for their paltry tusks. This, combined with the drought, severely hampered population recovery, and by 1979 there were as few as 12 000 elephants left in the Tsavo ecosystem. By 1989, what some consider to be the height of the east Africa poaching crisis, only around 6 000 remained.

At that time, Richard Leakey, the head of Kenya’s Wildlife Conservation and Management Department (soon changed to Kenya Wildlife Service), ignited worldwide recognition of the elephants’ plight by persuading Kenyan President, Arap Moi, to set alight a 12-ton stockpile of ivory. Leaky created crack anti-poaching units that were authorised to shoot poachers on sight, and more stringent limitations and bans were placed on the international ivory trade. Elephant numbers rose steadily in east Africa. But as ivory trading goes on largely uncontrolled in Asia, and as Chinese wealth grows, poaching continues to ravage Kenya’s elephant population. It has also increased drastically in other regions, such as southern Tanzania, the Democratic Republic of Congo and Chad.

Apart from elephants, the team is counting conservation islands. With Kenya’s growing population of 42 million, wild animals are being squeezed into isolated islands of refuge. “Sitting at 300 feet, you get a broad sense of how small these islands are and how devastating the environmental aspect is as soon as you leave the national parks,” says Chase. “You look on the African map at the scattering of parks. You imagine that these sanctuaries are protected islands of pristine nature. But they’re not. The people on their periphery cannot live off the land outside of the parks. It’s been over-utilised, and denuded. They’re crossing over onto these islands to survive, and the islands will go the same way if it’s not stopped.”

They are counting people and livestock. “We saw high densities of wildlife living alongside people and domestic stock.” In Southern Kenya, the Maasai, who were once free to range, are effectively trapped between parks and conservancies. Here they are reliant on the parks to feed their cattle and themselves. As a result, Chase counted far more cattle in Tsavo than elephants. There is also the pressure of human/elephant conflict. As elephants threaten crops and villages it is not unusual for people to attack them in retribution or to scare them off, often using poison-tipped arrows or spears that can lead to slow, painful deaths. Then there is the issue of charcoal.

Elephants are second only to humans when it comes to the devastation they can wreak on woodlands

They are counting fires. On Tsavo’s horizon, Chase saw many plumes of smoke rising from rudimentary charcoal kilns. Getting closer, he saw how vast numbers of trees had been cut down and carried to central points where compact beds of wood were laid and covered with a thick layer of soil. “The wood is set alight, and slowly the compressed wood burns – producing briquettes of charcoal, which are packed into sacks for the market. It’s a laborious process,” Chase explained in a blog post on EWB’s website. “They are marvels of African architectural ingenuity and labour. You can see the influence of their work quite clearly from my vantage point. Massive areas of acacia woodland have been denuded. I gaze down on them and their work with respect and empathy. The hard-working people I see below me must be turning a good profit to struggle like this. The depressing scale of the charcoal trade is heightened by a landscape littered with temporary living quarters constructed from colourful plastic bags fluttering in the wind. What do these hard-working souls eat out here, how many trees are cut down to fill a bag with 50kg of charred wood?”

Elephants are second only to humans regarding the devastation they can wreak on woodlands. Culling and translocating elephants is an important part of wildlife management in southern Africa, where elephant populations are much larger and have a far greater impact on woodland. In Tsavo and other parts of East and central Africa, poaching has performed a cruel service by keeping elephant numbers down – and so culling is practised much less frequently. But as it has become harder for poachers to kill elephants in Kenya, many have turned their machetes, axes and chainsaws, once used to extract tusks from elephant skulls, onto trees to profit from the illegal manufacture of charcoal. What aggravates the problem is that the militant Islamic group al-Shabaab, supposedly drives much of this illegal trade. If it continues at the scale Chase indicates, it could be more detrimental to Tsavo’s elephants than poaching due to the destruction of their natural habitat and the pressure it will put on the entire ecosystem. Learn how charcoal fuels al-Shabaab’s terror campaigns.

In April, African Parks, an organisation determined enough to manage wildlife areas on the sharp end of poaching, flew Chad’s 3 000-km2 Zakouma National Park as part of the Pan-African survey. Zakouma’s elephant population has suffered terribly during the last decade under the poacher’s gun. The estimated 4 300 elephants in Zakouma in 2002 had been reduced to 450 in 2011. Preliminary reports after the latest count suggest this number is now stable, a credit to African Parks, who took over management of Zakouma in June 2010. They have greatly increased efforts to protect the remaining elephants that move in larger-than-normal herds, possibly as a survival strategy.

Well-armed poachers are now targeting Garamba National Park in north-eastern DRC, also managed by Africa Parks. The park is effectively a war zone, with ongoing firefights between park rangers and members of the terrorist group the Lord’s Resistance Army. Equally worrying is the implication that a Ugandan military helicopter has been used for poaching activities here.

A previously undiscovered herd of elephants in paradise

As I’ve had further contact with Chase, a typically upbeat man, I detect the gravity of these observations in his voice. Reporting from Ethiopia at the end of May, he was surprised to find that people dominated the 7 000-km2 Babile Elephant Sanctuary. It was supposedly home to the last remaining elephant population in the horn of Africa but of the 300 elephants believed to be there, he spotted only a few dozen after 60 hours of flying. In contrast, other animal counts were much higher. He estimated 40 000 camels, 200 000 head of cattle and 450 000 goats wandered the park. But his spirits pick up when he mentions “an elephant paradise, a habitat ideally suited to these giants.” And in it, an undiscovered herd. Understandably, he’s reluctant to divulge the location and the number of elephants he found there, but it’s significant. It lifts his voice as he describes the excitement of an Ethiopian elephant biologist they took up to count a herd. “You should have seen his reaction looking down on those elephants. You won’t believe it, but this biologist had never seen one before.”

All the while, the survey is engaging local scientists and conservationists, training them as much as possible, giving them access to the data, and allowing them to study their environments from the air. Chase stresses that, unlike many research programs, he does not leave a country without first sharing the raw data with the local conservation authorities.

As of writing, three planes and 18 team members from the Tanzanian government, several wildlife organisations, and the Frankfurt Zoological Society are coming to the end of a joint aerial census of the entire 30 000-km2 Serengeti Ecosystem in Tanzania. The Wildlife Conservation Society, which is conducting surveys over more countries than any other census partner, is due to begin surveying elephant populations in the Central Africa Republic and Mali.

After Ethiopia, Chase and his team will survey Namibia’s Caprivi Strip and parts of Botswana, together with some of neighbouring Angola, Zambia and Zimbabwe, to form the extensive 444 000-km2 Kavango–Zambezi Transfrontier Conservation Area. This part of Africa is supposedly home to more than half of the continent’s elephants. Over the next four months, a large number of planes will take to the southern Africa skies – including over the Kruger National Park.

“North of the Zambezi, more and more elephants are moving at night. Fear of poaching has changed their behaviour,” Chase says. They are far less threatened in the south. The success of the southern populations is not just a story of concerted conservation efforts. As Chase stresses, “it has to do with stable government and economy and recognising the value of tourism. The southern countries, even Zimbabwe, with all its challenges, have done a good job of protecting their natural heritage because they know that’s what people will want to come and see – that it provides income and jobs and that it must be sustained.

“The next part of the survey is going to be really interesting. There’s long been a dispute over whether Botswana is over-estimated (figures put the number at over 133 000 elephants – by far the highest of any country and more than the entire elephant population of East Africa). Angola will be an adventure of discovery. We’ll see what numbers have returned since the end of the civil war. There’s also southwest Zambia of which so little is known.” You can detect the excitement in Chase’s voice, the potential of a new discovery. A new elephant paradise, perhaps.

As busy as he is at 300 feet, Chase does have the chance to appreciate the beauty and diversity of the landscape and wildlife. In Tsavo, he was particularly struck by the sight of some of the legendary tuskers for which the park is renowned. It’s believed there are no more than 30 left on the continent. “Watching these majestic giants is a great opportunity to marvel over these behemoths with one hundred-pound tusks on either side. They are truly nature’s great masterpieces.” Chase was one of the last people to see the famous Satao alive – shortly before his carcass was discovered after poachers had killed him for his immense tusks.

In 2015 the work will continue to assess, compile and combine all the country reports into a single, impartial analysis for all conservation authorities and decision-makers to use. The story of elephants, and Africa, will become much clearer.

While these simple flying machines survey the rich earth below, we spend billions on sophisticated spacecraft to survey the dust on Mars. In doing so we deny our own terrestrial splendour and lose sight of our responsibility to preserve this planet. Paul Allen has spent a considerable amount of money funding ventures in space tourism. But while this might enable a privileged few to gaze down on the planet, this latest venture of his, conducted at just 300 feet, is far more noteworthy as it will help protect our planet’s wonders. You can’t see Africa’s giants from space.

Contributors

KELLY LANDEN threw down an anchor in 2002, abandoning a career on the oceans to dedicate herself to African conservation. Having a passion for wildlife and an affinity for photography, as Elephants Without Borders’ programme manager, she realized that she has the opportunity to use her skills to share the beauty and splendour of nature, while providing insights into the challenges of conservation. “To participate in The Great Elephant Census is a rare gift and a privilege that provides us a chance to paint a clearer picture on how we should focus on progressive solutions to conservation threats”.

RICHARD MOLLER is one of Kenya’s most respected hands-on conservation project managers. As co-founder of the Tsavo Trust, he supports wildlife, habitat and communities in the greater Tsavo ecosystem, Kenya’s largest protected area and home to most of the world’s surviving ‘hundred pounder tuskers’.

MARK MULLER was born & raised on a Coffee farm on the slopes of Kilimanjaro. He was schooled in Tanzania and Kenya and, immediately after school, came to Maun in Botswana, where he has spent the last 42 years. He has always had a passion for wildlife, with a particular love of elephants and birds. His love of photography was first sparked on a trip to Antarctica in 2006.

BEN NEALE and KYLIE BERTRAM are the Australian couple behind Gallery Earth. At their core is a deep respect for conservation and a love of adventure. Not everyone has the opportunity to fly or travel, but they believe everyone appreciates and is inspired by the beauty of nature. They aspire to capture this beauty on their journeys, most often suspended beneath the canopy of a paraglider.

ANTON CRONE quit the crazy-wonderful world of advertising to travel the world, sometimes working, sometimes drifting. Along the way, he unearthed a passion for Africa’s stories – not the sometimes hysterical news agency headlines we all feed off, but the real stories. Anton strongly empathises with Africa’s people and their need to meet daily requirements, often in remote, environmentally hostile areas cohabitated by Africa’s free-roaming animals.

Just hatched! One of South Africa’s rarest birds

I found out about blue swallows from the Percy Fitzpatrick Institute of African Ornithology where I completed my master’s in 2008. They put me in touch with Dr Ian Little and we tried to set up a shoot to photograph the critically endangered blue swallow, one of South Africa’s rarest birds with only 35 pairs remaining. By Zach Vincent

It was tricky as bad weather had plagued the midlands, and we had little hope of finding swallows on nests. There were only about four pairs around, and as we all know with nature that great footage and sightings are never, ever guaranteed. I wanted to cover the story as my main passion is extinction prevention and identifying and broadcasting the causes of population declines in species.

Several causes for the plight of the blue swallow are not unique to this species but are shared with other endangered grassland animals, such as the Oribi, a small antelope. Habitat loss and degradation are huge factors with the blue swallows and the tiny swallows are now described as an ‘island species’, searching for decent natural habitat amongst a sea of degraded hilltops, planted with pine for paper and maize for the beef industry.

We decided to go ahead with the shoot regardless. I had a two-day window in which to shoot, where all the relevant parties could contribute. On our first day, we did nest checks on private lands, including a Buddhist retreat and a dairy farm. We found a fresh aardvark hole at the first site, which is great as the swallows use these burrows to build their nests underground. At the dairy farm, we caught glimpses of a nesting pair making a second breeding attempt (blue swallows can parent more than one clutch of eggs per season).

I knew that this was no easy animal to film, but I had no idea how difficult it would be: they are tiny! Little metallic blue birds become black spots in a viewfinder, and they dart up and down, moving speedily, capturing their prey of flying insects.

At Impendle Nature Reserve, at our last stop for the day, the officer on duty climbed into the darkness of a sinkhole and inspected a nest. The next second we heard him say, “There are 3 eggs, there is movement, and I think one egg is in the process of hatching!”

Needless to say, my cinematographic nerves began a rattle and hum, and I was down the hole in seconds with a GoPro and a failing camera light (Murphy’s law!). Luckily I managed, in the subterranean darkness, to get a few seconds of the hatching. It was very special and beautiful to see a critically endangered species emerging from its little shell throwing all of its tiny energy reserves into getting out of its egg and into life.

We didn’t stay long, we didn’t want to cause any unnecessary disturbance, but the moment was captured, albeit a bit rough. I wanted to etch the species into the consciousness of the South African community, giving it a presence and character. This connection with the audience could save it from extinction as the community not only takes “ownership” of an indigenous species but feels connected to it and less likely to brush it aside.

I really hope that my work touches enough people and that they mobilise themselves to contribute to the conservation and protection of blue swallows and this planet’s wonderful and breathtaking biodiversity.

Read about Africa’s rarest parrot – the Cape Parrot

5 things to do in Coffee Bay

While on a backpacking trip that saw me exploring South Africa from Cape Town to Durban I simply had to make a stop along the Wild Coast. From what fellow travellers told me the Eastern Cape sounded simply incredible and boy, oh boy, did Coffee Bay come to the party.

Here are five activities you’ll definitely want to try when travelling to Coffee Bay:

1. Learn to surf

Jeffrey’s Bay may be South Africa’s most-loved surf spot, but Coffee Bay has incredibly warm water and offers surf lessons at a fraction of the price. Coffee Bay is quite small and if you’re staying at the popular Coffee Shack backpackers then your surf lessons are going to cost you a meagre R50 per hour…. or two (they’re so chilled there they don’t really watch the clock religiously). The equipment is great too – the boards are looked after and there is the option of borrowing a second skin or wetsuit if you wish. The lessons start off on the sand, firstly with a safety chat before they teach you the sequence of moves to follow for catching a wave. Then it’s time to hit the water. The instructor gives you one-on-one attention, offering pointers to correct your technique. After my fourth wave-catching attempt I was up, riding my first wave, feeling more alive than ever.

2. Take a drumming lesson

Jah Drums is a backpacker hostel and a space where travellers can sit among locals and learn their way around an African beat on a djembe drum. The evening session I joined in on carried an electric atmosphere with a few regulars treating us to a show where they whacked out trance-inducing rhythms with their mad skills.

3. Hike to Mapuzi Caves

Hike through fields, scale a cliff face on a narrow path, pass cows, dogs and small children. The jagged cliffs drop straight into the ocean where the fast-paced, angry sea folds its waves as if it were kneading dough. Depending on the tide, if you’re the kind of person who loves a good thrill, you’ll have the opportunity to jump off a cliff above the caves and plunge into the water below. Another opportunity to throw yourself off a wall of rocks presents itself later in the day on the hike back where you’ll come across a river you can bomb-drop into. Find yourself a shady tree and eat lunch under it. Take at least two litres of water, a small bottle just isn’t going to cut it on this hike.

4. Hike to Hole in the Wall

This is a three hour hike that takes you on a scenic trek through the region and delivers you to the area’s favourite natural attraction – the Hole in the Wall. The Hole in the Wall is an archway that’s punched out of a wall of Ecca shale and sandstone that’s capped with hard volcanic dolerite. After the hike to this landmark you simply cannot resist diving into the ocean and sharing the water with the rocky formation you came all this way to see.

5. Eat mussels

Every now and again Coffee Shack organises a free sundowner experience for its backpacker guests. I was lucky enough to be staying there when their staff had picked us a massive pot’s worth of fresh mussels to carry up to a view point and enjoy with a drink. Two of the fellas carried the steaming pot of mussels to the top of a nearby hill that’s green curves looked like it came from the Microsoft Windows background. We gathered around and tucked into our fresh delight with Tobasco and Worcestershire sauce close at hand. With seafood-filled bellies we all sat back and watched the choppy sea in front of us, drink in hand. The next thing we knew, we were all watching two pods of dolphins cruising their way through the rough seas below. Spectacular.

A trip to Coffee Bay is definitely recommended. Just be sure to take sunblock and an open mind.

Proteas threatened by climate change

Global warming is coming to your living room, your dining room, your kitchen, anywhere you decorate with cut flowers. And maybe to your medicine chest. Changes in climate and land use are snuffing out plants critical to the worldwide floral trade, and perhaps to new treatments for diseases: proteas.

Proteas such as the king protea, which measures 12 inches across and is the national flower of South Africa, are under fire. Researchers conducting a study of proteas near Cape Town estimate that the plants’ abundance will decrease by more than 60 percent by 2050. Some protea species will become extinct. Others already have.

Winter rains will soon fall over Cape Town. But when August and September arrive, proteas bloom in riotous color. On steep, rocky slopes strewn with lichen-covered chunks of granite, the flame-red and magenta-pink flowers dot the hillsides. They attract hordes of tourists and provide jobs for thousands of South Africans who gather proteas for the worldwide cut-flower industry.

Visitors and florists are joined in the lab if not the field by biochemists like Johannes van Staden of the University of KwaZulu-Natal. Van Staden has conducted initial studies of proteas’ anti-inflammatory and antimicrobial effects. “It’s amazing that so little is known about proteas’ potential to produce new drugs,” he says. The results to date, however, echo what traditional healers have believed for centuries: protea extracts may be helpful in treating intestinal inflammation, food poisoning and related illnesses.

With their vase-shaped bracts surrounding pencil-thin flowers, proteas resemble nothing so much as sea anemones. The plants are named for the Greek sea god, Proteus, who could change his form at will. Indeed, there’s a protea in almost any shape you can imagine. For now.

In a region where average temperatures have significantly warmed over the past 30 years and suburbs are sprawling up hillsides, Cape Town’s most unusual flowers are besieged, says ecologist Lee Hannah of Conservation International. “In response, proteas are moving uphill themselves, to cooler spots with less development,” says Hannah, lead scientist on the Cape Town protea study.

Many species have such tiny ranges that plowing a field or building a single house can wipe out the global population. More than half the world’s several hundred protea species are threatened. Most live in South Africa. Several are found in Australia, and some have been transplanted to Hawaii’s steep-sided volcanic slopes.

Proteas are the keystone species of South Africa’s Cape Floral Kingdom, the smallest but richest of Earth’s six floral kingdoms. The Cape Floral Kingdom, Hannah says, “is the size of a postage stamp, comparatively speaking. But it has the highest plant biodiversity anywhere on the planet.” Some 9 000 plant species, 6 000 of which live nowhere else in the world, are found there. Table Mountain in Cape Town, for example, supports some 2 200 species, more than the entire United Kingdom.

Earth’s six floral kingdoms © Wikimedia/Dietzel

Evergreen, leathery-leaved plants in what’s called the fynbos ecosystem cover mountains, valleys and coastal plains near the Cape of Good Hope. “Amazingly, proteas thrive in the nutrient-poor soils and high winds,” Hannah says. For a short summer season, proteas are laden with flowers that look like they might have arrived from a faraway galaxy. In fact, proteas came not from another place, but another time. They’re remnants of the distant past, when Africa, Australia, India, South America and Antarctica existed as one landmass: Gondwana. Proteas once thrived on Gondwana. Today members of the protea family live oceans apart.

The last of Earth’s proteas grow in places known as hot spots. “Hot spots are regions with large numbers of plants and animals found nowhere else in the world, and that have had more than 70 percent of their habitat destroyed,” Hannah says. “The last thing these species-rich, high-habitat-loss areas need is another threat, but that’s what climate change presents.” As Earth’s climate warms, species will try to keep pace, moving to their preferred temperature ranges. Protea seeds are carried on the wind to new locations. Those that root in cooler areas will survive.

Of the more than 300 species of proteas near Cape Town, nearly all will have to shift their ranges by 2050, Hannah believes. Conservation plans that allow species to relocate may be an answer. “Most of our efforts focus on parks, which are fixed in place,” says Hannah. “However, when a species starts to move, we need a ‘park’ not only where that species is today, but where it will be in the future.”

As part of the Protea Atlas Project at the South African National Biodiversity Institute, biologists Guy Midgley and Tony Rebelo, with the help of dozens of field volunteers, have collected extensive information on Cape Town’s proteas. “So far, we’ve discovered eight new species in the protea family,” Midgley says, “and one-third of protea species well outside their previously known distribution ranges.” New proteas include the Palmiet River sceptre, clandestine spiderhead, and Laingsburg conebush. The large-leaf sugarbush, already familiar to botanists, was found 160 kilometers beyond its formerly documented range, “and the waterlily sugarbush a stunning 400 kilometers farther afield,” says Midgley. “Proteas are full of surprises.”

The Greek god Proteus could predict the future. However, Proteus did not willingly part with the information. He simply changed his shape and escaped. Midgley says that vigilance is needed so the fynbos doesn’t witness more proteas vanish.

Sherry Moretti, a floral designer for an international hotel group, agrees. “I once wanted something breathtakingly gorgeous for a special hotel opening,” she says. “On that evening, proteas lined the entrance, bedecked the foyer, and graced every table. I can’t imagine a planet without proteas. They welcome you through the portal, and into another world.”

Drongo mimics alarm calls to steal food

The drongo deceives other species, including meerkats, by mimicking their alarm calls to scare them away and steal their abandoned food, according to a new study published in the 2 May 2014 Journal Science. Information provided by: UCT Communication and Marketing Department

However, as in Aesop’s fable about the boy who cried wolf, the drongo can make too many false alarms and cause members of the exploited species to wise up. But when one false alarm call stops working, drongos mimic a different one, keeping up the deception racket and their access to stolen food.

Author Dr Tom Flower, a researcher in the Percy Fitzpatrick Institute of African Ornithology at the University of Cape Town, walked 5-15km a day, six days a week for six months every year since 2008, to observe and record drongo behaviour in the Kuruman River Reserve, which is part of the South African Kalahari Desert, close to the Botswana border. Temperatures ranged from -11ºC on cold winter mornings to 42ºC in the summer sun. Dr Flower said, “I dread to think how many sand dunes I’ve climbed, but it was worth it to get the data I needed.”

The Kuruman River Reserve is the home of a huge long-term study on meerkats that began in 1993 and was documented in the popular TV series Meerkat Manor. The meerkat project studies the behaviour of about 14 meerkat groups, all of which are completely habituated to humans walking in and among them. Dr Flower said, “The project has been running for so long that the first thing a baby meerkat is likely to see when it emerges from its birth burrow is a researcher waiting to watch its behaviour; as far as they’re concerned, we’re part of their environment and little different from a tree. Few people realise that perhaps the world’s most important field research project studying the evolution of cooperative societies is located in South Africa.”

Other species in the area are also habituated to people watching them at distances of less than five metres, including the drongos and another important species from which they steal food, a bird called the pied babbler. Dr Flower said, “That means that other researchers and I can get right into the thick of the action. We can unravel the interactions between all these animals because different individuals are identifiable by coloured leg bands (in the case of the birds), or L’Oreal hair dye marks on the fur of the meerkats (don’t worry, it’s been tested on humans).”

During his research on drongos, Dr Flower has habituated and colour-ringed about 200 birds living in 40 territories which overlap with those of the meerkats and babblers. He said, “I’ve trained the drongos to come to a call. So if I want to find drongo ‘Dave’, for example, I can walk into his territory, give a call, and he’ll come flying over to me in return for a mealworm reward. He’ll rapidly return to his natural behaviour, hawking flies or following meerkats and babblers to steal their food, allowing me to tag along and watch what happens.”

Dr Flower describes pied babblers as “the bird equivalent of meerkats, with mum and dad doing all the breeding while their offspring stay home to help raise their younger siblings”. A co-author on the Drongo manuscript, Dr Amanda Ridley, began studying babblers on the reserve in 2003, observing as many as 14 groups of babblers that are completely tolerant of people walking with them and watching their behaviour.

Dr Flower worked on the Kuruman meerkat research project in 2003 and became the meerkat research and reserve manager from 2004 to 2007. He started work on the drongo project in 2008. He said, “This kind of access to so many different animals is unrivalled anywhere in the world and was key to the observations and experiments underpinning my findings.” Dr Flower is now following juvenile drongos during their development to learn more about how they learn the mimicking behaviour.

A baby black zebra

Earlier this month a traveller came across this newborn black zebra in the north-western area of the Okavango Delta. The rather unusual dark colour is due to a small genetic abnormality linked to the amount of melanin affecting the pigmentation of the fur.

There have been at least three other dark zebras born like this in the area; however, none of them has reached more than six months old, with the last foal born of this kind facing its demise to hyenas within a few months.

Unfortunately, if you stand out from the crowd, you are a target. Due to other abnormalities of this nature some scientist’s claim that zebra’s stripes are formed from the inhibition of melanin and that the “default” colour of a zebra is black. In other words, a zebra is black with white stripes.

This black zebra is an example of what is known as ‘malinism’, which results in excess of dark pigmentation. Melanism is found in many different species, including amphibians, reptiles, and mammals – but not in humans. Pseudo-melanism, also called abundism, is another variant of pigmentation, characterised by dark spots or enlarged stripes, which cover a large part of the body of the animal, making it appear melanistic. One example of abundism is the ‘king’ cheetah.

Also read The black and white of African wildlife explained

Looking after orphan elephants

As the call of the bush baby fades and the first rays of the morning light start to dance, Suni has her foot soaked and cleaned, and the shift changeover begins at the Elephant Nursery Facility at Lilayi Game Reserve in Lusaka. Working as a team of four, the keepers briefly meet with the night shift to find out how the orphan elephants have been during the night. With all things well, two of the keepers begin to walk off into the bush followed by six orphaned elephants bubbling with the enthusiasm of life.

The two remaining keepers begin an intensive period of activity. Oliver, the deputy head keeper, begins milk prep, creating concoctions of goodness to supplement the orphans with what they would have received from their mothers. These feeds occur eight times a day.

Meanwhile, Elvis, the newest member of the keeper team, is busy mucking out the stables; elephants tend to go to the toilet every one to three hours! There is plenty to clean after ten hours spent in their stables as they rested through the night.

As the day approaches the radio crackles, and the location of the baby herd comes through to Oliver. With milk in hand, he starts his meandering walk, with Elvis cheerfully singing alongside. After about twenty minutes of walking, the quietness of the bush is interrupted by the high-pitched trumpeting of excited little elephants. Seeming chaos becomes order as the keepers take control, and the milk is guzzled with sounds of pleasure vibrating through the crisp morning air. Cheeky attempts by quicker-drinking older elephants to steal milk are quickly dealt with, and they return to browsing.

The keepers again part company as they lead the elephants back into the bush, however, Maramba, the eldest of the herd, is happy to play his role in deciding which direction the best browsing area will be found. Elephants will eat over one hundred different food sources in the wild.

The youngest Nkala, sticks close to Kavala, often sucking on her ear for comfort as they move.

By now, Oliver and Elvis have returned, and the milk prep begins again, as the bottles are cleaned. Food is also collected, and medical treatments are prepared for the elephants’ return.

At midday, the six excited orphan elephants return from the bush. Undecided on whether the water or the milk is more appealing, they hesitate before Suni leads the way, choosing the milk option. While the others continue to drink, Suni makes her way to the boma with her unique swagger due the amazing boot that has been designed to help her in her recovery from the horrific axe injuries she endured from poachers two years ago. Once at the boma, she settles down for the second of her three treatment sessions. Her boot is removed, and the wounds are tenderly treated by Louise and Oliver. Meanwhile, the rest of the elephants enjoy the water, but they never forget Suni, each taking a turn to check on her in the boma.

Back at the boma, the keepers each take their lunch in turn and prepare for a health check. Pulses are checked, Suni has her boot back on, and the herd make their way back to the bush to browse, bumping into warthogs and giraffes as they travel.

As the afternoon comes and goes, another milk feed is given, and food for the night is collected. Four of the team then turn their attention to Suni, and her wounds are treated again before she receives a neuro-skeletal integration massage to help stimulate her nervous system as she drifts off to sleep. By now, twelve hours have passed, and the night team has taken over. They continue to monitor from the boma observation deck, feeding the young orphans every three hours through the night as they snooze peacefully.

During this twenty-four hour period of care and support, ninety-six litres of milk will be drunk by the orphan elephants, three bandages, twelve swabs, three litres of foot soak, three syringes, one metre of tape and three hundred millilitres of iodine will have been used, oh and approximately six kilometres will have been walked by the elephants and their keepers.

If you would like to know more about the project and how to support: www.gamerangersinternational.org

Also read: The elephant orphans of Zambia

Water lilies of the Delta

I must admit with a certain degree of embarrassment that I once believed that water lilies were just part of the Delta’s ‘décor’. However, during a recent walking safari in the area, I was fortunate enough to be led by a trail guide who shared his knowledge of these precious plants.

Anyone who has been to the Okavango Delta will have noticed that water lilies crop up everywhere. You may even have nearly toppled over your mekoro trying to take the quintessential picture of this gorgeous bloom. Few holiday settings are more evocative and relaxing than a water lily-filled lagoon, and whilst slicing through this heavenly bloomscape with all the time in the world, I began to ask a question. “Why are the lilies either purple or white? Are they two different species?”

Witnessing all this beautiful diversity, my good guide, who had already sensed my new surge of curiosity, had pre-empted the situation and steadied the mokoro as I wriggled and turned to face him to let rip another volley of queries regarding the more intimate details of sexual encounters of the water lily kind. Fascinated by my curiosity, he continued to dish out reels of fascinating information about pollination in water lilies.

In the case of the water lily I was admiring, the pollen does not get released the day that the flower blooms. Instead, first, a fluid is secreted that covers the centre of the flower and its female parts. Insects, lured by the plant’s fragrance, land on the smooth angled petals, and slide into the fluid below. If the visiting insect had already visited a mature plant and come bearing pollen from another water lily then the visiting pollen dissolves into the fluid, and the water lily is fertilised. The fluid is absorbed and the visiting insect is free to go, carrying new pollen from this now fertilised water lily. It is during this transition that the colouration of the water lily changes from white to purple.

After pollination, the stem of the water lily starts recoiling slowly, pulling the flower underwater. Here, away from nibbling insects, the fruit starts developing into a spongy berry that contains masses of seeds – up to 2,000 seeds may be stored in each fruit.

When the seeds are ripe and ready to disperse, the fruit opens and releases its contents into the water current. Seeds float away aided by an aril (a rather clever floating device that contains air pockets to keep them buoyant). They can travel for miles in the current or reach even further if they are eaten and digested by a pigmy goose. Either way, they eventually become waterlogged, find a muddy bank and germinate into a new plant.

The leaves shade the water below, keeping water temperatures cool and thus allowing for a more oxygenated water environment underneath them. This is an environment that many critters enjoy and exploit.

Water lilies also grow and spread vegetatively by means of an ever-growing creeping rhizome. These rhizome makes delicious and flavoursome flour when dried and pounded. The flour, when baked, makes crispy delicious pancakes. The young leaves and flower buds, if well prepared, make a scrumptious vegetable side dish, and the seeds may be eaten fried or raw.

Later that day, as I sit under an ancient nyala berry tree and stare into the coals of a fire and dinner aromas fill the air, I cannot help but think about the magic and beauty of Africa. Those able to set off into the Delta in a mokoro, consciously leaving behind our woes, should spend time to wonder at the unpretentious as a water lily.

First photos of Liuwa’s lion cubs

Liuwa Park manager, Raquel Filgueiras, has captured the first clear images of three lion cubs born four months ago in Liuwa National Park. Liuwa’s lion cubs are the first to be born in Liuwa in a decade. The father of the cubs has been named Nakawa (which means the one who gives something back) and the mother has been named Sepo, which means hope.

Liuwa's lion cubs — © African Parks/Raquel Filgueiras

For nine years, the matriarch of the pride, the world-famous Lady Liuwa, roamed the expansive plains alone after massive poaching and illegal trophy hunting had wiped out her fellow felines. This led to African Parks’ strategy to re-introduce lions to the park, using Lady Liuwa as the founding prode member. The birth of cubs means that Liuwa now boasts a lion population of six.

The names of the two adults were chosen jointly by members of the Lozi people in consultation with Frans Schepers, previously International Programme Manager at WWF – The Netherlands, and longstanding donor Casper ter Kuile.

Both commented on the relevance of the names: “Nakawa has helped re-established this keystone species in Liuwa. It is a beautiful Lozi name for a superb male lion,” said Frans Schepers. “Sepo provides hope for the future of the entire national park,” said Caspar ter Kuile, a sentiment echoed by Area Chief, Induna Mundandwe. “The birth of the lion cubs has restored the dignity of Liuwa and highlighted the potential to increase tourism revenue and the living standards of local communities,” he said.

Although four months old, the cubs remain vulnerable to attacks by other predators, as they are not yet old enough to accompany their mother when hunting. Conservationists agree that their mother, Sepo, would leave Liuwa’s lion cubs in a good hiding place while she is out hunting. Given the absence of other adult male lions in the park, Nakawa is spending more time than usual with his three offspring. He tolerates the cubs’ exuberant behaviour and would protect them in the event a hyena strayed too close. The sex of the three cubs has not yet been established.

As with humans, play is an important part of the learning process for lion cubs which they are currently doing by enthusiastically exploring their environment, smelling and chewing on sticks and bark. They also recently started nibbling on large carcasses provided by their mother.

To bee or not to bee

Where there are farms along the perimeter of Serengeti National Park, there are elephants – and all manner of attempts to prevent crops from being trampled. Farmers have tried various elephant-deterring techniques, from beating tin cans to lighting fires, most of which haven’t appeared to work. Could bee colonies do the job?

Now officials in Tanzania’s Mara Region have asked authorities to construct fences to keep elephants away from villages and agricultural holdings. The Mara Regional Commissioner, John Tuppa, told the Tanzanian newspaper, The Citizen, that the move would help end the destruction of crops by stray elephants. Tuppa is asking for fences to be built as soon as possible.

The ultimate dilemma, however, may be finding ways for humans and elephants to live side-by-side. Biologist Eivin Røskaft, at the Norwegian University of Science and Technology thinks there may be several answers. “The elephant-villager conflict didn’t just start,” he says. “Now there are more open discussions about it. Fortunately, elephant poaching hasn’t really reached the Serengeti, so its elephant numbers seem to be slowly growing.”

But the region’s human population has grown much faster, doubling over the last 18 to 20 years. “Elephants are raiding crops during the night,” says Røskaft. “These crops are mostly close to the park border, so elephants return to the Serengeti as soon it’s light in the morning.” Elephants are stressed when they leave the park, he says, but the crops are too tempting. “The fact that elephants are more stressed outside the park doesn’t mean they won’t take such risks.”

How to end the stalemate? Biologist Lucy King, leader of Save the Elephants’ Elephants and Bees Project, may have an answer: “beehive fences.”

Beehive fences are simple and cheap, according to King, and are made with locally sourced materials. Hives are hung every thirty feet and linked together. If an elephant touches one of the hives, or the interconnecting wire, the beehives all along the fence swing and release the stinging insects inside.

In most areas, King says, beehive fences are easily adopted. Keeping bee colonies is an age-old activity, one in which the majority of African communities already participate. Traditional communities often harvest honey from wild hives and use it as a natural food source and sweetener. Although modern beekeeping is sometimes new to farmers, they adapt quickly, says King, to the skills needed to keep hives.

With her assistance, researchers in Kenya and other African countries are testing the beehive fence concept. Biologists at the Serengeti Development Research and Environmental Conservation Centre have conducted trials of beehive fences in villages on the border of Serengeti National Park. Elephants were chased from farms and left to wander toward the beehive fences. When the elephants reached the rows of swinging hives, they diverged around them, and then continued on their way – on the other side of the villages. Since then, the scientists say, there have been no elephant crop-raiding incidents reported along those routes.

“Bees do not like elephants,” Røskaft confirms. The feeling, it appears, is mutual. A tiny bee may have more strength than a thundering herd of pachyderms.

Biggest tusker elephant in Southern Africa dies

“Isilo” is the Zulu word for king. Isilo was a king elephant in the Tembe Transfrontier Park on the South Africa/Mozambique Border – the biggest tusker in Southern Africa.

It is with deep sadness and regret that Tembe Elephant Park has announced the death of Isilo the tusker elephant. Isilo died a natural death of old age in the southwest section of the park in an area known to be his home range.

He is thought to have died in January this year; however, dense foliage and few roads through this lesser-known game reserve resulted in his carcass only being discovered about two weeks ago. Unfortunately, his magnificent tusks had already been stolen by suspected rhino poachers.

Inkosi(Chief) Mi Tembe is offering a reward of R100 000 for returning the stolen ivory/tusks to the authorities at Tembe Elephant Park.

This is a very sad and tragic time. His presence will be deeply missed.

Tuskers are elephants with tusks that reach the ground. According to Rowland Ward’s records, the heaviest tusk of an African tusker weighed an astonishing 226lb (102.5kg), the heaviest tusk of a woolly mammoth weighed 201lb (91.2kg) and the heaviest tusk of an Asiatic elephant weighed 161lb (73kg). However, it is essential to note that the longest tusks are not always the heaviest, as weight also depends on the circumference of the tusks.

Lengthwise, the longest African tusk measured around 3.5m, the longest woolly mammoth tusk measured around 4m and the longest Asiatic tusk measured around 3m.

Unfortunately, hunters very much prize the so-called “hundred pounders” – whose tusks weigh at least 45kg each. As a combined result of trophy hunting, large-scale exploitation of ivory for consumer goods in the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, and devastating poaching, big tuskers have almost been wiped off the African continent. Once a common sight, roaming far and wide across East, Central and Southern Africa, now there are very few big tuskers left on the whole continent.

Rhino horn – To trade or not to trade: Does it really matter?

I had yet another interesting hour or so ‘to trade or not to trade rhino horn’ debate with an avid conservationist I respect. It was an interesting discussion, however we each seemed to have retorts for one another’s views, and after a while, we realised that we needed to agree to disagree. We had both heard each other’s arguments before, and the debate was getting a bit circular – as it has become in the conservation circles in the last year. Written by: Dr. Simon Morgan

Trading is being punted as an option with the hope that we can use the ‘if it pays, it stays’ philosophy to ensure the perpetuation of a species in ‘man’s world’. This has been seen repeatedly with many aspects of the conservation of species and habitats – for example, quantifying ecosystem services and giving a value to a catchment area or calculating the carbon credits we can sell for an area of rainforest. All worthwhile approaches with resulting successes, yet perhaps not as intricate and complicated matters as selling rhino horn, it holds weight as a rhino conservation strategy.

The counterargument is that we don’t understand the market, making it difficult to play with. We would be signing the death warrant for those rhino in countries outside of South Africa that were not trading and, therefore, perhaps not able to protect them with as much metal as the South Africans could with the new-found rhino horn wealth. Ultimately should we not draw a line in the sand and ask the question, why in this day and age, should a species have to pay to stay – surely, it has the right regardless. Does man pay to stay or make a habit of taking to stay?

Each is a compelling argument in its own right.

Ultimately we divide our forces, divide our efforts and divide the rhino population while we do so.

The truth of the matter is, if a decision is made at the next CITES COP16 that South Africa gets to trade in rhino horn, we will probably have at least another two years to go before that even happens (we have to convince the Chinese state to change its laws again so that trade is actually legal there…) and even then the money will only be able to be rolled out and spent within the next year or so. So we are looking at about the end of 2017 or 2018 before we will see the income from this trade coming into effect on the ground. That’s in four years’ time.

What’s going to happen in those four years that we are sitting around debating, arguing, dividing our forces and our efforts and not applying them how we could and should be?

This is what will happen: at a rate of 66% increase in poaching from one year to the next, which is what we have seen in the last two years, we will lose 1 666 rhinos this year and then 767 rhinos the next until finally in 2017 the figure is 7 624… that’s a total of 16 650 rhino – which as you know is not far from what we have got at the moment. I know that the conservationists in the know will jump around and say that the current rate of increase will have to drop as rhino numbers decrease and the rhino densities will decrease, making it harder and harder to poach the rhino. But seriously – had we even thought what is happening now would be possible or conceivable back in 2007? We just can’t tell and just don’t know, but again – does it matter?

The point is, we need to start all talking in the same language about what we can do NOW and not what is possible in four years’ time because in four years, it might just not matter.

So let’s stop the debating and time wasting and division. Let us join forces again and forge a path to develop a stronger political will to stop this. It doesn’t help just doing that in South Africa; we need it to include the Asian states and every entity out there. Let the world, holding summits and symposiums, see that we are standing together and appreciating their efforts. We must show them our support and would like their support to help us increase the political will in this regard.

ALSO READ: Why are rhinos so important for ecosystems?

Diving with dinosaurs

Just off the Cape peninsula, close to the pretty bay of Simon’s Town, lies an innocuous short stretch of ocean. Like much of the seascape here, kelp sprouts from the kryptonite-green water lapping at boulders straight out of The Flintstones. It looks a lot like the rest of this spectacular coastline. Yet this body of water harbours a prehistoric secret: just a short hop, skip and a dive away from the shore you’ll find living, breathing dinosaurs.

The name of this astonishing creature is the broadnose sevengill shark. Yet I prefer their more palatable, less adjective heavy name: cow shark. These fish have glided through our oceans for hundreds of million of years, unblemished by Mother Nature’s marauding fingers.

All sharks originally possessed seven pairs of gill slits. A period of tweaking and refining commenced and most species drop a couple of pairs. For some reason the cow sharks kept theirs. In fact, cow sharks have very few modern adaptations, which is why they remain one of the closest links we have to dinosaurs.

For some unknown reason, the cow sharks just love this tiny stretch of water and congregate here en masse, just metres offshore. I’d read about this extraordinary site, yet before now had never had the opportunity to dive here. Shore diving remains one of my favourite methods of exploring the deep blue; there are no boats with their thumping motors, no launches, no travelling out for miles to sea. A shore dive simply features you, your breathing apparatus, your buddies, and a gradual descent into an underwater world packed full of goodies.

Unfortunately, these goodies come wrapped in a bitterly cold packaging. Even 10mm of neoprene, hoodies, gloves and boots do little to mask the freezing water. Our dive guide was free diver and photographer, Jacques de Vos. Jacques has spent countless hours underwater interacting with the cow sharks. He has built up an intimate knowledge of their behaviour and habits. He stressed that whilst the cow sharks may appear docile, we must maintain eye contact and not touch them. Attacks on divers are rare, yet it’s important to remain vigilant when dealing with toothy predators like sharks. Especially ones that can grow to four metres in length and have been found with human remains in their stomachs.

We entered the water via the rocks. The Cape waters welcomed us with an icy blast, jolting our systems, priming our senses. My first encounter with a two metre male put me at ease. In fact, I could have sworn it was smiling at me. Much like dolphins, cow sharks’ stubby faces are etched with perma-smiles. Depending on your point of view, this is either quite cute, or freakishly sinister. Either way, it’s as unusual as it is mesmerising.

The other notable thing about these sharks is their curious, bold nature. Most sharks, despite their fearsome reputations, remain skittish when encountering humans. Cow sharks, on the other hand, will boldly check divers out, flash a wicked smile and then glide off momentarily, before returning for a second look. They move as if in slow motion, their stout bodies propelled by long, elegant sweeps of the tail. The sharks are a photographer’s dream; willing posers for the camera and enveloped by the most spectacular studio imaginable.

Sadly, the fate of the cow sharks is a familiar one. They are being fished extensively in these waters. Whilst I was diving there, reports began to surface of cow sharks being used as bait for great whites by several of the operators in Gansbaai. Sharks, yet again, are falling prey to the greatest predator to ever walk the earth; man. Every year, we are responsible for the deaths of up to 100 million sharks. We kill sharks for their jaws and teeth which make tacky souvenirs. We kill them for the oil in their liver, their cartilage, flesh and fins. Now, unimaginably, we are killing them to feed their own, by those who pass themselves off as shark conservationists.

I left this magical stretch of water full of wonder at the amazing smiling cow sharks of Cape Town, yet appalled at how, once again, we are changing the face of our oceans. Cow sharks have survived five mass extinctions and due to man’s shortsightedness and greed, they now face a sixth.

Diving with Dinosaurs: The Cow Sharks of Cape Town HD from Moz Images on Vimeo.

Contact Mike at Pisces Divers for more information on diving with the cow sharks.

Rhino horn – Will supporters of trade make their case?

Organisers of a key conference about rhino conservation and the merits or otherwise of introducing a legal trade in rhino horn, scheduled for early April, claim that advocates of trade are threatening to boycott the conference because their point of view will not be represented.

But OSCAP (Outraged SA Citizens Against Poaching), the South African NGO hosting the conference, believes that their potential absence is of their own making as they have been invited to present their case. “We have never disguised the fact that the principal objective of this conference is to allow the South African public to hear, in detail, the reasons why so many conservationists oppose the legalization of rhino horn trade. Typically, their voices get drowned out in this country ” said OSCAP Director Allison Thomson. “There is no question that it is also a great opportunity for those who favour a legal trade to make their case. We don’t want to avoid debate, which is what has happened in the past, and this is why the pro-trade lobby have been invited to attend,” she added.

Commercial trade in high-value wildlife products is one of the most controversial subjects in wildlife conservation. South Africa has long implemented a policy of ‘sustainable utilisation’, which promotes the principle of using wildlife to fulfill current needs, but without jeopardising the benefits for future generations.

However, OSCAP warns of the danger of using the sustainable utilisation principle as a ‘one-size-fits-all’ concept, as this may well have detrimental long term impacts on the environment.

For example, there is a strong probability that the one-off sales of ivory sanctioned in 1999 and 2008 have significantly contributed to the devastating surge in elephant poaching across Africa, and the organization wants to ensure the same mistakes are not made with rhino.

It is public knowledge that the South African government and numerous private sector conservationists and economists, as well as many rhino owners believe that legalising trade is the solution to the rhino poaching crisis. However, this is a viewpoint that is not widely shared and is being questioned both domestically and internationally. Rhino horn trade economics is increasingly being criticised for being based on useless and discredited economic modeling methods.

Given this level of opposition, “We are offering people a perfect opportunity, on an open platform and with media exposure, to argue their case for trade,” says Thomson. “And it’s somewhat contradictory to complain that you are not being represented, but then choosing to boycott when invited” she added.

The conference entitled Assessing the risks of rhino horn trade takes place on the 8th and 9th of April at 2014, and will have a cast of well-known international and local speakers, including some from other rhino range states. Included is Peter Knights of WildAid, Mary Rice of the Environmental Investigation Agency, Francisco Aguayo an independent consultant and Ian Michler. They will address the challenges involved in rhino conservation, the risks associated with the pro-trade policy option, and actions that could help stem the current wave of poaching which has already breached the 150 mark for 2014.

Thomson confirms that her offer to those in favour of trade, including the South African government, the Private Rhino Owners Association and pro-trade economists, remains on the table. “I hope they will take this unique opportunity to challenge those who oppose trade and make their case,” she concluded.

For details of the conference and to reserve tickets please go to www.oscap.co.za or www.oscapconference.co.za.

The tree canopy is believed to prevent prayers from being lost to the sky

Spiritually designated woods sequester carbon, conserve water, reduce soil erosion and provide shade and medicine

Pressure from a rapidly growing population has taken its toll

Sacred places are being recognized for their value as conservation sites

Visit Ethiopia

Contributors

Well, here we provide some interesting facts about your favourite African tree:

The status of Africa’s elephants

The Global NGOs

The Park Managers

Through an amnesty program, poachers are turned into protectors

The Scientists

Safe passage across political boundaries is key to the future of elephants

The Anti-Poachers

“If you don’t have the local community on your side, you’re screwed”

The Grassroots NGOs

A small band of concerned Zimbabweans averted a crisis

The Advocates

“When the buying stops, the killing can too”

Contributors

Camera traps provided me with eyes to see things my ears and nose were sensing

I felt honoured to be let in on its secret life

Dependent on forests, this plucky little cat will become even rarer

Contributor

Contributors

Fire is a rebirth for the ecosystem, without which the system winds down and dies

The Lottery of Fire

The plants gamble with their seeds. Sometimes they hit it big, sometimes they don’t

The Winners and Losers

Some birds have evolved to respond to fire by making use of nectar resources elsewhere

What you can do to protect species in the event of fire:

The ideal is a mosaic landscape of fynbos at differing cycles of fire age

Contributors

The “great migration” is the target of hunting for bushmeat

How methods of assessing bushmeat hunting are compared:

Estimates are that tens of thousands of wildebeest vanish each year

Africa’s human population is expected to quadruple by 2100

“The demand for protein needs to be met”

What lies on the Serengeti horizon?

Bushmeat is the cheapest, most readily available source of protein

This is Zambia’s only National Park where communities live within its boundaries

This is rough and remote camping for the totally self reliant

School children form clubs to educate parents and communities about conservation

The bond between communities and the wild animals they live with is not always respected

Contributor

People leapt from cliffs to swing like pendulums over our heads

Some chose the extreme adventure experience of bargaining for curios

Contributors

Tourism boycotts on countries that offer trophy hunting cause more harm than good

The only thing separating him and me in our respective pursuits was the act of killing

Lets take on the threats as a united force and face the real enemies

Contributors

The weather turned from unpleasant to downright terrifying

We were working on scant information in areas that hadn’t been dived before

So, after all that drama, what did we end up discovering?

Certain no-take zones were effective in protecting important species

When one of these bombs explodes underwater it sends a jarring pain through your bones

The survey data is free to download for all to use: Click here for access

Contributors

PHOTOGRAPHIC ENCOUNTERS IN RWANDA – THE VERY HEART OF AFRICA

Contributors

Origins

14 charges were made against Bob for defending a monkey

Right to life

The Venters managed to change the law to give these animals protection

Care and Release

Exposure to predators before release hones their natural instincts

Tasting freedom

More than 600 monkeys and baboons have rehabilitated and released thus far

An uncertain future

Contributors

Contributors

I was completely unprepared for the sight that greeted me

The red and yellow barbet magically re-appeared as a young leopard

SEE FOR YOURSELF

Contributors

WEIRD AND WONDERFUL CHARACTERS IN ONE OF AFRICA’S GREAT MASQUERADES

Contributor

It wasn’t long before Father Claude started questioning the Church’s policy

Two of the more recent forms are Barack Obama and Ebola

Spiritually designated woods sequester
carbon, conserve water, reduce soil erosion
and provide shade and medicine

How methods of assessing bushmeat
hunting are compared:

The survey data is free to download for all to use:
Click here for access

PHOTOGRAPHIC ENCOUNTERS
IN RWANDA – THE VERY HEART OF AFRICA

WEIRD AND WONDERFUL
CHARACTERS IN ONE OF AFRICA’S
GREAT MASQUERADES

A GIRL’S RITUAL JOURNEY
TO WOMANHOOD

IN CHAD’S DRY SEASON, THE WATERS
OF ZAKOUMA ATTRACT A
VERITABLE NOAH’S ARK OF ANIMALS