A duck thought to be extinct for 15 years has been brought back from the brink and given a new home on a remote lake in Madagascar.
Some 21 Madagascar pochards spent a week in the safety of the world’s first floating aviaries on Lake Sofia in the north of the country. This pioneering approach is to allow the birds to become accustomed to their new surroundings, increasing the chances they will remain at the site after release – the state of wetlands in Madagascar is so poor that they will likely not survive if they leave the lake. The ducks were released from the aviaries in December 2018 and very quickly adapted to the lake, diving and flying, associating with other wild ducks, and returning to the safety of the floating aviaries to feed and roost.
Experts from Durrell Wildlife Conservation Trust, WWT, The Peregrine Fund and the Government of Madagascar have spent years laying the foundations for the birds’ introduction, working closely with the local communities around Lake Sofia that rely on its water, fish and plants.
Durrell’s Head of Birds, Dr H. Glyn Young, said: “The idea that we could be releasing pochards into the wild only 12 years after rediscovery pays remarkable testament to the dreams and hard work of many people from Madagascar, Jersey and the UK, who have worked tirelessly to see this remarkable bird get a chance of survival in a changing world. The restoration programme at Lake Sofia will encourage others in Madagascar to no longer look at the Island’s wetlands as lost causes. They may once again be centres of biodiversity while continuing to support communities of people who also depend on them.”
Conservationists have been meticulously planning their release since the surprise discovery of a small group of pochards in 2006. Faced with an endless set of logistical hurdles, they have had to consistently think outside the box.
Madagascar pochards spend almost all their time on water and, importantly, feed underwater. For this reason, a plan was conceived to convert Scottish salmon-farming cages into the world’s first floating aviaries. After successful trials in 2017, the aviaries were shipped from the UK to Madagascar and assembled on Lake Sofia this summer.
Ducklings hatched in October were transported 200 km to the lake along a dirt road and reared in lakeside aviaries, then in early December, just before they were able to fly, moved into the floating aviaries. Other floating equipment – feeding stations and loafing rafts – have also been specially designed and installed on the lake to give the birds the best possible chance of survival.
With much of the wetlands across northern Madagascar severely degraded due to human encroachment, conservationists have also been working to improve the condition of Lake Sofia so that it’s not just a suitable home for the ducks, but better serves the community and the other wildlife that depends on it.
WWT’s Head of Conservation Breeding, Nigel Jarrett, said: “It takes a village to raise a child, so the old African proverb goes, but in this case, it has taken a village to raise a duck. We have been preparing for this moment for over a decade. The logistics of working in a remote part of Madagascar – where access to the lakes by vehicle is only possible for three months a year – have been an enormous challenge, requiring us to come up with novel approaches. Working with local communities to solve the issues which were driving this bird to extinction has been essential to giving the pochard a chance of survival. If we can make this work, it will provide a powerful example not just for how to save the planet’s most threatened species, but how communities can manage an ecosystem to benefit people and wildlife, especially in areas of significant poverty.”
The release is just one step in a long-term plan to restore Madagascar’s wetlands. Durrell, WWT and other partners have been working closely with communities around Lake Sofia for the last few years to improve farming and fishing so that they are more productive while having less impact on the natural environment. At the same time, guidance has been provided for the government, authorities and conservation organisations to help them improve wetland conservation in the country.
This work would not have been possible without the support of the HSBC Anniversary Fund, The Disney Conservation Fund, the National Geographic Society, The Darwin Initiative through UK Government funding, Fota Wildlife Park, USFWS and Mitsubishi, Mohamed bin Zayed Species Conservation Fund and Synchronicity Earth.
“There are few sounds as evocative and exhilarating as a lion roaring his challenge into the African night; triggering in us all a primordial reaction of fear and awe. Lions are essential players in Africa’s wild spaces, ruthlessly executing the role of an apex predator and so helping maintain biodiversity and ecosystems, which change fundamentally when lions are removed from them.
“Unfortunately, lions compete with livestock farmers for access to land and resources and suffer fatal consequences. They also have to make do with reducing suitable habitat and with less available natural prey, as man increases his footprint. And, to top it all off, trophy hunters surgically remove the remaining large male lions from vast unfenced areas and as they migrate (or are lured) out of conservation areas.
“And, the commercial exploitation and commoditisation of lions continue unabated, with a small band of ruthless and opportunistic South Africans, reducing them to factory farm products. Increasing numbers of tiny cubs born in captivity are taken from their mothers after a few days – to be petted by gullible tourists, later to accompany the same ilk of tourist on lion walks, before being shot in small enclosures by a new kind of trophy hunter – the kind that seeks instant peer status at a discounted price. The lions not hunted are mostly slaughtered and the bones sold into the insatiable Far East market, often in the guise of tiger bones. Industry spokespersons justify this evil industry as ‘sustainable utilisation’.
“To add to the confusing din surrounding lions is the clarion call of increasing numbers of self-appointed lion’ protectors’, many of whom post pictures online of them hugging their ‘special lion friends’. And luxury brands flock to these Instagram icons, paying big cash for the association, and so the big cat bandwagon rolls inexorably onwards. ‘Do as I say and not as I do’, seems to be the message, as these ego-driven opportunists spit venom at the many other predator-petting facilities that have mushroomed all over South Africa.
“There are fame and a decent living to be made by hugging big cats, it seems. All of these opportunists (from petting parks to celebrity lion-huggers) claim to be doing so for lion conservation purposes. Yet, most contribute very little, if anything, to wild lion conservation. In fact, quite the opposite. Aside from creating confusion for tourists, these activities suck up donations and gate revenue that would otherwise go to genuine conservation projects.
“It is in this confusing and toxic space that lions battle for recognition and protection. With African lion populations having plummeted by 60% in 20 years, and only some fenced populations holding their own, it is important to understand the available facts about lions, to navigate the confusing online chatter better.”
The following information was extracted from the IUCN Red List, the US government’s Fish and Wildlife Service (USFW), and Africa Geographic, with additional information provided by lion researcher Ljubica Butkovic
Brief introduction
The lion can be found in a variety of habitats, from the quintessential grassy savannahs of Serengeti to the deciduous woodland of Hwange and the harsh sand desert of Namibia. They have even been found occurring at altitudes exceeding 4,000 m in the Bale Mountains of Ethiopia and on Mount Kilimanjaro. In fact, the only habitat types they do not frequent are tropical rainforest and the interior of the Sahara Desert.
Lions will drink regularly when water is available, but in water-scarce areas, they obtain their moisture from their prey and even from plants (such as the tsama melon in the Kalahari Desert). Their prey is usually made up of medium to large species such as zebra, wildebeest, buffalo, giraffe and even rhino, hippopotamus and young elephants. They are opportunistic and will also take smaller prey such as impala, rodents and other predators. Lions frequently scavenge, displacing hyenas, wild dogs, leopards and cheetahs from their kills.
Lions breed freely when given a chance, although cubs (especially males) have an extremely high mortality rate – dying due to predation by other predators (including rival male lions), starvation, dehydration and disease. Even buffaloes will kill lions and their cubs if given a chance. Read more about lion infanticide here
Lions are the most social of the cats, occurring in average prides of up to six adults plus cubs of various ages. Related females form the pride nucleus, with related and unrelated males forming coalitions to compete for and hold tenure over prides.
Lion densities vary from 1.5 adults/100 km² in arid regions of southern Africa, to 55/100 km² in parts of the Serengeti. Pride ranges can vary widely, even in the same region, for example from 266-4,532 km² in the Kgalagadi Transfrontier Park.
Recent published phylogeographical studies (Barnett et al. 2014) splits lions (Panthera leo) into two subspecies:
Panthera leo leo of Asia and West, Central and North Africa
Panthera leo melanochaita of South and East Africa
The African Lion Working Group is preparing a taxonomic paper which will add to our understanding of the above classification.
Major threats
The major threats to wild lion populations are indiscriminate killings during human-wildlife conflict (particularly in livestock areas), prey base depletion (due to the commercial bushmeat industry), and loss of suitable habitat (which leads to small isolated populations). Also, trophy hunting has at times contributed to population declines in Botswana, Namibia, Tanzania, Zimbabwe, Cameroon and Zambia, due to unsustainable offtakes and poor regulation.
Another threat is the use of lion bones and body parts for traditional medicine in Africa. Also, although captive-bred lions primarily supply the increasing trade in lion bones to Asia from South Africa, there is substantial concern that wild lion parts from eastern and Southern Africa are now being laundered via these channels.
Lions are listed as ‘Vulnerable’ on the IUCN Red List (meaning that they are vulnerable to extinction in the near future), but of great concern is that the vast majority of the population is inferred to have declined at a rate that meets the criteria for ‘Endangered’ (high risk of extinction in the wild).
1. Historical lion ranges included most African countries and from Greece through eastern Europe, the Middle East and India.
2. The lion has since been extirpated from all of Europe, the Middle East and North Africa and now occurs only in the Gir Forests of India and in some countries of sub-Saharan Africa.
3. In Africa, lions now occur in 8% of their historical range and are restricted mainly to protected areas and surrounding conservancies.
4. Lions are difficult to count – due to low densities, extensive ranges, cryptic colouration, nocturnal and wary habits. The earliest estimates of lion abundance in Africa were educated guesses made during the latter half of the 20th century, as follows: i) Myers (1975) wrote: “Since 1950, their numbers may well have been cut in half, perhaps to as low as 200,000 in all or even less.” ii) Ferreras and Cousins predicted lion abundance in Africa in 1980 to be 75,800 iii) Riggio et al. (2013)—estimated lion population sizes ranging from 23,000 to 40,000 iv) Bauer et al. (2015) estimate the lion population in Africa to be between 18,841 and 31,394 (although many believe that 20,000 is closer to the mark)
5. Sample populations were measured between 1993 and 2014, with results that varied greatly, but broadly suggest that unfenced populations declined rapidly and fenced populations did not.
6. Lion populations in all but five countries are estimated to have dropped by 60% between 1994 and 2014, while populations in five countries (India, Botswana, South Africa, Namibia and Zimbabwe) are estimated to have increased by an average of 12% over that period. These numbers are rough estimates. Subpopulations appear to be stable where management is adequately funded; fencing is one of several effective conservation management techniques, although lion populations in fenced areas stop growing once capacity is reached. The most significant population reductions have occurred in countries with higher human population densities.
7. The largest lion population in Africa is found in Botswana’s Okavango Delta, which experienced a reduction over that period, and it is estimated that even this area will lose a further one-third of its population over the next 20 years.
8. In East Africa, the lion population of the Serengeti is the only one not to have decreased over that period.
Lion researcher Ljubica Butkovic had this to say, when asked what more needs to be done: “The future of wild lions lies in the hands of local communities that live amongst the wildlife.
“Lion numbers continue to decline, despite millions of dollars being pumped into ongoing research projects. This research is vital, but what is needed more at the moment is educating local communities on the importance of wildlife and how to cope with their presence to increase human tolerance towards lions. This would result in the overall enhancement of livelihoods. The fate of these animals rests in the hands of people who live around national parks, reserves and conservancies. Many studies have been conducted through interviews that focus on human interactions with wildlife, and these studies need to be used to find practical and effective solutions for human-lion conflict, particularly concerning livestock protection.
“A wide range of NGOs primarily focus on raising awareness and educating younger generations. This technique teaches and trains individuals in literacy and scientific monitoring, who then engage communities in wildlife conservation and reinforce the link between humans and carnivore presence. It is believed, however, that without the proper education of older generations and improvement of livelihoods the attitudes of the locals towards wildlife is unlikely to improve.
“Also, the employment of local people as park rangers, tour guides and lodge/hotel staff makes a big difference to their attitudes towards lions, and these forms of employment should be encouraged. Local schools in Kenya are proactive in arranging trips for students to these parks, going a long way in educating young generations of the importance of African wildlife.
“So many of these vital efforts are, however, not recognised or supported by donor cash, because the results are difficult to measure and so are not always very visible.”
Final thoughts
Lions are vital components to naturally-functioning African ecosystems and key drivers of the sustainable photographic tourism industry. They are also iconic beacons to our own sense of place as Africans. Their disappearance in the wild would be catastrophic, and we all should get stuck in to help. There are enough wild lions left, and there exists enough goodwill amongst Africa’s people and conservation entities, to reverse the current slide into extinction and repopulate areas now denuded of wild lions.
What can you do to help with wild lion conservation
1. Support by way of donations scientifically-based, transparent, successful conservation programs that focus on wild lions and support African people that have to suffer the consequences of living amongst wild animals; Here are some suggestions, but please do your own research before deciding:
2. Actively discourage the cynical and morally-bankrupt lion petting and walking industries by refusing to visit them or financially support them, and educating your friends and family accordingly;
3. Place social media and other lobby pressure on government entities to be transparent and accountable regarding all forms of ‘sustainable utilisation’ – including the trophy hunting of lions (‘canned’ and wild).
Often in the news, or even while out on safari, you may come across the term ‘infanticide’, or even witness it first-hand. This is where an adult, usually a male – though it can be practised by females too– kills a young offspring of the same species.
Infanticide is an often overlooked way of ensuring the survival of the fittest. It has been recorded in several species throughout the animal kingdom, especially in primates. It includes mammals such as dolphins and meerkats, as well as fish, insects, reptiles and amphibians – even unpredictable animals such as hippos can commit infanticide.
Scientific research shows it can provide benefits to the perpetrator, such as increased reproductive opportunities, access to limited resources, direct nutritional benefits, or the prevention of misdirected parental care.
Infanticide in lions is common, and here we will briefly look into the theories as to why lions, both males and females, commit such an act.
Infanticide by males
When a new coalition of males takes over a pride, they almost always kill the prides’ cubs, since they are not biologically related and do not want to spend energy ensuring that other lions’ genes will be passed on. Also, female lions will not be receptive to mating while they are nursing, so killing the cubs enables the male lions to procreate.
The immigrating lions seem to target any cubs that are roughly nine months old or younger – as the mother will still be nursing them – though as in other species, the female will attempt to prevent infanticide by hiding or directly defending their cubs; lionesses are generally more successful at protecting older cubs, as they would be leaving the pride sooner.
Males have, on average, only a two-year window in which to pass on their genes, and lionesses only give birth once every two years, so the selective pressure on them to conform to this behaviour is intense. In fact, it is estimated that a quarter of cubs dying in the first year of life are victims of infanticide (Packer & Pusey, 1984).
Infanticide by females
Infanticide by the mother of lion cubs, referred to as filial infanticide (when a parent kills its offspring), has been observed where the mother will deliberately abandon her litter when only one cub remains. It has been determined that females will increase their lifetime reproductive success by abandoning single cubs and investing exclusively in larger litters (Packer & Pusey, 1984). It is also noted that abandonment can also occur if the cub is handicapped, weak or suffering from illness.
Because infanticide by males is highly detrimental to female reproductive success, several counter-strategies by female lions to try and prevent infanticide, or reduce the impact of it on the pride, has been noted by researchers Packer & Pusey (1982):
“Those females that remain in the pride and mate with the new males show low fertility in the first few months after a takeover of their pride. At the same time, however, females show heightened sexual activity, being more active in initiating copulations and seeking a greater number of mating partners. These two factors appear to elicit competition between male coalitions for control of the pride, with the result that larger coalitions eventually become resident. This is adaptive because a female needs protection from male harassment of her cubs for two years or more to rear her cubs successfully, and only large male coalitions are likely to remain in a pride for more than two years.”
Opinion post by Dr Chris Brown – CEO: Namibian Chamber of Environment
The campaign against trophy hunting – a western urban cultural imposition on rights of rural African communities: arrogant cultural superiority or ignorance?
The difference in views on trophy hunting between the western urban elite and that of the people of rural Africa is stark. In a recent letter to the Guardian, a group of public figures in the UK described trophy hunting as “cruel, immoral, archaic and unjustifiable” and called for an end to global trophy hunting. In much of Africa, rural communities see all forms of sustainable hunting as a legitimate use of their indigenous resources, in much the same way as western nations consider it their right to harvest fish, timber, deer, and use other natural resources for their livelihoods and economic growth. So, what is really behind the call for a ban on the import of wildlife trophies into the UK?
If trophy hunting was in fact good for conservation, would the public figures who are signatories to the letter still oppose trophy hunting? If trophy hunting was good for rural livelihoods in poor African communities, would the public figures still oppose trophy hunting? If trophy hunting had far fewer animal welfare issues associated with it than the widespread factory farming practices of mainly western countries, that puts meat, milk, cheese, eggs on the plates of the members of urban western societies, leather on their feet, and shiny briefcases in their hands, would they still be so opposed to trophy hunting?
And if all the above were true, as well as a range of additional positive benefits such as protection of natural vegetation and landscapes (countering the greatest threat to global biodiversity loss – land transformation), the collateral protection of a suite of less charismatic but equally important wildlife, limiting the impact of climate change, allowing land use to shift from low levels of primary production (e.g. domestic livestock meat production) in the drylands of Africa (covering over 65% of the continent and where most wildlife is to be found) to include wildlife-based service industries to significantly enhance land productivity and reduce climate vulnerability, would the public figures still oppose trophy hunting?
What we are trying to understand is whether these public figures are simply opposed to trophy hunting and perhaps other forms of sustainable use of wildlife because they don’t like the concept of killing an animal of a non-domestic species irrespective of significant potential benefits to conservation, the environment and people’s livelihoods; or do they genuinely think that trophy hunting is bad for conservation, bad for rural communities and violates animal welfare standards? Understanding this is fundamental in addressing the misconceptions of the campaign.
If these public figures are simply opposed to trophy hunting on the grounds of it being uncivilised from the perspective of their own urban western culture, irrespective of any environmental, livelihoods or other benefits, then there is little that can be argued other than to suggest that they should stop trying to impose their cultural views on the rights of others cultures – other cultures where people live side-by-side with their indigenous wildlife on a daily basis. And to tell these public figures that perhaps it is a bit arrogant of them to feel that they can make decisions about how other people, living thousands of miles away, should use their wildlife resources.
And perhaps it is more than a bit arrogant of these public figures, coming from a nation that has lost most of its charismatic megafauna (wolves, bears, elk, lynx, etc.) to impose on people of other cultures, who have not driven their indigenous species to extinction, without consultation or attempting to understand their views, how their natural resources should be used, based on their elitist western urban “civilised” perspectives. Or perhaps it is easier for these public figures to transfer their arm-chair conservation aspirations to a softer and more populist target than address the problems at home – namely to tackle the difficult task of convincing their own farmers and people who use the UK countryside of the importance of re-introducing and re-establishing their own nationally extinct wildlife as free-roaming populations across their own open landscapes.
Because, by trying to close down the trophy hunting sector in Africa, not only are they violating the rights of other people, cultures and nations, but they are removing the economic tools that create incentives for people to be willing to live with wildlife so that Africa’s wildlife does not go the same way as that of the UK – extinct. And these public figures should keep in mind that the challenge of living and farming with wolves, bears and lynx pales into insignificance against that of people living with lions, leopards, hyenas, elephants, hippos, buffalo, crocodiles to mention but a few of the challenging species.
On the other hand, if the public figures genuinely think that trophy hunting is bad for conservation, cruel, immoral, archaic and unjustified, and if they are genuinely interested in doing what is best for the long-term conservation of species, ecosystems and landscapes, and for the welfare of rural communities, then we have a lot to discuss.
Perhaps the first thing to say is that wildlife, and particularly the more charismatic megafauna of Africa, is Africa’s global comparative competitive advantage over the rest of the planet. While virtually every country on Earth has cattle, sheep and goats, only the continent of Africa has the variety and spectacle of wildlife that makes it stand out on the global landscape. How the countries of Africa use their wildlife, in the interests of their people and their economies, is for Africa to decide, not for a group of western urban public figures.
Second, the regions of Africa that have followed a western urban protectionist approach to wildlife management, exemplified by countries such as Kenya, have less wildlife today than at any time in their history. By contrast, regions that have created wildlife management systems based on devolved rights over wildlife to local communities and landowners, together with economic incentives, exemplified by countries such as Namibia and South Africa, have got more wildlife today than at any time in the past 150 years. Kenya’s wildlife continues to decline, Namibia and South Africa’s wildlife continues to grow – including that of elephants, rhinos, lions and other species.
Third, trophy hunting is an important component of the wildlife economy. It cannot be substituted by ecotourism. In many areas, ecotourism has little potential, but the land is kept under wildlife and natural vegetation by the economic returns from trophy hunting, wildlife harvesting (for venison) and the live sale of surplus high-value wildlife. In some areas, all four forms of wildlife management are practised on the same land, i.e. tourism, trophy hunting, harvesting for meat and live sale. The greater the returns that can be sustainably generated from wildlife, the more secure is that land from agriculture, land transformation and a permanent loss of biodiversity.
Wildlife populations typically have natural rates of increase of between 15-35% per year (large species such as elephants and rhinos breed more slowly). Namibia’s wildlife population, for example, numbers about 3 million animals. Of these, only about 6% are in national parks which cover some 17% of the country. This apparent disparity is because a large component of Namibia’s national parks network is in the hyper-arid zone of the Namib Desert with very low rainfall (less than 70 mm per year) and low wildlife carrying capacity. Thus over 90% of Namibia’s wildlife is on communal and freehold farm land – and it is there only because it has value and people want it.
As a result, an additional 34% of Namibia outside of the national parks network is under formal wildlife management. Wildlife populations in these areas need to be managed to ensure that the natural vegetation is not damaged by overgrazing and over-browsing. Trophy hunting removes less than 1% of the national wildlife herd per year. These are mostly old bulls passed their reproductive peak. Harvesting for meat takes off most of the surplus animals. Because trophy hunting is such an important component of wildlife conservation and the wildlife economy, it is preferable to refer to it as “conservation hunting”, as the benefits include increasing land coming out of traditional agriculture and under indigenous biodiversity management. In Namibia, conservation hunting contributes about 20% more to the national economy than the entire small-stock farming sector, (about 4 million sheep and goats on about 27 million ha of land), with conservation hunting taking off less than 1% of the national wildlife herd per year. Much of this income flows to rural communities, as does the meat from animals hunted in their areas.
Fourth, it is necessary to clearly differentiate between legal hunting and poaching. Not to do so is akin to lumping legal diamond sales with illicit diamond dealing, legitimate cattle production with cattle rustling and the legal pharmaceutical industry with the illegal drugs trade. We don’t close down the legal components of these enterprises because there are illegal elements at play. And if anyone thinks that, by closing the legal pharmaceutical industry, the illegal drugs trade would be diminished or eliminated, they are delusional – the illegal drugs trade would simply expand to address the demand. The same applies to hunting, poaching and the illegal wildlife trade. Legal hunting is based on quotas and regulated activities with benefits going to those who manage the resource and run the businesses, and taxes going to the state. Poaching is theft, often incentivised and driven by international criminal syndicates – most from Asia.
Fifth, much of the hunting and sustainable utilisation debate within conservation has been taken over by the animal rights movement. We have great respect for people who stand up for animal welfare – we all should. The way that domestic animals are mistreated in high-intensity production systems, turned into factory units, held in unbearable conditions, will go down in history as one of Homo sapiens’ greatest crimes.
But animal rights and animal welfare are two very different things. The situation of wildlife in its natural habitat, in large open systems, is profoundly different to the life that domestic animals in factory conditions, abused by chemicals and a total lack of consideration for their species-specific requirements and welfare, face each and every day – particularly in the industrialised world where such practices are most prevalent. Animal welfare of domestic animals in high-intensity production systems should be by far the most pressing animal welfare issue on everyone’s agenda. From a conservation biology perspective, problems arise when animal rights agendas are passed off as conservation agendas, which they are not.
Conservation works at the population, species and ecosystem levels. Animal rights works at the individual level. And what might be good for an individual or a collection of individuals might not be good for the long-term survival of populations, species and ecosystems. This of course does not negate the need for ethical and humane practices, which should always be an integral part of good conservation management and science.
And finally, the economic drivers around wildlife conservation in the drylands of Africa are quite different to those in most western countries. The value of wildlife in western countries is generally far lower than that of Africa. This, combined with the fact that the agricultural potential and access to lucrative markets are far higher in western countries means that market forces are working against indigenous wildlife and in favour of agriculture and land transformation. The response of western conservation organisations and individuals is thus to counter these market forces, try to prevent the commercialisation of wildlife (because the land and its biodiversity will be lost to conservation anyway) and resist consumptive use of wildlife.
However, the system is quite the opposite in the drylands of Africa, provided rights over wildlife are devolved to local communities and landowners. Then, wildlife as a land use outcompetes agriculture and its associated land transformation. And the more it outperforms agriculture the more secure is the land and is biodiversity for long-term conservation. Removing conservation hunting from the wildlife economy reduces its competitive edge to the point where large areas will simply revert to agriculture.
For those living in western economies, the situation of conservation hunting in the drylands of Africa may seem counter-intuitive. But for us in Africa, it is so obvious that we wonder why seemingly intelligent and well-meaning western conservationists are continually trying to undermine our conservation work, particularly where the record of conservation accomplishment in African countries with devolved economically-based sustainable use policies is so obvious.
Dr Chris Brown is the CEO of the Namibian Chamber of Environment (NCE), an umbrella membership body for environmental NGOs in Namibia. The NCE currently has a membership of 64 environmental NGOs – well over 90% of all ENGOs in the country. Dr Chris Brown is not a hunter. He is a vegetarian since the age of 11 because of welfare issues around domestic animals, a former director of the Namibia Nature Foundation (for 12 years) and the first Director of the Directorate of Environmental Affairs in the Namibian Ministry of Environment & Tourism. He has a PhD in conservation biology and interests in the tourism industry in Namibia.
The time has come to announce the winners of our Best Video Clip of 2018! With over 350 videos clips entered, the judges had a tough task of watching and selecting some brilliant clips showing the best African wildlife has to offer. We selected a staggering 131 video clips that we felt displayed Africa at her best, and each stood a chance of winning one of two prizes.
Two prizes of US$500 each are up for grabs – one going to our overall winner (determined by the AG judges), and the other to our ‘Audience’ Favourite (decided by the public, via voting).
So without further ado, here are the winners and the highly commendable runners-up!
Comment from the judges: This exceptional clip is what ‘slow safari’ is all about – no drama or viral events – just Africa’s wildlife doing its thing. Etosha’s waterholes at the end of the dry winter season are often very busy, but even seasoned safari-goers will be amazed at the sheer volume of wildlife gathered to drink in this clip.
Comment from the judges: This brief, powerful clip goes to the core of what big male lions are all about. Far from the dignified Disney characters we were misinformed about as kids, male lions are tough, stoic warriors with a fierce drive to spread their genes, dominate territory and beat the often insurmountable odds of survival in Africa’s wild places.
Comment from the judges:This clip has a ‘cuteness alert’ warning label! This tiny leopard cub tests mom’s patience with boundless energy, sharp teeth and rodeo-style antics. Hunting and fighting skills are honed during these important early days, and the cub will move onto stalking insects, birds and other small creatures before being coached onto larger prey species.
Congratulations to our winners and to the highly commendable runners-up! And thank you to all who entered, it has been an honour judging your fantastic video clips and sharing them with our worldwide audience.
African penguins (Spheniscus demersus) in Simon’s Town, Cape Town
Press release by SANCCOB (Southern African Foundation for the Conservation of Coastal Birds)
Cape Town is synonymous with many things, like Table Mountain, picturesque landscapes, beautiful beaches, and of course our iconic African penguin. The Simon’s Town penguin colony, on the False Bay coastline, is jointly managed by the City of Cape Town (CCT) and Table Mountain National Park (TMNP).
The Seaforth Beach to the Water’s Edge Beach section, and the Burghers Walk through to the Franks Bay are controlled by the CCT, while the Boulders section is managed by South African National Parks (SANParks). Take a look at the map below showing the penguin management area in Simon’s Town.
The CCT works in partnership with the Cape Town Environmental Education Trust (CTEET) and the Southern African Foundation for the Conservation of Coastal Birds (SANCCOB) who funds the penguin monitor programme and assists with the research and monitoring of the penguin colony.
Currently, there is an area supervisor, four penguin monitors, a CTEET learnership student and four Wildlife and Environmental Society of South Africa (WESSA) beach stewards working with the project.
African penguins at Boulders Beach in Simon’s Town
WESSA beach stewards and the Tourism Blue Flag programme
The Tourism Blue Flag programme is a three-year coastal tourism and youth development project implemented by WESSA in partnership with the National Department of Tourism. This project aims to improve the experience of both domestic and international visitors to our beaches, while simultaneously providing youth with accredited training to help them find employment in the coastal tourism sector. The beach stewards are hosted by local coastal municipalities and are involved in activities such as the monitoring of all beach activities; conducting visitor surveys, as well as collecting other data.
They also provide updates on weather and general beach conditions via Twitter; coordinate fun and interactive environmental education activities for schools; assists lifeguards by improving water safety at the beach; and help beach managers to maintain high blue flag standards relating to safety, environmental management, water quality, and environmental education at their beaches.
The beach stewards are also receiving accredited training in environmental education from WESSA.
The African penguin is listed as ‘Endangered’ on the IUCN Red List of Threatened Species
Monitoring the Simon’s Town penguin colony
Our penguin monitors work seven days a week, 365 days a year to ensure that our seabirds are protected and co-exist peacefully with residents and visitors in the Simon’s Town coastal area.
Seaforth beach dune rehabilitation
This year, coastal management has been focusing on stabilising the dunes on the western side of Seaforth Beach. The area has suffered under the trampling of visitors to see the penguins down at the beach. The increased scouring from wind erosion was having a negative impact on the surrounding areas being inundated with windblown sand. The team has erected wind nets and barriers to protect the vegetation and allow it to recover naturally. The barriers also reduce disturbance to the breeding and moulting penguins in the area.
Residential sweeps
Our penguin monitors conduct residential sweeps three times a week. During these rounds, they remove penguins breeding outside designated breeding areas, especially those in unsafe areas. These may include areas where they have to cross roads on their way to the sea, could be attacked by dogs, and where they are unwelcome on private properties. Any penguin chicks or eggs found during these sweeps are taken to SANCCOB for incubation and hand-rearing.
African penguins used to be marked with flipper bands, but nowadays, small microchips (similar to a cat or dog’s microchip) are being used and birds can be identified using hand-held or ground readers. This greatly reduces stress on the birds and provides a wealth of important data that is easily collected. The penguins are being individually marked with microchips, both at the breeding colonies and when released from rehabilitation centres.
A ground reader installed in 2018 at Boulders records any marked penguin coming into the colony. Among the birds being resighted are breeding adults from Simon’s Town, young birds that might start breeding at Boulders, and some from other colonies such as Robben Island and Stony Point.
Many of the young birds visiting Boulders were hand-reared at SANCCOB after being abandoned by their parents. The information that we receive from the ground reader is crucial to understanding the survival and movement of young penguins and how they decide where to breed. This will help in the conservation of the species.
Moulting and chick abandonment
African penguins usually breed and moult only once a year. During the moult, they replace all their feathers to retain their waterproofing properties. However, during this period they are land-bound and can’t go into the sea to feed. Fortunately, moulting starts a few weeks after the chicks have successfully fledged, giving the parents time to fatten up. In some years, birds lose their first clutch of eggs or chicks, either because of bad weather conditions or due to a shortage of food (small pelagic fish). Birds may then attempt to breed again later in the year.
However, if this coincides with the moulting period, adults abandon their chicks as they can’t feed them. In these cases, the chicks will be pro-actively rescued and admitted to SANCCOB for hand-rearing and released once they are old enough.
The African penguin (Spheniscus demersus) is listed as ‘Endangered’ on the IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. The current conservation status of the African penguin is such that we can’t afford to lose these late season chicks to natural mortality events.
Adult and juvenile African penguins
Threats to penguins
Pollution
Luckily, no major oil spill or pollution event occurred in, at or near the colony in 2018. Nevertheless, penguins and other birds still get oiled (from unlikely sources) and need to be admitted to SANCCOB for cleaning and rehabilitation.
Avian influenza
In early 2018, avian influenza (bird flu) was detected in seabirds in South Africa. The same virus had affected ostrich and poultry farms in the previous year. The virus killed large numbers of swift terns and affected several other seabird species, like the African penguin.
Fortunately, very few African penguins died of the virus, among these were four birds from Simon’s Town. As a precautionary measure, all colony-based research was stopped to reduce the risk of transmitting the virus between birds and colonies. No new cases have been observed for several months now and colony work has resumed.
The virus is not dangerous to humans but if you find dead seabirds, or seabirds showing signs like drowsiness, unable to fly (except for penguins) or possibly blindness (milky eyes), please contact our Penguin Monitors.
The penguin monitor project is funded through donations received by SANCCOB and covers the costs of the penguin monitor salaries and a vehicle for transporting penguins to SANCCOB. Please help us sustain this project as it also serves as an important development opportunity for budding conservationists.
If you would like to contribute please contact SANCCOB directy: www.sanccob.co.za
When left to nature, the delicate balance of wild ecosystems ensures the survival of the fittest, as long as national parks and reserves – set aside for wildlife – are protected and connected via safe migration corridors. Predators help to maintain the healthy balance of wild ecosystems by killing only the slowest, weakest individuals.
Trophy hunters target the largest or rarest animals they can find – or those with the biggest horns, tusks or manes. Yet both science and common sense tells us that that goes against nature’s law of survival of the fittest. The reason dominant males survive to grow to be the largest and fittest individual is due to strong genes that have been passed down to them through natural selection – achieved through males fighting to decide dominance and ensure the strongest genes are passed on.
In the wild, when natural, favourable occurrences cause overpopulation, natural processes work to stabilise that population. Starvation and disease are nature’s ways of ensuring that healthy, strong animals survive so that the strongest genes are passed on to future generations. When migration corridors are blocked and natural dispersal is prevented overpopulation will result – this is not however a natural occurrence. It’s vital that safe migration corridors are kept open to allow natural dispersal and avoid overpopulation of species.
It’s claimed that trophy hunting is a good conservation tool, but after many decades trophy hunting has done nothing to solve the causes of poaching in Africa. This is one of the main reasons the KAZA Trans Frontier Conservation Area is not functioning as intended. Often, trophy hunting concessions block ancient wildlife migration corridors, and poaching is uncontrolled even in the countries where trophy hunting goes on – making safe dispersal across the KAZA TFCA dangerous for elephants – which is why so many have been taking refuge in the relative safety of Botswana.
Yet organisations such as WWF and Peace Parks – founders of KAZA – support trophy hunting as a ‘useful conservation tool’ when in fact it causes more problems than it solves. According to the World Wildlife Fund’s 2018 report, global wildlife population shrank by 60% between 1970 and 2014! Trophy hunting has been going on for decades but has not helped to stop poaching inside the National Parks of Africa. It doesn’t help to solve the causes of poaching, and yet strong gene pools are depleted when trophy hunters target the biggest specimens from the ever dwindling populations of wildlife. This goes to show that a new way of protecting wildlife is urgently needed – rather than continuing to rely on trophy hunting as a conservation tool.
Where the boundaries of National Parks are surrounded by hunting concessions, individuals from the communities, living in the area, are employed seasonally by the hunting industry, and ‘game meat’ is distributed to poor communities during the hunting season. But those communities are not lifted out of the poverty trap – and encouraging demand for ‘bushmeat’ leads to more poaching – not less – inside the National Parks.
Most trophy hunters push for more trade of ivory, rhino horn and lion bones to be permitted. This puts elephants, rhinos and lions at greater risk since encouraging demand, in the insatiable markets of Asia (the majority of consumers are in Asia these days), for body parts of endangered or threatened species, only leads to more poaching, supported by powerful trafficking syndicates operating across Africa. Funding from trophy hunting does go towards supporting anti poaching patrols and de-snaring operations, but it does not help to solve the causes of poaching. It simply drives a never ending vicious cycle.
Trophy hunting outfitters get paid overseas for several hunts over a typical 2 – 3 week hunting safari and only a fraction of the hunting fees return to Africa. The money from trophy hunting that does come into Africa pales in comparison to the billions generated from photo tourism each year. Revenues from trophy hunting constitutes only a fraction of a percent of GDP in African countries where it’s practiced and almost none of that ever reaches rural communities.
A far better way forward for Africa, would be to begin to phase out unsustainable trophy hunting and ensure that more revenue from photo tourism goes towards supporting communities living close to National Parks, in creating protective community-run conservancies inside buffer zones, or in failed hunting concessions, for establishing various eco ventures – in exchange for their help in protecting the wildlife in and around the protected parks.
Regenerative tourism should be encouraged whereby tourists wishing to help support those communities, visit the community-run conservancies to contribute in some way – either helping to establish eco ventures, buying crafts or going on bird watching tours (until wildlife returns to the conservancies – which it will in time, once protected).
Source :Facebook, unknown
Examples of why trophy hunting is not true conservation:
Lion populations have declined sharply in the last three decades, across Africa, due to threats such as habitat loss, retaliatory killings, snares set by poachers and increasing demand for lion bones and body parts from China. Populations in many range states are already dangerously low and yet hundreds of the largest males are trophy hunted each year. Not only does this remove the strongest, dominant males, but it often forces females – left with older cubs to feed and wanting to protect them from other male lions – to leave the parks and attack livestock which is easier to kill.
Very young cubs, unable to walk long distances, will simply be killed by less dominant males that take over the pride. Hunting regulations are often broken whereby pride males with cubs are targeted as ‘trophies’ – since they happen to be the largest lions around – with the biggest manes. By removing the fittest, resistance to deadly diseases is also depleted -nwhich can cause the loss of entire prides.
Elephant trophy hunting also not only depletes strong gene pools but also removes the older bulls and matriarchs with knowledge needed for survival in the wild. Many more elephants are now tuskless these days, which shows that trophy hunting is not sustainable in the long term – since the more the biggest tuskers are removed, the smaller the ‘trophies’ become. In that way, the rule of survival of the fittest is being overruled. Elephants evolved with tusks for a reason.
Tuskless elephants weaken their chances of survival since they need their tusks – to strip bark from trees and dig for water in dry riverbeds to survive long dry seasons, to defend their young from predators, and in the case of males with the largest tusks, as a show of dominance and to fight off rivals. Elephants are also family-oriented, sentient beings. Herds of female elephants are led by a matriarch and dominant bull elephants teach manners and pass on knowledge to younger males. So much is being lost each time a large bull or matriarch is trophy hunted or poached for their tusks!
True conservation should involve local communities in ways that will develop sustainable livelihoods and independence – and help to solve the causes of poaching.
The international community needs to help to solve the causes of poaching by calling for the urgent elimination of all demand for endangered/threatened species or their body parts. Interpol needs to help to remove the trafficking syndicates and stop smuggling through porous borders to help end the poaching crisis in Africa.
Rural villagers living alongside wildlife need support from grass roots NGOs who can help to surround villages, fields and bomas with effective elephant and predator proof fencing – to prevent human-wildlife conflict. Community members would need to be trained to maintain and protect the fencing on behalf of each community.
Once fields are well protected, environmentally-friendly farming methods that protect soils and increase yields – to ensure food security, steady incomes, and prevent deforestation – need to be taught. Holistic grazing and mob grazing methods need to be adopted to regenerate grasslands and predator-proof, mobile bomas used to allow grass to recover as livestock is kept moving to avoid overgrazing. Insurance herds should be kept by communities to compensate for losses.
These are self sustaining solutions that only need initial funding and expert advice to set up and get them running successfully. Grassroots NGOs need funding from many different sources to enable them to give a hand up, rather than hand downs, ensuring a better way forward which can be achieved without relying on seasonal funding from trophy hunters who target the biggest endangered or threatened species.
In arid areas that are used seasonally as migration corridors by elephants, where farming fails repeatedly, land should be set aside for wildlife and communities helped to set up community-run lodges and earn extra revenue from carbon credit schemes while helping to protect forests, as well as earning income from various eco ventures such as beekeeping and craft-work.
SOURCES
• IUCN/PACO: Big Game Hunting in West Africa. What is its contribution to conservation? IUCN, Cambridge, 2009, ISBN: 978-2-8317-1204-8
Bouncing over a line of assailing waves, our boat speeds away from the riverine town of Maroansetra, bound for the lushly forested Masoala National Park. Nosy Mangabe clogs the horizon, a perfectly placed puff of cloud lending the 520-hectare islet the appearance of a smouldering volcano. I almost expect to see dinosaurs wandering the island’s liana-tangled flanks, but instead, snow-white cattle egrets dust the treetops. Casting waves toward fisherman in hand-wooden pirogues, we skirt Nosy Mangabe’s rocky shores and continue south through the Antongil Bay toward the evergreen forests of the Masoala National Park – our final destination.
We are just minutes from the mainland, and I’ve already had a realisation – getting to Madagascar’s largest national park is absolutely part of its appeal.
Masoala National Park covers a sizeable portion of northeastern Madagascar’s virtually roadless Masoala Peninsula, a stubby isthmus wedged between the Antongil Bay and the Indian Ocean. Established in 1997, the 2,300 km2 park is among the most biodiverse protected areas in Madagascar, a conglomeration of littoral forest and steamy lowland rainforest, three marine sanctuaries, and the offshore Nosy Mangabe Special Reserve. Edged by Betsimisaraka villages, the terrestrial portion of the park spreads over the Masoala Peninsula’s interior, supporting a hodgepodge of globally rare flora and fauna.
The absence of roads also means Masoala National Park is one of Madagascar’s most isolated protected areas – too far afield for many of the island’s tourists. There are currently two ways to get to the national park – by foot or by boat. Tight on time, my travel companion Andy Haines and I have opted for a 40 km speedboat trip across Antongil Bay – one of the most biologically productive inlets in the Indian Ocean. Nearly a dozen whale species have been recorded in the sheltered waters – and every year during the austral winter, hordes of migrating humpbacks descend on the bay to mate and give birth.
Slightly more unnerving for someone in a wave-pummelled boat, the Antongil Bay is also a hotspot for sharks, harbouring 19 different species. Endangered zebra sharks and great hammerheads frequent the natural harbour, and just like the globe-roving humpbacks, sharks also visit the bay to pup. In 2015, the government of Madagascar declared the entire Antongil Bay a shark sanctuary – the country’s first.
Lemurs After Lunch
After nearly two hours on the water, the motor is cut, and we drift toward our final destination – Hippo Camp Lodge. Tucked away in a sheltered cove, the palm-roofed bungalows of the lodge are spread along the waters of the Tampolo Marine Protected Area, nestled between the ocean and the terrestrial forests of Masoala National Park. Once the boat anchors, I wade onto a crescent of beach shaded by leafy cardinal hat trees, branches curving toward the bay. In the distance, lushly vegetated foothills meld into the ocean. I hear the siren song of glass beer bottles clinking ashore as the boat is unloaded, but our park guide Alden wants to get a quick start.
After an alfresco lunch, we leave the lodge on a slender footpath paralleling the beach, meandering past a cluster of wooden houses, just steps from the ocean. Beyond the village, terraces of lime-green rice paddies spread to the edge of the forest. Alden spots a tiny tenrec ambling through the grass, her pronounced proboscis scouring the ground. We startle the hedgehog-like creature, and she skitters toward a hulking canarium tree. Inside a cleft in the trunk, she has a litter of thumb-sized offspring cloistered beneath a pile of leaves.
Peeling away from the ocean, the trail plunges into the forest. Instantly we are engulfed in lush vegetation. Towering palms spread like showy peacock tails, and braids of lianas dangle from the canopy. Incubating orchids are preparing to bloom, and bird’s nest ferns protrude from tree trunks, leaves fanning out in feathery plumes. On the ground, forest crabs with bright, cherry-red legs peer out from beneath the buttressed tree roots. Alden walks with purpose. There are red-ruffed lemurs nearby.
We are looking for one of the rarest primates on the planet. Critically endangered red-ruffed lemurs are found only in the forests of northeastern Madagascar, mainly on the Masoala Peninsula. A penchant for primary forest and lofty canopy means the prosimians are primarily confined to remaining swathes of intact habitat within Masoala National Park. Outside the protected area, the status of the rust-coloured lemurs is mostly a mystery, although the species has been documented in the Makira Natural Park, just northwest of the Masoala Peninsula.
One of the largest true lemurs found in Madagascar, red-ruffed lemurs are among the most frugivorous species on the island, preferring to nosh on the fruit of canarium trees. As a result of their proclivity for fruit, red-ruffed lemurs fill a critical ecological role in Madagascar – seed dispersal. In most of the planet’s tropical regions, birds perform this ecological function.
Somewhat surprisingly, although Madagascar is rich in avifauna, the island harbours only a handful of true seed-dispersing birds – meaning lemurs fill this niche, helping to maintain forest diversity and regeneration. As one of the largest-bodied lemurs remaining on Madagascar, red-ruffed lemurs are ecologically irreplaceable – and have a vital role – spreading sizeable seeds, those too big for smaller lemurs to ingest.
Alden cups his hands around his mouth and issues a guttural call. We freeze, listening for a response. I scan the canopy, but all I can hear is the gushing stream up ahead on the trail. As we approach the rushing, rock-studded rivulet, Alden whoops again. This time, I hear something. We plunge into the icy channel, wading through thigh-deep water, across the slickened river stones. Clambering ashore, we scramble up a grassy hillock, and suddenly I see the flash of a rust-coloured coat. Three red-ruffed lemurs sit perched in the canopy.
The prosimians regard us with button-like eyes, affixed to leathery faces. Red-ruffed lemurs are among the most vocal primates, quick to sound a raucous alarm at first sight of predators. But, the group observes us silently. We’ve disturbed their mid-afternoon nap, and the lemurs quickly return to convalescing. Suddenly, I realise I’m already ready for a siesta too – and a beer.
Night Walk
The sun disappears with a flourish, lacquering the sky with ribbons of gold, cerise, and violet. Beneath a spray of stars, we set out to find creatures of the night.
In the moonlight, the beach is alive with activity. Hermit crabs skitter across the sand, dragging oversized, peach-hued shells. In a slender stream trickling toward the ocean, freshwater shrimp glisten, and a giant Grandidier’s Madagascar frog poses like a supermodel. But, we’re looking for arboreal creatures, scanning the canopy for eyeshine. Most of the lemurs on the Masoala Peninsula are nocturnal, including the fork-marked lemur and the hairy-eared dwarf lemur.
Overhead, the Southern Cross takes shape – a celestial map used by mariners for centuries, from the Indonesian voyageurs credited with first inhabiting Madagascar to the spice traders, slavers, and overzealous colonisers who would later sail to the Antongil Bay. Suddenly, I see two glowing pinpricks in the inky dark – the tiny eyes of a brown mouse lemur. I fumble for my camera, and in an instant, the tennis-ball-sized primate is gone.
Back at the lodge, we pause for a nightcap in the open air, built around a hulking mango tree. After choosing from a selection of rhum arrangé – flavourful rum steeped with fruit and spices – the electricity flickers, and darkness envelopes us. I click on my headlamp, and the cone of light instantly illuminates a host of flying insects. Suddenly, something buzzes my ear. Then again. A winged silhouette is swooping and diving into the beam of light, picking off bugs. The Masoala Peninsula is known for harbouring Madagascar’s largest bat – the flying fox — a nocturnal feeder with a wingspan stretching over a metre. The frugivorous bats are believed to be ecologically valuable pollinators and seed dispersers. Studies in southeastern Madagascar have even suggested seeds have higher rates of germination and survival after passing through the gut of a flying fox.
But, the opportunistic dive-bomber hogging my light is a smaller specimen – perhaps an insectivorous Manavi long-fingered bat. Once the lights flicker back to life, the creature disappears into the darkness.
An electric blue damselfish darts in front of my face. Then another. Below me, striped butterfly fish swarm around clusters of coral. After an overnight rain shower, the water is turbid, but the vividly coloured fish are easy to spot, even in muddy water. Suddenly, a massive shape materialises to my left. The shallow coves of the Antongil Bay are known to harbour dugongs, hulking herbivores credited with perpetuating mermaid myths – especially due to their extraordinary ability to rise from the water during tail stands. But, I can’t help thinking about the bay’s denizen bull sharks, even though Alden has assured us the tiny cove is shark-free. Surfacing from the water, I see a shard of basalt, not a dorsal fin.
Back on land, a Madagascar malachite kingfisher watches as I peel the snorkel mask from my face. We decide to spend our final afternoon on the Masoala Peninsula in search of the national park’s avifauna, trading the boulder-studded beaches of Tampolo for the steamy forest. The protected area harbours some of the planet’s rarest birds, including red owls, endangered serpent eagles, and helmet vangas, sporting massive, sky-blue beaks.
In the forest, a red-breasted coua darts across the trail in front of me. Pausing to point out the bird, I notice something else – the path we’re following is wide enough to be a road. Alden explains that we’re following the route of a colonial railroad, once used to haul precious hardwood from the forests of the Masoala Peninsula. The extraction of timber – namely rosewood – still threatens regional ecology. After Madagascar’s 2009 coup, illegal logging boomed as timber traffickers exploited the political tumult and began plundering protected areas – notably Masoala National Park and nearby Marojejy National Park, located about 140 km due north. After the spike in the harvest of precious hardwood, Madagascar agreed to a zero export policy in 2013. However, demand for tropical hardwoods remains, driven chiefly by the desire for luxury furniture in China. According to the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime, rosewood trafficking has become the most profitable wildlife crime on the planet.
After two hours of ascending, we’ve arrived at a pinnacle, the rim of a forested ravine. The drop off creates a cylindrical opening in the palm-dominated canopy – a window to the sky. I can see a soot-coloured black parrot circling overhead. Rounding a corner, we startle a Madagascar crested ibis. The leggy bird launches awkwardly, skirting tangles of dangling lianas. Still, no helmet vangas. In the clearing, I can see the sun sliding toward Antongil Bay. Reluctantly, we descend to Hippo Camp.
It’s 4:45 am, and the sky is still speckled with stars as Andy and I sip coffee waiting for our boat back to Maroantsetra. A shroud of smoky fog smothers the Antongil Bay. The plan is to detour to Nosy Mangabe. We are hoping that the ocean cooperates and that we have at least an hour to explore the richly biodiverse special reserve.
A splotch in the Antongil Bay just 5 km off the coast of Maroantsetra, today Nosy Mangabe harbours a host of unearthly creatures, including endangered aye-ayes, released on the island in 1967 as part of an effort to thwart the species’ extinction. But, the atoll also has a rich past – with signs of habitation dating back to the 8th century. The island still harbours signs of many previous visitors, including the Betsimisaraka tombs nestled in the hillsides. The atoll also serves as the final resting place for many of the Europeans who sailed the Antongil Bay, including Dutch navigator Cornelisz Schouten, credited with discovering a new route around the southern tip of South America, and naming the strait the ‘Cape Horn,’ after his birthplace in Holland.
Rain clouds furrow above Nosy Mangabe as we drift into the horseshoe cove on the southwest side of the island. A hulking fishing boat named Irina sits rusting in the bay. As we wade ashore, Alden proposes a friendly competition – try to spot one of the island’s infamous leaf-tailed geckos.
Champions of camouflage, leaf-tailed geckos can change colour to match their surroundings, and fringed flaps of skin also allow the arboreal lizards to meld seamlessly with tree trunks and branches, without casting a shadow. As we wander through the forest, a pitter-patter of rain begins. After half an hour, Andy and I still haven’t spotted one of the tree-clinging geckos. But, Alden already has his eye on one. He points to a spindly sapling, and I finally spot the lizard’s cue ball eyes and bark-coloured body, plastered to the tree trunk. I wouldn’t last long as a diurnal predator…
Considering our midday flight to Sambava, reluctantly we return to the boat. Just as we motor away from Nosy Mangabe, the clouds begin to part and sunlight flickers on the Antongil Bay. In the cloud-scrubbed sunshine, we join the line of low-slung passenger ferries chugging toward Maroansetra.
A freelance writer specialising in travel, outdoor adventure, and conservation, Malee Oot has contributed to several print and online mediums. She has a background in environmental management, and first travelled to Madagascar in 2011 as a volunteer, spending several weeks assisting with a vegetation study at the Sainte Luce Reserve. Although currently based just outside Washington, DC, Malee spent much of her childhood in Kenya, and regularly returns to East Africa. When not travelling, she is often found hiking in the Blue Ridge with her hound dog.
Hippos don’t usually eat meat, as they are strict herbivores. However, there have been accounts of hippos eating animals, including their own species, and it is thought that their carnivory is driven by factors such as dietary deficiencies. Hippos are also extremely territorial, and brutal fights can break out in pods – and there can be casualties.
Written by Peter Geraerdts, a professional photographic safari guide at Track and Trail River Camp, South Luangwa:
It was in November when I was in South Luangwa in Zambia and came across a baby hippo lying in the shallow water by the side of a river. It didn’t look well and wondered what might be wrong with it. There was no sight of its mom either. At first, I thought this could have been the work of a crocodile when the mom wasn’t watching, or perhaps she herself had died.
It was unusually dry for November, as normally this is the month when the rains start, but this area had only received a few showers so far. When water levels are low, hippos tend to migrate to more permanent water sources – though usually these areas are already occupied by other resident hippos.
Territorial male hippos will defend these spots with full force against new arrivals if need be, using their massive teeth and immense biting power in combat.
I continued watching the baby hippo, who wasn’t moving at all when the next thing an adult hippo popped up out of the water and approached it. At first, we thought that this could be the mom as it was very gently sniffing and licking it, and even lay next to it for a while.
Then the baby hippo moved a bit, and suddenly the adult viciously attacked it, biting and swinging it around. Other hippos from the pod started to attack the adult hippo, but unfortunately, their efforts couldn’t save the baby. It died after a couple of minutes and sunk to the bottom of the river.
Cases of hippo infanticide are not unheard of, especially when water resources are scarce, or where territory takeovers or changes in dominance hierarchy are happening.
One theory is that infanticide in hippos may be a strategy by which the males increase reproductive success – by getting rid of babies that are not their own and having the female go into oestrus again, ready to mate with the male and ensure his gene pool is expanded.
In this case, the baby could have been introduced into the new pod by its mom, but then something may have happened to the mom, or the baby got sick and she abandoned it. A dominant male saw this new baby, which was not his own, as a threat and killed it.
WARNING: This video contains distressing footage and is not advisable for sensitive viewers
The Cheetah Conservation Fund (CCF) today announced a new international partnership between European and African institutions to enhance Somaliland’s ability to treat and care for confiscated wildlife. Somaliland is located in the Horn of Africa with access to the Gulf of Aden and is considered a main trafficking route for wildlife destined for the illegal pet trade in the Arabian Peninsula.
The partnership between Vétérinaires Sans Frontières Czech Republic (VSF-cz), USAMV Cluj-Napoca (Romania), University of Veterinary and Pharmaceutical Sciences Brno (UVPS, Czech Republic), University of Hargeisa (UOH), Heritage Somaliland and CCF began on November 1, 2018.
USAMV and UVPS researchers signed a partnership agreement with the two Somaliland universities in September 2018. Researchers will carry out teaching activities at the two universities with the students of the Faculty of Veterinary Medicine and Human Medicine, contribute to the setting up of parasitological diagnostic laboratories, and conduct training for teaching and laboratory staff.
“We will initiate a new discipline of wildlife veterinary medicine and species conservation medicine to protect endangered mammals,” said USAMV Vice-Rector for International Relations, Prof. Dr Andrei Daniel Mihalca. “This will be implemented in collaboration with UVPS and VSF-cz, with which the USAMV has a long history of collaboration.”
USAMV and VSF-cz will also provide specialised volunteer veterinary support to a Somaliland-based facility for confiscated animals established by CCF and Heritage Somaliland. The facility houses mainly felines such as cheetahs and caracals, along with various species of antelope and raptors, victims of exotic animal trafficking activities.
The volunteer program is designed to promote working with wildlife, including basic veterinary care. Seeing the need to improve knowledge in these areas, the partners joined forces with CCF based on its decades of experience in caring for rescued cheetahs. The collective knowledge and capabilities of the partner institutions will enable students and volunteers to become immersed in wild animal care.
“Somaliland currently lacks wildlife medicine and husbandry specialists as there is a lack of interest in working with wildlife. Currently, we only have one caregiver able to look after the confiscated animals,” said Dr Laurie Marker, CCF’s Executive Director. The caregiver, a 5th-year veterinary student, is being sponsored by the VSF-cz for specialised training at a wildlife rehabilitation centre in Jordan.
Being a country with limited financial possibilities, the partners welcome donations of equipment, medical and laboratory supplies, pharmaceuticals, diagnostic kits and specialised literature.
CCF was founded in Namibia in 1990 as a not-for-gain association dedicated to the global conservation of wild cheetahs. Cheetah populations worldwide have suffered a steep decline in the last 100 years, from 100,000 in the early 1900s and to less than 7,500 today. CCF designs and implements education and conservation programs based on its years of scientific research. CCF began research and activities to counter the trafficking of cheetahs for the illegal pet trade in 2005.
As Somaliland has been identified as the main transit route for smuggled cheetahs out of the Horn of Africa into the Middle East, CCF has been working with Heritage Somaliland and the authorities in Somaliland since 2011, with the objective of supporting enforcement capacity building and raising awareness about the threats that illegal wildlife trade pose to humans, wildlife and ecosystems, and to ensure the welfare of confiscated cheetahs.
Since 2013, more than 4,200 animals have been translocated to Maputo Special Reserve through a multi-year rewilding project led by Peace Parks Foundation in support of Mozambique’s National Administration of Conservation Areas (ANAC). On Sunday, 11 November 2018, Peace Parks released three more buffalo into the reserve, thereby concluding a busy translocation season that also included the translocation of 630 animals to Mozambique’s Zinave National Park.
For the past three years, operational funding for Maputo Special Reserve was secured through the COmON foundation and the Mozbio programme, which supports conservation and development of projects which include the enhancement of the livelihoods of communities living adjacent to Maputo Special Reserve and Ponta do Ouro Partial Marine Reserve.
Maputo Special Reserve lies within the Lubombo Transfrontier Conservation and Resource Area, which stretches across the borders of Mozambique, South Africa and the Kingdom of eSwatini. It was proclaimed a protected area in 1932 with the primary aim of safeguarding coastal elephants. Although several years of civil war and severe droughts nearly eradicated all wildlife here, the combined efforts of the governments of Mozambique, the Kingdom of eSwatini and South Africa, as well as conservation agencies Ezemvelo KZN Wildlife, Peace Parks Foundation and the World Bank, have seen the reserve’s animal populations revitalised.
Species reintroduced over the past eight years include warthog, kudu, nyala and giraffe, as well as a variety of plains game such as impala, waterbuck, blue wildebeest and zebra, each having their own role to play in restoring the Maputo Special Reserve ecosystem.
A project highlight was the introduction of 31 buffalo in 2017. Buffalo, one of the iconic Big 5, are a fascinating species. Apart from having strong social connections to protect their very old and young from predators, and having a democratic system to determine in which direction the herd travels, as mega-herbivores, African buffalo herds also contribute significantly to restoring unbalanced ecosystems.
The three released in November had been roaming freely in the cattle areas of local communities in Mozambique. As buffalo are notoriously aggressive and unpredictable, moving them into Maputo Special Reserve has reduced the risk of human-wildlife conflict.
During 2018, buffalo were brought in from Tembe Elephant Park in South Africa. Because of growing animal populations, Tembe’s carrying capacity came under pressure, resulting in 39 buffalo and 49 nyala being relocated to Maputo Special Reserve. In addition, the reserve received 95 zebras and 20 impalas from South Africa this year, which further boosted game numbers.
With veterinary support from Joao Almeida, who is supported by Saving the Survivors, the animals were darted from a helicopter, which had been funded by Mozbio. Almeida and his team successfully removed a snare from one of the buffalo, after which they were safely transported by trucks into the reserve and released.
“The cable was buried in the flesh and tight against the bone, causing massive swelling and infection. It took us 30 minutes to surgically access the cable and cut it out. There will be permanent lesions in the leg due to the severity of the injury, however, we think that the prognosis is good and that the beautiful buffalo will live a long life in her new and safe home.” – Saving the Survivors
Maputo Special Reserve is a conservation success story. It is well-managed and protected, strengthened by impactful transfrontier cooperation between parks and partners within the Lubombo TFCRA, who meet regularly to develop joint development and protection strategies.
The Reserve combines coastal lakes, wetlands, swamp forests, grasslands and mangrove forests and has a pristine coastline that supports a wide variety of birds. It is quickly developing into a prime tourist destination, which will be enhanced with the planned development of new tourism camps within the Reserve, further unlocking economic opportunities for local communities.
The breathtaking landscapes of Maputo Special Reserve and the adjacent Ponta do Ouro Partial Marine Reserve. Image source: Peace Parks Foundation
Earlier this year, Peace Parks Foundation entered into a partnership agreement with the Mozambique Government to jointly develop Maputo Special Reserve and Ponta do Ouro Partial Marine Reserve.
With generous support from the World Bank, Reinet Foundation, Hansjörg Wyss, Neville and Pamela Isdell, and other private donors, Peace Parks Foundation remains committed and invested in assisting the natural environment of Maputo Special Reserve to transform itself back into the paradise it once was.
50 days, four countries and 11 235 km later, South Africa humanitarian and eco-warrior, Carla Geyser, has returned home having led a successful international all-women conservation expedition into Southern Africa. Geyser’s Journeys with Purpose: The Rise of the Matriarch expedition spanned South Africa, Zimbabwe, Botswana and Namibia, and attracted 12 women from around the world.
“Mama Africa takes your breath away with her magnificent sunsets and sunrises, leaves you speechless at her amazing wildlife and her boundless energy, and reawakens emotions that you thought had long-since disappeared,” says Geyser. “Yet, amidst all this splendour, there is a sad, ugly reality – a festering wound of poaching, over-population, poverty and human-wildlife conflict.”
The figures are alarming: poachers kill approximately two rangers every week in Africa; they also kill on average three rhinos, 98 elephants and countless pangolin every single day. It is this harsh cold reality that spurred Geyser into action.
“For most people on our planet, disaster on this scale is overwhelming so they resign themselves to shake their heads in dismay and leave the job of saving our people and wildlife to someone else. I have learned over the last few years that we simply cannot rely on ‘the other person’ or the next generation to take up the fight, it has to be us and it has to be now; we simply don’t have the time. And 12 brave women from around the world felt just as strongly as I do to leave the comfort of their homes and journey with me to make a difference” explains Geyser.
The group of ‘eco she-roes’ included eight South Africans – Lungile Dimba, an education administrator at wildlife body WESSA in the KwaZulu-Natal Midlands; Durban’s Erin Dickson, an on-air personality at East Coast Radio; Umzimkhulu’s Celokuhle “Smax” Biyela who is aligned to the Blue Sky Society Trust; conservation supporters, Laura Thomas-Gilks and Tarren Benson both from Durban, Pietermaritzburg photographer and eco-warrior, Stephanie De Wit; Bronwyn Laing, a Durbanite living in Tanzania; and real estate business owner, Joan Arnestad, from Hoedspruit, Limpopo.
Four Americans joined the journey too, namely wildlife biologist and conservation scientist, Jennifer Palmer; nurse and travel blogger, Emily Scott; camerawoman, Alize Jireh Yaccino; and acclaimed business coach and conservationist, Tommi Wolfe.
The eco-adventure kicked off from South Africa on 16 September 2018, under the banner of Geyser’s NPO, the Blue Sky Society Trust.
The mission had four distinct goals:
• to raise global awareness about the contentious human-wildlife conflict issue;
• to educate the youth about conservation;
• to support local empowerment efforts targeting young women from localised, rural communities;
• and to raise funds for four wildlife conservation bodies, namely Elephants Alive (South Africa), Rare and Endangered Species Trust (Namibia), Eco-Exist Project (Botswana) and the Soft Foot Alliance Trust (Zimbabwe).
In the seven weeks that followed, Geyser and her crew, who joined her on different ‘legs’ or sections of the expedition, distributed 30,000 educational booklets, visited 13 on-the-ground conservation projects and met 16 phenomenal women who are doing incredible conservation work at a grassroots level.
“So many lifelong memories were made on the journey,” explains Geyser, “but a few stand out more than others. Meeting the world-famous Black Mamba Anti-Poaching Unit here in South Africa is one of my favourites. This elite group made up of 33 women protects the boundaries of the 52,000ha Balule Nature Reserve, which is part of the Greater Kruger National Park. As proud defenders of our wildlife, these women are incredible role-models; and they are mothers, sisters, wives and future grandmothers too.”
Spending time with the Eco-Exist educators and community officers in rural schools in the eastern panhandle of Botswana to learn about their daily challenges with elephants that raid crops and subsequent injuries and deaths of local community members was also memorable.
“We saw a herd of over 400 elephants crossing the road, so it’s easy to see why people living in the area are so nervous and resentful of elephants,” says Geyser.
Highlights for other crew members include meeting two of the brave Chobe Angels in Botswana. Kedi and Flo shared remarkable stories of bucking gender discrimination and gender stereotypes to prove that women are just as capable of tackling wildlife issues as men. They are part of an incredible guiding crew of 22 women from Chobe Game Lodge who are committed to conservation efforts.
“I learnt so much on my trip starting with our visit to Wild is Life and meeting Roxy Danckwerts and Angela Loubser where I got to see my first elephant, giraffe, lion and pangolin,” says KZN’s Celokuhle “Smax” Biyela.
“I witnessed a love that cannot be described from each member of staff who worked with the animals and how they treated them stirred something so deep within me that made me want to fight for my children and my grandchildren and generations thereafter to experience what I was not just in the sanctuary but in the wild.”
The women also fondly recall the warm welcome they received from teachers and children at the A. Gariseb Primary School in the Damaraland, Namibia; meeting solo travellers and conservation champions from Germany and the U.K who had self-funded their trips to do their bit for the environment; and witnessing the success stories of the various initiatives spearheaded by women in the four countries.
“Joining the Rise of the Matriarch Expedition and being part of the movement to empower women in wildlife conservation has been one of the greatest adventures of my life,” says Jennifer Palmer (USA).
“I feel I am now part of an extended network and family of courageous change makers who are bonded together by our love of wildlife, Mother Africa, exploration and a deeper calling to boldly live life to the fullest.”
The conservation mission wrapped up on 28 October 2018. For Geyser, being back home means time to reflect and then plan the next Journey with Purpose.
“It was an extraordinary journey. Meeting the phenomenal women who are giving it their all to help save our planet, restored my faith in humanity. Many hands working together can make a difference which is why the planning phase for the next mission is already underway!”
One of the elephant bulls that was darted and loaded onto a flatbed trailer. This method of lifting elephants is standard procedure and the animal was alive when the photo was taken. Image source: Letaba Herald
Sourced from third-party site: Letaba Herald, written by Beth Coetzee
Four elephant bulls that were causing havoc in the Gravelotte area last week died during a relocation attempt that took place on Saturday. Their deaths allegedly attributed to blatant bureaucratic inflexibility.
The four bulls were traversing in the Gravelotte area, which is situated in the east of the Limpopo province of South Africa, for almost a week before the relocation attempt. During this time they had caused significant damage to fences and farm infrastructure in the area.
Many farmers local to the area had reached their wits-end and some had threatened to shoot the animals. Moreover, The Limpopo Department of Economic Development, Environment and Tourism (LEDET) were aware of the situation and permits were already in place for the animals to be destroyed.
On Wednesday last week, LEDET were already tracking the animals with the plan to dispatch them, the operation only being called off due to bad weather.
Concerned local residents reached out to the NGO, Elephants, Rhinos & People (ERP), on Wednesday in order to try and intervene and find another solution to the issue. Local NGOs were also contacted but no plans were not put into action.
The Director of Operations for ERP, Dereck Milburn, told the Herald, “We got the call on Wednesday and immediately called LEDET. We sent an advance party to the area on Thursday to try and establish how many animals it was and the size of them”.
When ERP found out that three of the four bulls were of a large size, they realised that their family-sized crate would not be large enough.
Milburn told the Herald that they then requested more time from LEDET, asking to start the process on Sunday, with the aim to capture the animals on Monday, thus giving them time to source larger crates. Milburn advises that LEDET categorically refused and gave them a deadline until Friday to capture the animals, also stating that as of Friday, all responsibility for the animals would rest on ERP’s shoulders.
This implied that any costs incurred from damages caused by the animals or human deaths caused by the animals, full responsibility would land on ERP. Without the time extension, ERP were forced to make use of limited equipment, namely no crates. So instead the elephants were to be transported from the Gravelotte area to their new home on the back of flatbed trailers.
ERP paid for unlimited flying time to keep an eye on the elephants’ movements so that they could be chased back to a safer area should they wander into local villages or onto properties where the owners had threatened to shoot them.
Balule Nature Reserve in the Greater Kruger agreed to take ownership of the animals, with ERP footing the bill for all capture, helicopter and veterinary costs, totalling well over R300,000. Elephant relocation specialist Kester Vickery was also flown in from KZN to assist.
The flatbed trailers arrived on Friday afternoon, but the team decided not to take the risk of starting the operation in the fading light. According to Milburn, the team checked the weather report and decided that the impending thunderstorm forecast for Saturday would bring enough relief for them to carry out the procedure. But the storm never came, and Saturday’s temperatures soared into the 40’s Celsius.
“There was enormous pressure. Local farmers were turning up saying ‘You better move them, we’re going to shoot them’ and if not, they were going to be shot by LEDET,” said Jana Meyer from Hope for Wildlife Helicopter Services. Her comments were echoed by other personnel involved in the process.
“It was D-Day, if we didn’t try to catch them then, they were dead. It was a case of get hot, or get shot. It was a mercy mission,” said another person involved with the procedure.
The team took to the skies at first light on Saturday to locate the animals and by 08:00, their location was determined and the process began. However, the temperatures rose rapidly and by the time all four animals were darted, temperatures were in excess of 40 degrees.
One elephant sadly passed away en-route to Balule, another died upon arrival and the last two died once they were given the reversal drug.
“They were just too weak to stand,” said Meyer. The heat of the day proved too much and the animals succumbed to the temperatures, unable to regulate their own body temperatures effectively whilst under the anaesthetic.
“I didn’t even want to get up this morning, I am devastated,” Milburn told the Herald on Monday, “We have relocated over 200 elephants and only ever lost two before! It was either this or bullets”.
Meyer echoed the same words, “The odds were against us but no-one else was going to give it a go”.
LEDET’s spokesperson Burkels Napo was contacted for comment, but no response was forthcoming.
Amidst the catastrophe of wildlife poaching and trafficking, where animals such as rhinos, lions and elephants often take the spotlight, there is one very small creature that is mostly overlooked. A creature that some people do not know what it even looks like, and others that have no idea it even exists.
This creature is the pangolin, and it just so happens that they are the most incredibly fascinating little creatures out there. As one of the weirdest-looking critters to ever walk the earth, these scaly anteaters, of which there are eight species worldwide, occur only in Africa and Asia.
It is believed that they are the most poached and trafficked animal worldwide – more than rhinos, elephants, and lions. By a lot!
It’s estimated that more than a million of these sentient beings have been poached from the wild over the past decade and trafficked in the illicit wildlife trade all over the world. The driving force behind this is partly the demand for their meat – which is considered a delicacy in some countries – but mainly it is for their hard, keratinous scales that are (falsely) believed to yield magical medicinal qualities – which they most certainly do not.
Seizures of pangolins and their scales have soared disturbingly in the last decade, with one shipment weighing in at 11.9 tons of scales alone. A new comprehensive analysis done by TRAFFIC has confirmed that a combined minimum of 120 tons worth of pangolins and their scales were seized from international traffickers between 2010 and 2015, with an average of 20-25 tons a year!
It may sound like a hopeless case for pangolins, but fortunately, there are those out there determined to help save these vulnerable creatures. I’m here to tell you about a group of incredibly passionate and dedicated people fighting for the survival of a pangolin species right here in Johannesburg, South Africa. And most importantly about the pangolins that made it back to the wild.
Notorious for being very difficult to keep alive in captivity, the team continues to painstakingly take each rescued pangolin out every day for up to eight or more hours to forage for their natural food items: ants and termites.
Over the past year alone the African Pangolin Working Group, the Johannesburg Wildlife Veterinary Hospital and the Humane Society International have managed to intercept and rescue more than 30 pangolins from the illegal wildlife trade, with a great deal of assistance from the South African Police Department.
A short while back two of the pangolins that were lucky enough to find themselves in the loving, capable hands of the experts at the Johannesburg Wildlife Veterinary Hospital, were finally returned back to their wild home after multiple tests, scans and checks were conducted at the hospital to ensure they were healthy and strong enough to resume their wild lives.
On one particular Friday morning not too long ago, Professor Ray Jansen from the African Pangolin Working Group fitted both pangolins with GPS trackers (costing close to R30,000), to ensure their safety and well-being.
After many days of planning, we arrived to pick them up (no small task) and began our long drive to freedom to an undisclosed location. Once we arrived we set up camp and scouted the area for the best termite mounds and ant nests around and began what in the animal rehabilitation world is called a ‘soft release’ process.
We opened the boxes and off they went, trundling into the darkness with us in hot pursuit, maintaining a distance far enough to make them comfortable but close enough to make sure we didn’t lose them! To help us in our struggle to keep track of them, we fitted reflective bicycle lights onto their scales (which we later removed) that emitted a constant dull light for us to follow. Like ghosts in the darkness.
With the radio telemetry tracking device and aerial in hand, along with our backpacks stocked with food, torches, spare batteries, a GPS and absolutely no signal on our cell phones, we each set off into the star-lit dark of the African wild.
In an area home to hippos, leopards and buffalo, we cautiously followed the pangolins as they effortlessly walked on their hind legs over rocky terrain, down steep inclines and into deep drainage lines. There was no shortage of spiders and their webs for us to walk through as we attempted to navigate our way through the thick and spiny vegetation in pursuit of two very (unfortunately) fortunate little beings.
Watching them snuffle around the dark, the wild smell in their noses once more, their intelligent little black eyes lit up and you could see their visible excitement.
After a few days of constant observation, we removed their reflective bicycle lights and that night they wandered off alone, truly wild once again.
Of all the animals I’ve ever worked with, there have been none as mystifyingly captivating as a pangolin.
Partly due to their bizarre appearance but also due to their personalities and helplessness. For millennia these animals have thrived with one of the simplest yet most effective defences of any animal on the planet: rolling up into a protective ball of hard scales. It protects them from the jaws of lions, hyenas, and leopards, but it can’t protect them from us. A defence that once protected them from the planet’s most fierce predators has, in a few decades, become completely redundant. People who come across them simply pick them up and put them in a bag. They don’t bite, they don’t attack, they don’t even try to run away. A creature that has been perfected by time has ultimately been defeated by its own defence.
It is painfully ironic but is also a poignant sign of our involvement in the destruction of our planet’s wildlife and wilderness areas, and a reminder of how badly they need our help, how much they deserve our help.
There may be many that slip through our open hands, but the tireless efforts of the employees and volunteers at each respective group has been absolutely awe-inspiring to witness as well as saddening as the donations and support dwindle, with the future of a species on the line.
As we head into the Christmas season please keep these little guys in your thoughts as well as the groups dedicated to protecting them. I want to ask each and every one of you to challenge yourself to make at least one small sacrifice for the vulnerable and the helpless.
Whatever it is, it will be a positive step towards pangolin conservation and protection, whether it’s a potential sponsorship, a small donation or a simple thank you to those who will be working tirelessly throughout the Christmas season and into the New Year to save a species that is, in my opinion, well worth saving.
Elephants Alive has released a comprehensive report regarding the proposed 120ha citrus farm development on the border of the Greater Kruger National Park. This small but ecologically pivotal farm was purchased by a citrus farming enterprise, Soleil Mashishimale (Pty) Ltd., an affiliate of Soleil Sitrus (Pty) Ltd. who specialise in the production, packing and exporting of citrus. The farm is located on the border of the Klaserie and Timbavati Private Nature Reserves (Greater Kruger) near the town of Hoedspruit.
The company plans to develop a citrus orchard in this vital area, which is typically devoted to game reserves and is categorised as a Critical Biodiversity Area 2 (CBA 2). This means that developments need to be environmentally sensitive, should blend in with the environmental characteristics and processes of the area with little to no compromise to the ecological integrity and to threatened species.
The Elephants Alive report expresses concern about this proposed development and highlights the devastating effects a citrus farm will have on the biodiversity of the area and its surroundings. The report covers specific concerns associated with the farm, namely loss of protected area expansion opportunities; pesticide application; water pollution; water supply; soil degradation; climate change implications; and the potential impact on human-wildlife conflict.
Figure 1: Critical Biodiversity Areas (CBA) within the Mopani district of Limpopo with an inlay showing the CBAs within the proposed citrus farm development (QGIS, 2019)
To briefly summarise each concern
• Loss of protected area expansion opportunities:
Currently, 11% of Limpopo is formally protected, with the Kruger National Park contributing 72% to the provincial protected area network (PAN). The Limpopo Conservation Plan has identified 40% of the province as Critical Biodiversity Areas (CBA) and 22% as Ecological Support Areas (ESA).
The property contains 120ha of CBA 2, and also contains 7ha of CBA 1 which is outside of the proposed citrus orchard development, but still within the farm’s boundaries. This area is regarded as irreplaceable and vital for maintaining ecological process targets, and will become degraded if the property were to be developed. Developing the property into a citrus farm would undermine conservation efforts and there would be a consequential loss of biodiversity.
• Pesticide application:
The location of the proposed citrus farm is cause for great concern on both the impact that pesticides and water extraction may have on the surrounding environment. This concern is elevated due to the close proximity of the farm to the Greater Kruger National Park.
• Water pollution:
The proposed development poses a high risk of decreasing the quality of the only natural surface water source in the area. This will have a detrimental effect downstream, specifically within the Associated Private Nature Reserves (APNR).
• Water supply:
The Klaserie River drains approximately half the Klaserie Private Nature Reserve and flows to the north-east into the Olifants River together with other seasonal drainage lines. The proposed development would make use of the Klaserie River for irrigation.
As citrus farming requires a substantial amount of water this will increase the pressure on an already water-stressed ecosystem as Limpopo is a water-scarce province due to its geologically-limiting groundwater aquifers. The reduced water supply will ultimately have a negative impact on the ecosystem and affect the fauna and flora during the dry seasons and future droughts.
• Soil degradation:
The proposed development will have detrimental long-term effects on soil structure and chemistry, potentially preventing future habitat rehabilitation efforts. Extensive use of chemicals and fertilisers will completely change the soil biota, reducing soil biodiversity and health.
• Climate change:
Climate change is inevitable and thus is the importance of recognising strategies to allow ecosystem resilience for the continued provisions of ecosystem goods and services. Protecting important areas to allow for a larger connected habitat is one of those strategies. The proposed developed impedes this and will instead lead to land degradation and habitat fragmentation.
• Damage-causing animals (DCAs) the potential for human-wildlife conflict:
Elephants have been found to travel up to 5 km to reach cultivated areas. Back in 2017, three elephants travelled 40 km from within the APNR to reach mango orchards. As the proposed citrus farm is within 1 km of the boundaries of the APNR, crop-raiding by elephants is inevitable. This would not only increase human-wildlife conflict already occurring throughout Limpopo but undermine the purpose of the nature reserve.
From an environmental, economic and ethical stand-point, it is not feasible to cultivate an attractive crop such as oranges next to a reserve that protects a large population of elephants. Although there are mitigation methods to prevent intense fence breaks, these methods are time-consuming and potentially costly.
In the report the team does propose mitigation strategies based on the above concerns, such as planting crops that are compatible with organic farming methods; using water purification methods for wastewater; planting alternative crops (such as lemon grass, chili and garlic) that are known not to be attractive to wildlife; and so on. In addition to the above-mentioned threats to biodiversity, the proposed development would also incur significant noise and traffic pollution during both the construction and operational phase. However, neither of these threats are easily mitigated and should be acknowledged.
In conclusion, the team is strongly opposed to the proposed citrus development and believes viable alternatives are available that would not come at the expense of the region’s ecological integrity. They go on to say that “there are certain limited resources and existing ecosystem services that can and should not be sacrificed in the name of ‘development’.”
Recently the BBC aired the fourth episode of Dynasties – a nature documentary series that highlights five vulnerable or endangered species – with this particular episode focusing on the painted wolves of Mana Pools in Zimbabwe. It brought back floods of memories for Nick Dyer and Peter Blinston, founders of the Painted Wolf Foundation and authors to the book Painted Wolves: A Wild Dogs Life. For six years Nick has been tracking and photographing painted wolves on foot in the Zambezi Valley. For twenty years Peter has been doing all he can to save the painted wolf from extinction through his organisation Painted Dog Conservation.
One painted wolf stood out amongst the others for both Nick and Peter, and that was Tait – the alpha female of the Vundu Pack.
Just after the BBC had finished filming in 2015, Nick went into the Nyamatusi with Jealous Mpofu of Painted Dog Conservation to try and find Tait. She was very old and the rains were about to arrive. This was the last time anyone saw Tait and proved to be a very emotional experience for him.
Here is Nick in his own words about seeing Tait for the last time:
“I find Tait and her Vundu Pack on the banks of the Zambezi River in the remote wilderness area of the park. It has been a month since I last saw her and she seems to have aged considerably. She limps painfully, her last two pups are missing and a bulge protrudes from her belly that suggests mastitis.
“I crawl across the open sand on my bum, taking half an hour just to get close. She is no longer used to my presence, so I am cautious. Somehow, she seems to have shrunk. And while she is clearly weaker and frailer than the other wolves in her pack, none are challenging her position. She is still in charge and clearly revered and respected.
“Her alpha male, Ox, walks to the edge of the river and Tait follows behind. They stop and look out across the waters together with an air of gentle reminiscence.
“Tait turns and looks inland across the territory she has controlled for the last eight years. She is now ten years old and I can sense she knows that this is her last.
“She has been an incredible alpha female. Responsible for so many pups, grandpups and great-grandpups, Tait has made a significant contribution to the survival of her species. While she is near her end, her genes will flow on like the Zambezi.
“I look at her Vundu Pack. It is a remnant of its former strength. The individual wolves seem strong and healthy, but as a pack, they are diminished. Now puppyless, I sense the joy has been drained from their existence and they are ready for a new beginning.
“As the sun starts to set, I take my last ever photographs of Tait. We make eye contact like we have so many times before. Looking into her tired eyes, I remember her hunting, fighting hyena and playing boisterously with her pups. I remember cradling her head after Peter darted her to remove her failed collar and feeling her warm heartbeat under my hot hand.
“She turns and walks away, and her pack rises to follow her. I can no longer photograph as the tears in my eyes won’t let me focus.
“This is the last anyone saw of her. Some say she was taken by a lion. Natural death is rare in the bush. I honestly have no idea how she died.
“I just know she was ready and I am glad I could be with her one last time.”
Many people refer to painted wolves as wild dogs, a term which is also used around the world to describe domesticated dogs that have gone feral, rather than to refer to indigenous species of the Canidae family (of which the painted wolf is a member). To fully understand this interesting topic, read ‘What’s in a name? Dogs or wolves, painted or wild‘
Read more about wild dogs / painted wolves:Painted Wolves
“A cheetah in full flight is one of Africa’s most breathtaking sights – that blindingly rapid and yet sublimely smooth acceleration and the ability to swerve at full speed take one’s breath away. And, with a hunting success rate above 50%, cheetahs are amongst the most successful of Africa’s large carnivores when it comes to hunting efficiency, second only to painted wolves.
And yet, the evolutionary sacrifices that cheetahs have made in their quest for speed and agility have placed them at a disadvantage when it comes to defending themselves and their food against other predators. Lions, leopards and hyenas frequently rob cheetahs of their hard-earned meals, and even kill adult and baby cheetahs, in the ongoing brutal battles amongst predators over resources. Game reserves and national parks with high populations of large predators tend to harbour small cheetah populations, and most cheetahs are often found in the vast lands beyond protected areas. Trying to avoid conflict with stronger predators, cheetahs move to unprotected areas. However, there they come into conflict with pastoralists, who see cheetahs as potential livestock killers, which leads to retaliatory killing of cheetahs.
Cheetahs have another reason to fear humans. Their relatively timid nature and lack of brute strength and sharp hooked claws make cheetahs popular pets for humans. Even though no wild animal species should be tamed and made into household pets or items in personal zoo collections, there is a substantial trade in wild-caught and captive-bred cheetahs. And the recent upsurge in South Africa of tourism’ predator encounters’ and cub petting facilities has increased the demand for cheetahs, which have a longer usage shelf-life in this regard than do lions.”
Cheetahs are the fastest land mammals, with documented speeds up to 115 km/hour in captivity and 93 km/hour in the wild, but they cannot maintain such speeds for more than a few hundred metres. By comparison, sprinter Usain Bolt hits a top speed of 45 km/hour over a maximum of 100 metres.
They are found in a wide range of habitats, from dry forest and thick scrub to savannah grassland and arid deserts.
Cheetahs take a wide variety of prey, predominantly small or medium antelope species such as Thomson’s gazelle and impala, but also larger species such as wildebeest and kudu. They also target ground-dwelling birds such as francolins and bustards and small mammals such as hares. Unlike many predators, cheetahs rarely scavenge.
Cheetahs adapt to various environmental conditions and display different behaviours depending on the area and country. For example, in South Africa in areas with high large carnivore densities, cheetahs can lose up to around 10% of their kills to lions and spotted hyenas. In these areas, they are primarily active during the day and during full moon periods when there is excellent visibility, and tend to abandon their kills once they have eaten their fill – both habits are thought to reduce conflict with lions and hyenas.
In contrast, in areas where there are fewer other predators, they have been recorded as being primarily nocturnal, although this may be to avoid the increased human activity in those areas. In Kenya’s Maasai Mara, cheetahs change their diurnal activity and become nocturnal, depending on current needs and circumstances, and some of them become successful hunters in total darkness!
SOCIAL STRUCTURE AND TERRITORIES
Female cheetahs tend to be solitary (when not with dependent young), whereas males tend to form coalitions of two or four (often littermates) – a social organisation that is unique amongst cats. Sometimes brothers accept unrelated males and such unions last from a few weeks to several years. In the Maasai Mara, a male coalition named the Fast Five has become famous because it was formed from unrelated males, who travel, hunt and rest together, but split for mating so that each member gets the chance to breed.
Although females display preference to specific partners, adaptive mechanism leads them to mate with as many males as possible to increase genetic diversity.
In areas where prey is not migratory (such as Namibian farms), cheetahs establish large home ranges (up to 3,000 sq. km!) with extensively utilised core areas, with male and female ranges overlapping to an extent. It is thought that the large home ranges are to avoid clashing with other large predators such as lions, leopards and hyenas.
In areas where prey is migratory (such as the Serengeti/Maasai Mara ecosystem), some cheetahs follow the herds. In contrast, others establish territories (60 – 150 sq. km) or become nomadic, covering vast territories within the Mara-Serengeti ecosystem.
BREEDING AND CUB MORTALITY
Wild female cheetahs live to about 14 years and males to 10 years. Females have been recorded as starting to breed at two-years-old and to continue beyond 12-years-old. The cubs are born after a three-month gestation period and kept hidden away in a lair for the first two months of their lives. During this time, the mother will be out hunting and therefore absent from the lair during daylight hours.
Cub mortality can be high – up to 95% reported in the Serengeti, 76 – 74% in the Mara and 64% in the Kgalagadi Transfrontier Park. Lions, spotted hyenas and leopards are key predators of cheetah cubs, in addition to smaller predators such as honey badgers, jackals and secretary birds. In the Mara, depending on the year, only 7 to 15% of cubs reach the age of independence.
Surviving cubs remain with their mother for 12 – 22 months, after which they will roam with their littermates for a few weeks or up to six months. At this time, females split from their siblings, while surviving males will stay together for life or join up with unrelated males to form a coalition.
The cheetah (Acinonyx jubatus) has 4 subspecies, now recognised by the IUCN Cat Specialist Group and detailed as follows:
• Acinonyx jubatus hecki (Northwest African cheetah) • Acinonyx jubatus jubatus (Southeast African cheetah) • Acinonyx jubatus soemmeringii (Northeast African cheetah) • Acinonyx jubatus venaticus (North Africa to central India – the Asiatic cheetah)
The cheetah (Acinonyx jubatus) has been described as a species with low levels of genetic variation as a consequence of a demographic bottleneck 10,000 – 12,000 years ago, which led to small genetic differences between the subspecies. However, an examination of mitochondrial DNA and microsatellites in cheetah samples from most of the historical range of the species undertaken in 2011, revealed the distinctiveness of Northeast African cheetahs (A. j. soemmeringii) from Southeast African (A. j. jubatus) and Asiatic cheetahs (A.j.venaticus).
The English name ‘cheetah’ is derived from Sanskrit’ citra’, meaning spotted or speckled.
The scientific name Acinonyx jubatus derives from Latin and Greek with the genus name referring to its semi-retractable claws and the species name – to the mantle which covers the cub’s body for a few months of age.
At the beginning of the 20th Century, over 100,000 cheetahs roamed Africa and Asia, but by the end of that century, the wild cheetah population had reduced to 15,000. Currently, the total population is estimated at 7,100 adult and adolescent animals of known cheetah populations, with 4,297 living in Southern Africa, 2,290 in Eastern Africa and 457 in Western, Central, and Northern Africa. In Africa, cheetahs are resident only on 13% of their historical range, and in Asia on just 2% of a historical range – entirely within Iran, where less than 50 animals recorded.
The cheetah is classified as ‘Vulnerable’ in terms of the IUCN Red List, while the two subspecies A. j. venaticus (Asiatic cheetah) and A. j. heckii (Northwest African cheetah) are listed as ‘Critically endangered’.
Major threats
Because cheetahs require such large ranges, they are especially vulnerable to habitat loss and fragmentation.
Those living outside protected areas are often threatened by conflict with livestock and game farmers. Although they do prefer wild prey over livestock, they have been known to kill domestic livestock species, and so face retaliatory persecution by farmers. Game farmers may also target cheetahs due to a perceived threat to their farmed game species.
Because cheetahs rarely scavenge, they are less susceptible to poisoning than are other carnivores such as hyenas, leopards and lions. Cheetah do though get caught in snares set for bushmeat, even though they may not be the primary target.
Cheetahs can survive in low prey-density areas because they are such efficient hunters. Still, they are nevertheless vulnerable to the reduction in prey species due to hunting, high livestock densities and grazing pressure, and habitat conversion. Low prey densities, in turn, cause cheetahs to target domestic livestock.
High-speed roads also represent a threat to cheetahs, especially where tarred roads cross or adjoin major wildlife areas.
Unregulated tourism can threaten cheetah populations, where large numbers of tourist vehicles or insensitive tourist behaviour can lead to interference with cheetahs hunting, scaring cheetah away from kills, and separation of mothers from cubs.
Cheetahs are hunted in some areas for their skins, and also for cultural uses. Additionally, there is a substantial illegal trade in wild-caught cheetah cubs and adults to the Gulf states.
USE AND TRADE
CITES permits a legal quota for “live specimens and trophy hunting” of cheetahs in Namibia, Zimbabwe and Botswana, with most resultant trade primarily being of hunting trophies from Namibia and captive-bred animals from South Africa. There is a strong suspicion that some of the animals traded from South Africa as captive-bred are in fact wild-caught. Observers have reported illegal international movement of live-captured wild cheetahs between Botswana, Namibia and South Africa.
The illegal trade in cheetah skins for traditional use and live wild-caught cheetah cubs is an ongoing issue, with the primary market for the live cubs being the Gulf States. The cubs are sourced in Ethiopia and Kenya, via Somali-controlled trading operations. There is a high mortality rate (estimated 70%) amongst wild-caught cubs, and captive conditions in the Gulf States are often not satisfactory, with inappropriate diet leading to illness and early death.
Historically a key cause of the demise of the Asiatic cheetah populations was from illegal capture and trade and the hunting for their skins. Currently, illegal trade in live cheetahs remains a problem issue.
FINAL THOUGHTS
Of all species, surely the cheetah most represents Africa’s vast open spaces, where no fences stifle the seasonal movement of species between ecosystems and the free flow of dispersing individuals seeking breeding opportunities and escaping persecution. For cheetahs do not fare do well in fenced reserves, where they have to compete with larger, more powerful predators. If we can succeed in keeping cheetahs roaming wild and free, then we will by implication also achieve great things for African wildlife conservation.
The Giraffe Conservation Foundation and Sahara Conservation Fund announce the safe reintroduction of eight highly threatened West African giraffe into Gadabedji Biosphere Reserve (recently listed as a Biosphere Reserve by UNESCO). In two trips of 48 hours each, two groups of four giraffe were translocated over 800 kilometres by truck to their new home. This is the first conservation effort of its kind in Niger, and for West African giraffe.
The world’s last remaining population of West African giraffe (Giraffa camelopardalis peralta), a subspecies of the Northern giraffe (Giraffa camelopardalis), is restricted to the ‘Giraffe Zone’ in the Republic of Niger, an area approximately 60 kilometres south-east of the capital Niamey.
Even though the ‘Giraffe Zone’ is not formally protected, it forms part of the W Transboundary Biosphere Reserve, covering more than 1,700 km². These West African giraffe are an isolated population, with the closest population of giraffe being Kordofan giraffe (G. c. antiquorum) that live more than 2,000 kilometres away in northern Cameroon and southern Chad – also a subspecies of the Northern giraffe.
Operation Sahel Giraffe commenced in early November 2018, after a year of meticulous preparation. Eight giraffe were individually captured in the ‘Giraffe Zone’ and transferred to a holding pen (boma), where they were kept for more than three weeks to prepare them for the long journey.
The eight giraffe were then transported in two groups of four, an arduous journey for both the giraffe and the team, before their successful release in Gadabedji Biosphere Reserve recently.
Almost 50 years ago, giraffe became locally extinct in the Gadabedji area because of drought and illegal hunting. Since 2013 Niger’s Wildlife Authority, with support from the Niger Fauna Corridor Project/UNDP, has worked diligently towards restoring the region’s wildlife and their habitat.
The re-introduction of giraffe will further enrich the reserve’s biodiversity and contribute to increasing community development and support in the region.
“The Government of Niger has undertaken a significant effort to re-introduce giraffe back into the Gadabedji Biosphere Reserve. This is a major giraffe conservation success. The giraffe have not been seen in this area for more than 45 years due to a combination of illegal hunting, habitat loss and climate change. In the days immediately following the release, the giraffe have explored the reserve and its periphery. Local communities and traditional authorities provide updates of giraffe movements to the management unit of the reserve, highlighting their commitment to conserving giraffe in the region.” – says Lt Colonel Ali Laouel Abagana, Coordinator of the Niger Fauna Corridor Project/UNDP
In the mid-1990s there were only 49 West African giraffe left in the wild, and as a result, the subspecies was listed as ‘Endangered’ on the IUCN Red List of Threatened Species in 2008.
Comprehensive conservation efforts by the Government of Niger, in collaboration with local and international partners, have triggered an amazing recovery of the West African giraffe population to over 600 individuals today. This positive trend resulted in the downlisting of West African giraffe to ‘Vulnerable’ on the IUCN Red List last month (November 2018).
Operation Sahel Giraffe has been a partnership between the Giraffe Conservation Foundation, Sahara Conservation Fund, Niger’s Ministry of Environment, and the Niger Fauna Corridor Project/UNDP. Valuable support was provided by Ivan Carter’s Wildlife Conservation Alliance, San Diego Zoo Global, Saint Louis Zoo, Born Free, and Prague University of Life Sciences. Further field support was provided by Dr Pete Morkel, Dr Philippe Chardonnet, Niger Directorate of Veterinary Services, Cheri Morkel, David O’Connor (San Diego Zoo Global), Dr Liza Dadone (Cheyenne Mountain Zoo), Andrea Bryant, and Sean Viljoen.
Mondays don’t start much worse than this: a report received of a big bull elephant stuck in the mud deep in the Kimana swamp. Our hearts sank. Given the size, there was a small number of elephants it could be, and a small chance of a successful rescue.
An aerial view confirmed the worst: it was Tim, an icon of Amboseli and one of Africa’s largest and most magnificent elephants. He was stuck in a section of deep mud, surrounded by farms and a growing crowd, and clearly in serious trouble.
Big Life Foundation rangers responded immediately, but the outlook wasn’t good. Tim was up to his neck in mud and fully immobilised, with zero chance of escaping on his own. Nor was there a way for any kind of vehicle to get close enough in the swamp, either to pull him out or to dig around him. Failure – Tim’s death – was suddenly an even more real possibility.
Regardless, everyone got to work. This was a challenge of physics: how to pull a 6-ton object out of a suction pit, when that object is alive, thrashing, and has no idea the people around him are trying to help. Tim was understandably aggressive and stressed, and tiring fast. Exhaustion alone can kill an animal, and it became a race against the clock to try something, anything, to save him.
The first step was to loosen the mud, so rangers knocked a hole in a concrete agricultural furrow upstream. Water flowed in, and the mud slowly started to release its grip. Tim could move a bit more, and it was helping, but it wasn’t going to solve the problem.
Luckily, additional support was on the way from all over Kenya. A Kenya Wildlife Service (KWS) tractor had been steadily chugging in from Amboseli since the alert was sounded, and our friends a The David Sheldrick Wildlife Trust (DSWT), drawing from their wealth of experience, were also wrapping their heads around the tools needed to pull Tim out. The answer was going to be a very long tow strap, but that is easier said than done. We needed something 300 m long! A team got to work in Nairobi, stitching shorter straps together and then urgently sent the final product down on a private chartered flight. Meanwhile, the KWS vet, along with the DSWT mobile vet unit, were on their way from Tsavo West National Park.
Things were happening, but would the plan work? The tractor got as close as it dared, which was a farm about 100 m away. The team struggled to get the straps onto Tim, somehow persuading him to lift his head and then slipping the straps underneath. Finally, they were ready. The tractor pulled, and the wheels spun… and spun… and spun. The ground was too soft, and it wasn’t going to work. Another approach was needed.
The tractor set off around the swamp to try and approach from the other side. The land there was drier and firmer, but the closest point of approach was now more than 300 m away from Tim. Time ticked by as the tractor slowly drove around, and an hour later, things were in place again. Now there was space to add some extra horsepower, and two Big Life Land Cruisers lined up in front of the tractor to assist. Together, the three machines pulled, the tow strap went tight, Tim shifted slightly, and then… the strap snapped.
It was disappointing, but there was still a ray of hope. Again the vehicles pulled, again there was a slight shift, but again the strap snapped. Eventually, five strap breakages later, Tim had been repositioned and pulled out of the deepest section. Everyone was exhausted by this stage, human and elephant alike. Ten hours in the baking sun had taken its toll, but adrenaline kept the teams going. Victory felt possible; our work would not be in vain.
After more pulling, and even more strap breakages, the tractor and vehicles finally managed to pull Tim 25 m across the muddy ground and onto a firmer footing. Once there, he was too worn out from the ordeal to even stand.
The vehicles kept pulling slowly, trying to help him up, knowing that his life depended on it. And finally, in the last light of the day, Tim stood up. Met by cheers from everyone present, he shrugged the tow straps off before slowly heading back toward the Kimana Sanctuary. The rangers stayed with him until 11 pm, ensuring that he was safely back on protected land, before calling the long day over.
Rangers have been keeping an eye on Tim today, and he appears to be fine, but following two prior encounters with farmers’ spears, it is clear that he has not been deterred from living dangerously. We’re not quite sure how many lives Tim has left, but we’ll continue doing our best to make sure that he lives each of them to the fullest!
A huge thanks, as always, to KWS and DSWT, for helping to turn this incident from a potential tragedy into a remarkable success story.
And to our supporters around the world, thank you! If not for your ongoing generosity, stories like these might not have such a happy ending. As we enter the season of giving, please consider supporting Big Life Foundation and our critical work to protect and secure the Kimana Sanctuary. This valuable area of habitat gives Tim, his fellow elephants, and other wildlife a safe place to call home.
Protecting over 1.6 million acres of wilderness in the Amboseli-Tsavo-Kilimanjaro ecosystem of East Africa, Big Life partners with local communities to protect nature for the benefit of all.
Since its inception, Big Life has expanded to employ hundreds of local Maasai rangers – with more than 30 permanent outposts and tent-based field units, 13 Land Cruiser patrol vehicles, 3 tracker dogs, and 2 planes for aerial surveillance.
Co-founded in September 2010 by photographer Nick Brandt, conservationist Richard Bonham, and entrepreneur Tom Hill, Big Life was the first organisation in East Africa to establish coordinated cross-border anti-poaching operations.
According to a statement released by the Department of Environmental Affairs (DEA), the current quota for the lion bone trade has been reduced from 1,500 to 800 lion skeletons.
Minister Nomvula Mokonyane, in a statement dated December 3, announced that the amended lion bone trade quota is now back to what it was in 2017. This amended quota is a reversal of the increase to 1,800 skeletons announced in July 2018.
The statement said that “taking into account the current compliance inspections of lion captive breeding facilities being conducted throughout the country, there is a need to harmonise sustainable use with strictly controlled legal international trade and monitoring … The maintenance of the 2017 quota will allow the Department to reflect on effectiveness of the implementation of the quota, enhance compliance and monitoring systems, and further allow the High-level panel being appointed to incorporate these issues into their work”.
According to research by South African authorities, there are 3,500 African lions in the wild in South Africa, and approximately 7,000 lions in 260 captive breeding facilities. Lion are bred in captivity for hunting, the lion bone industry and the tourism products of cub petting and walking with young lions.
South Africa’s Acting Minister of Environmental Affairs Derek Hanekom has officially approved the ground-breaking and visionary 10-year Kruger National Park Management Plan, a huge step forward for ambitious plans to expand Kruger’s conservation footprint across international borders and to incorporate a wide spectrum of landowners and land uses. The formal signing of the Plan on 5 December will kick-start the emergence of the 10 million-hectare Great Limpopo Transfrontier Conservation Area (GLTFCA) as a world-leading conservation initiative. The Plan will guide Kruger NP’s strategic direction and operations in relation to broader regional land use for the next ten years and is a major catalyst within the Greater Kruger regional socio-economic landscape.
Find out more:
The 259-page Plan is essential reading for Kruger fans who enjoy debating the issues that the Kruger management team has to deal with on a regular basis, such as problem-animal management, hotels in Kruger, removal of international border fences and trophy hunting of free-roaming wildlife on reserves adjoining Kruger. Read our brief summary of the plan here.
The Plan was reviewed over a period of 18 months, with extensive consultation through 54 public and thematic focus group meetings. Stakeholders from local and district municipalities, other organs of state, traditional authorities, private sector, NGOs, CBOs, etc., were consulted through public meetings, focus groups meetings, and written inputs. Workshops were conducted in 11 local Greater Kruger towns/villages, and within four ‘metros’. A total of 5,762 people attended the meetings, whilst a further 483 written inputs were received to comment on the draft Management Plan.
Criticism:
There has been criticism of the Plan, largely focusing on issues such as the role that trophy hunting plays in some of the buffer reserves incorporated into the GLTFCA, with some people calling for fences between Kruger National Park and certain private reserves to be put up again.
One organisation, Global March for Elephants and Rhinos, called for a delay in approval, despite the lengthy consultation period already undertaken. They criticised the inclusion of “5-star resort amenities in and around Kruger National Park” which they felt would bring about a “landscape of fear”. They referred to the Plan as “harking back to Kruger’s late 19th century roots and colonial sensibilities of deluxe safaris”. They also objected to activities such as elephant-back riding being noted in the Plan as already being offered in buffer areas, even though this controversial activity was clearly marked in the Plan as being not appropriate for the Kruger National Park. Other activities mentioned in the Plan and similarly rejected as not being suitable in buffer areas near the Kruger National Park, include clay pigeon shooting and golf courses.
Concluding thoughts:
The broad principle of the 10-year Kruger National Park Management Plan is that it is better to surround the core protected area of Kruger National Park with a buffer zone – land that is also managed in a similar way, albeit with different expectations (hunting, tourism). Rather that, than have sugar cane fields, citrus orchards and livestock farms on Kruger’s borders.
Africa Geographic CEO, Simon Espley:
“The Kruger National Park 10-year Management Plan is immensely exciting, because it is all about expanding an already highly successful 2-million-hectare national park conservation model to a mouth-watering 10 million hectares of conservation land that spans several countries and many precious ecosystems. This visionary and brave plan has the potential to place southern Africa firmly at the forefront of finding solutions to meet the complex demands of a variety of interest groups with vested interests in their own natural areas. No plan is perfect, so there will be problems, mistakes and drama. And there will be parties calling for change and even scrapping of the Plan. This is all part and parcel of the evolutionary process by which Plans improve over time. I have little doubt that over time the less savoury practices we currently endure, such as trophy hunting and elephant-back riding, will be extirpated, thanks largely to the ongoing energetic work of a small band of dedicated activists. But for now, the focus is on this 10-year Kruger National Park Management Plan, and I for one am totally behind it.”
A citrus farming enterprise has purchased a small but ecologically pivotal farm on the border of the Klaserie and Timbavati private nature reserves (Greater Kruger) near the town of Hoedspruit, and plans to develop a citrus orchard in this vital game reserve area. Private reserves in the area have submitted their opposition to the development via formal channels, and they would appreciate your help to prevent an ecological disaster on the Kruger border.
After reading the information below, please register your feedback with the Limpopo Department of Economic Development and Tourism (LEDET), by way of email Comms@ledet.gov.za or on Twitter. LEDET is responsible for assessing the application and is currently busy with that process. Note that LEDET is not an adversary in this process, they are the governing authority that has to make difficult decisions such as this, balancing the needs and rights of various stakeholders.
The farmer
The applicant, Soleil Mashishimale (Pty) Ltd, is an affiliate of Soleil Sitrus (Pty) Ltd, a company specialising in the production, packing and exporting of citrus, currently exporting approximately one million cartons of citrus per annum. The farm in question was recently purchased specifically by Soleil for the purpose of developing a citrus orchard.
The farm
The farm borders the Klaserie River and shares its northern border with Klaserie Private Nature Reserve. The farm will also border the Timbavati Private Nature Reserve on Timbavati’s western border if and when an application by a private reserve for inclusion into Timbavati is accepted. Both Klaserie and Timbavati are included in the Greater Kruger ecosystem, with animals free-roaming between them and the Kruger National Park. The farm includes previously-cultivated land, and the proposed plan is to develop 120ha as a citrus orchard.
The area
This area is typically devoted to game reserves, as it is categorised as a Critical Biodiversity Area 2 (CBA 2), where developments need to be environmentally sensitive, should blend in with the environmental characteristics and processes of the area with little to no compromise to the ecological integrity and to threatened species.
The property is important in terms of corridors and connectivity, falls within the buffer zone of the important Klaserie River and within the natural distribution range of the Cape, hooded, white-backed and white-headed vultures and bataleur, martial and tawny eagles – all threatened species.
Map showing location of the planned citrus farm on the Greater Kruger boundary, with proposed cultivation area in green. Click to enlarge
Major concerns
Major concerns already submitted to LEDET by neighbouring reserves and landowners include the following:
1. Elephants are known to relish citrus fruit, particularly during the dry season when natural food sources are limited. The likely scenario is that Kruger elephants will frequently break through the fences separating the Greater Kruger from the farm, to get to the fruit. This will lead to human-wildlife conflict, and life-threatening encounters for both humans and elephants, and the destruction of property. Employees from the neighbouring reserves will be hard-pressed to react timeously to these break-outs, and the likely result will be that the farmer will most likely apply for permits to have the elephants declared ‘problem-causing animals’ and killed;
2. Other animals likely to be attracted to the fruit include baboons, monkeys and birds, and many will in all likelihood be killed – again as ‘problem-causing animals’;
3. Neighbouring reserves will incur significant additional costs as a result of having to deploy teams every time an elephant goes through a fence, reducing the available financial resources to combat poaching;
4. The farm has water rights for 120ha, equating to an estimated 1.2 billion litres per annum of water to be extracted from the Klaserie River (10 million litres per hectare per annum). The Klaserie River is a key tributary of the Olifants River, so this water extraction will impact significantly on Kruger. This area is in the grips of an extended and serious drought, with areas of the Greater Kruger and the Kruger National Park denuded of edible vegetation, and the animals battling to survive. At the best of times, this area enjoys unreliable rainfall of 300-700mm per annum, with about 65 rain days per year – mainly via thundershowers.
5. There will be significant chemical pollution due to the citrus farming operations, including the use of poisons, herbicides and fertilisers;
6. The noise pollution of farm machinery and the visual pollution of a monoculture crop in an otherwise peaceful and biodiverse bushveld setting will be significant;
7. The insertion of a citrus farming operation into a bushveld game reserve environment is not compatible with existing land-use, and will compromise the further expansion of the Greater Kruger and SANParks plans for a core buffer zone around the Kruger.
With over 25,593 entries received for our Photographer of the Year 2018 competition, our judges had a tough time deciding on our overall winner. However, one photo stood out among the thousands, and it spoke to the judges on all levels.
Sushil Chauhan’s photo of a Rüppell’s vulture portrayed vultures for what they are – majestic and regal birds that deserve our respect. The photo was a sensitive representation of one of Africa’s most threatened birds. It was a refreshing change from the stereotypical vulture image of bloodied hoodlums fighting for scraps of meat.
With our Photographer of the Year 2019 starting on November 30th, we would like to celebrate this fact by sharing with you a selection of Sushil’s stunning photos, along with his thoughts on becoming our 2018 Photographer of the Year.
“June 1st in Kenya is a public holiday – Madaraka Day – and I was lounging with the family after a very late breakfast when my phone beeped with a message to an email notification. I opened my inbox to find an email from Africa Geographic announcing the winners for the competition. To my very surprise, I saw my name listed first as the overall winner!
“I was in utter shock and disbelief! I showed the email to the family members, and the celebrations started immediately! The phone started buzzing with congratulatory messages from friends and followers from social media platforms. I was so overwhelmed, and it took me over a week to fathom that this was real and not a dream!
“I have been following this competition from its inception and love all the images celebrating this fabulous continent and its natural beauty. The weekly galleries leave me in awe every time with the diversity and talent the photographers portrayed. Every photo captured was a moment frozen in time, showcasing the subject with immense splendour.
“Since childhood, I have had a deep love for all flora and fauna, and a lust for travel to all the wild places that are home to these marvellous creatures. When I was 18, my grandfather gave me his Pentax Asahi SLR camera. He taught me the basics when analogue was the system. It was also expensive and left little room for experiments and creativity. I was later introduced to the digital world and bought my first DSLR in 2007.
“I still miss analogue, especially colour slide film and currently I am using Nikon equipment. In 2011 I started a Facebook page called Photography for Conservation in the hopes of using my images to create a sense of appreciation and connection with wildlife, and also so that they can be used as a tool on the conservation front.
“I want my images to create awareness about wild places, while also giving back. Sadly today, I see that many photographers are fuelled by ego and pressures of social media to see how many ‘likes’ they can get for their images. In my opinion, this desire for acceptance adulterates art and ethical photography.
“I am fortunate to have a garden with a wide variety of wildlife visiting, as the seasons wax and wane. This stunning Jackson’s chameleon made my afternoon when I observed him catch a fly with his tongue, mate with a female on the fence, and then pose for this portrait.
“The bongo is Africa’s largest forest antelope and has a ‘Near Threatened’ status according to the IUCN, with a population of fewer than 250 individuals in Kenya’s Mount Kenya region, Eburru and Mau forests.
“This is the late Malaika (‘angel’ in Kiswahili), probably the most famous and most photographed cheetah in the world. She was always on everyone’s bucket list on a game drive in the Mara. Like her mother Kike –a cheetah who featured in BBC’s Big Cat Diaries – she is famous for her car-jumping behaviour.
“This commanding martial eagle showed me where to find lions on a morning game drive. We were looking for a pride of lions seen earlier that morning when we stumbled upon this stunning raptor enjoying the morning sun and stretching its wings, and I would like to believe it was showing us the way to the cats.
“This young male looks at his father in the distance who had just killed a warthog and was selfishly feeding on it. The pressures of being a male lion coming into his prime are immense.
“I was recovering from an accident when I heard that the largest stockpile of ivory, horns and animals trophies was going up in flames in Nairobi National Park. Armed with my crutches and camera, I went to see this scene of horror. I was traumatised by the sight and smell – this was not how I wanted to see or remember, elephants.
“This gorgeous male was part of the Notch coalition that we found during an evening game drive. This coalition was a formidable force and regularly killed hippo.
“Kenya is home to 43 distinct tribes. On a visit to one of the tribe’s villages, I saw this beautiful Samburu woman seemingly lost in a spell as the hypnotic hymns were sung.
“Nairobi National Park is not only the gem of the country but also the only national park located in a capital city. The park boasts the Big 4, there being no elephants. This park is very close to my heart as I have grown up visiting it since my childhood. Sadly it is facing many threats from urbanisation, with the railway passing through it, and increased cases of human-wildlife conflict.
“Laikipia is famous for its open spaces and wildlife. I was lucky to see this magnificent bull taking a rest by a dead tree, with the famous Mount Kenya in the background.
“All in all, I feel very fortunate to win this award, joining every photographer who loves and celebrates Africa. I can’t thank Africa Geographic and its team for their great work and the passion they have for this amazing continent. I want to congratulate the other winners and finalists, including everyone who took the courage to take part – everyone is a winner! Just know that someone somewhere has been touched by your image and the magic that is Africa. Asante sana.” – Sushil Chauhan.
I am a Kenyan wildlife enthusiast, nature lover and keen photographer. Trained professionally as a safari consultant and guide, my most profound passion has always been to work with wildlife and travel the world. My goal is to take photographs that create awareness about wildlife, conservation and wilderness areas.
Glamorous camping (glamping) should be an authentic way of enjoying what safari used to be all about. But not too authentic, right? I mean you don’t want to have to catch your dinner or dig a pit latrine. Sure, do away with the permanent lodge structures, but I still want to feel safe and comfortable. Comfy bed, crisp linen, great food, ice-cold drinks and my favourite single malt – tick.
Find out about Greater Kruger for your next African safari. We have ready-made safaris to choose from, or ask us to build one just for you.
Recently my wife Lizz and I had the pleasure of hosting some special people for five days at the Tanda Tula Field Camp in Timbavati Private Nature Reserve – part of the Greater Kruger, which shares unfenced borders with the national park. Our small group consisted of the 2018 winner and two runners-up of our annual Photographer of the Year competition, and their partners.
One morning was to be an exceptional experience for all of us. We set out on foot, in the general direction of the Kruger National Park. It was a chilly morning, and the rising winter sun was in our faces as we strolled along, frequently stopping to test the breeze, listen, watch and interpret the messages that were all around us. Reading the bush newspaper, you could say.
A large breeding herd of elephants appeared behind us; as if by magic, as they do. They were moving fast – and we were in their direct path. Tails up and ears flared, trumpeting, tiny babies scrambling to keep up with the herd – something had spooked them. We ducked behind a small copse of gwarrie, there being nothing more substantial in the area, to watch and assess. No need yet to make our presence known and hopefully steer the herd in another direction.
Thankfully, a few hundred metres from us, the matriarch veered off in a northerly direction, and they all followed suit. Still stressed, moving fast. There were a few large bulls in hot pursuit of the herd; perhaps musth bulls looking for mating opportunities? One bull leered at us as he swaggered past. Perhaps the bulls had caused the angst, or maybe the lions that we heard during the early morning hours were working the herd. This is what bushwalking is all about, and with excellent guides, the danger of the moment is turned into a practical lesson.
Essential for this kind of experience is your guide and tracker team. Anthony Collett and Ginger Ubisi were like blood brothers, knew the area like the back of their hands and seemed to read the bush news as easily as I read my mobile phone feed. Many of our encounters started as bird alarm calls or by following fresh spoor.
An hour or so later, during an impromptu practical spoor identification lesson, and to our amazement, the shrubs in front of us erupted and reformed into several well-camouflaged men and a dog. Said party seemed not to notice us as they moved swiftly and silently away, clearly following a scent trail – the dog, a Belgian malinois cross bitch, straining at the leash. Like leopards, they melted into the thicket. Their leader came over and briefed us before also vaporising. The message was that this anti-poaching unit was hot on the trail of suspected poachers and that we were to stay in contact.
Timbavati has its own (very effective) anti-poaching operation, which cooperates with those from neighbouring Kruger and other private reserves. We bunkered down, a bit confused (huh, poachers in paradise?) and more than a bit anxious (is this a dangerous situation for us?). Later we heard the sharp crack of three gunshots (R1 automatic rifles, we were later told), followed by shouting and crazed barking from a dog. We all hit the deck, dignity forgotten.
Silence, except for thumping hearts and the commotion some distance away.
Anthony got on the horn, and instead of leading us away from the action, he led us directly to the scene of engagement.
“A bit odd,” mumbled Stuart, exchanging raised eyebrows with his wife Sarah.
But keen to show us South Africans that Aussies are just as tough, they gamely ploughed on. We then came across the scene of two cable-tied alleged poachers being questioned by the anti-poaching team about their presence in the reserve; their guns and other poaching paraphernalia stacked nearby. The dog was hysterical; barking and trying to free herself of harness and handler. With wide eyes, we absorbed as much of the surreal scene as we could, before Anthony called it a day and we headed back to camp.
Back in our safety zone, we gathered around the campfire and discussed the events of the morning. The general vibe was of how efficient and well-trained the anti-poaching team is, and how shocked we all were that evil people could infiltrate and violate Kruger. Of course, we all know about poaching, and we have all weighed in during social media discussions on the topic (like the experts that we are. Not), but to have poachers interfere with our safari is another thing entirely. This means war!
Before long a bakkie arrived in camp – our anti-poaching heroes (avec dog) dropped by for a chat, along with two others we recognised as the alleged poachers. First in camp to greet us was the vicious dog, now all smiling eyes and wagging tail. The morning’s encounter was a training exercise. 🙂
Remarkably realistic, to be sure. I was in on the act – only our guests were not aware that this was a setup. Back in camp, it was terrific to chat over a cup of coffee with the anti-poaching guys – to get a feel for their working day. Such dedicated, remarkable people they are. All brave smiles and evident passion. The team leader was called away early, to attend to an actual encounter on the go some distance away.
Reality check. The message we all took home was how we all vent, judge and express opinions on social media, without really understanding what goes on at ground level. Without truly appreciating that the real heroes are these anti-poaching teams, who live most of their lives away from families and friends, deep in the bush, keeping our wild areas safe from criminals that are intent on turning Africa’s wildlife into trinkets, fake medicine and status symbols. So quick are some to cast doubts on the passion and commitment of these heroes, and to accuse all and sundry of collaboration with poachers.
Another take-out message from the morning was that our contribution, as tourists, goes to funding this essential anti-poaching operation. We do make a real difference by being occasional visitors to protected areas like this. Yes, we do.
Our encounter with the anti-poaching team was placed into perspective late that same day when we encountered a massive rhino bull. We parked about 100 metres away, and he wandered over and stood for minutes in front of us – a few metres from the vehicle.
It was a bizarre moment. He seemed to be dozing off in our company, with Ginger in the tracking seat and closer to the rhino than I can spit a dry kudu dropping. It did occur to me how easy it must be for poachers to kill these special prehistoric creatures.
One morning we bumped into the largest tusker I have seen in the Kruger area – a gentle giant by the human name of Apollo. He was in musth, but showing no signs of aggression, or even mild agitation. We parked off about 300 metres away, and Apollo ambled over in that elephant way, time being of no concern.
There is no doubt in my mind that he sought out our company; massive ears flapping lazily as he went about browsing just metres away, chilling and socialising, curious eyes on us but also spaced out by the tannins from the shrubs he was gently nibbling on.
Even Sushil was impressed at Apollo’s sheer size. Sushil hails from Kenya and has spent many hours with Tsavo and Amboseli super tuskers, including the legendary Tim.
I noticed Anthony take the necessary precautions for a musth bull (vehicle positioned for easy exit, key turned in the ignition), but on this occasion, this was merely insurance. We hung out together for over an hour, before our departure in search of more bliss.
On another morning, and after some astute tracking and reading of the signs, Ginger and Anthony found a mother leopard with her two adolescent cubs. She had stashed a freshly-killed impala in a knobthorn, and the three of them were taking turns up the tree.
The young male scampered when we arrived and ignored mom’s reassuring calls for his return. The young female though seemed to enjoy our presence, fluttering eyelids and all, although she frequently sashayed off to mom for reassurance, the two making a cute leopard pile now and then.
She went up and down the tree several times during our lengthy park-off session. On one occasion, she and mom were on the kill together, and for a few intense seconds, they fought loudly over rights, before mom relented and jumped down to leave her daughter to eat in peace.
I suspect that this was mom’s lesson about fighting for what is yours. We spent a few thoroughly enjoyable hours with the leopards, made even more interesting by watching Annemarie and Zani work the scene.
Annemarie is a technical genius on her camera, always keen to try out creative ways of portraying leopards (her favourite subjects). Her partner Zani provides that vital backup support during intense filming sequences, accompanied by chirping and backchat that kept us all amused.
Later that day, we bumped into the cubs’ father on a warthog kill some distance away; a big Tomcat who rules the area with an iron fist.
Lizz had remained in camp that morning while we were lingering with the leopards, to chill and read her book. She was joined by a pack of wild dogs that loped through camp, mere metres away, casually checking out this temporary setup. Lucky Lizz.
The focus of the Field Camp is to provide that explorer feeling – a shift away from the permanence of a classic safari lodge. The camp is set up anew for each party of guests and taken down when they leave and manned by a full complement of staff to provide for your every need. Somehow this dedicated team churns out mouth-watering meals from a small kitchen area behind camp.
There is a strong sense of family amongst this team, a happy family at that. Every meal was in a different location – in the general camp area, or in the sandy riverbed that runs behind camp. Each tent is discreetly positioned under trees, and each has an en-suite bathroom area, with a safari shower (canvas bucket with a tap) which is filled on request with warm water heated over coals. The en-suite toilets are ‘long-drops’, which are composted after every safari. Nothing is left behind once camp is broken, except for footprints. The camp lends itself to intimate groups of friends and extended family. Lizz mentioned a few times that Field Camp is a fantastic safari experience for women – like a bunch of her close friends.
Most of the moments described above were exclusive to our party – no other vehicles present. Sometimes one, or at the most, two other vehicles would drop by for a short while, and we would all grin at each other. Strangers sharing a special moment. That exclusivity defines this part of the Greater Kruger. Long may it last.
In 1976, Tanda Tula Safari Camp became the first East African-styled, luxury tented safari camp in South Africa. Today, Tanda Tula consists of two exclusive tented camps, located in the heart of the Timbavati Private Nature Reserve in the Greater Kruger National Park: Tanda Tula Field Camp and Tanda Tula Safari Camp. Both camps are owned and managed by Don and Nina Scott, together with their passionate and dedicated team.
TANDA TULA FIELD CAMP
Tanda Tula Field Camp is an intimate semi-permanent bush camp, set up exclusively for each group of guests and taken down when they leave, and manned by a full complement of staff to provide for their every need. The focus at the Field Camp is to give that explorer feeling – a shift away from the permanence of a classic safari lodge. The camp includes a canvas communal area consisting of a comfortable lounge with a variety of chairs and couches, a small library and a self-service bar. This tented area leads to an outdoor fire area for kicking back and sharing your adventures of the day with your favourite beverage in hand.
TANDA TULA SAFARI CAMP
Tanda Tula Safari Camp is situated on the banks of the Nhlaralumi riverbed, deep inside the park. The camp consists of 12 secluded tented suites each with their own private viewing deck high above the often dry riverbed, with views across the Kruger. The camp offers a wide range of safari activities that cater for all type of guests. The camp runs both morning and evening game drives conducted in large open-air 4×4 vehicles with each vehicle holding up to six guests. The camp also provides an animal tracking experience, guided walking safaris, stargazing, birdwatching and bush picnics.
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 in search of wilderness, real people with interesting stories and elusive birds. He lives in South Africa 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.’
Press release by Balule Nature Reserve Executive Committee
We wish to express deep regret that visitors to the reserve had to endure a harrowing and traumatising incident in which an elephant was shot by hunters near the lodge that the visitors were staying at.We apologise profusely and unreservedly to those affected.
Based on witness accounts gathered to date, this incident seems not to comply with the sustainable utilisation model of ethical hunting in accordance with the hunting protocol that governs all reserves within the Associated Private Nature Reserves (APNR) and to which Balule and hence Maseke are bound.
We are currently doing an in-depth internal investigation into the incident and will report back once the process has been completed. If the results of the investigation point to unethical behaviour or behaviour that is contrary to established protocols we will have no hesitation in taking the appropriate disciplinary action. This has been a difficult few months for us, with a recent illegal elephant hunt on Balule that resulted in a warden being convicted, and we wish to stress our determination to operate in an ethical and transparent manner.
Note that we conduct detailed post-hunt reports on each and every trophy hunt conducted on Balule, to ensure compliance with legal and ethical requirements. At this early stage, we can confirm the following facts about this incident:
• The incident occurred on Friday afternoon on November 23rd, in the Maseke Game Reserve, which is incorporated into Balule Nature Reserve;
• The hunt took place in view and about 800 metres from a lodge situated in a neighbouring property;
• Several shots were fired before the elephant was successfully brought down;
• Balule management responded as soon as they were notified by the lodge about the incident;
• There were four eyewitnesses to the incident from the lodge viewing deck. We have obtained statements from them;
• Contrary to news media reports, there is no allegation or proof of the use of alcohol by the hunting party before the hunting incident;
• We have a statement from an independent observer who was at the scene shortly after the incident, who has testified under oath to the sobriety of the hunting party;
• The hunt was legal, and we have verified all permits;
• Our investigation relates to possible contravention of APNR trophy hunting protocol and ethical practice;
• The internal investigation is currently awaiting further correspondence and statements from the Maseke Game Reserve representative.
Balule Nature Reserve Executive Committee 28 November 2018
On 13 August this year, a scheduled elephant hunt was conducted illegally in Balule Nature Reserve, a private reserve within the unfenced Great Kruger area, but outside of the Kruger National Park boundaries. A collared male elephant of 20-30 years old, with tusks of approximately 30 pounds on each side, was shot and killed during the illegal hunt.
Mpumalanga Tourism and Parks Authority laid criminal charges against the culprit as soon as the incident was reported to them by Balule management, and Balule co-operated in the process.
A regional warden by the name of Frikkie Kotze, representing the private property within Balule during the hunt, pleaded guilty to the charges and was fined R50,000 OR five years imprisonment, with both options suspended for five years. In addition, he must pay R35,000 to Elephants Alive to replace the elephant collar. The hunting party consisted of Kotze, professional hunter and outfitter JJ Horn, the client and his wife.
Why was the hunt illegal?
According to information gleaned from various sources, the permit for this hunt was issued by Limpopo authorities (LEDET) whereas the elephant was killed in the Mpumalanga Province. Balule straddles both provinces, and according to our sources, the hunting party strayed about 700 metres across the provincial boundary to shoot the elephant. Relevant hunting protocol demands that the warden and professional hunter should have a good working knowledge of the area – including provincial boundaries.
Why was the hunt a breach of accepted hunting protocol?
The elephant was collared and part of an ongoing research project by Elephants Alive. The elephant, sponsored by Youth 4 African Wildlife, was named ‘George’ by the research team, and was collared on 15 August 2016. Data from his movements and behaviour formed part of a study by the University of Nottingham into how geochemistry influences elephant movements. According to our sources, the elephant was covered in mud at the time of the hunt and the warden and professional hunter claimed not to have seen the collar, as it was, according to him, “very tight around the elephant’s neck”. The collar was removed after the elephant was killed, and sent to Balule head warden Craig Spencer, who delivered the collar to Elephants Alive.
Aside from the above factors, all necessary permits and documentation for the hunt in Limpopo Province were apparently in place, and according to Associated Private Nature Reserves (APNR) hunting protocol, the elephant was of suitable age (20-30 years) and tusk size (30 pounds each side) for hunting purposes.
Comment from Balule representative
We contacted newly-appointed Balule chairperson Sharon Haussmann, who seems determined to stamp out illegal activities and actions that breach accepted protocol, and she had the following to say:
“I would like to state as chairperson of Balule Nature Reserve that I and my team are committed to good governance, with transparency and cooperation within the Greater Kruger system. This incident, a costly mistake by the regional warden, is extremely unfortunate and we worked pro-actively with the authorities for justice to prevail.”
Read our CEO’s opinion editorial about trophy hunting in the Greater Kruger.
I know I am not alone when I say that I often feel depressed and helpless about the state of rhino poaching – brought home to me by those awful images and videos of brutality, of suffering. These Jurassic unicorns are being driven to extinction by wealthy and politically-connected wildlife traffickers that also drive the illegal trafficking of women and children, weapons and drugs.
What can you and I do about the seemingly unstoppable tide of slaughter, underpinned by an insatiable appetite amongst some Asian people for every imaginable form of wildlife product, and sponsored by corruption at the highest levels?
Surely our governments need to protect our wildlife ‘assets’, if for no other reason than to generate sustainable tourism revenue for their people? Why do those in power on all sides of this planet not shut down known and obviously porous trade routes? Why do convicted poachers and traffickers walk free so soon and how come cases involving high profile traffickers are so easily delayed and then dismissed? Do those in power even discuss wildlife trafficking when they get into a huddle with their Asian counterparts? Why is CITES so ineffective?
Sometimes my head spins, and I want to hide from it all.
Four years ago, two ladies decided to find out what was going on, to tell the story about the rhino poaching war. THAT was the beginning of change. Because you have to know your enemy before you can engage and vanquish.
And now STROOP journey into the rhino horn war has finally arrived. I was lucky enough to be invited to an early local screening of this amazing journey into the belly of the beast.
STROOP audience during the premier screening in Johannesburg
STROOP is a sensationally revealing story of what is really going on – the story behind those brutal images we all hate seeing. There is some tough-to-stomach footage of the cruelty and the suffering, but mostly this documentary is about discovering the truth. Importantly, many of the questions I ask above are answered in this documentary. The issue is what will we, as wildlife activists, do with this information?
Bonné de Bod and Susan Scott risked life and limb to unearth that truth, and the coverage of their covert fact-finding missions in Asia makes for chilling viewing. And other heroes also show their mettle – just ordinary people doing extraordinary things for the greater good.
From wildlife activists to government prosecutors and vets to game rangers – so many people doing brave things every day to stem the tide. STROOP is also about them.
One baby rhino orphan caregiver provides narration and interviews that are an important part of the STROOP message. I met this amazing young hero a few months before the rhino orphanage at which he worked was attacked. So pure-of-heart, such an inspiration.
These amazing people continue to do their utmost to keep rhinos safe from the evil ones. Now you and I need to step up and play our roles.
This award-winning, brave documentary inspired me to step away from my personal pity-party about the horrors of the rhino poaching war. To focus on the small steps that I can take in the long, long journey to victory. Yes, victory.
So, what can you and I do about this crazy situation?
First, WATCH THIS DOCUMENTARY – make sure that you understand your enemy and the war that we are all fighting. Why? Because unless you know your enemy and understand the situation you will probably never function effectively as a wildlife activist.
Then, start engaging with those most able to apply pressure on governments to shut down this evil industry. That includes major companies and politicians. If you live outside of Africa, remember that your politicians and companies can influence ours. Our collective governments CAN shut this down – they have the resources. They just need the incentive and the political will. Right now, they are not prioritising rhinos (or any wildlife), so we need to recalibrate their priorities. They need to understand that rhino poaching is symptomatic of a corrupt system that WILL jeopardise the future for their electorate. Because if we don’t remove these evil criminals from our society, they will move on from rhinos to steal everything else. Everything.
Remember, focus on fact, elevate yourself above the emotional venting and fakery that dominates our screens. Use emotion to drive you, not distract you. Prioritise what you choose to share via your social media networks (so that they take you seriously) – just like you expect governments to prioritise wildlife and ecosystem conservation. Harness your emotions, know your facts, and engage one-to-one with your chosen companies and governments. Be patient, be strong, be effective wildlife activists.
Lycaon pictus has many names in English. Among them are ‘African wild dog’, ‘wild dog’, ‘painted dog’, ‘Cape hunting dog’, ‘African hunting dog’, ‘hyena dog’, ‘ornate wolf’ and ‘painted wolf’.
It seems somewhat ironic that so many names have been given to this creature when so few are left on our planet.
Indeed, some argue vehemently that ‘African wild dog’ is correct and others’ painted dog’, and increasingly the name ‘painted wolf’ has its fans. But are any of these correct, does it matter, and what is the background to Lycaon pictus’ many English names?
To stay on neutral ground (for the moment) I will refer to Lycaon pictus as ‘Lycaon’ throughout this article.
First, where did Lycaon’s scientific name came from? When Lycaon was first ‘discovered’ in 1820, it was thought to be a type of hyena and given the name Hyaena picta by Dutch zoologist, Coenraad Temminck. But he was wrong.
Seven years later, the British anatomist and naturalist Joshua Brookes established that the animal was a Canid, and Lycaon gained its current scientific name, Lycaon pictus.
These two distinguished gentlemen did not really discover anything, as the Lycaon has been around for longer than we Homo sapiens and they were indeed not the first humans to see them.
The word ‘Lycaon’ has its origins in Greek mythology. Lycaon was the King of Arcadia who decided to test Zeus’ omniscience by serving up the roasted flesh of his son to see if he would notice. Zeus did notice and, understandably annoyed, turned Lycaon into a wolf and restored his son to life.
So the best translation for Lycaon is ‘wolf-like’. And pictus is simply the Latin for ‘painted’. Hence ‘painted wolf.’
So is Lycaon a dog or a wolf? Well, in fact, it is neither, although one could just about say it is closer to a wolf than a dog. This is because all of our domestic dogs are descendants of the Eurasian wolf (Canis lupus), including our great dane and beloved chihuahua.
From a scientific standpoint, they are all in the same family known as Canidae. Within this, there are two relevant branches (or genus) to look at here – Canis and Lycaon.
In the genus Canis (which means dog in Latin) exist the wolves and their descendants – our domestic dogs. Canis also includes the coyote (Canis latrans), dingo (Canis lupos dingo), and the highly endangered Ethiopian wolf (Canis simensis). And while phylogenetically different, Canis includes all jackals (Canis adustus, aureus and mesomelas).
Meanwhile, our Lycaon pictus is alone in its own genus called… Lycaon. The species is only very distantly related to a wolf or a dog, and there is no chance that you could interbreed a Lycaon and a Canis.
Indeed, while they share many physical characteristics, there are significant differences too. Lycaon only has four toes on its front feet and does not have a dewclaw. Also, its dentition is completely different from a wolf or a dog.
So, to call Lycaon’ dog’ or ‘wolf’ is not correct from the perspective of either taxonomy or phylogenetics.
Some argue that the name ‘dog’ has been detrimental to the species. For over 100 years, Lycaon has been terribly persecuted by man, reducing their numbers from 500,000 to 6,600 in less than a century.
They were considered vermin by European settlers anxious to recreate their European farming systems across Africa. Ignorant farmers highly exaggerated Lycaon’s threat to livestock and a systematic programme of extermination was carried out through much of southern Africa.
In Southern Rhodesia (now Zimbabwe), a five-shilling reward was introduced in 1916 for proof of destroying a Lycaon, and the bounty was increased periodically until it was finally abolished as recently as 1977.
Many argue the name ‘wild dog’ denigrated Lycaon to a dangerous feral animal, a mundane creature of no interest to anybody and certainly not worth conserving. Rhodesian farming journals are littered with suggestions on how best to exterminate the beleaguered creature.
Indeed, when I tell people that I spend most of my time following three packs of ‘wild dogs’ on foot, I am regularly faced with two questions. “What breed of dog is it?” and “Are they mongrels that have escaped from villages and gone wild?” And many of these questions come from people who live in Africa!
Given this, it is understandable why some argue that the name ‘dog’ has played its part in hastening them towards extinction.
A Rebrand?
In many ways, Lycaon has already gone through a rebrand. From being considered vermin, a small but increasing number of people are getting to know the species, and while not yet up there with the Big 5, Lycaon is among the top attractions for safari-goers.
And these new aficionados see them for what they are. Fantastic hunters, yes, but more importantly, incredibly social animals that demonstrate fun and loving interactions inside their intricate packs.
From my past career in marketing, I ask myself whether the word ‘wolf’ would be more appealing to the millions yet to discover them and would this, in turn, support their conservation?
There is undoubtedly a considerable revival across Europe and America supporting the conservation of their native wolves. Increasingly, they are no longer demonised but better understood and welcomed as Europe and America’ re-wild’. Could the rapidly improving associations around the name ‘wolf’ help Lycaon?
I am not the only person to think so. Sir Richard Branson recently wrote about Lycaon:
“One of the reasons their numbers plummeted alarmingly was because people thought of them as vermin. They were known as wild dogs, and this name helped to cast a negative light on them.
“As somebody who has always been interested in branding and marketing, if we could get everybody to call them painted wolves, it would make quite the difference to their reputation, and therefore their survival. Many people have begun to realise the beauty of them, and their numbers have grown back. Long may it continue.”
Sir Richard Branson
Nov 2016
Past Success
The erstwhile named simian fox (Canis semensis) was also known as the simian jackal, red fox, Abyssinian wolf and Abyssinian dog. It faces similar threats to Lycaon and is Africa’s most endangered carnivore. In this case, the much closer genetic relationship to domestic dogs increased the risks of hybridisation as there has been clear evidence of interbreeding between the species.
A concerted effort to ‘re-brand’ the creature to the ‘Ethiopian wolf’ has played a significant role in bringing this beleaguered creature to the world’s attention and improving support from conservationists and researchers alike.
Somehow, the name ‘wolf’ conjures something more special, wild and vulnerable than ‘dog’.
In Sir David Attenborough’s new epic documentary series Dynasties, the BBC spent two years filming Lycaon in Mana Pools National Park in Zimbabwe. Their film features the same packs that are in my book Painted Wolves: A Wild Dog’s Life. I spent many days and hours photographing Lycaon alongside the talented BBC team.
I also spent many hours discussing Lycaon’s name with the film’s producer, Nick Lyon. To us, it became apparent that choosing the name ‘painted wolf’ had considerable advantages, having quietly debated many of the arguments in front of our cameras and peacefully sleeping Lycaon.
This is not the same as trying to rename the lion or the elephant. Painted wolf is already one of the many accepted English names for Lycaon. And we should recognise that this creature is almost totally unknown by any name in the wider world, barring a small band of safari-goers and conservationists.
The BBC is now about to bring this incredible creature into the living rooms of an estimated billion people who don’t know they exist, let alone what they should be called. But they are about to discover them and fall in love with them as the ‘painted wolf’.
What’s the Objection?
Perhaps what is most surprising to me is the reaction I get when I call Lycaon the painted wolf. It ranges from “It’s not a wolf, it’s a dog!” to the furious, adamant and hostile. More mentally agile people are interested in the reasons and happy to engage in the debate with their points of view.
Scientists and conservationists legitimately worry that fragmenting the name undermines their efforts to increase awareness of the species and raise funds for research and conservation. This fear is very understandable. They have put in a lot of time and effort to build awareness of the species, and their concerns should be respected.
Yet, here again, there is no unanimous agreement. On one side, some feel everyone has settled on ‘African wild dog’ as the correct name. Yet there are others, who would insist that the name is and should be ‘painted dog.’
So to claim, as some might, that there exists a unanimously agreed English name for Lycaon is not correct. While I believe there are strong arguments for using ‘painted wolf’ as a legitimate alternative, I also accept that it is vitally important to link this name to what scientists and conservationists prefer to call them; whether wild or painted dog.
Conservation Opportunity
Regardless of everyone’s views, the reality is that Sir David Attenborough, beloved and trusted worldwide, will enter people’s homes in just under two weeks and call these creatures’ painted wolves.’ He will reach a substantial worldwide audience previously oblivious to their existence.
Peter and Nick spent six years to produce an extensive exploration of Lycaon in their book Painted Wolves: A Wild Dog’s Lifeand are donating all the profits to the Painted Wolf Foundation. So far their campaign has raised over U$200,000.
This is one reason why I have formed the Painted Wolf Foundation together with the well-known Lycaon conservationist Peter Blinston and leading African wildlife conservationist Diane Skinner.
Peter runs the well-established and respected Painted Dog Conservation, responsible for Lycaon’s welfare in Hwange and Mana Pools National Parks in Zimbabwe. He is also the co-author of our book Painted Wolves: A Wild Dog’s Life.
The objective of the Painted Wolf Foundation is to raise the awareness of Lycaon worldwide and raise funds for those organisations working to conserve the species across Africa. There is no universal organisation raising funds or awareness under the banner “Painted Wolf”, and it is a critical opportunity to capture the interest that is building for this neglected Lycaon.
A Success Story
The Painted Wolf Foundation has the support of many’ wild dog’ and ‘painted dog’ conservation organisations who fully understand the rationale of using the painted wolf name, and we hope to support them in turn.
We have also received tremendous help from major wildlife conservation organisations around the world, including WCN, Tusk, the David Shepherd Wildlife Foundation and Virgin Unite. Each provides critical support to Lycaon and don’t refer to them as wolves. But they do understand and support our strategy.
And last year I visited the International Wolf Centre in Minnesota which has embraced our efforts to save their wolves’ distant African cousins, and they have used their substantial networks to promote our work and raise Lycaon’s awareness.
So far, our efforts have raised a total of US$200,000 using the painted wolf name. We do not intend to cannibalise donations from existing wild and painted dog donors, but know that we can find new support from those who fall in love with this creature thanks to our awareness programme, my articles and pictures, our book and of course the BBC film.
What’s Important
As far as we are concerned at the Painted Wolf Foundation, we are not DOGmatic about what people choose to call Lycaon, but we have firmly sided with the name painted wolf for all the reasons discussed. Indeed, Painted Dog Conservation is not going to rebrand, and neither is the African Wildlife Conservation Fund going to stop calling them African wild dogs. Yet we can, and do, all work well together.
This is because we all recognise that the threat to Lycaon is serious and goes well beyond what people call them. Snaring, disease, road kills and shrinking rangelands are Lycaon’s real threats. Their name is at best, a side-show.
The Painted Wolf Foundation has a primary aim – to put Lycaon on the top table of conservation along with the elephant, rhino and lion. It’s where they belong, and the name that’s on their invite is our least concern.
Finally, it should also be remembered that this whole debate is what we call them in English. The Germans and Dutch call them ‘hyena hounds’ while the French and Spanish refer to them as Lycaon.
And let’s not forget the multiple names they have in local African languages whose names for Lycaon go back to before we English speakers even knew that they existed. This concept has been beautifully illustrated in Lin Barrie’s incredible work of art, “What’s in a name?…”
And to complete Juliet’s quote from Shakespeare’s play: “…that which we call a rose by any other name would smell as sweet.”
Not that I have ever come across a sweet-smelling painted wolf.
Thirteen giraffes have been safely released into Majete Wildlife Reserve in southern Malawi, African Parks and Giraffe Conservation Foundation announced on Monday 19th November. Beginning in South Africa, the translocation was one of the farthest of its kind with the giraffe being transported over 2,500 km by road to establish a new population of the species in Malawi.
Majete has been managed by the conservation non-profit African Parks in partnership with Malawi’s Department of National Parks and Wildlife (DNPW) since 2003, whose collaborative efforts have been hailed as a national success story for the restoration of its wildlife and the benefits the park provides to local communities. The introduction of giraffe will further enrich the reserve’s biodiversity while helping to increase tourism to enhance the already emerging conservation-led economy and additionally support community development.
“Majete contains ideal habitat for giraffe as well as the needed protection to provide them and all the other wildlife here the security they need” said Craig Hay, the Park Manager for Majete Wildlife Reserve.
“We hope to establish a healthy population to increase biodiversity here, and boost tourism to increase Majete’s economic value for local people, while at the same time support regional efforts to conserve this magnificent species. For fifteen years, our partnership with the DNPW has driven Majete’s evolution from a depleted landscape into a vibrant ecosystem, bringing Africa’s most iconic mammals back to Malawi where people from around the globe and importantly Malawian nationals can enjoy and benefit from their own natural and wild heritage”.
Following months of meticulous planning, a 2,500-km journey was undertaken in early October to transport a group of nine giraffe from a private reserve in South Africa northwards to Malawi. An additional four giraffe were moved from Nyala Park, also in Malawi, to supplement the introduction, making up the 13 animals that were safely released into Majete Wildlife Reserve.
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.
While southern Africa has a robust population of giraffe, very few are present in Malawi, with this translocation bringing national numbers to just over 30 animals. Broadly, giraffe numbers have plummeted in recent decades, with pressures including habitat loss, civil unrest and illegal hunting reducing them to fewer than 100,000 animals remaining on the continent.
This project comes at an urgent time when just on Wednesday 14th November IUCN Red List of Threatened Species announced that several giraffe subspecies are now critically endangered. The translocation of South African giraffe to Majete hopes to establish a viable population of the species to support their conservation across the region.
“Introducing giraffe in Majete is an example of how collaborative partnerships can make a difference to save giraffe in the wild before it is too late,” said Dr Julian Fennessy, Director of the Giraffe Conservation Foundation.
“For more than a year we have planned this conservation intervention, first understanding the genetics of the current populations in Malawi to ensure that those brought in are the same species. Our efforts over the last few years have helped to reintroduce giraffe and augment populations in a number of locations within historical ranges throughout the continent, and in turn to better conserve the habitat they live in. Without giraffe, the African landscape is a poorer place and we continue to work with great partners to make a difference.”
African Parks has worked alongside Malawi’s DNPW and local communities since 2003, introducing more than 2,900 animals to Majete to revitalise the ecosystem and to create sustainable opportunities for socio-economic development.
Lion, rhino, elephant, and giraffe are among the species that have returned to the landscape, which is now home to more than 12,000 animals. With the critical support of partners, including The Wyss Foundation, WWF-Belgium and the People’s Postcode Lottery, key infrastructure and rigorous law enforcement were implemented, effectively halting poaching within Majete and enabling its full restoration.
Creating safe wilderness areas for giraffe populations to grow is essential to securing their future in Africa. In Majete, the founding of a new population forms part of the reserve’s development as a flagship wildlife sanctuary, benefiting local communities and affording people in Malawi the opportunity to see the world’s tallest land mammal while supporting giraffe conservation efforts.
Undertaken in partnership with Giraffe Conservation Foundation, additional support for the translocation was provided by the Sundaram Family, Illovo Sugar and Nkhanga Essential Support Services, Mozambique’s Administracao Nacional de Areas de Conservacao (ANAC) and Markus Jebsen.
Watch: Giraffe find a new home in Majete Wildlife Reserve, Malawi
Having travelled to many other parts of Africa and worldwide to view and photograph wildlife, it has always been a dream to one day take a trip to the Maasai Mara National Reserve in Kenya, one of our ‘bucket list’ priorities. That dream came true when my wife and I embarked on this trip in September this year which we booked and arranged through Africa Geographic. Their service and support by arranging the itinerary, flights and transfers, and our stay at the Sentinel Mara Camp on the banks of the Mara River were superb!
The Maasai Mara National Reserve is a wildlife paradise with abundant game, birds, predators, and vast plains and vistas for photographing everything from fauna and flora to magnificent landscape scenes, as well as spectacular sunrises and sunsets – a photographer’s ultimate all-round destination.
This leopard female had been out on the plains and was returning to her cub waiting in the more secure dense bush. She waited for the safari vehicles to move away and make a gap for her to move through. We were very impressed with the park rangers’ presence and supervision in getting the vehicles to create sufficient space for her to get through and reunite with her cub.
We spotted this lioness out on the plains stalking some zebras. She was very well camouflaged in the long grass, but I managed to get a brief glimpse and a photo of her moving through the grass. We watched her unsuccessful, but quite spectacular, charge from a distance.
We were fortunate to see many birds on this trip, which included a variety of raptors, like this brown snake eagle, and colourful local birds endemic to this area. There are more than 470 species of birds in the Maasai Mara, including seasonal migrants.
Every day in the Mara was a unique experience. On some days we would leave camp before sunrise and return later that morning, while on other days we would head out a bit later and stay out for the entire day, depending on the agenda. The packed breakfasts and lunches provided were lovely, and we all found it quite special to stop out in the reserve at a specific venue or sighting for our refreshment break.
After consuming a sizeable portion of a wildebeest, these lionesses moved off to a nearby stream to quench their thirst. Both of them looked to be in prime condition and were very aware of our presence while drinking.
This group of zebras appeared to be very nervous as there was a lioness in the vicinity. While we were watching them, a small bird suddenly flew up out of the grass and startled the zebras into backing up rather quickly.
These magnificent birds were mainly seen in groups – a male with one or two females in open grassland. The grey crowned crane, along with the black crowned crane are the only two crane species capable of nesting in trees. The birds generally mate for life and may live up to 22 years in the wild.
Jonathan, our Maasai guide, was superb in terms of local knowledge of the fauna, flora, the reserve, and his people and culture. We were also fortunate to have Geoff and Suzanne from Canada on our safari vehicle. They are both well-travelled, avid birders with superior expertise in this field. The presence and interaction with these experts enhanced our trip immensely, having both learned and shared respective experiences, which have now culminated in ongoing mutual friendships.
One of the many highlights of the trip was having sundowners out on the plains, or next to a river while watching the sunset with this group of lovely people. Nothing better than good company accompanied by chilled refreshments and beautiful scenery.
The predator sightings were magnificent! We witnessed two different cheetah kills, lionesses on a wildebeest kill, several lion prides interacting with their cubs, lone male lions, as well as jackal, hyena and serval sightings.
One day we came across a young lion cub walking down a game path calling for her mother. We followed her for some time until we heard the mother calling. It didn’t take long for the cub to be found and reunited with her mother and sibling, making it quite a special moment and sighting for us.
These vigilant buffalo bulls were usually seen on the fringes of the grazing herds and were continuously on the watch for impending danger from predators.
We watched this pair of lions for quite some time while they went through the rituals of courtship. The male lion moved off occasionally to mark his territory and then returned to the lioness who wanted to rest and repeatedly rejected his overtures.
We were fortunate to see a serval on two occasions. Servals are small wild cats that have long legs, long necks and thin bodies, and have been given the nickname ‘giraffe cat’. Their large ears help them to listen for potential prey such as insects, frogs, birds and rodents.
The juvenile fiscal shrike is found through most of sub-Saharan Africa. It is also known as the ‘butcher bird’ or ‘Jacky Hangman’ due to its characteristic behaviour of impaling its prey on thorns, branches or barbed wire. The prey is stored in this way for consuming later. The adults have a distinctive black and white plumage, whereas the juveniles have a greyish-brown colouring.
This sighting of the cheetah mother and cubs proved to be one of the highlights of our trip! We followed this cheetah and her three cubs from a long way off to a resting place on a termite mound to observe potential prey. We watched her stalk and hunt a gazelle on two occasions without success, and then return to the waiting cubs to recover and rest.
However, it wasn’t long before we saw another cheetah on a successful hunt. It stalked, charged and took down this gazelle calf right in front of our eyes, all in a matter of seconds from the time of chase to walking off to a secure place to consume the prey.
Watching the wildebeests and zebras crossing the Mara River was such a unique experience! The instinct to cross the river is present irrespective of the danger awaiting these fantastic animals. The fortunate make it across, but many die trying.
These crossings can turn into quite a frenetic spectacle where the animals attempt the crossing in the shallow water and rapids, while the crocodiles wait below the rapids downstream to catch those animals that slip or fall into the deeper water.
Zebras were also part of the river crossing drama, and we watched many zebra foals, wide eyes with fear, swimming close to their mothers who attempted to guide them to safety.
Unfortunately, some animals do not make it across the river alive, and these two Nile crocodiles were spotted on the banks of the Mara River tussling for a zebra head.
Back to the other fantastic sightings: This young spotted hyena pup emerged from a culvert under the road as we were passing by. The pup appeared to be waiting for the return of the clan and sustenance from its mother.
The violet-backed starling, also known as the plum-coloured starling, is one of the smallest in the starling (Sturnidar) family group, which includes starlings, mynahs and oxpeckers. It is quite a striking bird!
Our accommodation was at the Sentinel Mara Camp; a non-permanent tented safari camp set up each season in a forest along the banks of the Mara River. It had well-appointed colonial-style décor, with a central dining area for meals, three relaxation areas with internet access, charging facilities and reading material. Minnie and her competent staff superbly managed the camp.
The camp has seven fully-serviced luxury tents, positioned under large trees with excellent views of the Mara River. Each tent has an en-suite toilet and shower facilities.
Each tent is positioned to provide privacy and superb views of the Mara River. Resident hippo pods were present with an abundance of birdlife and early morning song. This lodge has been specifically designed to be eco-friendly, with solar power and waste recycling a prime focus area.
A world-renowned British wildlife photographer once said to me that “the Maasai Mara is not just about the migration and river crossings, but a whole lot more, even if you don’t see any crossings – you will come away deeply satisfied with your experience”.
We have come home from this trip enthralled by the unique beauty, the abundance of wildlife, the Maasai people and culture, the service and accommodation, and many great memories and new friendships — a unique once-in-a-lifetime experience.
Gavin Duffy is an amateur travel and wildlife photographer based in Johannesburg, South Africa.
After retiring from an International brewing company, Gavin revived his love for photography as one of his main pastimes. He, and his wife Rita, have travelled to several locations on photographic safaris and expeditions – including the Arctic, Norway and the Northern Lights, China, Vietnam and Cambodia, Alaska, Europe, Africa and many locations in their home country of South Africa.
Gavin is a member of the Board of Examiners at the Institute of Brewing and Distilling in London, and a silver member of the Nikonians International Photographic Community.
There are countless reasons why tortoises cross the roads, considering how many roads now run through pristine habitat which results in habitat fragmentation. Tortoises may be searching for better grazing land and water, fleeing predators, and even chasing down potential mates. It’s not uncommon to see large tortoises climbing over small wire fences to get where they want to go – believe it or not tortoises really get going when they set their mind to it.
There are around 20 species of tortoises and terrapins that are found across South Africa in almost every conceivable habitat, from the coastal sand forests, fynbos, Albany thicket and right across the dry arid regions of the Karoo and Namaqualand.
South Africa is home to the world’s smallest tortoise, the speckled padloper (Homopus signatus) which average only between 80 – 90mm! These tortoises are classified as ‘Vulnerable’ by the IUCN mainly due to habitat degradation as well as the risk of collection for the illegal wildlife trade. The largest tortoise found in South Africa is the leopard tortoise (Stigmochelys pardalis) which can reach close to half a metre in length and weigh up to 13 kg!
With the December holidays just around the corner, tens of thousands of South Africans will be road-tripping around the country, passing through prime tortoise habitat and arriving at their coastal destinations only to encounter more tortoises.
So why did the tortoise cross the road? One thing we can be sure of it was not to be picked up by a human, put in their car and transported hundreds of kilometres away from its natural habitat to live in a suburban garden alongside the family dog and be fed lettuce leaves and cherry tomatoes…
Due to their enduring nature, tortoises are often picked up when crossing roads and are then saved from the immediate danger of being run over by passing vehicles. However, the problem lies when they are removed from their habitat and transported elsewhere rather than placed on the side of the road that they were heading towards.
Another problem tortoises face is the illegal collection for the pet trade both locally and internationally. It has become a common sight since the 90s to see young men selling tortoises on the roadside towards Sun City in the North West Province. Often motorists with good intentions buy these tortoises with the premise of either releasing them further up the road or taking them home as their new “rescued pet” with the promise of giving these animals a great new life.
Sadly, the initial novelty often soon wears off they are either released into the veld where they often die from lack of a correct food source, become ill from the change in conditions, or they are dumped in one of the several tortoise sanctuaries or reptile parks around South Africa. These facilities can only accommodate so many animals and many are at full capacity, as once removed from their habitat they’re seldom able to be returned to the wild.
Certain species of tortoises are highly prized on the black market, with many overseas tourists coming specifically to collect and smuggle their catch out of the country – many are caught but countless go unnoticed.
All tortoises and terrapins are protected in South Africa and by law cannot be kept with the correct permits issued by the province where the animal was from. You will never be granted a permit to keep a tortoise you happen to pick up in the Western Cape on the road and then bring it back into Gauteng and keep it legally.
So, what do you do if you see a tortoise trying to cross the road? Consider these important points:
• If you are on a relatively quiet road, like a remote dirt road, and the tortoise is not at risk of being run over, then carefully drive around it and let it carry on its way.
• If the tortoise is in danger of being run over, then first and foremost make sure you are safely able to stop your vehicle. A busy road is no place for a tortoise or a stationary car!
• If possible, try not to handle the tortoise – they usually react adversely to being picked up. Though if you need to, then gently pick it up – but be cautious of the mouth as they can bite and may scratch with their feet.
• When picking the tortoise up, keep it horizontal. Using two hands, hold the tortoise firmly on both sides of its body right in front of its back legs. Keep the tortoise in its normal walking position (horizontal). Be aware that tortoises can urinate in fear, and if, in a drought-stricken area, this loss of water can be dangerous or even fatal!
• Do not put the tortoise in your car and drive it to a “better spot”. Rather safely remove it from the road and place it on the side in which he was heading towards, otherwise it will most likely turn around and try to cross the road again!
By all means, when you see a tortoise on the road these holidays stop if you’re able to and make sure it moves off to the side of the road safely, snap some pictures as well if you want, but letting it go on its way is the best thing you can do for them.
They came thundering from all sides, driven by a primordial instinct and sucked in by the cacophony and energy of those already crossing, plunging into the Mara River. Seemingly without a care, they chanced their luck against the current, the rocks and the crocs. Chaotic, pulsating, exhilarating…
The day started like any other on my Serengeti safari – early. The mocking chats and freckled nightjars were stridently leading the dawn chorus as my guide Frank and I chugged out of camp. Most guests were still sleeping or enjoying a mug of coffee with scrambled eggs and flapjacks. Little did we know that this would be no ordinary day…
The previous day, we had enjoyed bucket list bliss as a 30-minute stream of thousands of wildebeest and zebra crossing the Mara River in front of us, with four going down to massive Nile crocodiles that seemed to lurk everywhere, biding their time and choosing their victims wisely. All four victims were young wildebeest that had strayed from the safety of thousands of churning hooves; their agonised cries drowned out by the cacophony.
Later that day, we found two black rhinos on the open plains, completing the Big 5 sightings within 24 hours of my arrival.
My special request for the day was to look for rufous-tailed weavers, northern Tanzania being the only place in the world where they are found. After hours of searching, we found a flock of six weavers working the short grass for insects and seeds a few metres away from the bush track. This is a robust weaver, with piercing bright blue eyes – a ‘lifer’ for me.
We also got caught in a sudden thunderstorm and took shelter in a copse of thorn trees. After the refreshing downpour, we hit the tracks again, Earth’s pheromones infusing us with a sense of her fecundity and of exuberant celebration. Flying ants were emerging, much to the delight of a pair of feasting bat-eared foxes, and countless mongooses, hornbills and toads that gobbled up this rich protein bonus. A good day indeed and typical of Tanzania’s diverse safari offerings!
And so, today we planned to trundle around and enjoy whatever Africa delivered. We had packed breakfast and lunch – this was to be a long, exploratory day out. Our route took us through the nearby rocky kopjes, in search of the leopard and her large male cub we had watched the day before harassing a pair of ostriches, while several oribi whistled their angst at the presence of the spotted ones.
After an hour or so of bumbling around, we crested a rise and gazed down towards the Kenyan side of the Mara, to see if any wildebeest were gathering. Indeed, they were.
The riverbank and beyond was black with wildebeest – with a few bunches of zebras breaking the black background.
By some stroke of luck, the first of the wildebeest hit the water the exact second we parked on an elevated peninsula directly opposite. What followed blew my mind. A thick column of wildebeest some 30-across forded the river directly towards us. Initially, they aimed for a narrow gully to our right, but then the leaders stopped in their tracks, suddenly unsure of that route. By now hundreds were pouring into the river from several places on the opposite bank, and the bottleneck in the water ballooned before the decision was made to veer to our left and stream up a narrow gully a few metres from us.
Chaos reigned, as some animals were trampled in the panic to clamber up the gully to our left – often with three or four animals barging into a space fit for one. By now wildebeest and zebras were bursting out of the woodland from all sides on the opposite bank and galloping towards the crossing point, crashing down into the water, splitting as they reached us, and climbing up the bank on both sides of us! (Note that our vehicle was on a high peninsula and not obstructing the path of the herd in any way.)
The noise was deafening and the energy levels high – overpowering in fact. It was about 20 minutes later, with many tens of thousands having crossed, when someone called full-time, and those remaining on the opposite bank pulled back to regroup for the next attempt. In less time, this crossing saw several times the number of animals than yesterday’s crossing.
Amongst the chaos two more crocs hit paydirt, dragging their bellowing victims below the swirling waters before sealing the kill with violent death rolls.
Watch a video of the wildebeests and zebras crossing the Mara River, filmed by Simon Espley and Frank Gabriel, below
Zebras seemed slightly more organised, more alert to danger, pickier about when and where to cross. One group chose to cross a few metres upstream from the tightly-packed thrashing wildebeest horde, creating a bow wave to push along a tiny foal with wide eyes. The tiny rocking horse scrambled and surfed to shore, shook himself off a few metres from us and staggered off to follow his herd.
Emotionally exhausted and with sore eyes, I took the time to scan the other vehicles and saw awestruck onlookers and several sets of children enjoying the excitement. We retreated from the mayhem and found a quiet spot for some succour and reflection. And breakfast. Nothing like a delicious bush breakfast in the cool shade of a balanites tree, with the savannah vista stretching out below us.
These crossings were right up there with my most extraordinary wildlife encounters on this vast continent I am lucky enough to call home. These natural phenomena cast a spell on me, reminding me that we are all just minor actors in the theatre of life. All of us. That throng of wildebeest reminded me of crowds waiting to cross a busy city street or board the underground train, packed tightly and subject to that group energy, that sense of going with the flow.
After a few days of river crossings in northern Serengeti, I caught a short flight to the central plains of the Seronera area. From the air, I saw lines of wildebeest plodding south, towards these plains, in anticipation of the coming rains. But the central plains were still dry during my brief stay – the short grass corn-yellow, and swirling dust devils betraying the bone-dry soil.
In my three days here I saw nary a wildebeest, although zebras were scattered here and there, scavenging on patches of burnt ground with mere millimetres of green grass, perhaps sprouted in anticipation of the coming rains. There were Thomson’s and Grant’s gazelle everywhere, often in large gatherings. And lions. We stopped counting lions after a while, so many were there. We also found a few leopards and cheetahs, but lion encounters defined this part of my safari.
The big cats were hanging in at the peak of the dry season, waiting for the rains and the herds to arrive. Ribs were showing on tawny muscular bodies, and the sense of anticipation was palpable. Pity the first arrivals from the north…
The Great Wildebeest Migration is a never-ending pursuit of nutritious grazing by the two million-strong wildebeest and zebra herds of the Mara-Serengeti ecosystem. In the northern-most months of this roughly circular annual journey, the herds have to cross firstly the Grumeti River and then the Mara River en-route north and again on the return journey south. Often various herds wander back and forth across the rivers, as they seek out the best grazing.
The Mara River usually offers the most dramatic crossings, because it is wider and deeper than the Grumeti. There are also a few places, such as the Sand River, where the herds can cross without getting their feet wet. This crossing process ebbs and flows every season, and timing is entirely dependent on the rains. These crossings are the most popular tourism aspect of the Great Wildebeest Migration, and the most popular northern hemisphere holiday month of August is prime time, although crossings can be viewed at any time from June to November.
Serengeti National Park, in northern Tanzania, comprises almost 15,000 km² of predominantly rolling grasslands, savannah, riverine forest and woodlands.
This vast landscape forms part of the unfenced Mara-Serengeti ecosystem that spans Kenya and Tanzania. It plays host to the Great Wildebeest Migration, also offering regular sightings of the Big 5 (lion, leopard, elephant, buffalo and rhino) as well as zebras, crocodiles, hippos, giraffes, various antelope species and good populations of cheetahs, hyenas and wild dogs, and smaller species such as serval and bat-eared fox.
The name Serengeti is derived from the Maa word ‘siringet’, which refers to a “place where the land runs forever”.
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Simon was hosted at Lemala’s camps, lodges and villas in Tanzania: Lemala Kuria Hills Lodge, Lemala Ewanjan Tented Camp, and Lemala Kili Villas.
LEMALA KURIA HILLS LODGE
Lemala Kuria Hills Lodge is perched amongst massive boulders on a rocky kopje in the Wogakurya Hills of northern Serengeti National Park in Tanzania, a short game drive from the Mara River and the Kogatende airstrip. Each of the 15 glass-fronted guest tents has been discretely positioned amongst the boulders to ensure privacy and spectacular views, and the main lodge area enjoys sweeping views from the bar, wooden deck and swimming pool areas.
Simon’s highlights
“I enjoyed that Kuria Hills is perched on a rocky kopje, looking down over the plains. The camp area is alive with birds, and I enjoyed pairing my late afternoon high tea with watching the white-headed and spot-flanked barbets compete with brown parrots and Fischer’s lovebirds for ripe figs in the huge fig tree hanging over the wooden deck of the main area. Watch out for the large cranky male buffaloes that hang out amongst the guest units, and always call for an askari to escort you from your room to the main area. There is an awesome sundowner spot on the rocks immediately next to the lodge.”
LEMALA EWANJAN TENTED CAMP
Lemala Ewanjan Tented Camp is an authentic tented camp, with a decidedly colonial explorer feel to it. The camp is positioned in a quiet valley, near to the vast central plains of Seronera in the Serengeti National Park, but away from the busy main game drive routes. The 12-tented camp is positioned to provide access to the Great Wildebeest Migration from November to January as the herd heads south from the Mara River to the Ndutu Plains further south, and again during April to June as the herds head north again. The Seronera area enjoys year-round wildlife viewing and has a large population of resident big cats.
Simon’s highlights
“I enjoyed the large tents, with their creaky wooden floorboards and colonial-era furnishing. This camp made me feel like an explorer, an adventurer. Freshly-brewed early morning coffee on my private verandah was a camp highlight, looking out over the savannah packed with zebras and Thomson’s and Grant’s gazelles, and watching the stunning white-headed buffalo weavers and D’Arnaud’s barbets work the camp area for scraps. Sundowner drinks at the fire were always memorable, complete with awesome conversations and of course, yet another amazing sunset.”
LEMALA KILI VILLAS
The four Lemala Kili Villas are located on a private wildlife and golf estate on the outskirts of Arusha in Tanzania. These villas offer the ideal overnight stay before or after your safari, being a short drive from both Arusha and Kilimanjaro Airports. Each of the four villas is self-contained, with its own team – ideal for small groups and families.
Simon’s highlights
“I enjoyed the laid-back, homely feel about my villa. The villa is large, and has a rambling feel about it, without losing personality. I arrived after a long day of travelling between camps in the Serengeti and immediately relaxed into the rhythm of the place. A short walk along the golf course produced some excellent last-minute birding bonanzas and dinner on the verandah was the perfect end to my Serengeti safari.”
Image caption: Simon with photographer Frank Gabriel
Simon Espley is an African of the digital tribe, a chartered accountant and CEO of Africa Geographic. His travels in Africa are in search of wilderness, real people with interesting stories and elusive birds. He lives in South Africa 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 latest update of the IUCN Red List of Threatened Species has revealed that overfishing is causing fish species in parts of the developing world to decline. According to the updated list, 54 fish species from two important fisheries are threatened by unsustainable fishing.
Nine percent of the 458 fish species assessed in Lake Malawi are at high risk of extinction, causing concern for regional food security. Three out of the four species of Chambo (Oreochromis karongae, Oreochromis squamipinnis, Oreochromis lidole) – Malawi’s most economically valuable fish – are ‘Critically Endangered’.
Chambo fisheries are now on the brink of collapse. Over one-third of Malawians depend on Lake Malawi, Africa’s third-largest lake, for their food and livelihoods. Similar findings were highlighted in a recent report from the Lake Victoria Basin, where three-quarters of all endemic freshwater species are threatened. Local livelihoods in several East African countries dependent on resources from these lakes are threatened by unsustainable fishing.
“At least two billion people depend directly on inland freshwater fisheries such as Lake Malawi for their survival,” says William Darwall, Head of IUCN’s Freshwater Species Unit. “Almost 80% of catch from freshwater fisheries comes from food-deficit countries – where the general population does not have sufficient food to meet recommended daily calorie intake – yet freshwater resources are not prioritised on national or international agendas.”
Meanwhile, the first reassessment of all 167 species of grouper – an economically valuable iconic type of sea bass occurring widely in the Atlantic, Caribbean and Indo-Pacific regions – confirms that 13% are threatened by overfishing. Local communities in developing tropical and sub-tropical countries are particularly impacted.
However, there was good news for the fin whale, which has improved in status from ‘Endangered’ to ‘Vulnerable’ following bans on whaling, and the mountain gorilla subspecies, which has moved from ‘Critically Endangered’ to ‘Endangered’ thanks to collaborative conservation efforts.
The IUCN Red List now includes 96,951 species of which 26,840 are threatened with extinction.
There are more gorillas in the mist – a rare conservation success story, scientists say. After facing near-extinction, mountain gorillas are slowly rebounding. On Wednesday, the Switzerland-based International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) updated mountain gorillas’ status from ‘Critically endangered’ to ‘Endangered’, a more promising, if still precarious, designation. There are now just over 1,000 of the animals in the wild, up from an estimated population of 680 a decade ago.
“In the context of crashing populations of wildlife around the world, this is a remarkable conservation success,” said Tara Stoinski, president and chief scientist of the Dian Fossey Gorilla Fund.
The Atlanta-based nonprofit is named for the primate researcher whose work helped draw international attention to mountain gorillas and whose memoir became the basis for the 1988 Sigourney Weaver film, Gorillas in the Mist.
“This is a beacon of hope – and it’s happened in recently war-torn and still very poor countries,” said Stoinski, who is also a member of the IUCN’s primate specialist group, which recommended the status change.
Mountain gorillas live in lush and misty forests along a range of dormant volcanoes in east Africa. Their habitat falls inside national parks spanning parts of Rwanda and neighbouring countries Uganda and the Democratic Republic of the Congo.
Fossey, who died in 1985, had projected that the primates may be extinct by 2000. Instead, their populations have been slowly increasing thanks to sustained and well-funded international conservation efforts.
“We have made progress in terms of their protection, in terms of allowing an environment where mountain gorillas can continue to thrive and grow,” said Anna Behm Masozera, director of the International Gorilla Conservation Program, based in Kigali, Rwanda. “But it’s important to note that mountain gorillas’ numbers could still slip back very quickly. We still have just two fragile and small populations,” split between two national park areas.
Several factors have enabled mountain gorillas’ modest rebound, said Masozera. The three governments have stepped up enforcement of national park boundaries — areas where hunting, logging and paved roads are illegal.
Tourism helps too: Visitors pay up to $1,500 an hour to watch gorillas, money that helps pay for park rangers.
“Primate ecotourism, done right, can be a really significant force for funding conservation,” said Russ Mittermeier, chief conservation officer at Global Wildlife Conservation. “It gives local governments and communities a tangible economic incentive to protect these habitats and species.”
There’s also health care. Gorilla Doctors, a nongovernmental group, has trained veterinary staff in each of the countries where the mountain gorillas live. Hunting in the national parks is illegal, but nearby residents still set traps to catch other animals, such as antelopes. Those traps can also grab gorillas’ arms and legs.
When gorillas are found struggling with snares, the vets are called in to clean wounds. Kirsten Gilardi, U.S. director for the organisation, called it “extreme conservation”.
Other experts said emergency vet interventions play a significant role in maintaining mountain gorilla populations.
“It’s a total conservation win, and there aren’t that many of them,” said Gilardi.
The International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) Red List of Threatened Species is once again drawing attention to the plight of giraffe. The IUCN Red List reveals that they are in serious trouble, with some now being considered as ‘Critically Endangered’. Many people first became aware of the declining numbers of the iconic giraffe when they were uplisted to ‘Vulnerable’ on the IUCN Red List in 2016. Today’s IUCN update comes as a further reminder that some of the currently IUCN-recognised giraffe subspecies are in real trouble.
The conservation status of seven of the currently IUCN-recognised nine giraffe subspecies has been assessed – five of these subspecies for the first time ever. For many, it comes as a shock that three of the giraffe subspecies are now listed as ‘Critically Endangered’ (Kordofan and Nubian giraffe) and ‘Endangered’ (Reticulated giraffe), while others range from ‘Vulnerable’ (Thornicroft’s and West African giraffe) to ‘Near Threatened’ (Rothschild’s giraffe). Only Angolan giraffe – with their stronghold in Botswana, Namibia and Zimbabwe – seem to be out of trouble and are listed as ‘Least Concern’. Only the South African and Masai giraffe are yet to be assessed. While South African giraffe appear to be doing well, Masai giraffe have plummeted and will most likely be placed within one of the threatened categories of the IUCN Red List.
The updated assessments of these giraffe subspecies were undertaken by the IUCN Species Survival Commission (SSC) Giraffe & Okapi Specialist Group (GOSG), which is hosted by the Giraffe Conservation Foundation (GCF), and the Zoological Society of London (ZSL) – who already, two years ago, sounded the alarm for the ‘silent extinction’ of giraffe.
“Whilst giraffe are commonly seen on safari, in the media, and in zoos, people – including conservationists – are unaware that these majestic animals are undergoing a silent extinction. While giraffe populations in southern Africa are doing just fine, the world’s tallest animal is under severe pressure in some of its core ranges across East, Central and West Africa. It may come as a shock that three of the currently recognised nine subspecies are now considered ‘Critically Endangered’ or ‘Endangered’, but we have been sounding the alarm for a few years now.” – says Dr Julian Fennessy, co-chair of the IUCN SSC GOSG, and Director of the Giraffe Conservation Foundation (GCF).
In spite of this, there is also positive news in this latest IUCN announcement. Two subspecies that were previously considered ‘Endangered’ (West African and Rothschild’s giraffe) have since improved their conservation status. Concerted efforts by African governments and conservation organisations, under the guidance and support of GCF, have resulted in increasing numbers of both subspecies, and as a result have been downlisted to ‘Vulnerable’ and ‘Near Threatened’, respectively.
“This is a conservation success story and highlights the value of making proactive giraffe conservation and management efforts in critical populations across the continent. Working collaboratively with governments and other partners, we feel that our proactive measures are saving giraffe in some areas before it is too late. It is now timely to increase our efforts, especially for those listed as ‘Critically Endangered’ and ‘Endangered’.” – says Arthur Muneza, East-Africa Coordinator of the Giraffe Conservation Foundation, and member of the IUCN SSC GOSG.
While IUCN still recognises giraffe as one species with nine subspecies, detailed collaborative genetic-based research carried out by GCF and its partners, and Senckenberg BiK highlights that there are four distinct species of giraffe – elevating some of the newly assessed subspecies to species level. While this might appear an academic exercise, the conservation implications are immense and they need to be reviewed as a matter of urgency. The Northern giraffe (Giraffa camelopardalis) – which includes the ‘Critically Endangered’ Kordofan and Nubian giraffe, and the ‘Vulnerable’ West African giraffe – and Reticulated giraffe (Giraffa reticulata) can be considered some of the most threatened large mammals in the wild, showing less than 5,200 and 15,785 individuals remaining in the wild, respectively.
Common name
Previous Red List status
Updated Red List status
Kordofan giraffe
Not assessed
Critically Endangered
Nubian giraffe
Not assessed
Critically Endangered
Reticulated giraffe
Not assessed
Endangered
Thornicroft’s giraffe
Not assessed
Vulnerable
West African giraffe
Endangered (2008)
Vulnerable
Rothschild’s giraffe
Endangered (2010)
Near Threatened
Angolan giraffe
Not assessed
Least Concern
Masai giraffe
Not assessed
Not assessed
South African giraffe
Not assessed
Not assessed
Human population growth poses the largest threat to giraffe in Africa today. Habitat loss and changes through expanding agriculture and mining, illegal hunting, increasing human-wildlife conflict, and civil unrest are all factors that are pushing giraffe towards extinction. However, with GCF giraffe have a strong advocate.
Steph Fennessy, Director of GCF and member of the IUCN SSC GOSG, points out that “the updated IUCN Red List assessment highlights what we have been saying for years: giraffe are in trouble and there is no one solution to giraffe conservation in Africa. Different scenarios require different approaches. As a small but impactful organisation, GCF works with partners throughout Africa to enhance giraffe conservation on the ground and, at the same time, collaborates internationally to rally support and awareness for giraffe, which will ultimately help to save them in the wild.”
The Giraffe Conservation Foundation (GCF) is the only organisation in the world that concentrates solely on the conservation and management of giraffe in the wild, throughout Africa. Currently working in twelve African countries, GCF is dedicated to a sustainable future for all giraffe populations in the wild, and seeks to provide a range of appropriate technical and financial support to partners, including several African governments, to help save giraffe before it is too late.
A new parliamentary report has called for a ban on captive lion breeding for hunting and the lion bone trade in South Africa. The Portfolio Committee on Environmental Affairs (PCEA) on Thursday, 8th November, adopted a report of the two-day colloquium that was held on captive lion breeding and the hunting of lions for bones on 21 – 22 August 2018. The PCEA requested that the Department of Environmental Affairs urgently initiates a policy and legislative review with a view of putting an end to the practice of breeding lions for hunting and the bone trade.
Entitled Captive Lion Breeding for Hunting and Bone Trade in South Africa, the 24-page report found that captive lion breeding held no conservation value. There was no evidence to support the flawed, minority-held, argument that the captive-bred lion industry is “a well-regulated, manageable industry that contributes way more positively to South Africa than negatively”.
The report further asserts that the South African government should rethink its policy stance on the captive lion breeding industry, which runs the risk of making the country an “international pariah”.
It was also recommended that the government should reconsider the decision to increase the lion bone trade quota from 800 to 1,500 lion skeletons, stating that the decision was informed by commercial considerations, as opposed to science. There are also ethical, welfare and brand concerns relating to the captive lion breeding and hunting industries, according to the report.
The report contains the views of representatives of local pro-hunting and conservation organisations, as well as international organisations like the IUCN, who spoke against the industry calling on the South African Government to terminate this practice.
Customs officers stand next to part of a 33 rhino horn shipment seized by customs in Hong Kong. Image source: Reuters / Bobby Yip
BEIJING (Reuters) – China has postponed the lifting of a ban on the trade of rhino horn and tiger parts for medicine and other uses, the government said on Monday, after a storm of protest from conservation groups over a plan to water down the decades-old prohibition.
Environmental groups said lifting of the ban would be disastrous for endangered rhinoceros and tiger populations, even if the animal parts were only sourced from those bred in captivity.
Rhinos and tigers are already under critical pressure from a black market supplying the traditional medicine trade.
The “detailed regulations for implementation” of the October change had been “postponed after study”, the official Xinhua news agency reported, citing State Council Executive Deputy Secretary-General Ding Xuedong.
Under the October plan, exceptions to the ban could be made for parts from those animals, bred in captivity, being used for medical and scientific research, education and “cultural exchanges”.
Ding did not give a reason for postponing the change, or indicate if it would be permanent, but said the old ban remained in force.
“The ‘three strict bans’ will continue to be enforced: strictly ban the import and export of rhinos, tigers and their byproducts; strictly ban the sale, purchase, transport, carrying and mailing of rhinos, tigers and their byproducts; and strictly ban the use of rhino horns and tiger bones in medicine,” Ding said.
China would continue to “organize special crackdown campaigns” with a focus on “addressing the illegal trade of rhinos, tigers and their byproducts”.
“Illegal acts will be dealt with severely,” Ding said.
Conservation groups argue that easing the ban would be devastating for efforts to protect tigers and rhinos because it would confuse consumers and authorities as to which products were legal and which not, and expand markets for them.
China banned trade in tiger bones and rhino horns 25 years ago as part of global efforts to save the animals.
Commercial tiger farms are legal in China, and although using tiger bones in medicine was banned, tiger parts from farms often end up in tonics or other medicines, animal rights groups say.
Photography is all about light. Visiting one of Africa’s magnificent wild places is always an adventure, but experiencing it in great light can make it an out-of-this-world experience that you’ll remember for a lifetime. In the early morning and late afternoon, the low-lying sun brings out an array of colours that add a magical touch to the scenery. Sudden dust storms or seasonal cloud cover also create unique lighting conditions, transforming a wild place into a fairyland. These are the best opportunities for extraordinary wilderness experiences and for capturing stunning photographs.
We want to celebrate Africa’s extraordinary light by sharing some remarkable images captured on slide film in Namibia.
Sossusvlei in the Namib Desert is usually just a dry, white clay pan surrounded by mighty dunes. Every five to eight years, however, the pan is flooded by the Tsauchab River during times of exceptional rainfall along the escarpment a hundred kilometres further east. This photo was taken just a few minutes before sunset, after waiting two hours for the sun to reappear from behind the clouds in the west.
The first light at the Quiver Tree Forest in southern Namibia conjures a golden glow onto the trees. The Quiver Tree Forest is a prime example of the dramatic diurnal light changes. When visited at noon, the area looks rather bleak and harsh, but when the sun stands low in the early morning and late afternoon, the scenery transforms into a fairy landscape.
In the early morning light, the gravel plains west of Sesriem shine with warm colours. Within days of a rare rainstorm, the rather monochrome desert landscape transforms into a colourful carpet of greens and yellows from sprouting grass and flowering devil’s thorn.
Mighty dunes surround the dry Sossusvlei. In the late afternoon, the beautiful shapes of the dunes, combined with the fascinating play of light and shade, offer endless possibilities for stunning images.
Baobab and palm trees surround the Epupa Falls along the Kunene River in north-western Namibia. Where the river suddenly drops in a series of waterfalls, it produces a deafening sound of thunder and throws white columns of spray into the air. Add picturesque baobab trees balancing on rock outcrops amidst the cascades, and you’ve got a magic water world.
A dramatic sunset at the Fairy Tale Forest in the Etosha National Park after a heavy rainstorm has just passed. When the sunlight finally breaks through in the western sky, it pours a symphony of colours onto the flooded savanna that just an hour earlier resembled a barren desert.
An aerial view of the landscape near Sossusvlei with soft cloud shadows offers a glimpse into the vastness of the Namib Desert. When experienced by road or on foot, the desert is grand, but it’s even more breathtakingly beautiful when seen from the air. The change in perspective truly opens up a new world.
An elephant herd passes in front of a pink sunset sky in Etosha National Park. There is not the slightest sound coming from the procession of giants walking past, several tons heavy but quiet as mice. They soon fade in the dusty twilight before they are finally lost in the dark.
Deadvlei, with its bizarre dead Acacia trees, offers countless photographic possibilities. However, this image can only be captured within a short window at sunset, when the pan floor is already in shade and the dune behind is still illuminated by the setting sun.
Elim Dune near Sesriem offers a magnificent view towards the Naukluft mountains at sunset. In the rainy season, a soft carpet of grass and clouds in the sky can enhance the magical atmosphere.
Cloud shadows over the plains and dunes of the Namib Desert near Sesriem transform the scenery into a painting. This array of pastel colours is a rare but extraordinary sight in this desert landscape.
Giraffes walk across the grassy plains north of Okaukuejo in the Etosha National Park. The dry season, with its clear sky and dusty landscapes, offers great opportunities for animal silhouettes against the setting sun.
The Spitzkoppe skyline under a clouded sky glows in the last sun rays of the day. Photographed at dusk or dawn, the granite takes on a pleasing warm colour with an orange tint, offering strong photographic opportunities with its variety of shapes.
THE PHOTOGRAPHERS, CLAUDIA & WYNAND DU PLESSIS
Professional nature photographers Claudia and Wynand du Plessis have lived and photographed in Namibia for more than 25 years. Their heart and photographic passion lie in the African wilderness, especially the wildlife of Etosha and the Namib Desert in Namibia. Photos featured here are from their calendar AFRICAN LIGHT 2019. Other Namibia calendars now available are WILD NAMIBIA 2019, AFRICAN WILDLIFE 2019 and ELEPHANTS 2019 (all available on Amazon in Germany, the UK, France, Italy and Spain). For more information, visit the website here.
The dart lands just below her left shoulder. Gashangi, a 33-year-old mountain gorilla, reacts as though stung by a bee. She swipes a large hand toward her perceived antagonist but is unable to reach the feathered projectile. A few moments later, she gets up and begins to move off through the lush montane vegetation towards the rest of her family. The bright red dart falls off when she attempts to squeeze her substantial body through the thick patch of Galium and Urera vines where she had been feeding. Veterinarian Eddy Kabale picks it up from the ground and nods towards his colleagues. The medicine has been injected; there is nothing more they can do. He collects his gear and readies himself to set off through Virunga’s nearly impenetrable jungle once again. It is already mid-afternoon, high time to return to the park’s well-protected headquarters.
Straddling Rwanda, Uganda, and the Democratic Republic of Congo (DR Congo), the misty Virunga mountains are home to just over half of the world’s 1,004 mountain gorillas with others found in protected areas like Biega National Park. Together with Uganda’s Bwindi Impenetrable Forest National Park, they make up the species’ last remaining refuge. But Virunga National Park, Africa’s oldest and once its most biodiverse, plays host to regular human conflict and was occupied by the rebel group M23 as recently as 2012.he first time.
One hundred and forty park rangers have lost their lives in the battle for the park and its nonhuman inhabitants since 1994, and numerous gorillas have fallen victim to bullets, machetes and snares. Park director Emmanuel de Merode was nearly killed in an ambush scant days before the Gashangi intervention, taking four bullets in the stomach and legs.
While the courage and dedication of Virunga’s rangers have played a significant role in the astonishing recovery of the mountain gorilla population, there is another group whose tireless efforts are equally important.
Gorilla Doctors is a non-profit organisation made up of a dozen or so local veterinarians in DR Congo, Rwanda, and Uganda, as well as several international experts and the occasional volunteer. Their mandate is to monitor the populations of mountain and Grauer’s gorillas – the two subspecies that live in the Congo Basin – and, when the life or well-being of an individual gorilla or family group is at stake, intervene.
The ailments that require interventions are often caused by humans – injuries from snares and, with increasing frequency, respiratory diseases contracted directly from people visiting the gorillas or living in their vicinity, or from their livestock – but injuries from falls and fights are treated as well. As there are so few mountain gorillas left, each individual’s life is considered essential for the species’ survival.
Kabale had arrived at the Virunga National Park headquarters in Rumangabo two days earlier. Meeting him there were the organisation’s regional director, a German volunteer, and Alisa Kubala, a veterinarian and PhD student who is conducting a study of cross-species disease transmission. Gorillas and humans share 98.5% of their genetic makeup, leaving them susceptible to many of the same infections. Yet gorillas, long confined to small, isolated habitats, have had no opportunity to build up immunity against diseases such as influenza.
Twenty percent of sudden gorilla deaths are believed to be caused by infectious respiratory disease, second only to trauma; many of these likely originate with human pathogens. Kubala is particularly interested in whether mountain and Grauer’s gorillas are susceptible to contracting malaria since climate change is bringing mosquitoes to the previously mosquito-free elevations where they spend their lives.
The reason for this visit was not malaria research, however, but the annual health examinations of four orphan mountain gorillas who live at the Senkwekwe Sanctuary at park headquarters: Ndeze, Ndakasi, Maisha, and Matabishi.
The team of veterinarians was also here to see a newly arrived Grauer’s gorilla, Kalonge, who had just finished her quarantine period and needed to be thoroughly examined for the first time.
The sanctuary cares for mountain gorillas orphaned through poaching or the illegal wildlife trade and is the only one of its kind in the world. New arrivals always go through a quarantine period and an extensive health examination before being allowed any contact with the other gorillas. Kalonge had been caught in a snare and found by a group of young boys; they brought her to their chief, who contacted the authorities.
Sedating the older gorillas for their examinations turned out to be more difficult than one might expect. The animals are intelligent and experienced enough to know that they won’t be darted in the head or while standing up – knowledge they exploited without hesitation and sometimes with humorous defiance, lazily swinging back and forth on the room’s rope swing before laying down on the ground, shuffling around to keep their heads facing the veterinarians.
It took almost half an hour to get a clean shot at Maisha, a 9-year-old female and the little group’s matriarch, but once that was done – with a dart containing ketamine and xylazine – the work proceeded without further complications. The four doctors, working on the floor around the still gorilla, quickly concluded that all was well and that Maisha appeared to be in good health. [Editorial comment: Since the story’s original publication, Maisha has died after a very long illness – the doctors could not come up with a conclusive diagnosis]
Next up was little Kalonge. When Philippe Bitege, one of the gorillas’ full-time caretakers at Senkwekwe, carried her in, she was already sedated. Kabale estimated that she was about two years old, and unlike the four mountain gorillas, she was small enough to be examined on a table. The caretakers and veterinarians were reasonably sure that she was a Grauer’s gorilla. Still, before she could be moved from Senkwekwe to GRACE – a sanctuary dedicated to that subspecies of gorilla – samples would have to be sent abroad for DNA analysis.
Kalonge’s examination was more thorough than Maisha’s, because it was the first one since her quarantine ended, but she too was found to be in good health. When she began to awaken, she immediately reached for the safety of Philippe’s arms.
Ndakasi, unfortunately, was not doing so well. Her tuberculosis test was positive, and her mouth, tongue and throat were covered with lesions. Her breathing appeared to cease several times during the examination; Kubala was tasked with keeping an eye on Ndakasi’s chest and warning the others if her breathing became too irregular. Despite these concerns, the examination was quick and efficient. Kabale, who is to remain in Rumangabo when the rest of the team returns to Rwanda, would continue to monitor Ndakasi carefully for another week and then again on his next monthly visit to the sanctuary.
Before the veterinarians were able to begin the next examination on the following morning, there was another job to do. One of the gorillas inside the park had been ill for some time. A tumour was making it difficult for her to swallow, and her lips were torn. She needed urgent medical attention. After a quick meal of rice and beans, the team set off towards Bukima, where the gorilla’s family was last seen.
Bukima is the starting point for all gorilla trekking in Virunga National Park. Here, the gorillas live side by side with farmers, and to reach the barbed wire separating the forest from the fields, the team first had to pass through a scattered local settlement. One of the rangers accompanying the veterinarians enlarged the gap between the bottom wire and the ground enough for the others to crawl through.
They continued in silence, walking in single file, and after an hour, made contact with two trackers. These men had been in the forest since the early morning to locate Gashangi, the sick gorilla. Kabale sat down on the damp ground and began his preparations, checking the dart gun that he would use to inject the medicine.
A whispered conversation with the trackers followed. What they were doing was not entirely without risk. The idea was to find Gashangi and separate her from the rest of the family, particularly the silverback. Gorillas are rarely aggressive, but a dominant male will protect his family. If he charged, treating Gashangi would become difficult.
But the family patriarch was busy enjoying his afternoon meal, and the patient was soon found, already isolated from the other family members. Her movement through the thick vegetation made it difficult for Kabale to get a clean shot, and it was almost half an hour before he dared to pull the trigger. A missed shot does not mean merely wasted medicine – it might very well mean a wasted day. A few years earlier, an intervention in Uganda ended up taking a full four days and more than 30 hours of trekking through rough terrain, so it is better to avoid taking unnecessary risks.
Alas, the intervention wouldn’t save Gashangi’s life – but there was never much hope of that. She suffered from malignant skin cancer, and there was nothing Kabale or anyone else could have done to prevent her death. But a number of the trackers suspected her to be pregnant, so Gorilla Doctors were hoping that an experimental treatment – an expensive vaccine that had proven successful in mice, dogs and humans – would reduce pain and delay death long enough for her baby to be born.
As it turned out, she wasn’t pregnant, and Gashangi died two days after the last of four vaccinations. But the intervention shows just how far Kabale and his fellow veterinarians are willing to go for even the remotest chance of saving a life.
As humans encroach on gorilla habitat for farmland, oil and charcoal, and as increasing temperatures and rainfall invite more pathogens, Gorilla Doctors’ work becomes ever more critical.
Facing challenges like gruelling treks through inhospitable territory and armed rebels, poachers, and outlaws, these veterinarians and rangers routinely risk their lives for our wild relatives. The future of these gorillas is anything but secure, but it would doubtlessly be far bleaker if it were not for Gorilla Doctors.
Marcus Westberg is an acclaimed photographer and writer, focusing primarily on conservation and development issues in Sub-Saharan Africa. A photojournalism finalist in the 2015 Wildlife Photographer of the Year, Marcus works closely with several non-profit organisations and projects across the continent. He is a conservation and community development advisor for Luambe Conservation in Zambia.
The name of the fabled Serengeti is derived from the Maa word siringet, which refers to a “place where the land runs forever”. Likewise, the Maasai Mara gets its name from the Maa word for “spotted,” in reference to the acacia thickets which are sprinkled across the savanna. Together, these regions of Tanzania and Kenya comprise the expansive Serengeti-Mara ecosystem, and it’s no coincidence that the Maasai people have identified these wildlife-rich habitats according to their physical features since time immemorial.
The rolling plains, winding serpentine waterways, and sparse-yet-mysterious riverine woodlands resonate deeply with something in the human spirit. They are the backdrop to an endless drama of predator and prey; in them, we glimpse something of the infinite struggle of man and nature – perhaps even something of our own origin. But these apparently timeless landscapes may not be as eternal and unchanging as they appear. In fact, they may have once looked quite different.
If you could step into the Maasai Mara of two hundred years ago, you’d be surprised at what you might see. Rather than driving across endless plains baking under a red African sun, you might stride beneath the dappled shade of a mature-growth forest of Acacia and Combretum. You might pick your way carefully amongst tangled thickets of Croton thornbush, hoping to avoid the very real possibility of stumbling across a leopard waiting out the heat of the day in the dense cover.
Unless you came to a break in the trees, you might not see the blue haze of the Oloololo Escarpment in the far distance, nor would you obtain an uninterrupted vista of the wild sprawl of the bush. You would be forgiven, in fact, for thinking that you were not in East Africa at all.
Researchers have been able to put this evocative picture together by extensively consulting the historical record: written journals, game wardens’ diaries, and hunters’ observations have all played their part. Scientists have also compared contemporary photographs with pictures of the same locations from previous decades, and they’ve used modern tools to determine the age of living trees.
Altogether, the Serengeti-Mara has been studied continuously since the 1950s, allowing us to extrapolate long-term trends that aren’t immediately apparent to visitors in this part of Africa.
One expert on the subject is Dr Colin Beale, an ecologist with the University of York who specialises in spatial processes, from the seasonal movements of individual animals to the greater patterns of entire species.
Colin works with conservation organisations in order to assist with wildlife management policies. Although he’s quick to point out that reserve management decisions should be made by local authorities rather than foreign scientists, his insight is nonetheless an invaluable tool for anyone seeking to understand this complex ecosystem. And he’s seen plenty of complex relationships in the Maasai Mara.
“The grassland-woodland mosaic in the area has changed a lot over long periods of time,” he says, “and elephants, humans, fire, and climate all have a role to play in these changes.” In fact, his research has contributed to a growing body of work that demonstrates that woodland in the Maasai Mara has been in decline for more than a century, resulting in the grassland savanna we know so well. But the reasons for this decline in woodland are manifold.
As Colin suggests, fire is one of the biggest drivers of change – and it’s tied inextricably to human activity. Fires in the Mara are not typically the result of lightning strikes; instead, most are set by Maasai pastoralists.
The fires are used to burn away grass and bush, stimulating a new flush of fresh grass for the purpose of livestock grazing. Other fires are set by reserve authorities under the impetus of park management plans. It’s not uncommon for a given area to be burned in this manner two or even three times per year. Naturally, this repeated activity has a significant impact on the environment, eliminating trees and encouraging the dominance of grassland. Some research even suggests that only fire can change an ecosystem from forest to grassland, though other forces are capable of suppressing new growth and keeping an environment locked into a grassland stage.
So while fire is a major agent of change, it’s not the only contributing factor.
Petter Granli is the president and co-founder of ElephantVoices, a scientific organisation that studies elephant cognition, communication, and social behaviour. With more than 40 years of field research under its belt, the organisation has been able to assist with the management of wild elephant populations by providing important information to the authorities of African reserves – including the Maasai Mara.
Petter was kind enough to lend me some further insight into a few of the challenges facing the Mara’s ecosystem.
“Firewood collection deeper and deeper into the reserve [and] more and more cattle grazing deeper and deeper into the reserve are some of the main ones during recent times,” he says. He also points to research showing that a century’s worth of a deliberate bush-clearing, as part of efforts to eliminate the tsetse fly, has further reduced the reserve’s woodland. These elements have all had a hand in the environment’s gradual loss of forest cover and in the rising prevalence of grassland, and they aren’t going away anytime soon.
With all of these forces exerting sustained pressure on the environment, it’s clear that the gradual transformation of the Mara is an incredibly complicated process with many moving parts. It also seems increasingly likely that humanity may ultimately be the most influential agent of change in the environment; the work of ElephantVoices and other organisations operating in the region has allowed us to realise a greater understanding of our own impact upon places like the Mara.
But even as recently as the 1960s, elephants were being singled out as the primary cause for the destruction of the environment’s mature woodlands. There were even calls for the elephants to be culled in an effort to reduce their impact on the ecosystem, as has been performed in other African countries. But could the situation ever really call for a solution this drastic?
To a certain extent, it’s difficult to imagine that elephants could even be capable of transforming their environment so dramatically. My first encounter with these titans of the Mara occurred some six years ago, in the Paradise Plain in the west of the reserve.
It was a sultry mid-afternoon in August, and most of the plains game were resting languidly, waiting for the heat of the day to subside. It was a pleasant surprise, then, to see a line of three bull elephants emerging from a stand of Commiphora along the riverbank. Each of these bachelors strode confidently abreast of the elephant next to it, and the leftmost amongst them was a real tusker, with incisors big enough to discourage even the most enterprising of adolescent challengers.
But any sense of latent danger was suppressed by the cool, self-assured manner in which the elephants approached the Land Rover. The foremost elephant even advanced to within a few feet of us, extending its trunk to see what could be learned from our scent. Either the elephant was quickly satisfied or we weren’t especially interesting, as it wasn’t long before the three companions ambled past us and into the distant grasses beyond. Yes, it was hard to imagine these gentle giants as a destructive force of nature – but only to a certain extent.
If you’ve ever had the pleasure of seeing a very hungry elephant – or a very determined one – you’ll already appreciate the way in which these animals can easily dig a succulent root from the ground, knock over an acacia, or strip the bark from a baobab. I have personally seen baobab specimens that were virtually destroyed by elephants, as the big animals had been desperate to access the spongy, palatable vegetable matter inside the trunk and had caused heavy damage to the huge trees.
And if trees are already damaged by fire, elephants breaking their branches and removing their bark can make them less likely to recover fully. So perhaps it’s not quite so surprising to learn that herds of elephants can, over a period of years, begin to have an effect on the makeup of vegetation in an ecosystem like the Serengeti-Mara.
While the extent of this impact is hotly debated, most experts do agree that elephants can at least have some influence on their environment. But does that necessarily mean that elephants are engaged in destructive deforestation? Or are they just benevolent gardeners?
To learn more, I spoke with Ethan Kinsey, a professional safari guide who also happens to be an ecologist specialising in biodiversity conservation and management.
When asked whether elephants can be considered a destructive force of nature, Ethan raises a provocative point. “The term ‘destruction’ is a judgement based on how we think something should be,” he says. The handiwork of elephants might be shocking to human observers: pushed over and debarked trees, or a loss of trees in certain areas altogether. But this might represent a natural process rather than a catastrophe.
“I much prefer to think of elephants as ecosystem engineers,” Ethan muses, recognising that the big animals are “essential in terms of seed dispersal, encouraging new growth, and opening up woodlands for grasslands, which then serve a different guild of species.”
In other words, the environment of a wilderness like the Maasai Mara would be poorer in both floral and faunal diversity without the influence of elephants. To the extent that elephants might ever place too much pressure on their environment, he suggests that this would actually be a result of human encroachment. If elephants don’t have the freedom and safety to traverse their traditional migration routes, they can be pushed into smaller areas, where their population builds up into unnatural concentrations and begins to have an effect on the ecosystem.
Petter Granli and his team at ElephantVoices have also observed this phenomenon in the Mara.
“In recent years, fencing has become a major threat to the ecosystem – with elephants being only one species seriously affected,” he cautions. If development continues unchecked without the establishment of sufficient migration corridors, the Mara’s elephants will be boxed into a smaller space and may begin to more seriously damage their habitat. This trend has accelerated over time, corresponding with a general increase in human pressure.
The problem has also been exacerbated by Kenya’s privatisation of previously-communal grazing land; pastoralists are increasingly forced to allow their livestock to graze in prime wildlife habitat, which further degrades its ability to sustain a wide variety of species.
However, it’s important not to let short-term trends dictate the course of conservation efforts, either; all too often, the long-term picture remains unclear. Ecosystems like the Serengeti-Mara experience natural fluctuations and cycles of vegetation; change is quite literally the only constant in the natural world. Managers of game lands might therefore expect to see some waxing and waning of animal populations, as well as plant demographics.
For example, certain parts of the Mara have even experienced a renewed expansion of woodlands as recently as the 1930s and 1940s. And with hundreds of elephants migrating into the Serengeti to escape poaching pressure in the Mara over the last 15 years, we may continue to see changes in the ecosystem’s landscape as the elephant population alters its distribution. That’s why it’s so important to avoid knee-jerk reactions to the appearance of trends like a decline in woodland habitat.
Ethan puts it succinctly: “Savannas do not have a single climax state and are in a constant state of flux.”
He recommends managing a reserve like the Mara for the diversity of habitat, which will naturally result in a healthy diversity of species. This approach will best reward both the animals who live in the habitat and the people who come to see them.
But as Colin Beale reminds us, the responsibility to manage wild habitats like the Maasai Mara ultimately rests with local people. They will be the ones to decide which species to prioritise and what constitutes the ideal habitat for those species. And one Kenyan organisation is already making exciting progress in reforesting the country’s wild places.
“We are wholly owned, self-financed, and operated in Kenya,” says Teddy Kinyanjui, Sustainability Director for Seedballs Kenya. This is an exciting initiative that packages the seeds of indigenous plants – mostly trees – inside small balls of charcoal dust.
These “seedballs” are sold at affordable prices and can simply be tossed into vacant property or distributed aerially over wide tracts of land. The charcoal coating protects the vulnerable seeds from predation and extreme temperatures until they can successfully germinate and take root. While the seedballs are meant to be used all over the country in order to increase forest cover, they’re especially useful in places like the Maasai Mara. That’s why the group has partnered with a number of different conservation organisations.
“All of our Re-Green partners are either companies or individuals who have bought seedballs from us or our conservation partners, with whom we have set up a direct donation portal,” Teddy explains. “People from anywhere in the world can send seedballs to them for distribution and follow-up.”
Some of their partners include the Big Life Foundation, Lion Guardians, and the Mara Elephant Project. These organisations work with Seedballs Kenya to plant olive trees, African cedar trees, nine different Acacia species, and two types of grass in the Serengeti-Mara ecosystem. These species are critical in elephant habitats like the Mara, and this novel method of protecting Kenya’s biodiversity is exactly the sort of ingenuity needed to complement traditional conservation efforts in the country.
Will this be enough to ensure that there is always a place for elephants in East Africa, as well as the habitat necessary to support them?
Just as many forces have shaped the Serengeti-Mara into the ecosystem we recognise today, many forces must come together in order to ensure that the environment remains populated with these charismatic animals, as well as other denizens of the bush. Conservation organisations, government agencies, safari tourists, and regular people all have a part to play in this collaborative endeavour.
But in order to know where you’re going, it helps to know where you’ve started. Understanding the ecological history of places like the Maasai Mara will generate greater recognition of what these reserves require to thrive in the future.
For my own part, I plan to return to the Mara in just a few months. Thanks to the efforts of organisations like ElephantVoices and Seedballs Kenya, as well as the research of scientists like Colin Beale and Ethan Kinsey, I know that I’ll find elephants there. With a lot of hard work and a little luck, I hope that this may always be the case.
The international donor community and governments have invested heavily in fighting illegal wildlife trade, but so far, they haven’t succeeded in ending rhino poaching.New research from UCT shows that for these initiatives to succeed, local communities – many of which live in or near protected areas – need to be involved.
Local communities in rural areas in South Africa tend to be on the periphery of basic service delivery and only a few conservation initiatives partner with or enrol local people in their work. As such, often the only benefits community members can gain from wildlife economies are through poaching.
“During our research, we found that local community members felt that government, conservation authorities and non-governmental organisations valued the lives of wild animals more highly than those of rural black people,” explains Dr Annette Hübschle, the study’s lead author and senior researcher at UCT’s Global Risk Governance Programme.
The study aims to show how to change the incentive structures for members of local communities so that they participate in legal economies rather than illegal wildlife trafficking. Some of the case studies in the report illustrate how former poachers and wildlife traffickers have turned into wildlife guardians.
“In such instances, we have documented examples where poaching numbers were lower than in other protected areas where local communities are excluded from beneficiation, ownership and management,” says Hübschle.
Although the study focused on rhino poaching, its findings and recommendations are applicable to all forms of wildlife trafficking. The pangolin, for example, is now considered the most trafficked animal in the world, and cycads the most threatened plant species.
Serving people or rhinos
While rhinos may be protected by the South African National Defence Force, looked after by wildlife veterinarians and given supplementary food and water by conservation authorities, some of the communities living nearby do not have a permanent police presence, basic healthcare facilities, schools or shops.
“The rhino has its own doctor, its own policeman, its own helicopter, its own land and there are rangers to protect it,” says a local community member from the greater Kruger National Park, South Africa. “We don’t have these things. If the rhino goes extinct tomorrow, maybe we can finally get basic services.”
The report shows that many local communities shield poachers and wildlife criminals from law-enforcement agencies. It also describes the deep rifts and conflicts between actors in the conservation field, most notably, local communities and conservation management authorities.
By giving local communities a voice, the report aims to contribute to a deeper understanding of the lived experiences, systematic exploitation and questionable assumptions of the dominant conservation regime in South Africa.
Empowering communities to conserve
Since the most recent escalation in rhino poaching, most conservation funding has been diverted to anti-poaching initiatives and to the administration costs of projects by international non-governmental organisations and conservation authorities.
The international community is focusing on militarising anti-poaching initiatives, calling for more helicopter gunships, drones and boots on the ground. This has – unintentionally – impeded community-orientated conservation and broad-based economic transformation.
There are, however, limits to what conservation authorities can do to uplift communities that live near national parks. Hübschle highlights the need to “explore other forms of rural employment, resource sharing and income generation beyond hunting, anti-poaching and tourism.”
She recommends that the needs of conservation initiatives be provided through community empowerment projects that contribute to teaching community members the skills to develop and maintain their own projects. Furthermore, women should be involved in mediating positive conservation outcomes.
“Women command considerable power and influence in the communities in question,” Hübschle explains. “In light of the patriarchal structure of many rural African communities, this suggestion may appear counter-intuitive. However, there are countless examples that demonstrate that women can exert a strong influence on conservation outcomes.”
I’ve been re-reading the transcript of the submissions made to the Portfolio Committee of Parliament in Cape Town recently. Some of the arguments advanced on behalf of the hunting industry made me wonder if they were written by a five-year-old child, rather than senior officeholders of hunting associations. Tragically these puerile arguments are accepted as gospel by conservation structures in South Africa.
Here are some howlers, along with my comments:
1. “It was not the practice of canned lion hunting that is damaging the conservation image of the country, it is the activists who keep publicising it. The government should ban people from commenting negatively on canned hunting. South Africa should only show good news and kill the bad news.”
My comment:Yes, this was a serious submission made to Parliament by an executive member of a hunting association. I did not make this up!
2. “The 1000 people who work in the lion sector have a right to earn a living.”
My comment: What a sweeping statement! So everyone has a right to make a living in any way he chooses. Like robbing banks? Surely, this right applies only to occupations that are not harmful. Otherwise, on his claim, you could argue that everyone involved in human trafficking or drug dealing had a right to earn a living in that way. Oh, by the way, the number of workers is grossly exaggerated – a few hundred at most are directly involved in hunting.
3. The DEA should not pay any attention to foreign NGOs who give input on how African wildlife should be managed. The DEA should only listen to Africans. And the Chinese. Not to any western colonial national.
My comment:Does that also mean that the SA government should not listen to any foreign hunting organisations such as Safari Club International?
4. Hunting brings in more than 1 billion rands of foreign currency to South Africa every year.
My comment:Ah! So now the criterion for legitimacy is how much money you make. The argument is that, if the industry makes a lot of money for its members, it should not be banned. On that argument, the sale of narcotic drugs should be legalised immediately since drug dealers surely make many times more money than the lion hunting industry. And what about the human trafficking industry? Should we also legalise that as well because it makes a lot of money for its perpetrators? Surely the question is not how much money an industry makes, but whether it is harmful. That is why human trafficking and drug dealing are banned and it is why canned lion hunting and lion farming should be banned too. How much money the industry makes is completely and utterly irrelevant. We are talking conservation here, not finance.
5. Lions should be hunted because otherwise, they would be “an economic burden on South Africa. One lion consumes food to the value of R120,000 per year. That equated to R250 million in economic value that they ate.”
My comment: Again, I’m not making this stuff up. We must kill lions because they eat too much? Really? Seriously? This is taken verbatim from the transcript.
And it is not only the hunting fraternity that is guilty of muddled reasoning and crooked thinking. Here from the hallowed halls of Oxford University comes a wondrous academic who advances the following perverse reason to promote canned lion hunting and the lion bone trade.
6. According to the precautionary approach, Dr Sas-Rolfes stressed, it should be incumbent upon proponents of a zero quota to provide assurances, backed up by scientific evidence, that it would not lead to expansion of illegal trade and the poaching of wild lions or other wild cat species.
My comment: Wow! Let’s unpack this little gem of logic. The cautionary rule is a law in South Africa that requires conservationists to take action against any potential threat even if there is insufficient scientific evidence to quantify or measure it. It is a law that is designed to protect the environment, not the commercial interests of polluters or animal abusers.
The good academic takes this law and applies it to an assumption which he has made that the killing of a tame lion prevents the hunting of wild lion. There is not a shred of scientific evidence to support his assumption; on the contrary, tiger farming for the sale of body parts is banned by CITES because everyone knows that allowing a legal trade in animal parts will inevitably stimulate an illegal trade.
Having made a false assumption, he then stands the precautionary rule on its head and applies it against conservationists who warn of the dangers of allowing the export of lion bones to Asia. In other words, he is taking a precautionary rule designed to protect the environment and using it to protect the commercial interests of lion farmers and canned lion hunting operators.
So on the basis of such childish arguments as these, the SA government Department of Environment (DEA) not only permits, but vigorously promotes, a lion farming industry which:
• Inflicts routine cruelty on helpless animals on an industrial scale;
• Sabotages the efforts of the Department of Tourism to promote SA as a responsible tourism destination;
• Causes controversy, confusion and division in conservation;
• Has no conservation benefit; and
• May very likely stimulate the illegal trade in body parts of big cats globally.
I also found some other interesting snippets in the transcripts:
SANBI (the scientific authority of the South African National Biodiversity Institute) who was consulted by the DEA with regard to the quota for lion bone trade to Asia, indicated that “it was not answerable to the public.”
Wow! Even though it operates 100% on public funds? Is that acceptable?
Conclusion
At the end of the transcript the committee announced that a report on the colloquium would be prepared and handed to the committee for further consideration. That has been delayed – perhaps partly due to the untimely death of Minister Edna Molewa, but is expected to be handed to the Portfolio Committee next week.
Then what? I’d love to be an optimist but I suspect that in five years time lion farming will still be flourishing in South Africa.
Everything is still and quiet as the sun pounds the floodplain of the Zambezi Valley. It is late afternoon, but the intensity of the heat has not abated. In front of me are a group of animals lying in a heap. Occasionally a big round ear will twitch, or a head might lazily rise, only to flop back down in exhaustion from the effort.
It is Blacktip and her pack of 14 painted wolves and nine puppies sleeping in the dense shade of a Trichilia tree. I am sitting 20 metres in front of them, my long lens and camera resting on its tripod in anticipation.
Excitement is building within me. From years of observation, I know what is about to happen but, to the casual eye, there is nothing to betray the eruption that will soon take place. Without warning the sleeping wolves explode and begin a ritual of unbounded joy and energy. Every wolf is on its feet as they squeak and skip, run and race, bite and barge, nudge and nibble, duck and dive, leap and lick and sniff and snort… just for the pleasure of being with each other.
This is their greeting ceremony. It is like watching long-separated families meet at an airport, despite them having lain on top of each other all day.
For the last six years, I have been following and photographing three packs of painted wolves on foot, in Mana Pools National Park in Zimbabwe. This infectious joy of the pack is one reason why I have become obsessed with these creatures. Here in Mana Pools, the painted wolves are incredibly lucky. They live far from the ravages of man, living as so many packs have done before them, over hundreds of thousands of years.
Yet most painted wolves are far from this fortunate. For the species, the last century has been devastating. Their population has dropped from 500,000 to an estimated 6,600 today, confined to roam across just a few remote corners of the African continent.
What has caused this demise? Like all African wildlife, they have lost much of their rangelands from expanding human populations. But the painted wolves have faced a far greater assault. Considered vermin by European settlers anxious to recreate their European farming systems, the painted wolf’s threat to livestock was highly exaggerated by ignorant farmers and a systematic programme aimed at their annihilation was carried out through much of Africa.
Colonial administrations offered generous bounties for each painted wolf’s death, and visitors were even allowed to shoot them on sight in many of Africa’s protected parks. In Rhodesia (now Zimbabwe), they were considered a ‘problem animal’ right up until 1977. In 1975 alone, 3,404 painted wolves were destroyed in vermin control operations.
Even today, I hear old farmers talk about this animal with such hatred, and I have slowly come to recognise that their ignorance is totally impenetrable.
An Incredible Creature
But for those that really know them, this image of the painted wolf as a wanton killer could not be further from the truth. They are fascinating animals, and each wolf is an individual, most of whom I have got to know well.
They live in a matriarchal society. Only the alpha female will breed with a single alpha male. The rest of the pack will take on a different role – a doting aunt or uncle, a hunt leader, a look-out sentry and even the local doctor that will lick the wounds of any hurt family member.
Each is an individual character, and I am convinced to this day that one of my favourite wolves, Pip, was the clown whose job it was to entertain the children. It is at the den that you get the sense of the cohesion of the pack. Although there is usually only one mother, every member of the pack plays a critical role in their nurturing and development. The adults hunt twice a day and return to regurgitate food for the pups and the adults that remained behind.
Their skill as a hunter is well-known and painted wolves have earned themselves a reputation as Africa’s most efficient predator – some say that 80% of their hunts result in a kill.
In my experience, that number seems a little high, but not by much. While many individual chases may be unsuccessful, it is a rare day when the pack goes hungry. To watch them hunt is exhilarating. Their speed, stamina and agility combine to make a kill far more spectacular than any lion or leopard hunt. From what I have seen, the notion that the pack uses telepathy to communicate during the hunt does not stand up. I have stood in the centre of a hunt many times with wolves and impala rushing past me as I desperately try to photograph. It is more like opportunistic mayhem – every wolf for itself.
Once they have made a kill, any sense of individualism evaporates. To the casual observer watching a pack of painted wolves devour its prey, the frenzy seems savage as they rip the carcass apart. They need to eat fast as they are continually threatened by hyenas that attempt to steal their food, and frenetic battles between these two species are common with the little puppies often a casualty. Closer observation of the feeding frenzy reveals their sharing attitude. They always let the pups eat first. Then any wolf that is wounded, sick or elderly will be allowed to take their fill. The alpha female will often be the last to feed, once her pack is comfortably replete.
This is in sharp contrast to lions, where the big male hogs the kill and the rest of the pride must wait patiently until he is finished. And the little cubs only get to eat last. Rather than aggression, the dogs compete with submission, making for a far more harmonious, generous and kind existence. I am convinced this is because they are led by a female who nurtures rather than dominates.
Females Rule
Indeed, the alpha female is the core of the pack. She will lead her pack from its formation until she dies. She is the leader, general, decision-maker and caring mother. Once she dies, the pack splits, with the males and females heading in different directions to form new packs.
Tait of the Vundu pack was my favourite alpha female. She lived for over ten years and had eight litters, so her genes run through most of the dogs in the Zambezi Valley and probably beyond. Being with her, you could sense her strength of character. I remember when she was faced with an onslaught of 11 hyena against her 14 wolves. She seemed to stand back like a general and direct the defence, ensuring her pups remained safe. But she was no coward. When things got particularly hectic, she would be there in the mix.
As head of the pack, the alpha female presides over the pack’s generally harmonious family life. You get the sense that they really do care for one another with a deep bond of love. Or at least that is the best description I can provide, observing them from my very human viewpoint. Watching them at playtime is perhaps the greatest joy, especially around water. As the sun begins to set and temperatures cool, the pups run around ambushing each other and baiting the dozing adults. The grown-ups often can’t resist the fun and games, joining in with more vigour than the pups.
For the painted wolves, life in Mana Pools is how it should be. However, it is not all plain sailing. Hyena attacks are frequent, and the lions are a continual threat and are responsible for the deaths of many wolves. But in the remote Zambezi Valley, they are protected from their species greatest scourge… mankind.
In the west of Zimbabwe, Hwange National Park is surrounded by communal lands where the painted wolves are in daily contact with man. Here they are subjected daily to road kills, disease, snaring, as well as intolerant farmers.
Rabies and distemper often spread from domestic dogs, annihilating entire packs. Villagers lay snares to catch antelope to feed their families or pay for education. Painted wolves, while not the target, are all too often caught in these snares with fatal consequences.
While it is easy to criticise the villagers for laying snares, I would challenge anyone to say they would not do the same if their family was starving or their children unable to attend school. This is where organisations like Painted Dog Conservation (PDC), run by Peter Blinston, play a vital role. Not only do they carry out critical research and run a small army of anti-poachers to collect snares and apprehend criminals, but they also work hand-in-hand with these communities.
They build boreholes, plant vegetable gardens, vaccinate domestic dogs and have built a string of medical clinics with HIV/AIDS and maternity facilities. These things really matter to the communities, and the message is simple.
“Without the painted wolves, PDC will not be here and neither will the benefits we bring. It is the wolves that are bringing these things to you.”
This message seems to be working, and the communities have even set up their own voluntary anti-poaching team, an initiative entirely of their own making.
This approach certainly has an impact in the short term, but long-term, education is the key. PDC has set up a Bush Camp which brings in over 1,000 children a year for a four-day course on the painted wolves, science and conservation. The camp is designed to change hearts and minds, in an environment which for the children is like going to Disneyland. Attitudes are changing, and this is what is necessary if the painted wolves are to have a chance.
Beyond the villages and communities that must live with these predators on their doorstep, the painted wolves face a more significant problem. That is that so few people know that they exist.
In the conservation world, the elephant, rhino and lion continue to grab all the attention, while the painted wolf is not only ignored but unknown. Of course, these other animals are important – it is not a competition. But the painted wolf needs to be up there on the top table of conservation, especially given that so few remain.
To address this, Peter and I, together with leading conservationist Diane Skinner, have set up the Painted Wolf Foundation. Its objective is to increase the awareness of the painted wolf and raise money for organisations working for their conservation. Peter and I have also produced a book called Painted Wolves: A Wild Dog’s Life, which describes in detail the lives of these incredible creatures and what is being done to conserve them. It has been six years in the making and features the same packs in the BBC’s incredible film Painted Wolves: A Wild Dog Dynasty, narrated by Sir David Attenborough.
In the race to extinction, it is the painted wolves that are winning. It is a race they never wanted to enter. Few know they exist and even less care. As a species that has mistreated them, it seems to me that if we humans want to describe ourselves as more enlightened, we need to do something to tilt the balance back in their favour.
This is my passion. This is why we have the Painted Wolf Foundation. What we need is for more people to join us and become “Part of the Pack”.
The Painted Wolf Foundation was set up by Nicholas Dyer, Peter Blinston and leading conservationist Diane Skinner. The Painted Wolf Foundation aims to raise awareness about this much threatened and ignored species and support organisations that conserve painted wolves in the field.
The Painted Wolf Foundation has launched a significant campaign to raise global awareness about the species and its plight, working with many partners around the world and within Africa. For six years, wildlife photographer and author Nicholas Dyer has been tracking and photographing the painted wolves on foot in the Zambezi Valley. For twenty years, conservationist Peter Blinston has been doing all he can to save them from extinction.
What the foundation does:
• Raises awareness about the painted wolf worldwide
• Increases the support base for the painted wolf
• Elevates the profile of the organisations working to conserve painted wolves in the field
• Raises funds to support field-based conservation of the painted wolf
• Encourages sharing of best practices
• Supports painted wolf campaigns worldwide
The foundation does this by combining expert conservation knowledge with skills in communication and social media.
THE BOOK
PAINTED WOLVES: A Wild Dog’s Life
The painted wolf is a unique and remarkable creature. On the one hand, it is Africa’s most successful predator, yet on the other, it is an incredibly social animal, caring deeply for its family’s wellbeing in a tightly knit pack.
Yet for the last 100 years, the painted wolf has endured an outrageous onslaught, which has seen their numbers decrease from 500,000 a century ago to only 6,500 today. This 99% reduction in their population has put the wolf’s survival on a knife-edge. Painted Wolves: A Wild Dog’s Life is their story. It is told with insight and passion from two people who know them well, each with their own unique perspective on this endearing animal.
For six years Nicholas Dyer has been tracking and photographing painted wolves on foot in the Zambezi Valley. For twenty years, Peter Blinston has been doing all he can to save the painted wolf from extinction through his organisation Painted Dog Conservation.
In this book, they have come together to tell you what they know and love about this incredible creature, sharing their in-depth knowledge and unique experiences.
The book is illustrated with more than 220 stunning images. Each photograph tells a story and brings alive the captivating and mysterious world of the painted wolves and the lives of those around them. All profits from the book will go to the Painted Wolf Foundation.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR, Nicholas Dyer
Nick grew up in Kenya and always had a passion for photography. After careers in finance and marketing, stuck behind a desk in London, he took the decision to return to Africa and turn his life around to dedicate it to photography, writing and wildlife conservation. In 2013, he discovered the painted wolves of Mana Pools National Park and fell in love with them. Nick has spent much of the last six years living in a tent while following and photographing three packs on foot.
He is the co-author of Painted Wolves: A Wild Dog’s Life, a founding trustee of the Painted Wolf Foundation and a finalist in the prestigious 2018 Wildlife Photographer of the Year Competition with his picture – ‘Ahead of the Game’. See more of his photography at www.nicholasdyer.com, and follow him on his Facebook and Instagram page.
Producing the first comprehensive fine-scale map of the world’s remaining marine and terrestrial wild places, conservation scientists writing in the journalNaturesay that just 23% of the world’s landmass can now be considered wilderness, with the rest – excluding Antarctica – lost to the direct effects of human activities.
These disturbing findings are particularly troubling as numerous recent studies reveal that Earth’s remaining wilderness areas are increasingly important buffers against the effects of climate change and other human impacts. The authors note two upcoming gatherings of key decision makes will be crucial to stopping current rate of loss.
Said the paper’s lead author James Watson of WCS and the University of Queensland: “These results are nothing short of a horror story for the planet’s last wild places. The loss of wilderness must be treated in the same way we treat extinction. There is no reversing once the first cut enters. The decision is forever.”
The authors describe wilderness areas as those places that do not have industrial level activity within them according to the marine and terrestrial human footprint. Local communities can live within them, hunt and fish, etc.
Various analyses reveal that wilderness areas provide increasingly important refuges for species that are declining in landscapes dominated by people. In the seas, they are the last regions that still contain viable populations of top predators, such as tuna, marlins and sharks.
In addition, wilderness areas are also places where enormous amounts of carbon are stored and sequestered with intact ecosystems being at least twice important as similar degraded habitats when it comes to carbon mitigation.
The loss of wilderness is not just a biodiversity conservation and climate issue. Many wildernesses are home to millions of indigenous people who rely on them for maintaining their long bio-cultural connections to land and sea. Their loss is eroding many cultures around the world.
As bleak as these recent findings are, the authors say there is still a chance for Earth’s remaining wilderness to be protected. Incredibly, just 20 nations hold 94% of the worlds marine and terrestrial wilderness areas (excluding Antarctica and the High Seas), with five mega wilderness nations (Russia, Canada, Australia, United States and Brazil) containing 70%. The authors argue that these nations have an enormous role to play to secure the last of the wild.
Said John Robinson, WCS Executive Vice President for Global Conservation at WCS and a co-author of the paper: “Wilderness will only be secured globally if these nations take a leadership role. Right now, across the board, this type of leadership is missing. Already we have lost so much. We must grasp these opportunities to secure the wilderness before it disappears forever.”
Full report: James E. M. Watson, James R. Allan, Oscar Venter, Jasmine Lee, Kendall R. Jones, John G. Robinson, Hugh P. Possingham (2018) Protect the last of the wild. Nature.https://www.nature.com/articles/s41598-018-33380-4
Hwange National Park is the largest natural reserve in Zimbabwe, a staggering 14,651 km² of wilderness and wildlife, of empty spaces and large herds of animals, of deafening silence and the vibrating roar of a lion on a still night. At an isolated waterhole on a hot and cloudless September day in the far south-eastern corner of the Park, I meet Arnold Tshipa.
Arnold is a large man; both broad-shouldered and tall, dressed in weather-worn khaki and practical boots. He sits earnestly at a desk watching the waterhole. In front of him is a notebook, beside him his binoculars, and to his left hangs a thermometer. As I arrive he checks the thermometer and notes the temperature in his book.
Arnold’s face opens into a broad grin as he welcomes me and my intimidation at his size melts away. He explains that he is assisting Wildlife and Environment Zimbabwe with their long-running annual game count in which all animals are recorded at designated water points throughout the Park over a 24-hour period. The data is compared with previous years and is available to anyone who needs it.
With flies buzzing around our faces eager for the moisture provided by a drop of sweat and with frequent pauses to record the arrival of another herd of thirsty elephants, I interview Arnold.
He is currently finishing his Master’s thesis on elephant movement within and out of Hwange National Park and I am here to find out about his research, how it affects our understanding of Hwange’s elephants and what it means for elephant conservation.
Arnold received a degree in Forest Resources and Wildlife Management from the National University of Science and Technology Zimbabwe in Bulawayo. In his third year, he did an internship with the French National Centre for Scientific Research (CNRS) at their Hwange research site. His time with the CNRS allowed Arnold to work in the field across multiple disciplines and thus to learn a huge amount about Hwange.
Upon graduating he applied for and was granted the job of Chief Ecologist and Environmental officer for the Zambezi Region (Zimbabwe and Zambia) with Wilderness Safaris.
“I started at Wilderness with a passion for elephants and that is where I chose to focus my research,” he states.
Arnold used GPS tracking collars on 32 elephants between the years 2010 and 2016 to conduct the first study of large-scale movements of African elephants in Hwange.
Hwange is unfenced, allowing free movement of animals and is a vital part of the Kavango-Zambezi Transfrontier Conservation Area (KAZA TFCA). The KAZA TFCA is an enormous multi-country conservation area that spans five countries and is larger than Germany and Austria combined.
Arnold collared female elephants, explaining that “it is the females that drive the population as a whole. They move as a herd so this data reflects the general movement of elephants better then collaring males would have done”.
The GPS collars were programmed to send location data either each hour or every 4 hours giving a very detailed look at the elephant’s movement over the three years of the study.
“We always spoke about cross-border movement but never had any proof of it, now we do,” he continued. “The biggest takeaway from my research is that partial elephant migration exists within Hwange National Park and that this is driven by water resources”.
“Of the 32 elephants we collared roughly one-third (10 elephants), proved to be long-distance migrants. These animals travelled from the Main Camp area to Botswana with one travelling as far as Nxai Pan National Park in Botswana. Another third were shown to be short-distance migrants. They travelled seasonally but they remained within Hwange National Park moving to the most Central and inaccessible areas of the park during the wet season. The final third of elephants in the study were resident to an area.”
He also found that an individual elephant was a short distance migrant for two years and then became a long-distance migrant in the third year, showing that this behaviour can change.
The data from the study brings to light that the elephant numbers within Hwange National Park vary hugely depending on the season. When the elephant population of Hwange is quoted it should always be qualified with the time of year.
Elephant numbers across Africa are dwindling and the KAZA TFCA is one of the last strongholds for these creatures. This research shows that elephants are a shared natural resource and do not belong to just one country. This is vital in deciding how this precious resource is managed and this research gives better data that can be used to determine current management practices. It is vital that if one country is to undertake population management exercises such as culling, all countries are consulted.
If Arnold could have one thing come about as a result of his research it would be that countries start looking at broader approaches with multiple stakeholders from surrounding regions.
“My hope is for people to work together with no arguments… we must focus on the long-term and embrace the Transfrontier concept,” he says. He is calling for integrative planning involving national wildlife management institutions and the private and communal sector.
Arnold would like to convey his gratitude for the support of the Zimbabwe National Parks and Wildlife Management Authority and his sponsors without whom the project would not have been possible.
Although Arnold’s research has shown that the seasonal movement of elephants exists, the question of what drives it still remains. Arnold is hoping to answer this question and others that will contribute to our ability to conserve these iconic animals in his PhD research.
Learning More
Although his research has provided interesting data, many questions remain. Arnold is looking for funding for his PhD. He would like to collar elephants in new areas of Hwange National Park, closer to the border with Botswana (he previously collared elephants around the Main Camp area in Hwange’s northeast) to see if new movement patterns emerge. It is likely that even greater cross-border movement in elephant populations located closer to the border may exist.
• To understand the influence of elephant herd demography on migration. i.e.: Does the ratio of male, female, sub-adults and babies in herds affect their ability to migrate?
• To understand the influence of habitat on migration. i.e.: Do elephants in areas with greater resources remain while others leave?
• To understand the influence of competition on migration. i.e.: Do dominant herds stay while others must leave in the leaner seasons?
In the latest Botswana Wildlife Producers Association annual general meeting, President Mokgweetsi Masisi made the following remarks regarding game farms and hunting in Botswana.
REMARKS BY HIS EXCELLENCY THE PRESIDENT DURING THE BOTSWANA WILDLIFE PRODUCERS ASSOCIATION ANNUAL GENERAL MEETING
• The Chairperson of the Botswana Wildlife Producers Association – Mr Rudie Dewet
• Distinguished Committee Members
• Members of the Media
• Ladies and Gentlemen
1. A very good morning to you all. I am delighted to be with you today at this important gathering where we will have the opportunity to discuss issues pertaining to natural resource utilisation in Botswana.
2. It is gratifying to note that over the years, Botswana has experienced quite a significant growth in the number of people participating in the Game Ranching sector and I can assure you that if well facilitated, the sector has the potential to contribute towards the diversification of the economy thus creating the much-needed employment amongst our rural communities.
3. In recognition of this potential, the Wildlife Conservation Policy (WCNP) of 1986 was formulated for the development of a viable commercial wildlife industry, to create economic opportunities, employment and generation of income for the rural communities through sustainable utilisation such as controlled hunting, processing of wildlife by-products and photographic safaris amongst others. In this regard, the revised policy of 2013 places the private sector at the centre of efforts to diversify the wildlife sector.
4. Government went further to develop the Game Ranching Policy in 2002, which gives detailed directions pertaining to the development of a game ranching industry, implementation guidelines and responsibilities for the stakeholders involved in the industry.
5. Consequently, the past years have been characterised by increased interest from private individuals and companies to participate in natural resource utilisation. This has led to an increase in the number of Registered Game Ranches from Thirty Three in 2000 to One hundred and Thirty to date. This resulted in the growth of wildlife population in Botswana including rare and endangered species such as sable and rhinos.
6. Ladies and Gentlemen, I am pleased to announce that Government recognises sustainable utilisation of natural resources as an area that can contribute to the growth of the economy of this country.
7. To this end, deliberate efforts have been made to ensure the participation of both communities and individuals in Game Ranching. Currently, individuals benefit from sustainable utilisation of natural resources through non-consumptive approach since 2014.
8. Despite the marked growth of natural resource utilisation, the sector has not yet reached its maximum potential in terms of contributing to the national economy as well as its ability to contribute to natural resource conservation due to its high investment costs which make it difficult for ordinary Batswana to venture into.
9. In this regard, I have instructed Ministers, to remove all the impediments that are slowing down the growth of any industry under their mandate. My expectation is that issues of land, lengthy application processes and sometimes duplicate license requirements and inspections will be reduced to facilitate all of you.
10. My Government is also aware of the damage caused by elephants on your properties especially fences and water points which results in your animals going for days without water. To address this, we have started National Consultative Meetings on the National Elephant Action Plan and Human-Wildlife Conflict.
11. Ladies and Gentlemen, A moratorium on hunting was effected in 2014 in a bid to allow the population increase of the animal species but Government is of the view that it is time for us to reconsider the hunting ban in light of the high population increase of some animals particularly elephants. In this respect, the Government has started national consultations on this critical issue.
12. Furthermore, Government views the auction and export of live animals as an area that can contribute significantly to the growth of the sector. It is thus important that discussions on how this would be done should be held between the industry and the regulating Ministry. The aim will be to achieve a win-win situation.
13. The outcome of the consultations will allow the Government to make informed decisions on the current challenges facing the industry. Our Policies must ensure that there is a balance between conservation and sustainable utilisation of natural resources for the betterment of our people.
14. Government, therefore, acknowledges challenges in natural resource utilisation hence the need to promote the facilitation of a regulated natural resource-based sector. This should be premised on sustainable off-take, science-based quota setting and efficient utilisation of the resources. We should also encourage natural resource enterprises by providing opportunities for communities, individuals and the private sector to participate in such ventures.
15. Distinguished Ladies and Gentlemen, Government will consider the review of the Wildlife and National Parks Act (WCNP) of 1992 and other relevant Legislation to facilitate beneficiation of Wildlife resources.
16. I would like to make it abundantly clear that animals in a game proof fenced farm belong to the Owner of the Farm. The Minister is however empowered under Section 25 of the WCNP Act to make regulations for game farms and game ranches which may include the conditions under which animals should be kept, the capturing and selling of animals on game farms. Any deviation from the above will require the amendment of the Act which can be motivated through National dialogue.
17. Notwithstanding the above, it is worth noting that there are certain endangered animal species, some threatened by extinction which are jealously protected by the State. These include rhinoceros and pangolins. As stated, The WCNP provides that any rhinoceros horn shall be a Government trophy as provided for under Section 67 (6), which states that no person shall have in his possession, transfer or in any way deal in rhinoceros horn.
18. It is therefore my expectation that this gathering will generate ideas and recommendations that will shape the industry for the benefit of both conservation and the economic growth of the country, ideas that will sustain the industry while creating jobs with a decent income.
19. In conclusion, I would like to point out that a well-researched game industry will allow few good quality animals in a reduced land instead of many low-quality animals occupying a large piece of land. The returns will be high, fast and at a reduced cost. If less land is required for each participant it will allow more people to participate in the industry.
20. Research will also allow some people to grow rare species of high value such as the pangolin. In the long run, they will realise high benefits and put the country on the world map.
21. With these few remarks I wish you successful deliberations during your annual meeting.
China unveiled new rules on Monday that would allow the use of rhino horn and tiger parts for some medical and cultural purposes, watering down a decades-old ban in a move conservation group WWF said could have “devastating consequences”.
China’s State Council issued a notice replacing its 1993 ban on the trade of tiger bones and rhino horn. The new rules ban the sale, use, import and export of such products, but allow exceptions under “special circumstances”, such as medical and scientific research, educational use, and as part of “cultural exchanges”.
Horns of rhinos or bones of tigers that were bred in captivity could be used “for medical research or clinical treatment of critical illnesses”, it said.
Rhino horn and tiger products classified as “antiques” could be used in “cultural exchanges” with the approval of culture authorities, although they still may not be sold on the market or exchanged via the internet.
WWF said in a statement that Beijing’s move would have “devastating consequences globally” and be “an enormous setback to efforts to protect tigers and rhinos in the wild”.
“Even if restricted to antiques and use in hospitals, this trade would increase confusion by consumers and law enforcers as to which products are and are not legal, and would likely expand the markets for other tiger and rhino products,” WWF said.
Beijing banned trade in tiger bones and rhino horns, both prized in traditional Chinese medicine, 25 years ago as part of global efforts to halt declining animal stocks. But illegal poaching has continued, driven by demand in an increasingly affluent country. Commercial tiger farms in China are legal, and although using tiger bones in medicine was banned, tiger parts from these farms often end up being made into tonics or other medicines, animal rights groups say.
Conservation groups say Chinese traditional medicine recipes can make use of substitutes for products from wild animals. Some Chinese officials have in the past said full bans on the use of wild animal parts would threaten traditional Chinese medicine.
An officer holds a package containing crushed tiger bones, seized by the UK Border Force at Heathrow Airport. Image source: Reuters / Simon Dawson
BLOODLIONS Official statement:
“Blood Lions is deeply concerned about the announcement by Chinese authorities to lift the ban on rhino horn and tiger bone products for medicinal purposes.
There is a global movement by leading conservation groups to stop all trade in wildlife products. As has been the case with various other wildlife species, legal trade promotes demand and a parallel illegal market. This in turn puts pressure on wild populations.
As with lions, there are fewer tigers in the wild than there are in captivity. The lack of supply has ignited an alarming demand for lion bones as a substitute for traditional Chinese medicine. Although ‘tiger bone wine’ has been used in TCM for at least 1000 years, or more, there are no proven medicinal properties.”
The morning sun was starting to make us sweat as we sat on the ground in a circle and waited. There wasn’t a breath of wind as small puffs of pale-yellow dust rose into the air, kicked up by four inquisitive creatures who were making their way towards us. Slowly but surely, they got within arm’s reach as grunts, squeaks, oinks and sniffling filled the dry Namibian air. Before we knew it we were surrounded by four adorable young warthogs, their tails swinging wildly as they came to investigate the new visitors to their home, with one warthog eyeing me out with particular interest…
It’s not often you get to say that you have been pushed over by a curious warthog, his knees jabbing into your chest as he makes his way to your face, snout leaving muddy ‘kisses’ on your neck and cheek… and all the while a lone meerkat looks on big-eyed from a nearby rock, as the curious and friendly warthogs entertain us with their antics.
As amusing as this would be if it were a cut scene from The Lion King, it was, in fact, something that happened while visiting REST – the Rare and Endangered Species Trust – in Namibia, where I had the pleasure of meeting ‘Monte’ the warthog, along with his adopted siblings; ‘Dexter’ the meerkat; and a host of other wild animals in need of care and rehabilitation.
REST is a non-profit organisation founded in 2000 by conservationist and animal rehabilitator extraordinaire Maria Diekmann. She, along with her hard-working team, aims to bring attention to some of the most misunderstood and endangered animals in Namibia.
Initially, they began by helping only Cape vultures, but after a few years, it became apparent that there were a few species that needed specific support in Namibia. Now their research focuses on the ‘Forgotten Five + 1’ – the African wild dog, Cape vulture, Damara dik-dik, dwarf python, spotted rubber frog, and the pangolin.
The warthog encounter occurred during one of the daily tours that REST offers, where visitors are shown around the centre with the possibility of meeting wild animals that are currently being looked after. One of REST’s key beliefs is that all animals that arrive should be released back into the wild if possible. Visitors to REST cannot be guaranteed to see specific animal species at the centre, as young or injured animals at the centre may be there one month, but the next month could have been returned to the wild.
The warthog orphans were raised by Maria and her team, having been rescued when they were just piglets. They were rewilded some time ago, and are now free to roam, but occasionally come back to the centre for a visit – and it was just luck that I happened to be there on the day they visited.
And of course, there is Dexter the meerkat. He was rescued as a baby and was raised at the centre until ready for release. However, because meerkats are sociable animals and there are no other meerkats around, Dexter decided to hang around and adopt Maria and her team into his colony. He disappears into a burrow at night, but prefers the company of humans during the day and often is found following the team around as they go about their daily activities, chirping away in typical meerkat fashion.
There are a few non-releasable animals at the centre, such as birds of prey who are unable to fly. Walking into the expansive aviary, visitors can meet two non-releasable Cape vultures and spotted eagle-owls, a bateleur, tawny eagles, and a couple of tortoises (which Maria hopes will eventually be released).
While inside the aviary, Maria explains to the visitors the plight that vultures face, and how REST was in 2004 the first in Africa to fit a satellite tracking unit on a vulture. From there, RESTs satellite successes grew to eventually having tracking on six Cape vultures and one suspected hybrid – all for research and conservation purposes.
Vultures are endangered because of poisoned bait, dropped by cattle ranchers in their bid to wipe out jackals, and by elephant and rhino poachers, who have caught on to the fact that vultures circling a recently killed elephant or rhino can alert law-enforcement officials and game rangers that poachers are in the area – so they leave poison on the carcasses to kill the vultures.
When asked about the highlights of running a rehabilitation centre, Maria replied:
“Rehabilitating a bird. Taking it outside. Letting it go and watching it fly off. And I can raise that bird or rehabilitate that bird for a year, feed it every day, love it and have a name for it and people ask how could you possibly let it go? But you know what? That bird loves you, and you love it. And knowing that is all that matters.”
When visitors book for a tour, REST lets them know that they cannot guarantee that they will see certain animals or species due to the unpredictable nature of wildlife, though these days 95% of visitors come in the hope of seeing a pangolin.
At present, it is believed that REST is the only centre in the world open to the public where baby Cape pangolins have been raised successfully and monitored until prepared for full release.
A few pangolins have come through the doors of the centre, such as Roxy and her son Katiti – who after three years of preparation, was successfully released back in the wild.
But there is one particular pangolin that has stolen the limelight and has become the poster pangolin for REST: Honey Bun.
Maria found Honey Bun, or HB for short, in 2015, when she came across her severely abused mother. Honey Bun suffered no damage whatsoever, thanks to her mother’s protection. However, her mother was so traumatised that she escaped during rehabilitation, and Honey Bun has been in Maria’s care ever since.
Honey Bun shared stardom with one of China’s most famous women, actress and model Angelababy, in a WILDaid campaign clip that attracted 25 million viewers in the first 24 hours of release. Recently, Honey Bun was the star of the BBC wildlife documentary Pangolins: The World’s Most Wanted Animal, narrated by Sir David Attenborough, which was shown earlier this year.
Meeting Honey Bun in person was a surreal moment for me, and I was lucky enough to walk in the bush with her and Steven, a pangolin handler at REST.
Accompanying us was volunteer researcher Saskia, who follows Honey Bun every day during her walkabouts without disturbing her natural behaviour – taking notes and learning essential facts about pangolins, such as their diet, territory, interaction with other species, etc.
Honey Bun can walk up to five hours a day as she forages for ants and termites, and wherever she goes, the handler and researcher have to follow – even if it means scrambling through and under thorny acacia bushes. Only when I was faced with a wall of thorns, did I understand why I was told to wear old clothes for the walk. I did not come out unscathed, with my shirt and jeans subsequently sporting a somewhat ‘holier’ look than before.
One of the challenges when dealing with pangolins is the lack of research and information out there to help with care. As Maria told me, with vultures there are established protocols about how to treat poisoned individuals, but with pangolins, there is no available information on the topic of rehabilitation.
“The hardest by far is losing a pangolin because there is no information available about that particular circumstance,” Maria shares with me. “So we have this constant pressure to figure everything out as quickly as possible while operating in the dark, and that is hard to face because we sometimes feel disempowered and helpless – nobody likes to feel that way.”
The one silver lining in all this is that REST is making an effort to learn as much as they can with every pangolin that they care for, teaming up with researchers to work out ways to monitor and study these incredible creatures in their natural habitat, and through this build up their knowledge and expertise in pangolin care and rehabilitation.
REST doesn’t want to disappoint when visitors come in anticipation of seeing a pangolin, but wanting to satisfy visitors’ curiosity cannot under any circumstances be to the detriment of that pangolin. It is of vital importance to REST that visitors realise that they are not a zoo. Expectations should be to learn about the various species they focus on, and if lucky to see a pangolin firsthand.
Honey Bun lives by her own rules, and schedule and the team work around her, and Maria briefly showed her to us while providing various facts about pangolins – from their physiology and diet to conservation status and threats – before taking her back to where she rests during the day.
REHABILITATION, EDUCATION AND TOURISM
REST’s primary aim in being a good wildlife centre is to practice good conservation first. Maria feels strongly that although research and education are key, conservation of a species must take priority.
Maria says that one of the challenges faced when running a wildlife rehabilitation centre is trying to find that very fine balance between fundraising and conservation, research and education. The centre needs revenue from tourism to be able to pay its costs and be sustainable, “and yet…” she says, “you must be very careful not to cross the line and be all about the money, or to be perceived as such”.
“I’d rather see an animal in the wild than in captivity,” Maria goes on to say. “But there are times when you keep an animal in captivity for its health or welfare. Some animals are not releasable if permanently injured, and some don’t want to be released and have problems on a psychological level.”
One example Maria provided was that of an owl that she has tried to release about 30 times at various locations, but the bird keeps returning to REST and now prefers the comfort of his aviary.
Two visitors, I met at REST were JP and his sister Carla, who were visiting from South Africa to see if they could help to promote the centre, and pangolin conservation. I asked them their thoughts on REST and Maria’s efforts with wildlife rehabilitation and conservation.
“The commitment – it’s so inspiring to see someone commit their whole life to a higher cause. REST is such an amazing cause, I now want to do more to help,” Carla tells me.
JP adds to Carla’s sentiment: “It’s great to see someone fighting for the underdogs. This is not the glamorous ‘save the rhino’ deal, this is about the forgotten and often ignored species. Maria’s selfless efforts are incredibly inspiring and helping those who can’t help themselves is near to my heart. So I think they’re doing fantastic work at the centre.”
Many wild animals have come through the doors of REST and have been released back into the wild – from owls to pigeons, tortoises, warthogs, pangolins and dik-diks.
But the joys and elation of successful reintroductions are tempered by heart-breaking moments…
Not two weeks had passed since my visit when poachers brandishing pangas raided the burrow where the warthogs live. The eldest warthog, Missy, has not been seen since and is presumed killed for bushmeat. Monte and Madeline were injured, and Matilda managed to escape unharmed.
It was incredibly difficult for me to hear the news of the attack on the warthogs, having just met the four young orphans. Almost every day in my job, I am faced with news about various accounts of wildlife poaching, and I’ve learnt to tuck those emotions away and get on with the job of reporting. However, this attack was hard to swallow, and I found myself thinking how strong Maria and the team at REST must be to be able to handle heartbreaking situations where their former patients are injured or killed, after having worked so hard to release them back into the wild.
Maria is a strong, resilient person, relentless in her drive to rescue, rehabilitate and release wildlife. She is someone to be admired.
And the team behind her are just as impressive as they go about spreading the word, fundraising, looking after injured animals and constructing buildings to help house future patients.
Before I left to return home, I asked Maria about her ultimate goal for REST. And she once again demonstrated her unwavering determination and dedication to wildlife conservation, saying:
“Watching that rehabbed pangolin walk off into the bush as a wild animal is the ultimate high for my team and I. But as far as ultimate goals are concerned, imagine if we could keep tracking that pangolin from a computer at REST – and so contribute meaningfully to growing the available information about this special animal. Now THAT would be amazing, and surely that is the ultimate goal.”
It is a non-profit organisation, and their mission is to initiate and support the scientific and practical study of rare and endangered species in Namibia and to help develop and facilitate solutions to conservation problems among these species at community, national and international level.
How you can help
REST relies on donations, both big and small, to help keep the centre running and providing medicine and food for the wild animals in need of care. They are always thankful for any monetary donations, and currently, their greatest need is proper perimeter fencing – at 30US$ per metre – to help keep poachers off the property. Visit their donation page and sponsor page for more information.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR, THEA FELMORE
As a former field guide and teacher, Thea has combined her passion for the English language and love of African wildlife, travel and culture in her previous work as Africa Geographic editor. When not in front of the screen she makes time to get out and explore the beautiful Cape Town countryside in search for her favourite reptile species (and other fascinating creatures, of course).
A new study based on research at the Dian Fossey Gorilla Fund in Rwanda and just published in Scientific Reportssuggests that mountain gorillas who are nice to infants have greater success in siring more infants.
This finding is scientifically noteworthy because it contradicts what was long believed about male gorilla reproduction and male primates in general – that all that matters is the ability to fight for the dominant position, not whether you’re a good parent.
The study’s senior author, Fossey Fund President and CEO/Chief Scientific Officer Dr Tara Stoinski, says this study shows that long-term research of a species continues to pay off in unexpected ways.
“Dian Fossey first went to study these mountain gorillas in the 1960s, with the goal of furthering our understanding of human evolution,” Dr Stoinski says. “More than five decades later, the Fossey Fund’s continued research on this population – which makes them one of the world’s longest-studied animals – is still providing critical insights into what it means to be a gorilla – or a human,” she adds.
“Learning about what mountain gorillas do, and why, helps us understand how human males may have started down the unique path to our more-involved form of fatherhood,” says Dr Stacy Rosenbaum, former Fossey Fund researcher and the study’s lead author. She is now a post-doctoral fellow at Northwestern University.
“We don’t fully understand the mechanism, but based on this study, we propose that females preferentially mate with males who are nice to kids,” Rosenbaum says. And, she adds, “the evolutionary origins of male caretaking in the primate lineage that led to humans may be much older than we think.”
Additional research is now underway to investigate whether hormones, such as testosterone, may play a role in helping to facilitate these behaviours in the gorillas, as they do in humans.
Full report: Stacy Rosenbaum, Linda Vigilant, Christopher Kuzawa, Tara Stoinski. (2018) Caring for infants is associated with increased reproductive success in male mountain gorillas. Scientific Reports.
The African elephant (Loxodonta africana) is one of the most easily recognisable animals in the whole wide world. They once roamed across most of the continent from the northern Mediterranean coast to the southern tip, but they are now confined to a much smaller range in eastern and southern Africa, with the highest densities found in Botswana, Tanzania, Zimbabwe, Kenya, Zambia and South Africa. For many people, elephants epitomise an African safari. Their big stature, tactile trunks, and human-like qualities make them a point of interest for both avid and novice safari-goers alike.
In this gallery, Celebrating African Elephants, we are sharing with you some incredible photos of these giant pachyderms, taken by photographers who entered our Photographer of the Year 2017 and 2018 competitions. Have you heard about our popular Maasai Mara photographic safari?
“While on safari, I came across a small breeding herd of elephants. We were stationary in a small narrow valley, and the elephants slowly started to move past us in very close quarters. While I was watching, this small elephant calf approached the vehicle and slowly lifted his trunk to get a scent of these strange creatures in the metal object mere inches away. It was great to create this image showing the inquisitive nature of the baby elephant.” ~ Andrew Aveley
An in-depth study of the African elephant’s wrinkly skin has revealed how its intricate design helps to keep the animal cool, protect it from parasites and prevent dehydration. Read about the study here
Elephants live for 50 to 70 years. Bulls only start contributing to the gene pools at 35 to 40 years old and cows start breeding at 12 to 14 years old. Cows undergo the longest gestation period of all mammals – they are pregnant for 22 months.
Elephants can detect seismic signals via their feet, through the leg and shoulder bones and into the middle ear. They communicate with each other over distances up to 10 km via low-frequency rumbles, again picked up via the feet.
“We visited the Addo Elephant National Park and were photographing the elephants at Hapoor dam. There were three babies in the herd, but this one was the eldest. He was chasing anything that moved around him, no matter how big or small. He had also discovered his trunk and was turning and tossing his head while his trunk swung in every direction – he seemed to enjoy this tremendously.” ~ Annette Heymans
“The Amboseli National Park in Kenya has the biggest herds of elephants in Africa. When we were there, I saw from afar a large elephant family coming directly towards us, heading for the swamp that was just behind us. This photo is the only one I got when all the elephants were looking head-on.” ~ Brigitta Moser
Elephants are the heaviest land mammals, at 4 – 7 tons, and the second tallest land mammal (behind the giraffe) at 3.1 to 3.4 metres at the shoulder. The largest elephant on record weighed 10.9 tons and was 3.9 metres at the shoulder.
There are about 50,000 muscles in an elephant’s trunk, made up of six muscle groups, and no bones. This compares to 639 muscles in the entire human body! The closest thing we have to an elephant’s trunk is our tongue. Elephants use their trunks to breathe, drink, eat, smell, snorkel, wrestle, communicate, touch, feel, hold, grab and pull. We can’t think of any other appendage that is so versatile.
“It was after the heavy rains in Namibia when I saw these elephants travelling on the dry, arid land from the mountains towards the Huab River in search of vegetation.” ~ Norman Victor
During the dry season, elephants provide access to water for other species. They dig holes in dry riverbeds to get to deep water – opening the water up for other species not able to dig. They also enlarge, and compact mud wallows to form large pans that fill up with water – again providing water for other species.
The elephant’s sense of smell is estimated to be four times that of a bloodhound or 160 times that of a human. They can smell water from many kilometres away.
A baby elephant is called a calf. It weighs about 250 pounds at birth and stands about three feet tall. Calves can’t see very well at first, but they can recognise their mothers by touch, scent, and sound.
“I watched these two bulls sparring for over an hour on the edge of the lakebed in Amboseli. At first, there were clear skies and then a huge storm built up above and around them. What with the dust, the clouds, the light, the drama and the action, it was truly an incredible scene, and I was lucky to pop off a few shots before they eventually moved off.” ~ Andrew Campbell
“Amboseli is the ultimate canvas in which to encounter elephants in their natural environment. In this photograph, the bull, who was in musth, is mock-charging our vehicle, coming within metres of us and moving with aggressive intent. He continued his antics, displaying signs of displeasure by stomping his feet and violently shaking his head from side to side. It was a compelling display of a 12,000-pound giant’s fury. Heart racing and adrenaline high, I managed to keep composure and capture the image of his violent display as dust and mud flew all about him. Nothing compares to coming face-to-face with a force of nature like this elephant’s unleashed fury.” ~ Dana Kennedy
Hwange National Park is home to one of the largest elephant populations in Africa. An estimated 44,000 pachyderms are inhabiting the 14,651 km² park, making up 90 % of the above-surface biomass. The park is lacking in natural surface water so during the dry season the animals, including the elephants, rely on human-made pans of calcium-rich water pumped from boreholes.
Travel in Africa is about knowing when and where to go, and with whom. A few weeks too early/late or a few kilometres off course, and you could miss the greatest show on Earth. And wouldn’t that be a pity?
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Simon Espley is an African of the digital tribe, a chartered accountant and CEO of Africa Geographic. His travels in Africa are in search of wilderness, real people with interesting stories and elusive birds. He lives in South Africa 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.’
Image caption: Simon with photographer Frank Gabriel
As a former field guide and teacher, Thea has combined her passion for the English language and love of African wildlife, travel and culture in her previous work as Africa Geographic editor. When not in front of the screen she makes time to get out and explore the beautiful Cape Town countryside in search for her favourite reptile species (and other fascinating creatures, of course).
