There are few things that can crush my heart. I suppose after coming across hundreds of elephant carcasses lying abuzz with maggot-filled cavities in pools of thickening blood, there is little that really can move you to tears.
How funny it is then that I was moved to tears watching grown men and women – diplomats, delegates, and professionals – make a decision that even a five-year-old could see is just plain wrong.
I attended the CITES 17th Conference of the Parties because I felt it was necessary to understand the workings of a system that makes decisions, which inevitably have an impact on myself, future generations and everyone on the frontline in the war against poaching.
I pulled together my savings and struggled to get letters of confidence in order to get the necessary accreditation to attend this global market of endangered wildlife and their parts.
The first thing that struck me on arrival at the CoP17 was the jaw-droppingly lavish setting. I walked up to the Sandton Convention Centre and joined the demonstration outside, where people of all ages, nationalities and from all walks of life, shouted their throats sore for elephants, rhinos and lions. “What do we want?” They shouted, and the children, some as young as just five years old, shouted back, “Appendix 1!”
I began my CITES experience with such high hopes. Surely the voices of children, rangers, conservationists and the general public would not go unheard?
I made my way in to get the all-coveted pass and felt so grand wearing it around the arena. Initially, it was difficult to move around as there were so many simultaneous side-events, and my amazing mentor, Will Travers, kept getting pulled into things, so I explored alone for a while.
Through my interactions with numerous people, I discovered there were WhatsApp groups that I requested to be added to. These groups made it so much easier for me to know what was happening around me, to find out which working groups were meeting and where, and what critical proposals were coming up in the committee sessions.
And that’s where it all went down…
That is where I watched the EU let down an entire species to support a few greedy men that satiate the hunting industry. Never in my life had I heard such impassioned speeches in support of decimating entire species in order to line a few pockets. I began to feel sick to my stomach and it became harder each session to hold back my tears.
But it was on Tuesday that I broke. Everyone had been talking up this day. “Tomorrow’s the big one,” people kept saying in the corridors and around coffee tables.
My elephants were on the line.
The morning began with a prayer and briefing at the African Elephant Coalition room. We would stand strong for our mighty Ndovu.
Proposal 14, 15 and 16 were in session. My heart was beating so fast as I celebrated the small victories against the ivory trade proposals, and then it was time for the proposal of the AEC to uplist elephants to Appendix I.
The room was packed to the brim as everyone came in to witness the debate, clinging to hope (some for elephants, some for their lust for money). And so it began.
One side was fighting for the survival of a species, the other to destroy it. Passionate and polarised arguments fought this ultimate war of words.
For those of us on the field, let us always cling to the pillar of strength that for me now is Botswana. Agreeing to relinquish its Appendix II listing for elephants, and ban all ivory until 2025, this Southern African nation has ignored the voices of greed and heard the plight of future generations and a species in need.
I felt so helpless sitting in the back of the room and realising how different South African value systems are from the rest of Africa.
Antigua and Barbuda, Bahrain, Belize, Brazil, Canada, Chile, Cuba, DRC, Fiji, Gambia, Guyana, Iceland, Indonesia, Japan, Kuwait, Liechtenstein, Madagascar, Malawi, Maldives, Mexico, Mozambique, Myanmar, Namibia, Norway, Peru, Rep. Korea, Russian Federation, St. Lucia, Saudi Arabia, South Africa, St. Vincent and the Grenadines, Swaziland, Switzerland, Tajikistan, Tanzania, Uruguay, Vietnam, Zambia, Zimbabwe, China and shockingly, the United States of America (despite President Obama’s Executive Order against ivory and rhino horn trade) all voted against giving elephants the highest level of legal international protection.
But what swung the vote was the EU. With their block voting right counting for 28 votes, and a need for a two-third majority in favour of elephants to win, they callously and unashamedly denied Africa’s elephants any hope, and they denied me and future generations the same.
The EU managed to do what no poacher has done. Without mercy and devoid of ethics, the EU hacked away my heart, leaving me lying motionless in a pool of tears at the back of a room where flags of the world acted as my backdrop.
What will I tell the rangers when I go back home? What will I tell the families of those who died protecting this gentle giant we call Ndovu? CITES reconvenes in three years. Possibly by that time, Africa will have lost a further 100,000 elephants. And that is if the current rate of poaching does not increase with this lack of international protection for elephants, which I would say is quite unlikely.
I may not know what to say to the teams back home, but I will say this – unashamedly and without fear: If anything happens to me on the field between now and then, I will know in my heart who is to blame.
Tsavo National Park in Kenya is probably on every wildlife enthusiast’s bucket list. Renowned for its stories of man-eating lions, and admired for its famous elephants covered in red dust and the Critically Endangered hirola, a trip to Tsavo imbues tranquillity in the African wilderness with the prospect of observing big tuskers in their natural environment.
Spanning an area of 22,000km² – making it slightly bigger than South Africa’s Kruger – Tsavo is Kenya’s largest national park. And I had the good fortune to be guided in the park for nearly a week by Richard Moller, the Chief Executive Officer of The Tsavo Trust, and stay at Satao Camp in Tsavo East, which kindly subsidised some of the accommodation, meals and transfers.
The park’s nine big tuskers are among perhaps only 40 on the whole African continent today, as these so-called ‘hundred pounders have been all but wiped out as a combined result of poaching, trophy hunting and large scale exploitation of ivory for consumer goods. So it was a dream of mine to try to locate a few of these remaining iconic giants, and capture them on camera for monitoring purposes and posterity.
Note from the editor: We are very aware of public sensitivity to the disclosure of the location of large tuskers. This feature was put together under the close supervision of the Tsavo Trust, which takes excellent care of Tsavo’s special giants. Read on for further information.
Africa Geographic arranged my Tsavo safari after I expressed the wish to see some of the last-remaining huge elephants.
Arriving in Kenya for research and a photographic safari excursion means that you need to pack very few clothes and ensure your photographic equipment takes precedence. It is only by patiently spending 10 to 12 hours a day in the bush that you will have even the remote chance of seeing a big tusker.
Richard is a seasoned fixed-wing pilot and treated me to the joys of aerial observation in the Super Cub on his daily reconnaissance flights. It struck me how easily Richard could identify the elephants from great distances, and we circled far away from them to avoid disturbing their peace.
Thanks to his skill, I achieved my goal and managed to see three of the largest bulls in the park, as well as a few huge females and several emerging tuskers. One evening, after spending 12 hours in the wilderness, local Tusker beer in hand by the fireplace, Richard and I reminisced about the wonders of nature that we had managed to locate during the day. While the waterhole at Satao Camp was inundated with elephants, sometimes as many as 60 quenching their thirst until late at night, our conversation focused on how to save these hidden icons of Africa’s savannahs. No sooner would a herd step back into the darkness to wander miles away in search of food, than another 30 elephants would arrive with rumblings and friendly scuffles in the dark, splashing at the waterhole in sheer delight at the coolness of the water on their bodies. It was a remarkable experience to fall asleep in our luxury tents later, surrounded by the stillness of the night that was only interrupted by the sounds of these majestic beings.
Sadly, the egoic obsessions of Western hunters to kill powerful beings is still very prevalent in this day and age. Although Kenya has banned hunting since the mid-70s, elephants do traverse freely to neighbouring Tanzania where elephant hunts are still taking place legally. Consequently, some iconic elephants have wandered perilously across the open borders, unknowingly taking the risk of being shot to decorate a mantelpiece some 14,000km away.
Observing these magnificent elephants in Tsavo East filled me with inner turmoil. Years of my research have revealed how world leaders, CITES, and the corruption in range, transit and consumer states have mostly failed these majestic and sentient beings. Where once 10 million elephants roamed the African continent some 200 years ago, less than 420,000 now remain.
While travelling from Satao Elerai Camp in Amboseli, I witnessed how Tsavo East and West are cut in half by the road that leads from Nairobi to Mombasa. China has also financed over 90% of the new 609km railway line that runs parallel to the road and is due for completion in December 2016. The Mombasa-Nairobi standard gauge railway is the biggest infrastructure project in Kenya since the country’s independence. It will eventually link Mombasa, which is the world’s most significant transit point for ivory smuggling, with other major East African cities, such as Kampala in Uganda. The railway line is designed to carry 22 million tonnes of cargo a year, or a projected 40% of Mombasa Port throughput by 2035.
In this video by Richard Moller, you can watch some of Tsavo’s elephants dealing with their new environment:
Upon seeing this massive railway project, I recalled how, when arriving in Nairobi from Johannesburg days earlier, my attention was immediately drawn to the fact that nearly 90% of travellers at passport control came from China, including those in the queue for Kenyan passport holders. I had a brief flash of Howard French’s book, China’s Second Continent: A guide to the new colonisation of Africa, that I had read a year ago. I witnessed his experience firsthand and shuddered to think of the aftermath for Africa’s wildlife, considering the vast numbers of elephants poached to fulfil the Asian demand for ivory.
The Great Elephant Census is the largest pan-African aerial survey since the 1970s and recently released its results ahead of the CITES Conference of the Parties in Johannesburg at the end of September 2016. It showed that in seven years, between 2007 and 2014, numbers of savannah elephants plummeted by at least 30%.
At this year’s Conference of the Parties, a vital decision was made concerning the deplorable practice of ivory sales for carvings and collectors’ cabins. Members rejected Namibia and Zimbabwe’s proposals, which were strongly supported by South Africa, to export ivory stockpiles. After all, the morally unjustified decision in 2008 to allow a one-off sale of 106 tonnes of ivory to Japan and China yielded a mere US$15.5 million, which is an absolute pittance if one considers how 35,000 elephants a year have been slaughtered for their ivory since that time only eight years ago.
However, another proposal by the African Elephant Coalition, which consists of 30 African states, to up-list Southern African elephants to Appendix I for the highest possible protection, was sadly rejected at the CITES conference when the EU blocked the proposal. Importantly Botswana, with nearly one-third of the continent’s elephant populations, supported the coalition proposal.
On the second day of my trip, we spotted a carcass of an elephant that had died a natural death. Later in the day, Richard asked the KWS rangers to accompany him to collect the ivory lying next to the dead animal. Their conversation was in fluent Swahili, and it was clear to see that the relationship between him and the rangers was filled with deep mutual respect for each other’s work and their efforts as the custodians of Tsavo’s heritage.
Two years ago the carcass of Satao, the world-famous big tusker, was found in the area. He had been killed by a poisoned arrow and found with his face hacked to pieces for his tusks, which were destined to decorate the desk of an Asian collector. World conservationists called this a monumental loss. As a result of the prevalence of poaching, Richard would like to see one or two of the iconic Tsavo tuskers enjoy a Presidential Security Decree to protect them, as was the case with the famous tusker called Ahmed of Marsabit National Park in Kenya in the early 1970s. If successfully repeated, this will be a momentous achievement in conservation leadership by an African president.
Over the next few days, I was elated to observe the successful cooperation between The Tsavo Trust, a field-based NGO established four years ago, and the Kenya Wildlife Services. In less than four years since Richard Moller embarked on his NGO’s programme to protect Tsavo’s tuskers, elephant poaching in Tsavo has reduced by over half. There are few examples of close co-operation by African NGOs and their government counterparts in wildlife conservation, so this is a notable venture. Richard and his co-pilot, Josh Outram, spend over 60 hours per month recording the silent giants of Tsavo’s savannahs, and they have donated more than US$300,000 worth of anti-poaching vehicles and equipment to KWS since its inception.
They also work closely with local communities, as they fully appreciate that the survival of Africa’s iconic species is dependent on the participation of people who live on park borders. Human-wildlife conflict is at the root of an ecological disaster still in its infancy, and apex predators such as lions are especially affected in East Africa, as they pose an enormous threat to the cattle herders, so are consequently often killed or poisoned.
The ubiquitous pastoralists are, according to my sources, spending months in the park grazing the cattle of wealthy politicians, even though this is illegal. Over the course of our week in the area, Richard and I flew over several cattle herds and, a few days later, on my outward journey from Tsavo East, I again observed several thousand cattle and goats inside the park boundaries. The implications that this also has on Tsavo’s ecosystem are immense. From the Super Cub, I noticed that areas north of the Galana River were deprived of any flora and saw massive expanses of soil erosion caused by the hooves of livestock that had been herded to the river for water.
According to documents published by the United Nations, Kenya’s current population of 46 million people is expected to grow to 157 million by 2100. Africa’s people will swell from 1.2 billion today to 4.4 billion by the end of the century. These existing difficulties will increase tenfold over the next 80 years. Unless addressed now by closely involving local communities in conservation initiatives, this increase will spell disaster for Africa’s endangered species.
If you’re planning a trip to Tsavo National Park, Satao Camp in Tsavo East is a luxury eco-camp that makes for an ideal base from which to explore the area. Thanks to its fabulous light and unbelievable views, Tsavo East is a paradise for photographers who particularly wish to get shots of the Mudanda Rock, Lugard Falls and Yatta Plateau. With only one lodge and four camps within Tsavo East, the rolling hills of the park have a very remote feel, which means that Satao Camp can provide a rather exclusive experience.
Nestled amongst trees, the semi-circular layout around a waterhole of its 20 ensuite tents offers guests fantastic views from their private verandahs – on which they can toast a Tusker after spending the day in search of this beer’s namesake.
Dex Kotze is a businessman who applies his business experience of 30 years to the world of conservation. With a deep passion for Africa’s wildlife and wildlife photography, he started an NGO called Youth 4 African Wildlife, which aims to create next-generation global ambassadors for endangered African wildlife through experiential research, social media, film and photography. Since its inception four years ago, over ZAR800,000 has been raised for rhino conservation, with proceeds assisting in the successful translocation of rhinos to Botswana and the purchase of anti-poaching security dogs and equipment. His passion also steered him in 2014 to be a core strategist of the international NGO, Global March for Elephants, Rhinos and Lions, raising international awareness of the plight of elephants, rhinos and lions.
Dex is also a director of South Africa’s The Rhino Orphanage, a non-profit company based in Limpopo. This was the first of its kind when it was established in 2012, and it is a haven where injured and orphaned rhino calves are cared for, with the aim of releasing them back into the wild.
Nothing can prepare you for the heat in Sudan. It cracks 35ºC before 9am and easily hits the mid-40s by lunch. And surprisingly, it’s cooler in long clothing than in shorts.
Mungi, my guide, presents me with a jellabiya, the traditional long robe that men wear in Sudan. It’s great in keeping the heat at bay. Usually it’s white but can be found in a variety of colours and styles. How it’s kept white in this dusty country I’ll never know, but I’m sure there are some very talented laundry services here.
I slip the jellabiya on and head down Arba’im road, along the old camel route. Arba’im means ‘40’ in Arabic, so named as that was the amount of days it took for the camel caravans to trek from western Sudan to southern Egypt. This road is now tarmacked and smooth, leading to the shrine of Sheikh Hamed al-Nil, the man who had started the Sufi movement many moons ago.
“Every Friday people gather at the shrine,” Mungi explains, “where, after the 16:30 prayers, everyone comes together to form the Zikir Huliya. ‘Zikir’ means ‘charity’ while Huliya means ‘ring’ and the chanting is about Mohammed the Prophet’s good deeds and Allah. They play music and chant repeatedly, some men go into a trance-like state.”
The shrine is located in the Omdurman cemetery. The parking area is lined with small pop-up stalls filled with bites to eat, sweets, tea, coffee and cigarettes. In the main square you will find free food by volunteer cooks who are happy to feed everybody involved.
Men start to gather outside the shrine as the sun sets in the west. A semi-circle is formed and the priests start to drum a beat. They walk around the circle singing, inviting folk to come in and dance.
A priest wearing a rasta-coloured jellabiya (green, red and yellow) walks around burning incense, pausing by various people who sniff it and ritually pass the smoke over themselves and then stuff the priest’s pocket with monetary notes.
I find myself lightly swaying to the beat as Sufis from neighbouring areas arrive with more instruments and parade around the circle.
Men started to chant, and a priest loaded with beads dances around in circles within the circle. The energy is high. Everybody is smiling, greeting each other with long hugs and even longer blessings. It is such an eye-opener to see that this religion, one that the west has grown to fear, can be so spiritual and peaceful. And welcoming without judgement, dissolving the initial judgements I myself held.
I’ve only been in Sudan for four days but I am loving every minute of it. Despite the heat.
EXTRACT FROM THE FOLLOWING THIRD PARTY SOURCE:Traveller24
This 5-minute raw footage taken at the Faraday Muthi Market in Selby, Johannesburg, shows skins and animal parts of endangered species openly available for sale, such as cheetah, leopard, lion, chimpanzee, hyena, pangolin and vulture.
While this was happening, just down the road in Sandton, more than 3,500 delegates from 183 member state countries attended the 17th Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora – one of the most important wildlife conferences focused on the protection and monitoring of trade in wildlife.
Yet, at this Jo’burg market, a rather well-known muthi (traditional medicine) market, the video clearly shows rampant trade in illegal wildlife products, most of which have very specific restrictions attached to trade, if any is even allowed.
The person who took the video and shared it with Blood Lions wishes to remain anonymous, but confirmed the video’s authenticity to Traveller24 and that it was taken on Monday, 3 October, saying it was, “alarming to see so many leopard skins available.”
In January this year, the Department of Environmental Affairs set provincial leopard trophy hunting quotas at zero for 2016, effectively banning leopard trophy hunting throughout South Africa for a year.
This calls into question the origin of these products, which include pangolin scales, just moved up to CITES Appendix I. Other products included lion skins and bone, as well as endangered vulture species.
Traveller24 spoke to Green Scorpions Environmental Management Inspector for Complaints, Andrew Mbhalati, who is the acting head for Green Scorpions at the moment, but he could not confirm if the market was being investigated.
Mbhalati says he would only be able to follow up on the matter on Monday, when the necessary official Eric Mbela who deals with biodiversity issues was back in the office.
Mbhalati says: “We rely on the public to lodge a complaint. Thereafter the issues are then registered and we send the inspectors to investigate further.” He could not confirm that the division actively investigates or patrols well-known markets such as Faraday. But given that the film was shot on Monday afternoon, it does not appear as if this particular one is being actively monitored.
Ian Michler, the investigative conservationist behind the documentary Blood Lions who has seen the video, told Traveller24 that while no official complaint has been laid, Blood Lions would definitely be collecting a full body of information in order to do so.
Michler says: “The striking irony of this is that a mere 15km from where the world has been holding the most important conference on the trade of endangered species is that these products are being traded in a market. The video shows everything from lion and vultures and crocodiles and primate hands.”
Michler says that while it is all good and well for the stakeholders to hold intellectual discussions on the endangered species, it highlights how little is actually being done on the ground and exactly why these species are in trouble.
“It is one thing to accord them protection in writing but it is another to enforce those laws entirely, which CITES needs to be aware of,” says Michler.
“It is the greatest irony and sadness in actual fact,” says Michler.
When told that the Green Scorpions rely largely on investigating complaints made by the public or organisations who witness the illegal trader, Michler says: “This is an indictment on local and national government, the fact that a country of South Africa’s stature when it comes to wildlife cannot get a rudimentary protection force together to carry out their mandate.”
Michler says: “At least give them the capabilities to patrol markets in the heart of the city – because this is what it boils down to, we are not talking about markets that are in the middle of nowhere. These are visible to everyone. It is extremely sad and a very concerning situation – that they don’t have the resources to carry out the most basic regulatory mandate.”
As part of its official complaint, Michler says Blood Lions would be looking at other areas in the CBD, as well as trying to ascertain who the suppliers to these markets area are.
NSPCA Wildlife aware of the muthi market
National Council of SPCA spokesperson Isobel Wentzel told Traveller24 that, while they are aware of the market, it falls out of their domain.
“We don’t have proof on how the animals are killed, it would be about the manner in how they were killed or proof of cruelty. The fact is we don’t know if they were alive when the parts were chopped off.”
However, Wentzel says: “Market traders need to be in possession of a wildlife trader permit, which must be regulated as it is issued subject to specific quotas. They need permits even if it’s for traditional medicine.”
Wentzel agreed that all known muthi markets across the various provinces need to be checked on, especially to establish proof of origin.
CITES regulates international and not domestic trade
“Conservation enforcement departments have to check if these guys have been issued permits. But it’s clear some of the species they can’t get permits to trade in,” which is the key issue here according to Wentzel.
While CITES regulates international and not domestic trade, Wentzel says these traders are still accountable as it is illegal to take animals such as pangolin out of the wild, let alone sell them.
“You cannot take animals out of the wild; it must be legally bred in captivity in order to trade some of them.”
Wentzel also suggests that it is unlikely these parts came from animals that died of natural causes. “If animals die of natural causes, a permit needs to be obtained just to keep the horn of a rhino for example. Leopard or cheetah skins cannot leave that property unless they have a registered wildlife permit. Curios all have permits for their wildlife items. Even if they call it traditional medicine, muthi markets are not exempted from the law.”
Another CITES Conference of the Parties has concluded, with a mixed bag of results. The sheer volume of press releases and social media commentary can be confusing, even bewildering. And so here is a brief summary of the main decisions that affect African species.
Note:
– CITES appendix I: No legal international trade.
– CITES appendix II: International trade is permitted, subject to issue of export permits by relevant authorities.
1. Namibia, Zimbabwe and South Africa requested the legalisation of international trade in ivory.
Request denied.
2. The Elephant Coalition (29 countries) and Botswana requested that elephants in Namibia, South Africa, Botswana and Zimbabwe be up-listed from CITES appendix II to I.
Request denied.
Note that elephants in all other African countries are already on CITES I and that the CITES II listing for the four countries above prohibits international trade in ivory. In effect the trophy hunting of elephants in those four countries and other countries (where the CITES I classification specifically permits hunting) will continue unaffected, as will the sale of live elephants. Elephant trophies may be exported, subject to specific bans already in place by target countries, but ivory may not be traded internationally (domestic sales are permissible).
Swaziland requested that they be allowed to trade internationally in white rhino horn.
Request denied
Note that white rhinos are listed on CITES II, with an annotation preventing the trade in rhino horn. South Africa permits domestic trade in rhino horn – although there are ongoing legal proceedings in this regard.
Several nations requested the up-listing of lions from CITES appendix II to CITES appendix I, which would kill the growing trade in lion bones and other parts.
Request denied, but no wild lion parts may be traded. Lion parts from captive-bred lions can be traded by South Africa, with that country required to set quotas and report to CITES each year.
In effect this decision entrenches and legitimises the lion breeding programmes in South Africa, and opens up possible channels for the laundering of wild lion parts. Trophy hunting of wild and captive-bred lions continues unaffected.
Pangolins
Request to up-list all pangolins from CITES II to CITES 1 was approved
Grey parrots
Request to up-list grey parrots from CITES II to CITES 1 was approved
This means that no wild-caught grey parrots can be traded internationally. Breeders can trade internationally in captive-bred grey parrots if they register their breeding facility with CITES (which will require upholding of specific standards) and permitting processes. There is no restriction on breeders selling captive-bred grey parrots domestically.
Request to increase protective measures against the exotic pet trade (cheetahs are already on CITES 1) was approved. States agreed to co-operate more fully, and emphasis was placed on a unified approach for social media platforms.
Sharks and rays
Request made to up-list silky sharks, three species of thresher sharks and nine species of mobula rays to CITES appendix II was approved. This means that trade in these species will now have to be proven to be sustainable.
Parting thoughts
Although these changes provide a few more tools to prevent illegal international trade, they are only as effective as the degree to which the law is respected, applied and enforced. Most trafficking of wildlife happens outside of the law, and I am not convinced that any of these changes will have significant positive effects. Some of them might even drive illegal trade deeper underground than it is currently.
There seems to be an enormous void between CITES and those empowered on the ground to implement effective conservation strategies. What also comes through from social media chatter is a growing sense that CITES is purely an elite United Nations club, of frustration that foreigners with no understanding of the reality on the ground get to make fundamentally important decisions, and that it’s time for Africa to be in charge of its own wildlife management decisions.
EXTRACT FROM THE FOLLOWING THIRD PARTY SOURCE:Written by: Joe Sandler Clarke for Energy Desk, Greenpeace
The second-largest rainforest in the world could become the next frontier in the global palm oil trade as the government of Cameroon considers allowing the expansion of plantations in the country.
SG Sustainable Oils Cameroon (SGSOC) hold a land lease to develop palm oil on 20,000 hectares of land on the fringe of the Congo Basin rainforest and the company is hoping to receive an extended lease on the land.
The news comes as local community members announce they are bringing a case against the firm, with hundreds of farmers accusing the company of failing to respect the “buffer zones” around their farmland.
The emergence of industrial palm oil plantations in the region has sparked concern among local environmentalists.
Home to gorillas, forest elephants and bonobos, as well as more than 1,000 species of birds and 10,000 types of tropical plants, the rainforest spans six countries, covering a little over 40% of Cameroon’s land.
SGSOC has been active in Cameroon for seven years, working at a relatively small scale, but sparking significant controversy.
It originally outlined plans to develop up to 60,000 hectares of land for palm – an area the size of Madrid, but has since backed away from those plans.
When contacted by Greenpeace researchers, SGSOC said the land it had sought had been designated as an “agricultural development zone in 1989”.
In 2012, an EU-funded independent observer of the forestry sector claimed that the company had been clearing forest, without a permit.
More recently, residents in Babensi II village, which overlaps the concession, have complained about their farmland being damaged as part of SGSOC’s development.
Today, local community members are bringing a case against SGSOC, with hundreds of farmers accusing the company of failing to respect the “buffer zones” around their farmland.
SGSOC rejected these accusations, in a response to Greenpeace researchers.
A spokesperson for the company said: “In accordance with the company’s policy to comply with international standards, SGSOC uses the Free, Prior and lnformed Consent (FPIC) approach in each community it works with. Communities that do not wish to partner with SGSOC were entitled to deny the project access to their lands without the threat of repudiation or consequence. For example, 11 Bassosi villages including Babensi II were excluded from the SGSOC project because they rejected it.”
Indonesian development
Large scale palm oil operations were a feature of the region during the colonial era and people living in and around the Congo Basin have long had small scale farming and palm oil operations.
But the scale of SGSOC’s current project may represent the arrival of the Indonesia-style palm oil industry to the region.
Smallholders have been farming palm oil for decades in Cameroon. But the country has not seen industrial palm oil development like in Indonesia.
Indonesia’s rainforest has been ravaged for the last two decades by the poorly regulated palm oil and logging industry.
The huge forest fires that cause devastating pollution across South-East Asia each year have been blamed on practises linked to the palm oil sector, such as land clearance and developing plantations on highly flammable peatland.
Though the Congo basin does not have the same soil, the expansion of industrial palm-oil farming to the region could herald a sea-change in deforestation.
SGSOC first entered the country in 2009 as a subsidiary of United States agribusiness firm Herakles Farm, but has operated as an independent local corporation since 2015.
The company now faces an anxious wait, as its provisional lease to develop the 20,000 hectares runs out in November.
The Cameroon government will then make a decision about whether to cancel or extend the project. The international palm oil sector will be watching developments with interest.
EXTRACT FROM THE FOLLOWING THIRD PARTY SOURCE: WildAid
Parties to the UN Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES) have voted overwhelmingly to protect rhinos by rejecting a proposal to legalise the rhino horn trade. The proposal submitted by Swaziland to legalise rhino horn trade was defeated 100-26 with 17 abstentions.
Over the past decade, nearly 6,000 rhinos have been killed for their horns — primarily in South Africa, where 5,098 were poached between 2005 and 2015 to supply a lucrative black market.
Proponents of legal trade argue that they can tightly control the trade by limiting it solely to horn legally taken from living rhinos and legitimate stockpiles, and claim they will use the revenue to support anti-poaching.
But WildAid and other conservation groups have warned that legitimising the use of rhino horn by promoting trade can massively increase consumer demand in Asia for a product that is falsely claimed to cure cancer, hangovers and other illnesses.
WildAid CEO Peter Knights said of the vote: “Today, the Parties to CITES have overwhelmingly voted the right way on this issue. Far from protecting rhinos, a legal trade in rhino horn would have simply provided a mechanism for laundering yet more horn from poached rhinos into the trade. Demand reduction efforts in consumer nations, combined with improved enforcement in rhino range states, have a far better chance of reversing the rhino poaching crisis.”
WildAid also opposes “cultured” or bioengineered rhino horn because it risks perpetuating myths of rhino horn’s medicinal potency in Vietnam and China while making the product more socially desirable.
EXTRACT FROM THE FOLLOWING THIRD PARTY SOURCE:The Guardian
CITES meeting blocks proposal for a ban on all trade of ivory from four southern African countries with stable or increasing elephant populations – but passes other vital conservation measures.
Most African elephants already have the highest level of international legal protection – a CITES “appendix 1” listing – which bans all trade. But the elephants in Namibia, South Africa, Zimbabwe and Botswana, are listed on “appendix 2”, a lower level of protection. On Monday a proposal to add the elephants in Namibia, South Africa, Zimbabwe and Botswana to appendix 1 was defeated.
The EU played a pivotal role in blocking the proposal, which was fought over by rival groups of African nations.
But the Convention on the International Trade in Endangered Species (Cites), meeting this week in Johannesburg, passed other new measures for elephants that conservationists say will add vital protection.
All 182 nations agreed for the first time that legal ivory markets within nations must be closed. Separately, a process that could allow one-off sales of ivory stockpiles was killed and tougher measures to deal with nations failing to control poached ivory were agreed.
More than 140,000 of Africa’s savannah elephants were killed for their ivory between 2007 and 2014, wiping out almost a third of their population, and one elephant is still being killed by poachers every 15 minutes on average. The price of ivory has soared threefold since 2009, leading conservationists to fear the survival of the species is at risk.
The acrimonious debate over elephant poaching has split African countries. Namibia, South Africa and Zimbabwe, which host about a third of all remaining elephants, have stable or increasing populations. They argue passionately that elephant numbers are also suffering from loss of habitat and killings by farmers and that they can only be protected by making money from ivory sales and trophy hunting.
However, a group of 29 African nations, which host about 40% of all elephants and are led by Kenya and Benin, have smaller and plummeting populations and countered that poaching and the illegal trade in ivory is the greatest threat.
Critics said the proposal would do little to protect elephants as all international trade is already banned, but proponents argued it was a crucial signal to poachers and criminals of a global crackdown on the illegal ivory trade. Botswana has the world’s largest elephant population, about a third of all elephants, and it is growing. But it broke ranks with Namibia, South Africa and Zimbabwe and argued vehemently for appendix 1 protection.
Tshekedi Khama, Botswana’s minister of environment, said: “There is concerning evidence that elephant poaching is moving south. The criminal networks that facilitate much of this trade are highly organised and fluid, operating over several regions in the continent. Therefore no population should be considered secure. Put simply, a threat to elephants anywhere is a threat to elephants everywhere.”
The Cote D’Ivoire delegate said it was absurd to have some elephants on appendix 1 and some on appendix 2: “An elephant that crosses a border may have protection on one side and not on the other. Elephants do not have passports.”
Lee White, the British-born director of Gabon’s national parks and CITES delegate, said poachers were now shooting on sight at his rangers. The upgrading of all elephants to the highest protection would have sent “a signal that we will come down as hard on poaching as we do on the trafficking of drugs, arms and people”.
However, Namibia’s delegate threatened to withdraw entirely from CITES protections for elephants if all populations were upgraded to the highest levels. “It is completely fallacious that legal ivory trade covers illegal trade,” he said, a statement flatly rejected by other nations.
South Africa’s environment minister, Edna Molewa, said rural communities must benefit from elephants if they are to tolerate the damage caused to crops and the lives sometimes lost. “We dare not ignore their voices,” she said. “Trophy hunting is the best return on investment [in elephant protection] with the least impact.”
The EU, which with 28 votes is a powerful force at CITES, also opposed the upgrade to appendix 1. It said that CITES rules meant the highest level protection is reserved for populations that are in steep decline, and that this did not apply to the elephants in Namibia, South Africa, Zimbabwe and Botswana.
Some scientific and conservation groups agreed with this, including WWF, Traffic and the Zoological Society of London, arguing the integrity of the CITES was at risk.
The EU delegate to CITES said: “The proposal does not meet the biological criteria. [But] this does not mean in any way we are not concerned about the decline of elephants across the continent.” Several nations said cutting the demand for ivory, through education, and better enforcement against poachers was key.
The issue was forced to a vote and was defeated, leaving the southern African elephants on appendix 2. Earlier on Monday, Namibia and Zimbabwe had attempted to legalise the trade in ivory from those countries.
Namibia said its elephant population had doubled to 20,000 in the last 15 years. Charles Jonga, from the Campfire Programme, a rural development group in Zimbabwe, told the CITES summit: “The people in my community say: ‘These elephants they eat our crops, they damage our houses, what benefit do we get?’ If they get benefits, they will protect and not poach.”
But Patrick Omondi, Kenya’s delegate, said: “Poaching levels and trafficking in ivory are at their highest peak. History has shown the ivory trade cannot be controlled. We are reaching a tipping point and need to give elephants time to recover.”
Both Namibia’s and Zimbabwe’s proposals, supported by Japan but opposed by the EU and US, were soundly defeated. Observers believe Namibia, Zimbabwe and South Africa did not expect to unpick the ban on the ivory trade at this summit but wanted to keep the debate open, in the hope of future success.
Many conservation groups wanted all elephants to get the highest protection, but Tom Milliken, an elephant expert from wildlife trade monitoring group Traffic, said: “Where elephants fall on the CITES appendices is inconsequential to their survival. All the paper protection in the world is not going to compensate for poor law enforcement, rampant corruption and ineffective management.”
He said the real success of the summit was measures to crack down on countries failing to halt illegal trade.
But Kelvin Alie, at the International Fund for Animal Welfare, said the failure to put all elephants on appendix one was a disaster: “This is a tragedy for elephants. At a time when we are seeing such a dramatic increase in the slaughter of elephants for ivory, now was the time for the global community to step up and say no more.”
African lions have shrunk to just 8% of their historic range, with only 20,000 left in the wild. About 1,500 a year are hunted as trophies, a practice that attracted global attention last year after an American dentist killed Cecil the lion with a crossbow in Zimbabwe.
Rising trade in lion bones to Asia, where such bones are replacing scarce tiger bones in supposed tonics, has raised fears of further declines. South Africa alone legally exported 1,200 skeletons – 11 tonnes of bones – between 2008 and 2011, the latest figures available.
But 182 countries at the Convention on the International Trade in Endangered Species (CITES), meeting in Johannesburg, were unable to agree on a proposal from nine African countries to ban all international trade in lion parts.
Instead, a compromise agreement banned only the trade in bones, teeth and claws from wild lions. Those coming from captive-bred lions will still be legally sold, although South Africa will now have to report on how many it sells each year. The export of trophies from lion hunting remains legal.
Tsekedi Khama, environment minister in Botswana, which backed a total ban, said: “It would be a very, very sad day when we are not able to show our children’s children what a lion looks like because they have been hunted into extinction or because we traded their body parts into extinction, and that we have taken no responsibility in managing the situation.”
A spokesman for the European Union, which helped broker the deal, said: “It is the nature of compromise that not everyone gets what they want.”
A delegate from Niger, one of the countries that proposed the total ban, said: “We continue to be concerned by the constant threat the lion faces. [But] we will accept the compromise.”
Zimbabwe has argued strongly for legal trade in lions and its CITES delegate said living with lions poses serious hardships for communities, as cattle and sometimes people can be killed by them.
“The coexistence of people and lions can only be protected by putting a value on lions,” the delegate said, “through eco-tourism and sport hunting, with the money ploughed back into conservation.”
Colman O’Criodain, from the World Wildlife Fund, said: “Discussions at CITES have shone a light on the lion bone trade, while a recent report highlights the use of lion bone as a substitute for tiger bone. WWF is very concerned about this trend and the recommendation to ban all trade in wild lion bone is a positive first step, but it does not go far enough. WWF believes that, as with the trade of parts of captive-bred tigers, the trade in bone from captive-bred lion keeps demand for big cat bone alive, and complicates enforcement efforts.”
Experts say any legal big cat bone trade gives the opportunity for traffickers to pass off illegal wild bones as legitimate.
Jimmiel Mandima, from the African Wildlife Foundation, had wanted a total ban and warned that lions were going extinct in numerous African countries. He said trophy hunting disrupted populations by targeting the biggest males.
EXTRACT FROM THE FOLLOWING THIRD PARTY SOURCE: News24
Delegates at CITES CoP17, a global wildlife conference, on Sunday voted to ban international trade in African grey parrots, one of the world’s most trafficked birds.
Prized for their ability to mimic human speech, the birds are a highly sought-after pet, but their numbers have been decimated in recent years by poaching and the destruction of their forest habitats. The Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species (CITES) meeting in Johannesburg voted 95 to 35 in a secret poll to ban the global commercial trade of the parrot. CITES said the vote result would give the African grey the “highest level of protection” by listing it in Appendix 1, which outlaws all international trade in animals facing possible extinction.Dr Colman O’Criodain of conservation group WWF called the move “a huge step forward” in protecting the bird.”Fraud and corruption have enabled traffickers to vastly exceed current quotas and continue to harvest unsustainable numbers of African grey parrots from Congo’s forests to feed the illegal trade,” he said. “Banning the trade will make it easier for law enforcement agencies to crack down on the poachers and smugglers, and give the remaining wild populations some much-needed breathing space.”The International Fund for Animal Welfare (IFAW) estimates that between 2.1 and 3.2 million African greys were captured between 1975 and 2013.
Susan Lieberman of the Wildlife Conservation Society said the parrot had experienced, “significant population declines throughout its range in West, Central and East Africa.”
“It is extremely rare or locally extinct in Benin, Burundi, Guinea, Guinea-Bissau, Kenya, Rwanda, Tanzania and Togo,” she said in a statement.
“If this bird could talk – and it certainly can – the African grey parrot would say thank you.”
The CITES treaty, signed by 182 countries and the European Union, protects about 5,600 animal and 30,000 plant species from over-exploitation through commercial trade.
The 12-day conference, which ends on Wednesday, is sifting through 62 proposals to tighten or loosen trade restrictions on around 500 species.
September 28th 2016 will be remembered by many delegates attending CITES CoP17 as a bitter-sweet day for pangolins – an ancient species that has earned the unfortunate label of ‘the most trafficked mammal we have never heard of.’
After months of vociferous lobbying, conservationists succeeded in eliciting the unanimous support of 19 range countries to uplist the species’ status from Appendix II – which allows for restricted trade – to Appendix I – a total ban on all trade, except for scientific research. But the lifeline that been thrown to this troglodyte creature also constitutes an acknowledgement that other measures to save it have failed.
To date, the pangolin has remained under the radar of mainstream conservation campaigns, unlike the high profile marketing drives undertaken on behalf of elephant, rhino, tiger, leopard and lion. Not only is it extremely elusive – it is a nocturnal loner; funding shortages have also hampered research into its habitat and genealogy. Dan Challender, who co-chairs the Pangolin Specialist Group of the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) describes it as ‘the forgotten species’.
But this moniker has now changed, thanks to COP17. Although CITES was only expected to make its decision on the fate of the pangolin on 5th October – the final day of the conference – the unanimous vote meant that the uplisting of all 8 species was implemented immediately. Of the 8 species, four are from Asia and four are from Africa.
“We must embrace our endangered species as a country, continent and as the world, to speak in one, united voice,” says Ray Jansen, Chairperson of the African Pangolin Working Group (APWG) – a non-profit organisation established in 2011 to research, raise awareness and lobby for greater protection of the species. “We must show that pangolins are untouchable, that trade is a no-no. This requires removing demand and increasing stiff penalties for all wildlife crimes, in general, and pangolin trafficking, in particular.’
Although statistics on numbers of both African and Asian pangolins are unclear, conservationists and scientists point out that, based on seizures of pangolin scales and meat transported from Africa to Asia, over 1 million pangolins are estimated to have been poached in the last decade. The rate at which they are being slaughtered for scales and meat is therefore completely unsustainable.
Although the local market for pangolin still revolves principally around traditional healing, followed by a much smaller trade in bush meat, South African pangolins are being caught and trafficked by middlemen who regard this elusive animal, as a lucrative commodity. According to the Limpopo-based anti-poaching unit, Protrack, since the beginning of 2016, there were seven arrests in Limpopo, the province, alongside the Northern Cape, where the Cape Ground Temminck Pangolin – a species indigenous to Southern and South Africa – is most commonly found. Some of the arrests involved foreign nationals allegedly colluding with South Africans who were allegedly aware of the pangolin’s value as a lucrative commodity in the transnational trade.
“Although we have no idea how many pangolin are left in South Africa, if one does a risk assessment, it is necessary to err on the side of caution. This is because huge amounts of scales are leaving South Africa and the continent, which make the survival of the species unsustainable,” Says Rynette Coetzee, who is the Biodiversity Officer at the Gauteng Department of Agriculture and Rural Development.
For example in July this year, Hong Kong Customs seized over 4000 kilograms of pangolin scales hidden in a container labelled “sliced plastics” from Cameroon. This represents up to six thousand pangolins – the largest seizure of pangolin scales in five years.
Indeed Pangolin body parts have been used for centuries in both traditional Asian and African medicine. But it is evident that in Asia, especially China and Vietnam, pangolin scales are now being exploited for everything from fashion items to status symbols and the species is being eaten to extinction. The massive and growing scale of consumption has resulted in the dwindling of the Asian pangolin species. Inevitably, Africa has become the next port of call.
Conservationists have express enormous relief that all eight pangolin species have been uplisted. But to what extent this will be effective is debatable.
“The upgrading of the pangolin – as with all our endangered wildlife – can be effective, or it will be completely toothless,” warns the APWG’s Rob Bruyns. “As is the case with South Africa’s progressive conservation legislation, laws can be passed, but unless they are effectively implemented and enforced on the ground, they will have no effect on the illegal trade.”
Written by: Barbara Maas, Head of Endangered Species Conservation at NABU International
Rhino poaching in Africa has been on the rise for a decade and reached a record high of 1,342 in 2015. Legalising international trade in rhino horn as a way to stop the killing is one of the hotly contested issues on the agenda of the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species (CITES) CoP17 currently happening in Johannesburg, with Swaziland’s proposal to trade in rhino horn to be heard on Monday.
A new study by NABU International highlights that even the global rhino population of just under 30,000 individuals is not nearly enough to meet demand. Opening trade in horn is therefore likely to further escalate poaching and hasten the demise of the world’s rhinos.
Almost seventy percent of the world’s 29,300 rhinos live in South Africa, which hosts CITES this year and has registered a strong interest in legalising trade in rhino horn. Rhino horn is highly prized in Vietnam and China, where it retails for up to US $100,000 per kilo on the black market, making it more valuable than gold.
“Trade advocates insist that ‘flooding the market’ with legal horn will price illegal traders out of the market and discourage poaching,” explains NABU International’s Dr Barbara Maas who carried out the research. “However, our study shows that this is not a realistic scenario, given the potential size of Asian markets and the limited amount of rhino horn available globally.”
NABU International estimates the total mass of rhino horn that is theoretically available from the world’s remaining 29,324 rhinos is 141,000 tonnes. By apportioning this amount to different market scenarios in the two largest consumer countries, Vietnam and China, using common doses prescribed in traditional Chinese and allied medicines (TCM), Maas identified a vast shortfall, even if only a few grams of horn are used. Her results show that a single prescription of three, nine or 50 grams administered to 3.8%, 1.3% and 0.2% of the adult population of China and Vietnam respectively, would require the horn mass of the entire global rhino population.
“Because the majority of privately rhino owners in South Africa are pushing for the legalisation of rhino horn trade, we also looked at how far their horn would go amongst Asian consumers. Our results show that ‘flooding the market’ with horn from these sources is not a credible option, even if a tiny single dose of rhino horn is used. Whichever way you cut it, there simply aren’t enough rhinos left on earth to risk legalising trade,” explains Maas. “It’s a dangerous gamble that could seal the fate of rhinos everywhere within a very short timeframe.”
NABU International suggests that rigorously enforced national and international trade bans combined with effective demand reduction initiatives are the only way to turn the current crisis around and prevent the rhino’s extinction.
Rhino horn consists of a protein called Keratin, which also makes up human nails or hair. It has been used in traditional Chinese medicine for thousands of years to treat a large variety of ailments.
Although rhino horn has been shown to reduce fever in extremely high doses, it is less effective than Aspirin. Traditional Asian medicine also offers consumers a host of herbal alternatives. In the mid-2000s rumours of rhino horn as a cancer treatment began to sweep across Vietnam and China. There is no evidence from clinical research in traditional Chinese medicine or elsewhere to support this belief, nor is it documented or approved in TCM manuals.
Yet, this use of rhino horn has become one of the primary drivers behind the dramatic surge in rhino poaching. Chinese and Vietnamese consumers also use rhino horn is also used as a party drug to relieve hangovers, as a status symbol, and more recently as ornaments and jewellery or a hard-nosed investment.
“Rhino populations everywhere are under siege from poachers, illegal traffickers, national and international criminal cartels, corrupt officials and conservation community insiders, art collectors, status and pleasure seekers, medical patients and financial speculators intent on cashing in on the animals’ increasing rarity,” says Maas. They are killed even in some of the most heavily guarded areas, including South Africa’s flagship Kruger National Park. Making trade legal cannot be sustainable. It would open a flood gate that no one will be able to close again in time to prevent the last rhino from dying for its horn.
Written by: The Environmental Investigation Agency
New evidence of Japan’s failure to control illegal ivory trading at a time when Africa’s elephants face extinction is revealed in a damning report.
The report from the Washington, D.C.-based nonprofit Environmental Investigation Agency (EIA) reveals the identities of four Japanese ivory trading companies that offered to sell elephant tusks to undercover investigators for illegal export to China. The report, titled The Dirty Secrets of Japan’s Illegal Ivory Trade, also documents a 20-year history of broken commitments by Japan to enact effective controls to prevent poached tusks from being sold domestically or for illegal export.
The report follows shocking new elephant census data revealing a 30% decline from 2007 to 2014 in populations in 15 of 18 African nations surveyed. This amounts to an unsustainable 8% annual decline from intensive ivory poaching, which threatens the species’ long term survival.
EIA’s report is released as a critical meeting of 183 nations Party to the UN Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species (CITES) is underway in Johannesburg, South Africa. Major proposals from Kenya and nine other African elephant range states, and one from the United States, aim to close domestic ivory markets of Japan and other Parties to help protect Africa’s elephants.
“Japan’s efforts to promote continued ivory trade while opposing the domestic ivory ban proposals is a slap in the face to the 29 African states seeking to end domestic ivory trade to protect their elephants ” said Allan Thornton, president of EIA. “It’s time for Japan to join the global efforts to protect elephants and to permanently ban its domestic ivory trade.”
The EIA report, The Dirty Secrets of Japan’s Illegal Ivory Trade, reveals:
– The identities and undercover video of four Japanese ivory companies that admitted to EIA investigators to conducting daily ivory sales to Chinese buyers and boasted of the vast amounts of ivory being illegally exported to China and Hong Kong.
– 30 of 37 Japanese ivory traders contacted by an undercover investigator offered to engage in some form of illegal activity to buy, sell, or fraudulently register a tusk that did not qualify for registration.
– Most of Japan’s ivory tusk imports dating from before the 1989 ban on international trade in elephant ivory were from poached elephants. As a result, the government’s tusk registration scheme is effectively a tool for granting amnesty to large quantities of pre-1989 poached ivory
– An influential report by the wildlife trade monitoring group, TRAFFIC, supporting Japan’s 1997 bid to reopen ivory trade found that Japan could not control ivory trade, but the conclusions were amended and supported Japan’s successful bid to reopen ivory trade.
The EIA report also reveals that, since 1997, Japan has consistently failed to enact CITES commitments to:
– Verify the legality of origin and acquisition of ivory tusks presented for registration, thereby enabling poached tusks to be legalised onto the domestic market with the widespread use of fraudulent declarations.
– Require registration and marking of cut ivory pieces over 1kg and 20cm in height or larger, making it impossible to track the trade chain of ivory.
– Enact “demonstrably effective” controls over worked ivory.
– Control unregistered ivory traders selling large amounts of ivory online shopping and auction sites like Yahoo! Japan and Rakuten Ichiba.
– Prevent illegal export of ivory to China, Thailand, and other nations.
“EIA investigations and research over the past 18 months demonstrate that Japan’s ivory control system is plagued by loopholes and undercut by weak legislation to such an extent that no meaningful control exists at even the most basic level,” said Danielle Fest Grabiel, EIA Wildlife Senior Policy Analyst.
In one of the many hidden valleys of the Soutpansberg in central Limpopo, you’ll find Fair Trade Tourism certified Madi a Thavha Mountain Lodge. A place where life and art, mirror people and place, where village life and rich culture blend to create a hip and happening rural style, and where guests are invited to join in on this glorious dance called ‘life’.
And what makes this ‘life’ at Madi a Thavha special, are the sustainable relationships that they have built with their surrounding communities. Most of the staff is from the local community, with some being rescued out of a life of poverty. Like Paul Sephodi, an unemployed man who came to dig a hole for a septic tank – a two-week job that in the end lasted 11 years and has equipped him with skills that would make any handyman proud.
Alfred Ramolefo, who started out as the foreman on the farm, is now a qualified tour guide and Musa Matchume, the lodge administrator, with his passion for guiding tours and sharing his local and indigenous knowledge with guests. The tours offered at Madi a Thavha are anything but contrived and sterile – guests get to walk along dusty streets with traditionally painted homesteads, hear the melodious sound of children laughing and the tinkling of Nguni cattle bells. Experience rural life with its local hair-salons and spaza shops, visit a local school or community project and meet crafters and local artists in their rural workshops.
One such crafter is Sophia Baloyi, a ‘gogo’ who is a master at creating traditional Tsonga beaded items. Together with her sister Lerisa, they create jewellery, beaded baskets, traditional calabash and walking sticks – all with a contemporary edge learned during workshops at Madi a Thavha. These workshops teach local crafters how to use heritage-based techniques and materials to make contemporary products that will appeal to tourists and interior decorators. Products, from 30 rural artists and crafters are sold at the craft art shop at the lodge.
One of the other popular stops on a tour is to visit Thomas Kubayi, a talented woodcarver, drum builder, musician and storyteller. His Vhutshila Art Centre is where guests can enjoy musical performances as well as woodcarving and music workshops, and a place where he imparts his knowledge of carving and traditional music to other local young artists, such as Pilato Bulala, a schoolboy who does scrap art living close to him.
It is heart-warming to visit the Vhutshilo Mountain School where many HIV positive and vulnerable children from extremely impoverished circumstances are cared for. Madi a Thavha also supports Vhutshilo in their quest for proper education, clothes, nutritious meals and health check-ups for the children and young adults, many of whom are orphans. In addition to this, an income-generating scheme for school leavers ensures that they are able to support themselves financially.
These are just a few of the rich experiences that represent Madi a Thavha’s integrated approach to ‘doing’ tourism. An approach that is in line with the principles of responsible tourism and that benefits the local community, and one of the key reasons for their Fair Trade Tourism certification.
Guests of Madi a Thavha Mountain Lodge leave with dust in their shoes, wonderful memories and a suitcase full of art and crafts – each of these with a special story that represents the life and traditions of the colourful people of the northern frontiers of South Africa.
Yesterday Namibia, South Africa and Zimbabwe’s recommendation for the adoption of a Decision-Making Mechanism (DMM) for a future trade in ivory was roundly rejected by parties, led by outspoken opponents Burkina Faso, Kenya, Republic of Congo and Chad.
Negotiations over the plight of elephants began in controversial style yesterday at the 17th Conference of the Parties of the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES), taking place in Johannesburg.
A proposal from the Secretariat to extend the mandate to the CITES Standing Committee to continue the debate on the Decision-Making Mechanism failed to achieve the required two-thirds majority.
In 2007, CITES initiated negotiations on a DMM for a process of trade in ivory, which could lead the way towards a reopening of international trade. Debate over the years became protracted and provoked considerable criticism.
The mandate for negotiation was renewed at CITES CoP16 in 2013, and a DMM Working Group established. However, despite extensive debate, no progress has been made to date on establishing such a mechanism.
“These discussions have been going round in circles for nine years without going anywhere,” says Will Travers, President of Born Free, a wild animal and conservation charity, “it’s time to kill this process.”
“If this mandate is not extended, it will die, it will be moribund,” said Jonathan Barzdo, Chair of the Committee discussing the issue. Although the mandate was not extended here this evening, the issue can be revived in the plenary sessions next week, but the mood among the delegations seems to be to swinging toward greater protection of elephants.
“The surge of feeling among African nations we’re seeing here tonight in the rejection of the Decision-Making Mechanism,” says Keith Lindsay, “is a reaction to what they’ve seen happening in their countries – they’ve seen their elephants being wiped out and it’s time to put a stop to it.”
Earlier a report by the CITES Secretariat for the Monitoring the Illegal Killing of Elephants (MIKE) disputed the findings of a recent paper by the National Bureau of Economic Research (NBER), which finds a clear link between the legal one-off ivory sales that took place in 2008 and the current poaching crisis that has seen a third of Africa’s elephants wiped out.
The MIKE claim was immediately challenged by a number of CITES member nations as well as conservation NGOs.
Uganda declared the MIKE report flawed, echoed by both Kenya and the NGOs Humane Society International and the Amboseli Trust for Elephants, which suggested that the MIKE analysis lacked transparency, consultation and a necessary peer review to make its claims legitimate and that the authors of the NBER report had in fact answered MIKE’s criticisms.
“The lesson of the NBER study is inescapable,” says Iris Ho, Program Manager, Wildlife for the Humane Society International, “a legal trade, or even talk of one, is a risk that we cannot afford to take.”
Israel went further with its criticism stating: “The MIKE program is not fulfilling the function it was set up to do.” The overall goal of MIKE, according to the CITES website, is to provide the information needed for elephant range states to make appropriate management and enforcement decisions. That MIKE, according to the Israeli delegation, won’t recognise the clear link between the one-off sales and the current poaching crisis hampers efforts to effectively combat the scourge.
There were, however, some nations that welcomed the MIKE report. Speaking on behalf of all SADC countries, South Africa’s Minister for the Environment, Edna Molewa, said they “supported the claim that there is no evidence between the one-off sales and the poaching crisis.”
However, Molewa admitted there was a dramatic spike in poaching in Kruger National Park in the last three years. In 2013 the first elephant in 10 years was poached for its tusks. “This year alone,” she said, “36 have been slaughtered.”
The US delegation noted this with concern and pointed out that the increase in poaching was fast approaching the CITES biological criteria of a decline of 50% over three generations, which requires greater protection in the form of a status uplisting for elephants under CITES recommendations.
Currently, elephants in South Africa are classified under Appendix II, which provides for a possibility of trade in ivory.
An uplisting to Appendix I would provide the highest standard of protection for elephants and would send a clear message to markets that all commercial ivory trade is prohibited. Currently, elephants in South Africa are classified under Appendix II, thereby facilitating a future one-off sale of ivory around the world.
Patrick Ormondi, head of Kenyan delegation, says, “29 African countries are calling for the highest protection of African elephants, and it seems we are getting much support from other member parties from around the world.”
The World Network of Biosphere Reserves currently has 669 sites, including 16 trans-boundary sites, in 120 countries all over the world. South Africa is home to eight Biosphere Reserves, with the Kruger to Canyons Biosphere Region declared by UNESCO in 2001.
The Kruger to Canyon Biosphere Region, located on the western border of Kruger National Park, in the north-eastern part of South Africa, covers about 2.6 million hectares, encompassing both protected areas (conservation) and agricultural lands, as well as rural development, urban development, mining and forestry. It spreads across three major biomes; savannah woodlands, Afromontane forests and grasslands.
Although this biosphere represents only 1.4% of South Africa’s total land surface, it contains nearly 75% of all terrestrial bird species, 80% of all raptor species, 72% of all mammals, 50% of all butterflies and 50% of all frog species found in South Africa. It is also home to seven endemic frogs and two endemic reptiles found only on Mariepskop – the Mariepskop dwarf chameleon and the Mariepskop flat gecko.
Famous tourism hotspots include Kruger National Park, God’s Window, Bourke’s Luck Potholes, Pilgrim’s Rest and the Blyde River Canyon. The Blyde River Canyon is the third largest canyon, as well as the greenest canyon in the world. In addition, the Kruger to Canyons Biosphere is home to the largest privately owned conservation area in the world.
The biosphere reserve was established with the aim of bringing stakeholders in the area together for collective impact. The Kruger to Canyons landscape aims to promote and demonstrate a mutually supportive relationship between people and nature. This is done via a number of strategic objectives, including the implementation of socio-economic development initiatives to support sustainability and climate change adaptation, supporting institutions engaged in research, education and training, and partnering with government agencies to promote compliance to environmental laws and regulations.
A map of the Kruger to Canyons Biosphere Region
In partnership with Wildlands, a variety of NPO’s in the area are working on a Tree-preneur and Waste-preneur programme. The Tree-preneurs care for indigenous trees that are then bartered for food parcels. The Waste-preneur programme works on various recycling projects in the communities. Through the Working for Water Programme various teams of community members are also employed to remove alien vegetation and assist with issues of erosion. The trees, received from the Tree-preneurs, are then used to replant in areas where alien vegetation has been removed.
Another notable project, managed by the Kruger to Canyons Biosphere Region, implemented by the SANParks Biodiversity Social Programme, and funded by the Department of Environmental Affairs, sees over 260 environmental monitors hosted with various organisations throughout the Biosphere. One group focuses on educating communities on environmental issues, while another group focuses on security in protected areas and are divided into those that are armed and unarmed, most notably the all-women Black Mamba Anti-Poaching Unit in Balule Private Nature Reserve.
Members of the Black Mamba Anti-Poaching Unit
The project has had a significant impact not only on socio-economic status and skills development, but also on creating greater awareness of why conservation and environmental issues are so important in the rural communities adjacent to protected areas.
To learn more, watch the following video:
Read more about the Kruger to Canyons Biosphere Region and its programmes and partners on their website here.
Read more about Kruger to Canyons in this travel diary.
The history of the ivory trade since the colonial era paints a depressing picture about the fate of elephants. Between 1860 and 1920 roughly 33,000 tonnes of ivory were shipped from Africa to the British Empire – the equivalent of 1.1 million elephants.
Approximately 100,000 elephants were slaughtered per year in Africa from 1850 to 1929 to supply ivory to companies in the USA that manufactured piano keys and billiard balls from ivory. In 1916 Americans even hung a circus elephant called Mary who mauled her keeper to death. 13 years earlier Thomas Edison captured his highly publicised electrocution of an elephant on film.
The Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES) is a multilateral treaty to protect endangered plants and animals. It was drafted as a result of a resolution adopted in 1963 at a meeting of members of the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN). The convention was opened for signature in 1973, and CITES entered into force on 1 July 1975. Its aim is to ensure that international trade in specimens of wild animals and plants does not threaten the survival of the species in the wild, and it accords varying degrees of protection to more than 35,000 species of plants and animals. CITES is an international agreement to which countries adhere voluntarily. There are currently 183 members.
The triennial Conference of the Parties (CoP) of CITES takes place in Johannesburg from 24 September to 5 October 2016. This will be the seventeenth time members will convene since CITES was established in 1975. All commercial international trade of ivory from elephants is presently prohibited under CITES.
It is estimated that there were about 5 million elephants in Africa at the turn of the 19th century. In 1979 there were approximately 1.3 million elephants in Africa and by 1989 the numbers declined to 600,000. The Great Elephant Census released its results in September 2016, proving that only 352,271 savannah elephants survive in sub-Saharan Africa. Forest elephant populations have crashed by 60% since 2002, now counting less than 60,000.
Since 1999, CITES approved two “one-off” sales of ivory. In 1999, 50 tonnes of ivory were sold to Japan for a meagre US$5 million. China’s inexcusable reputation as importers of illegal ivory prevented it from buying in the 1999 sale (all went to Japan), but China did participate in the 2008 sale after TRAFFIC representatives investigated and approved the so-called effectiveness of Chinese controlling mechanisms. This did not deter ivory smuggling to China. Between 2012 and 2014 over 41 tonnes of smuggled ivory were confiscated in China.
In 2008 Botswana, South Africa, Zimbabwe and Namibia were again allowed by CITES to complete once-off ivory sales, selling 108 tonnes of ivory at an average price of US$157 p/kg for only US$15.5 million. Records of how these funds were ploughed back into conservation are not available on the CITES website.
At the time, CITES issued a press release stating ” Elephant populations of the four countries are in Appendix II of CITES, which means that, even though they are not necessarily now threatened with extinction, the trade in their products is strictly regulated. Recent studies concluded that over 312,000 elephants live in these four countries and that their number has increased in recent years.” Earlier this year Namibia claimed to have over 20, 000 elephants. Adding the very recent results from The Great Elephant Census, these four Southern African countries today have about 261,000 elephants, which is a 16% decrease equal to 51,000 elephants (7,200 per year) since the 2008 sale.
The 2007 African agreement stipulates that no new proposals for further sales from the four countries concerned are to be considered by CITES during a resting period of nine years, commencing as soon as the new sales have been completed.
CITES, MIKE and ETIS
The Elephant Trade Information System (ETIS) is a comprehensive information system to track illegal trade in ivory and other elephant products. It aims to record and analyse levels of illegal trade. Monitoring these statistics started as far back as 1997. It has become a well-established and effective tool for monitoring illegal trade in elephant products.
The Monitoring of Illegal Killing of Elephants (MIKE) is another division of CITES (far more expensive than ETIS) that was created in 1997 to provide further reports and information to CITES at each meeting of the Conference of the Parties. MIKE assists in the dialogue between CITES members and facilitates the decision-making processes of CITES. It also provides elephant range states with data to assist with the management and enforcement decisions for the long-term management of their populations of elephants.
In her 2002 book Policing International Trade in Endangered Species: The CITES Treaty and Compliance, Rosalind Reeve mentions that the projected cost for the first six years of MIKE was conservatively US$13.4 million. MIKE faced criticism from several countries when India and Kenya commented that funding should rather be used for the prevention of elephant poaching than the establishment of expensive Rolls Royce programmes for monitoring elephant populations. Reeve comments: “..it is questionable whether the human and financial costs of ETIS and MIKE, all to satisfy the desire of a handful of parties to trade in one commodity from one species, can be justified, especially given the limited funds available to CITES. Elephants are the “flagship” species of CITES, spending such vast sums on verification and monitoring without attempting to raise equivalent funds for preventative anti-poaching measures detracts from crucial issues such as improving the capacity for enforcement of CITES at national level.”
The Context
In early September 2016, over 6,000 delegates attended the IUCN congress in Hawaii. More than 90% of members voted against all future domestic ivory sales by adopting Motion 007. Several countries voted against motion 007 namely Japan, South Africa, Thailand, Vietnam and Namibia. (South Africa and Namibia threatened to resign from the IUCN).
In 2015 the presidents of the USA and China undertook to impose a near total ban of ivory trade. Hong Kong has committed to phasing out the ivory trade over the next five years. However, South Africa, Namibia and Zimbabwe have submitted proposals to CITES to re-open discussions at CoP17 surrounding the Decision Making Mechanisms for the ivory trade.
On the opposing side, 29 African states formed the African Elephant Coalition and have submitted proposals to CITES for consideration at CoP17 to upgrade all African elephants to Appendix I (countered by South Africa, Namibia, Zimbabwe) and to agree to close all domestic ivory trade. The European Union, WWF and CITES are rejecting both these opposing proposals.
Ivory burns
Ivory destructions are a popular and contentious method for nations to publicly assert their opposition to the illegal wildlife trade. Since 1989 about 20 of these events have taken place all over the world. These countries have openly declared war on ivory smuggling and that wildlife crimes will not be tolerated. So far over 220 tonnes of ivory have been destroyed. WWF and TRAFFIC want the destruction of ivory to be monitored by rigorous documentation and audits to reduce the risk of leakage into the black market.
A third “once-off sale” and re-opening discussions of the ivory trade
Firstly, why even call it a once-off sale? The previous sales were supposed to flood the market. Since then, African elephants have reduced by 30%, or 144,000, with over 30,000 elephants being killed for their ivory every year.
South Africa’s stockpile of ivory is 65 tonnes. Assuming South Africa, Namibia and Zimbabwe collectively held as much as 200 tonnes, the stigma of buying ivory will restrict bidders to a few Asian buyers. Latest studies have shown that the price of ivory has dropped from US$2,100p/kg to US$1,100p/kg. Should an optimistic auction price of US$300 p/kg be achieved, the sale could gross about US$60 million, less the enormous costs associated with the auctions. Historically CITES is unable to control if funds from approved ivory sales are ploughed back into conservation efforts and not racketeered by the corruption so prevalent all over Africa.
Some individual philanthropists have single-handedly donated US$24 million to conservation in Africa. Funds raised from the ivory sales in 1999 and 2008 are infinitesimal if compared to the conservation finance funneled to the African continent. It is time to donate conditionally in return for guaranteed ivory destruction by those minority African nations determined to re-open the trade, regardless of the international condemnation and abhorrence evidenced at the IUCN conference in Hawaii, when more than 90% of members voted in favour of a domestic ban across all nations.
South Africa’s Department of Environmental Affairs has an approved budget of US$9 million to host the CoP17 of CITES in Johannesburg from 24 September to 5 October. Over 3,000 delegates from 183 member countries, NGOs and international media will attend. Costs of delegates’ flights, accommodation, salaries etc. will again amount to millions. Expenses at the recent IUCN congress would have been much more due to 6,000 delegates in attendance. Since the establishment of CITES, ivory trade has been discussed ad infinitum in boardrooms and conference halls around the world. Donor funding in lieu of ivory destruction will obviate the need for further onerous record keeping of tracking sales, certificates and inventories of legal sales versus parallel illegal markets, channeling these funds rather prudently into combatting wildlife crime.
Conclusion
Will the world witness another round of dubious, unkind and immoral decisions taken at Cop17? At this juncture of civilization, leaders need to grasp that geographic borders do not bestow ownership of sentient animals whose boundaries have been created by mankind. Besides the threat of habitat destruction caused by global warming, civil war, population explosions, hunting and poaching, the elephant cannot be hung in conference halls like yesteryear. Arguments by minority CITES members who want to trade ivory because elephants reside in their borders are ignorant of fiscal intelligence. Future generations will be dumbstruck when studying history that illustrates amorphous political agendas in the conservation world, where ignorant politicians yielded power and influence over transitory officials for the sake of paltry dollars.
Calm down; I can practically hear you screaming at me already! I know, I know, the two parks cannot, and perhaps should not, be compared. But the truth is that I cannot get the red dust of the Kalahari out of my one shoe while my other foot is still firmly planted in the land of the Kruger-holics. So I do find myself comparing the two. And, as South Africa’s biggest national parks – both of which claim transfrontier status and are popular amongst local and foreign visitors alike – I am sure I am not the only one who weighs up the options when faced with two weeks of annual leave. To Kruger or Kgalagadi? So recently when faced with that impossible either/or decision, I did what few men dare and spent a week in each, and here is my comparison like it or not.
Kgalagadi
To compare apples with apples, I stuck to the SANParks camps on the South African side of the park and divided my time equally between Twee Rivieren, Mata Mata and Nossob. We camped in true Kgalagadi style and, while I am still finding sand in many a crevice, it is the way to go. A cold spell during our time in the park in August meant that temperatures at night reached a chilly -9°C and that, despite popular opinion, mornings and evenings were not necessarily the best time for sightings.
The silence, vastness and unexpected beauty of the landscapes are what stand out from my trip. The image of a wildebeest left dying alone at a waterhole, while a jackal awaited his imminent demise and an oryx stood guard over his body, is forever etched in my memory as a symbol of this land of contrasts and of life and death in a magical desert.
Kruger
It is not humanly possible to cover all that Kruger offers in a week. From walking safaris to rustic bush camps, 4×4 trails, golfing, and a host of accommodation options, Kruger has it all. That said, I am a firm believer that a visit to the Kruger is best enjoyed slowly. Take it easy, make yourself a base at one of the exquisite rest camps, and indulge a little.
A region where nature meets hospitality and a connection between man and beast reigns supreme
So with this in mind, I divided my time between some of the popular camps in the south of the park to get a taste of what the average visitor experiences. While not everyone’s cup of tea, I like that I can stop for a great steak and a glass of wine at one of the modern restaurants in the rest camps and that well-tarred roads and little loops mean I can return to the shop easily when the need for ice cream calls. By doing it this way, there was always something new to gawk at around every corner, and a host of picnic spots and places to stretch my legs – and it was these simple comforts that stood out from my trip.
The image of an elephant taking a morning drink at the waterhole outside the rest camp while I sipped on my cappuccino is etched in my memory as a symbol of this region where nature meets hospitality, and a connection between man and beast reigns supreme.
Kgalagadi
Big cat sightings in the Kgalagadi are incredible. The wildlife densities are lower than in Kruger, which means that you can drive for a couple of hours with little more than some oryx, springboks and wildebeests to keep you entertained. But when you do see big cats, the sightings are pretty spectacular. Talking to fellow red-dust fanatics in our campsites, stories ranged from cheetahs climbing trees and four tiny cheetah cubs playing, to big black-maned lions causing a roadblock and an entire pride lazily lapping at the waterhole. My big cat sightings included spending time alone with a leopard for about half an hour, a cheetah calling consistently while we followed it at a leisurely pace, and a lion causing heart palpitations right next to the fence at Nossob Rest Camp.
Everyone we met in the Kgalagadi was also mad about birds in some way, and raptors are a sheer delight in this part of the world. Much to my mom’s dismay, there was a bird of prey around every corner. Still, even her non-birder self eventually learnt to appreciate just how close you could get to a martial eagle or spotted eagle-owl in the Kgalagadi.
With this in mind, Kgalagadi is a treat for photographers, thanks to its relaxed wildlife, majestic light, fewer cars and spectacular scenery. Smaller animals are also always around to entertain and provide great subjects on which to test your photography skills and camera settings. From meerkats and ground squirrels to whistling rats and sociable weavers, which astound with their gigantic nests on virtually every tree, you will always find an interesting subject at which to point your lens.
Kruger
Great for first-time safari-goers, it is not uncommon to see the Big Five in one day in Kruger – be it on a self-drive or guided safari. Apart from the famous five, Kruger is home to an impressive number of species – including almost 2,000 plants, 147 different mammals and 517 bird species. Some of the more interesting animals, which a fair amount of people have been lucky to spot, include wild dogs, bushbabies, aardwolves, aardvarks, pangolins, and roan and sable antelopes.
The wide variety of animal species and high density of game means that a safari in Kruger offers something new every day – even something new around every corner – and it is precisely this that calls people back to this great land time and time again. From crocodiles and hippos to elephants and rhinos, zebras and giraffes, Kruger is also great for bucket-list tickers, first-time safari-goers or families with small kids.
My trip to Kruger included close-up sightings of elephants, rhinos, cheetahs and lions – all either just off the road or directly in our way, although we weren’t asking them to move. The majestic leopard continues to elude me when I visit the park; however, a quick two nights in the Sabi Sand, which is part of the Greater Kruger ecosystem, meant I got my spotted fix.
Photographic opportunities were limited in the park itself as sightings were often shared with a fair number of other vehicles, but this is the price you pay for staying in the south during the busy season. If you venture further north on roads less travelled, or on foot on one of the walking trails, you’ll probably find that sightings are much more rewarding. By experiencing Kruger on foot, I have had male lions all to myself, have come face-to-face with elephants, and have watched hippos take to the water at a spot that can’t be reached in a vehicle.
Kgalagadi
The Kgalagadi is fantastic for camping enthusiasts, as the three South African rest camps are spacious and ideal for extended braais with gin and tonics in hand. On the Botswana side, no fences mean that lions licking your tent or hyenas coming to see what’s on the menu is not uncommon, and this connection to the wild is one of the many reasons that people return time and time again.
There are several more sophisticated accommodation options, such as the wilderness camps of Urikaruus and Kalahari Tented Camp, and a few lodges are available for those that don’t like roughing it, such as the community-owned Fair Trade Tourism certified !Xaus Lodge, and Ta Shebube’s Rooiputs and Polentswa lodges on the Botswana side. The new ‘riverfront chalets’ at Mata Mata are also lovely, overlooking the dry riverbed where wildebeest and springbok graze peacefully and jackals dart around at night.
However, camping is arguably why most people come to the Kgalagadi, and 4×4 trailers and rooftop tents are the way to fit in with the crowd. The Kgalagadi is best suited to those who like to kick back, relax and feel the desert breeze in their hair, don’t mind a little sand in their sheets, and enjoy a time that stands still and a silence broken only by the sound of a lion roaring.
The Kgalagadi camps do offer some guided 4×4 trails, safari walks and the usual game drives. We enjoyed three night-drives during our trip, which gave us the chance to spot lesser-seen nocturnal creatures, such as bat-eared and Cape foxes, spring hares, owls, genets and African wild cats. But I found the real joy of the Kgalagadi to be taking long, slow, sandy self-drives. However, do be warned that the corrugated roads cover patches of deep sand that are best navigated in a capable 4×4, as the guy stuck in his Renault Clio and the woman crying in her Toyota Corolla buried up to its chassis, will attest.
Kruger
One thing I love about the Kruger is the versatility that it offers. When budgets are tight, you can camp, caravan or hire a cheap room in one of the rest camps or a B&B just outside the park gates. But if you are celebrating something special or feel like a splurge, several private game lodges both within the park and in the private game reserves that make up the Greater Kruger region are on offer to cater to your every whim. This makes Kruger ideal for a wide range of travellers, be it honeymooners who want to be wined, dined and pampered, or families with young kids that want short bursts of game drives followed by a place where children can run free and parents can catch a nap in the heat of the day. The Kruger National Park rest camps also offer easy access to restaurants, shops and facilities, and this easy DIY-style of holiday is what makes the park appeal to a wide range of travellers.
Kruger also offers several road conditions, from main tarred stretches to dusty dirt roads. It also provides the chance to book guided game drives or even head off on a 4×4 eco-trail in the park. And while you may feel like a dinky car when face-to-face with an elephant in your rental Kia Picanto, it is quite possible and comfortable to enjoy Kruger in almost any vehicle. With accessible routes to follow and places to frequently stop, be it to enjoy a skottle breakfast, indulge in a decadent lunch or get out to take in the view, the Kruger National Park can be enjoyed in a multitude of ways.
For those that are ‘Krugered-out’ or ‘have done Kruger’ I recommend you take a trip to one of the quieter camps in the picturesque northern section of the park, enjoy a night sleeping out in a hide, book on the mountain bike trail at Olifants, or take a walk on the wild side with some of the best guides that you could ever have the pleasure of meeting on a backpacking trail.
Kgalagadi
Transfrontier parks have been established so that animals can roam freely across invisible boundaries, and natural migration can take place. It’s about ecosystems taking pride of place over geological or political boundaries; promoting collaboration between the countries involved. This also allows us humans to roam free to some extent and, within the boundaries of the Kgalagadi Transfrontier Park, one can travel between South Africa and Botswana – without the need for a passport. Granted that one can’t exit into the surrounding countries (with the small exception of a tiny farmstall on the Namibian side outside Mata Mata to which you can quickly walk to pick up a gemsbok fillet for dinner).
Kgalagadi, at nearly 38,000km², is larger than many countries and one of the largest national parks in the world. It was officially declared a transfrontier park in 2000, making it the first of its kind in Africa. It is a combination of the Kalahari Gemsbok National Park in South Africa and the Gemsbok National Park in Botswana. The park is bordered by the peaceful countries of Botswana and Namibia and, with few settlements existing on the park boundaries, conservation efforts are embraced by all. The communities around the park are often made up of those that work in the park itself, so things like bushmeat poaching are a non-issue. While human-wildlife conflict occasionally raises its head when lions manage to breach the park’s boundaries, the communities seem willing to call those in charge to correctly handle the matter, rather than taking it into their own hands.
Part of the park is owned by the local Khomani San and Mier communities, and the local community is allowed to use the land for cultural purposes. It is on this land that the Fair Trade Tourism certified !Xaus Lodge can be found.
Kruger
The boundaries of the Kruger National Park cover nearly two million hectares in wild space. The national park was established in 1898 and, while talks for the declaration of a transfrontier park started in 1990, it was not until 2002 that the Great Limpopo Transfrontier Park was made official.
The Great Limpopo Transfrontier Park links the Kruger with its neighbours – the Limpopo National Park in Mozambique and Zimbabwe’s Gonarezhou National Park, Manjinji Pan Sanctuary and Malipati Safari Area. This conservation area also includes two areas between Kruger and Gonarezhou, namely the Sengwe communal land and the Makuleke region. This project joins some of the most beautiful and essential wildlife areas into a vast conservation area of over 37,000km². It is just the first phase in a plan for a larger transfrontier conservation area that will measure almost 100,000km².
With turbulent political climates in these countries, it is no secret that rhino poaching has ravaged the park and elephant poaching is on the rise. But it may only be through working together that these remaining wilderness areas are protected. With a memorandum of understanding between Mozambique and South Africa being implemented, we are now seeing coordinated law enforcement operations, management efforts, joint training initiatives and anti-poaching work across borders.
What this also means is that visitors are now offered several cross-border tourism experiences. In 2013 a wilderness walking trail in the Pafuri area was launched, and visitors can now cross easily from Kruger National Park in South Africa to Limpopo National Park in Mozambique – opening up a shorter route to the beautiful Mozambican coastline and that perfect bush and beach break.
How to get there and what to do in the surrounding area
Kgalagadi
Stock up on food and water in Upington as the shops in the park are minimal. Be sure also to fill up here and take extra jerry cans for fuel, as while there are petrol stations at each of the three SANParks camps within the park, the fuel within the park can be unreliable. Upington is 255km away along a pleasant tarred road and is home to the nearest airport. Airlink flights from Johannesburg or Cape Town are available frequently, and from here you can hire a vehicle or book a transfer or tour with a company like Tata Ma Tata tours, which specialises in trips to the Kgalagadi and the surrounding areas.
A trip to the Kgalagadi can be combined with one of the other arid region national parks based nearby. Combine your trip with an adventure into Namibia to see the Quiver Tree Forest and to the /Ai/Ais Richtersveld for a dip in the hot springs and to take in the views over the Fish River Canyon. The Augrabies Falls National Park is also easily reached from Upington and offers the ideal overnight stop before heading down to see the flowers in Namaqualand and onwards along the coast to Cape Town.
Kruger
Airlink flies from Cape Town or Johannesburg to Nelspruit KMIA or directly into the park via Skukuza’s airport, which I recommend. Car hire is available from either of these airports and, with some towns close to the various park gates and well-stocked shops within the rest camps, self-catering for your trip is super easy. The bigger rest camps are also home to some well-known restaurant franchises like Mugg & Bean, Cattle Baron and Wimpy, and the picnic sites either offer skottle facilities or little take-away spots for the peckish.
For those looking for a bit of luxury, private game reserves like the Sabi Sand, Manyeleti, Klaserie and Timbavati share open borders to the national park and form part of the Greater Kruger National Park ecosystem. You can even take a lodge link flight from Nelspruit KMIA or Skukuza directly to the door of one of the stunning Sabi Sand lodges like I did at Arathusa where I touched down to a leopard on the runway.
For accommodation options at the best prices visit our private travel & conservation club to view our collection of camps and lodges. If you are not yet a member, see how to JOIN below this story.
JANINE AVERY is the first to confess that she has been bitten by the travel bug… badly. She is a lover of all things travel, from basic tenting with creepy crawlies to lazing in luxury lodges – she will give it all a go.
Janine is passionate about wildlife and conservation, and she comes from a long line of biologists, researchers and botanists.
EXTRACT FROM THE FOLLOWING THIRD PARTY SOURCE: Written by: Lesley Nyawo, Public Relations Assistant atSANParks – Kruger National Park
The large herbivore biomass is currently the highest ever in Kruger’s history – with +- 20,000 elephant, 47,000 buffalo, and 7,500 hippos – which results in significant changes in habitat.
Buffalo and hippo are drought-sensitive species, and previous droughts in Kruger National Park have shown population declines of up to 50%. The buffalo population is at higher densities than previous droughts, so it is, therefore, expected that the population will incur huge losses during the current drought. If the numbers that remained after the previous droughts in the 1990s for buffalo and hippo are considered (14,000 and 2,000 respectively), significant mortalities are anticipated. Hippos and buffaloes are the largest grazers with the highest biomass and impact on habitats. The purist way of allowing natural attrition to take its course is not always ecologically the best, especially if populations are unnaturally high due to man-made influences.
Removals will be focused on alleviating pressure on sensitive areas in the park e.g. removing hippo from small natural pools where they have concentrated in unnaturally high densities and defecate in the water, making it unusable for other animals. These hippos generally originated from man-made dams that dried up and now populate small natural pools in large numbers.
Culling, cropping, harvesting, ecological removals, sustainable resource use are all terms that have been used. If the term culling in your book means controlling the size of these populations, that is not what SANParks is doing. The numbers are also not cast in concrete, purely as it is not possible to determine how the situation will unfold as the drought further develops. However, the numbers will be kept very low (between 0.5 and 1% of the respective populations).
Logistically it will not be possible to remove higher numbers now, and ecologically it will not be suitable to remove unsustainably high numbers in future. In view of the huge populations of these large herbivores and the mortalities we have already observed amongst buffalo and hippo this year, as well as the anticipated mortalities later in the year, these numbers to be removed are not significant at the population level.
The current drought is being noted for its unprecedented impact on human well-being with an estimated 22 million persons in Southern Africa in need of some assistance. SANParks cannot remain oblivious to this issue. Kruger National Park is, therefore, planning to use the opportunity to sustainably harvest in the region of 350 animals during this drought in order to test different models for meat distribution to disadvantaged, low-income communities on the border of the park. The Kruger National Park will be targeting quintile primary schools, part of the National School Feeding scheme and will use these drought-related removals as an ad hoc opportunity to share benefits with communities.
In light of veterinary regulations with regards to foot and mouth disease, the park will be testing the feasibility and suitability of cloven-hoofed animals products permitted to leave the park, which include: break-dry biltong (BRB) and well-cooked meat (WCM). A secondary objective of the removals will be assessing genetic selection for fitness during droughts and the interactions between disease and drought.
This is not a “sneaky reintroduction of culling by SANParks” as put by some. Kruger National Park is managed according to an approved management plan that makes provision for both biodiversity management and sustainable resource use. Part of the process of drafting this plan was an intensive public consultation process. It is practically not possible to consult the public on each and every management action implemented. A new round of revisions of the Kruger National Park Management Plan has started and will come in full swing in the year 2017. The public is encouraged to register and take part in this process.
The Kuru Dance Festival is an annual cultural event where different San groups from Botswana, Namibia and South Africa come together to celebrate and share their rich cultural heritage of storytelling, song and dance. Written by: Bakang Baloi
Dancers gather at the Dqae Qare Farm in the village of D’kar just outside Ghanzi in Botswana. The heat, the dust, the clapping and the rhythmic stamping of feet all add to an intensely spiritual experience.
Different dances are performed to tell the life story of the San people. There are hunting and gathering dances, rite of passage, puberty and courtship dances and, of course, trance healing dances. Hunting dances are dramatic renditions of the hunt – from spoor recognition to the ultimately slaughtering the animal. They celebrate a successful hunt and pay reverent respect to Mother Nature. The Kuru Dance Festival is about these dances.
Rites of passage dances welcome a young woman into adulthood and marriage. A young woman experiencing puberty for the first time is said to be suffering from the ‘eland illness’ and is secluded. The eland symbolises femininity, fertility and good health. In her seclusion the young woman is ritually painted in red ochre, wood ash and charcoal, all mixed together with animal fat and plant pigments. Puberty dances are demure, coquettish and playfully seductive. Males taking part in the dances enact the mating behaviour of eland bulls by sniffing the female folk, grimacing in mock ‘Flehman display’ and emulating the mounting action of bull animals.
Khoi-San healers or shamans are spiritual custodians for the community who intervene with the ancestral spirits and other venerated forms on the community’s behalf. They intercede with all of creation to heal the community, to request good weather and successful hunting trips or to foretell future events. They perform trance healing rituals to propitiate the ancestors. Even though performances of healing dances may be done during the day, a real healing ceremony is conducted at night. Night time is the mythical part of the day when the universe vibrates with sacred energy.
One of the basic principles of wildlife management is that large game reserves require less intensive management than small ones. This concept is very applicable when discussing the ecological management of the Kruger National Park.
The ecological impacts of disturbances have a far greater effect on smaller reserves than they do on larger ones. For instance, if a fire burns 5,000 hectares of a 10,000-hectare game reserve, that is a major impact that needs to be managed. However, the same 5,000-hectare fire in Kruger (2 million hectares) is negligible and will have almost no impact. This concept can be applied to all spheres of ecological management – the impact of overgrazing, elephant impacts, diseases, water availability etc.
To say that the Kruger National Park is fenced and, therefore, needs to be micro-managed is incorrect – Kruger is a large enough system that is able to withstand the majority of ecological impacts originating inside its borders – and that includes elephant impacts and the effects of drought.
The majority of species in Kruger occupy fixed home ranges or territories, and historic migrations outside of Kruger were limited to mainly wildebeests and zebras (elephants undertake long-distance movements by nature and this is not a migration). Most of the areas where zebras and wildebeests used to migrate to in spring have now been re-included into the Greater Kruger ecological system (Klaserie, Timbavati, Sabi Sands etc). Therefore, to say that their migration routes have been cut off is incorrect. Unfortunately, migrations back into these areas are unlikely to occur – mainly because of vegetation changes during the period that they were isolated from Kruger (again an example of the size effect). With the current drought, one does not find herds of animals massing along the boundaries of Kruger to escape.
Another important point is how savannahs are maintained in nature. Savannah is a unique biome where there is an uneasy “co-existence” of woody plants and grass. This system is continually developing (vegetation succession), and in Kruger, given the opportunity, the system would progress into a woodland thicket. Ecological disturbances are essential in reversing this natural progression from mixed woodlands to woodland thickets. In other words, savannahs thrive on disturbances – it maintains not only species diversity but also productivity. Disturbances such as fire, drought, elephants, buffaloes and hippos, among others, are critical in reversing the slow and steady progression to a woodland thicket, which would offer far less habitat for animals and also far lower biodiversity of all major taxons.
Climate change is also a major contributory factor to this progression (higher levels of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere encourage the more rapid growth of woody vegetation). Savannahs need constant disturbance to create niches for species that would not be there if the effects of those disturbances were restricted.
So, to all those people supporting culling of animals in Kruger, please reconsider your viewpoint – sure, it is not a pleasant sight to see animals dying during a drought. Sure, it is a waste not to use those carcasses to feed people, but how much meat will you get off the carcass of a dying buffalo anyway?
There are ecosystem processes at work during a drought that are critical for the efficient functioning of the ecosystem – in good times and in bad. Let those ecosystem processes do their job!
The spiked mountain range of uKahlamba in South Africa is often called the barrier of spears. Also known as the Drakensberg, which translates to ‘dragon mountains’, its high, jagged peaks shadow a cave hidden in a sandstone cliff. The cave once concealed creatures that stirred only with the setting sun – leopards.
To reach the animal’s hide-out, a hiker must scale Solar Cliffs and Cathedral Peak and pass through Ndedema Gorge. Not everyone survives the journey.
A modern sign near the cave’s entrance announces it is ‘Closed’ as if its dweller had served notice. The inhabitant was a leopard, its lair called Leopard Cave.
Near this opening in the Earth is a rock painting of a leopard chasing a bushman who escaped to return another day to tell his tale in art.
The leopard likely had good reason to give chase and eventually vacate the premises. Its species, Panthera pardus, has been overhunted and harassed and lost much of its habitat and its prey.
Smallest in the genus Panthera – of which lions, tigers, and jaguars are also members – leopards (Panthera pardus) once lived from Siberia to South Africa.
But the cats have relinquished as much as 75 per cent of their range, according to a paper published in May 2016 in the scientific journal PeerJ. The study — sponsored by the National Geographic Society’s Big Cats Initiative and conducted by its scientists and others affiliated with the Zoological Society of London (ZSL), Duke University, Panthera (an international cat research and conservation organisation), and the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) Cat Specialist Group — is the first to produce a comprehensive analysis of leopards’ status across their entire range and for all nine subspecies.
The PeerJ co-authors found that leopards long ago occupied a vast range of approximately 35 million square kilometres throughout Africa, the Middle East and Asia. Today, however, leopards are restricted to about 8.5 million square kilometres. In Africa, range loss varies by region – as much as 99 per cent in North Africa, 86 to 95 per cent in West Africa, and 28 to 51 per cent in Southern Africa.
The scientists created the most detailed reconstruction to date of the leopard’s range, says paper co-author Peter Gerngross, a cartographer at the Austria-based mapping firm BIOGEOMAPS.
The biologists reviewed more than 1,300 sources to derive the leopard’s historic (post-1750) and current range.
“Contrary to the pervasive impression of the leopard as one of the most widespread, adaptable and resilient carnivores,” the researchers reveal in their paper, “our calculated range loss exceeds the average range loss for [17 species of] the world’s largest carnivores.”
The results confirmed conservationists’ suspicions that leopards are losing the battle against a many-headed threat – habitat loss and fragmentation, human population density, conflict with livestock-keepers and game-keepers, loss of prey, killing for the illegal trade in skins and parts, and, in some areas, unsustainable but legal trophy hunting.
“Our results challenge the conventional assumption that leopards remain relatively abundant and not seriously threatened,” says paper author Andrew Jacobson of ZSL. “The leopard is an elusive animal, which is why it has taken so long to recognise its global decline.”
“The cat’s status is more grave than previously understood.”
Because of that downturn, the cats are currently listed as “Vulnerable” by the IUCN. According to Andrew Stein, a member of the group and co-author of the PeerJ paper, the organisation’s Cat Specialist Group recently recommended a change from Near Threatened to Vulnerable. “The change signals to leopard range countries that the cat’s status is more grave than previously understood,” he says. “It begins a process of deeper evaluation, including calls for greater protection and intensified regulation of trade and trophy hunting.”
Philipp Henschel of Panthera, also a paper co-author, adds that “a severe blind spot has existed in the conservation of the leopard, especially in North and West Africa. The international conservation community must support initiatives protecting the species. Our next steps will determine the leopard’s fate.”
Leopards are part of what’s called the large carnivore guild, which includes lions and hyenas. An ecological guild is a group of species that exploits the same resources. “The large carnivore guild is mostly intact in protected areas,” says South African National Parks biologist Sam Ferreira. “These are the places where leopards still thrive and have relatively large populations.”
Results of a camera trap survey Ferreira conducted in the N’wanetsi concession in Kruger National Park in 2008 led to an estimate of 19 leopards in a 150 square kilometre area. He and colleagues published the results in 2013 in the African Journal of Ecology. The biologists continue using camera traps to study the park’s leopards.
Next door at the Sabi Sand Game Reserve, biologist Guy Balme of Panthera is working with safari guides at more than 20 lodges to track leopards. “Because of the large number of vehicles in Sabi Sand and the reserve’s long history of protection,” says Balme, “leopards have become habituated to game drives.” Guides are familiar with the leopards in their areas. “Their unique spot patterns can distinguish individual leopards,” says Balme, “so we’ve been able to monitor their fates over time.”
Biologists and safari guides have tracked more than 600 leopards over the last 37 years through the Sabi Sand Leopard Project. The results align with Sabi Sand’s protected, stable leopard population.
Across the continent in West Africa, however, the news isn’t as good. From 2009 to 2012, Henschel led big cat surveys in 21 of the region’s largest protected areas. His team’s efforts were rewarded – to some degree. “We found leopards in seven of the 21 areas,” he says, “but only one of these populations numbered more than 100 individuals.” Fewer than 500 breeding-age leopards may remain in the entire West African region, Henschel believes.
He and Luke Hunter, president of Panthera, and scientists at the U.K.’s University of Oxford and other institutions, have identified another threat to Africa’s leopards – competition with bushmeat hunters for the same food source.
Their research, reported in the Journal of Zoology, took place in the rainforests of the Congo Basin. It shows that bushmeat hunting is likely responsible for a dramatic drop in leopard numbers in the Congo. Leopards have vanished without a trace in the most over-hunted of the project’s sites.
“A critical part of protecting big cats and their landscapes is documenting the presence and behaviour of wild cats using camera traps,” says Hunter. “Panthera’s motion-activated cameras collect hundreds of thousands of wildlife images every year. With help from the public, we can analyse these photos to identify the animals shown, enabling us to track wild cat population trends over time and determine what conservation actions are needed to protect these species better.”
Wherever leopards manage to eke out a successful living, they do so by stealth. They’re camouflaged by their spots, blending into the dappled shade of trees and rock piles.
Leopards are also furtive in other ways. They mainly come out at night. By day, studies have shown, leopards hide in dark recesses such as caves. In hot, dry environments, leopards use caves to escape high temperatures. “Leopards are secretive predators, making use of caves as retreats, feeding places, and breeding lairs,” states palaeontologist Charles Brain in his book, The Hunters or the Hunted?: An Introduction to African Cave Taphonomy.
In South Africa, scientist Darryl de Ruiter of Texas A&M University discovered one such leopard cave in Malapa Nature Reserve. “In contrast to the ‘leopard in the tree’ idea that these cats cache their kills most often in large tree branches,” says de Ruiter, “they may well prefer to use the deep recesses of caves,” as vultures, hyenas and lions, which might steal a leopard’s kill, usually won’t enter, and caves may give leopards the ability to store larger prey. Most caves in the Highveld area of South Africa have trees growing in their entrances. “Nonetheless,” says de Ruiter, who published his findings in the Journal of Archaeological Science, “leopards haul carcasses into caves, avoiding trees entirely. In our study, 83 per cent of the cached carcasses were in caves, and only 17 per cent in trees.”
Our ancestors may have been intimately familiar with leopards, ancient cave paintings in Europe tell us. But a question asked by biologist Theodore Bailey in The African Leopard: Ecology and Behavior of a Solitary Felid remains: “Will wild leopards survive to evoke the admiration of our far-away descendants as they once did our distant ancestors?”
Recently reported sightings of erythristic, or ‘strawberry pink,’ leopards in South Africa’s Lydenburg region of Mpumalanga may be an indication. Scientists recently reported in the journal Bothalia: African Biodiversity & Conservation that “the presence of this rare colour morph may reflect the consequences of [leopard] population fragmentation.”
Leopards can survive in human-dominated landscapes if they have enough cover, access to wild prey, and acceptance by local people. But in many areas, leopard habitat has been converted to farmland, and native herbivores have been replaced with livestock.
Scientists believe it is mostly a matter of developing tolerance to leopards’ presence. Leopards are usually quiet neighbours and, in many locations, they’ve long-lived among us. However, successfully sharing the same territory will take some adjustment on the part of humans. Livestock owners, for example, may need to develop new ways of guarding their herds.
“It’s not asking too much of people to give thought to the welfare of these cats,” says Stein. “Leopards badly need the reprieve.”
Ecologist and science journalist Cheryl Lyn Dybas, a Fellow of the International League of Conservation Writers, fell in love with Africa and its savannas at first sight. She lives in the U.S., outside of Washington, D.C., and also writes on Africa and other subjects for National Geographic, BioScience, Natural History, National Wildlife, Scientific American, Oceanography, The Washington Post, and many other publications. She is a featured speaker on conservation biology and science journalism at universities, museums and other institutions. Eye-to-eye with the wild is her favourite place to be.
We were on safari in the Savuti, Chobe National Park in Botswana during the winter months when the Savuti Channel had been reduced to a series of small pools. We knew about Savuti fishing leopards thanks to a BBC documentary we had watched, so we waited close to the waterhole where a leopard had recently been spotted in the hope of witnessing a fishing feline. Written by: Marco Ansón
And then we saw her. There were catfish in the waters, but when we saw the leopard move to the pool’s edge, we initially thought she would just have a drink.
However, the leopard surprised us by slowly entering the water pool. Time stood still for us as we watched, and she seemed to take a long time to make her way steadily further into the shallows.
Everything was silent. Then suddenly, the leopard dunked her head into the dark pool and, as fast as lightning, caught a catfish (barbel) in her mouth!
She left the muddy waters quickly and came close to our vehicle to rest in the shade and eat her catfish trophy. We couldn’t believe our luck!
Watch the video of this fishing leopard here:
More about that Savute safari
Savute is the remote western section of Chobe National Park – far away from the shores of the Chobe River. Abundant wildlife – including lions that specialise in hunting elephants during the dry season – congregates along the Savute channel, which empties into the Savute Marsh.
The Savute River was dry from the late 19th century until it flowed some 75 years later in 1958, only to dry up again periodically for years and even decades. The dry savannas are dotted with rocky outcrops where ancient humans left their ochre drawings. Book your Savute safari here
Seven species of sea turtles are roaming our world’s seas and oceans. Four of them regularly visit the east coast of Southern Africa: the hawksbill, loggerhead, green, and the species which is both the most impressive and elusive, the giant leatherback turtle.
All sea turtles undertake long, perilous journeys to return to the beaches where they hatched to lay their eggs. Leatherbacks – the largest of all living turtles – break all the distance records. They live in open water and can travel across the ocean in pursuit of the best jellyfish feeding grounds, which they prey on. The resultant round-trip to nesting grounds can be up to 6,000km.
To accomplish such journeys, leatherbacks have developed a hydrodynamic, teardrop-shaped body. Their carapace is covered with oily skin to further reduce drag, unlike other sea turtles with bony scutes or external plates on their carapace. This immense body can grow over two metres in length and weigh between 250 and 700 kg on average, although a weight of 900 kg has been recorded.
Leatherback turtles are propelled by the largest flippers of all sea turtles – the flippers can reach 2.5 metres in length. They allow the leatherback to achieve considerable speed needed to traverse long distances, which unfortunately no scuba diver can match. Sightings of these turtles underwater are few and far between, especially as these turtles do not favour coral reefs and only pass through to get to the beaches, where they nest and lay eggs.
It is fair to say that meeting one while scuba diving is rated among the rarest sightings of marine life. Even if you are lucky enough, it will most likely be a fleeting moment, as you do not stand a chance of catching up with a swimming leatherback.
You can, however, see them on one of the northeast coast beaches of South Africa, like Sodwana Bay and St. Lucia in Isimangaliso Wetland Park. During nesting season, which takes place in the summer months in South Africa, leatherbacks can be spotted, mostly at night, laying eggs in the beach sand across many kilometres of local beaches. Find your environmentally responsible turtle watch operator and meet one of the last living dinosaurs of our time.
1. Leatherbacks feed almost exclusively on jellyfish. They often mistake plastic bags floating in the ocean for food, which can be fatal by blocking digestion tracks. Segregate and recycle your plastic waste to avoid contributing to this unnecessary threat.
2. They are the fastest-moving reptiles of all. Their average speed can reach 10km/hr with bursts up to 30km/hr.
3. They inhabit all subtropical and tropical waters and have been seen even in the waters of the Arctic. The open ocean is their main habitat; they only move closer to land during nesting season.
4. A female leatherback lays about 100 eggs in every clutch. The nest’s ambient temperature will determine the sex of hatchlings (baby turtles) – hotter nests will produce more females and cooler ones will be more male dominated.
5. Male leatherbacks will stay in the open water their whole lives, while females will periodically return to their nesting regions to lay eggs.
Wüstenquell is a private nature reserve just outside Karabib in Namibia. Its abundant rock formations make it one of most spectacular locations for any landscape photographer, providing you with a show of beautiful panoramics of the desert along with its fauna and flora.
Situated on the edge of the Namib desert, within the misty region of the Atlantic Ocean, Wüstenquell is surrounded by huge granite rock formations, crystal clear running springs and a large variety of succulent and desert plants.
There is no other place in the world with the same amount of these type rock formations per km². There are three different types of granite weathering which mainly consists of feldspat, quarz and glimmer.
We take a closer look at some of these formations below:
1. Wollsackverwitterung – underground weathering
During the damp climate period of the Tertiär, water entered and dissolved the granite along its gaps and chasms. Later the result of this weathering came to the surface resulting in some truly unique looking rock formations.
2. Desquamation – physical weathering
Physical weathering is caused by flat, shell moulded plates that have burst off the rocks due to temperature changes. This can be found fairly easily around the farm house.
3. Tafoni – chemical weathering
Chemical weathering causes ball or kidney shaped cavities. They vary in size from only a few centimetres up to half a metre in diameter. Some of these so called ‘weathering crusts’ form stunning rock overhangs. It was this form of weathering that gave Wüstenquell its unique symbol, the Adlerfels (Eagles Rock).
The reserve is also home to springbok, oryx, ostrich, kudu, warthog, leopard and numerous smaller animals and birds.
Hiking in these beautiful formations is an adventure on its own. For the inquisitive, there are also some caves to explore, complete with bushmen art and much more.
With the beautiful clear skies Namibia has to offer, night photography is an absolute must when on the reserve. When planning your compositions , you can make use of not only the rock formations but the unique quiver trees that provide you with beautiful textured foregrounds. Wüstenquell is worth a visit by any aspiring photographer.
Hoedspruit is my favourite safari gateway town to the Kruger National Park in South Africa. With several private Big 5 game reserves neighbouring the town and the spectacular Blyde River Canyon nearby, it is located in a fantastic stretch of paradise, known as Kruger to Canyons. This is a wonderfully diverse safari destination for those who prefer to mix up their game viewing with cultural and adventure activities. During my recent week in the area, I sampled some of the many activities and lodges available – and I left already planning my next visit!
Watch this short video of Simon’s week in Kruger to Canyons
Mountain bike migration
The main reason for this particular trip to the area was to participate in the second edition of the K2C Cycle Tour – an annual 95-kilometre mountain bike fundraising tour from the Kruger National Park to the Blyde River Canyon, passing through various private game reserves on the way.
Eighty lucky cyclists of all levels undertook this epic journey for the soul, split into five groups, each accompanied by two armed cyclist guards and a backup vehicle. For safety reasons, this isn’t a race, which means that the pace is slow and the attitude laid-back – we frequently had to stop and gently navigate our way past herds of elephants, buffalos and even the odd snorting rhino!
Rotary Hoedspruit organised the event superbly, and the many tables in rest areas along the way groaned under the weight of delicious snacks, water and energy drinks. The tables were staffed by sponsors who cheered us on and encouraged even the most lethargic to keep going. I highly recommend this superb event and encourage anyone interested to contact the organisers soon about the next edition.
Once the cycle tour had ended, there were still plenty of other fantastic reasons to stick around in the Kruger to Canyons area for a few days, and I didn’t need any convincing. I happily headed back into the bushveld – on four wheels this time – and was blessed by the gods of safari luck on a three-hour game drive that would impress even the most seasoned safari-goer. Back at the lodge afterwards, beverage in hand, I explained to the wide-eyed American couple that the last three hours did not constitute a typical game drive, which can sometimes consist of nothing but the odd impala and turtle dove. But I fear my advice fell on deaf ears, as the next two days produced regular Big Five encounters and plenty of action!
Rather than attempting to re-hash my three days in the bush, here is an extract from my travel diary: Makanyi Lodge, Timbavati Private Nature Reserve. Guide: Warren ‘Woza’ Jacobs
18 July 2016, 17h30 A herd of elephants surrounds us, very relaxed, then a young female just a few metres away gives us horns for no reason – ear-clapping and a big attitude before she changes gear and wanders off as if nothing happened. My companions giggle nervously and breathe out, and we are on our way again.
18h30 Damside sundowner drinks – surrounded by 11 rotund lions as they relax, satiated after gorging on a two-day-old buffalo carcass. Three rhinos trot by to slake their thirst before snorting off into the fading light. A massive herd of buffalos on the far bank drinking and kicking up dust – must be a thousand-plus thirsty bovines. Lions not interested – #FlatCats. Then a buffalo bellows in the dark distance and hyenas cackle excitedly. The largest male lion is up and running, very focused. So are we, engine gunning and flashlight darting, searching. Ten minutes later and the bellowing and whooping are intense – then we smell blood. Up ahead, we see hyenas mauling a buffalo, tearing chunks off the struggling bovine. But hold on, what’s that? With her back to us and watching the ruckus intently, is a leopard – also drawn by the noise and promise of a meal. Then all hell breaks loose – the lion arrives, full of piss and brandy, and the leopard bolts, as do the hyenas after the largest collects a smack from the boss cat. Lion slaps the buffalo around before clamping down on its throat, ends the suffering. A second male lion arrives, chases off the lingering hyenas and settles down to feed – fat belly and all.
19 July 2016, 07h00 Three lions from a rival pride – we watch as the two big blonde boys take turns mating with the lady, while she switches from flirty and coy to angry slapping and guttural growling after each session. Klaserie Sands River Camp, Klaserie Private Nature Reserve. Guide: Andre ‘AK’ Kruger
19 July 2016, 16h30 Surrounded by 18 lions near a buffalo carcass – another large pride! Some are crunching the last few ribs. Most are feral-looking young males – pushed out by the dominant males further north? We drive a few kilometres away for sundowners, displacing a large male leopard chillaxing on the same riverside rocks.
20 July 2016, 11h15 A herd of 30 elephants drinking at the waterhole in front of the lodge deck. Downing my last lime and soda, I tear myself away, load up the rental car and head out – only to spend 30 minutes waiting in the shade of a mopane grove for the same herd to move off the road. A few enormous bulls surround me and linger, tossing ear-claps in my direction now and then and kicking up dust – they seem to enjoy keeping me waiting. I don’t fancy my chances if these six-tonne behemoths pull rank on my tin can car. No worries, no rush. Eventually, they move off, and so do I, on to the next adventure.
As enticing as the wilderness can be, no matter where my travels take me, I always try to connect with local people as they go about their daily lives. I enjoy visiting people in their villages and homes – obviously with their permission. And so, on my Kruger to Canyons safari, I spent time with Prince Nkuma, the manager of Shik Shack. This organisation arranges community tours and Nourish, an upliftment project with a strong wildlife focus for community children.
Prince is a gem, and his fascinating insight into how the local folk relate to wildlife and poaching had me captivated for hours as we strolled around Sigagula, his hometown on the Orpen Road approach to Kruger. We even hired a donkey cart to visit local homes to taste homemade peanut butter, umqombothi (local beer made from maize), and to visit a sangoma (traditional medicine man) who threw bones to look into my soul. We also visited a home to attend a short dance and eat a humble meal consisting of fried chicken, morogo (wild spinach), roasted groundnuts and pap (a soft starch dish made from corn/maize). Dancing was performed by young girls who were all smiles in pursuing this passion.
If you’re ever in the area, I encourage you to support this and similar causes with your patronage and donations. The Kruger to Canyons area is dotted with cultural villages, farms, curio markets and community-run restaurants that are well worth your support.
The Kruger to Canyons Biosphere houses three significant biomes, which means that it’s not only the bushveld that attracts animals and tourists to the area, but the forests and mountainous regions found around Hoedspruit are also well worth exploring. On my final days in the area, I went up Mariepskop – one of the highest peaks in the northern Drakensberg – with a community guide to go birding, but we had thick mist, so I only took a few pictures and some video footage.
Marieskop is unique in that it is home to over 2,000 plant species and, with the Kruger to Canyons region holding up to 75% of all terrestrial bird species and 80% of all raptor species found in South Africa, it is one of the best places in the world for twitchers. I also flew like a bird myself in a microlight flight with Leading Edge Flight School over the canyon and took in the spectacular views of a place that earns its name as the Panorama Route.
A few weeks later Africa Geographic’s general manager (at the time), Janine Avery, also explored the rKruger to Canyons area. Here is an extract from her travel diary from her day out in paradise.
Panorama Route. Guide: Hans Swart
10 August 2016 Gazing out onto the natural formation of the three rondavels, named so because of their hut-like appearance, I can’t think of a better place to spend my birthday. The world’s third-largest canyon falls at my feet and, despite a simmering haze and the harsh drought that has ripped the colour from the landscape, I still feel a sense of awe. A boat putters along the Blyde River below me as my enthusiastic guide regales us with tales of adventures, discovery, gold miners, pilgrims and a small town that had electricity before the streets of London – a town that I am promised serves the best Mampoer milkshakes and to which I look forward to indulging in later. Off to my left a Google’s Street View Trekker with a unique contraption on his back, which resembles a soccer ball housing multiple cameras, dances alongside a villager selling curios. Her deep and bellowing “Shap, Shap” is echoed by his American accented version and his clumsy footing as he attempts a bootie wiggle that can’t compete with hers. Their fun-loving antics tear my attention away from the majestic views as I stroll over to add yet another culture to the mix…
Makanyi Lodge is an extremely luxurious lodge set in south Timbavati, with excellent game viewing throughout the year. Every attention to detail has been considered, and every comfort provided. The outside shower is probably the best of many I have enjoyed, thanks to its views over the nearby waterhole. I departed knowing that I needed to bring my wife here on my next visit, as she is very inclined towards safari chic.
Food and service were top drawer, as was the guiding. I shared game drives with a mad bunch who had adopted our guide Warren Jacobs, renaming him Woza, and the hilarious banter blended with the unparalleled wildlife viewing!
Tanda Tula consists of an exclusive lodge and a seasonal tented camp in the heart of the Timbavati Game Reserve, part of the Greater Kruger. Spending a night in a starbed rising your safari – sleeping high up on a wooden platform while being serenaded by lions, hyenas, Verreaux’s eagle owls and ground hornbills – features high on my list of incredible experiences that I have had in Africa. Their field camp is also one of the unique experiences found in the Greater Kruger area – an authentic glamping experience.
Umlani Bushcamp is another Timbavati classic. Your safari in a rustic rondavel at Umlani will feel like a family affair, thanks to hearty communal meals served under the African sky. This down-to-earth safari camp runs mainly on solar power, and you’ll be made to feel at home in no time at all.
Many people choose accommodation outside the Greater Kruger boundary and enter the park each day for game drives, either in their own vehicle or with a guide. I was lucky enough to spend a night at some of these lodgings.
Wild Olive Tree Camp
Wild Olive Tree Camp is a rustic and affordable community-owned tented camp a few kilometres from Kruger’s Orpen Gate and a few hundred metres from the gate to Manyeleti Game Reserve. It’s a basic but charming camp for independent travellers. The Wild Olive team arrange game drives into the park or reserve if you don’t have your own wheels. The camp runs on solar power and gas showers, with battery charging at reception. The tents will probably get very hot during the day in the summer months (when you would probably be out and about), but during my visit in mid-winter, they were just right. Meals are served in a communal dining tent, and service was excellent, and the smiles wide. This new community endeavour is well worth supporting.
Blyde Canyon, a Forever Resort, is one of the only accommodation offerings in the canyon itself, and its views of the Three Rondavels are even better than at the main tourist viewpoints. The resort is the ideal overnight stop for guests exploring the Panorama Route before venturing into Hoedspruit and heading towards Kruger. The accommodation offerings are also expansive, with camping and caravan options and large self-catering units that appeal to families. With a putt-putt course, trampolines and a large pool on site, the little ones will be entertained while you try to protect your braai from the cavorting troupes of vervet monkeys.
This popular lodge is located within the Hoedspruit Wildlife Estate – a stunning location that places you on the doorstep to the town and its variety of exquisite eateries, while still providing the feeling that you are in the bush with resident warthogs, kudus and bushbucks running around. Unembeza provides the perfect base from which to explore the surrounding area. The lodge management is always around to offer advice and assistance with your day’s plans without intruding to the privacy and peace of quiet the lodge offers. The affordable rooms are a breath of fresh bush air, and each suite is decorated with class and simplicity.
Simon Espley is an African of the digital tribe, a chartered accountant and CEO of Africa Geographic.
He is a seasoned African traveller – walking, driving, boating, cycling, horse riding and flying his way in pursuit of true wilderness and elusive birds.
Simon’s love of mountain biking meant he was off up to Hoedspruit to participate in the annual Kruger2Canyons mountain bike tour, so it made sense for him to explore this region on his own two feet and on two wheels.
For most visitors, the deep grumble of a lion roaring or the high-pitched whooping of hyenas epitomise the nightly noises of Kruger National Park. But on my recent trip to Kruger, it wasn’t these iconic sounds that woke me up in the dead of night; it was the synchronisedhowl of four domestic dogs – members of the canine unit.
A bloodhound/doberman cross ready for his close up.
I was privileged enough to spend the night away from the tourist camps at Kruger’s newest addition – the K9 Centre. Those four howling dogs were young bloodhound/doberman crosses, excited at the prospect of their future working life in South Africa’s premier national park.
The four new dogs alongside side their handlers with dog trainer Gaven Holden-Smith and kennel master Johan De Beer. Handlers’ faces are blurred to protect their identity.
The dogs, now just over a year old, have been brought up as working tracking dogs and having just finished their training at the centre, they were ready to be handed over to their respective section rangers to get to work. I was at the centre to see the great work being done behind the scenes to get these dogs out and working in Kruger. The canine unit is now a vital component in the war against poaching. These dogs join a formidable team of attack dogs, contraband detection sniffer dogs and other tracking dogs like themselves.
A handler sits alongside Kilalo – the latest addition to Kruger’s canine unit. The handler’s face is blurred to protect his own identity.
They were trained by the capable Gaven Holden-Smith of Holden-Smith Tracking and Conservation and donated to Kruger thanks to funding from Star Project in San Francisco and Wuppertal Zooverein in Germany.
But the truth is it is not all cute and cuddly puppies or dramatic grenade launchers and helicopters in the world of anti-poaching. Sometimes it is the day to day stuff that these organisations need. Hence why, on the day of the dog handover, the K9 Centre also received donations of a high-pressure cleaner from Karcher, LED spotlights for the section rangers from MSC LED Lighting Solutions, alongside chains, harnesses, bite suits, mattresses, grooming brushes, transport boxes, dog bowls, materials for new kennels and Hills dog food all organised by various regions of the SANParks Honorary Rangers.
Members of the SANParks Honorary Rangers at the handover ceremony.Safari Guide of the Year, Jaco Buys, with Badger – a beloved tracking dog.
But perhaps the most interesting initiative that stood out for me was one pioneered by Casterbridge Animal Hospital in association with the Lowveld Region of the SANParks Honorary Rangers and the Wuppertal Zooverein. The initiative involves training each handler on basic dog first aid so they are able to care for and attend to their dog while hot on the heels of poachers. What this means is that should these four brand new additions to the canine unit be bitten by a snake, lacerate a paw or get dehydrated while deep in the bush, we can all rest easy knowing that we won’t lose a dog to save a rhino.
Veterinary nurse Elzabe de Bruyn hands over the trauma kits to SANParks
Thus far, 22 trauma kits have been handed over to the handlers who have received this doggie first aid training, and the K9 Centre also has its master trauma kit. But it doesn’t end there – the aim is now to compile more comprehensive kits for the section rangers, and the Honorary Rangers are even looking to buy/obtain a container which they can convert into a mobile vet clinic, complete with anaesthesia machine, operating table and the like. But this all costs money, or those with access to this equipment give donations. And this, my fellow puppy-lovers, is where you come in! Have a way to help? Want to donate to the K9 Centre by way of cash or equipment? Then be sure to email Grant Coleman, chairman of the Lowveld Region of the SANParks Honorary Rangers, and do your part to support the canines of Kruger!
New kennels at the K9 Centre keep the dogs safe and sound at night in leopard country!
Now and then, a book breaks through the wallpaper of my life and delivers its message intravenously. Elephant Dawn by Sharon Pincott did that for me – an intense, inspiring, and moving read.
Sharon Pincott made the life-changing decision in 2001 to forgo her jet-setting job and comfortable Australian home to make a difference in the world. Having sold her possessions, and later her home, to fund this project, she arrived in Zimbabwe during a tumultuous time in this country’s history – to spend time with a herd of elephants that in 1990 was granted protection under President Mugabe’s decree.
These wild elephants roam over a large, unfenced area that includes the magnificent Hwange National Park and the adjacent Hwange Estate. The presidential protection turned out to be a paper tiger, and to this day, the elephants face the same threats that elephants face all over Africa – primarily poachers and trophy hunters – exacerbated and fuelled by Mugabe’s controversial and destructive land reform programme.
This book is not your classic African safari story; it chronicles Pincott’s roller-coaster journey and follows the lives of several of the matriarchs she got to know.
Over an incredible 13 years, this tough-as-teak lady developed a valuable understanding of all 17 extended family groups that make up the greater 500-strong herd. She also became the public figurehead of this herd in their battle against the deadly intentions of the poachers and trophy hunters. Her deeply personal bond with some of the matriarchs (who would come running when she called) struck a chord with me, although the touching and caressing of some of the elephants would surely have attracted criticism from many.
Willa and Sharon share a tender moment.
And yet, here we are – Zimbabwe’s Presidential Herd of elephants is now famous and under intense international scrutiny. Job done. Well, partly. Will Zimbabwe take advantage of this marketing godsend and capitalise on high levels of safari tourism interest? Time will tell.
Sharon Pincott is, at the time of writing, currently back in Australia, taking a break from the pressures of the intensely political world of wildlife conservation. Hopefully, her energy and passion will not be lost to Africa, and she will soon return. Again, time will tell.
A chainsaw sputters to life, and its loud hum fills the air. Two black rhinos – a mother and her calf – lie helplessly on the ground. They tremble a bit, though never move from where they have fallen. A helicopter takes off and buzzes above us before speeding away, its heavy blades chopping through the sky. The mother is an exemplary rhino; her primary horn is long and curved like a crescent moon, and her secondary horn is tall and straight, almost matching the first horn in length.
Today, both the mother and the calf will lose their horns because of rhino poaching. There are, however, two crucial factors that affect today’s outcome. The first is that the rhinos will walk away from this experience with their lives and the second is that the process is performed by a highly-skilled wildlife veterinarian and an accompanying team of conservation professionals – the very people who dedicate their careers and lives to protecting these animals. The Zululand Rhino Reserve (ZRR), located in northern KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa, is in the midst of the process of dehorning all of its rhinos. The reserve is not alone in this decision and rhinos all over the country are having their horns removed by the very humans who are trying to protect them.
The chainsaw’s blade starts to whir and plunges into the rhino’s horn. It cuts loudly and steadily through the thick horn, and suddenly, under the Zululand sun, it begins to rain rhino horn dust. A large tarpaulin is draped on the ground under the rhino’s head to catch all of the shavings, as even the smallest amount of horn holds value in the illegal rhino horn market. As the blade continues to carve its course through the horn, I flinch and look away, nervous that the cut is too deep. But it is not. The cut is perfectly executed and just nicks the growth plate. The wildlife veterinarian, Dr Mike Toft, is not new to this practice. To date, he has personally dehorned almost 200 rhinos in the greater Zululand area. Mike wields the chainsaw like a practised artisan and expertly cuts around the base of the horn towards the growth plate, which rises in the middle like a small mound.
After the cutting is finished, he uses an angle grinder, explicitly designed for keratin, to grind down as far as he can. Small drops of blood begin to form on the base of the horn. “That’s how you know you’ve gone far enough,” Mike assures us. Previous dehorning methods made only the initial cut, leaving a large chunk of horn mass sitting around the growth plate at the base of the rhino’s horn. Recently Mike cut an additional 2.1 kilogrammes of rhino horn off of a large white rhino after the first cut. With 2.1 kilogrammes of rhino horn translating to approximately US$275,000 on the black market, he is undoubtedly correct when he explains, “that’s why rhino dehorning was not considered successful in the past – there was still enough horn left to tempt poachers.”
The secondary horn is cut just as close, and then the horns are removed from the calf. All the while the ground team works hard, taking blood, skin and hair samples for DNA, recording ear notches and identification numbers, and photographing the animals for records. Mike simultaneously monitors their condition while dehorning the rhinos. They have been darted from a helicopter with a cocktail drug containing an immobiliser, a tranquilliser and an enzyme to ensure rapid absorption. The immobilising drug causes a surge of adrenaline, which accounts for much of the trembling. The entire process is quick and professional.
“It’s not gentle, but it is effective,” according to Mike.
Although that is the case, many rhino lovers still find the process traumatic to watch. Rangers and onlookers choke back tears and soldier on with the task at hand. The dehorning of these two rhinos has been sponsored by a generous donor from the United States, who accompanies us today. Before the rhinos are woken up, he kneels and places his hand on the calf’s small body and takes a silent moment. There are so many things a person desires to communicate to a rhino in this circumstance: compassion, assurance, sorrow, frustration, solidarity. Instead, the team works quickly and calmly, accomplishing what they believe is necessary to protect their rhinos.
The veterinarian administers a reversal drug to the mother and calf. Within minutes they are both on their feet, huffing and puffing. They charge off into the bush seemingly unaffected albeit a few kilogrammes lighter. The quick return to normalcy is reassuring, and the team proceeds with a sense of accomplishment and purpose. Our next targets have been identified by rangers in the field, and the ground team’s vehicles rush off to meet the helicopter, which is quickly making its way to dart the identified rhinos. The second set of rhinos is another mother-calf pair, but this time of white rhinos. Again, the mother is remarkably beautiful – an older female with an impressively sizeable primary horn. With a horn of this size, it is only due to the hard work of the anti-poaching team in the ZRR that she is still alive. Removing it is demoralising. “It’s devastating to have to deface a rhino because of human greed,” notes Karen Holmes, the general manager of the ZRR.
A crossroads in conservation
We are at a critical moment in rhino conservation. While overall the population of both black and white rhinos in Africa is still growing, we are getting incrementally closer every year to that crucial tipping point where poaching pressure exceeds population growth. From there, it’s a slippery slope to extinction. Many subpopulations have reached that point already. In 2015 alone, over 1,300 rhinos were poached in Africa. Those on the frontlines protecting our rhinos are battle-weary, and the demand for rhino horn shows no sign of relenting. Rangers, managers and owners are desperate for help to stop the ongoing slaughter.
The solution that many are currently turning to is the removal of rhino horns. Dehorning has become commonplace mostly because it is working. Removing the horns is effective at decreasing the reward for poachers’ efforts. Alternative solutions, like poisoning of rhino horn, have proved ineffective, and anti-poaching activities alone are not enough.
It may seem an obvious solution, but from a reserve’s point of view, the decision is never easy. There are logistical, financial and ethical issues with which to grapple when considering rhino dehorning. Dehorning is not a cure-all solution. Rhino horn grows back rapidly and, within about a year and a half, the horn on a young rhino is usually big enough to tempt poachers again. The effectiveness of dehorning is, therefore, temporary and the process must be repeated to continue to be a deterrent. Each dehorning procedure is costly, especially with veterinarian and helicopter fees to factor in. Some reserves are simply too big to be able to dehorn all of their rhinos, and there are also concerns that removing horns will negatively impact tourism.
Yet even when logistics and finances are managed, the number one consideration for whether or not to dehorn rhinos is always the potential effect on the rhinos themselves. Removing the horn from a rhino feels like a gross violation of nature. Evolution favours exaggerated traits, like the rhino’s horn, if there is a strong selective pressure for it to do so. Rhinos use their horns for territorial defence and dominance struggles, to assist in foraging, to protect their young from predators, in courtship, and possibly in mate selection. The knock-on effects of dehorning rhinos could, therefore, slow species growth rate. At an evolutionary scale, it’s a heavy price to pay to protect a species.
The Zululand Rhino Reserve was formed in 2004 as part of the WWF Black Rhino Range Expansion Programme, comprised of a consortium of private landowners with varying interests, and decisions are made by a board of directors on Karen’s recommendations. When the ZRR’s board sat down to debate the choice of dehorning rhinos, many of the reserves around them had already instituted dehorning programmes. Like a horrible game of dominos, poaching pressure passes to the next population.
The vast majority of the reserve’s budget was already being spent on anti-poaching efforts to protect their rhinos. While these efforts had been mostly successful in the reserve, it continued to have poaching incursions regularly. Karen, having researched the pros and cons of dehorning, presented her recommendation to dehorn the ZRR’s rhinos with tears in her eyes, explaining how “it felt like we were admitting defeat.” The board’s vote was not unanimous, but the majority voted in favour of dehorning.
An unfortunate bedfellow to dehorning as a conservation strategy is the issue of legalisation of the trade in rhino horn, another hotly debated topic. When one of the ZRR’s neighbours went public with the announcement that they had instituted a dehorning programme, they were both praised and criticised. There were allegations that they had failed to protect their rhinos, hadn’t adequately considered alternatives, and worst of all, that the programme was a scam designed to harvest and bank rhino horn. These are stinging accusations for people who regularly risk their own lives in the line of duty and spend millions on protecting rhinos. While the company behind the reserve has publicly confirmed that they would be in favour of a legalised trade in rhino horn, this did not factor into their conservation manager’s analysis and recommendations for implementing a dehorning programme. His decision was made because they were doing everything they could on the ground but still struggling to keep rhinos alive.
Wildlands Conservation Trust, an NGO that runs community-owned Somkhanda Game Reserve (located a short distance north of the ZRR) is decidedly against the legalisation of the trade in rhino horn. They still decided to dehorn Somkhanda’s rhino population. As Kevin McCann, the Deputy Director of WCT succinctly puts it: “We decided we’d rather have rhino alive without horns than dead.”
Regardless of which side of the debate individuals or organisations fall on, the crux of the situation is that the international trade in rhino horn is currently illegal and that CITES is unlikely to legalise the trade. There’s no doubt that there are a few unscrupulous individuals who are dehorning rhinos and wagering on trade legalisation, but these are the minority. The vast majority implementing rhino dehorning programmes are doing so with the safety of the rhinos and the people protecting them in mind.
On our sixth dehorning of the day, as the secondary horn is cut off a young male white rhino, it bounces towards me on the tarpaulin. I pick it up, and it fits perfectly into the palm of my hand. How absurd that this inert lump is worth more than its weight in gold on the black market. It is not a cure for anything. It is essentially the world’s most expensive placebo. This culturally-created placebo effect results in a substance with such astronomical worth that it is valued above the life of an animal, above human lives and above the obliteration of a species. I toss it back on the tarpaulin. In my eyes, it is worthless now that it has been removed from the rhino. The day wears on, and we dehorn nine rhinos in total. It is a full day’s work, and the physical and emotional exhaustion is evident on everyone’s faces.
The ZRR will continue with its dehorning programme and remove the horns from all the rhinos in the reserve. It is a colossal undertaking and a heavy responsibility to protect a population of rhinos. The relief, though temporary, must be tremendous. The next years will be critical in evaluating the success of dehorning programmes, as poaching and population growth rates are closely monitored.
Due to the security risk, any horns that are removed during dehorning programmes are immediately taken off the property and moved to a secure undisclosed location and stored in accordance with South African law.
On our drive back to camp we pass a dehorned female rhino grazing. She does not have a horn, but she is still a rhino and, most importantly, she is still alive.
Perhaps in the future, there will be a time when a rhino’s horn does not dictate its likelihood to live or die, but not today. Today there are nine fewer rhinos that will die at a poacher’s hands.
Shannon Airton is an American expat living in South Africa. She has a Bachelor’s degree in Ecology, Behaviour and Evolution and a Master’s degree in Biological Anthropology. A conservation biologist by training, she has worked in Zululand researching rhinos, wild dogs and leopards for the last 14 years.
She has recently made the decision to give up the rather rough and nomadic life of a researcher to raise her two-year-old son and help run the family business, Rhino River Lodge, in the Zululand Rhino Reserve. Following her passion for conservation biology, her writing focuses on bringing important conservation issues to a public audience.
A comprehensive new review of the threats facing global biodiversity indicates that a popular approach to saving the planet’s wild animals from extinction may be fatally flawed. Written by: Andreas Wilson-Späth
‘Sustainable utilisation’ is a catchphrase that is as fashionable in wildlife conservation circles as it is controversial. In essence, it suggests that natural resources – in this instance, wild animals – can be ‘harvested’ in a way that will not endanger the continued survival of the species in question. Furthermore, proponents argue that this form of commercial exploitation is a legitimate (some would say the only) way to raise the money required to fund conservation measures.
This philosophy of sustainable utilisation is central to the South African government’s wildlife conservation policy. It underpins claims by the hunting fraternity that killing animals for sport contributes to their conservation, and it forms the basis for arguments that legalising the international trade in products such as elephant ivory and rhino horns will reduce poaching.
New research shows that the belief that humans are capable of using wild animals in this fashion without ultimately causing their demise may be misplaced. In the article, published in the prestigious journal Nature this month, a group of conservation scientists assess the factors that are driving wild species towards extinction. They identify overexploitation, including hunting, as the biggest threat.
The authors analysed the threat information for 8,688 ‘threatened’ and ‘near-threatened’ species contained in the International Union for Conservation of Nature’s (IUCN) Red List of Threatened Species. They found that climate change, pollution, invasive species, urbanisation and agricultural activities present some of the most serious dangers to these species.
The single biggest threat, however, is overexploitation, defined as “the harvesting of species from the wild at rates that cannot be compensated for by reproduction or regrowth”. This affects 6,241 of the species considered. After logging (the survey includes both plants and animals), the researchers show that hunting is the second most perilous subset of threat factors within the category of overexploitation. Hunting impacts detrimentally on 1,680 species. That’s almost exactly the same number of species as are affected by global climate change.
Pointing out that the threats to endangered species are likely to remain as populations grow and human development continues at full pace, the authors of the paper warn that “of all the plant, amphibian, reptile, bird and mammal species that have gone extinct since AD1500, 75% were harmed by overexploitation or agricultural activity or both”.
According to one of them, Sean Maxwell of the University of Queensland in Australia, addressing these two major threat factors “must be at the forefront of the conservation agenda”, this being “key to turning around the biodiversity extinction crisis”.
As the 17th meeting of the Conference of the Parties to the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES) in Johannesburg draws near, these new findings should inform the critical debate around a joint proposal to legalise the trade in ivory submitted to the meeting by South Africa, Namibia and Zimbabwe.
In direct opposition to the 29 Central, West and East African nations that make up the core of the African Elephant Coalition, the three Southern African countries want to be allowed to sell ivory from their national stockpiles on a legalised international market. Citing the need to raise capital for conservation measures and poverty relief, they assert their right to sustainably utilise their wild animal resources. But the new findings identifying overexploitation as the most serious threat to thousands of species cast serious doubt on the validity and wisdom of this approach.
And the Nature article isn’t the only recent document that should give us pause when considering so-called sustainable utilisation as an effective conservation philosophy. In July a large group of international scientists, including representatives from South Africa, came together to pen a declaration to save the world’s terrestrial megafauna.
This is especially relevant to the current debate since sub-Saharan Africa has the planet’s greatest diversity in megafauna, from elephants, gorillas and large cats, to hippos, rhinos, giraffes, buffalos and more.
Noting that 59% of the world’s largest carnivores and 60% of its largest herbivores are now classified as threatened with extinction on the IUCN Red List, the authors of the declaration highlight the fact that among other factors, “the current depletion of megafauna is also due to overhunting and persecution: shooting, snaring, and poisoning by humans ranging from individuals to governments, as well as by organised criminals and terrorists”.
They warn that “under a business-as-usual scenario, conservation scientists will soon be busy writing obituaries for species and subspecies of megafauna as they vanish from the planet. In fact, this process is already underway…”
In the face of growing evidence from researchers working in the field that overexploitation represents the preeminent threat to the survival of many endangered species of wildlife, proposals for sustainable utilisation need to be examined with extreme care.
By turning wild creatures into commodities, financial incentives reinforced by market mechanisms are at risk of undermining the conservation prerogative that should form the foundation of this discussion.
Proponents of so-called sustainable utilisation in wildlife conservation often argue that wild animals have to “start paying for themselves” – an attitude that their critics find uncomfortably close to the dictum, “if it pays, it stays”. The latter are particularly concerned about what happens “if it doesn’t pay”, wondering whether wild animals don’t, in fact, have an intrinsic right to inhabit their indigenous habitats without the risk of being sustainably exploited to extinction for the benefit of humans.
Given the fact that our overexploitation of wildlife has been identified as one of the biggest, if not the biggest, causes of the current crisis in which many species may not make it to the end of this century, it is high time that we join the authors of the declaration to save the world’s terrestrial megafauna by stating that we “affirm an abiding moral obligation to protect the Earth’s megafauna” along with all other threatened plant and animal species
After four splendid years of studying conservation, I received my BTech degree cum laude in nature conservation. I was now ready to make a difference and plough my way into this difficult industry, but I was in for a big surprise. By volunteering, others may have affected my career opportunities. Written by: Zandri Benade
After my studies came to an end, I started to do research on how to become a more desirable candidate within my industry. Volunteering to gain field experience came out top in most of the articles that I read, and this came as no surprise. I started researching wildlife volunteering in South Africa, which led me to my discovery that conservation experiences and wildlife research has become an industry for rich (by my standards) foreigners and not young local scientists like me.
I visited various websites claiming to help you to “start your career in conservation” by joining their various volunteer programmes, of which the itineraries were absolutely fabulous for a young graduate like me! The only problem, aside from having to leach money off my parents for yet another year of unpaid work, was that these programmes were expecting me to also pay ridiculous amounts of money for lavish accommodation and unnecessary sightseeing. Starting anywhere from ZAR90,000 for 24 weeks, I soon came to realise that I was simply not wealthy enough to take part in these fantastic programmes. To put that into perspective, ZAR90,000 equates to roughly four years of conservation class fees.
One can argue that these programmes are designed with tourists in mind and that they would be cheaper had they been set up for locals. But this is exactly where it becomes quite problematic. Many game reserves benefit from volunteer programmes, as the enterprises that run these programmes often provide their beneficial conservation services for free or at a small price. They thus acquire all the necessary funding to run their programmes from the volunteers themselves. So essentially it is a win-win situation for both organisations – but with dire consequences for young graduates in a country with one of the highest unemployment rates in the world.
In my opinion, the lack of affordable volunteering opportunities for locals could lead to a loss of local knowledge and could complicate career growth amongst educated youth in our country, as foreign volunteers gain valuable experience that they take back to their home country with them.
My future in conservation remains uncertain but I refuse to give up, and I hope that the value of local educated youth will be realised and that we will be given the opportunity to once again become the movers and shakers in the preservation of our own natural heritage.
Elephants in the newly proclaimed Luenge-Luiana National Park in Angola recovered well from over an entire generation of war that this country has endured. This area, previously UNITA occupied, has had time to adjust, and the proclamation of the park in May 2012 was a welcome surprise. But what about poaching? Written by: Mark Paxton
For many of us, this had shown that the KAZA concept could now finally actually be gaining ground, and we were all looking forward to this over nine million hectare park being managed as the star park in Angola. But alas, this seems not to have been the case, and interference from uncontrolled human settlements along the Cuito River boundary has resulted in escalating large-scale poaching incidents in the neighbouring park, targeting mostly the elephants.
One of three poached elephant near the Cuito/Okavango river confluence and within the Luengue-Luiana National Park.
Two years ago, for the first time in decades, we saw elephants on the banks of the Okavango River in the Shamvura area where I live. Everybody in the area saw this as a positive and encouraging sign, but I was sceptical. I have been involved in conservation and park management all my life, so I could see this was a sign that the elephants in the park’s interior were being persecuted. As a result of this pressure, I could understand that they were forced to seek refuge and sanctuary further south towards the Okavango River areas, which previously they would only visit occasionally.
It was one of these pressured groups of between 20 and 40 animals that were attacked by poachers in the Kashira area recently. The incident happened at around 17h00 on Saturday, 23rd July, and was first reported to me by my staff and then by our nearest neighbours. I then received a call and was asked how to deal with this incident. I immediately contacted several top senior members of Nampol (the Namibian Police Service), MEFT (The Namibian Ministry of Environment, Forestry and Tourism) and then the regional commander of the Angolan Border Police in the Cuando/Cubango Province, Commander Mino. I also alerted several media contacts and, through other contacts, the Cuando/Cubango province governor and the National Director of the Ministry of Ambiente in Angola.
Yet, despite this prompt and widespread reporting to multiple authorities from both countries, it was only the following day that the scene was investigated. They found carcasses of the slaughtered elephants with the tusks removed. Two other wounded animals were tracked but not found. The tusks from the slain animal had been transported that night over the river into Namibia, where the authorities are apparently trying to trace the tusks and poachers.
A mixed group of officials from Angola and Namibia investigate the elephant poaching incident.
This is not the first poaching incident I reported in this park. In the last four years, I have reported four hippo and four crocodile poaching incidents, as well as many incidents of elephant and other wildlife meat being sold on the Namibian side of the river.
Sub-adult hippo in a snare in the Matondoti areaDead hippo killed by gunshots being dragged in for investigationThe carcass of a very large crocodile was poached and skinned in the Matondoti area of the Okavango River in September 2015.
The river area is also constantly under threat from illegal fishermen and commercial fishing operations using numerous large nets on Angolan Government boats, apparently with the knowledge and permission of the administrator from Ndirico in Angola.
A boat full of confiscated nets after a combined Namibia/Angolan river patrol.One of the police officers hauls in one of the many illegal nets.
For years, the Fisheries Inspectors and MEFT Officials have refused to react to these reports, claiming that when Angolans are involved and any activity on the Angolan river bank is reported, they are not entitled to follow up and prosecute. I’ve become quite accustomed to the well-known excuse of “our hands are tied.”
A heap of fish recently caught and ready to put out to dry.A cormorant is one of the many casualties from illegal and unattended nets.A puppy tied to a handmade large treble hook and put out on the banks of the Okavango River near Matondoti to capture crocodiles.
Strangely, Nampol does not use that excuse, and I have managed many successful anti-poaching river patrols with the Nampol Border Police at Evero Border Post nearby. Several recent meetings with Angolan authorities confirm that they are only too willing to help but have never been approached to do so. I continue to get excellent help from Nampol, which has no problems involving their Angolan counterparts.
The poaching activities along this park’s southern border are beginning to severely impact the Namibian tourism sector along the Okavango River. One of the recent hippo poaching incidents reported in this area occurred during an international fishing competition that was held on the river. Several boats were in the immediate vicinity where the incident took place and found themselves in the way of flying bullets, forcing them to immediately leave the area for fear of being shot. Obviously, word of the experience has spread, which does not do the area any good.
I understand that the Luenge-Luiana National Park has established a Rangers Corp within the park, which has a relatively well-equipped base station. I also understand that they are under-equipped and need some support and training before they can be as effective as they should be. I chair the Namibian Chapter of the GRAA (Game Rangers Association of Africa), and we are hoping to get involved in Angola with our next AGM being there. We hope that, with our resources, we may well be able to offer the necessary assistance to give this park much-needed professional support.
So a car is rolling down a hill, at the bottom of which is a cliff and a 400-metre sheer drop to rocks below, and inside the car is a guy enjoying a steaming mug of coffee. He is concerned that the car seems to be picking up speed and heading towards certain destruction. He has considered pulling up the handbrake to stop the car and prevent disaster. But that would also spill his coffee, which he does not want to do. And so he continues sipping and rolling down that hill. What does this have to do with grey parrots?
CITES is that man sipping the coffee. They know that they need to pull up that handbrake and prevent certain disaster (grey parrot extinction in the wild). But by doing so, they will spill some coffee (the many legal and illegal traders, politicians and breeding factory owners who rely on the trade of wild-caught grey parrots for their livelihoods and, in some cases, their vast fortunes).
On the table at the upcoming CITES CoP17 conference in South Africa will be the upgrading of the status of grey parrots from Appendix 2 to Appendix 1, which will mean no further trade.
This is where you come in…
I am not convinced that members of CITES have the guts to do this, to pull up that handbrake. It’s complicated, apparently. They need encouragement, coercion perhaps.
By signing the petition below, put together by the respected World Parrot Trust, you will make your voice heard. Then send this post to your friends and ask them to do the same.
If you don’t know much about the topic, read my article, Shades of Grey, or scan this startling summary:
Approximately 1.36 million wild-caught grey parrots have been exported legally since 1975, and when one factors in the 33-60% death rate during transport, the likely number of parrots actually trapped legally from the wild is probably more than 3 million birds. There is no accurate estimate for the number of illegal birds taken from the wild – but it would certainly add significantly to this offtake figure. When one considers that total wild populations have crashed to an estimated 560,000 to 12.7 million birds, this offtake figure is staggering.
Our silver Jeep bravely struggled up and down the steep Rwanda countryside hills. Breathtaking views and terraced fields endlessly accompanied us on the road to the Virunga Mountains, where we hoped to encounter the endangered mountain gorillas and golden monkeys. As a wildlife photographer, I was extremely excited about the prospect of meeting two such rare species in their natural habitat.
The roads were narrow and lined with people in colourful clothing who were cycling, walking or carrying baskets full of fruit and vegetables. As we navigated our way to Musanze in the northwestern province, I was amazed by how incredibly clean the country was. There wasn’t a piece of paper or a plastic bottle in sight, even though Rwanda is Africa’s most densely populated country. I was genuinely intrigued by this, and I later found out that Rwanda practices a rule whereby every able citizen is expected to help clean the streets between 8 am and midday on the last Saturday of each month.
Finally, after a spectacular journey, we arrived at the conservation office that borders Volcanoes National Park, where we met the friendly trackers and park wardens, who went out of their way to make us feel welcome. Volcanoes National Park protects the Rwandan section of the Virunga Mountains, which forms part of a transfrontier conservation area that includes protected areas in Uganda and the DRC. It is a range of mostly dormant volcanoes and includes Rwanda’s highest point – the 4,507 metre-high Mt Karisimbi – and two active volcanoes, Mt Nyiragongo and Mt Nyamuragia.
After our introductory meeting, we made our way back along the 20-kilometre road to Musanze, which is filled with gaping potholes and people transporting enormous bags of potatoes on bicycles. Irish and sweet potatoes are grown extensively in this region, as is the fantastic pyrethrum – a small white daisy decorating the countryside across seemingly endless fields. The plant is used as a natural insecticide and exported worldwide.
After a night’s rest in a small hotel, the day of the gorilla trek arrived, and I was ecstatic. The mountain gorilla is one of the rarest species on Earth, and there are only approximately 1,000 mountain gorillas left in the wild, so it is an enormous privilege to see them. Different gorilla families live in the Virungas – certain families are large, with nearly 30 individuals, while others have between 10 and 20 members.
I was fortunate to be placed in a small group with only two other people. After introductions, we drove another 20km to the starting point of the trek before tackling the last 1.5km, which entailed driving over sharp volcanic rocks. I held my breath for about 20 minutes, negotiating each treacherous rock, hoping to make it to the end.
The gorilla trek into the mountains was strenuous, to say the least. A certain fitness level is required, and I was grateful for my gym sessions. However, after three hours of hiking, our guide instructed us to leave our equipment in a small clearing and only bring along our cameras. He told us to be quiet as the gorillas were nearby. And he was right. Before we even had time to leave our bags, a young gorilla came rushing out of the foliage into the clearing, so close to me that he brushed against my pants as he scampered past. He was inquisitive and kept on moving in and out of the clearing. He seemed unsure of what to do until another juvenile arrived with a baby in tow. The two boisterous juveniles played roughly with the little baby until he was finally rescued by his mother, who had been quietly watching the spectacle from behind some bushes a little further away.
Within 10 minutes, a dominant male (silverback) arrived. At this point, the atmosphere changed. There was no question as to who the boss in this family was. We were told to remain calm as the silverback took his time to scrutinise each one of us. The tracker used various sounds to signal that we were not a threat. The family accepted our intrusion, so we were allowed a humbling look into their mysterious world.
It was, without a doubt, one of the most magical moments of my life. Coming face to face with a gorilla family of 18 individuals in their unique habitat is something I wish every animal lover could experience once in their lifetime. This is a mystical and spectacularly beautiful area where the gorillas do live in the mist.
The following day, we embarked on our golden monkey trek, which was much easier than our previous trek, and our trackers located a substantial troop of about 120 individuals. The golden monkey is endemic to the region and inhabits only a few small pockets of Rwanda and the DRC. It was an absolute privilege to encounter this rare and lovely monkey, but taking good photographs of them proved to be quite a challenge, as they constantly moved around in the bushes and tree canopies. However, they are a whole lot of fun to watch, and I had a good laugh at their performances and games!
Our third day was dedicated to visiting Dian Fossey’s gravesite and what remains of her old research station, Karisoke. This turned out to be quite a strenuous trek again, but it was well worth it, mainly thanks to our tracker, Francois, who used to work with Dian Fossey, researching the gorillas from the 1960s until Dian’s tragic and unsolved murder in 1985.
It was indeed an emotional experience when we reached the gorilla graveyard. All the gorillas that pass on – whether that be from natural causes or poaching – are represented with a wooden cross with their names carved into it. Digit’s grave was at the far end next to Dian’s tomb. Digit was the silverback with whom Dian had a powerful bond, and their relationship ended in 1977 when poachers attacked Digit’s group. The fearless gorilla sacrificed himself for the good of the group, sustaining several spear wounds while fighting to the death so that his group could escape unharmed. The poachers subsequently decapitated him and removed his hands. This tragedy weighed upon us, and the energy of both Digit and Dian hung strongly in this tranquil spot in the depths of the jungle.
It was then time to trek back, but it had started raining, and the black mud grew deeper by the minute. We descended the mountain, slipping and sliding down the slopes. We must have looked very comical, and I don’t think that I have ever laughed so much on a trek in my life – it was like being a kid again!
After all the excitement, we rounded off our trip with a visit to Akagera National Park, which is situated at a lower altitude than the rest of the country and hosts one of the highest concentrations of hippos in Africa. From there, we made our way to our final destination, Lake Kivu, which is Rwanda’s largest lake and is 480 metres deep. It is truly spectacular and surrounded by mountains with irregular shores, peninsulas and plenty of waterfalls.
Towards the end of our stay, we hired a local to take us on a boat ride, and we ended up on Napoleon Island, a desolate home to many fruit bats feeding on the plentiful guava growing on the island. It was an incredible experience when thousands of squeaking bats filled the dusky skies above us.
On our return, we watched numerous local fishing boats leaving the shores for the night. The men’s singing voices permeated the air as they began their long night’s job under the African stars. Rwanda was grandly bidding me farewell, and I left the country with a warm and fuzzy feeling. What a fascinating place – incredible people, dramatic history, and awe-inspiring wildlife. Rwanda will leave no one untouched. I will return…
The best time to head to Rwanda depends on many things, such as personal interests and the reasons for travelling. One person’s best time could be another’s worst, depending on where you want to visit, and Africa’s weather patterns are becoming increasingly unpredictable.
Rwanda lies fractionally south of the equator, in the heart of Africa. Its relatively high altitude offers a remarkably pleasant tropical highland climate.
Temperatures vary considerably between locations but very little from month to month in the same place. In the capital of Kigali, the average daily temperature is about 21°C.
Rwanda’s long rainy season lasts from about March to May, when it tends to rain considerably. Having said that, though, I was there at the end of March, and we only had a few bursts of rain in over two weeks. The long dry season is generally the best time to visit for most people – from June to mid-September. From October to November there is a shorter rainy season, followed by a short dry season from December to February.
When it comes to safety, Rwanda is right at the top. There was a significant police presence, and not once during my visit did I feel threatened in any way, whether in a city or the countryside. The laws are stringent, and crime statistics are low, but, as always, general precautions should still be taken to be on the safe side.
To travel to Rwanda, you must be vaccinated against yellow fever and carry the certificate. There is a moderate chance of malaria, and tsetse flies are prevalent in some areas at specific periods, but they are generally not a problem in Kigali or the Virunga Mountains.
Tap water tends to be drinkable in Kigali, but you may prefer to err on the side of caution and purchase bottled water.
Trekking at high altitudes can be strenuous and to alleviate some of the side effects, I used Cellfood oxygen drops in my drinking water when hiking, which worked brilliantly for me.
A trip to Rwanda doesn’t have to focus on visiting the mountain gorillas and golden monkeys in the Volcanoes National Park in the Virunga Mountains. You can also pay a visit to Nyungwe National Park, which hosts 13 primate species, 75 mammal species, and 278 bird species and is one of the wealthiest areas in Africa for endemic species.
Akagera National Park is also spectacular, thanks to its lakes and grasslands. Akagera has recently reintroduced lions into the park, and birding is excellent thanks to more than 525 bird species.
Over and above the national parks, a visit to the genocide memorial sites may be interesting to you. It may seem morbid, but it is well worth a visit better to understand Rwanda’s history, culture and people. It is also worth visiting Lake Kivu, which is a popular area for visitors wishing to swim, enjoy the beach or take a boat trip to one of the many islands.
Jytte Fredholm Ferreira is a wildlife photographer, animal communicator, travel writer, diver and sailor passionate about Africa and its wildlife. She is deeply involved in nature conservation and has won a prestigious award from SKAL International for media and conservation. She hopes that her unique photographic perspective, as well as her connection with animals, will convey their emotions and conjure the feeling for readers of being out in the wild.
As a naturalist and passionate conservationist, Jytte feels there is an urgency to create a greater understanding, love and appreciation between humans and nature. Otherwise, she fears that our natural world and its wonders will soon be lost.
Originally from Sweden, she now spends much of her time in the bush on photographic expeditions and has travelled extensively in Southern and Central Africa on her adventures. She recently started offering photographic wildlife trips into the Sub-Saharan wilderness. You can visit her website for more information.
My neighbours call me the hyena lady and I choose to take this as a compliment. I earned this name because of my insatiable fascination with spotted hyenas. Written by: Sharon Haussmann
In the special part of wilderness where I live, Balule Private Nature Reserve, we have a territorial clan of hyenas totalling about 24 adults. This clan regularly dens near my house and this has enabled me to spend many hours observing them. I have seen them hunt, scavenge, sleep, play, mate and very near giving birth. I have heard them whoop, growl, whimper, cackle, yelp, and so much more. I know every individual; I have taken thousands of photos and videos and done some extensive sound recordings. These misunderstood animals have become a part of my daily life.
A six-week-old cub looking at the world differently! Snuggling in the safety of mom’s company this curious cub stared at me intently – I was left wondering if he would have an upside-down imprint of humans in his mind forever!
It is every time that I look into the dark, soulful little eyes of a hyena cub that I wish to tell the world, and especially children, that there is so much more to hyenas than the villain characters so strongly portrayed in Disney movies.
Little black cubs, estimated to be two weeks old, exploring outside their burrow.
While they certainly are fierce predators, they are also very nurturing, social and caring creatures. I have had the privilege to observe this active hyena den for almost three years now and my fascination with these beautiful, complex animals grows stronger every day.
A mom moving her cub from one burrow to another.
Early mornings at the den are my favourite time. This is when the adventurous cubs come out to play, and their curiosity and mischievous antics can soften the steeliest of hearts and captivate one’s attention for hours.
Clan members take a close look at a small cub while mom, in the middle, keeps an eye.
The cubs’ play closely resembles that of domestic dogs. They love an energetic game of chase, leaving dust billowing over the den. The chase always ends with a tumble and some biting and playful bullying. Another amusing and favourite game of theirs is tug-of-war – one cub will find a stick, and another tries to steal it away, resulting in two cubs growling and pulling fiercely at opposite ends!
Sibling rivalry! Hyena cubs compete for dominance from birth.
The cubs often run right over resting or sleeping adults, tumbling and scrambling over them and away. The adults do not flinch, tolerating the cub’s play almost with amusement, and sometimes they even join in. While this play is important for their muscle development, it is evident that some superior hunting skills are packaged in those cute little black bodies.
The two little cubs were enjoying a good game of chase when the sub-adult joined in but was playing too rough and hurt the babies. Mom was lying down to the side but in a flash jumped up and disciplined the sub-adult.
Hyena cubs are born completely black, with open eyes and a full set of teeth. They cautiously emerge from the burrow at around two to three weeks old and soon gain enough confidence to venture and explore nearby the den. They gradually develop spots from the neck down and are completely spotty around six months of age.
Some clan members socialising. Adults, sub-adults and cubs all interact and communicate with each other.
It is when I see the tenderness with which a mother nurses her cubs, the affection between family members and the playful nature of these fascinating creatures that I wish to tell the world there is so much more to hyenas than the sly scavenging characters of Shenzi, Banzai, Ed and Janja!
Mom sleeping soundly while her eight-week-old cub looks around.
Three of the world’s leading African elephant conservationists offer hope and inspiration for saving elephants, the largest land animal on earth, from extinction.
Many people consider Iain of Save the Elephants to be the grandfather of elephant conservation. Fifty years ago, at the age of 23, Douglas-Hamilton moved from Britain to Lake Manyara National Park in Tanzania to live in the wild, conducting the first scientific study of the social interactions of the African elephant. Douglas-Hamilton argues that collecting and analysing large amounts of data on elephant locations and migrations can lead to insights into their choices and, therefore, assist in protecting against rising threats, including poaching and human-wildlife conflict. Douglas-Hamilton was the first to alert the world to the ivory poaching holocaust, and he helped bring about the world ivory trade ban in 1989.
What gives Iain Douglas-Hamilton hope and inspiration for saving elephants?
“Various collaborations of concerned individuals, non-governmental organizations (NGOs), institutions and governments playing such a big role in demand reduction gives me such joy and hope that we are all working together to ensure the survival of elephants. Whenever I feel down, I go and hang out with the elephants in Samburu (Kenya), who are very used to me and allow me into their world to watch as a silent observer. I see the young mothers who have grown up from childhood, and I get my elephant fix for a few hours. This re-invigorates me to face and combat the awful realities of the elephants’ situation in Africa today.”
American-born Cynthia Moss moved to Africa in 1968 and has spent the past 47 years in Kenya studying elephants and working for their conservation with the Amboseli Trust for Elephants.
How does Cynthia Moss stay inspired?
“It’s not difficult to stay inspired when one is dealing with elephants. They are infinitely inspirational—long-lived, intelligent, intensely social, charismatic, empathetic, amusing, endearing and more. Anyone could be inspired by elephants without ever seeing them in the wild. Of course, there are bad days when it seems impossible to conserve elephants, but I have never once thought of giving up. There is nothing heroic or commendable about my position; there is simply no choice for me.”
As a child, Daphne Sheldrick rehabilitated injured animals before returning them to the wild. Today, through the David Sheldrick Wildlife Trust organisation, she is considered the world’s expert on raising orphaned elephants (who have lost their families mainly due to poaching) and re-introducing them back into the wild.
How does Daphne Sheldrick stay inspired?
“By involving oneself in the natural world, one understands that the other beings that share our planet home have to cope with far worse traumas [than we], and yet find the courage to turn the page and focus on the living. The elephants, in particular, have given me the strength to emulate them in this way. There are always highs and lows in the work I do, but one simply has to cope and accept the rough with the smooth!”
*All quotes are excerpts from my book Saving Wild, Inspiration From 50 Leading Conservationists, which is available on Amazon.
Read more about some of the world’s leading conservationists: Message of Hope.
Find out about Kenya for your next African safari – find a ready-made safari or ask us to build one just for you.
General Johan Jooste qualifies the canine involvement in anti-poaching rather simply by saying, “They are game changers”. And they truly are. Today, Kruger’s canine unit sees about 52 dogs operating in a Big Five area that many now call a war zone. On a recent trip to Kruger, I learned that these hardworking dogs have many different functions, including tracking poachers in the park and detecting contraband at entrance and exit points.
The canine function is so important that I was keen to get involved and help out. And because doggies tug on everyone’s heartstrings, there is often an outpouring from the public wanting to assist Kruger’s canines. But hearts, funds and help must be pointed in the right direction.
The K9 Centre in the Kruger National Park, managed by Johan De Beer, was initially established to bring in dogs and handlers for training, re-training and evaluations. Dogs are also brought to the centre when handlers are on leave. However, Grant Coleman, chairman of the Lowveld Region of the SANParks Honorary Rangers, believes that the centre’s function as a training ground for dogs and handlers will become far bigger than originally planned. Grant says that the K9 Centre could very well become “a centre of knowledge – radiating information out to other centres and parks. But this transfer of knowledge comes with a cost. Transferring information between organisations means that Kruger’s K9 Centre needs to grow and develop. Just by working at the centre, we realised, sometimes daily, that the needs are growing. For instance, a small clinic, an auditorium, obstacle courses, and storage are a few important items we now know we need.”
The SANParks Honorary Rangers have adopted the K9 Centre and taken it under their wing. The Lowveld Region, being the closest region to the centre, coordinates all activities, maintenance, duties, and fundraising that may occur at the centre. The SANParks Honorary Rangers have committed to assist the K9 Centre under the “Project Watchdog” banner. Project Watchdog is a registered project within SANParks through which the Honorary Rangers can officially assist the canine operation in Kruger and the other national parks with canine units. To date, the SANParks Honorary Rangers have purchased trauma kits, donated a few dogs, implemented vet training for handlers, worked on maintaining the centre, established a Hero’s Acre, assisted in general duties at the centre, and are currently looking at building new kennels at ranger posts… to name but a few of the projects underway.
All monies raised by the SANParks Honorary Rangers for Project Watchdog go back to the canine operations in totality. This means that 100% goes back to where it was intended. The canine unit is regularly offered expertise, dogs, training, assistance to help in operations, etc. But Grant believes that “the willing public needs to be aware that the expertise, training, and dogs are all in place. The need for new dogs has nearly reached saturation point. The emphasis these days is not on the supply of the dogs but rather on the support of the dogs and their handlers in the field. About 52 dogs are currently operating in Kruger alongside their dedicated handlers. The dogs need support as they continue to work in a Big Five area that has basically been turned into a war zone, operating in difficult and testing situations. Medical equipment, food, transport boxes, mobile kennels, and permanent kennels are but a few of the items needed to keep this four-legged force mobilised. The best way to support the canine efforts in SANParks is to support the SANParks Honorary Ranger Initiatives. If anyone would like to assist, please do not hesitate to contact me via email.”
In the near future, the K9 Centre intends to start an “Adopt a Dog” programme, where the public can support the dogs through minimal financial help. This support will give the donor access to information on the progress of the dog they have ‘adopted’. They will be able to see their dog’s challenges and successes on a monthly or quarterly basis, and their financial support will assist the dog and handler in being more effective in their daily anti-poaching operations. In keeping with this line of thinking, the official SANParks – Kruger National Park Facebook group recently raised over ZAR35,000 for the K9 Centre through an initiative pioneered by SANPark’s guide and Safari Guide of the Year, Jaco Buys. This money will officially be handed over on 7th August at a ceremony arranged and hosted by the Lowveld Honorary Rangers to Xolani Nicholus Funda, Chief Ranger of anti-poaching operations in the Kruger National Park. The money will be used to adopt the fees and well-being of one of the dogs that will be handed over on the day.
Countless gung-ho riders were galloping back and forth, and frantic calls were coming from all over the property on the radio. We had lost a precious female buffalo after darting her, and the race was on to find the drugged cow before it was too late. As everyone soon discovered after their arrival, this was not your typical horseback safari. This was game census week in the Waterberg, and the catch-and-release of wild animals doesn’t always go according to plan.
As a fellow guest pointed out, there are plenty of places to ride around in the dust, but you can do so with a purpose in the Waterberg. Game Census Week aims to ensure that the private reserve and its wild residents continue to thrive. A game census is a vital tool to achieve this, as it is essential to have accurate numbers of browsers, selective grazers and bulk grazers to maintain a balance in the ecosystem and not over-utilise the environment, which could cause permanent damage to the vegetation.
The week also lends itself to other conservation activities, such as darting and relocating wildlife to establish new populations or to avoid culling. The Waterberg region of South Africa has been exceptionally dry this winter, as the area has been crippled recently by the El Niño drought. As a result, the reality is that farmers either have to sell, move or shoot their livestock or game; otherwise, there is the costly exercise of subsidising feed. The Ant Collection has made a plan to mitigate such circumstances. Once a year – during the winter months, as you can only move animals when it’s not breeding season – guests are invited to saddle up and play cowboy in a modern-day South African context. The pace of the game census week varies, from lots of waiting around to manic adrenaline-pumped riding, which keeps things interesting for the participants.
The Ant Collection has a herd of about 90 horses of five different breeds – athletic thoroughbreds, sure-footed South African boerperde, calm Frisians, spirited Arabians and steady appaloosas. The horses are well-oiled game census machines, knowing to wait patiently while listening for the dart gun before they go racing off to find the targeted animal after a radio cue.
Game capture entails selecting an animal to be darted, which is then surrounded on horseback to keep it in sight. The height and non-threatening presence of the horses allow for good accuracy when counting or capturing game, and it is much less stressful for the wildlife to be approached on horseback rather than in a noisy helicopter.
After what felt like searching for a needle in a haystack, we eventually found that buffalo cow, which had fortunately fallen in sternal recumbency (on its chest). If an animal, except for the rhino, falls in lateral recumbency (on its side), it is predisposed to bloat due to a build-up of gastric gases in the rumen, which is often fatal. With a massive sigh of relief – and a couple of cries – we loaded her up in a trailer and took her to greener pastures where she could start a new breeding herd.
During the week, one of our focuses was to relocate young sable and nyala bulls before they reached maturity and would start to challenge the dominant male in the breeding camp. The goal was also to move females with strong genes to a new camp to help establish populations there.
Fortunately for us, the sable and nyala were relatively predictable and easy to handle. Sable are curious and keen to stick together when darted, while nyala tend to split and run. Once the browser is down, someone has the job of holding the slobbery tongue out of the mouth to stop it from choking. Branches are then placed in the trailer around the animal to make it feel more relaxed and at home while being relocated.
Things were a bit trickier when it came to trying to relocate the shy eland, as we had to bribe Africa’s largest antelopes out of the thicket with oranges, which they love because of their vitamin-rich content. It is highly entertaining to watch an eland eat an orange, as they swallow them whole! Eland are also notorious for running away when you see them, so the horses were not always up to speed, and helicopters were called in.
Rather than merely relocating eland, it became more a question of reacting to medical emergencies that the vet had spotted. In particular, a quick change of plan was required when we found two eland with abscesses that were infested with maggots. Tick bite necrosis is a fairly common – and sometimes fatal – problem for kudu and eland, as these two species tend to be predisposed to abscesses caused by ticks around the genitals and ears. But luckily, Dr van Zyl was there to save the day, and he scraped the wounds clean while his audience worked hard to control their gag reflexes. Once injected with an antibiotic and loaded with medicine, the eland were then moved to a smaller camp where they could be monitored.
During our relocation efforts that week, a kudu calf was also reportedly stuck in the mud, so we diverted our route home one day to pull him out! The calf was so exhausted, and his mother was nowhere in sight, so a decision was made to take him back to camp after the successful rescue. The staff at The Ant Collection are no strangers to saving animals and after initially trying to bite his rescuers, the young kudu quickly took to bottle feeding and has gone from strength to strength ever since. Affectionately named Muddy, the little antelope will have to return to the wild eventually, but his kudu cuteness and doe eyes have melted the hearts of every guest and guide in the meantime.
As much as we all fell in love with Muddy, the giraffe capture day was the most exciting part of my week-long experience. However, this was also the most emotionally draining day, as giraffes are a vet’s trickiest patient due to their physiology, and they have been known to die randomly under anaesthetic. To our dismay and horror, we were to witness such a death.
However, we had to take this risk to be able to move three of these gentle giants to a local buyer’s farm. As a result of the drought, the reality is that the giraffes will otherwise starve to death and with no big predators on the property, there is no means of natural population control. The other alternative to relocation is culling, which The Ant Collection has decided against.
Giraffe are complicated to capture and before making any attempt, the vet and the guides gave us a step-by-step demonstration. Ralph, the reserve’s black labrador, also assisted. We not only discovered that giraffes tend not to fall after being darted, which means you have to trip them, but we also learnt that you have to help them to stand upright when they wake up.
Like a buffalo, a giraffe has to lie on the ground abreast once it has been tripped, but the difference is that its head has to be kept suspended due to its unique circulatory system. The giraffe has double the blood pressure of other mammals (for blood to reach its brain), which means that the brain can quickly become flooded with blood and damaged if it is not above the heart. By the time I arrived on the scene after an unfortunate detour through the thorn bushes, the spotted ungulate was already blindfolded with its ears plugged and ropes on. As it tried to muster enough momentum to stand up again, guides, guests and volunteers pushed and pulled relentlessly, willing it to stand. Everyone knew that the longer it remained on the ground, the riskier the situation became.
After a great deal of sweating and muttering prayers under our breath, the giraffe’s movement became less frequent, and it took its last breath. Tears left treadmarks in dusty, exhausted faces – the energy that went into trying to save the giraffe was heart-wrenching. The sad loss made me realise how there is a fine line between life and death, and tragically, we had lost this giraffe even though we had managed to save little Muddy against the odds. It’s best to remain impartial when dealing with wild animals, but this is easier said than done. Or sometimes near impossible.
Following this emotional rollercoaster of an experience, it was time to focus on the rhinos. After three rhinos were poached at The Ant Collection in two separate incidents in 2011, the owners, Ant and Tessa Baber, enlisted the help of the Rhino Rescue Project – an NGO that specialises in making rhino horn unfit for human consumption by infusing a compound consisting of ectoparasiticides into the horn fibres.
This is a costly but worthwhile process as they have not lost a rhino since employing this technique, and there is also an around-the-clock anti-poaching unit guarding these odd-toed ungulates as a further precaution.
During game census week, two young rhinos were cited as having long enough horns for the infusion process, but we first had to separate the calves from their mothers using ‘horsepower’. Once darted, Lorinda and her team from the Rhino Rescue Project worked under pressure to take blood samples and measure the horns while their machine worked to ensure that no one would want the horns other than the rhinos themselves!
The rhinos are an intricate part of life at The Ant Collection, and the Babers have been instrumental in establishing the charity Save the Waterberg Rhino, which plays a vital role in educating local communities about the importance of the Waterberg rhino. So far, the organisation has not only unified local landowners in the Waterberg Biosphere, but it has also made roads less accessible to poachers.
What you need to know to take part in Game Census Week
You don’t have to be a rider to participate in game census week, as there is plenty of action in the darting and recovery vehicles. However, if you wish to saddle up to help, it is crucial to be an experienced and confident rider.
Be sure to pack proper riding attire, as every little bit helps to make you more comfortable and secure in your task. It’s also worth bringing neutral-coloured clothing, a swimming costume in case you want to take a dip in the pool after a long ride, and a warm jacket to wear in the early mornings or evenings if it gets nippy. Don’t be afraid to pack light; the laundry service is brilliant!
The daily activities make you so hungry that you could eat a horse, and for this reason, you can expect to enjoy three delicious meals per day, on top of mid-morning saddle bag snacks, afternoon tea and sundowners.
The Ant Collection is a horse of a different colour during game census week, but at other times the lodge operates on a flexible timetable, and guests can pick and choose from a host of activities, from bush walks and game drives to cycling and horse riding. On a regular horseback safari, no previous horse riding experience is required as the horses are well-trained and you’re not expected to keep up such a frantic pace.
Situated in a malaria-free area in South Africa, a trip to the Waterberg makes for a fun holiday for all the family, especially as there are no lions or elephants on the private reserve, which makes it an even safer choice for children.
One of my favourite activities was a late-night lecture presented by Dr Philip Calcott, whose knowledge of the night sky was quite literally out of this world. The lack of pollution results in a starry sky, and while cuddled up under blankets and clutching cups of hot chocolate, we learnt about the planets and some iconic constellations. This Night Sky Safari was full of interesting facts, which surprisingly didn’t take light years to learn. Did you know that the same iron oxide in the Waterberg occurs on Mars, too?
When you’re not snaking through the bush on horseback, a real hit is Craig’s reptile demonstration, during which guests can learn about the resident snake species, including African rock pythons, puff adders and cobras. Craig aims to challenge the misconceptions of snakes and offer an informative perspective.
With so many options and such fun-filled days, choosing a favourite experience is difficult. However, what I found most astonishing about my trip was the personal bonds I formed during my game census safari. The shared adrenaline-filled experiences and boozy campfire banter create the perfect recipe for friendship, and the number of recurring guests is an accolade to this. In the words of Tessa, the owner: “You arrive as guests and leave as friends.”
Find out about South Africa for your next African safari – find a ready-made safari or ask us to build one just for you.
Georgie grew up escaping city life by going horseback riding in the Magaliesberg mountains or Land Rover-ing in the Madikwe sandveld. Accustomed to the sun on her face and the wind in her hair, Georgina then embarked as a trainee sailor on a three-masted barque after graduating with a degree in Environmental Science.
Ship life steered her beyond her beloved Southern Africa to remote destinations and ecological treasure houses like the Galapagos, Pitcairn Island and Polynesia. Once grounded, her love of the outdoors developed into a deep respect for the environment and a desire to preserve it.
In June 2016, my wife Trish and I signed up for a safari to Uganda with Africa Geographic. We have travelled extensively in eastern and southern Africa, but this would be our first visit to this less-discovered jewel. We had high hopes for superb birding and some memorable great ape encounters. Uganda delivered those, and so much more. By Malcolm Lund
Our safari began in Entebbe on the shore of Lake Victoria, where we found almost 70 bird species on our first day without even leaving town. Then it was off to Mabamba Swamp for our first try at that most unique and prehistoric-looking of birds, the shoebill. We had a terrific ‘photoshoot’ with this highly sought-after Ugandan speciality and many other marsh and water birds.
After a quick visit to Lake Mburo National Park to enjoy its savannah wildlife and chalk up many more bird species, we headed into the highlands of southwestern Uganda.
We spent five glorious days in Bwindi Impenetrable National Park, hiking and enjoying its highland forest’s serene beauty and prolific birdlife. But the show’s real star here was gorilla trekking – an easy forest walk to visit a troop of mountain gorillas. Spending an hour in the presence of such gentle giants was a highlight of this trip and all our time in wild Africa.
We could have happily spent our entire holiday in Bwindi, but Uganda had many more secrets for us to discover.
Next up was a visit to the game-rich savannahs of Queen Elizabeth National Park. Here, we met the handsome Ugandan kob and the renowned tree-climbing lions of Ishasha.
We also took a relaxing boat cruise along the bird-rich shores of the Kazinga Channel. Herds of water-loving elephants were entertaining, but the hundreds of pied kingfishers really stole the show.
Next up was our second great ape encounter of the tour, a morning of chimpanzee tracking in Kibale Forest. The forest walk was pleasant, and we had an excellent viewing of chimps engaging in many interesting behaviours. What struck us most was how different this was from our mountain gorilla encounter. The gorillas were docile and calm, while the chimps were very vocal and constantly on the move in their forest home.
After Kibale, we got down to the serious business of Uganda birding. The lowland rainforest of the Congo Basin extends into the Albertine Rift Valley of extreme western Uganda. Two very special reserves there, Semliki and Budongo, are nirvana for serious birders.
There are rewards for more casual birdwatchers, including many species of hornbills, kingfishers and bee-eaters. For hard-core twitchers, the deep forest birding is both challenging and very rewarding, with the enticing possibility of seeing birds that you will not find anywhere else in East Africa.
My personal favourite was a gorgeous chocolate-backed kingfisher, which gave us a memorable show along a beautiful forest path called the Royal Mile.
Our final stop on the tour was in Murchison Falls National Park, where several compelling attractions competed for our attention. Much of the park is lovely savannah parkland dotted with Borassus palms.
Huge numbers of antelopes such as Uganda kob, waterbuck, topi, hartebeest and oribi mingle with elephants, buffaloes and giraffes. And flowing dramatically through the middle of the park is the grand Victoria Nile, with its complement of hippos, crocodiles and teeming birdlife.
We couldn’t have scripted a better finish to our safari. On a Nile cruise on our final morning, we ended just as we had started: with a photo shoot of that rare, magnificent, one-of-a-kind Ugandan special, the shoebill.
Uganda proved to be much more than we imagined, with something for everyone – beautiful and diverse landscapes, very welcoming people, world-class guides, excellent game reserves, unforgettable great ape encounters, and truly outstanding birding.
Even with over 440 bird species in 19 days, we were lucky not to have seen them all – because now we have a reason for a return trip to Uganda!
Find out about Uganda for your next African safari – find a ready-made safari or ask us to build one just for you.
Bushmeat hunting in Africa is rife, with estimates stating that more than eight million tons of wild animals are eaten every year. Although most research on this hunting focuses on the tropical forests of Africa, in countries such as the DRC and Cameroon, the following survey results show that hunting for the pot is very common in South Africa.
As the infographic below shows, a study exclusively made available to Africa Geographic shows just how serious the problem is in savannah habitats too. The survey results, which surveyed rural inhabitants in KwaZulu Natal, South Africa, show that 90% of men hunt illegally, but none of the women surveyed hunted.
Amongst the men who hunted, most claimed that they hunted more than three times a week, and more than three-quarters of the men hunted at least weekly. When asked if they were worried about getting caught and prosecuted for illegal hunting, over 95% of people said they were unafraid of getting caught.
The survey asked what methods of hunting respondents used. The most frequent hunting method was the use of traps and snares, which is also the most wasteful method of hunting, as often animals are not collected from snares and left to rot. The second most common method of hunting was using dogs to chase down prey. Very few men hunted with guns, and most said the reason for this was they could not afford them.
Most men – 65% – said they hunted to feed themselves and/or their families. Approximately 20% hunted for sport or gambling (placing bets on the outcome of the hunt, for example, whether the dogs will catch prey), whilst 5% hunted for traditional medicine. The implications of such responses are important not just for conservation because, whilst the number of animals lost is significant, the fact that almost seven out of ten respondents were hunting to eat makes this a significant human welfare concern.
It is easy to argue against illegal bushmeat hunting, but with hunger as the driving force, it is difficult to moralise. What is clear is that further research is needed to identify bushmeat hotspots across Africa and to aid control measures that prevent huge losses of animals in these areas, with a specific focus on animals that are declining significantly due to these hunting pressures.
ALSO READ: Saving rodents, losing primates – we need tailored strategies to manage bushmeat trade
Award-winning filmmakers Susan Scott and Bonné de Bod are currently filming the much-anticipated documentary film, STROOP. The duo are in the editing stage, and the film about rhino poaching is due for release by the end of 2016. Bonné is well-known as a South African wildlife television presenter. The special story of Hope has temporarily paused their journey.
We all know the image of a rhino poaching by now. We have seen the bloated carcass of a once majestic animal and, of course, the cruel empty space of missing horns set against blood-red tissue and bone.
Bonné de Bod and Dr Johan Marais of Saving The Survivors with Hope, the rhino, on a recent evaluation.
Early on in our filming of STROOP, we realised that once… well, once was enough for most folk. We were new to partnering social media with filming, but it was and still is our connection with those who fund the film – the public. Not only is it vital for us to share our filming journey, but it’s also a great way for us to see immediately what people want to know more about and what they don’t like. And what they don’t like are pictures of dead rhinos with hacked-out faces lying rotting in the African sun. Literally, the minute we share a post with a poaching image, we lose followers on our page, and we’d receive messages saying images like this should not appear in early morning coffee time on Facebook feeds! So people care about our rhinos and are worried about the crisis, but not the gore, the reality smacking them in the face.
All this changed just over a year ago.
Hope’s legs during one of her immobilisations on her side.
A horrific photo of mangled pink tissue against a backdrop of grey skin showed up in our news feed. This time, though, the rhino was alive. She had been darted and left for dead after the poachers cut deeply into her sinuses, removing most of her face. It was incredibly tough to look at this image of what was left and even harder to believe she had survived for days before being found. She was moved to Shamwari’s rehabilitation centre, where the veterinary organisation Saving The Survivors was called in to start treatment on her face.
Dr Johan Marais documenting Hope’s wound progress.
It seemed an impossible task, and a controversial one too, as many in the “rhino industry” disapproved, wanting her to be put down – euthanised because she was beyond care. Those working with the rhino named her Hope.
Dr Johan Marais, CEO of Saving The Survivors, is one of our characters in STROOP. We had been with him before on treatments of poached rhino survivors, but nothing prepared us for seeing Hope.
As Bonné said, “You can look at photos and feel a pull in your stomach at the brutality and how painful that must be for her. But when you smell the fresh tissue and blood, when you hear her breathing through that mangled mass, and you turn to look at what’s left of her face, and she looks at you and then blinks … wow. You can’t explain that. And that’s my job, explaining this to people who can’t be there. How do you do that when there aren’t words made for this?”
httpv://youtu.be/eaj_DfvAmK0
Clearly, this resonated with people around the globe. Almost overnight, Hope became a media sensation. She was featured in hundreds of print publications and on all the major news channels and networks worldwide. She suddenly became the most famous rhino on the planet, and social media peeps couldn’t get enough of her. Posts went viral. Americans, Europeans, Australians, Egyptians, Brazilians, Ukrainians, Fijians… every corner and every far-flung place, thousands of miles away from the Eastern Cape shrubbery of her home, wanted more information. How much she was eating, what she was eating and most especially, her wound covering and the technology involved in her many operations became long discussion points on Facebook.
Dr Gerhard Steenkamp of Saving The Survivors drilling screws into Hope to hold her wound-protecting shield in place.
The healing process under her wound covering was obviously becoming itchy for Hope. Dr Marais and the team of vets would drill screws into what was left of her bone structure to hold a variety of coverings ranging from fibreglass to metal to cutting-edge materials from the military and even cured elephant skin. Varieties of surgical steel wire and different binding techniques were used to hold the covering where there was no bone or where sections of her top lip used to be. But this gal always found ways to rip the coverings off!
Dr Gerhard Steenkamp of Saving The Survivors working with surgical stainless steel wires on the rhino survivor Hope in the Eastern Cape.The ABRA® plastic surgery technology being used for the first time on an animal, in this case, rhino poaching survivor Hope.
She was also quite bad-tempered, and who can blame her? When a new boma structure was being built for her, she would stand at the top of a hill in her enclosure, move her head side to side to look through her bandages at people working at the boundary and then move her massive two-tonne body in a full-blown charge down towards the fleeing workers! She would only stop millimetres from the fence line, causing everyone to draw breath at the expected damage to her face from fence posts. The thought that this animal was feisty or an emotional eater fuelled social media even more. Her global reach has been impressive for sure, but she has given a face to rhino poaching that no human could ever do. With each operation, she shows us all the struggle to survive. To get back to normal when it’s quite clear “normal” is as difficult as landing on Mars.
It’s been a year of operations and searching for ways to do the impossible and close the wound. It’s hard to believe that in seven years of poaching, so little is known about the facial structure of rhinos. Dr Marais, also a professor at Onderstepoort, has been cutting up rhino heads from carcasses and x-raying, MRI and CT scanning rhino skulls in a desperate effort to know more about what lies behind Hope’s damage.
Bonné de Bod interviewing Dr Johan Marais of Saving The Survivors before he conducts a CT scan of a rhino poaching victim’s skull.CT scans of rhino poaching skulls.
The journey of finding solutions has, of course, been shared on social media and has had the mushroom effect of finding ideas from all over, especially those never used before on animals. A Canadian plastic surgery technique of pulley systems and “glue-on-steroids” is now being used on her in the hopes of pulling the wound closed. It beggars belief but it seems to be working. Her face has changed dramatically, and there are always never-ending discussions about this online. But Hope being Hope, she has also thrown her facial surgeons by, unbelievably, growing a new back horn!
Hope on an operation day where the press have been called in to document her journey.Hope the rhino poaching survivor exactly one year after her poaching with her wound covering off.
We look forward to including this incredible animal in our film, and as Bonné so appropriately said after the first time she saw her, “I felt so privileged to be making eye contact with this animal who has been made ugly by human greed but has become so beautiful because of her desire to live.”
Tim and Heather Doyle recently went on safari to the Okavango Delta in Botswana with Africa Geographic. Here’s what they had to say about their trip.
On our first evening at the mobile tented camp on Chief’s Island, the frog calls were deafening! The list of amphibians included the raucous toad, painted reed frogs, and many others. At the same time, a bull elephant browsed in the reeds towards the setting sun. It was just an awesome time before darkness fell!
This was our first safari to the Okavango Delta, and we agreed on an itinerary comprising flights between Maun and Chief’s Island, the first and last nights at Gunn’s Camp, and three nights in a mobile tented camp. June was a great time for the trip as the seasonal flooding is almost at its peak, but it can get chilly at night.
The trip comprised a combination of boat trips from Gunn’s Camp exploring the nearby delta channels, mokoro trips and walking from the tented camp. We did have our first lesson in piloting the mokoro ourselves, which was a lot of fun, and we stayed dry.
We believe walking safaris are the ultimate adventure, experiencing the environment and wildlife on foot. Our two guides, Mike and Edward, who looked after us for the six days, were phenomenal – very knowledgeable and safety aware.
Several times, we encountered male buffalo on our walks without incident. We respected the distance to them, watched them for a time, and moved on.
The birding in the Okavango Delta is just spectacular, and highlights for us included wattled crane, coppery-tailed coucal and a pair of Pel’s fishing owls.
Elephant sightings were frequent, and a highlight of the trip was watching a breeding herd crossing a river channel, feeding as they went. There was also some excitement as we navigated narrow channels passing territorial male hippos. Unfortunately, we had no predator sightings on this trip, but we heard lions calling every night.
Thank you for a lovely trip!
Find out about Botswana for your next African safari – find a ready-made safari or ask us to build one just for you.
The Bururi long-fingered frog (Cardioglossa cyaneospila), previously thought to have gone extinct in 1952 and then rediscovered in 2011 after one specimen was discovered in Burundi, has now been found in Nyungwe National Park, Rwanda – a new site for this frog. And a member of the Africa Geographic team made the discovery!
The Bururi long-fingered frog
This exciting discovery was made by Africa Geographic director Christian Boix while on safari with clients.
Says Boix: “It was early morning, and our safari clients and I were trekking for chimpanzees in the dense highland rainforest of Nyungwe when I noticed this gorgeous frog in the dense undergrowth. At the time, I did not know it was once thought to be extinct, but it reminded me of poison dart frogs I had seen in South America, and I was curious about its identity. That evening, I emailed the picture to the Africa Geographic team in and asked them to confirm its identity. I am elated to hear that this is a discovery for this area and that we have contributed to the pool of knowledge about this stunning frog.”
Says an elated David Blackburn, Associate Curator of Herpetology at the Florida Museum of Natural History (University of Florida), and a member of the team that rediscovered the frog in Burundi in 2011: “This is only the second time that this species was found in Rwanda, the last time being in 1952. It has never been found in Nyungwe, but we expected it to occur there because of the available habitats. Following several initial records in the late 1940s and early 1950s, it was more than 50 years before more recent records in Uganda, Burundi, DRC, and now Rwanda.”
This gallery Faces of Africa by the photographer Trevor Cole consists of several portraits taken in Ethiopia, Somaliland and Namibia. Trevor has a passion for indigenous people and how they live in such a connected way to their environment.
Portraiture is something that enables Trevor to see the person and relate to them. He feels that photography should be an interactive moment that captures the subject and offers an insight into their character. He aims for his images to portray a feeling or a connection, or perhaps even summon empathy.
As a result, some of his images are candid and spontaneous, while others may be posed but seek to expose an inimitable moment nevertheless. Trevor sees beauty in all, and he finds lifelines in the old, as well as the innocence of youth, enticing. He also seeks to convey somehow how people live, as well as their cultures and traditions. He feels that a portrait can reveal a hardship or happiness, and he has often noticed strikingly similar traits in communities, due to numerous environmental factors as well as genetics—Trevor endeavours to capture these common characteristics through alternative perspectives.
Trevor believes that taking portraits of people in the marketplace, street or a tribal village requires interaction. At times he discretely takes clandestine shots with a longer lens, but most of the time he likes to get to know whomever he is photographing. When it comes to portraiture, he always asks for permission and, if rejected, he respects personal choices, which may be based on conservative cultural or religious beliefs. However, in his experience, he does often find that spending a little time and using a little humour can yield a positive response.
Trevor notes that photographing tribal people requires a different approach. For example, a good guide is vital when it comes to photographing the Himba in Namibia. He has found that taking some provisions to the village and presenting them to the headman makes a huge difference and enables an amicable atmosphere that involves the whole village. In contrast, he has encountered a different ballgame in Ethiopia where there is the additional precedent of paying villages or individuals. However, Trevor always prefers to give to the village instead of a person because he feels that otherwise, there is a tendency to favour the most photogenic!
Trevor is very sensitive to the impacts that tourism can have, so he will always try to avoid treating a village like a zoo. He feels that it is all a delicate balance and a good guide can help to decide how best to go about things. For example, when he stayed in a Suri village, he wandered around without a camera to become a familiar sight as he believes that interaction is what can make the moment count. And at that moment he wants to capture light, colour, emotion, character and spirit. He tries to shoot in the golden hours or at least where there is shade from the intense African sun. In the right light, at the right time, with the right connection, Trevor believes that the ordinary becomes extraordinary, and that is something he strives for in his work.
Cover image of a Suri girl at a wedding ceremony in the Kibish region of the Omo Valley in Ethiopia.
A young man emerging from the flour mill in a small town in eastern Ethiopia. The flour and dirt on his face, his eyes, and his candid expression make this image stand out. His portrait contrasted against a dark doorway makes a further visual impact.
A young girl of the Hamar tribe, which is one of the largest tribes in the Omo region of Ethiopia. They are culturally strong and still adhere to many of their ancient traditions.
An Ethiopian man in the town of Harar, is living on the edge of existence. His expression and somewhat startled look drew me in to capture the moment. His face portrays a life of struggle and hardship, and his gaunt look adds to the impact of the image and highlights his impoverished state.
A young girl from Afar in the Danakil Desert area of Ethiopia. The Afars are complicated to photograph, but occasionally the opportunity materialises. The girl had facial tattoos, which are commonplace in the women of the tribe. They lead a very tough life and are resilient people, but the women often engage in traditional practices that are difficult for westerners to comprehend.
A man from Harar on his way to the Mosque. Clearly, his mind and focus were elsewhere, as he was oblivious to the candid image being taken of him on the streets of Harar in eastern Ethiopia. Harar is the fourth city of Islam, hence the devotion of its populace. The old man had an interesting face, which was a reflection of not only his walk to the mosque but also his journey through life.
A young Suri woman with a large lip plate. Younger women are now being discouraged from putting in lip plates, but the tradition does still exist in more remote areas of the western Omo Valley in Ethiopia.
A beautiful young Afar girl in the Afdera region of Ethiopia. Afars are Muslim, so their attire tends to be conservative. Women wearing the hijab, or headscarf, can be seen in many parts of the world, but unmarried girls from Afar noticeably tend to enjoy colourful attire. They also braid their hair in a very distinctive manner and adorn themselves with beads.
There is an inextricable bond between Hamar siblings in the Omo Valley of Ethiopia, as many take on responsibility for younger family members at an early age. Brothers and sisters have a very special relationship, which can be particularly noticed during the bull jumping ceremonies that are a rite of passage for young boys when they come of age.
A young girl from Afar in traditional attire with eyes that reflect and draw in the viewer. Despite living a hard life, the people of Afar are very proud and resilient in their isolation. This particular girl has a very serene face with an inimitable allure.
An old woman, who has lived life and was still doing so, on the streets of Berbera – a coastal port in autonomous Somaliland. It is an important seaport because it is the only sheltered harbour in the southern part of the Gulf of Aden.
A young Himba girl with striking features and beautifully braided hair in the Kunene region of Namibia. Young Himba girls typically have two braids, which come forward over the face. These are called ozondato and are covered in wood resin to stiffen the braiding. Each style is determined depending on the paternal clan.
An old man in Hargeisa in Somaliland, who was wearing rather cool Rayban-esque frames. Somaliland is an independent nation that is internationally recognised as an autonomous region of Somalia, but its sovereignty is only accepted by Ethiopia and Djibouti. The people are proud of their nation and resolute in their right to independence. Despite perceptions to the contrary, it is a safe, if rather adventurous, place to travel.
A Hamar girl at the market in Turmi in the Omo Valley of Ethiopia. The girls take pride in their appearance on market days as they get to meet and interact with others in the marketplace.
About the photographer
Trevor Cole aims to capture people, landscapes – and the interactions between them – in a world that is constantly in transition. As a ‘geographer photographer’, his goal is to capture the unique moments that will never materialise again.
Trevor has lived in England, Singapore, Togo, Italy, Ethiopia and Brazil but has recently returned to Ireland, his country of birth.
Photography and travel are two of his life’s passions. His photography focuses on culture, landscapes and wildlife – images that reflect a spatial and temporal journey through life, which try to convey a need to live in a more sustainable world. He seeks the moment and the light in whatever context, before using his photographic acumen to turn the ordinary into the extraordinary.
Trevor aspires to have an alternative vision for tomorrow, and he believes that photography can capture those moments that empower us to make a positive change in our world.
His photos have been exhibited in London, Ethiopia, Switzerland and Ireland, and he has had great success in various photo competitions. His images have also been featured in The Guardian, The Telegraph, National Geographic, and La Republica, as well as numerous photographic publications.
As a South African, I’ll admit that I only thought of Swaziland as just an obscure little country almost entirely engulfed by my own, and I hadn’t considered it much of a travel destination. Perhaps because of its small size, Swaziland often tends to get overlooked when people are planning a trip through Africa. However, when Swaziland Tourism recently sent out an invite to join them on a media trip, I jumped at the opportunity to get off the beaten track and find out more about this unexplored treasure. I soon discovered that this Southern African country might be small but limitless.
As soon as we drove across the unassuming Ngwenya border from South Africa, I was struck by how the yellow of South Africa’s plains gave way to an eruption of pea-green hills and sandy red roads.
Swaziland’s diverse landscapes include magnificent mountains, gorges, rivers, waterfalls, lush valleys, typical African bush, and unique rock formations. Our five-day whirlwind trip saw us exploring both the glorious natural beauty of Swaziland as well as the heritage and culture of its proud population.
Action-packed adventure
Our journey started at Hawane Resort, which is not 30 minutes from the border. Nestled in Swaziland’s rolling hills, we got close to nature on horseback in this idyllic setting. Walking, trotting and sometimes unintentionally cantering through the grassy wilderness was a fantastic way to experience the country’s expansive beauty, and I immediately fell in love.
While our group leader, Star, sat nonchalantly astride his mare with his cowboy hat tipped partially over his eyes, the rest of us wiggled in our saddles through the first half of the ride. But as soon as we gained some confidence and crossed the road into the grasslands, we were blown away by the view before us. The crisp air and the scent of morning dew made for a heady combination, and my horse, Mystery, and I became fast friends as we strolled through our stunning surroundings together.
Once we had been filled with our fair share of wonder, we returned to the resort with aching legs. We headed off to the Malolotja Nature Reserve, where we substituted our saddles for harnesses in preparation for a different adventure. Malolotja covers some 18,000ha and offers diverse wetlands, woods and highveld landscapes. And here in this mountain wilderness, we set off on a bumpy game drive, during which our guide regaled us with safari stories and pointed out the different antelope and far-off baboon troops that inhabit the reserve. We also crossed paths with two women who were gathering grass to create brooms and other household items, and this encounter served to highlight the secure connection that the local rural communities have with nature.
Our driver soon dropped us off at the starting point of a hike to the treetop canopy tour. As we hiked down the valley, rolling grasslands gave way to a dense forest of vibrant greens and the occasional ‘whoop’ of a calling primate. This tour is arguably one of the most beautiful of its kind, and it is a fantastic way to view the park from up high, thanks to a wobbly bridge and ten zip lines that offered some unforgettable scenes as we whizzed through the trees.
Exhausted after a day filled with activities, we were ready to leave this leafy paradise and unwind at the stunning Maguga Lodge, which presented the opportunity to round off the day perfectly with a sunset cruise on the Maguga Dam.
The next part of our trip took us to the unforgettable Mlilwane Wildlife Sanctuary, where our accommodation came in the form of beehive huts – a magical experience for someone whose sleeping quarters have always involved four walls and a roof. However, traditional elements were combined with a welcome level of luxury that included running toilets and a comfortable bed, rather than a traditional sleeping mat.
Prying ourselves away from the novelty of our new bedrooms, we explored the camp and park. Mlilwane is a secluded sanctuary in Ezulwini Valley, also aptly known as the ‘Valley of the Heavens’. It is Swaziland’s pioneer conservation area, and the name ‘Mlilwane’, meaning ‘little fire’ in the local SiSwati language, holds particular significance as it is considered to be the metaphorical spark that started a significant conservation movement in Swaziland that resulted in over 22 species being saved from local extinction.
Adding to the charm of Mlilwane, many of the antelope found in the park wandered into camp each day, and I came face-to-face with a startled-looking impala several times while walking back to my hut. Another treat is the warthog family that has made their home under the restaurant’s deck and that spends its mornings warming up by the continually burning campfire, which is rumoured to have not been extinguished in three decades.
After arriving late the night before, our group was excited to partake in an early morning cycling safari to shake off the cobwebs. Mlilwane offers many different ways to experience the bush – from game drives to horseback safaris. Still, we had the chance to practice our pedalling on some somewhat professional-looking mountain bikes.
After a shaky first ride around the camp, we set off on the trail but soon stopped to gawk at a nearby crocodile sunning itself less than five metres away from the track. This was the first of many stops along the trail, and I soon got up to speed when I didn’t want to be left behind with the croc!
If you are moderately fit, which I’ll readily admit I’m not, a mountain bike is a great way to experience a safari. Much like on horseback, you can get closer to the wildlife than in a vehicle, as they aren’t scared off by the sound of an engine, and it offers the chance to easily stop to inspect termite hills and animal tracks that provide a richer experience of the bush.
After spending the first half of our trip absorbing the natural beauty and wildlife that Swaziland has to offer, we spent the rest of our tour exploring the cultural heritage of which the country is so proud.
Swaziland upholds and embraces its ancient traditions. The different clans in Swaziland are all part of a single ethnic group that is united under the last true monarchy in the world, meaning that the current King and the Queen Mother have indisputable authority when it comes to governance. And while some people might be surprised to learn that King Mswati III has 15 wives – a number that increases yearly – the people seem to love the royal Dlamini family.
As each king tends to have many wives and many children, the heir to the throne is selected based on his mother’s status. The king, who is referred to as Ngwenyama (lion), has to be her only son and, once crowned, he is expected to choose wives from multiple clans to ensure national unity.
The Swazi nation hosts several ceremonies throughout the year to celebrate its heritage. Still, the most well-known is the Reed Dance – an eight-day ceremony during which young women honour the Queen Mother, who is known as Indlovukazi (she-elephant), by presenting her with freshly cut reeds at the royal homestead, before the dancing and singing begin.
While our visit didn’t coincide with the Reed Dance, we had the opportunity at the Mantenga Cultural Village to see some of the country’s traditional dances and many of their other costumes and customs. The performances were powerful, and you could feel the passion in the dancers’ movements, as grown men and young boys moved with the grace of ballerinas before stomping down with a thud.
While people are ferociously protective of their culture and way of life, they also love welcoming tourists. They can be master negotiators, which we discovered firsthand during our Mbabane Market trip. This market is a great place to pick up curios and handcrafted gifts, but it is best visited by those who are ready and willing to haggle. Excited calls in SiSwati welcomed us as we clambered out of our bus. A few hundred Rands later, we left with some stunning trinkets and a slightly dazed sensation at having encountered so many keen salespeople.
Finally, the last stop on our trip was in the country’s capital of Mbabane at the prestigious Mountain Inn, which has played host to many delegates over the years and overlooks the stunning valley below. Here, we ended our tour of Swaziland – with a glass of wine in hand, a content feeling of discovery, and a new appreciation of this marvellous part of the continent.
While the country has excellent weather all year round, it’s widely agreed that the best time to visit Swaziland is during the annual Reed Dance ceremony, which is particularly remarkable to watch as about 40,000 young women take part in the colourful celebrations. This event takes place around the last week of August or the first week of September, but the exact dates are based on ancestral astrology, so they are confirmed each year closer to the time.
While Swaziland is a beautiful country in its own right, flying straight into the international airport is rarely recommended, as it is far from the country’s main attractions. As a result, a preferred option is to drive to Swaziland from South Africa or Malawi, and, as it’s just over four hours by car from Johannesburg, it’s an excellent excuse for a road trip!
Swaziland offers many attractions to attract different travellers, and its tiny size lends itself easily to exploration. That said, you still need to know what you’re looking for to uncover all of its hidden treasures. A guided tour of the country is one of the best options to ensure you don’t miss out on anything, and hiring a Swazi driver allows you to learn firsthand about the rich heritage and wilderness. The Swaziland Tourism Association is situated on the Ngwenya border and can help guide your trip from there.
If you’re a bush enthusiast, a safari in one of the country’s game parks is a must, whether this is on horseback, bicycle or game drive. There is also the fantastic option of combining a trip to the reserves in Swaziland with a holiday at the Kruger National Park to make the best of two Southern African worlds.
If birds get you reaching for the binoculars, Phophonyane Falls Nature Reserve near Pigg’s Peak not only offers beautiful riverine walks surrounded by mountains and waterfalls but over 250 species of our feathered friends, making it an ideal place for avian admirers, especially if the Narina trogon or crowned eagle is still on your bird list!
Those wishing to unleash their inner historian should visit Nsangwini Rock Art to see some of the world’s most diverse bushman paintings, which date back 4,000 years. It’s also worth stopping at Sibebe Rock, a famous execution rock used by ancient Swazi lawmakers, before hiking to explore the unique ‘Potholes’ rock formation at the Gap.
Shopaholics will also be in paradise as there are several shops to splash some cash, including Ngwenya Glass, where you can watch the glassblowers make beautiful curios from recycled glass. This is an entrancing sight to behold, and any purchase will support a great community project. A stop-off at the famous Swazi Candles to watch the candlemakers craft unique mementoes won’t go amiss, and a walk through Mbabane Market is the perfect place to brush up on your bargaining skills.
Swaziland’s accommodation options are varied. What’s more is that they’re incredibly affordable compared with other leading safari destinations in Africa, and most also offer discounted rates during winter, which is their dry season. As the country is so small, you can stay almost anywhere and still have access to different attractions. This said, there’s nothing quite like waking up in the wilderness to the sound of wild animal calls, so a stay in one of the country’s three big game parks is highly recommended.
Most parks offer a range of options, from rustic camping to luxury lodges. Depending on your preferences, you can find unique accommodation in beehive huts in Mlilwane Wildlife Sanctuary or choose to pitch your tent at Malolotja Nature Reserve, which is an unparalleled choice for campers. Visitors here can hike into the hills and camp in several designated spots, where they are likely to be the only people for miles.
Katherine Verhoeven is a Saffa through and through. Having studied Journalism and English at the University of Cape Town, she set her sights on the digital world and spent a year with the Africa Geographic editorial team as Community Manager, working hand-in-hand with lodge and tour partners to celebrate the continent.
Spending as much time travelling as she possibly can, Katherine has a ‘must-see’ list of countries that she is ready and raring to visit, but she enjoys bumbling around beautiful South Africa as much as she does exploring the rest of the world. Preferring to sit in front of a sunset rather than a television, she takes every opportunity to lock up her flat, pack up her bag, and hit the road to nowhere.
A white baboon is a rare sight indeed, and capturing one on video is a never-to-be-repeated opportunity. This baby leucistic baboon was spotted during a game drive in Zambia’s South Luangwa National Park.
This tiny baby’s eyes were normally coloured, leading observers to conclude that he was leucistic and not an albino. Read this post, The Black and White of African Wildlife Explained, for more information on the difference between the two conditions.
How often do you get to tick off two bucket list items in one safari? Well, if seeing Endangered mountain gorillas AND sleeping on the ridge of an active volcano floats your boat, then we have just the safari for you – and it’s one of our most popular safaris at the moment.
Our guests, Fatima and Dane Harvey answered some questions about their awesome safari: climbing Mount Nyiragongo, mountain gorilla trekking and visiting Lake Kivu.
The park rangers were wonderful; learning the town’s background, the forest and the gorillas was interesting.
What was your accommodation like?
The hospitality was incredible, and the food and service were great. We really enjoyed the lakeside location and furnishings in the common area. The rooms were basic but comfortable. We enjoyed the live show and music in the evenings. Accommodation on the volcano was basic (as expected), but the staff were wonderful – the porters were a godsend, and we adored our cook, Amani.
Was it worth the money? Would you travel with Africa Geographic again? Would you recommend Africa Geographic to others?
Yes, yes, yes!
3 tips from the Harveys
1. Invest in a good pair of hiking boots.
2. Layers of clothing are essential – you’ll experience sunshine, rain and cold in one day!
3. Ensure you bring enough local currency to tip porters, cooks and drivers – they work hard!
A brief overview of their safari
Their five-day safari started off in the modern and thriving capital city of Kigali in Rwanda, where highlights included the Kigali Genocide Memorial, which is a vivid testimony to the Rwandan people’s reconciliation achievements, and the Kimironko City Market, where all sorts of colourful and tasty food is on display.
The next leg of the safari was a short drive away – Volcanoes National Park – for the main event. Gorilla trekking was enjoyed in stunning forest scenery, which made up for the physically demanding one-to-six-hour walk.
Once the gorillas were located, all fatigue was forgotten as they enjoyed time with our enigmatic and dignified close relatives. This is one of the world’s most poignant and profound natural history experiences.
This unique safari’s final leg was across the DRCongo border – a four to six-hour hike to the lava cauldron of Mount Nyiragongo. After several hours of lush forest walking, their party emerged onto a plateau that felt like it was at the top of the world. They felt like the great explorers Burton, Speke and Livingstone as commanding views stretched across Lake Kivu, Rwanda and Burundi.
From there, the vegetation became low and flat as they summited Nyiragongo’s crater and gazed into the boiling cauldron below. That night, spent perched on the lip of the crater, is likely to be etched onto their memories forever. The dark of night emphasises the drama and spectacle of this active lava cauldron as it spits, flares and fountains in one of the greatest shows on Earth.
Tim is Amboseli’s greatest elephant – the biggest tusker in the ecosystem and a huge contributor to safari tourism revenue. Because of the size of Tim’s tusks, rangers keep an extra eye on his whereabouts and always ensure that a team is near him for security and conflict mitigation. Info provided by Big Life Foundation
Last week, a call came through that Tim had run the narrow gauntlet through the Kimana Corridor, a critical area becoming increasingly constricted – down to less than just 1km in places – by agriculture and development, into Sidai ‘Oleng Conservancy. Tim was spotted towards sundown the following day with a piece of metal sticking out from his left ear at right angles.
Calls reverberated around the ecosystem. At first light, the next day, Big Life, Kenya Wildlife Service (KWS) units, and Amboseli Trust for Elephants (ATE) research staff initiated searches throughout the corridor area and aerial surveillance was deployed.
After three hours, Tim was spotted from the air. Thanks to the fantastic response of everyone involved – along with Big Life, ATE, KWS, David Sheldrick Wildlife Trust, and Tawi Lodge – enough manpower and vehicles were on hand to quickly and safely roll Tim onto his correct side for treatment.
To great relief, the spear wasn’t poisoned, and had gone through the ear and merely scratched the skin underneath. Within five minutes, Tim was up and heading back to the swamps in the middle of Amboseli. For now, Tim is safe.
However, this clearly illustrates that the Kimana Corridor has become an increasingly high-pressure area.
A couple of weeks ago, an appeal was launched for funding a 40km fence – a life-saving line of protection – along the edge of the farmland to keep the elephants and man separated and safe from one another. This, along with land leasing, is critical to the future survival of Tim, the other elephants, and the Amboseli ecosystem.
The pressure on the trophy hunting industry to take increased responsibility for its impact on endangered and threatened species is growing, with the US now assessing the impact of their trophy hunting activities on African wildlife. The Democratic Staff of the House Committee on Natural Resources has published 25-page report discussing the failure of trophy hunting in conserving species in many areas of Africa.
The report discusses successful and failing programmes in-depth, but for those who don’t wish to read the entire document, here are the key findings. Of course, any summary will neglect the details, so the best option is to download and study the full report. Any omission is in the interests of expediency, and any perceived bias is unintended.
Ernest Hemingway on safari, Africa. January, 1934. Photograph in the Ernest Hemingway Photograph Collection, John F. Kennedy Presidential Library and Museum, Boston.
Introduction
The report acknowledges that although the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service’s (FWS) official stance is that the trophy hunting industry “can and has provided significant long-term benefits to the populations of many species,” in many instances this has not been the case.
The report then goes on to examine under what conditions trophy hunting may contribute to conservation, highlighting that “in places like the United States, where laws against wildlife poaching are generally well respected and enforced and transparent mechanisms funnel taxes and fees generated by hunters to effective conservation programs, hunting has helped restore populations of some prized game species” however in parts of Africa trophy hunting has not helped species.
The report examines the effects of trophy hunting on five major threatened or endangered game species (the African elephant, African lion, black rhinoceros, southern white rhinoceros, and leopard) in four African countries (Namibia, South Africa, Tanzania and Zimbabwe), noting that the laws, institutions, and capacity necessary to make trophy hunting benefit conservation are often lacking.
It notes that the FWS is responsible for significantly improving its permitting process to ensure that trophy hunting doesn’t destroy existing populations of these species.
Important findings of the report
1. Scientists believe Earth is now on the cusp of a sixth great extinction – the first one driven by humans. A major driver of this extinction event is poaching and trophy hunting and although poaching is a major driver, trophy hunting does remove significant numbers of animals and appears to be the primary driver of certain animal (such as lion) declines.
2. While some species can support a level of hunting, this report focuses on Threatened or Endangered animals, where there is little margin for error in managing these species.
3. American hunters of these species have the financial means to ensure that they act responsibly and not promote practices that are detrimental to wildlife. This is of great importance as the US is the world’s largest importer of wildlife trophies.
4. It is clear from this report and others that these hunters do not always act ethically or in a way that promotes wildlife conservation – as demonstrated by the killing of Cecil the Lion. In addition, there is no evidence that trophy hunting lessens the rate of poaching, despite claims to the contrary.
5. A strong legal framework that promotes conservation in the source countries is required to prevent these types of practices. In addition, hunting outfitters need to demonstrate conservation benefits. Obviously where corruption levels are high, trophy hunting ‘benefits’ are negligible or nil.
6. The findings of this report were that, in many instances, funds that should have been used for conservation were diverted from their purpose and instances of non-sporting hunting methods are increasing. In addition, some species are being hunted at a rate that out-paces reproduction, making the justification of trophy hunting very difficult.
7. The report notes that not all trophy hunting operations failed, with Namibia’s conservancy model working well to conserve wildlife and enhance local welfare.
8. On the importer side, the FWS has only required one import permit from 2010-2014, even though 2,700 permit-eligible trophies were imported during that time. Failing to do so meant that the FWS did not collect data, which is vital as many individuals or organisations are known to violate wildlife laws repeatedly.
9. Instead, the FWS often uses data from external organisations, including Safari Club International (SCI) – the biggest advocacy organisation for trophy hunting. At times, the FWS may not disclose the sources of data aside from authors without naming affiliation(s). Recent external evaluations of SCI ‘surveys’ found no scientific merit in any of them.
10. The report states the FWS is not using its position to ensure American trophy hunters are not making bad situations worse for African wildlife species.
Conclusions and recommendations
The benefits of trophy hunting cannot be assumed. There can be benefits, but only under specific conditions where corruption levels are low, legal frameworks are strong, and there is transparency regarding conservation funding practices.
American organisations need to do more to ensure that trophy hunting does not decimate struggling wildlife populations. Data collection from impartial and scientifically sound studies and the enforcement of permits is one way the FWS could assist African countries to conserve their wildlife.
In addition, the FWS should not allow imports without verifying that these imports enhance species conservation. Loopholes must be closed, and import permitting requirements must be tightened.
Finally, the report recommends that the trophy fees should be increased to fund scientific research and conservation and that trophies should only be imported from fair chase methods.
We recently conducted a snap travel survey about six vexing questions that our travel clients and safari lodges are curious about. The interesting (and sometimes surprising) results are illustrated below. Thanks to all who participated, and here is the link to those who wish to do so now.
87% of you said YES to having children at safari lodges (we were surprised at this one), but the vast majority placed conditions on their approval.
We were equally surprised that 55% of you said NO when asked if wifi is essential on safari. During a previous survey, 68% of you told us you access the Internet for various reasons while on safari. Perhaps the difference lies in our use of the word ‘essential’ in this snap poll. The travel industry should take note of these statistics because the likely implication is that Internet access is an important factor when choosing your safari lodges.
79% of you prefer to be charged separately for drinks and 51% of you prefer to tip lodge staff directly, as opposed to via a communal tip box (2.5% do not tip at all). 81% feel that it’s unfair to charge single-person supplements, and a resounding 88% of you would pay a 1% voluntary conservation levy.
Our travelling audience
We know from a previous travel survey and ongoing audience monitoring that our audience is primarily from Europe / UK (29%), USA/Canada (26%) and South Africa (21%). We also know that 36% have travelled in Africa more than ten times and 33% between three and ten times.
Keep the passion
Full survey results below:
Q1: Should children be permitted at safari lodges?
Q2: Is it essential to have WiFi at your safari lodge?
Q3: Should alcoholic drinks be charged separately by lodges?
Q4: What about tipping guides and staff at your safari lodge?
Q5: Is it fair to charge single travellers a single-person supplement?
Q6: Would you pay a voluntary conservation levy of 1% of your lodge bill?
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?
Trust & Safety
Client safari payments remain in a third-party TRUST ACCOUNT until they return from safari - protecting them in the unlikely event of a financial setback on our part.
We donate a portion of the revenue from every safari sold to carefully selected conservation projects that make a significant difference at ground level.
YOUR safari choice does make a difference - thank you!
Dex Kotze is a businessman who applies his business experience of 30 years to the world of conservation. With a deep passion for Africa’s wildlife and wildlife photography, he started an NGO called 
JANINE AVERY is the first to confess that she has been bitten by the travel bug… badly. She is a lover of all things travel, from basic tenting with creepy crawlies to lazing in luxury lodges – she will give it all a go.
Ecologist and science journalist Cheryl Lyn Dybas, a Fellow of the International League of Conservation Writers, fell in love with Africa and its savannas at first sight. She lives in the U.S., outside of Washington, D.C., and also writes on Africa and other subjects for National Geographic, BioScience, Natural History, National Wildlife, Scientific American, Oceanography, The Washington Post, and many other publications. She is a featured speaker on conservation biology and science journalism at universities, museums and other institutions. Eye-to-eye with the wild is her favourite place to be.
Simon Espley is an African of the digital tribe, a chartered accountant and CEO of Africa Geographic.
All images ©
Shannon Airton is an American expat living in South Africa. She has a Bachelor’s degree in Ecology, Behaviour and Evolution and a Master’s degree in Biological Anthropology. A conservation biologist by training, she has worked in Zululand researching rhinos, wild dogs and leopards for the last 14 years.
Jytte Fredholm Ferreira is a wildlife photographer, animal communicator, travel writer, diver and sailor passionate about Africa and its wildlife. She is deeply involved in nature conservation and has won a prestigious award from SKAL International for media and conservation. She hopes that her unique photographic perspective, as well as her connection with animals, will convey their emotions and conjure the feeling for readers of being out in the wild.
Georgie grew up escaping city life by going horseback riding in the Magaliesberg mountains or Land Rover-ing in the Madikwe sandveld. Accustomed to the sun on her face and the wind in her hair, Georgina then embarked as a trainee sailor on a three-masted barque after graduating with a degree in Environmental Science.
Trevor Cole
Katherine Verhoeven is a Saffa through and through. Having studied Journalism and English at the University of Cape Town, she set her sights on the digital world and spent a year with the Africa Geographic editorial team as Community Manager, working hand-in-hand with lodge and tour partners to celebrate the continent.
