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Namibia’s controversial cull + Bazaruto’s dugongs + see Rwanda’s gorillas
The report below about the decision by the Namibian government to cull 723 animals (including 83 elephants) is packed with the complexities of life at ground level here in Africa.
The drought in Southern Africa is real, folks – we all feel it to some extent after years of poor rainfall. Against the grain of the report, I congratulate the Namibian government for being prepared to make tough decisions in the interests of their people, ecosystems and wildlife.
BUT …
Together with the report’s compilers, we raise serious concerns about the decisions made and the absence of scientific justifications. Our article contains details challenging the feedback we received directly from both the Namibian government and the report’s compilers. We understand that our stance may invite criticism from both sides, but we stand by our pursuit of scientific evidence.
Meanwhile, our safari clients report excellent wildlife sightings across Africa. Wildlife movements are predictable as animals seek water, and the lack of cover means visibility is good. We will ensure that the donations from all of our safaris go to causes that lessen the impact of the drought and support other conservation issues. Last week, I said I would let you know when our epic safari to find lowland gorillas and much more is ready for you. Find out more here (check out that cantering gorilla video at the top of the page!).
Simon Espley – CEO, Africa Geographic
From our Editor – Taryn van Jaarsveld
Can hippos fly? Hippos are well-built for water, where they spend the majority of their time. However, not much was known about the locomotion that allows hippos, weighing up to 1,400kg, to move so fast when sprinting on land – until now.
A recent study has found that hippos trot (with diagonal limbs moving in near unison) at both slow AND fast speeds. Researchers observed that they become airborne at high speeds, with all four feet off the ground. Mid-trot hippos are airborne for up to 0.3 seconds at a time – longer than the 0.2-second periods that each foot spends on the ground when running. A gravity-defying feat for an animal of that size! This aerial ability means they are more athletic than elephants and unashamedly risk the slow recovery – due to the sensorimotor delays associated with their hefty size – that could accompany stumbles. So, while hippos don’t necessarily fly, they can indeed become airborne when launching themselves into a charge.
Below, read about the incredible work being done to save dugongs in the island paradise of Bazaruto, and also check out our article on Namibia’s planned cull of wildlife.
DID YOU KNOW?
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!
Gorilla-trekking safari in Rwanda – 3 days – from US$2,415pps
This Rwandan gorilla-trekking adventure will take you through pristine afro-montane forests packed with golden monkeys, colourful Rwenzori turacos and prehistoric three-horned chameleons. And, of course, the star of your safari is a silverback mountain gorilla, accompanied by his family – spotted in the depths of paradise.
This was the third experience I booked with Africa Geographic, and I am working on another one. My stay at Madikwe Game Reserve was very special. A couple of highlights were seeing five tiny cheetah cubs twice, a pack of four wild dogs, many elephants and a huge variety of other wildlife. I stayed at two lodges, Madikwe Hills and Buffalo Ridge. Both were wonderful, although quite different from each other. Guides, trackers and lodge staff were so friendly and helpful. I didn’t want to leave when my visit ended. – Barbara
Four locations: Cape Town, Marrick Private Game Reserve, Tswalu Kalahari Reserve and Timbavati Private Nature Reserve. We had great birding at Strandfontein near Cape Town, plus penguins at Boulders Beach. Elusive and nocturnal species were targeted at Marrick and we hit the jackpot: 14 aardvarks, five aardwolves, numerous porcupines and other nocturnal animals. Even though the windy weather at Tswalu caused the animals to seek shelter, it didn’t disappoint. A daylight sighting of a pangolin and also an aardvark were the highlights. Tanda Tula in Timbavati always provides great sightings. A leopard and its young cub in a tree, and also a rhino and a young calf were top of the list. As usual, Christian from AG has delivered another brilliant trip. – Roger
WATCH: An oldie but a goodie… Watch this incredible video of a wildebeest fleeing a pride of hunting lions in the Kruger National Park, captured by Laura Hughes. (0:29) Click here to watch
African Parks and the government of Mozambique are taking steps to conserve the last-known viable population of dugongs on Africa’s east coast. However, a deeper local understanding of the elusive lives of these marine mammals is necessary if a strategic and informed conservation approach is to be rolled out in the Bazaruto Archipelago seascape. Lorena Matos, Assistant Research and Monitoring Coordinator for African Parks, explains the project.
Since 2017, aerial surveys have confirmed that just a few hundred dugongs remain along the Inhambane coastline, which includes the 1,430km² and five islands that make up Mozambique’s Bazaruto Archipelago National Park.
With such low numbers, losing any individuals could devastate the population’s future survival. After leading efforts to have this subpopulation listed as critically endangered on the IUCN red list in 2022 and identifying key risks to the species, Bazaruto’s research team is now focused on the next phase in preventing the disappearance of Africa’s dugongs.
To do this, African Parks and the Mozambican government launched Africa’s first-ever dugong satellite tagging project. Coupled with aerial survey data, the detailed information from satellite tagging will generate a better understanding of individual dugong movements and habitat use. It will inform our approach to conservation, community development and future management of the protected area.
Most importantly, for this to have long-term success, partnerships with government and communities and the upskilling of local researchers and technical support are required to protect this incredible animal – both on Africa’s east coast and around the world.
An aerial view of one of the islands of the Bazaruto Archipelago
Conserving dugongs
As signatories to the High Ambition Coalition, Mozambique’s government has committed to protecting 10% –12% of its marine and terrestrial areas by 2030 (in efforts to walk towards the Global Biodiversity Framework’s 30×30 goal – a worldwide initiative for governments to designate 30% of Earth’s land and ocean area as protected areas by 2030). Efforts to protect the dugong in Bazaruto are a key part of this strategy.
Dugong conservation efforts are strongest in geographic areas where there is already community awareness and support.
This type of large-scale marine conservation requires a solution that benefits all who depend on the seascape, protects Mozambique’s marine and terrestrial biodiversity, and supports the needs of local communities.
A dugong feeds on seagrasses
Tagging dugongs allows the gathering of data that plays a crucial role in developing a workable conservation strategy.
After receiving initial technical training from Dr Christophe Cleguer – an Australian dugong tagging expert and senior research officer at James Cook University, Bazaruto’s research and monitoring coordinator, Evan Trotzuk, invited the university to help deliver the first-ever tagging operation for Bazaruto. With their support, six of the park’s locally employed staff were trained to capture, tag, and sample dugong.
The team tags a dugong in the Bazaruto Archipelago
Threats to dugongs and community buy-in
Dugongs play a vital role in supporting marine biodiversity. As they graze seagrass, these solitary creatures improve the health and resilience of important underwater habitats, supporting many other fish, turtle, mollusc and crustacean species. Along with strengthening ecosystems, a healthier ocean benefits the local fishing trade, providing economic opportunities and increased food security for thousands of coastal communities.
In turn, improving fishing practices can help protect sensitive marine habitats. Illegal gill nets represent the biggest threat to the species – indiscriminately entangling and drowning dugongs. Seine nets also threaten dugongs as they destroy seagrass meadows and, when left unattended, can entangle and drown the mammals. The Bazaruto Archipelago National Park management team has been working with local fishing communities to reduce the use of gill nets and improve the management of seine netting.
Despite some misconceptions amongst local anglers about marine conservation efforts and regulations, these efforts are beginning to pay off. Having seen the value of protecting aquatic life for healthy ecosystems, fish stocks, and tourism (island communities receive 16% of the revenue earned in the national park), local anglers are beginning to avoid using gill nets. In recent meetings to raise awareness ahead of the dugong tagging initiative, communities were enthusiastic and in favour of the project.
Conservation data
The dugong range extends from the east coast of Africa to the Pacific islands of New Caledonia and Vanuatu, with significant numbers occurring in Northern Australia and throughout the Arabian Gulf. However, the status of dugongs has yet to be discovered in about 50% of its range. Since dugong movements are predominantly individualistic, at least 10% of a dugong population count must be tagged to gain reliable data and to obtain the big picture of habitat use to identify movement corridors.
During the tagging operation, which took three weeks, 11 dugongs (seven males and four females) were successfully tagged. These specially designed satellite transmitters are attached to the dugong’s tails. These are designed to corrode and break off over six months naturally (and also easily break off if the animal becomes entangled).
The team work very carefully to ensure dugongs are gently handled during the tagging operationThe satellite transmitter tag is attached to the dugong’s tail. These are designed to corrode and break off over six months
The data received so far has been extremely valuable. While some individuals are relatively sedentary, some have moved further north, and others have moved south, out of the Bazaruto MPA.
The area in the north towards Mozambique’s Save River is mainly focused on further protection measures as it has previously been noted as a dugong hotspot. Discussions between African Parks and the Mozambican government are exploring extending conservation management activities further north of Bazaruto Archipelago National Park, where active ranger patrols can be carried out to mitigate illegal fishing practices. The data from the tags will go a long way in determining the extent of the area that needs to be included in the MPA.
The journey to safeguard the last-surviving dugongs on Africa’s east coast is fraught with challenges, yet we can make significant progress thanks to initiatives like the satellite tagging project. However, long-term success hinges on sustained collaboration with local communities and the Mozambican government. By nurturing local expertise and prioritising community engagement, a resilient conservation framework can be created that protects the dugongs of the Bazaruto Archipelago. These initiatives will also safeguard the broader marine biodiversity that dugongs support and bring greater prosperity and stability to the communities that depend on this unique marine environment.
A dugong swims along the ocean floor in the Bazaruto Archipelago
Mozambique’s Bazaruto Archipelago has fascinating creatures, breathtaking scenery & amazing biodiversity. Read more about Bazaruto Archipelago National Park here
As the Namibian drought worsens and grazing land for cattle becomes scarce, the Namibian government last week announced a plan to cull 723 wild animals. The Ministry of Environment, Forestry and Tourism (MEFT) asserts the cull will relieve drought by contributing game meat to communities. In the wake of the announcement, a group of conservationists has released a response that raises concerns about the initiative. The report challenges the government’s motives, suggesting the move is politically driven and timed to influence upcoming elections. But MEFT insists the primary goal of the cull is to benefit wildlife and ecosystems amidst the drought.
A group of 14 conservationists, researchers and scientists is challenging the Namibian government’s plan to cull 723 wild animals, including endangered species. The conservationists, many of whom wish to remain anonymous for fear of reprisal, suggest the cull is politically motivated and lacks necessary environmental or food security assessments. The group released a report critiquing the government’s plan, announced last week, which will see 83 elephants, 300 zebras, 30 hippos, 60 buffaloes, 50 impalas, 100 eland and 100 wildebeest shot, primarily within Namibia’s national parks. Details from the report are included below.
MEFT spokesperson Romeo Muyunda announced in a press release that the meat from these animals will support Namibia’s drought relief programme. The shooting of these animals will take place in Namib Naukluft Park, Mangetti National Park, Bwabwata National Park, Mudumu National Park and Nkasa Rupara National Park, and several areas outside of national parks. The culling is being conducted by professional hunters and safari outfitters contracted by MEFT, and 262 animals have already been killed.
In response to the report, Muyunda says MEFT stands by their statement on the benefits of the cull. “The arguments included in the report are mere assumptions,” he says, reiterating that the decision to cull was not “primarily made to feed people but as a conservation measure… Wildlife culling is a conservation measure taken by the wildlife authority in the country.”
A risky conservation precedent
The conservationists’ report states that allowing the cull to proceed will set a worrying precedent, paving the way for other African governments to engage in similar practices under the guise of humanitarian relief. The authors highlight the decline in African elephant numbers – from over 5 million in 1900 to just over 400,000 today – as a blunt reminder of the fragility of the continent’s wildlife.
“We are calling upon the Namibian government to desist from attacking our wildlife and instead to embrace their resources and expertise to solve their challenges in a way which assists local people, without destroying their natural heritage,” says John Grobler, Namibian environmental journalist who is quoted in the report.
In response, MEFT’s Muyunda says Namibia’s wildlife numbers continue to increase despite the concerns often expressed by critics: “Our laws and policies provide for sustainable utilisation in a well-regulated system. What our critics don’t realise is that our wildlife populations increase because we have chosen a people-centred approach. We have advanced benefits from utilisation of wildlife to communities and people. This way, people see the need for a peaceful co-existence as opposed to when there are no benefits – they would kill the animals uncontrollably.”
Editorial note: Muyunda’s response about Namibia’s increasing wildlife numbers contradicts data gathered by NACSO which states that trends over the last decade for north-west Namibia reflect a drastic decline in various animal populations since 2014, including kudu, gemsbok, zebra, springbok, and ostrich. NACSO further states that wildlife population health has declined sharply in recent years as a result of the drought.
Zebras and eland are on the list of wildlife to be targeted by the cull
Timing and politics
The conservationists raise questions about the timing of the cull, which coincides with the lead-up to Namibia’s elections. The report alleges the culling targets rural areas, particularly Kavango and Caprivi, where the ruling party needs to boost its support base.
“The latest move by the government is an election ploy where meat seems to be earmarked for contested constituencies,” says Izak Smit of Namibia’s Desert Lions Human Relations Aid, who is quoted in the report.
Muyunda, however, says that the drought is a natural phenomenon that happens to coincide with an election year. “The drought is not manufactured – its impact is tangible in Namibia, and ignoring that… would be catastrophic for conservation.” Muyunda continues, “The culling is happening across the country – not only in the two regions mentioned [in the report].”
The conservationists also suggest MEFT has not conducted comprehensive environmental impact assessments, stakeholder consultations, game counts, or food insecurity evaluations in the targeted areas, further fuelling suspicions about the government’s motives. The group has questioned the government’s claims that the cull is necessary to alleviate food insecurity or drought impacts.
Muyunda says this is inaccurate. “We have undertaken an assessment in all our national parks and found that some need intervention. The culling will take place in six national parks, which were found to have been affected the most.”
MEFT’s original statement says the cull will “assist in reducing the negative impact of drought on the conservation of wild animals in both our national parks and communal areas.” The statement continues, “This will assist in managing the current grazing pressure and water availability by reducing wildlife numbers in some parks and communal areas where we feel numbers exceed available grazing and water.”
However, the report’s authors suggest that livestock, rather than wildlife, should be the focus of any drought-relief efforts, as livestock cannot survive prolonged droughts while wildlife is more adapted to the harsh Namibian climate.
“If meat supply is the only solution, a bonafide scheme would involve livestock,” the report argues. The report suggests a livestock-purchase programme would provide more meaningful assistance to farmers and communities, who could sell their animals before they die from starvation and increase the available water for people and grass for remaining livestock.
But Muyunda argues the decision to cull was taken as a conservation measure. “Our assessment has indicated that in selected national parks, there are currently limited grazing and water resources for wild animals. This is the basis for these decisions. If we do not reduce wildlife numbers, these resources will finish before the rainy season, which may potentially lead to mass mortalities from hunger or thirst.”
Muyunda says meat derived from the cull is a secondary benefit. “We are where we are because people have accepted living with wild animals primarily because they derive benefits from this. In this time of need, we are happy to contribute to the food security of Namibians.”
MEFT’s Muyunda argues that the Fishrot scandal was an isolated incident. “We will not stop working just because of previous cases. There is no motive beyond conservation.”
Potential negative impact of a cull on tourism & ecosystem balance
The report underscores the potential negative consequences of the cull on Namibia’s tourism industry, which contributes N$14.2 billion to the economy and employs 58,000 people. The authors warn that graphic images and videos of the culling process may surface on social media and provoke international tourism boycotts, leading to significant economic losses.
Adam Cruise, investigative journalist and academic, is quoted in the report, saying, “One of the most concerning aspects is that wildlife is being culled in national parks, which ought to be safe havens for wildlife populations. Photographic tourism is a major sector in the Namibian economy, with most visitors flocking to national parks to view wildlife. It may not sit well with tourists if they know the elephant or the zebra they are photographing one day will be butchered for meat production the next.”
The report also notes that elephants, which are endangered (although Namibian populations are stable), offer immense value to the tourism sector. “Over the course of an elephant’s long life it is worth over $1.6m to communities from its contribution to poverty-alleviation through tourism income and its critical role in ecosystem services,” states the report.
Muyunda responds that wildlife species are important to Namibia, which is why MEFT is doing everything possible to protect them. “Sometimes this includes taking the most unpopular decisions. Our interventions over the years have shown tangible results while others just criticise.”
MEFT’s statement says, “elephant numbers need to be reduced as a measure to assist in reducing prevailing cases of human-wildlife conflict,” and that conflicts are expected to increase if no interventions are made during the drought. However, the report by conservationists warns that culling could exacerbate human-wildlife conflict in the region. “Elephants are highly intelligent, socially complex, have long memories and show a documented increase in aggressiveness toward humans, following the loss of individuals through culling or trophy hunting.”
But Muyunda says the cull of animals by professional hunters will be guided by the Namibia’s hunting Code of Conduct, and ethics. “We will not hunt elephants in herds, obviously.”
Editorial note: Namibia has a track record of questionable behaviour by the trophy hunting industry, which is usually shielded from prosecution by MEFT. Two examples include legalities and due process surrounding the killing of a desert-adapted lion and an iconic desert-adapted elephant.
And while Muyunda says that “83 elephants represent 0.3% of Namibia’s total population,” and that the impact should be minimal, the authors also raise concerns that hunters could cull trans-national elephant herds passing through the country, or rare desert-adapted elephants.
Editorial note: MEFT fails to acknowledge that many of the areas earmarked for elephant culling are within Namibia’s north-west regions, home to desert-adapted elephants, which are uniquely adapted to living in arid areas. These desert-adapted elephants are low in number, but MEFT’s statements do not provide the portion of that population to be culled.
The report highlights that desert-adapted elephants are able to survive droughts by digging for water and help other animals by creating pools for other animals to drink from.
Muyunda says MEFT has already considered this. “No desert-adapted animals will be culled – only resident elephants in the identified areas will be culled,” he says.
Adam Cruise, however, challenges whether this will be the case. “The area earmarked for the cull includes the range of desert-adapted elephants. They are not genetically different from other elephants and there is certainly an overlap in breeding between desert-adapted elephants and others, which means any elephants targeted in that area are problematic.” He continues, “There is little chance that MEFT-employed hunters will be able to distinguish between the two, unless monitors from Elephant-Human Relations Aid are on hand to point them out. Will MEFT guarantee that is the case?”
The report further highlights the potential disruption to the delicate balance of Namibia’s ecosystems. Aside from affecting only the targeted species, such as elephants, zebras, and antelope, the cull could also affect predators like lions, leopards, cheetahs and hyenas, and scavengers such as vultures, all of which depend on weakened prey during droughts. But Muyunda says the number of animals targeted by the cull will not affect ecosystems. “We will have sufficient animals after the cull to maintain ecological processes.”
Conservationists have expressed concern that desert-adapted elephants will be targeted by the cull, but MEFT says they will not do so
Legal action against the cull
The report states the conservation community is exploring legal avenues to challenge the Namibian government’s proposal. Calling for international solidarity in opposing the cull, the authors argue Namibia’s actions could set a dangerous example for other African countries facing food insecurity, leading to widespread exploitation of national parks and protected species. It expresses particular concern at the monetisation of Africa’s endangered elephants – and big tuskers – through international sales and trophy hunting. Trophy hunts for the cull are already on sale.
Government’s alleged misuse of data
The report accuses some African governments, including Namibia, of inflating elephant population figures. The conservationists suggest this could be to justify controversial wildlife management practices, such as higher hunting quotas, zoo sales, and culling. However, the report shows how an official data analysis indicates Namibian elephant populations have remained stable for years.
In response, MEFT’s Muyunda says Namibia has grown its elephant population from 7,000 in 1990 to more than 24,000 today.
The authors denounce media for uncritically accepting these figures, often used to support government narratives that downplay public sympathy for elephant conservation. “The pro-government bias in conservation reporting is exacerbated by African conservationists’ fear of speaking out due to potential repercussions like permit revocation, deportation, or legal action,” the report states.
Editorial note: Namibia does, in fact, have an ongoing elephant population survey process which we reported on here.
A call to action
The report concludes with a call for the Namibian government to desist from compromising wildlife and find alternative solutions that do not compromise the country’s natural heritage.
Stephan Scholvin, a Namibian professional guide and conservationist, echoes this sentiment, and is quoted in the report, stating, “Conservationists here in Namibia have proven solutions to the government’s claimed human-wildlife-conflict – including moving water points away from villages and electric fencing – but the government are ignoring them all. Despite their claims, it’s clear that their plans are about money, not wildlife.”
Outside of the report, other organisations have critiqued the government’s proposal. Mary Rice, the Environmental Investigation Agency’s executive director, says: “We are deeply disturbed by the Namibian Government’s cynical decision to cull hundreds of animals, including elephants and hippos, under the pretext of needing meat to feed people following a drought. Official figures show that Namibia has a human population of just over 2.5 million, with 2.5 million cattle, 2.4 million sheep, and 1.8 million goats. It is important to prioritise using livestock to feed the population rather than resorting to culling wildlife, especially when some of these species are endangered.”
Media outlets have also decried Namibia’s targeting of elephants. Writing on behalf of AllAfrica, Adam Cruise suggests that targeting elephants, which are not mass grazers and are mainly browsers, is being done for their high meat yield rather than to eliminate grazing competition with livestock.
In AllAfrica’s response, elephant biologist Dr Keith Lindsay says the cull will hurt the entire arid ecosystem. “Destructive interventions of removing animals at random from wildlife populations,” he says, “are likely to reduce the resilience of the ecosystems of northern Namibia in the longer term.” He also says the cull sets a dangerous precedent of reliance on wildlife populations to solve human problems. “This practice, if adopted and normalised, is very likely to create a continuing demand on vulnerable wildlife populations that would be unsustainable in the dwindling areas of natural habitat. There is also the risk that it will give neighbouring nations a strong case for doing so as well, triggering a colossal disaster,” says Lindsay.
“Wildlife cannot become a replacement for domestic livestock production,” continues Lindsay, “as its productivity is much more susceptible to the effects of variable seasonal conditions than livestock populations under human husbandry and protection.”
As the world watches, the Namibian government’s next steps could have far-reaching consequences for Africa’s wildlife and the future of conservation on the continent.
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Rare leopard/gorilla sighting + Kahuzi-Biega + new hyena menu
Is this the most astonishing wildlife sighting ever? Guests at Camp Imbalanga in Odzala-Kokoua National Park were watching a silverback western lowland gorilla forage in a forest clearing (known as a baï) a mere 3-minute walk from camp when a movement at the forest edge caught their attention.
Further binocular investigation revealed a leopard keenly watching red-fronted duikers and birds in the clearing. I wonder if that’s a first-ever sighting – a lowland gorilla and leopard in one place? There is a photo, albeit a bit murky, as it was taken from a mobile phone through binoculars.
Other recent guests were lucky enough to see lowland gorillas, forest elephants, forest buffaloes, and bongos during one treehouse session at Moba Pool Baï – another fantastic location to watch for wildlife from the safety of a treehouse on the edge of the clearing.
Of course, these are wild animals, and no sightings are ever guaranteed. Note also that these are not habituated gorillas – encounters follow a natural rhythm as they wander between feeding sites – ‘Africa time’.
We will soon release a new safari package to this new frontier of great ape conservation for those interested in unusual safari experiences. Watch this space.
Simon Espley – CEO, Africa Geographic
From our Editor – Taryn van Jaarsveld
Do animals wage war like humans? While interspecies battles are common – lions, leopards, orcas, wolves, bears, and even ants fight over territory or mates – these skirmishes are usually more about intimidation than lethal conflict. Attacks are spontaneous rather than strategic. But there is an exception.
Did you know that chimpanzees engage in violent, organised warfare? Jane Goodall famously bore witness to a brutal four-year conflict between rival chimp groups in the 1970s (known as the Gombe Chimpanzee War). This war saw murders, forced exiles, and violent beatings. Researchers have even observed chimps using elevated positions to plan attacks on rival groups. Chimp wars have also been documented to involve methodical patrols, cannibalism, infanticide, corpse mutilation and coordinated attacks. Some researchers even use the “chimpanzee model” to understand human warfare. Grizzly stuff!
This week, we explore the Democratic Republic of the Congo’s magical land of primates, Kahuzi-Biega National Park – check it out below. Plus, researchers have observed hyenas systematically snacking on queleas – read why this is an exciting find.
DID YOU KNOW?
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!
Visit Kenya and explore the northernmost limits of the Maasai Mara-Serengeti ecosystem while skipping the migration-season crowds. With Sentinel Mara Camp as your base, you’ll go in search of resident lion prides, cheetahs, and leopards. You’ll also find elephants, plains game, and exceptionally gorgeous sunsets – all critical ingredients to the quintessential Maasai Mara experience.
Classic Tanzania: bush & beach safari – 10 days – from US$6,509pps
Discover Tanzania’s popular northern safari circuit, including Ngorongoro Crater and Serengeti NP, and the idyllic serene beaches of Zanzibar. This safari offers you a seamless introduction to the wonders of a Tanzanian bush and island retreat. Immerse yourself in these iconic locations whilst exploring diverse landscapes and rich culture.
Mallory and party travelled with AG to Namibia, Botswana and Victoria Falls. She says: We spent just over three weeks in Namibia, Botswana and Vic Falls this summer. Holidays like this don’t come around every summer for us, so we wanted it to be the absolute best it could be. Delivering the holiday of a lifetime starts with imagination and expert planning by someone who really knows where you are going and thoughtfully adds in all the little extras to make it more than just an ‘off-the-shelf’ holiday. This requires warm, professional and highly skilled people on the ground to deliver on what’s expected, to manage the unexpected, and to bring a place to life. This also needs continued interest and follow-through should you need to be in touch, once all is paid for and the holiday is actually happening. Africa Geographic, Christian, Joram and the many other people involved in making our dreams come true ticked all the boxes.”
Delores travelled with AG across Africa. Delores and party went gorilla trekking in Rwanda and Uganda, visited Victoria Falls in Zimbabwe, saw the elephant orphans of Sheldrick Wildlife Trust in Kenya, and enjoyed a sojourn in Cape Town, South Africa. She says: Christian from AG provided an exceptional travel experience from start to finish. He created a custom itinerary that perfectly matched our preferences, making all reservations and ensuring every detail was handled with precision. At each location, we were met with quality drivers, which made our travels seamless and enjoyable. Christian delivered a full itinerary for our phones, which was incredibly convenient. Throughout the trip, he was always available, promptly addressing any issues that arose and making us feel supported every step of the way. His dedication and attention to detail made our trip truly unforgettable.
WATCH: Looking for something different? Check out Ukuri – safari camps for responsible travellers. Ukuri brings you lodges and campsites managed by African Parks that offer tangible, measurable benefits for conservation & communities. 100% of tourism revenue earned by African Parks goes to conservation and local communities. (0:33) Click here to watch
There is a land where towering ancient volcanoes serve as the playground of critically endangered eastern lowland gorillas, where a heroic drive for preservation overcomes war & tragedy, and where hope drives cautious concord in the name of conservation. Set near the western bank of Lake Kivu and the Rwandan border, Kahuzi-Biega National Park emerges as a biodiversity bonanza and a testament to the resilience of conservation efforts in the Democratic Republic of the Congo.
Kahuzi-Biega plays a crucial role as a haven for the largest of the gorilla species – the critically endangered eastern lowland gorilla (also known as Grauer’s gorilla), which, together with its unique biodiversity, earned it the designation as a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1980. Kahuzi-Biega officially opened its gates to tourism in 2015, revealing the hidden treasures within its lush tropical heart. Today, it is steadily earning its stripes as a destination for gorilla trekking, and conservationists are working hard to quell the status the park earned in 1997 as a region on the List of World Heritage in Danger. Though political instability remains a challenge to tourism growth, Kahuzi-Biega is a realm of giants and songbirds, where visitors, under the watchful eye of guides, can explore the untouched. Kahuzi-Biega’s allure lies in its hidden corners, where biodiversity and adventure converge.
Kahuzi-Biega’s past challenges and present treasures
Established in 1970 by the visionary Belgian photographer and conservationist Adrien Deschryver, Kahuzi-Biega was a response to the urgent need for the preservation of the eastern lowland gorilla or Grauer’s gorilla (Gorilla beringei graueri), a subspecies classified as Critically Endangered on the IUCN Red List since 2016.
Deschryver proved to be a dedicated and successful primate specialist, and he pioneered and developed many of the ideas and methods used in primate habituation. Interestingly, without knowing or ever meeting one another, the world-renowned Dian Fossey was developing her approach to studying gorillas at the same time. While the two had very different approaches to habituation, they both enjoyed tremendous success in the field and paved the way for subsequent primate studies. This adds an intriguing historical layer to the park’s origins.
An eastern lowland gorilla (Grauer’s gorilla) – the largest of the gorilla species – in Kahuzi-Biega
In the 1990s, armed conflict threatened the integrity of the park, and an influx of refugees to the area and political instability spiked while wildlife exploitation escalated. Rebel forces took control of the region, and rangers operating in the park had to forge working relationships with rebels in order to continue their conservation work.
By 2015, due to various efforts by conservation organisations, security forces, the governing party and UNESCO, the situation in the park had improved and it was opened to tourism. The Democratic Forces for the Liberation of Rwanda (FDLR) rebel group was no longer active in Kahuzi-Biega, several local rebel groups had surrendered, many illegal mining quarries were closed down, and a census of the park’s wildlife was underway.
Mother and baby gorilla spotted through the forest foliage
While political instability continues in the region today, the park is closely monitored under the watchful eye of Congolais pour la Conservation de la Nature (ICCN) and the Wildlife Conservation Society. The eastern parts of the DRC remain tumultuous, and rebel activities, illegal mining and lumbering activities are challenges to tourism growth in the park. Against all odds, however, gorilla trekking continues in Kahuzi-Biega, and security agencies collaborate with ranger guides to keep law and order around the forest. For this reason, working with a trusted and experienced safari company is imperative when considering travelling to the park.
Rangers and security forces around Kahuzi-Biega collaborate to keep the park safe
The park remains a living testament to the persistence of conservation endeavours, symbolised by the dormant volcanoes that grace its landscape. Despite the challenges it has faced over the years, including a tumultuous political climate, the park remains a beacon of hope for the preservation of both its unique rainforest habitat and the enigmatic eastern lowland gorillas.
Of volcanoes and other-worldly vegetation
Spanning a vast 6,000km2, Kahuzi-Biega is one of the largest national parks in the DRC. It is revered as one of Africa’s (and the world’s) foremost diverse regions. The lush expanse seamlessly transitions between lowland and highland ecosystems, offering an immersive experience into the heart of the Albertine Rift, with a corridor connecting the mountainous and lowland terrains.
The park encompasses two dormant volcanoes – Mount Kahuzi, soaring to 3,308m, and Mount Biega, at 2,790m. The park is divided into two distinct regions: the accessible highland sector in the east and the untouched lowland sector in the west, which is closed to visitors. The eastern mountainous region spans 600km2, while the vast western lowland region, stretching from Bukavu to Kisangani, covers 5,400km2.
On the Tshibati Waterfalls Trail, hikers can see three of the park’s magnificent waterfalls
With six distinct primary vegetation types, the park encapsulates a spectrum of ecological diversity from the steamy swamp and peat bogs to the grandeur of high-altitude mountain rainforests, bamboo forests, and subalpine heather. Notably, alien-looking giant groundsels (Dendrosenecio erici-rosenii), flowering plants adapted to high-altitude living, stand tall on the summits of Mount Kahuzi and Mount Biega, reaching 9m tall and proudly piercing the summit clouds.
The highland region alone boasts over 1,178 plant species, establishing the park as a hotspot of plant endemism. Even more remarkable is that it showcases a complete and unbroken transition from lowland through highland vegetation, something very rare anywhere in the world today.
For those with an appetite for adventure, the peaks of Mount Kahuzi and Mount Biega stand tall as hiking destinations, offering panoramic views and perspective on the park’s vegetation, wildlife, neighbouring communities, and even neighbouring countries. However, the hiking trails along these mountains are quite primitive, and they are mostly used by rangers patrolling the park.
The wild things of Kahuzi-Biega
Embarking on a journey through Kahuzi-Biega National Park allows one to explore a mosaic of experiences, from the enchanting world of birding to encounters with majestic lowland gorilla families. As you navigate this ecological wonderland, be prepared to be captivated by the diverse attractions that unfold at every turn.
Gorilla trekking in Kahuzi-Biega
Surveys conducted by the Wildlife Conservation Society over the years revealed that at least 349 bird species and 136 mammal species call Kahuzi-Biega home. In every leaf, every rustle, and every glimpse of a rare species, Kahuzi-Biega National Park unfolds as a living testament to the intricate interplay of ecology and life. For avid bird enthusiasts, Kahuzi-Biega beckons with a year-round avian spectacle. The optimal time for birding aligns with the rainy months from March to early May and October to November. During these months, the park is alive with an array of resident and migratory bird species drawn by the abundance of food. While the trails will be challenging at this time, with mud and slippery paths making progress difficult, the reward is to experience the full diversity the habitat offers.
Exploring the forests of the biodiverse national park
Alternatively, the dry season, spanning June to September and December to February, unveils a different charm. With reduced rainfall, dry trails, and sparser vegetation, this season offers clear views of bird species against the backdrop of the park’s verdant landscape. The roads to the park become more accessible, providing an opportunity for unhurried exploration.
While the diversity of flora and fauna is incredible, the park’s flagship species is clearly the elusive eastern lowland gorilla, which captivates visitors’ imaginations. Exact numbers are difficult to estimate, but the highland region alone is a crucial stronghold for conserving these endangered primates. Distinguished by their thick bodies, large hands, and short muzzles, eastern lowland gorillas are often overshadowed by their mountain gorilla relatives. But Kahuzi-Biega’s gorillas play a crucial role in maintaining the ecological balance of their habitat. Recognising the significance of eastern lowland and mountain gorillas adds depth to our understanding of these incredible creatures, emphasising the importance of comprehensive conservation efforts across their diverse habitats.
The habituation work that Deschryver started paid off as early as 1973 when the first limited gorilla treks took place in the park. Since then, several groups have become accustomed to humans, allowing intimate glimpses into their family lives. Trekkers will be charmed by individual personalities, etching lasting memories amidst the dense forest vegetation. In the interests of exemplary conservation, many families have been left strictly alone and are still wild and unapproachable.
Gorilla treks traverse various trails, depending on where the groups slept the previous evening. This means a trek can take anything between 30 minutes and five hours, culminating in a precious hour spent in the presence of these magnificent creatures. As you stand in their midst, time seems to pause, allowing you to absorb the profound connection between humans and the giants of Kahuzi-Biega National Park.
Photographing a gorilla on a trek into the forest
Among the other primates that grace the park are eastern chimpanzees, Angolan (black and white) colobus, blue monkeys, Dent’s mona monkeys, red-tailed monkeys, Hamlyn’s (owl-faced) monkeys, and olive baboons. After the sun sets, Bosman’s potto and the eastern needle-clawed bush babies emerge, adding a touch of nocturnal mystery to the park’s ambience.
Kahuzi-Biega surpasses any other national park in the Albertine Rift for mammal diversity. The dense forest vegetation may also reveal glimpses of the elusive bongo and the giant forest hog for the fortunate traveller. In the realm of the unique, Alexander’s and Thomas’ squirrels, the enigmatic aquatic civet, giant forest genet, Maclaud’s horseshoe bat, and Rwenzori otter shrew call Kahuzi-Biega their home.
Resonating through the park is a chorus of at least 349 identified bird species, of which at least 42 are endemic to the region. While the intelligent grey parrot may be spotted among the forested canopies, and the elusive Shelley’s crimsonwing may bless very lucky seekers with a sighting, the Congo peafowl steals the spotlight with its vibrant plumage, adding a touch of avian flair to the panorama.
A dormant volcano emerges from swamp and bamboo forest
Some treasures you may tick off here are Grauer’s and African green broadbill, Grauer’s swamp warbler, Rockefeller’s sunbird, yellow-crested helmetshrike, Albertine owlet, and the white-naped pigeon. The list of captivating species is long, with black-billed, Rwenzori, and Ross’s turacos, blue-headed coucal, blue malkoha, bar-tailed trogon, white-headed wood hoopoe, Petit’s cuckooshrike, Lühder’s, Doherty’s, and Lagden’s bushshrikes, mountain illadopsis, and multiple resplendent sunbird species all adding to the excitement of birding in this remarkable region.
Delving into the pages of bird books, one quickly realises the incredible diversity that graces Kahuzi-Biega’s skies – a testament to the park’s commitment to preserving not only the charismatic megafauna but also the delicate and vibrant ecosystems that support this remarkable array of life.
Explore & stay in Kahuzi-Biega
As you prepare to immerse yourself in the untamed beauty of Kahuzi-Biega National Park, a journey that promises encounters with rare wildlife and breathtaking landscapes, a thoughtful exploration plan ensures a seamless experience.
If it’s gorilla trekking you seek when visiting Kahuzi-Biega, it’s important to secure a place on a gorilla trek before travelling. It is crucial first to obtain a trekking permit, which is best applied for at least a month before arrival. When planning a visit to the area, remember to consult reliable travel sources for the latest information on safety, logistics, travel, visa and health advisories, and the status of accommodations.
“Goodbye”, reads the sign in Kahuzi-Biega National Park – a popular spot for visitors to capture selfies in the park
The optimal window to experience Kahuzi-Biega’s wonders is during the dry season, which extends from late May to September. July and June mark the driest months, accompanied by a slight drop in temperature. While January and February offer shorter dry periods, worry not about avoiding ‘peak tourist season’ in the DRC; crowds are not a concern in this pristine haven.
The journey to Kahuzi-Biega National Park unfolds as an adventure in itself. For those arriving from the Rwandan side of the Rusizi border, the park’s headquarters are approximately 230km away from Kigali International Airport, entailing a 5–7 hour drive. Roads in the area are challenging, and one may expect some exciting moments along the way! Alternatively, for luxury and efficiency, travellers can charter a light aircraft from Kavuma Airfield or Entebbe, Uganda.
A tea plantation in the region of Kahuzi-Biega
Bukavu is the closest town to the park, where accommodation is available, ranging from basic to luxuriously comfortable, and catering to diverse preferences and budgets. These accommodations provide a pleasant base for your explorations and offer glimpses into the local culture and hospitality.
The journey to Kahuzi-Biega transcends a mere visit – it becomes a holistic experience where the thrill of exploration blends with moments of relaxation and rejuvenation. Kahuzi-Biega National Park welcomes you not just as a spectator but as a participant in its ongoing narrative of conservation and appreciation for the wonders of the natural world.
Further reading
Discover more about Virunga National Park, a gorilla-trekking destination and UNESCO World Heritage Site, renowned for its unparalleled biodiversity. Rainforests, gorillas, endemic birds, bubbling volcanoes, and safari favourites await. Read more about Virunga here.
Volcanoes National Park is another leading gorilla trekking destination in Africa. This volcanic landscape offers stunning scenery & biodiversity. Read more about Volcanoes NP here.
New research in Namibia’s Etosha National Park has uncovered an unexpected addition to the diet of spotted hyenas: red-billed queleas. These pint-sized passerines have become the latest item on the hyena menu. This discovery highlights hyenas’ opportunistic hunting tactics and their adaptability to exploit new food sources, showcasing their dietary flexibility and ecological resilience.
If you asked any naturalist about the diet of spotted hyenas, they would probably answer that hyenas are generalist scavengers that will devour anything left behind by other predators, and they would be correct. In addition, we know these resilient animals are also adept hunters, capable of taking down wildebeest and antelope if they have to.
However, recent studies in the Etosha National Park in Namibia showed an unexpected new addition to the diet of spotted hyenas: small birds. A team of researchers from the Leibniz Institute for Zoo and Wildlife Research in Germany and the University of Ljubljana in Slovenia were at a waterhole in Namibia’s Etosha National Park when they witnessed hyenas hunting tiny birds.
On two separate occasions, Ruben Portas and Dr Miha Krofel documented hyenas chasing and eating red-billed queleas. These small songbirds, part of the passerine order, are known for their flocking behaviour. Red-billed queleas often congregate in large numbers of a few thousand – and estimated flock sizes regularly exceed hundreds of thousands. Information on bird predation by spotted hyenas is rare, though they have been known to predate on large birds such as flamingos and ostriches. These latest findings, detailed and published in the scientific journal Food Webs, show that their diets may extend even further.
Portas and Krofel watched the hyenas chasing and grabbing flying queleas in flight, picking them up from the ground and the water’s surface and swallowing them whole. Through their observations, they estimated that an individual hyena was capable of catching approximately one bird every three minutes. They observed this at the Aus waterhole in Etosha. In total, four spotted hyenas participated in this behaviour.
The duo observed 38 successful captures, with an average individual capture rate of 3.5 birds per 10-minute period. Thousands of queleas flocked together to drink, and some would fall in the water or occasionally to the ground, potentially from colliding with other birds in the flock. In addition to grabbing the easy prey, the hyenas also grabbed birds from the air. Photographic and video evidence captured the unique predatory behaviour, representing the first documented accounts of spotted hyenas feeding on small passerine birds.
“It adds to the known variety of the spotted hyena diet and hunting tactics, since this behaviour has not been reported before,” said Portas. “It confirms their flexibility and ability to exploit foraging opportunities from unusual food sources.” Between May and August, thousands of red-billed queleas gather at Namibian waterholes during winter migration, providing an abundant potential food source, and hyenas seem to capitalise on this.
The observations took place on two different days in May 2022. The research team visited the same waterhole on three occasions in June but saw no hyenas or red-billed queleas. They also visited other waterholes during the study period, and while there were queleas present, no hyenas capitalised on the opportunity.
Since observations were limited to a single waterhole, it is possible that only some hyenas, or a specific group, exhibited the described foraging behaviour. This behaviour may have occurred as an opportunistic response to an abundant food source. It suggests hyenas can adapt their foraging strategy in response to an abundant food source, in this case the large quelea flocks congregating at Namibian watering holes in the autumn months.
Watch a video of the hyenas hunting below:
The researchers visit Etosha regularly to research predators like lion, leopard and hyena. They will continue to investigate carnivore-scavenger interactions and information transfer in the scavenger community in Etosha National Park. This long-term research aims to better understand species interactions and ecosystem functioning.
The ability to snack on small birds provides spotted hyenas with an opportunistic new protein source, adding nutritional variety to their diets. It remains to be seen if this is a learned behaviour of a single hyena clan or if it could be a widespread interaction across Africa, where red-billed queleas and hyenas co-occur.
Future studies might reveal whether this behaviour is unique to the Etosha hyenas or a broader adaptation among hyenas in regions overlapping with quelea populations. The discovery highlights the dynamic nature of predator-prey interactions and the importance of continuous observation to fully understand the complexities of wildlife ecology.
New research using camera traps has measured spotted hyena population density in southern Tanzania – the first study of its kind for Tanzania. Read more about spotting spotted hyena’s here.
Unravelling the elaborate sex lives of spotted hyenas: High-ranked male spotted hyenas are more reproductively successful than their low-ranked rivals – hormone and behaviour analysis reveals why.
It’s time to give you a rare glimpse behind the scenes of African Parks’ outrageously audacious plan to rewild 2,000 farmed white rhinos.
It’s no secret that their plan is well underway and that several hundred of these chubby unicorns are now thriving in the bushveld. Press releases by African Parks have provided the details, but no one that I know of has provided a personal account of the capture and release process. Until now.
My story below describes an incredible journey I took a few months back. Amongst other contextual information, I also explore why southern white rhino populations dropped below 100 in the first place. Spoiler alert: it was not due to poaching to supply rhino horn to the Far East markets.
Thanks to Mongabay for co-publishing my story – although our story below includes a few more personal anecdotes for our AG tribe to enjoy!
Simon Espley – CEO, Africa Geographic
From our Editor – Taryn van Jaarsveld
Seals have been behaving very badly in the Western Cape of South Africa.
In the past few months, there have been many reports of Cape fur seals chasing beachgoers, biting swimmers, terrorising surfers and being uncharacteristically aggressive. A few weeks ago, scientists finally confirmed the cause: an outbreak of rabies amongst the region’s Cape fur seal population. This is the first ever documented rabies outbreak in marine mammals. The latest report confirms seals continue to wash ashore and that seventeen seals have tested positive for rabies.
With seals living in dense colonies, the chance of transmission between animals is high. Now, scientists are trying to mitigate the risk of seals spreading the disease onto other marine mammals further afield, such as to the Subantarctic and the Southern Ocean regions, through visiting elephant seals and Subantarctic fur seals. Procedures for vaccinating seals are being developed. The outbreak has, needless to say, shocked the experts. Watch this space.
You’ll find Simon’s story on African Parks’ bold rhino project below, and don’t miss our exploration of Uganda’s unique Kidepo Valley National Park – a birder’s paradise.
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Balguda the elephant was first recorded as an emerging tusker in 2014, in Tsavo East National Park Today, he is most likely Tsavo’s largest elephant.
We have partnered with Tsavo Trust to save some of Africa’s last remaining tuskers. Tsavo Trust monitors and conserves the elephant populations of the Tsavo Conservation Area, specifically focusing on tuskers. An estimated 50–100 tuskers remain in Africa, of which at least eight reside in Tsavo.
Elephants with tusks that touch the ground are a natural rarity and they are under constant threat from poachers seeking ivory, and trophy hunters actively targeting tuskers (outside of Kenya).
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As I scraped the early morning winter frost from my tent, I could not help but wonder if this was a suitable place for white rhinos. And yet, here, in the bitter cold of winter on the Highveld of South Africa, a short drive from Johannesburg, resides the world’s largest private white rhino herd. The 2,000-strong herd of Ceratotherium simum represents 12% of the remaining wild population. Also published onMongabay.
One hour later, I was staggering backwards across a tussocked grass paddock, hauling on a thick rope attached to a blindfolded 2.2-ton rhino, which had been darted with a sedative half an hour earlier. Muscles screaming and short of breath, I kept a keen eye on this beast as he tottered unsteadily a few meters away, lest his sporadic speed increases result in my demise.
Thirty minutes earlier, our team of eight had watched from the back of a bakkie (pickup truck) as a vet darted the rhino with an immobilising drug cocktail from a hovering helicopter. Then, a horseback rider herded the rhino to a clear area while the tranquiliser took effect. The rhino’s indignant trot turned to a slow, determined walk with comical goosesteps before he stumbled onto his side. Then it was “Go, go, go!” as we sped to the scene and clambered out.
The vet skillfully darts rhinos with tranquilisers from a helicopter
I watched as the experienced team sprang into action, administered a partial antidote, tested vitals, lubricated his eyes, and wrapped a blindfold over that massive head. Clipboards were rapidly filled up with data specific to our rhino. Within minutes, the horns (one large and one small) were removed with a chainsaw and signed for by an armed guard for safekeeping and subsequent secure offsite storage.
Why the rhino population crash?
It’s worth spending a few moments contextualising the worldwide rhino population crash at the hands of humankind, the backstory to my tale. Following the publication of naturalist William John Burchell’s drawings of the southern white rhino in 1817, European hunters, armed with increasingly effective rifles, decimated the species across Southern Africa. “That the mortality due to man was not negligible is made quite clear by the very few hunters who put pen to paper recording, for instance, the destruction of eighty animals by two men in one hunting season alone, or the slaughter of eight at a water hole in a single day,” celebrated rhino conservationist Ian Player wrote for the Natal Parks Service magazine in 1960. By the early 1900s, there were fewer than 100 left.
In 1895, Umfolozi Junction Reserve, today known as Hluhluwe-iMfolozi Park, was established specifically to save the white rhino from hunting. By the 1950s, the population had grown to more than 400. In 1960, Player began translocating groups of white rhinos to protected areas throughout their historic Southern African range. “Operation Rhino” was a spectacular success, seeing the population grow to about 20,000 by 2010.
But by 2012, a new wave of poaching threatened the species. Rhinos living in national parks were worst affected, with private landowners better resourced to protect their rhinos. Rhino deaths started outnumbering births, and the current population estimate of white rhinos is 16,803.
The killings are driven by rhino horn being considered a status symbol by wealthy Vietnamese and Chinese citizens, leading to hyped-up prices and stockpiling. Black market dealers use misleading campaigns via social media gossip linking rhino horn to nonsense cures for cancer and other life-threatening diseases. Lest you judge, this is no different to believing that diamonds (also extracted at high environmental cost) represent forever love. The use of rhino horn in Chinese Traditional Medicine to supposedly reduce fever and stop nose bleeds (amongst other ailments) provides the convenient cloak under which some of this skullduggery festers, and criticism is often dismissed as being culturally insensitive. Rhino horn consists of keratin – the same stuff as nails and hair.
A coterie of underground criminal syndicates (drugs, terrorism, weapons and human trafficking) have jumped on the bandwagon to benefit from the poaching and trafficking operations. The inevitable result of this is the eradication of rhinos over much of their historic range and the significant reduction in recent years of the stronghold populations in Southern Africa.
The growing role of private rhino owners, who likely now conserve more than 50% of Africa’s rhinos, is an important one. A supportive policy and economic environment have enabled their contribution, but this arrangement is becoming more difficult to sustain as costs associated with protecting rhinos against poaching skyrocket and revenue-generating options become insufficient.
The translocation team leads a rhino towards the transport crate
The world’s largest rhino breeding farm
The precarious status of rhinos prompted wealthy property developer John Hume to establish a large rhino-breeding operation on a Highveld farm. He planned to sell their horns (which can be regularly harvested without harming the animal), with the hope that this would displace the demand for poached rhino horn.
This extremely successful breeding operation had a few flaws that ultimately drove Hume to financial ruin. The straight-line logic of Hume’s model was naive in the face of today’s rampant illegal wildlife trafficking industry that uses legal channels to launder animal parts. But Hume’s biggest gamble was that CITES, the global wildlife trade convention, would permit international sales of rhino horn. This didn’t happen, despite enormous pressure being brought to bear on CITES by his legal team, alongside an active “sustainable use” lobby and rhino owners who have faced mounting security costs directly as a result of poaching. After hanging in there for as long as possible, Hume sold his farm and rhinos to African Parks, a nonprofit that manages protected areas across the continent. Under the deal, Hume retains ownership of a large store of harvested horns.
African Parks has now launched a project to rewild the farmed rhinos. Some will go to reserves managed by African Parks itself, and others will go to other well-managed reserves, such as those in the Greater Kruger region of South Africa.
Back to my first rhino of that day: the next procedure was to notch his ears to make it easier to identify him. Of course, blood was involved, but I was assured the procedure is relatively painless — a bit like human ear piercing. Finally, small tracking devices were attached to his ears to monitor his movement.
Then we attached ropes to his neck and back leg and cajoled him to stand up — not an easy task for the drugged behemoth. That done, we marched him some 500 meters, about a third of a mile, across the savannah to one of 32 crates before removing the blindfold and ropes and administering the final round of drugs: an antidote to the immobilising drug and a long-acting tranquiliser for the transport portion of this rhino’s journey that day. Then, it was back to the pickup to wait for the call that the next rhino was ready.
GKEPF vet, Günter Nowak, and CEO, Sharon-Haussmann, inspect the ear of a tranquilised rhino prior to attaching a tracking-device
At one stage, I retreated to the central capture area to gain a top-down perspective on this mind-boggling logistical undertaking from atop one of the transport crates. I saw the helicopter hovering above a rhino and her baby, numerous pickups delivering crew and supplies to capture sites, three groggy rhinos being frog-marched toward transport crates, rhino camp masters on horseback galloping after their next target, and cranes lifting transport crates and the precious cargo onto trucks. This is conservation at scale: an impressive collaboration of skilled professionals working under stressful, exhausting conditions, overseen by a management team obsessed with detail.
Of course, problems can arise when operating at this scale with such enormous creatures. I watched as one rhino shook off her blindfold and powered away from the transport crates, dragging four men with her. Within minutes, though, backup arrived, and the snorting giant was led to her crate. At the heart of the operation is data about every rhino on the farm. Each farm paddock has an attendant camp master who knows every rhino in their care. The choice of which rhinos to translocate on the day was made beforehand based on age and physical condition. Mothers with calves younger than two years old were left behind, while those with older calves moved on. The rhino camp master would spend the day on horseback, communicating via radio the identification of their next target to the vet in the helicopter, who would refer to a data set about that rhino to work out tranquiliser dosage levels.
Transport crates ready to load rhinos
It soon became clear to me that every decision made was based on the well-being of the rhinos. This operation was planned for a Monday morning, resulting in the large team gathering at the farm that Sunday night. However, nature had a different plan, and we ended up being delayed by three days due to a cold front, which brought lower-than-normal temperatures and increased the risk of pneumonia during the transport leg of the operation when the wind chill is a factor. And so we hung around on the farm for three days, although some of the contracted vets and security personnel took the gap to attend to other matters before returning the night before the operation took place. Once all 32 rhinos were successfully crated that day, ownership was transferred from African Parks to the new owners for the road trip of a lifetime: to freedom in the wild. The new owners fund the rhino translocation, with African Parks donating the rhinos. In this case, the rhinos were destined for the Greater Kruger, a coalition of private nature reserves sharing the unfenced western border of the massive Kruger National Park.
Will the rhinos be safe in their new home?
The predictable question for these rhinos is: Will they be safe from poaching? These private nature reserves maintain expensive and effective anti-poaching operations with excellent results.
Rhinos usually don’t move far from a good source of food and water, so most of these translocated rhinos aren’t expected to wander too far into the adjoining Kruger National Park, which has a higher poaching rate. Despite immense dedication from the rangers and management of the national park, this vast wilderness has multiple entry points, making it challenging to secure. Also, arrested poachers often walk free due to endemic corruption at all levels, including in South Africa’s law enforcement agencies. The white rhino population in Kruger has declined from an estimated 10,621 in 2011 to 1,850 in 2022 – a massive crash of 83% in 11 years. There’s little doubt that some of these translocated rhinos will be poached; it’s a reality that stares us all in the face as pragmatic conservation decisions are made in the interest of the species.
The journey home
So we headed out in convoy from the farm: four large trucks carrying 32 rhinos and several escort vehicles with contracted security personnel bristling with weapons. Seventeen hours later, we reached a private nature reserve in the stunning Greater Kruger bushveld with an excellent antipoaching record and a suitable white rhino habitat.
I have done many road trips across Africa, but this one takes the cake and will forever be etched into my memory. We all communicated via two-way radios – and the constant updates were an eye-opening insight into how seriously the security personnel took their roles. Our escorts often identified suspicious driving behaviour by third parties and positioned their vehicles to prevent their engagement with the trucks. Multiple stops were made so that the onboard vet could check on the rhinos. At about midnight, our convoy pulled into a deserted area for four hours of much-needed sleep – often disturbed by probing torch lights as our security team patrolled the area non-stop. Many nostril-quivering coffees and energy drinks later, we crawled into the Greater Kruger release site an hour after sunrise – exhausted but elated to have completed the most dangerous leg of the journey.
But our task was far from complete. It took the team another seven hours of back-breaking work to hoist the crates into a boma. This small, fenced-off area would serve as the rhinos’ home for a period of recovery and habituation while a team monitored their health. After that close surveillance period, the boma walls would be dropped, and the rhinos would be released into the wild. As the last rhino left its crate and explored the boma in the warm Lowveld, there was a collective sigh of relief and appreciation by all present at the sight of 32 content rhinos ambling around.
A rewilded rhino taking its first steps into the boma from a transport crate
Will farmed rhinos survive in the wild?
“Our aim is to de-risk rhinos by establishing up to 20 subpopulations across the continent, each with no fewer than 50 rhinos,” says Don Jooste, manager of African Parks’ Rhino Rewild project, whose framework was developed with external rhino specialists to determine the requirements for potential recipient areas.
“To be rhino-ready, potential recipient areas submit a proposal that is reviewed by African Parks and the Rhino Rewild Advisory Committee. The proposal has to cover habitat assessment, security measures and assessment, country regulatory support, and the recipient’s financial and management ability. Approved areas are subjected to a site visit, after which translocation logistics are planned and implemented.”
Representing one of these new rhino owners was Sharon Haussmann, CEO of Greater Kruger Environmental Protection Foundation (GKEPF), and a headstrong but gentle soul who has carved out her role in this male-dominated wildlife industry. Sharon, a longtime friend and sometimes travel companion when we seek out spectacular wild areas and inspirational conservationists, lives in my hometown. She’s the driving force securing some of African Parks’ rhinos for the Greater Kruger and the person who assumed custodianship of the precious cargo that day. During our many hours together on this sojourn, Sharon and I discussed the risks of introducing farmed rhinos to the harsh realities of predation, disease, malnutrition and dehydration in the wild.
Lions and hyenas represent a real threat to these naive rhinos. These apex predators quickly identify vulnerability and go in for the kill. Another threat is dominant wild rhino bulls, who may not take kindly to newcomers in “their” domain. A rhino bull can tip the scales at more than 2.5 tons and inflict severe damage and even death. Then there’s the threat of bushveld diseases that don’t occur in the cooler climes of the Highveld. The tick load is higher in the Lowveld, and related diseases are a concern. Further afield, trypanosomosis, or sleeping sickness, is a life-threatening vector-borne parasitic disease that affects vertebrates, including rhinos. Tryps, as it’s known, is carried by tsetse flies that don’t occur in the Kruger area but are found in other regions that will receive these rhinos.
African Parks has successfully translocated other rhinos to areas with high disease risks, such as Akagera National Park in Rwanda, and the organisation’s meticulous planning caters for disease risk. To add to the threats these rhinos face, their farm diet consists of a guaranteed supply of paddock grasses, supplementary crops, and concentrate pellets, with a drinking trough just a brief stroll away. In the bushveld, they make do with seasonally fluctuating quality and quantity of grass and water resources.
“Of course, some of the introduced rhinos will die from one or more of the above threats. But the majority will survive and, in so doing, play a vital role in ensuring the ongoing survival of white rhinos in the wild,” Haussmann says.
“From my perspective, Rhino Rewild satisfies two different objectives with vastly different implications and requirements. Firstly, the welfare of these farmed rhinos is important. It’s no secret that funding for the farm had dried up and that the previous owner was cutting corners. When African Parks took over this farm, its experts assessed each rhino and had to implement strict measures to improve the herd’s health.”
“Secondly,” continues Sharon, “this private herd represents vital genetics and significant numbers to bolster the wild rhino population. I see Rhino Rewild as marrying those two objectives. Yes, there will be deaths once these rhinos are released into the harsh world governed by Mother Nature, but the benefits far outweigh the risks. It’s the same with all rewilding projects. Lessons will be learned from this pioneering project that will power African conservation. This is about hope. Hope for open ecosystems, rhino populations and these individual rhinos.”
DID YOU KNOW that African Parks offers safari lodges and campsites where 100% of tourism revenue goes to conservation and local communities? You can plan and book your African Parks safari by clicking here.
The tale of one of the younger rhinos released into the Greater Kruger a few weeks earlier demonstrates the seriousness with which Greater Kruger and African Parks treat the welfare of the rhinos in their new destinations. During the final inspection before release, she was found to have lacerations around her eyes. The vets were not sure of the cause of the damage, but they stitched her up shortly before her release. Within days, she was separated from her mother, cornered and attacked by a clan of hyenas, and then subsequently also attacked by a dominant wild rhino bull.
It soon became apparent that this young rhino needed further assistance. She was again darted and found to be dehydrated, and her eye condition had deteriorated. Vets immediately moved her to an intensive care facility to recover from the trauma and regain her condition. The latest update is that her eye condition has cleared up, and she has put on weight. Once deemed stable, this young rhino will be transferred to another facility to join a small herd of young rhinos that will be released into the wild. This story encapsulates what my sense of Rhino Rewild is about: the application of rigorous science in the interests of the rhino population, combined with the ethical treatment of individual rhinos.
Recent status updates on the rhinos rewilded into Greater Kruger include a pregnant cow giving birth to a healthy baby, several sightings of rhinos integrating into the existing wild population, and mating between a wild territorial bull and a rewilded cow.
During a rare quiet moment amid this epic mission, Haussmann showed me how they keep track of every released rhino from earlier Greater Kruger translocations via a mobile app. Watching a livestream of locations and routes as these precious creatures explored their new home gave me goosebumps.
Northern white rhinos are extinct in the wild because of poaching and the illegal horn trade to feed humankind’s self-obsession. Their southern counterparts stand a better chance, partly because of this brave, visionary project. A luta continua!
About African Parks
African Parksis a non-profit conservation organisation that takes on direct responsibility for rehabilitating and managing protected areas in partnership with governments and local communities. They manage 22 parks across 12 countries, encompassing over 20 million hectares – the most area under protection for an NGO in Africa, with the largest counter-poaching force.
About Greater Kruger Environmental Protection Foundation
GKEPF is a not-for-profit organisation that assists with the cooperation and coordination necessary to combat environmental crime in the Greater Kruger region. Its area of focus includes the middle portion of Kruger National Park and the private reserves on the eastern and western borders of the park.
About Simon Espley
Simon is the CEO of Africa Geographic and founder of Ukuri – safari camps for responsible travellers. His African travels are in search of wilderness, elusive birds and real people with interesting stories. A qualified chartered accountant, he lives in South Africa with his wife Lizz and 2 Jack Russells.
Uganda has an incredible variety of animal, bird, and plant species, making it one of the most biodiverse countries in the world. Widely known as the Pearl of Africa, the country is estimated to hold 40% of Africa’s mammal species and 10% of the world’s bird species. Known as a birder’s paradise, Kidepo Valley National Park is the third-largest National Park in Uganda, brimming with this abundance of Ugandan wildlife.
Tucked away in the northeastern corner of Uganda, bordered by South Sudan and Kenya, Kidepo Valley National Park is not exactly on the beaten path. Despite a turbulent history, the park today welcomes adventurous travellers seeking an untamed and uncharted African experience, far from the usual safari crowds. It is a reasonably gruelling ten-hour drive from Uganda’s capital city, Kampala, but as a consequence, the park has the charm of a hidden gem. The 1,444km2 extent of this national park is composed of river valleys, undulating plains and forested mountains supporting a breathtaking array of wildlife. CNN dubbed it as “possibly the most picturesque park in Africa”.
The Narus River, bisecting the park, and the Kidepo River, prone to flash floods, attract large herds of buffalos, crocodiles, and birds. These rivers offer excellent opportunities for wildlife and bird spotting. To the west and southeast of the park, forested mountains rising to over 2740m rim the park. The landscape is best described as open savannahs of both long and short grasses, reminiscent of Kenya’s Maasai Mara, dotted with borassus palms and sausage trees. Adding to the abundance of this diverse landscape are several vegetation types, from the iconic acacia-dominated plains to fire-climax grasslands, wetlands, tree- and shrub-steppe, thickets, and forests. The savannah is further interrupted by scattered rocky granite outcrops. To the west, the terrain transitions entirely into the Napore Nyagia Hills, while in the east, the two valleys are divided by the Lokayot and Natira Hills.
The lifeblood of Kidepo’s cultural heritage lies in the local communities around the park, which are made up of the cattle-herding Karamojong people, believed to have migrated from Ethiopia in 1600AD, and the hunter-gatherer Ik tribe, a small tribe living on the slopes of Mount Morungole.
Elephants gather around a stream in Kidepo Valley
Where the wild things are
While Kidepo is known for the variety of birds it offers birding enthusiasts, including some spectacular endemics, it also offers breathtaking, vast and rolling landscapes and abundant wildlife. If experiencing the colours of Africa is high on your bucket list, then Kidepo is the place to visit. The amber of a lion lying in the long, pink grasses at sunset, the patchy chess-boards of brown and green as Rothschild giraffes sway through the thorn trees, and the multi-hued feathery splendour of 470 bird species create a vibrant palette.
Four of the Big 5 are present in Kidepo Valley (rhinos are absent)A lion strides across the open veld in Kidepo
With over 86 mammal species, you will never get bored on game drives in the Kidepo Valley NP, with a choice from buffalo to bat-eared foxes, from aardvark to zebra. Four of the Big 5 can be found here (rhinos are absent), and there are plans to re-introduce white rhinos into the park. It’s a haven for predators, too, both the mammalian and feathered variety. Side-striped jackals are the most common carnivores, while their less frequently seen black-backed counterparts reside in the drier regions. Lions, leopards, and spotted hyenas might give you an eyeful of a kill in action, particularly in the dry season when the animals tend to gather at the few remaining pools along the riverbeds. The open savannahs, scattered with termite mounds and rocky outcrops, provide the perfect habitat for cheetahs to stalk their preferred prey, the oribi. Birds of prey include the pygmy falcon, Verreaux’s eagle, Egyptian vulture, the grey kestrel, the lesser kestrel, the fox kestrel, the pallid harrier and white-faced scops owl.
The birds of Kidepo are a significant drawcard, as it hosts the second-highest bird record of any Ugandan protected area and is considered an Important Bird Area, supporting Somali-Maasai and Sudan-Guinea biome endemics. Many specials are even spotted at the park’s campsites. Interesting ‘specials’ include the Karamoja apalis, Jackson’s hornbill and the black-breasted barbet, which get birders glassy-eyed. Amongst the feathery delights are the golden pipit flitting like a comet, the silverbird flycatcher, the superb starling flashing iridescent feathers, the scarlet-chested sunbird, and the aptly named beautiful sunbird, a rainbow on wings. Clapperton’s spurfowl, yellow-necked spurfowl, white-headed buffalo weaver, steel-blue whydah, rose-ringed parakeet and large herds of ostriches can also be found here.
Antelope abound and include Jackson’s hartebeest, eland, bushbuck, Defassa waterbuck, kudu, Chandler’s mountain reedbuck, bohor reedbuck, oribi, Guenther’s dik-dik, Uganda kob, and if you are lucky, Bright’s gazelle, a subspecies of Grant’s.
Dozens of antelope species thrive in Kidepo Valley, including Defassa waterbuck
Kidepo also hosts a recently discovered crocodile species (discovered in 2012) – the West African crocodile (Crocodylus suchus) – which was initially thought to be a subspecies of the Nile crocodile but turned out to be genetically distinct. An interesting fact about this species is that it was used by the temple priests in Ancient Egypt, who mummified these crocodiles and placed them in the tombs of pharaohs to act as offerings to deities or accompany the pharaohs into the afterlife.
The park supports over 690 plant species, and visitors will be charmed by the occurrence of iconic and beautiful tree species, such as the buffalo thorn, red thorn acacias, whistling thorn acacias, the fan palm, the sausage tree, and the drumstick tree.
A red-cheeked cordon-bleu (left) and grey-backed camaroptera in Kidepo. The park is an exciting birding safari destination
History of Kidepo Valley
The area was gazetted in 1958 as a game reserve, primarily to prevent hunting and poaching and to protect this natural area from bush clearing in the name of tsetse fly control. It was converted into a national park in 1962. From the 1970s to the 2000s, it went through a turbulent period due to political tensions when resistance movements and armies crisscrossing the park. During this time, increased grazing and poaching occurred, which the under-resourced park staff could not curb. As a result, several species, such as wild dogs, rhinos and roan antelope, were locally extirpated. The park currently has plans to reintroduce some of these species.
Since 2006, Kidepo has been safely accessible. The Uganda Wildlife Authority has delineated the park into four management zones, including a collaborative management zone, where community residents can harvest resources through collaborative management agreements.
Rains are abundant in the park between April and September
When to visit Kidepo
The park has two seasons. The scorching dry season is from October to March when the rivers (except Narus) dry out, and the grasses are shorter (there is a brief rainy period between October and November). This is the best time to see wildlife, as the animals are attracted to the few remaining waterholes and are visible in the short grass. In the wet season, from April to September, rain falls (up to 890mm in the season alone), making the roads difficult to navigate. During this time, animals retreat into the thicker woodlands.
Kidepo is known for its large herds of buffalos
Explore and stay in Kidepo
Visitors to Kidepo have numerous accommodation options. There are campsites in the park (with ablution facilities) where guests can set up their own tents, a rest camp featuring self-contained chalets and a camp featuring smaller bandas with external ablution facilities. There are also mid-range and luxury lodges available in the park. In terms of activities, guided walks and drives offer the opportunity to explore. Visitors who want to walk in the park should visit in the dry season, as paths become muddy and slippery in the rainy season.
Exploring Kidepo on a guided game drive
The park has some exceptional viewing points, such as Mount Morungole, at a height of 2,750m. From here, it feels as if one can see into the deepest Africa. The Namamukweny Valley in the northwest of the park offers beautiful views and excellent birding, with white-crested turaco, Abyssinian roller, and green woodhoopoe often spotted here (although ironically, the name means “place with no birds”). There are also idyllic opportunities to view the park from a bird’s eye view from a hot air balloon.
The Kanagorok Hot Springs, located in Lotukei on the South Sudanese boundary of the park, are also worth a visit. Local tribes consider the springs a sacred place for healing.
Visitors can also get a taste of the local culture by visiting the villages of the Karamojong tribe. They can witness their dancing traditions, partake in regional cuisine, and hear about their customs and history through storytelling.
Guided walks offer the opportunity to explore lesser-visited spots in the park
How to get there
Visitors might not want to take the tiresome 10-hour driving route from Kampala via Karuma, Gulu, and Kitgum, which includes both tarmac and gravel roads. In that case, charter flights from Entebbe International Airport or Kampala Aero Club can be taken to the Apoka airstrip. These flights only operate on certain days of the week and require a minimum number of passengers.
Alternatively, one can make a road trip and go via a longer route. Visitors frequently drive from Murchison Falls, which takes 7 hours or less. Some visitors break up the journey by spending a night near Sipi Falls.
Yellow-billed shrikes photographed in Kidepo Valley, a popular birding safari hotspot
The charm of the light
The park’s ambience is often described with a mention of the “soft, glowing light” that characterises the vistas of the Kidepo Valley National Park. This gentle light, its high conservation value, its attraction as a birding safari destination, its unique fauna and crocodile species, multiple habitat types, endemic plants and animal species, beautiful landscape, and rivers means that the Kidepo Valley deserves a spot on your travel bucket list.
A Uganda birding safari offers amazing bucket-list sightings, with over 1,065 species on offer. Col Roberts visited Uganda on an AG safari, and included Kidepo Valley in his travels. Read more about his Ugandan birding bonanza here.
Landscape: Niassa Special Reserve in northern Mozambique. Miles and miles of woodland, winding sandy riverbeds and iconic inselbergs that reach for the stars. Niassa is connected to the Selous Game Reserve and Nyerere National Park in southern Tanzania by the Selous-Niassa corridor and to Quirimbas National Park to its east. This remains one of Africa’s largest contiguous wilderness areas. I have visited this Jurassic landscape several times and wrote this story after my last sojourn.
Creature: Shelley’s crimsonwing Cryptospiza shelleyi from the Albertine Rift area of East Africa. I have tried to catch a glimpse of this elusive montane forest finch on many occasions, but it has eluded me so far. Aside from a few photos taken during biodiversity netting projects, there is no known photo of this bird in the wild.
Tree: OK, the baobab Adansonia digitata is a succulent, but they identify as trees ;-). These iconic giants dominate landscapes and speak of ancient knowledge, patience and wisdom.
Safaris:
Big 5 + chimps + gorillas in Rwanda – Smash that bucket list! Explore Rwanda’s three most popular national parks – Akagera (Big 5), Nyungwe (chimp trekking) and Volcanoes (mountain gorilla and golden monkey trekking).
Finding wild dogs – Visit Hwange, Mana Pools and Victoria Falls in Zimbabwe, and Linyanti and Khwai in Botswana. Enjoy guided bush walks, game drives, mokoro excursions and canoe trips – all in search of Africa’s charismatic painted wolves.
Safari njema!
Simon Espley – CEO, Africa Geographic
From our Editor – Taryn van Jaarsveld
Have you ever heard of a sand cat? I hadn’t until a few years ago, when AG published Grégory Breton of Panthera’s tale of finding tiny sand cat kittens in the Moroccan Sahara. Not much is known about these desert cats: finding them is near impossible. They don’t leave tracks, devour prey without a trace, and vocalise silently. They are excellent hiders, and their brown fur is the perfect desert camouflage. Plus, they can travel large distances in short periods. In fact, they have the widest-ranging territory of all the small wild cats. Very little is known about how they mate, relate, and migrate – a gap in the literature Panthera is trying to fill.
But one of the most fascinating things about these cats is that their hunting efficiency (they have excellent hearing and an incredible ability to dig for prey) has inspired a global optimisation algorithm. Sand Cat Swarm Optimisation is applied in engineering design, energy systems, designing models for artificial intelligence and machine learning, and even in drug formulation. Not bad for a cat that, at <6 pounds, weighs less than a bag of apples!
And still on the point of seeking nocturnal animals… Check out our excellent guide on Africa’s nocturnal animals, and where to find them, below. Also, don’t miss the new research on giraffe necks, which questions whether feeding or mating played the bigger role in giraffe neck evolution.
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Fancy a safari that combines exceptional wildlife encounters, natural wonders, and an island-style break? Or how about unlocking your creativity on an art safari?Check out these safaris below, orclick here for free safari planning.
Explore the majesty of the Zambezi River and Victoria Falls, and then head into the heart of the wilderness of South Luangwa National Park, Zambia – the birthplace of walking safaris and one of Africa’s leopard hotspots. Your last stop is Nankoma Island on Lake Malawi, where you’ll enjoy sun-soaked adventure and relaxation.
Experience the bushveld while unlocking your creativity. Join professional wildlife artist Alison Nicholls on this art safari in Big 5, malaria-free Madikwe Game Reserve. Enjoy game drives, attend art workshops, and hone your wildlife-sketching skills in the best setting possible. Artists of all levels are welcome! Only 1 spot left.
Here’s what traveller Hannah had to say about her safari with AG to Timbavati Private Nature Reserve in Greater Kruger, South Africa:
An amazing adventure from start to finish: “Seven unforgettable safari days that were perfectly organised from the beginning. We received excellent advice and felt well taken care of the whole time. We stayed in two incredible lodges. The transfers and overnight stays were also perfect. We saw tons of amazing animals and learned so much from the rangers. It really was the trip of a lifetime! We’ll be spreading the word about AG. Thanks so much for making our dream trip come true!”
WATCH: Odzala-Kokoua NP in the remote northwest of Congo-Brazzaville is one of Africa’s oldest national parks and the ideal destination for lowland gorilla trekking. For a taste of what you’ll find in Odzala-Kokoua, click here to watch. (0:52)
As the sun dips below the horizon and most safari guests start to think longingly of the five-course dinner awaiting them at the lodge, the nocturnal animals of the African night begin to stir. Noses twitch, pupils dilate, and limbs stretch out in preparation for the long, dark hours ahead.
They may be challenging to find, but Africa’s nocturnal animals are all the more rewarding for their rarity. Feast your eyes on our list of favourite lucifugous beasties and some advice on where to start the search.
Want to join us in an exploration of the African night? Check out these African safaris offering ample experiences of nocturnal and diurnal animals.
Pangolin
For an animal that looks somewhat like an anxious walking artichoke, the pangolin must be one of the most charming little characters roaming the continent. These inoffensive eccentrics are covered in a layer of keratin scales and sport powerful claws and a long sticky tongue for lapping up termites and ants.
Where to start? During the winter months in the arid areas of southern Africa, ground pangolins often emerge before dusk to begin their myrmecophagous hunt. Guests at Tswalu Kalahari Reserve in South Africa tend to have excellent pangolin luck.
A Temminck’s (ground) pangolin spotted in Manyoni Private Game Reserve, South Africa
Honey badger
Few things in life genuinely live up to their reputation, but the honey badger certainly does. Known for their tenacity and toughness, they pack a punch that belies their small size when threatened but are otherwise largely content to simply go about their business.
Where to start? Honey badgers are predominantly nocturnal animals but are often active during the cooler winter days. Though they thrive in many habitats, arid regions like the Central Kalahari Game Reserve in Botswana offer a good chance to spot one due to the sparse vegetation (and their bolshie tendency to visit the campsites). To plan your next Botswana safari, click here.
A honey badger seen in camp in the Okavango Delta
Bush baby
Bush babies (or galagos as they are more formally known) are a group of nocturnal primates found throughout sub-Saharan Africa. The continent’s myriad species come in many shapes and sizes, some utterly adorable. This is especially true of the tiny lesser Galagos, with their enormous bat-like ears and wide, surprised eyes.
Where to start? Almost anywhere on safari! Grab a spotlight or a flashlight and keep an eye out for quick reflection of their eye-shine as they leap from tree to tree. But be ready – these nocturnal animals can move fast! To browse our best African safaris on offer, click here.
The bright-eyed lesser bushbaby
Aardvark
The unique aardvark, with its ginormous rabbit ears and pig-like snout, is one of Africa’s weirdest and more wonderful offerings. Aardvarks have poor eyesight and can be hyper-focused on their termite prey while foraging. As a result, a careful and considered approach may be rewarded with a lengthy and very special sighting.
Where to start? Aardvarks are generally shy animals, but, like many of the nocturnal animals on this list, cold winter temperatures usually force them to search for food before dusk. The Karoo region in South Africa is home to (relatively) high densities of aardvark.
An aardvark slinks into the night in Kimberley, South Africa
Genet
With needle-sharp teeth and a ferocious pounce, the lithe genets of Africa spend their evenings terrorising the tiny mammals, birds, and reptiles of the forests, savannas, and grasslands. These little predators are the epitome of grace and agility, seemingly flowing over obstacles, up trees and through the undergrowth.
Where to start? Genets are found throughout much of sub-Saharan Africa, though extended sightings are rare outside of a lodge context (where they have learned to associate people with food). There have been reports of melanistic genets wandering the plains of the Maasai Mara. To plan your Maasai Mara safari, click here.
Witnessing the agility and elegance of genets in the wild is a treat
Civet
The African civet, with its masquerade facial markings, makes many people think of a raccoon, though the two species are unrelated. They are widely distributed throughout Africa’s savannah and forest habitats, but the civet’s nocturnal and elusive habits make encountering one in the wild a rare treat.
Where to start? Civets are creatures of habit, generally walking the same well-trodden paths night after night. There are several lodges in the Greater Kruger with “resident” civets that pass through during the hours of darkness. To plan your Greater Kruger safari, click here.
African civets are very elusive and difficult to spot
Cape porcupine
These prickly customers are the largest rodents in Africa – stocky, robust animals with short limbs and a protective quiver of barbed quills. Porcupines are decidedly family-oriented despite their somewhat antisocial appearance. It is not uncommon to encounter a family unit consisting of a monogamous male and female and their latest porcupette foraging together.
Where to start? Cape porcupines are widely distributed throughout most of sub-Saharan Africa, and the chances of encountering one on a night drive are roughly the same in many of the more popular safari destinations. Arid areas like the Kalahari and Namibia may offer the best opportunity to spot one because the vegetation cover is less dense.
A Cape porcupine enjoys a quiet drink in the dead of night
Aye-aye
Of the 12 fascinating animals on this list, Madagascar’s aye-aye is perhaps the most fantastical and outlandish. The world’s largest nocturnal primate is technically a lemur but sports several unusual anatomical adaptations that set it apart, including constantly growing incisors and a sixth digit (a “pseudo thumb”) on the front paws. The long, thin third finger is used woodpecker-like to tap on bark to locate insects and then fish the grubs out of their hiding places.
Where to start? The dense forests of Nosy Mangabe off the coast of eastern Madagascar offer some of the most reliable sightings of these endangered lemurs. They were introduced to the island during the 1960s as a conservation initiative and have flourished ever since.
A female aye-aye spotted in Loky-Manambato, Madagascar
Springhare
The bouncy springhare is Africa’s answer to the kangaroo, albeit in miniature form. At night, these spring-loaded rodents emerge from their underground burrows to forage, using their long tails to balance as they hop around searching for juicy roots and stems.
Where to start? Springhares thrive in the semi-arid regions of southern Africa, so a night drive in Madikwe Game Reserve in South Africa or the Tuli Block in Botswana may well reveal a glimpse of a lively springhare (or ten). To find out more about Madikwe and to browse safaris to Madikwe, click here.
The cartoon-like springhare
Aardwolf
The shy and elusive aardwolf is perhaps one of the continent’s most underappreciated animals. These unique animals belong to the hyena family but are entirely myrmecophagous (they only eat termites and ants). They are also probably the most winsome of all the hyena species, with dramatically striped coats, delicate facial features, and oversized ears.
Where to start? There are two distinct populations of aardwolf in Africa, one in southern Africa and the other in East Africa. The best chance of finding one in southern Africa would be through exploring the vast Kalahari Basin, perhaps in Kgalagadi National Park in South Africa or Botswana’s salt pans. To find out more about safaris in the salt pans, click here.
An aardwolf foraging in the Karoo
Bushpig
It seems astonishing that such a large animal might so easily evade visitors, yet few safari-goers ever glimpse the stocky, shaggy bushpig in the wild. Though often described as “dangerous” and “aggressive”, these porcine omnivores are wary and circumspect and generally avoid humans (unlike their brash and fearless cousins, the warthog).
Where to start? Bushpigs are adaptable animals found across a wide range of habitats. However, there are few areas where they are sufficiently habituated to people to make for reliable sightings. Some campsites in Hluhluwe-iMfolozi Park are known for their nightly visits from marauding bushpigs, though they should be treated with absolute respect and given plenty of space.
The stocky and adaptable bushpig
Bat-eared fox
As the name implies, bat-eared foxes are defined by their enormous ears, reaching almost a third of their total body length. They are the only insectivorous canid species in the world, with a unique dental arrangement designed to suit their unusual diets. They generally forage in small families and are endlessly entertaining, with oddly sardonic expressions beneath their ridiculously oversized ears.
Where to start? Visitors to Marakele National Park in the heart of South Africa’s Waterberg Mountains and Nossob Camp in the Kgalagadi National Park regularly enjoy delightful bat-eared fox sightings. They are also regularly encountered in parts of the Serengeti National Park in Tanzania and the neighbouring Maasai Mara National Reserve. To plan your Serengeti safari, click here.
Did giraffes evolve their iconic long necks for sex or food? A new study explores whether these majestic features evolved more for foraging or mating, offering fresh insights into giraffe evolution.
Giraffes are among the most iconic and instantly recognisable animals on the planet, thanks to their extraordinarily long necks. Towering over Africa’s savannah, these majestic creatures can reach heights of up to 5.5 metres, with their necks alone accounting for about 1.8 metres of that stature. But why did giraffes evolve such a unique and seemingly cumbersome feature? This question has fascinated curious minds for centuries.
For many years, scientists argued that giraffes’ elongated necks developed due to the environmental pressures of browsing for food high in the tree canopy. Early evolutionary biologists like Jean-Baptiste Lamarck and Charles Darwin proposed that this adaptation allowed giraffes to minimise competition with other herbivores by accessing leaves that were unreachable to most.
Others suggested that giraffes developed long necks for competition related to mating, as male giraffes often engage in aggressive necking interactions to assert social dominance within their breeding herds. These neck sparring matches provided an advantage to males with longer and stronger necks, leading to more reproductive success over different generations.
Neither side of the camp was wrong because the future of a species will always depend on food for survival and sex to continue the species, but what was the most important factor in the evolution of their long necks? The necks-for-sex hypothesis always overshadowed the hypothesis that they developed long necks for nutritional purposes.
A team of biologists from Penn State University in Pennsylvania is adding to the debate with some new findings published in the journal Mammalian Biology. To come to their conclusions, they studied Masai giraffes (Giraffa tippelskirchi) in captivity and the Tanzanian wilderness.
Two adults and a calf Masai giraffe photographed by the study leader
One interesting finding arising from the study showed that, surprisingly, female giraffes have proportionally longer necks than males. They indicated that the female giraffe’s longer necks might allow them to access difficult-to-reach leaves deeper in the crowns of trees, to satisfy higher nutritional demands. A longer neck could give females an edge in finding sufficient nutrients during pregnancy and lactation, making longer necks a feature crucial for successfully carrying and nursing their young. Differing nutritional requirements between males and females mean that they feed at different points in the tree.
“Males and females will browse at all heights, but females predominately feed at lower heights, and males higher. Note that this is not just because males are taller; males hold their necks closer to perpendicular whereas females will typically feed holding their necks near horizontal,” explains Douglas Cavener, Distinguished Chair in Evolutionary Genetics at Penn State University.
A female giraffe targeting succulent leaves
Their study also revealed how the proportional lengths of a giraffe’s neck, legs, and torso differ between males and females. Male and female giraffes look almost identical at birth. Their neck length, leg length, and other proportions are very similar in the first few years of life. However, as they age, their body shapes start to diverge based on their sex.
The study found that male giraffes develop proportionally longer forelegs compared to their hind legs and trunks than females. This may be connected to their behaviours of leg kicking, and foreleg pushes used in physical fights with other males. Longer front legs could help males push with more force in competitions for dominance and access to mates.
This was an unexpected find, even for those involved in the study. “I was surprised to see that females have proportionally longer necks. I was also surprised that other body components, including the trunk, neck thickness, and foreleg lengths, showed sexual dimorphisms in body proportions,” explained Cavener. He said it was surprising that none of these differences existed in newborn calves. It takes almost three years to start seeing these differences between the sexes.
How do you conduct a study like this without capturing giraffes and using a measuring tape? Researchers collected over 350 images of Masai giraffes from North American zoos, and giraffes in the wild. Some giraffes were photographed multiple times at different ages, allowing analysis of body proportion changes. Only those where giraffes stood perpendicular to the camera were useful.
Since it is challenging to establish exact measurements such as total height from a photograph without a known reference point, the researchers concentrated on relative measurements or body proportions, like the neck length compared to the animal’s overall height.
They also knew the ages of the captive giraffes, which allowed them to analyse proportion changes from birth to maturity. They estimated wild giraffe ages but only used giraffes over a certain age. Statistical modelling then revealed age-related sexual dimorphism patterns, validated by similarities in both captive and wild populations.
The Masai giraffes studied within North American zoos and parks can trace their ancestry to a founding population-based in southeastern Kenya and northeastern Tanzania. This original group lived east of the cliffs formed by the Gregory Rift Valley, a notable geological feature of the region.
In 2023, scientists from the same university classified these giraffes as a subpopulation known as Eastern Masai giraffes. Comparing the captive and wild subgroups provided valuable data for the study, as their ancestral origins overlap within the geographic borders of East Africa.
While competition among males and female preference for larger mates may have driven the size differences between the sexes, the study’s conclusion sheds light on how neck length evolved due to the foraging needs of female giraffes. And with habitat loss and poaching leading to a declining giraffe gene pool, innovative conservation solutions that factor in ecology and genetics are more important than ever.
Giraffe social structure is as complex as elephants’ – consisting of intricate communication, stable kinship groups and supportive mothering. Read more here.
Under pressure – genetic research on giraffes reveals evolutionary secrets of how they cope with high blood pressure and maintain bone density. Read more about giraffe evolution here.
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Are fenced lions happy? + Badingilo & Boma + finding wild dogs on safari
It hit me like a ton of bricks as I stepped off the bus – and changed my life. My first excursion to the bushveld was as a young man shortly after beginning my university education. Having grown up in Cape Town, which has a Mediterranean climate and domesticated landscape, my holiday to Pilanesberg National Park near Johannesburg was an exciting sojourn into the unknown. After a two-hour flight and three-hour road trip in an air-conditioned bus, I had arrived.
Shortly before entering the park, our bus shuddered to a halt because a massive African rock python was blocking the way. Of course, we all clambered out to get a better look as the 4m stunner made its way slowly across the road.
As I exited the bus, I was overwhelmed by the very scent of Africa – the humid, fecund air so laden with expectation and promise. Africa wrapped around me like a warm embrace, stirring an electrifying sense of anticipation deep within. Every sound seemed amplified, my skin tingled, and my heart quickened. A hormonal supercharging of sorts that has remained with me ever since.
As I write this on my veranda in a bushveld town bordering the Greater Kruger, the early morning heralds an unadulterated joy of being alive. When and where were you infected by mal d’afrique?
Finally for this week, a well-written Daily Maverick article that highlights the hard work by teamAG to reveal the facts behind trophy hunting Africa’s remaining big-tusked elephants.
Simon Espley – CEO, Africa Geographic
From our Editor – Taryn van Jaarsveld
Could South Africa’s most endangered terrestrial bird go extinct within a year? Scientists believe that, without aggressive conservation efforts, Botha’s lark may be lost by 2025.
A rapid 90% decline in the Botha’s lark population over the past decade is a symptomatic indication of the declining grassland habitat in South Africa. There are only 340 of these petite brown birds left in the wild. Scientists from Birdlife South Africa are warning that loss of habitat and lack of funding to mitigate threats may lead to their demise. Learn more about how you can help these little larks here.
Are lions living in fenced reserves happy? Find out more below. Also, read about the Afrika Odyssey expedition team’s journey to South Sudan’s Badingilo and Boma NPs to learn more about what conserving the world’s largest land-mammal migration looks like on the ground.
DID YOU KNOW?
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!
This unforgettable 14-day journey through Southern Africa, led by expert guides, will take you to all the best spots to see endangered African wild dogs. Visit Hwange, Mana Pools, Linyanti and Khwai, and stop over in Victoria Falls. Experience guided bush walks, game drives and mokoro excursions – all in search of painted wolves.
This safari in the Okavango Delta, Botswana, is a great introduction to this watery paradise. The Okavango is a lush wilderness of grassy floodplains, islands and water channels, which are engineered and maintained by hippos and elephants.
Don’t miss out on exploring one of the most fascinating ecosystems on the planet.
Remember the pangolin brought into Provet Animal Hospital almost a year ago? She was confiscated from the illegal wildlife trade when she was found clutching her 230-gram newborn premature pup.
Thanks to Provet Wildlife Services and Umoya Khulula Wildlife Centre, her pangolin pup is now a very lively and feisty teenager, weighing over 5kg. The pup is due to be released back into the wild this spring. He recently became a hero and donated blood to another very sick pangolin, giving another in need a second chance at life.
The cost of rescuing a pangolin and hospitalising it for ONE week is about US$800 (ZAR15,000). You can help with this process by donating and lending your support to the hard-working teams who are dedicated to saving Africa’s pangolins.
Note that all pangolins are housed at offsite locations for security purposes.
WATCH: Nyungwe National Park, Rwanda, hosts Africa’s most extensive protected tract of montane forest. Take a minute to experience the magic of this verdant oasis. (01:02). Click here to watch
How does lion pride behaviour differ between fenced and open systems? Research teams monitoring lions in Kruger National Park, Pilanesberg National Park and Savé Valley Conservancy aim to find out. By collecting GPS, genetic-stress and behavioural data in a set of fenced reserves researchers are able to study how aggressiveness and territoriality regarding kinship between prides are affected by management practices.
Are fenced lions happy? This is not as far-fetched a question as one might think. A lion has needs not dissimilar to humans – access to shelter, food, company, space and not too much stress. In lion terms, this would equate to issues around territory, prey availability, mates, and pride dynamics.
You may ask, what are the stresses that the king of the savannah faces? Aside, that is, from needing to fill his belly with antelope filet and finding a suitable spot in the sun to sleep it off? Nowadays, it boils down to the threats lions face, such as the consequences of human-wildlife conflict, habitat loss and decreased prey availability. These pressures are frequently ‘solved’ by fencing lions into protected areas. This often works well, as lion numbers tend to increase when protected. But what are the long-term effects on lions caused by fencing these wide-ranging creatures into closed areas?
What happens when lions are stuck in one place? Professor Jan Venter, his research team at Nelson Mandela University, the Southern African Conservation Trust and other project partners are working on this question in various reserves, including the Pilanesberg National Park and the Kruger National Park in South Africa. Of course, the answer is likely to be complex and knotty, as most conservation issues are, but it is relevant to the future of African lion populations.
Why do we want to know what happens to lions in reserves?
Lions used to roam freely across the great plains of Africa. With all its associated infrastructural and agricultural expansion, a burgeoning human population is putting more and more pressure on Africa’s wild spaces. The consequent increases in human-lion conflict and the need to keep human pressures off the land means that it is increasingly likely that protected areas will be fenced. Ideally, it would be great to find ways to integrate humans and wildlife across conservation areas, but we need to be realistic, too – this is not the answer for every landscape. If we want healthy ecosystem processes, we must protect some of the integrity of the last remaining ecosystems.
The African lion is listed as vulnerable on the IUCN Red List of threatened species, and its population has decreased by 75% in just five decades. In a nutshell, lions need protection, and this has played out as lions are increasingly confined to fenced reserves. Research shows that prides in fenced parks generally tend to have equal numbers of male and female lions, whereas those in more open areas have more females than males. In the more open landscapes, young males have space to disperse to start their pride, and this is an essential part of preventing inbreeding and keeping lion genetic diversity healthy. What happens when there is no space for more prides? The males stay at home. Ensuring genetic diversity requires a lot of intensive management in fenced reserves. Lion populations proliferate, and managers find it challenging to find new areas where young dispersing animals can be translocated. However, lions are unpredictable creatures, and sometimes, young males survive by staying in their pride. The question is – what then? Does the pride struggle to maintain integrity with competitive males? Do the closely packed prides get more or less territorial and aggressive with their neighbours? And what if those neighbours are closely related (as would happen in a closed area)? Or do they get stressed because they are living right next door to their mother-in-law, so to speak?
How to find the answers
Before one can understand lion behaviour in these situations, one first needs to find out how many lions are in the selected reserves and which lions are in each pride. Counting lions is not as easy as one might think. Besides the manes, they tend to look alike and move about. If reserves don’t have a person dedicated to lion monitoring, and many don’t because of the expense, they can quickly lose count of their lions. This is why the researchers decided to go into Pilanesberg National Park and work out the minimum sampling method needed to keep track of lion numbers. Their strategy was simple: drive along the roads, and photograph and count lions. Using spatially explicit count-recount methods, they did 7,000km of surveys by road and discovered that 4,000km was the minimum sampling level needed for the model to perform well. They estimated that there are 8,8 lions per 100km2, which was lower than anticipated by park management.
However, not all parks contain a network of roads, so the team are also investigating different options to count lions. This is a bit like attempting a puzzle with some missing pieces. To accurately identify different individual lions (so you don’t count the same lion twice), you need to find recognisable and discernible features on the lions. The researchers used lion whisker patterns. This means they needed to take up close and personal images of the whiskers. On lions’ faces. In fine detail… So, if driving to take high-definition photos is not an option, one will need high-quality remote cameras in the survey area. The logistics are the fly in the ointment here – remote cameras need a cellphone signal to download the data and battery solutions, are exposed to theft, and are costly. It’s a project in progress.
A lion pride in Kruger National ParkLions being collared in Kruger National Park
Currently, the team is busy counting lions in the Kruger National Park in South Africa, an area of nearly 2 million hectares. Considered a more open system, Kruger is being used as a control reference to which the closed/fenced systems can be compared. But counting lions in a vast area like Kruger presents its unique challenges: Kruger is a very large space – creating a challenge for those trying to find tawny bodies lolling in lion-coloured grass. The team is using the same methodology to count lions used in the Pilanesberg (Bayesian Spatial Capture-Recapture methods). Hopefully, in a few months, the team will have a lion headcount, with robust statistical confidence in these numbers. They will also undertake lion counts later in the year in the Savé Valley Conservancy in Zimbabwe, and other reserves. They will then put GPS collars on a lion from each of about 20 prides and use the data to answer applied management questions.
What will be measured?
Study team coordinatior Prof Jan Venter (the team coordinator) hopes to find out what adjacent or neighbouring prides do in closed, confined reserves – and how they interact. Usually, when the male lions in a litter grow to a certain age, they leave because the older, dominant male pushes them out, and then they disperse, usually to other places where they are safe from these dominant males. So far, the collar data, although not scientifically analysed yet, shows that prides might become unstable in confined spaces. Some preliminary data shows that the lion territories shift spatially, and prides split up and restructure very differently.
You can help in this important study by sponsoring a collar in full or by donating any amount—large or small—to support this critical conservation project. These collars collect GPS, genetic stress, and behavioural data. Learn more here.
So, how do we know if these pride shifts stress them? Does fenced-area management effectively protect declining lion populations’ resilience? It is vital to know how the dynamic shifts of prides might influence their stress levels. The fenced lions might not be facing human aggression or stressors, but they might be under more pressure from prides that are operating in close proximity to one another. They might be facing more aggression from their own species.
The research team collaring lions in Pilanesberg National Park
To answer this, the lion GPS collars will have accelerometers, which measure speed and direction of movement. The team might be able to work out lions’ energy budgets, how much the animals are moving, and how much effort they are putting into this. Movement data can tell you, for example, whether a large pride, which is a stronger pride, is infringing on the territory of a small pride. They will also measure cortisol levels to test the lions’ stress levels.
To test whether lions might be more tolerant of infringing prides if the lions are closely related, they will be taking blood samples to identify levels of relatedness. In addition, they will use playback experiments to test the reactions of lions to calls from related versus non-related prides. This involves playing lion-territorial calls back to lions. Once a playback is applied, researchers will record how the lions react to the playback. They may respond aggressively, and head towards the sound. Or they can react by running away. Or, they could remain indifferent – lying around, not reacting, and simply twitching an ear. Some of the possible predictions are that they should be less aggressive if they are all more related. If one pride is stronger, they are likely to be more aggressive than a pride that is not as confident and strong.
All’s fair in lion love and war
Lions are territorial, and fight to defend their territories. They may be red in tooth and claw, but how might these social felines react to prides that are close in kin? And do they perform differently in fenced reserves? In natural, open areas, new males joining a pride will often kill young cubs, to make sure lionesses go into oestrus sooner. What changes in fenced areas? And do fences hamper the resilience of lions? Watch this space to hear more about what the researchers find.
The shabby customs and immigration post at Nimule still stands from when we first visited South Sudan in 2011 by boat and Landrovers to join the colourful independence celebrations of the newest country on Earth. It was still the same in April 2022, when as part of the Defender Transcontinental Expedition from Cape Agulhas to Nordkapp in Norway’s Arctic Circle, we’d had to divert around the civil war in Ethiopia and cross South Sudan to reach the Republic of Sudan, as part of that 30-country journey. This time, however, we are bound for Badingilo and Boma National Parks, as part of the Afrika Odyssey expedition.
Nothing’s changed, except that, 20 months later, the road to Juba has disintegrated even further into a nightmare of big aid-delivering trucks, ditches, potholes, troughs and worn pieces of string stretched across the dusty track at bribe-hungry roadblocks. Fortunately, two armed soldiers are squeezed into the heavily loaded Defenders to pave the way.
Renowned African explorer Kingsley Holgate and his expedition team from the Kingsley Holgate Foundation recently set off on the Afrika Odyssey expedition – an 18-month journey through 12 African countries to connect 22 national parks managed by African Parks. The expedition’s journey of purpose is to raise awareness about conservation, highlight the importance of national parks and the work done by African Parks, and provide support to local communities. Follow the journey: see stories and more info from the Afrika Odyssey expedition here.
Five hours later, we squeeze through swarms of tuk-tuks, motorbikes and water tankers to cross the old Bailey bridge and enter the heaving chaos of Juba, the capital of South Sudan. Like before, we head for Afex River Camp on the banks of the Nile. The ancient, rusting steamer wreck is still marooned in the middle of the mighty river, racing in flood from heavy rains in Uganda towards the Sudd and through the civil war chaos of the Republic of Sudan to reach Egypt and its delta on the Mediterranean coast. As big metal gates clang shut on the squalor and chaos of Juba, we’re welcomed like long-lost friends by Carrie and her team, who warn us to watch out for over-ripe mangoes falling like missiles from the enormous trees that shade the camp. The giant rhino statue still stands in the grounds, reminiscent of when the famed northern white rhino became extinct.
Crossing the Nile into JubaTaking a moment to photograph cattle and their Dinka herder
Early next morning, we meet David Simpson, park manager for Badingilo and Boma National Parks – numbers 14 and 15 of this Afrika Odyssey journey to reach all 22 African Parks-managed protected areas across Africa. David is recently transferred after 12 years at Chinko in the Central African Republic – still to be reached by this expedition. “When I arrived at Chinko, preserving its primates, giant eland and bongo, 100-pound Goliath tiger and Nile perch, and savannah and forest elephants were African Parks’ biggest challenge. I never thought I’d be here in South Sudan, tackling an even greater task,” says David.
DID YOU KNOW that African Parks offers safari lodges and campsites where 100% of tourism revenue goes to conservation and local communities? You can plan and book your African Parks safari by clicking here.
We’re dumbfounded by the size, scale and complexity of what David and his team are taking on. Badingilo and Boma National Parks make up nearly three million hectares. Still, they’re only the beginning of a greater 200,000 square-kilometre ecosystem, which stretches northwest through the Jonglei corridor to the White Nile and is home to the world’s largest land mammal migration. Millions of antelope, including white-eared kob, Mongalla gazelle, tiang and Bohor reedbuck merge in Badingilo during the wet season for breeding before migrating in a vast semi-circle north to the Sudd and east towards Boma and into Gambella National Park in Ethiopia.
Sitting in front of computer screens in the data room, a team of young students from Juba University are meticulously studying thousands of aerial photographs, their movements a blur as they record every single animal in each image. It’s the first comprehensive aerial survey of South Sudan’s annual migration. David tells us the students are also training an AI system to do future counts – harnessing the power of 21st-century tech for conservation needs.
An aerial view of Boma National Park
Stepping into the Ops Room, David and control room operator Biar Monychol tell us they’ve collared a number of the animals, including elephant and lion, so their movements can be monitored on the EarthRanger programme. “This could be the biggest wildlife story of our time,” David says. “This migration is bigger than the Serengeti’s wildebeest migration. At times, the animal density is so great that children from the Dinka, Murle and other tribes who’ve lived in this landscape for centuries can spear them from the doorways of their tukels (homesteads). But can you imagine the challenge of preserving this migration from the ever-increasing danger of commercial, large-scale, organised poaching – alongside growing threats of illegal logging and charcoal production?”
Decades of instability in South Sudan have severely impacted the lives of local people living in and around Badingilo and Boma National Parks. So, in 2022, to ensure the long-term ecological, social, and economic sustainability of this globally important landscape, the South Sudan government signed a 10-year agreement with African Parks with the mandate to protect this vast area for both wildlife and communities.
The colourful tribes of Badingilo and Boma
David continues: “Bizarrely, it’s because of the years of conflict in South Sudan that this mammal migration, along with millions of birds, fish and other species, has survived to the present day. The Sudd also has the biggest elephant and buffalo herds left in South Sudan. You could say this is the most exciting wildlife landscape left in the world – where else does abundance like this still exist?”
“It’s a positive, good news story for South Sudan, and the government is extremely supportive. But we will have to do things differently; half a million people live in and alongside the migration; we must preserve their traditions but also deal with their nomadic lifestyle and the ferocious tribal conflicts. This conservation project is going to test every system, every thought process and all our collective experience to the limit.”
After a quick stop for basic supplies, we head to Badingilo National Park’s new HQ. “We’ve only just started construction, so don’t expect anything fancy,” warns David in farewell. The tall, lanky frame of Brigadier Zacharia Aleardo, long-standing warden of Badingilo, squeezes into Ross’ Defender. We last met in 2022, so it’s great to reconnect with him again as we negotiate more roadblocks on a newly built four-lane highway that follows the Nile. “Things have changed drastically in just one year since African Parks arrived,” the Brigadier tells us. “The aerial census shows us things we never knew, good management systems are now in place, and the rangers are being retrained and re-equipped – their motivation is much better.”
Rough expedition campsite at Badingilo National Park’s HQ construction site
We arrive to a rough-and-tough welcome from Ops manager Thomas Barnes from the Western Cape and specialist ranger-trainer Aussie Jake Hickey, who, along with the Badingilo rangers, are living rough in a small bush camp as they construct the new park HQ. Already, they’ve hacked a 1,000-metre airstrip out of the scrub and built two massive aircraft hangers with 40-foot containers that will serve as the park’s offices and storerooms.
Kingsley with Badingilo rangers and Afrika Odyssey expedition route map
“We’ve slaughtered a cow for the rangers, and Jake, with his Oz outback experience, has removed the back-strap fillets for us,” says Thomas with a grin. Cooked over the coals, they’re delicious. Vultures flap and argue in trees surrounding the camp, launching raiding sorties to steal what they can. In between showing off his braaiing skills, Jake puts on his medic hat and doctors a nasty veld sore on Kingsley’s leg, as two orphaned baby banded mongoose – the camp’s loveable little mascots – scuttle between the mess tent and ranger camp begging for treats and tummy tickles.
Braaing in camp
Mozzies arrive in squadrons as the sun goes down—it’s punishingly hot. The only respite is a 12v fan wired to a solar-powered battery or a dunk in a bucket of lukewarm water. We wet our kikois (Swahili cloth towels) to cool down, but we still sweat, toss, and turn all night and wake up at dawn to the buzzing sound of an aircraft coming in to land.
Flying over Boma National Park
As it’s the rainy season, the plains that stretch between Badingilo and Boma have become vast swampy tracts – impassable by vehicle – the only way to see the migration is from the air. Ross squeezes into the loaded Cessna next to pilot Wim, who’s on a resupply 180-nautical-mile flight to Boma National Park near the Ethiopian border, for an overnight sortie, now weighed down by the expedition’s heavy Scroll for Conservation and a tiny backpack.
The only way to see the migration is from the air
Another aircraft flies in; this time, it’s the park’s new two-seater Savannah single-prop plane. “These little planes have become important conservation tools all over Africa, and here, they’re the only way we can manage the vast distances of this region,” says Johandre, the pilot. “This conservation work with African Parks is a life’s dream, helping in my small way to preserve Africa’s wildlife – and it’s also a great adventure.”
The Savannah single-prop plane comes into land
Early next morning, Kingsley is shoe-horned into the tiny plane, zips down the airstrip with doors off, and heads east into the rising sun. The endless, verdant green landscape dotted with thousands of glittering pools of water reveals itself. It’s breathtakingly beautiful – all the more so because it’s so unexpected. Then the migration comes into view: hundreds of Mongalla gazelle, tiang, Bohor reedbuck, Nubian giraffe and countless white-eared kob in family herds stretching as far as the eye can see.
Only from the air can we begin to understand the immensity of this magnificent landscape and why African Parks took on this mammoth challenge. But then the wind picks up to 25 knots, and the heat and thermals begin to bounce the little plane around – time to head back to base camp.
The heat and humidity are mind-numbing as we scribble first-hand stories from the Badingilo rangers in the battered expedition notebook and sort out the junk piled up in the expedition Defenders. Ross returns late in the day, full of tales from his time at Boma National Park. From a rudimentary bush kitchen, Richard, the Kenyan-born camp chef, produces delicious hamburger patties, homemade bread rolls and the best chips we’ve tasted in months – the starry sky is magnificent as we chew the fat with the Badingilo team.
Boma National Park rangers salute the Afrika Odyssey expedition
5am next morning, it’s Shee’s turn in the little Savannah – this time flying a circuitous route that flips over the migration and then follows the braided channels of the Nile to reach huge swamps and papyrus beds on the fringes of the Sudd. Friendly waves come from scatterings of people in wooden canoes threading through the wanderings of this, the longest and most historic river in the world that’s been our constant companion on this second chapter of the Afrika Odyssey expedition.
Brigadier Zacharia adds Badingilo water to the expedition calabash
Touching down, the Badingilo rangers gather on the airstrip for a farewell team pic; Brigadier Zacharia is given the honour of adding symbolic South Sudan water to the expedition calabash, and then Johandre takes off again for a special flypast over the Defenders.
Our journey to South Sudan is nearly complete; we return to Juba, say our farewells to David and his tiny head office team, and pay a visit to the Department of Wildlife for the Director General to add his message for conservation to the expedition’s Scroll.
Park Manager David Simson signs the expedition Scroll for ConservationBadingilo rangers sign the Scroll for Conservation
Diesel is cheaper here than in Uganda, so we pull into a petrol station to fuel our car. The 20-foot-high Dinka attendant with tribal scarifications on his face is fascinated by the new Defender 130s displaying the flags of the expedition countries. “Are you many in South Africa?” he asks Kingsley. “You mean Mzungus (white people)? Yup, we’re a tribe – like you,” the Beard replies. The attendant briefly studies Kingsley, then says respectfully, “You must be the tribal leader because only the most senior chief in our culture is allowed to have such a beard!”
We inch through a tuk-tuk traffic jam and cross the old Bailey bridge over the Nile for the final time. Rearmed with two soldiers back in the Defenders and new letters of permission to travel, we tackle the torturous road back to the Ugandan border. The military and police roadblocks are as belligerent as ever. Then, down comes the exit stamp – we’ve reached the expedition’s South Sudan turnaround point.
Ahead lies a long road – more malaria, torrential rains and mud – as we now turn westwards to complete the final seven African Parks-managed protected areas on the list. But for now, it’s Mission Accomplished for Chapter 2 of this fascinating conservation, culture and community-themed journey across Africa – we wouldn’t be anywhere else.
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Boundless Bangweulu + the Mara question + saving rollers
This week’s hot topic among our safari experts was what we can do to help solve the peak season overcrowding problem in the Maasai Mara/Serengeti ecosystem (read my previous rant here). Right now, the dramatic Mara River crossings are in full swing, and our clients are reporting epic sightings. But there is also disquiet amongst some clients about the volume of tourists and resultant vehicular chaos each time a hoof hits the water. Central Serengeti and the Ngorongoro Crater – far from the river crossings – are also packed at this time of year, leading to traffic jams and stress on wildlife.
The Kenyan authorities have announced a significant increase in park fees, which will go some way to reducing volume in the Maasai Mara. Is that increase fair on not-so-well-heeled international and regional travellers (Kenyan citizens pay far less), and is ‘fair’ even relevant when protecting an entire ecosystem? Increasing park fees is probably not enough to tilt the scale, and boycotts by well-meaning tourists have never helped any industry. So, what else can be done to safeguard the migration process and the ecosystem dependent on that process? So many questions.
One solution is to visit outside of the peak season. OK, you will miss the drama of the Mara River crossings, but there is far more to the region than river crossings. This verdant ecosystem is packed with wildlife throughout the year. Rest assured that we take this issue seriously and that your safari with us goes some way to helping bring about change – no matter when you choose to travel. Safari njema!
Simon Espley – CEO, Africa Geographic
From our Editor – Taryn van Jaarsveld
Wanted – solitary cycad seeks soulmate, AI matchmakers welcome
Looking for a female cycad, 6.5(m), green fronds… Scientists are searching for a female mate for the “world’s loneliest plant”. The plant in question is a cycad – the oldest plant group alive on the planet, as well as the most endangered. Wood’s cycad (Encephalartos woodii) is one of Earth’s rarest plants: only one has ever been found in the wild – a lone male found in Ngoye Forest, South Africa, in 1895. Quests to find a female partner for the cycad have been in vain. Today, Wood’s cycad is extinct in the wild, and all living plants are clones propagated from the lone Ngoye specimen. However, without a female plant, the cycads will never be able to reproduce naturally. Now, scientists are training AI software to study drone images of Ngoye Forest to try to identify any more specimens – hopefully female – of E. woodii. Finding a female Wood’s cycad would bring this species back from the brink and be a significant conservation victory.
Below, check out a stunning trip report on Zambia’s Bangweulu Wetlands and read about the need to secure the future of European rollers.
DID YOU KNOW?
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!
Story 1 https://africageographic.com/stories/boundless-bangweulu/
BOUNDLESS BANGWEULU
Zambia’s Bangweulu Wetlands are a land of plenty: shoebills, black lechwes, swamps, plains, waters and skies. Sarah Kingdom explores this safari haven
Experience the best of Namibia, from the red dunes of Sossusvlei and the iconic wildlife of Etosha to the rock art of Twyfelfontein and the exploits of the country’s adventure capital, Walvis Bay. Over 13 days, your private guide will reveal the majesty of Namibia, its phenomenal wildlife and compelling historical and cultural diversity.
Gorilla trekking is one of the most exhilarating safari experiences. There can be no better place to see mountain gorillas than Uganda’s Bwindi Impenetrable Forest. This safari also allows you to seek out the tree-climbing lions of Queen Elizabeth National Park, explore the biodiversity of Entebbe Botanical Gardens, and get to know Batwa culture.
Here’s what AG safari client Holger Froemerhad to say about his family safarito Tanzania’s Tarangire National Park, Lake Natron and Empakai Crater:
“My last trip to Tanzania was 26 years ago, and I travelled by myself with a backpack and a tent. A quarter of a century later, with a family of four, including two teenagers, I decided that [roughing it] might not be the perfect choice this time. Instead, thanks to a friend’s recommendation, we went on a two-week tour organised by Nadia from Africa Geographic.
It was the PERFECT decision. Nadia helped (very patiently) to plan and design the trip in a way that the entire family would be thrilled by this adventure. We had a fantastic guide/driver (thank you, Prosper!), and we had very comfortable accommodation: Maweninga Camp in Tarangire NP has spectacular views, and Leonotis Camp is near Lake Natron – a bird watchers’ paradise. We also had a two-day walking safari around the magical Empakai Crater and a spectacular balloon safari to round off a perfect vacation. The only downside? It went by way too fast.
Thank you again to Nadia and the Africa Geographic team for making dreams come true.”
WATCH: Meet Jesca – one of the few female rangers specialising in chimpanzee trekking in Kibale National Park, Uganda. Witness Jesca’s expertise in tracking and observing the park’s habituated chimpanzees. (02:44) Click here to watch
European rollers are a flagship species for migratory birds. But their population has declined by more than 30% in 15 years. New efforts to save these rollers – and their migratory paths – will benefit a wide variety of species
Last year, there was a cold snap in the Highveld of South Africa, and during this time, the public reported a sad phenomenon – a high number of deaths of a small, blue-coloured bird, the European roller (Coracias garrulus). Conservationists are not sure why this happened, but these migratory birds probably arrived in South Africa, hungry and tired, after their journey of over 10,000km from European and Asian breeding sites. The cold spell that greeted their arrival would have limited the availability of aerial insects, which European rollers rely on as a primary food source. Equally concerning, sightings of the European roller in the greater Kruger region have dropped. Could this be due to the presence of El Niño conditions in the sub-Saharan countries, which the roller flies through on its way to the dry, wooded savannah plains of South Africa? These dry conditions might have meant these feathered travellers could not sufficiently refuel during their journey. Conservationists are worried: where are these birds? Are they stopping off in other countries now to reduce their journey time? Have they encountered the wrong end of a rifle in countries which practice bird-hunting?
Birdlife South Africa has started a conservation programme to find answers to these questions, as well as others, about the European roller and its worrying decline in some countries. Although it was downlisted from ‘near threatened’ to ‘least concern’ in 2015, there are indications that its populations are in decline. In Europe, between 1990 and 2000, the European roller population declined by 25%; in Poland, only 30 pairs remain. The question hovers – if this is the European roller, isn’t this the Europeans’ problem? Not so – migratory species require conservation measures across their range, as what happens in one country has ramifications for the population dynamics in the other countries through which the rollers roll. It defeats the purpose of spending many resources to create protected areas in one country but not protect the species on its flyway (migratory flight path) through Africa and Europe. The migration chain is only as strong as its weakest link. Without every link being secure, these turquoise twitterers will eventually be no more to protect.
A European roller makes a meal of a spider in Kruger National Park, South Africa
The concept of conserving flyways has taken off in the conservation sector. A flyway is the entire range of a migratory bird species (or groups of related species or distinct populations of a single species) through which it moves on an annual basis – from breeding grounds to non-breeding areas, including intermediate resting and feeding places as well as the area within which the birds migrate. The European roller has a new role – a flagship for the EAFI (East Africa Flyway Initiative). Many species migrate along broadly similar, well-established routes, and as the European roller uses the East Africa flyway, taking measures to protect the flyway for rollers is likely to protect the other species that use this flyway, too.
The European roller faces different threats across different countries. In Europe, increasing land-use change for agriculture has left large parts of the countryside treeless, thus reducing breeding habitat for this tree-nesting species. Worse still, the birds have to run the gamut of being shot, trapped or poisoned in some areas in the Mediterranean, Northern Europe and the Caucasus. Habitat loss and pollution are also significant threats, and as for climate change, this is a severe concern for species that fly across continents to track resources. What happens if insects emerge earlier? What happens if the seasons stay colder for longer?
To counteract these threats, conservationists need to know more. This means they need to identify the habitat requirements of the roller in Africa and Europe and along the migration route it uses. The only way to know where they go is to track them. So, in March 2024, the Birdlife South Africa team tagged two European roller individuals with tiny satellite trackers. This costly solar-powered technology has the potential to be a game changer in understanding how birds use their flyways and where conservation efforts should be prioritised. The tags have already shown the Birdlife team that one of their rollers covered 2,000km in just 4 days! The team are holding their breath that the tags work for their entire expected lifespan and that nothing happens to the tagged birds during this time. Ideally, they need more tags to capture the variety of birds’ choices during their epic travels.
Blood samples were also taken while fixing the tags for the birds. This is because the European roller has two recognised subspecies, both of which occur within its overwintering sites in southern Africa, namely C. g. garrulus (from the Western Palearctic) and the C. g. semenowi (from western and central Asia). To gather data on the population trends of these subspecies, it is first necessary to identify the different subspecies (and the different colouration between the subspecies is not always distinct) and then track their different migration routes.
The striking colours of a European roller, spotted in Victoria Falls, Zimbabwe
The Birdlife team has also started a monitoring programme. By ringing 50 European rollers with special, easily identifiable rings, they hope to understand how the population changes over time. This method relies on regular checks by dedicated volunteers and ad hoc reporting from the general public. So, if you spot a roller sporting a nifty, shiny ring on its leg, do not hesitate to report this sighting to Birdlife (see contact details at the end of the article). Sightings are essential data points, so your participation is critical to the success of this programme. The monitoring is currently taking place in Kruger National Park, two private nature reserves in KwaZulu-Natal and several additional reserves across South Africa.
Besides tracking the birds’ progress across thousands of kilometers, the conservationists intend to work with partners in all the countries in the flyway. This is the magic of migratory bird species – they have the potential to catalyse collaborative conservation across borders and boundaries. The fate of this iconic blue bird is hanging in the balance, along with many other birds that use these flyways, including waterbirds.
We all have a role to play in helping the roller get to where it’s going. If you want to know more about how you can make a difference, learn more about Birdlife’s project here. You can also contact Jessica Wilmot, from Birdlife South Africa’s European Roller Monitoring Project.
It’s early in the morning, long before sunrise. My bed is cosy and warm. The morning air outside is cold. Our tent on Shoebill Island, a tiny islet in Bangweulu Wetlands, Zambia, is nestled in a grove of quinine trees (Rauvolfia caffra), and I’m reluctant to leave it and go out into the cold. We’re awake early because we plan to paddle through the narrow, reed-lined channels from camp to the floodplains to see the endemic black lechwes that call this unique wetland home. Bangweulu means ‘where the water meets the sky’, which perfectly describes this extraordinary wetland in northeastern Zambia.
We reach the floodplains just as the sun peeks over the horizon. The sky turns from grey to a delicate shade of pink. We stand shivering on the causeway that runs through the floodplains, surrounded by thousands of black lechwe, barely visible in the thick morning mist. Having spent the night in the shallow water for safety, the lechwe, hindquarters characteristically higher than their shoulders and elongated, splayed hooves preventing them from sinking into the swampy ground, are now slowly splashing their way back towards the tree line, grazing as they go.
Black lechwe are listed as vulnerable on the IUCN Red List, and their numbers have declined drastically. Numbering more than 250,000 in the 1930s, by the 1970s their numbers had plummeted to around 16,000. Fortunately, in 2008, conservation NGO African Parks began working in these wetlands, when they signed a long-term agreement with Zambia’s Department of National Parks and Wildlife (DNPW) and Community Resource Boards in the area. Tigether, they committed to sustainably managing the wetlands to benefit wildlife and people. Since then, black lechwe numbers have slowly but steadily increased, currently standing at over 42,000 (though still classified as vulnerable on the IUCN Red List).
Find out about Zambia for your next African safari. We have ready-made safaris to choose from, or ask us to build one just for you.
I’ve travelled here with a long-time friend and professional wildlife photographer, Patrick Bentley, who was assigned to photograph the swamps and their inhabitants. Patrick is also the reason we are up before sunrise. As we will learn on this trip, lighting and timing are everything to a photographer, and if that means getting up before dawn because that’s the best time to photograph something, then that’s when we’ll be getting up! We spend several hours watching and photographing the lechwe, but once the sky is light and they’ve all but disappeared, it’s time to paddle the 40-minute canoe trip back to camp and breakfast.
Vast herds of black lechwe in the wetlands
The Bangweulu swamps spread across 6,000km² and consist of an extraordinary, community-owned protected wetland with a rich and diverse ecosystem of floodplains, seasonally flooded grasslands, miombo woodlands and permanent swamps, making it one of Africa’s most important wetlands. The area floods during the wet season (November–March), and it receives an average annual rainfall of about 1200mls. The resultant effect is that the water line advances and retreats by as much as 45km. The flood waters’ seasonal rise and fall dictate life in the swamps.
Mokoros are the preferred mode of transport across the wetlands
Bangweulu comprises around 60,000 local villagers who migrate seasonally with water levels and depend on the marshlands to sustain their traditional way of life. They are permitted to live here seasonally and to harvest natural resources sustainably. However, this sustainable approach has not always been the case. Relentless poaching exterminated most of the area’s large mammal species, decimated the black lechwe population and left only a handful of buffalos, elephants and tsessebes. Overpopulation, overfishing, and unsustainable pressure on wildlife ultimately led the local Community Resource Boards and the Zambian DNPW to enter into the long-term agreement with African Parks to manage and protect the area sustainably.
Black lechwe on the plains
Aside from black lechwe, we are also out to see the wetland’s two other flagship species during our sojourn here: the rare and critically endangered shoebill and the vulnerable wattled cranes. Bangweulu Wetlands is home to an abundance of birds; over 680 species are found here, and paddling back to camp, we see many of them! We see kingfishers (malachite, pygmy and pied), ibis (sacred and glossy), geese (spurwing and Egyptian), bee-eaters (blue-cheeked and blue-breasted), black-winged terns, grey-headed gulls, Hottentot teals, woolly necked storks, African golden weavers, whistling ducks, egrets, herons, bitterns and more. The jewel in Bangweulu’s ornithological crown, though, is the shoebill.
Shoebills are of the most sought-after residents in Bangweulu Wetlands
Shoebills are endangered. The IUCN estimates the global population of these incredible birds to be between 3,300 and 5,300, and their numbers are decreasing. Shoebills are classified as vulnerable, and people worldwide come to Bangweulu to glimpse these tall, blue-grey birds with their shaggy crests and piercing yellow eyes.
Shoebills are in a family of their own (Balaenicipitidae). Once classified as storks, shoebills are now considered closer to pelicans (from anatomical comparisons) or herons (from biochemical evidence). However, they share some traits with storks and herons, like long necks and the characteristic legs of wading birds; their closest living relatives are pelicans and hamerkops. The prehistoric-looking shoebills are threatened by the illegal live-bird trade – particularly through the sale of chicks as pets, for which the demand seems to be increasing.
For birdwatchers, shoebills are one of the most sought-after birds in Africa. Here in the wetlands, local communities recognise the tourism value of shoebills and the economic benefits they bring. Community members guard nests, ensure chicks can fledge, and generally keep a watchful eye on the birds. The protected area within Bangweulu Wetlands is currently home to between 300–500 of these birds, and seeing one was our plan for the afternoon.
Transporting goods to the settlements within the wetlands
Bangweulu Wetlands is a successful example of community-driven conservation, the ultimate goal being to ensure both people and wildlife will benefit equally from the area’s incredible natural resources. When African Parks began working here, overpopulation became a colossal problem. With approximately 60,000 people living legally within its boundaries and 100,000 more living in the surrounding areas, poaching, overfishing, cutting of trees, and limited educational opportunities meant the future looked bleak. The entry of African Parks saw the implementation of wildlife education, reproductive health programmes and beekeeping programmes.
African Parks also developed the Shoebill Nest Protection Programme in 2012, to ensure the protection of Bangweulu’s shoebills. Community members are employed as guardians to protect the shoebills round the clock during peak nesting season (June–November). In May 2022, the Shoebill Captive Rearing and Rehabilitation Facility was established, a facility designed to rear chicks in captivity and increase breeding success. The facility is the first of its kind in the world, with state-of-the-art incubators and brooders to care for shoebill chicks at every stage of their development, with all chicks to be released back into the wild.
DID YOU KNOW that African Parks offers safari lodges and campsites where 100% of tourism revenue goes to conservation and local communities? You can plan and book your African Parks safari to Bangweulu Wetlands and other parks by clicking here.
The employment of over 100 rangers, who patrol, remove snares and confiscate illegally caught fish and poached game meat, has also positively impacted conservation. African Parks have also successfully translocated many animals into Bangweulu, including zebra, impala and buffalo. Tourism has been another focus, with two community camps being opened, as well as the fabulous Shoebill Island Camp, where we stayed.
Shoebill Island Camp
For our first shoebill sighting, we searched for a rescued, habituated shoebill we’d heard about. As a chick, the shoebill had been removed from its nest in the swamps. The poachers were actively trying to sell the chick when they were apprehended. The chick was confiscated and returned to the wetlands, where rangers nurtured it until it was ready to return to the wild. Having become somewhat used to humans, he is now often easy to find in the vicinity of a local fishing village. Heading to where the rescued chick had last been seen, our guide stands at the front of the canoe, long pole in hand, propelling us through the narrow channels between the thick reeds and papyrus.
Heading out to spot shoebills, as the guide steers the canoe with a pole
Many people live seasonally in the swamps, and we pass several small mud and thatch-hut settlements. Music blares, children laugh and play, men talk, and women do ‘chores’ around their temporary dwellings surrounded by water. Our guide calls to a man on the bank, and he shouts back. Before we know it, he’s jumped aboard our canoe. Taking the guide’s pole, he steers us towards where he’d seen the shoebill that morning.
Several thatch hut settlements are built in the wetlands
Then we see it – lying on top of an ant hill on the outskirts of a fishing settlement. Anchoring our canoe at the edge of the channel, we remove our shoes and clamber overboard. Wading through knee-deep water, we get a bit closer, and the shoebill casts his enormous eyes on us, seemingly unperturbed. We don’t get too close, though we could have if we’d wanted to. Seeing us, the shoebill, in a fit of exhibitionism, stands up, preens a little, flaps his wings experimentally, and displays some fancy footwork before lying down again and appearing to fall fast asleep. We splash back to the canoe and head back to camp, stopping en route to drop off our new ‘guide’. In the coming days, we will see several more shoebills and get just as close to some, but the sight of my first shoebill will always be a wonderful memory.
The first shoebill spotted on the trip – perching atop an anthill
As we return to camp, the sun sinks in the sky. Hundreds of glossy ibis, silhouetted like necklaces against the sunset, fly out of the swamps to roost for the night. Great white and pink-backed pelicans circle overhead, and a hippo surfaces to voice his irritation as we pass through his territory. We reach camp just after dark and sit by the fire. Millions of stars sparkle overhead, and countless fireflies flit in the shadows outside the circle of firelight, glimmering like fallen stars. We hear music and chatter from a fishing village across the water, and a hyena calls in the distance.
A hippo surfaces to voice his irritation
The following day, we’re off to look for shoebills again. Anticipating a long day of paddling and scrambling through reeds and undergrowth, we’ve packed lunch. We needn’t have bothered. Barely 20 minutes from camp, we find our first shoebill of the day. A little older than yesterday’s but equally undisturbed by our presence, he stands and watches us, looking like a child who’s raided the dress-up box and chosen an outfit of old-fashioned pantaloons and coat. With his large, splotchy, sharp-edged bill, he forages in a channel opened by local fishermen, ready to decapitate or skewer any fish, frog or reptile he sees. A teenage boy arrives to repair some fishing nets that have been damaged by a hippo overnight. The shoebill stands watching the boy, too. Only once the boy has finished repairs and starts walking a little closer does the shoebill, with a mighty leap and a few heavy wing beats, take to the air and fly away.
On a canoe through the wetlands in search of wattled cranes and shoebills
It’s only 8am, and as we’d planned a much longer day out, we carry on paddling. After a few more bends, we find several wattled cranes and settle down to watch them.
Wattled cranes are the sole inhabitants of the genus Bugeranus. This is the rarest of Africa’s crane species, and its numbers are in decline, primarily due to the disappearance of wetlands. The future of wattled cranes in Africa may well depend on Zambia. The country is home to more than half the world’s wattled cranes, with Bangweulu holding 10% of the global population of these incredible birds. Classified as vulnerable, there are only an estimated 7,700 individuals worldwide. Even in Zambia, the continent’s stronghold, wattled crane numbers only stand at 4,000-4,500.
Wattled cranes take to the sky
The apparent reason for the scarcity of wattled cranes is the disappearance of wetlands. Still, other factors contribute to the decline of the second-tallest flying bird in the world. Wattled cranes are highly territorial during breeding season, defending an area of approximately 1km², meaning breeding densities are relatively low. In addition, wattled cranes have the lowest recorded ‘recruitment rate’ of any wild crane species (successfully raising young to the stage of joining the adult population). Only around 13% of breeding pairs will successfully fledge a young bird, which is particularly worrying given that paired birds generally only lay one egg per breeding attempt, and their breeding cycle is highly irregular. The future looks a little bleak for these birds, though this was easy to forget as we saw pair after pair of the long-legged, bare-faced, black-capped birds, with their distinctive long white necks and white wattles dangling at their throats.
Having had such early success with our shoebill search and exhausting the wattled crane watching, we take our lunch back to camp. On our way back, we locate yet more shoebills. The first uses its long legs and toes to traverse the sodden marsh. We don’t fancy negotiating the wet, floating islands of vegetation, so paddle on. Children playing nearby shout to get our attention, pointing out yet another shoebill. We paddle closer. This one stands patiently as we photograph him, looking left and right as if trying to decide his most photogenic side. Eating lunch back at camp, we see yet another shoebill, this time soaring high overhead, its long legs and distinctive large bill silhouetted against the bright sky.
Visiting Bangweulu and all its special creatures is the best way to support the conservation and long-term sustainability of this truly special water wonderland. It is, without a doubt, a place worth conserving and visiting.
Black lechwes cross the wetlandsA zebra on the plainsBangweulu is the only place in the world where black lechwe are found
All in a day’s work. Savuti, Chobe National Park, Botswana.
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3-legged lion’s epic swim + expedition Garamba
The ‘amphibian apocalypse’ has reached Africa. A few years ago, scientists raised the alarm when a deadly disease, known as chytridiomycosis, wiped out scores of frogs in Australia and the Americas, causing “the worst loss of biodiversity of any disease ever recorded”.
Now, scientists have found that the disease, caused by a fungus that disrupts the way amphibians breathe, thickening their skin, causing dehydration and stopping hearts from beating, is spreading. Chytridiomycosis is spreading especially quickly in Kenya and Cameroon, and has been recorded in a number of African countries. Amphibians are an important part of many ecosystems, feeding on disease-causing mosquitoes and other insects and providing food for other animals.
The good news is that researchers in Australia have found that setting up little ‘frog saunas’ can save certain species of frogs from the fungal pandemic. Watch this space.
Why did the 3-legged lion swim the 1.5km croc-infested channel? Check out our story below to find out. And also check in with Kingsley Holgate’s expedition team, who visited DRC’s incredible Garamba National Park to discover an extraordinary tale of peace and recovery.
Taryn van Jaarsveld – Editor
DID YOU KNOW?
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!
This safari visits central and northern Kafue National Park, Zambia. You’ll explore the Kafue River, vast stretches of river valleys, and the swampy floodplains of Busanga Plains, which are brimful of predators, prey, and prolific bird life. Enjoy daily guided activities, including game drives, walking safaris, and boating.
Fancy a guided photographic safari in Kenya’s Maasai Mara National Reserve? Join award-winning photographer Arnfinn Johansen on this exclusive safari for four guests. Highlights include guided game drives with an experienced Maasai guide in a modified photographic vehicle, and accommodation at Oltepesi Tented Safari Camp. Departure Dates: 24 October-01 November 2025
Tsavo Conservation Area has one of the last stronghold populations of super tuskers on the continent, and protecting these elephants, and the viable gene pool they represent, is essential to the proliferation of tuskers in Africa. What can you do to help?
Educate yourself and others by learning more and sharing our Guarding Tuskers campaign with your networks
Donate $10 to pay for 8 kilometres of vehicle patrols – or multiples thereof to keep Tsavo Trust’s wheels on the ground.
Donate $50 to keep an aircraft in the air for 9 minutes – or multiples thereof to keep Tsavo Trust’s eyes in the sky.
WATCH: Check out the trailer for Rhino Man, which follows the courageous field rangers who risk their lives every day to protect South Africa’s rhinos from being poached to extinction. Rhino Man is available for streaming this week. See where to stream here. (02:36) Click here to watch
Jacob and Tibu, members of the lion coalition that are known to make the 1.5km swim across Kazinga Channel
Researchers had long suspected that lions were swimming across the Kazinga Channel, joining Lakes Edward and George, in Queen Elizabeth National Park, Uganda. But could they prove it, and could they figure out why?
“You might want to think about bringing the drone back, or you’ll have nothing but a good story and a sunken drone,” I softly whisper to drone operator Luke Ochse. My team has just witnessed something truly incredible – a coalition of African lions swimming across a nearly 2km-wide channel connecting two lake systems in western Uganda, a never-before-seen behaviour by the species. This extraordinary event not only demonstrates the adaptability of these majestic creatures but also raises intriguing questions about their behaviour and survival strategies.
Watching a few Derek and Beverley Joubert lion documentaries filmed in the Okavango Delta [the delta itself ironically is an impassable barrier to lions in Botswana] reveals that African lions can make short swims across narrow rivers and swamplands to hunt and patrol territory. However, lions don’t seem to share the same affinity for water as crocodile-hunting jaguars, or swimming tigers, and our team of researchers could find no evidence online of long-distance swimming by African lions, making our discovery even more remarkable and unprecedented.
After nearly two years of intensive monitoring of this lion coalition, we know they have swum across this channel at least six other times. But these swims beg the question: Why would a coalition of male lions risk getting killed by crocodiles and hippos or drowning in a 6-meter-deep channel of water? This high-risk behaviour suggests compelling reasons driving them to undertake such dangerous journeys.
Drone footage showing two lions crossing Kazinga Channel
Our scientific paper postulates that two interconnected phenomena are occurring: the male lions are searching for lionesses, and when they fight fiercely with established males, they swim back to their own territory. Our long-term research on this lion population shows that it has declined significantly over the past decade and now features an unnatural surplus of male lions, making lionesses a hot commodity for mating rights. We suspect that finding mates is more important than prioritising their own lives against the dangers of hippos or crocodiles. The only other explanation we could come up with is that the lions are avoiding the one narrow connection point, a small 40-meter-long bridge between the northern and southern parts of the park, where there is a strong human presence in the form of a community.
Drone pilot and cameraman Luke Ochse, who captured the footage, sets up thermal equipment along with the scientists from the Volcanoes Safaris Partnership Trust and Ugandan Wildlife Authority rangers to film the lions at night
Even more stunning about the near half-Ironman-distance swim the lions made is that one – a male lion affectionately known to rangers and scientists as Jacob – has only three legs. Although slower than his brother Tibu, he made the swim several times over the two years we followed him. Jacob’s resilience and determination add a poignant layer to our observations, highlighting the extraordinary lengths these animals will go to in their quest for survival and companionship. “We’d speculated for a long time that lions in Queen Elizabeth [National Park] were swimming across the Kazinga, but no one had ever captured this behaviour visually, ” says Orin Cornille, a Volcanoes Safaris Partnership Trust Lion Monitoring team member. “It was only with the help of a DJI Matrice 300 drone and H20T thermal camera that we could confirm this”.
Jacob the three-legged lion
The swimming behaviour we observed and documented as part of our study highlights an increasing global trend: animals are going to more extraordinary lengths to move and find homes and mates. In India, it is common to see leopards making long-distance treks through populated cities like Mumbai and Bangalore, even hiding in warehouses along the way. P22, Los Angeles’ most famous mountain lion, crossed the USA’s 101 Freeway – one of Earth’s most expansive 10-lane traffic highways. A herd of Asian elephants was recently documented crossing nearly 500km across farms and rural towns in southern China. These examples underscore a critical reality: wildlife is increasingly navigating human-dominated landscapes in search of resources and survival.
Over many years, around countless campfires, we’ve dreamed of reaching Parc National de la Garamba. This vast, remote wildlife sanctuary is in almost the exact centre of the African continent, tucked into the northeast corner of the Democratic Republic of Congo, with Uganda to the east and the CAR and South Sudan to the north.
Renowned African explorer Kingsley Holgate and his expedition team from the Kingsley Holgate Foundation recently set off on the Afrika Odyssey expedition – an 18-month journey through 12 African countries to connect 22 national parks managed by African Parks. The expedition’s journey of purpose is to raise awareness about conservation, highlight the importance of national parks and the work done by African Parks, and provide support to local communities. Follow the journey: see stories and more info from the Afrika Odyssey expedition here.
Made up of an open savannah and surrounded by dense equatorial rainforests, Garamba is the third-oldest national park in Africa, proclaimed in 1938. But like much of the DRC’s ravaged past, the park has endured decades of civil war, armed conflict, rampant poaching, and tragic loss of human life. For years, it’s been virtually unreachable for adventurers like us. Finally, the opportunity is here.
But our previous overland and river journeys in the DRC have been anything but easy. So, it’s with a gnawing, rat-in-the-stomach feeling that we leave Rwanda’s Akagera and Nyungwe National Parks and head for ‘La Garamba‘ – number 13 of this journey to showcase stories of hope from 22 African Parks-managed wildlife areas across the continent.
Kingsley, fireside while camping
Garamba, here we come
Trekking across Uganda, the expedition Defenders make short work of summer storms and flooded muddy tracks, and we throw out our tents at the Murchison Falls Lodge campsite to a great ‘welcome back!’ from manager Paul and staff. It’s a memory lane experience; upstream, the mighty Nile compresses into the 10-meter-wide Murchison Falls, where giant crocs feed on fish stunned by the turbulence. Watching the churning fury flowing westward into Lake Albert, we can’t help but think of the trickle we saw seeping out of Nyungwe’s high plateau just a few weeks ago, which marks the furthest source of the Nile – and here we are again, on the banks of the world’s longest and most historic river.
Camping in Murchison Falls
As we pore over well-thumbed maps in search of a route-less-travelled to reach the Arua border with the DRC, a friendly staffer asks, “Why don’t you take the ferry across the lake to Panyimur?” Now, that sounds like an adventure! But long experience has taught us that whilst there might be a ferry, it doesn’t always mean it’s working, and a long shot that it is taking vehicles! So, some calls are made: “Yes, the ferry is running. Yes, it can take your Defenders. Be there at 6am to ensure you get on – market days are very busy.”
The heat builds through the night alongside huge thunderheads amassing over the distant Blue Mountains of the DRC. The mozzies are thick this time of year; we toss and turn in our tents – sleep almost impossible – and are up early to head for the Waseku ferry point.
At dawn, Lake Albert (called Lake Mabuto Sese Seko on the DRC side) is like a mirror; there’s not a breath of wind, and we’re sweating buckets by the time the ferry arrives. Hundreds of passengers carrying bales of second-hand clothes jostle for space as the two expedition Defenders squeeze on board between taxi-bikes and trucks crammed with giant bunches of bananas, dried fish and who-knows-what.
As the ferry casts off, we look over the passenger balcony: scores of ladies have already made themselves comfortable on colourful pieces of cloth underneath the vehicles and are fast asleep!
A drunk man leans over Kingsley’s shoulder as we page through Andrew Robert’s excellent ‘Ugandan Great Rift Valley’ book to reacquaint ourselves with stories connected to this historic part of Africa’s geography. He comically repeats everything in a loud, beery voice – we become the ferry’s floating audiobook! The book also mentions the huge storms that brew up without warning over Lake Albert, ‘taking boats and men to their deaths in numbers’.
Nearing the Panyimur port, we look up to find 15 pairs of eyes avidly awaiting the next instalment. But behind them, there’s a massive thundercloud with curtains of rain bearing down on the ferry. A howling wind comes from nowhere, the lake turns into a seething froth, and the sky goes black. There are a few tense minutes as the ferry battles to the dock, and we slowly inch the Defenders through the crowd of passengers running for cover onto terra firma. Just another of Lake Albert’s legendary storms; 30 minutes later, everything is calm again – it could have been very different.
We later reach the frontier Ugandan town of Arua. To our shock, it’s transformed from a small, non-descript border post into a major transport route. We can’t believe the scene: scores of fuel tankers and 18-wheelers carrying colossal mining equipment and containers clog the road – street vendors are doing a roaring trade. As we wait our turn, four young dudes in baggy hip-hop jeans expertly roller-skate past, dodging water-filled potholes and weaving through the melee to the sounds of pounding rap music. Only in Africa!
In this colourful chaos, we meet the short, rotund, and very jovial Odra Gaston, a delightful character who assists African Parks as a trans-border facilitator; once again, we’re reminded of AP’s extensive network across Africa. Odra disappears into the customs and immigration post. A faded, limp DRC flag struggles to flutter in the still air thick as syrup with humidity as we watch a passing parade of cross-border travellers and traders on foot, by bike, boda-boda and truck.
The DRC border in Arua
We breathe a sigh of relief as Odra marches out of the building with our paperwork and stamped passports. The straggly muddy string stretched across the road is let down, and we’re through. “Remember, drive on the right!” shouts Odra as we take a wet, red mud road into the DRC and reach the small town of Arua, where at an old Belgian colonial building that serves as African Parks’ logistics hub, we meet our Garamba escort team. In true Congolese style, we’re greeted with friendly smiles, shouts of “Bienvenue!” handshakes and selfies as they gather around the mud-splattered expedition map on the bonnet.
Waving farewell to Odra, our convoy sets off, the Defenders in the middle with two heavily loaded Garamba escort vehicles in front and behind. In charge are the cheerful and smartly uniformed ranger duo of Matu and Innocent – Matu with an earpiece and in constant comms with HQ.
After a long, wet eight-hour slog through mud and rain and close to the park, a brilliant double rainbow appears ahead in the dark grey skies. “That’s a good omen,” says Shee, leaning forward to rub ‘Congo’, the expedition’s little bronze rhino talisman on the dashboard we bought in the Kinshasa market years ago. “You’re back home again,” she says with a smile. Garamba National Park, here we come.
War and peace
The expedition Defenders are thick with red-brown mud as we arrive, waving torches in the dark. Out of the rain and gloom steps a tall figure wearing a wide-brimmed Aussie-style hat under which are friendly eyes, a broad smile and a firm handshake. “Welcome to Garamba – I’m Philippe Decoop, the new park manager,” he says in French-accented English. “I’ve only been here a week myself but how fortunate to have you as my first guests. And Kingsley, you’ve brought the rain – a great deal of it! The Dungu River is rising, and the bridge into the park is already underwater. But don’t worry – as you South Africans say, we’ll make a plan!”
Better than camping in the rain again, our base becomes Camp Dungu, a charming lodge with small cabins built some years ago on the banks of the now-rising Dungu but sadly, because of the conflicts in this part of the DRC, the lodge has hardly seen a visitor. On a hardwood table is a beautifully crafted book titled ‘Garamba – Conservation in Peace and War’, which immediately becomes our reference for this part of the expedition. On the opening page is a paragraph from Peter Fearnhead, AP’s CEO:
“Garamba National Park is at the nexus of Africa’s conservation challenges. Poverty, war and civil unrest within and across the eastern DRC’s borders have bred a proliferation of armed insurgents who see rich pickings in the park’s wildlife resources, creating a level of security threat to the park’s wildlife and human inhabitants that is almost without equal in Africa. Operating in Garamba requires extreme dedication, resilience and endurance, and we’re proud of the teams on the ground, past and present, who have dedicated their lives to preserving Garamba.”
African Parks joined forces with the DRC’s Congolese Institute for Nature Conservation (ICCN) in 2005 to manage and restore this 5,900km² park after years of decline, but it hasn’t been easy. In 2008, a brutal armed conflict erupted. Garamba became the epicentre of a battle against the notorious Joseph Kony and his Lord’s Resistance Army (LRA), one of the most vicious rebel forces in Africa, who moved across the Ugandan border and into Garamba, setting up permanent bases and entering the illegal ivory trade in a big way to fund their guerilla war – a single tusk buys a lot of firepower.
DID YOU KNOW that African Parks offers safari lodges and campsites where 100% of tourism revenue goes to conservation and local communities? You can plan and book your African Parks safari by clicking here.
The LRA launched a series of attacks on Garamba’s rangers and surrounding villages – attacking the Park’s Nagera HQ, killing 15 rangers and wounding 13 others – massacring thousands of community members and abducting hundreds of children; using the girls as sex slaves, turning the boys into child soldiers.
This galvanised the Ugandan army to join forces with the US in ‘Operation Lightning Thunder’—the aim: to root the LRA out of Garamba and capture Joseph Kony. US-backed air strikes destroyed LRA camps inside the Park, but the mission was a failure; most LRA fighters and Kony vanished into the vast rainforests that straddle the DRC/CAR border. The LRA took revenge in another series of brutal attacks, with civilians, rangers and wildlife paying a heavy price. In one day alone, 50 elephants were killed in a hail of lead.
Other militia groups and poaching syndicates took advantage of the years of mayhem, and by 2014, only 1,000 elephants remained in Garamba – down from 22,000 in the 1970s. The northern white rhino – for which the park had been made a World Heritage Site – was wiped out. Garamba was in the headlines for all the wrong reasons, recognised worldwide at the time as ‘Ground Zero’ in Africa’s poaching wars. Then, a public campaign against Joseph Kony and the LRA captured global attention, with millions worldwide staging mass protests, highlighting the plight of Garamba’s last elephants.
Garamba is slowly being restored thanks to conservation efforts, international support and the work of its rangers
The good news is that Garamba is steadily clawing its way back thanks to international support and the tenacious, tireless work of its rangers. It now employs 500 permanent staff and serves as an anchor of stability for the entire region. Wildlife numbers are slowly increasing, too, and last year, only one elephant was lost to poaching. Our humble expedition is another story of hope and heroic human resilience for Africa’s iconic wilderness areas.
The following morning, up at dawn, we head deep into the surrounding forests, travelling north. It’s the sort of adventure that 4×4 enthusiasts would love. Through the lost-in-time town of Nagero with its colonial-style buildings dating back to the Belgian days, then slipping and sliding along narrow bush tracks with dense palm groves and thick elephant grass taller than the Defenders, through swamps and black-cotton-soil mudholes scattering wallowing pigs, ducks and chickens, crossing rivers on rickety plank bridges, passing shaggy-thatched, low-roofed mud huts with small patches of maize, cassava, bananas and millet, and colourful wash-day laundry spread out to dry in the sweltering humidity, which soon has us adding Rehydrate to our water bottles.
Hours later, we’re waved down by a small crowd who’ve cleared a track through the bush. Following them, we dodge tyre-puncturing stumps to be welcomed by excited, flag-waving farmers loudly singing and dancing to the rhythmic sounds of a Congolese ‘adumgu’ (traditional handmade guitar). This agri-project is one of the best we’ve seen; water from a nearby swamp is being channelled into a large, hand-dug tilapia fishpond, below which is a vegetable garden full of cabbages, tomatoes, eggplants and onions. Garamba’s agri-trainer, Carl Moumbogou, explains that the project has over 260 farmer-leaders, each working with ten other trainee farmers. “That’s 2,600 new farmers now providing fish protein and vegetables to Garamba’s neighbouring communities,” he says proudly.
Garamba’s community farmers greet the expedition team with flags waving
Still, further north, the heat burns down, and the humidity is as thick as cassava porridge. In a forest clearing, we meet up as planned with the park’s mobile clinic run by medical orderly Timothy Lupay and nurse Ruth Tcheka, who are clearly popular with the mums and babies who’ve gathered for check-ups and the malaria prevention nets we’ve brought. It’s a hugely colourful event; the ladies singing and laughing and so appreciative, and the elderly giving toothy grins as they patiently wait for eye tests and reading glasses. All the mud and sweat are truly worthwhile – adding soul to this Afrika Odyssey journey to connect all 22 African Parks-managed conservation areas across Africa.
Running the Rite to Sight campaign at Garamba’s mobile clinic
It’s nearly dark when we return to the Park’s HQ, hot, dehydrated and crusted in mud. Garamba’s community manager, Josiane, is relieved to see us and confesses she’s never done that road in the rainy season. After the intense heat of the day, a colossal storm brews again and lets forth a deluge that continues all night.
The next morning, Ross isn’t looking good and goes down like a tonne of bricks. He immediately begins malaria treatment, but it gets worse. The park’s Dr Diyo does blood tests: it seems Ross has a double-whammy – malaria and typhoid. Massive doses of antibiotics are added to his treatment. “You guys carry on,” Ross says stoically, pouring sweat and shaking as tummy gripes and fever take hold. Thank goodness this has happened here where there’s medical support, and we’re not somewhere deep in the bush.
With assurances that the camp staff and Dr Diyo will keep checking on the patient, Philippe, armed with the expedition calabash, has us racing for the helicopter. “We must move quickly – more rain’s coming,” says Oggie, the funny, charismatic pilot sporting a badge on his flight suit that reads: ‘Stop screaming, I’m scared too.’
Pilot Oggie, Kingsley, and park manager Philippe
To the clatter of rotor blades, we sweep over waterlogged plains, spotting a herd of elephants, wallowing buffalo, hippo and a pride of lions. We land on the summit of Bagunda Hill, Garamba’s highest point, which serves as an observation post with forever views across a mosaic of beautiful open savannah grasslands, rocky outcrops and riverine gallery forests that stretch to the South Sudan border. The rangers help us select pebbles for the symbolic stone cairn (Isivivane) we’ll build at the end of this fascinating journey.
Hippos wallowing in Garamba
Back in the chopper, Oggie’s excited voice comes over the headphones. “Look – there they are – the rhinos! Let’s land.”
Four months before we reached Garamba, 16 southern white rhinos were flown from Zululand in South Africa to this remote northeastern corner of the DRC – a considerable task undertaken by teams of conservationists in both SA and the DRC. It’s an emotional experience for Shee, who’s given years of her life to rhino conservation. On spying on them, she lets forth a loud ‘HALALA!’ Zulu-style ululation that startles the rangers. For her and us all, it’s a special moment to see rhinos back in Garamba, monitored 24/7 by a specialised ranger team; it’s clear what a massive commitment this has – and will – entail.
A trio of Garamba’s new southern white rhinos
And so, the decision is made – the symbolic calabash filling will happen at the rhinos’ drinking spot. We follow their muddy tracks to reach a swampy pool dominated by a large sausage tree laden with heavy fruit hanging on long stalks. As the new park manager, Philippe is given the honour and receives directions in French and English: ‘Go over there – non-non, pas ici – go further – ARRET!’
At the top of a small bank, Philippe launches himself onto what looks like a firm bank of sand on the pool’s edge – and with a sludgy-sounding plop! sinks deep into soft mud, desperately hanging onto the calabash as his Aussie-style hat falls over his eyes. His efforts to extricate himself are too funny for words. An armed ranger comes to the rescue and also sinks into the mire as he digs like a honey badger to extricate Philippe’s large boots. By this time, everyone is reduced to hysterical fits of mirth!
Philippe, initiated in the mud of a rhino pool, holds onto the expedition calabash
Philippe takes it all in his stride and heroically captures a trickle of rhino water in the expedition calabash from under the sausage tree – narrowly missing getting decked by one of the large fruits. It’s a hilarious initiation for Garamba’s new park manager.
Then Oggie shouts: “Sorry folks – have to cut this short. Another storm is blowing in.” As rain spatters against the chopper’s windshield, we lift off and head back to base, only to find that the Dungu River is overflowing its banks; it could mean trouble and Ross, poor bloke, is no better.
Flooding in Garamba
Sometime later, we have good news. Ross survived his double-whammy and is back on his feet but down two belt notches and a few kgs lighter. Bad news: the Dungu River is in full flood – it’s getting serious.
Still, there’s work to be done. We splash along waterlogged roads to the park’s environmental centre for a vibrant Umuganda Day. Phillipe and most of the HQ team are there and, despite worries about the rising waters, determined to embrace African Parks’ 10th value: have fun. Garamba regularly hosts children to teach them about wildlife and their environment, including kids from refugee camps close to the South Sudan border. It is great fun – full of happy smiles and laughter.
The Garamba team
Then, a special surprise: a sprightly 92-year-old arrives on the back of a boda-boda (motorbike taxi). It’s Mibolinabiko “Mzee” Bazigbiu, proudly wearing his old Garamba park uniform. He’s the last surviving elephant handler from a time when the Congo domesticated elephants to work in agriculture.
Strange to hear in these modern times, but domesticating African elephants goes back more than 2,000 years. From the ancient Kingdom of Kush at Meroë in what is now the Republic of Sudan, stone-carved hieroglyphics detail how African elephants were caught and transported up the Nile in specially-built barges, then across the Mediterranean Sea to Rome. They participated in ceremonies, parades and war; known as ‘breakers of walls’, African elephants were the tanks of many Roman conquests. They were used to terrify the enemy’s horses and flatten fortifications – their prowess is celebrated in mosaics and paintings that still survive today. In 218BC, the famous Carthage general Hannibal set out from modern-day Spain to attack Rome, and his army included some 40 trained-for-war African elephants. In the old city of Axum in northern Ethiopia, some texts that pre-date Christianity depict African elephants harnessed in teams to raise the giant granite stellae. But for the next 1,800 years, there’s no mention of domesticating African elephants and the methods used died out with the demise of these ancient civilisations.
Now, with Matu translating into English, we learn from the ‘Elephant Man’ that in 1899, King Leopold II of Belgium (he of Heart of Darkness infamy) issued a royal decree: ‘Catch some African elephants and domesticate them’. By the 1940s, 80 elephants were being used for agricultural and forestry work, cared for by a team of ‘cornacs’ (mahouts); one of them was Mzee Bazigbiu’s father.
Domesticated elephants in Garamba circa 1930
“I, too, became a cornac and in the 1960s, we celebrated our independence from Belgium but within months, the army rebelled and our country went up in flames,” he tells us. “Those were terrible years, and the Simbas, a fierce rebel group, came to Garamba to kill for ivory. So, I and the other cornacs swam with our elephants across the Dungu River and hid for eight months in forests and swamps where the poachers’ trucks couldn’t go.”
“Things got better and the elephants were busy with conservation work in Garamba and other jobs. They starred in films! But many of them aged and poaching became a big problem again. Then in 1984, Madame Kes (Hillman-Smith) arrived with her husband Fraser and with a few rangers, worked so hard to rebuild Garamba. But then, people didn’t like to mix with elephants anymore. Kiko, the last one, died of old age. And that was the end. I loved our elephants, and I miss my brave friends.” The old man heaves a great sigh and wipes his eyes.
Today, Garamba is home to both savannah and forest elephants, the endangered Kordofan giraffe, buffalo, and hippo, 14 antelope species, lion, leopard, spotted hyena, golden cat, and 13 primate species—to name a few.
Kingsley and 92-year-old Mibolinabiko Bazigbiu
It’s humbling to hear Mzee Bazigbiu’s story in his own words – it brings the past to life. With a new pair of +2,5 reading glasses, he animatedly gets involved in the kids’ Wildlife Art competition. What’s incredibly heartwarming is the respect he receives from both children and the Garamba team, as more pages in the expedition’s Scroll for Conservation are filled with powerful stories of life amid conservation and war, written in Congolese and French.
Children participate in the wildlife art competition
But by evening, streams of water are snaking through the tall elephant grass and trees – the roads now submerged. The expedition’s heavily loaded Defenders make heavy progress back to Camp Dungu, at times breaching the one-metre wading depth even on high-lift. We’re told this is the highest floodwater in 20 years, and evacuation plans are made. As a precaution, we reverse the Defenders onto a giant anthill, store passports, vehicle papers and important kit in waterproof bags and join the Garamba team for a Congolese-style braai. Then the heavens open yet again – all part of this great adventure!
Heading back to Camp Dungu through the floodwaters
We’re woken by shouts at dawn – Camp Dungu has become an island in a sea of water, and the roads have completely disappeared. But there’s an important event we can’t miss. Help arrives in the form of the park’s huge, old, 6-wheel-drive military truck. We’re hauled on board, joining Philippe and other staff members whose houses have flooded during the night. We pass the Defenders – still OK but not for long – and churn through the coffee-coloured water to the Park’s HQ for Garamba’s ‘reveille’, a 100-year-old tradition. It’s a special weekly ceremony that everyone attends: the DRC and Garamba flags are solemnly raised, rangers parade and salute smartly, the park manager gives words of encouragement and tribute, and the national anthem is sung loudly.
Then it’s action stations – all hands on deck, the evacuation plan goes into overdrive – orders are barked, and staff scatter in all directions. A boat is dispatched to rescue equipment and belongings from Camp Dungu and the flooded houses. A warning goes out – crocodiles have been sighted cruising between the buildings. Still, with a vast amount of good humour, the now homeless staff are squeezed into every space available. But there’s still the problem of the expedition Defenders stuck on their lonely anthill.
We’re now apprehensive – how the heck will we get them out? Kingsley whispers that he’s mentally crafting a message to Land Rover along the lines of: ‘We regret to inform you that the new Defender 130s, the best expedition and humanitarian vehicles we’ve ever driven, have vanished in record floods in the remote north-eastern corner of the DRC….’
An urgent escape route is needed; otherwise, we’ll be in big trouble. Ross goes into a huddle with Philippe and some of the ranger corps. “What are the chances of cutting a path to higher ground? It’s our only option.” A gang of workers quickly get to work, attacking the thick, thorny scrub with razor-sharp machetes. In no time, they hack out a narrow 2km track. But it’s not over yet; fording a fast-flowing stream to reach the escape route, Ross’ Defender bogs down and has to be winched to safety. Jagged, tyre-puncturing tree stumps and big rocks lie hidden in long grass; it’s a tense, low-ratio crawl as rangers walk ahead, shouting warnings and heaving obstacles out of the way. The heat and humidity is unrelenting.
Hacking out a path for the expedition team
Spattered with sticky black muck, we finally reach the Park’s HQ and start setting up a temporary camp – only to hear more ominous news from Matu. “We must leave now. A bridge on the road to the border is about to go under. If we delay, you could be stuck here for days.”
It’s a mad dash to say farewell to Philippe and the Garamba team, who have become firm friends in a few action-packed days – we’re deeply sorry to leave. With Matu and Innocent again leading the convoy, we tackle the long, churned-up road back to the Ugandan border, crossing the drowning bridge and passing scores of folk pushing their motorbikes and bicycles through thick mud. In low-lying areas, the road disappears into great pools of water; we see a flotilla of quacking ducks paddling past a group of men trying to shove a swamped car onto drier ground. It’s slow going, and by early evening, we’ll still be hours away from the border. Help comes from an unexpected source: the Kibali gold mine, which helped finance the recent return of rhinos to Garamba, welcomes us with warm hospitality for the night – never has a cold Tusker beer, chicken and chips tasted so good!
At the border, it’s a jolly reunion with Odra, the fixer who helps us easily cross back into Uganda. We point the Defenders north; our next objective is to reach the next parks on our parks 14 and 15 of this Afrika Odyssey journey – Badingilo and Boma National Parks in South Sudan – which mark the turnaround point for this chapter.
PS: We later heard from the Garamba team that after we left, the floodwaters kept rising for over a week—we got out just in time!
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Magical Liuwa Plain + rhino climate woes
Have you noticed how difficult it is to find stimulating and informative nature-based content on most cable and streaming channels?
It’s usually hidden somewhere under ‘lifestyle’ or ‘documentaries’ and fights for attention with celebrities on staged ‘wilderness’ immersions, psychopaths out to kill the largest ‘killer fish’ or drama queen wranglers harassing snakes. Seems like there has to be a focus on humans, with nature as a prop.
There are some gems out there (like WaterBear and BBC Earth), but for the rest we have to subscribe to eight or ten channels and mine each for thought-provoking content. Any other channel suggestions where the clutter and distractions are not so disruptive?
Meanwhile, in my hometown bordering the Greater Kruger, the flowering aloes are a source of important nourishment for bushbabies, squirrels, and nectar-loving birds – and the bright flashes of yellow, orange, and red against the drab background are a wondrous sight. The bushveld looks as barren as it usually is at the tail end of the dry season in October. Poor summer rains for a few years mean this will be a challenging year for wildlife.
Simon Espley – CEO, Africa Geographic
From our Editor – Taryn van Jaarsveld
Don’t mess with a meerkat on a mission. Especially if that meerkat is the dominant female. Known to maintain their positions of power by killing female relatives and any offspring they may bear, meerkat matriarchs are fierce.
But a recent study has found that dominant females have a secret ingredient that helps them gain their social status, and stay on top: super immunity. Scientists studying meerkats in Kuruman River Reserve, South Africa, found that dominant females possess “immunity genes”, as well as a stronger response to inflammatory stimulus – both lacking in their peers. These allow the meerkats to better fight infection and maintain their social standing. The discovery shows that meerkat’s social lives impact molecular processes happening in their cells. Social interactions matter more than we think!
This week, we delve into the wonders of Zambia’s Liuwa Plain National Park, and examine the negative effect climate change may have on rhinos. See below.
DID YOU KNOW?
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!
This safari delivers two of Africa’s most popular safari meccas: the iconic Victoria Falls in Zimbabwe and Chobe – Botswana’s most popular national park. Enjoy an activity every day, from river cruises to game drives, a helicopter flip above Victoria Falls and, for the more adventurous, bungee jumping and river rafting – and so much more!
This is the glamping safari that dreams are made of: six days in Botswana’s intoxicating Okavango Delta on a fully catered mobile safari. You’ll be led by experienced guides while exploring Khwai Community Concession and Moremi Game Reserve. Go in search of the big cats and wild dogs, and glide silently down waterways in a mokoro while viewing hippos, elephants and avian candy.
Five lionesses in Kruger National Park will become part of an exciting project aiming to provide insight into how lion pride behaviour differs in fenced and open systems. In August, teams from Nelson Mandela University (NMU) and the Southern African Conservation Trust (SACT) will set out to fit satellite-tracking collars on the lionesses.
This exciting project aims to compare various behaviours between open and fenced systems by:
Testing the effect of pride strength on territory size;
Measuring territory infringement;
Testing the pride’s aggressive response during territory infringements;
Comparing stress levels of prides; and
Comparing the ratio of prey resource availability to home-range size.
You can help in this important study by sponsoring a collar in full or by donating any amount – large or small – to support this critical conservation project. Learn more here.
WATCH: June-July marks the best wildlife-viewing in Africa. There is very little rain expected (the dry season prevails) and temperatures are moderate – perfect safari weather. Here’s what you can expect from your June-July safari. (01:38) Click here to watch
Nothing compares to the roars of a lion pride in full throaty flight. This has to be one of the most electrifying sounds in Africa, one which raises goosebumps and vibrates through the ribcage. And when those voices are silent, their absence is deafening. For the longest time, the vast grasslands of Liuwa Plain National Park echoed with the calls of one lonely lioness until others joined their voices with hers. She is silent now, but her legacy lives on in the roars of her pride reverberating through the night air. Theirs is a song of hope and celebration, an ode to Liuwa Plain’s miraculous journey as a vast unfenced national park.
Liuwa Plain National Park
As the name suggests, Liuwa Plain National Park encompasses a significant portion of the Barotse Floodplain in western Zambia, one of Africa’s great wetlands and a designated Ramsar site. The park is bounded by the Luambimba River to the north and the Luanginga River to the south, with some 3,369km2 (336,900 ha) of grassland stretching between them.
Find out about Zambia for your next African safari. We have ready-made safaris to choose from, or ask us to build one just for you.
Every year, the park floods, leaving small islands of woodland and becoming largely inaccessible before the retreating waters see the return of wildlife and visitors alike. With seemingly boundless horizons, the open landscape is not unlike that of some of East Africa’s most renowned safari destinations – minus the crowds. It also happens to be home to the second-largest wildebeest migration on the continent.
Liuwa Plain encompasses a portion of the Barotse Floodplain in western Zambia, one of Africa’s great wetlands
Liuwa’s conservation history is intertwined with the cultural identity of the Lozi people of Barotseland. In the late 19th century, the plains were the hunting grounds of Lubosi Lewanika, the Litunga (king) at the time. He designated Liuwa Plain as a protected area and tasked the Lozi people as the custodians of the land and its creatures. Today, the relationship between Liuwa Plain and her people remains tight-knit, with an estimated 10,000 people living (legally) in the park – a prime example of possible co-existence.
However, like any protected space faced with mankind’s influence, Liuwa’s history is chequered. By the early 2000s, the vast herds of wildebeest and zebras had been denuded, and rice fields were spreading further and further into the park. All but the canniest of predators vanished, leaving just one lioness – the last of her kind destined to symbolise Liuwa’s future.
In 2003, Liuwa Plains National Park became one of the first protected areas under the management of the non-profit organization African Parks. In partnership with the Zambia Department of National Parks and Wildlife (DNPW) and the Barotse Royal Establishment, African Parks set about improving the park’s security while working with the community to implement sustainable land-use plans. Some two decades later, 95% of the park’s staff contingent are local community members, and representatives of the Barotse Royal Establishment are on the African Parks Zambia board to ensure a voice for the people in managing the park.
Through emergency support, educational programmes and development schemes, and carefully controlled fishing permits, African Parks has ensured that the local communities are vested in the park’s survival.
A hyena stalks the watery plains
The legacy of Lady Liuwa
For nine years, Lady Liuwa stalked the plains alone and eventually became the star of her own documentary. Lions are profoundly social animals with deep bonds between individuals. Given our inherent sociality, the plight of the last lioness of Liuwa struck a deep emotional chord across the globe. Even her proclivity for seeking out human habitation and the company of people seemed a desperate cry of loneliness.
Fortunately, Lady Liuwa was not destined to live out her years alone. Though the African Parks process of reintroducing lions to Liuwa Plains was not without its challenges, Lady Liuwa was eventually placed in a boma with another lioness named Sepo. The two bonded and were released back into the park, where they established a pride with a translocated male. The two lionesses were inseparable, and though Lady Liuwa never had cubs of her own, she cared for Sepo’s cubs as her own.
DID YOU KNOW that African Parks offers safari camps (lodges and campsites) where 100% of tourism revenue goes to conservation and local communities? Find out more and book your African Parks safari.
Lady Liuwa died of natural causes in 2017 – she was believed to be over 17 years old. She leaves behind a legacy of resilience and a growing pride of lions to repopulate Liuwa Plain National Park.
Liuwa Plain’s lion population is steadily growing
In plain sight
In the (almost) absence of lions, Liuwa Plain became the land of spotted hyenas, dominated by a population of over 350 of these apex predators. Hyenas are everywhere in the park – trotting across the plains, wallowing in the puddles, and whooping their way through the night. A small number of cheetahs test their acceleration skills on the plains, and, in 2022, a pack of 11 African wild dogs (painted wolves) from Kafue National Park in Zambia and South Africa were introduced to the park.
Not for nothing is Liuwa Plain sometimes referred to as “little Serengeti”, and every year at the start of the rainy season in November, over 30,000 wildebeest begin to converge in herds that can extend over 5km. This is the second-largest wildebeest migration in Africa, and the wildebeests will give birth and disperse away from rising flood waters. Zebra, tsessebe and lechwe join them in their annual circuit of Liuwa and the Mussuma region of neighbouring Angola, often with hungry predators hot on their collective heels.
A lone wildebeest awaits the incoming storm
The labyrinth of waterways, strewn with beautiful lilies, is a paradise for the flocks of pelicans, storks, geese and cranes that inhabit them. Liuwa Plain boasts an impressive species total of over 335 birds, and it is very easy to while away hours in a good spot, watching the antics of the various avian characters. For true enthusiasts, slaty egrets and whiskered terns will most certainly be a highlight, and the arrival of thousands of black-winged pratincoles in November is the cause of great excitement.
Liuwa Plain is home to over 335 bird species, including spectacular flocks of wattled cranes
Explore & stay
There are four campsites to choose from in Liuwa Plain
Most of the park is inaccessible during the height of the wet season from around January when the mighty Zambezi River reclaims the land for a few months. Depending on rainfall levels, the park usually reopens to self-drive visitors again around May or June, and wildlife sightings improve as the dry season progresses. The pulse of the seasons is best felt with the arrival of the first thunderstorms towards the end of the year when the landscape transforms from a veritable dustbowl to a verdant oasis decorated by a sudden profusion of wildflowers.
The park offers four remote campsites for self-sufficient campers with their own 4×4 vehicles. Sibika Camp is a self-catering lodge offering basic creature comforts, while Liuwa Camp offers guests a fully catered lodge experience.
You can see more on Liuwa Camp here:
In keeping with the deep connection between the land and her people (and in the interests of dry feet), the Lozi people also move to higher ground during the floods, marking the occasion with the Kuomboka festival. Translated, ‘Kuomboka’ means “to get out of the water”, and the heavy beating of the royal Maoma drums precedes the ceremony. The next day, the Litunga proceeds upriver in his black-and-white royal barge paddled by 50 oarsmen.
A spotted hyena walks through a field of Liuwa’s distinctive sand lilies
The repercussions of escalating climate for the natural world are becoming increasingly dire. While discussions often spotlight the broad implications of climate change, it is essential to zoom in on the specific vulnerabilities of Africa’s iconic megafauna, including elephants and rhinos. Unable to cope well with prolonged periods of extreme temperatures, rhinos are particularly vulnerable to the increasing temperatures associated with climate change.
Among Africa’s majestic megafauna, rhinos stand out as particularly vulnerable. While elephants can regulate their body temperature by flapping their ears, rhinos rely on alternative cooling methods, such as consuming more water, wallowing, or seeking shade. Bearing in mind that rhinos do not cope well with prolonged periods of extreme temperatures, these strategies may prove insufficient in the face of escalating temperatures, a trend predicted to continue according to climate models.
A new study sought to gain valuable insights into the future suitability of rhino habitats by integrating species-presence data with climate projections. It delineated rhino tolerance thresholds for temperature and precipitation, providing a basis for assessing habitat suitability under different climate scenarios.
Researchers, including Timothy Randhir from the Department of Environmental Conservation at the University of Massachusetts, used the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change’s Representative Concentration Pathways (RCPs) 4.5 and 8.5 to forecast future climate scenarios. These pathways are the standard for predicting climate change based on human actions. RCP 4.5 represents a scenario where moderate efforts are made to reduce the impacts of climate change, whereas RCP 8.5 represents a future where little effort is made to counteract the impacts of climate change.
Under the 4.5 RCP model, which predicts a moderate rise in carbon dioxide levels, global temperatures are expected to increase by an average of 2.4°C by the year 2100. On the other hand, the 8.5 RCP model predicts the worst-case scenario, where the human population continues growing, coal burning does not slow down, and greenhouse gasses do not reduce.
Over the past century, temperatures across Africa have increased by 0.5–2°C. Apart from increased mean temperatures, models have shown that the effects of climate change in Africa will lead to an increased frequency of El Niño Southern Oscillation in southern Africa, an increased frequency of severe weather anomalies, and lower mean rainfall in most areas.
A black rhino takes a drink of water in Hwange National Park
The study took historical baseline data from 1975 (averaged from 1961–1990), providing a reference point for the changes in temperature and precipitation expected in the study parks in the mid-and late century under the two modelled scenarios, RCPs 4.5 and 8.5. Using this model, all parks showed increasing temperatures, though this varied between parks.
The parks with the most significant temperature increases combined with decreasing rainfall are Etosha and Hwange National Parks. Etosha may even become inhabitable for rhino populations.Temperature projections by the mid-century under RCP 4.5 show increases of 2.4°C (for both Etosh and Hwange), and 5.2°C and 5.1°C respectively by the late century under RCP 8.5. Conversely, Hlane and Tsavo West National Parks show more modest rises of 1.9°C and 2 °C by mid-century under RCP 4.5, and 4.1°C and 4 °C, respectively, by the late century under the RCP 8.5 scenario. Models also show that Tsavo West will become wetter, particularly under RCP 8.5 conditions, by the late century.
Kruger National Park’s average temperature is set to rise by 2.1°C (RCP 4.5) and 4.5°C under the worst-case scenario by the mid-century, respectively. Precipitation in most of southern Africa’s parks is expected to decrease as CO2 levels rise.
The study suggests this poses a real risk to rhino populations and their habitats. It shows that rhinos might be extinct in southern Africa by 2085 if the worst-case scenario becomes a reality. There might not be any southern white rhinos left in the Kruger National Park by 2036. For the black rhino to thrive in a given habitat, the ideal mean annual temperature is between 17 and 22°C, with sufficient precipitation to ensure the growth of shrubs, grasses and other foraging materials. In addition, a 1994 study by DJ Pienaar of habitat preferences of the white rhino in Kruger National Park suggested that regions with less than 400mm of rain per year were not conducive habitats for white rhinos.
Understanding climate change and land-use influences on biodiversity is crucial for developing effective conservation strategies. Studies like these show the importance of macroecological assessments in evaluating habitat suitability for endangered species like the black and white rhino. By analysing the impact of climate and land-use change on rhino habitats, researchers can implement adaptive management strategies tailored to future climate scenarios.
Climate change poses a formidable threat to rhino populations and their habitats, necessitating urgent action. Researchers have shed light on the complex interactions between climate change and rhino habitat suitability by leveraging climate models and spatial analyses. Targeted conservation efforts are essential to secure the future of these iconic species in the face of escalating environmental challenges.
A white rhino in Etosha National Park
Editorial note: It is widely known that rhinos occur in the national parks mentioned above. Information about the presence of rhinos in protected areas comes from within – staff, third-party contractors, pseudo-tourists, relevant government departments, etc. There is no way to prevent poaching syndicates from accessing this information. Successful poaching syndicates find out exactly where in the reserve the target rhino is at any specific time – so that they can get in and out quickly. None of the information in this article is news to the syndicates, and it is also not specific enough for their purposes.
Announcing… the winners, runners-up and highly commended images for Photographer of the Year 2024
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And the winner is…
Let the trumpets blare… we have a victor! This week, we reveal the winner, runners-up and highly commended images from Photographer of the Year 2024. Thank you for journeying with us through this celebration of Africa’s epic wins and painful losses. You’ve experienced with us the decay and the growth, the doomed and the new, the beastly and the holy, the survival, the rites and the rituals portrayed by these images. And thank you to all the photographers who entered – for bringing Africa to all the world. This year we received a staggering 6,796 entries, and selected 414 photos for our weekly galleries. No easy feat…
I look forward to hearing your thoughts on our winners featured in the gallery below. Also check out the Blood Lions photo series on the exploitation of predators behind bars.
Longing for a getaway? If these safaris have you itching to travel, tell us about your ideal trip here, or hop on a call with our experts and let’s start crafting your unique safari experience.
Take to the skies on this unique desert flying safari. You’ll explore Namibia’s awe-inspiring desert landscapes on a journey above the dramatic Skeleton Coast and the great Atlantic coastline.
You’ll also encounter desert-adapted lions, elephants and rhinos and delve into Namibia’s iconic dunes of Sossusvlei and the vibrant culture of the Himba people. This safari is for those looking to fuel their adventurous spirit!
This extraordinary journey will take you on an eight-day primate quest to meet some of the most iconic ape and monkey species of East and Central Africa. From the critically endangered Grauer’s gorilla in the DRC and the fabled mountain gorillas in the Virungas, to the charismatic golden monkeys and primal pant-hooting chimpanzees of Nyungwe (Rwanda), this safari is a celebration of all things primate. The spectacular scenery and enthralling birding are bonuses!
“Two fabulous lodges: Enkewa and Saruni Samburu. Wonderful service, and great guides. Breathtaking accommodation and scenery at Saruni. New, unusual mammals for us and dozens of new birds. Teenage grandchildren loved the whole adventure. Well arranged by Africa Geographic as usual.” – Lex, from South Africa, travelled with AG to Maasai Mara and Samburu National Reserves in Kenya.
“Christian developed a thorough itinerary that covered all of our areas of interest. Shortly before departing on our trip, there was a major political crisis that necessitated a change to two days of our schedule. Christian managed those changes effectively and ensured that our adventures were still amazing. Our driver/guide, Lucky, anticipated all of our needs and managed every moment of our trip. I recommend AG without hesitation.” – Juan, from the USA, travelled with AG on our ultimate primate safari, visiting Mgahinga Gorilla National Park (Uganda), and Volcanoes and Nyungwe National Parks (Rwanda).
WATCH: Looking for something different? Nkhotakota Wildlife Reserve is Malawi’s oldest and largest reserve – encompassing 1,800km2 (180,000 hectares) of wild and rugged terrain. Nkhotakota is Africa at her most raw and beautiful, removed from the indignities of mass commercial tourism. Learn more here. (06:03) Click here to watch
And the winner is…. After careful consideration and much deliberation, we are pleased to announce the results for Photographer of the Year 2024. These talented photographers have captured the essence of Africa through their lenses, resulting in a powerful mix of photographs.
Each of the three winners (the overall winner and two runners-up) will become a personal sponsor of a wild Hwange lion research collar. Winners and their partners will join our CEO Simon Espley on a conservation safari in Botswana. Read more about the Photographer of the Year 2024 prizes here.
A note from our CEO
How we agonised over this final selection!
What truly stood out for us this year was the unique and diverse biodiversity reflected in the entries – from grand landscapes and iconic mammals that rule their kingdoms to avian candy and fascinating insects. This year’s winners and highly commended photos are a stunning reflection of the incredible beauty of this continent we call home and a testament to their exceptional skills.
For some reason, this year, more leopard and lion photos made it into the final selection. Every year brings a new theme – this is an organic process that we have no influence over. What a joy it was to watch these outstanding entries fill our inbox every day!
Of course, artificial intelligence (AI) is now commonplace during post-production editing, and we can see that beneficial impact when comparing the RAW photographic files to these photos. Importantly, we do not permit any images generated via AI.
Congratulations to every entrant who made it through thousands of entries to appear in our weekly selections, Top 105, Finalists, and these Winners. Thanks for sharing your beautiful work with us and trusting us to honour and recognise you. In this modern world of cheap imitations and instant gratification, these entries stand out as reflecting our core value system, which is driven by authenticity and time invested.
This gorilla’s beckoning gesture and relaxed demeanour invite a rare glimpse into his world. Dewald’s winning photograph captures a unique and significant moment of intimacy between two great apes. The silverback’s initiation of the close encounter adds a distinct and impactful element to this moment. Dewald would’ve needed to keep his composure in the midst of an unnerving moment. Maintaining his focus on the gorilla’s eyes, while allowing its hand to dominate the photograph, gives an added dimension to the photograph.
Photographer and photo details – read more
Dewald says: “Conservation of the critically endangered mountain gorillas in Rwanda is one of the rare success stories in Africa and serves as a beacon of hope for the rest of the continent. More than 1,000 individuals remain in the rainforests bordering Rwanda, Uganda and the DRC. While I was trekking for mountain gorillas in Volcanoes National Park, the dominant silverback casually flopped down directly in front of me, observing his reflection in the lens of my camera. Surrounded by thick vegetation, I had nowhere else to go. I kept a submissive posture with my eyes downcast. He stretched out his hand to touch his reflection in the lens, and for the briefest moment, I imagined him extending his hand to greet me as an old friend. A moment in time that will stay with me for the rest of my life.”
About photographer Dewald Tromp
Originally from Windhoek, Namibia, Dewald grew up in the small rural town of Belfast, Mpumalanga. As a child, all his family holidays were spent camping or hiking in the Kruger National Park. This is where his love for nature was cultivated. Although he works in the medical field, wildlife photography has been his passion for the last 20 years. Dewald and his wife have travelled extensively around the globe to photograph rare and exciting wildlife. Through his images, he wants to influence people to start thinking about conservation and protecting the last remaining wild places on Earth.
Ivan’s patience resulted in this exceptional capture of an exhilarating moment as the mother leopard ferries her tiny bundle across the river. We can only speculate why she would run the crocodile gauntlet of a river crossing – adding to the allure of this intimate image. Maintaining a well composed image in a moment that took mere seconds requires skill and a steady hand.
Photographer and photo details – read more
Ivan says: “I waited 10 hours to get this shot while in Maasai Mara National Reserve, Kenya. My guide, Shaddy Tira from Oltepesi Tented Safari Camp, and I knew the leopard known as Bahati had hidden her cubs in a den alongside a river a few days before. We felt there was a high chance she would be moving them to a new den soon. We also knew that Bahati was not in the den with the cubs and that she would at least have to return to the den soon to nurse them. We parked in the river crossing about 70m from the den and waited. Seven hours passed, but Bahati never appeared. We had to return to camp as it was getting dark. We returned first thing the next morning and determined through listening to the cubs calling that they were still in the den, and that Bahati had not yet returned. We waited another three hours before Bahati suddenly appeared, jumping across the river from the other side to get to the den. After briefly nursing her cubs, she gently picked them up in her mouth and carried them across the river, one by one. It was a moment I will never forget.”
About photographer Ivan Glaser
Ivan was born into a family of wildlife and photography enthusiasts in South Africa, where his deep passion for African wildlife and wildlife photography took root at an early age. Sharing this passion through his photography has always brought him joy. In his mid-twenties, Ivan emigrated to Australia and began his corporate career. During those years, his focus shifted away from wildlife and photography as his professional responsibilities and family took precedence. However, in 2019, an extraordinary opportunity presented itself when Ivan joined an Africa Geographic photo safari to the Maasai Mara National Reserve. Under the expert guidance of renowned Norwegian wildlife photographer Arnfinn Johansen and in the welcoming embrace of Oltepesi Tented Safari Camp, Ivan’s wildlife photography skills were radically transformed, and his love for Africa was reaffirmed. Now in retirement, he is wholeheartedly pursuing his lifelong passion for wildlife and wildlife photography by making regular trips back to the Maasai Mara, hosting guided photo safaris for small groups of fellow wildlife and photography enthusiasts who share his love for the natural world.
Greg’s capture inspires a sense of awe at the bulk and power of this male leopard as he patrols his territory. The mosaic of multiple elements – dust, water vapour & backlighting – complement each other perfectly to inspire an other-worldly, spiritual feeling in this epic photo. Greg allowed the backlit halo of dust to add a new dimension to his image, rather than detract from it.
Photographer and photo details – read more
Greg says: “It was a cold and nippy night in South Africa’s MalaMala Game Reserve, within Sabi Sands Game Reserve, when our safari guide received a radio call to say that one of the dominant male leopards was on his nightly patrol and heading our way. We pulled off the road slightly, switched off and waited in a dip. It was pitch dark, and it took ages for our subject to appear out of the night. When he finally did, he stood there, a vision before us, his outline made visible by another safari truck’s lights shining from behind. Frantically selecting the correct settings in manual mode and pressing my shutter button, I could only hope that the steam and dust had been recorded in my exposure. Leopards are Africa’s most enigmatic predators, and by silhouetting just the outline and the exhaled breath, I hoped to pay homage to my beautiful and mysterious subject. There are some photographs that you never forget taking – this is one of mine.”
About photographer Greg du Toit
For over two decades, South African-born Greg du Toit has been solely devoted to photographing Africa’s wildlife. His fine art collections have been shown from New York to Singapore, and his work has hung in natural history museums from Canada to Australia. His solo exhibition, ‘Authentic Africa’, hosted by the National Geographic gallery on London’s Regent Street, was a sell-out. The BBC Wildlife Magazine featured the article, ‘A waiting game’, detailing his 270 hours spent sitting inside a Kenyan waterhole. He is the author of three books: AWE, a coffee-table book containing a decade’s worth of imagery and Getting it right in camera, a how-to book for wildlife photographers. Wilderness dreaming is the title of his African memoir, filled with wild bush adventures in his search of lost Africa. The BBC World Service has interviewed him, he has appeared on NBC’s TODAY show and has, as a guest speaker, delivered presentations as far afield as northern Finland. Through his online galleries, his limited-edition prints bring Africa to the walls of homes worldwide. Greg donates some of his prints to both humanitarian and wildlife charities.
This lonely penguin’s seemingly forlorn posture speaks to the species’ rapidly diminishing status and uncertain future. The choice of black-and-white and moody post-production elements emphasise this uncertainty. The African penguin population is believed to be less than 2% of what it was at the start of the 20th century, and the slide continues. Declining fish stocks drive the reduction of the penguin population – caused by overfishing and climate change-induced warmer water, which drives the fish shoals further away from the penguins’ breeding grounds.
Photo details – read more
Andries says: “On a cold and rainy morning, I visited the penguin colony at Boulders Beach in Simon’s Town, in Cape Town, South Africa. The clouds were dark, and I was the only person on the beach in the SANParks-run area where a colony of African penguins are protected. I walked around with my camera and wide-angle lens in search of that one special moment to capture. I managed to capture a series of images of penguins on the day, but this specific one where the penguin’s bent head seemed to convey grief as if he were the only one left, with no other penguins around, stood out to me. On this dark, cloudy day, the natural decision for me was a black-and-white conversion of the image, which contributes to the story depicted in the scene of an endangered breed alone.”
The joyful exuberance of this moment brings a smile to the eyes. So much rhino imagery these days focuses on their status as prime poaching targets, so this happy capture is a breath of fresh air. The sight of a complete set of horns is rare these days, adding to how special this capture is. The lower angle of the shot serves to empower the rhino subject, adding an element of awe and wonderment for these otherwise vulnerable beasts.
Photo details – read more
Amish says: “This photo depicts two southern white rhinos seemingly playing a game of tag. It provides a sense of place that is spacious, free and with no threats. The small rhino running in the back provides an additional layer for the photo. The rhino conservancy where this image was taken plays a central role in rehabilitating the species in East Africa and helps to facilitate reintroduction of rhinos all over Africa. Talk about the recovery of a species!”
Who does not enjoy a lineup of big cats drinking – especially when they are all facing you? The uncertain, feral look in the eyes of these young lions adds to the sense of rugged wilderness. Keith captured this moment with clarity, despite the challenges of difficult lighting and multiple moving subjects.
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Keith says: “This shot was taken at Dinaka, at the northern edge of the Central Kalahari Game Reserve, in mid-November, on the last day of a two-week South African safari. The lion pride, including two males, several females and eight cubs, occasionally visited the waterhole where this image was taken. I received information the previous evening that the pride were there and hoped they would still be there in the morning. I set off early, at 5am, before sunrise, with a guide to check it out. The air was still and relatively cool for the time of year. We got to the waterhole in 15 minutes, and to our delight, the pride was still there, all resting at the time. I got my camera set up and waited for the lions to become more active, and it wasn’t long before they started moving, followed by a loud morning call from the pride. That is a sight and sound to behold. Shortly afterwards, the cubs made their way to the water’s edge, looking around whilst they got in position to drink. I was amazed that they all lined up next to each other as if it were rehearsed. It is common to find lions group together when drinking, but cubs tend to have adults with them or do it in smaller groups. So, I was fortunate that all the cubs came together for that moment. This was a challenging shot as the sun still hadn’t risen, and despite the high-low light performance in modern cameras, I had to quickly decide to balance my ISO with a fast enough shutter speed to get a usable shot. My camera was rested on a bean bag, and I was on manual with a 400mm lens at 1/40 sec, F4, with an ISO of 5000. Recognising that this would create some image blur if any of the cubs moved, I trusted that with my camera set at 30 frames-per-second, at least one would be sharp. So I fired away, knowing this was one of those special moments that rarely happen in wildlife photography. When returning to the lodge later that morning, after reviewing the shots I had taken, I was so happy that I had that one sharp image that perfectly captured that magical moment.”
Tea and biscuits, anybody? The likeness to an old gent relaxing in his favourite chair and watching the grandchildren play makes this an endearing capture. Anthropomorphism aside, the pondering gaze emphasises that chimps are our closest relatives. While Zenya also had the opportunity to capture multiple busy chimpanzees in action during her time with the troop, she instead set her focus and attention on this chimp, taking the time to capture this pensive moment.
Photo details – read more
Zenya says: “Walking through the Kibale Forest in Uganda was like stepping into a dream. Where the line between man and animal fades away, and you realise just how similar we are to our close relative, the chimpanzee. When first entering the forest, the only sound was rumbling thunder and crunching leaves under our feet. A chorus of calls split the air, guiding us to the chimpanzees. We picked up our pace, following the new sound that brought the forest to life. Minutes later, we encountered a trio of males sitting on the ground, watching our approach. I was so excited to be with these males, that I didn’t realise we were in the middle of a large family – until my guide tapped me on the shoulder and quietly pointed behind me. My eyes then started to wander and slowly take in my surroundings. This wondrous world soon expanded, showing a mother holding a young baby, adolescents swinging in the trees, napping adults scattered about on the ground, and a chimpanzee sitting on a fallen limb just as a person might sit. I carefully made my way to the sitting chimpanzee, who never shifted or looked in my direction, his gaze transfixed on a distant spot as if lost in a daydream. It is incredible how similar we are to chimpanzees; they watched me as I watched them, communicated with each other as I communicated with my guide, and walked through the forest as I walked through the forest. As the hour ended, I took one last look at the sitting chimpanzee, still lost in thought, and silently thanked the family who had briefly accepted me into their home.”
The backstory of planning and patience makes this capture worthy of recognition. And the unusual bottom-up perspective, as this leopard propels itself up the tree, emphasises the power of these big cats. There was plenty that could’ve (and did) go wrong when trying to take this image – from focal points and falling leaves, to the unpredictable habits of the leopard, but Thomas perservered to capture an awesome shot.
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Thomas says: “Captured during the midday, this striking photograph, taken in Maasai Mara, reveals the exceptional tree-climbing prowess of leopards. Known for their agility in scaling trees, leopards use this skill to safeguard their prey from scavengers and predators and ambush their prey from above. Their robust necks and shoulders enable them to haul prey much heavier than themselves up into the safety of lofty branches. In this scene, I positioned my camera beneath the tree where the leopard had stashed its food, anticipating its return. The setup was fraught with challenges, from the constant threat of dry leaves obscuring the lens to unpredictable elements like rain, and the possibility of the leopard approaching from an unexpected direction. Despite numerous setbacks and failed attempts, perseverance paid off as I finally captured this rare and unique angle of the leopard. The image captures the leopard in a moment of careful inspection, poised amid its strategic behaviour. Its tail balances expertly as it ascends, illustrating the elegance and adaptability of this magnificent predator in its natural environment.”
This arresting image bursts through and grabs the eye for its stark portrayal of Mother Nature in all her brutality. The impala’s apparent look of surprise adds to the drama, and the wild dog’s casual gaze emphasises that this is business as usual for any predator (including humanity). Anyone who has spent time with wild dogs knows the frenzy of the hunt and the ensuing feed – which requires constant adjustment and divided attention in choosing the right subject. Michael chose his subject perfectly, while photographing from the best possible angle.
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Michael says: “A dramatic and rare wildlife moment in South Luangwa National Park, Zambia, on the Kulandila Plain. The impalas and pukus were scattering, indicating the presence of predators. The resident pack of African wild dogs (painted wolves) had successfully hunted down a young impala ram. By the time I reached the action, the wild dogs had consumed most of the impala and were carrying away parts of the carcass. I spotted one dog carrying the impala’s head towards a grassy bank. I strategically positioned the vehicle in a gulley next to the bank, hoping to capture a low-angle shot. Patience is vital, and when a dog finally climbed the bank, I took advantage of a brief but incredible photographic opportunity. It is truly a once-in-a-lifetime sighting, highlighting the unpredictability and excitement of wildlife photography.”
The chameleon’s luminous green contrasts with the dry leaves’ drab brown as it scans the photographer from its nighttime hideaway. Of all the photos in this final stage, this one required the least post-production editing and is the most similar to the raw file version – demonstrating the photographer’s skill in painting with the limited light available.
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Matthias says: “I found this Knysna dwarf chameleon while nightspotting in Diepwalle Forest, Western Cape, South Africa. I saw a few of them that night, but this young one caught my eye because it had found shelter between two dead leaves. This precarious position and the contrast of colours and textures underlined its vulnerability. Dwarf chameleons are endemic to Southern Africa and comprise twenty species with restricted distributions. The Knysna-Tsitsikamma area holds the largest remnant of afrotemperate forest upon which this chameleon depends.”
This extraordinary action shot grabs the attention and tells an epic story. Warthogs are formidable gladiators – none more so than a mother. Each of the three combatants shows the moment’s stress in their facial expressions – especially the leopard, which has just been barged into from behind. Capturing the pinnacle of the hunt, with each subject portrayed crisply and clearly, was no mean feat on the photographer’s part.
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Aidan says: “We had just arrived on the scene when we found that Faulu, a leopard we had been following, was beginning to hunt a family of warthogs. There were three piglets in the family of six warthogs, and Faulu separated them. After initially attempting to run away, the mother warthog’s maternal instincts took over, and she swivelled around to defend her piglet as Faulu was gaining ground on it. Faulu caught the piglet and was in the process of attempting to kill it when the brave mother warthog attacked the right side of Faulu’s pelvis with her tusks. The leopard was caught off guard by the attack as she hadn’t seen the mother and jumped into the air with the wounded piglet flying out of her mouth. As the piglet landed, it scampered under its mother’s body, petrified of Faulu’s oncoming pursuit. The attempt was swiftly abandoned as the furious mother warthog chased the leopard away down the hill, with the other warthogs looking on gleefully. Everybody at the scene was astonished by what we had just witnessed, and even our Maasai guide, John, was quietly muttering, ‘Wow…wow…wow.’ It was an unforgettable magical moment in the Maasai Mara.”
This evocative image resembles last year’s winning photo of a lion shaking off the early morning dew. The choice of black & white adds to the halo impression caused by the movement. Lower lighting following the storm and the leopard’s rapid movement would’ve been challenges for most photographers, but Andrea was able to overcome these to create a remarkable portrait.
Photo details – read more
Andrea says: “Captured in the afternoon following a brief summer shower in Maasai Mara, I captured a majestic leopard shaking off the water from its sleek coat. The composition is framed to showcase the leopard in mid-shake, its powerful muscles and dripping fur frozen in exquisite detail against the lush green backdrop of the savannah. This fleeting moment captures the essence of wild beauty, offering a rare glimpse into the intimate life of one of Africa`s most elusive and iconic predators. The choice of black and white is to emphasise the water droplets forming a circle around the leopard, reminding me of a planet surrounded by the universe.”
This stunning capture makes us feel like the prey as this young lion locks onto his target. The photographer found himself in the ideal vantage point to capture a unique view of the stalk, not often shown. The shallow depth of the field contrasts with a sharp focus on the lion’s face to accentuate the effect.
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Hannes says: “A young lion, full of ambition and hunger, faces a daunting challenge that stands in the way of his success as a predator. Despite his best efforts, his lack of experience is a significant obstacle in his attempt to stalk a herd of gemsbok. His youthful exuberance and determination are not enough to compensate for his inexperience, which becomes evident as the gemsbok quickly detects his approach long before he emerges over the dune. The primary giveaway is his scant, fluffy mane, a telltale sign of his youth and inexperience. This small tuft of fur on his head betrays his presence to the vigilant gemsbok – antelopes that are always looking for potential threats. As a result, the gemsbok can spot him from a distance, well before his eyes even break the horizon. This premature detection prevents the young lion from getting close to his intended prey, leaving him frustrated and hungry. For this aspiring hunter, the growth of his mane is not just a matter of appearance but a crucial factor in his ability to conduct a successful ambush. A fully developed mane cascading down the sides of his head would help him blend into his surroundings more effectively, providing the necessary camouflage to approach his prey undetected. This natural progression in his physical development is essential for his transformation into a skilled and effective predator. This experience serves as a pivotal lesson for the young lion. He learns that patience and time are as important as ambition and energy. The evolution of his mane represents a significant step in his journey towards becoming a proficient hunter. As he matures and his mane grows, he will gain the tools and experience to succeed in the wild. This critical lesson underscores the importance of growth and development in the life of a predator, reminding the young lion that each challenge he faces is a stepping stone towards achieving his ultimate goal of mastering the art of the hunt.”
The backlit cub and soft colours accentuate the moment’s tenderness as this lioness carries her cub to safety, and the tight crop emphasises the moment’s intimacy. This is a beautiful capture, accentuated by the styling choices made by the photographer.
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Irena says: “This was taken in the breathtaking landscape of Ngorongoro, Tanzania, during a nature photography expedition. We witnessed the lioness’s unwavering commitment to her offspring, showing that even the most powerful creatures possess an innate capacity for tenderness and love. This photograph captures a rare and intimate wildlife moment and serves as a metaphor for the strength and gentleness that coexist within all of us. As a mother of two young boys, this moment struck a deep chord within me, evoking a profound sense of connection and empathy. ”
We receive many photo entries of Amboseli’s giants with Mount Kilimanjaro looming in the background, so it takes a really special version of this photograph to capture our imaginations. The eye-level perspective in Karthick’s image emphasises this giant elephant in his domain, and the low clouds and snow-capped Kili peaking out above, as well as the bird inflight, all add to the sense of drama. Add to this the choice of black and white, and the angle of the elephant’s gaze, and you have an excellent capture.
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Karthick says: “Amboseli National Park is a haven for wildlife, making it a prime spot for photography. Amboseli is known for its large elephant population, many of which are often photographed with Mount Kilimanjaro in the background. I dreamed of capturing an elephant with Mount Kilimanjaro in the background on every visit to the area. Usually, one was visible, but not the other. This hide-and-seek went on for years. On the day this photograph was taken, I felt like God smiled on me. One peaceful morning, my dream came true. A majestic elephant walked towards me with elegance. The tusker stood prominently as Mount Kilimanjaro loomed behind, its snow-capped peak piercing the azure sky. Clouds hung halfway, adding mystery. Nature’s grandeur was captured in a fleeting moment. I stayed calm, knowing I had only seconds before the elephant moved on. Looking through my camera, I cherished the view. The juxtaposition of the elephant against Mount Kilimanjaro was powerful and peaceful. In that instant, I felt a profound bond with nature. This picture speaks volumes about Amboseli’s beauty and wildlife, showcasing an extraordinary perspective and stunning scenery.
We can all imagine ourselves setting up this capture with our toes in the cold Atlantic Ocean waters and that endless night sky beckoning. That sense of being drawn into the experience makes this a great image. While we receive many photos capturing the Milky Way, this photo, with its silky waters, the stars reflecting on the water, and the added apparition of the Shawnee shipwreck that seems to be aglow on the inside, is an epic shot.
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Lucy says: “Last year in July, some friends and I went wild camping along the Namibian skeleton coast for six days. I love wild camping, as one can get to the most remote places and see not too many people. We made camp on the dunes way above the Shawnee shipwreck. It’s remarkable how high some of these dunes are. My friends and I all went down to the shore with our cameras, tripods and lack of shoes. The sand was beautifully warm from the last of the sun’s rays. The Atlantic Ocean, on the other hand, was utterly freezing. I was unsure how my feet would cope later that night, as we decided that we would paddle into the water to take images of the Shawnee wreck with the Milky Way and billions of twinkling stars reflecting in the wet sand. I woke up at 2am and walked carefully down to the shoreline. The sky was void of clouds and there was not even a hint of sea mist. Funnily enough, the ocean temperature wasn’t as Baltic as I thought it would be. The tide was slowly coming in. I managed to capture one of my most beloved images that morning, with the reflection of the stars in the wet sand as the waves were pulling in and out and the Milky Way hung over the Shawnee wreck. While on the slow walk back up to the campfire, and later while defrosting my feet whilst sipping my first cup of coffee of the day, I appreciated every second of how lucky I was to experience this. I look forward to my next adventure!”
This evocative image transports us all to a moment of quiet contemplation, no matter our choice of spiritual comfort. The moment transcends all belief systems and religions to speak to our inner soul. The moody highlighting of the Hieroglyphs add to the sense of passing time and fleeting history, and the photographer’s choice of subject help us to envision ourselves in this sacred space.
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Rachelle says: “An overnight train and sunrise boat across the Nile had me standing at the gates of Karnak Temple in Luxor, Egypt. I stared in awe as I entered a true wonder of the world. Workers and guides started arriving, and we all started our day in silence. I soon found myself engulfed in a grand hall of magnificently massive columns, lavishly decorated in carvings and hard to comprehend. A smiling man appeared, and I couldn’t help but notice that everyone had gone out of their way to greet and chat him up. I could see why; his energy was grand, and he seemed a master of this environment. I introduced myself and explained my quest. I was here to work on a project about Egypt and showed him a portfolio of my work. He loved the work, and we shared a lot of kind words. Setting off, we were soon deep in a maze of unbelievable wonder. Mahmoud was his name, and he had worked here for over 50 years. He started as a young boy working alongside his father, a man who also spent his life here at Karnak. Mahmoud has spent his entire life working here, surrounded by secrets and ancient artefacts; how could I be so lucky to become friends with him? We walked and talked as he imparted knowledge and pointed out ancient feats of human achievement. But, when we entered a temple on the far side of the complex, we shared what I can only call a spiritual experience. We entered a closed room; I was greeted by deafening silence and the smell of sand. A singular beam of light sliced through the darkness and illuminated a portion of the room. Thousands of years after this temple was built, I stood there as the unknown viewer, gazing at the hand of the unknown artist. It was breathtaking. He told me that, throughout the day, different parts of the room were revealed. I was awestruck. He cupped the light beam with his hands, and I captured his portrait. The moment was brief as we soon had to leave; very few people were allowed in this room. As we walked away, I understood how lucky I was; his contribution to my project, ‘Winds of the Nile’, would be something I would need to ponder for many years.”
The shallow depth of field and sharp focus seem to transport the tussle between the eagle and prey to that critical moment when all else stands still, and all that matters is what is happening right here, right now. Capturing a moment like this at eye-level is a rare opportunity, that was expertly seized by the photographer.
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Thomas says: “In this captivating image, a martial eagle dominates the scene as it captures and kills a leguaan. Initially focused on photographing lions, I spotted the eagle in the distance, its wings unfurled in a dramatic display. Intrigued, I approached and realised it was amidst a fierce hunt. The martial eagle, Africa’s largest eagle, is an imposing creature known for its strength. With a wingspan reaching over 2m and weighing nearly 6.5kg, it possesses formidable power and is capable of astonishing feats like breaking bones with its talons. Its dark brown upperparts contrast sharply with a white belly adorned with black streaks, while its legs are white with enormous talons that ensure its prowess in hunting. In this shot, the eagle’s wings are fully extended, showcasing its impressive size and the moment’s intensity. The posture of the eagle exudes a sense of triumph, capturing the essence of its victorious battle with the monitor lizard.”
In South Africa, almost 400 captive wildlife facilities exist across the country. Keeping animals in captivity has increasingly been acknowledged as exploitative and profit-driven despite claims by those in the industry about its educational and conservation value. Stephanie Klarmann, Blood Lions campaign coordinator takes a closer look.
This photo series critically examines life behind bars and asks the question: are we actually comfortable with exploiting captive wildlife for profit and entertainment?
As a burgeoning industry, it solely exists to feed an insatiable demand for entertainment, live wildlife trade, hunting trophies, and big-cat body parts. According to Blood Lions research* conducted between 2017 and 2020:
Captivity permits were issued for at least 5,508 lions, 496 cheetahs, 198 leopards, 382 tigers, and a staggering 804 other wild cats.
Over this same period, at least 1,707 hunting permits were issued for 1,572 captive lion hunts in addition to cheetah and leopard hunts.
The data gathered regarding CITES permits show that 6,380 export permits were issued for 1,366 lions and 294 other captive wild cat species. This included 456 lion skeletons and live exports for 188 lions and 76 other cat species.
The commercial captive wildlife industry is big business. But the commercial captive-predator industry is fighting harder than ever to stay alive, and it has turned into a voracious sector built on exploitation.
More than ever, we need to scrutinise the greenwashing claims of environmental education, community upliftment, and conservation benefits made by those most invested in keeping wild animals captive.
We also need to ask ourselves how comfortable we are in allowing the exploitation to continue. Public advocacy can help inform policy decision-makers to prioritise animal well-being and genuine wild conservation.
Urgent action is required to prevent further exploitation of captive wildlife by closing down the commercial captive predator industry.
Unfortunately, commercial captive wildlife facilities do not provide valuable lessons about wildlife species and their conservation needs. They teach us about dominating the natural world and caging it for entertainment. Is this a lesson worthy of passing on to children?
Still more worrying, facilities hurt genuine conservation efforts. The resources and finances that go into visitor fees for predator parks, environmental management inspectorates, steep volunteer fees, and criminal enforcement could all be directed into the genuine conservation of land and species in the wild and functioning ecosystems. The entry fees for many commercial captive facilities exceed the entrance to our richly biodiverse Kruger National Park. Furthermore, the legal commercial captive industry further contributes to a dark, illegal industry in which live and dead animals enter black markets.
Following former Minister Barbara Creecy’s promise in 2021 to take steps towards closing the commercial captive lion industry, a Ministerial Task Team was appointed in December 2022 to spearhead a phase-out process. The task team included a panel of wildlife and welfare experts to devise voluntary phase-out options for captive breeders, owners, and traders. In March 2024, we finally saw the release of this extensive report.
Whilst reaching this point is certainly a small victory, the government still has to make significant progress in implementing this phase-out process. Organisations like Blood Lions strongly advocate that the first port of call needs to be a moratorium on all commercial captive breeding to halt the industry’s ever-growing growth before it continues to grow beyond control.
* The animals in this photo series are commercial commodities in the larger captive lifecycle. The images were taken at popular tourist facilities, some even claiming to be sanctuaries. These animals will remain within small enclosures for the entirety of their lives. They may be sold on, used for breeding, or killed in a captive hunt or for body parts. None of these outcomes are favourable for them.
Black-footed cats desperately gather at the fence of their enclosure. They were skittish and showed distress behaviours. Usually solitary in the wild and able to roam 4 to 16km in search of food, these cats were grouped together in a small enclosure of only several square metresThe Eurasian lynx inhabits the temperate and boreal forests extending across Europe and Central Asia. Here he inhabits a more desolate space, looking out onto a caracal enclosure even smaller than his ownLeopard territories often exceed 10 square kilometres in the wild. This leopard continued to pace up and down an enclosure fence of only about 8 metres in length. She stood directly opposite a tiger enclosure. Such close proximity between big cats in the wild would cause stress and conflict. In captivity, the constant forced contact is immensely stressfulStereotypic behaviours like pacing are common in captive animalsPacing behaviour is a clear indication of stress and boredomA male lion (on the right) has a severe case of sarcoptic mange, a serious skin condition caused by mites burrowing under the skin. The lion’s stressful and unhygienic living conditions, coupled with a poor diet of chicken carcasses, have likely caused this contagious disease, which is extremely itchy and painful. The park manager, however, misrepresented the lion’s illness, calling it a ‘lesser maned lion’. It was clear no treatment had been providedA tiny enclosure of no more than 20 square metres holds three leopards, including a black leopardThe three leopards took turns trying to force their paws and heads through a small hole in the fenceUsually solitary in the wild, three leopards in such a confined space suffer high stress levelsAn overweight lioness paces her enclosure. Although she is a proud animal in the wild, this lioness is alone. Untreated mange has started to appear on her noseA tiger cub seeks out its mother, pacing and intermittently calling to try and get her attention – but she’s kept separate so she can be raised by handThe tiger cub sits at attention as it hears its mother calling back only metres away
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Will we regret this?
This week, I followed a Facebook discussion about the trophy hunting of the remaining Amboseli GIANT ELEPHANTS by Tanzanian operators. ‘Super tuskers’ are the few magnificent specimens left with tusks that touch the ground. There are 50–100 individuals left across the continent and about ten in Kenya’s Amboseli area – some of whom regularly wander across the border into Tanzania to run the gauntlet of guns.
The gladiators in this discussion consisted of normal people versus the usual hardliners who believe it is their right (and conservation duty) to kill diminishing populations of free-roaming wildlife already under threat from poaching and habitat loss.
Of course, the thought of killing these sentient icons for fun and ego is abhorrent for those of us who have been in their company. But there are enough nutters and pliable government decision-makers out there to threaten the few that remain.
When trophy hunters have killed every last super tusker, will we look back with regret and yearning as we do with woolly mammoths? Will we also try to genetically re-engineer super tuskers at great expense? Time will tell.
MEANWHILE, our safari clients continue to journey to this great place, savouring amazing encounters and doing their bit to keep Africa wild. Did you know that we now donate a portion of every safari sold to impactful charities? Thank you to every client and future client for helping us do what we do!
Simon Espley – CEO, Africa Geographic
From our Editor – Taryn van Jaarsveld
An ode to the photograph – a simple image empowering us to boost conservation, document rare species, support anti-poaching and keep ecosystems in check.
Through camera trap photographs, we’ve seen genets hitchhiking on the backs of rhinos, documented climate change’s effect on birds, confirmed the existence of the mythical Knysna elephant, discovered lowland bongos in Uganda, studied the behaviour of elusive forest elephants, monitored predators without habituating them to human presence, tracked down poachers, and identified spotted hyena in Gabon’s Batéké Plateau NP and lion in Chad’s Sena Oura NP – both after 20-year absences. Photos from citizen scientists have allowed us to capture the extraordinary movements of Southern Africa’s wild dogs, yellow-billed oxpeckers and southern ground-hornbills, monitor the behaviour of Africa’s rarest bats, and document changes in landscapes and ecosystems over decades. All because nature lovers have taken cameras along for their adventures.
Next week, we reveal the winners of Photographer of the Year 2024. Your photographs have given us glimpses into the continent like never before, shown us intimate rituals, altered our understanding of the natural world, and inspired introspection. Through the lenses of your cameras, you’ve become guardians of nature, your images serving as compelling evidence that inspires research, galvanises public support, and inspires global action to protect the continent’s natural wealth. We can’t wait to celebrate your winning photos with the AG tribe.
In the meantime… Izak Smit explores solutions to challenges facing desert-adapted lions in Namibia, and we share Kingsley Holgate’s journey to the source of the Nile in Nyungwe.
Story 1 https://africageographic.com/stories/nyungwe-to-the-source-of-the-nile/
EXPEDITION NYUNGWE
Kingsley Holgate & his Afrika Odyssey team visited Nyungwe, Rwanda, during their journey to connect protected areas managed by African Parks. Read about their trek to the source of the Nile
Ready to book your next bucket-list safari to Uganda or Tanzania? Check out our options below, and start planning your safari for free here. Let’s get you out into Africa… adventure awaits!
Mountain-gorilla trekking is one of the most exhilarating safari experiences out there. There is no better place to see the gorillas than Uganda’s Bwindi Impenetrable Forest. On this safari, you’ll also seek out the tree-climbing lions of Queen Elizabeth NP, explore the biodiversity of Entebbe Botanical Gardens, and learn about Batwa culture.
The Great Wildebeest Migration in Serengeti NP, Tanzania, is a breathtaking spectacle. This safari offers a front-row seat as vast herds of wildebeest make their way through the open plains of the Serengeti. Witness thrilling river crossings with predation by crocodiles, lions, leopards, and hyenas.
Don’t miss your chance to witness this epic wildlife bonanza.
Big news! We have partnered with Tsavo Trust to save some of Africa’s last remaining tuskers.
Tsavo Trust monitors and conserves the elephant populations of the Tsavo Conservation Area, specifically focusing on tuskers. An estimated 50–100 tuskers remain in Africa, of which at least eight reside in Tsavo. Elephants with tusks that touch the ground are a natural rarity, and they are under constant threat from poachers seeking ivory and trophy hunters actively targeting tuskers (outside of Kenya).
We invite you to support Tsavo Trust by donating to their aerial and ground monitoring teams, who protect these magnificent elephants. Find out more and lend your support here.
WATCH: In this short video, Tsavo Trust’s Nicholas Haller explains why he is so passionate about his job. Tsavo is essential for cross-border migration. The Tanzania-Kenya border region is a pivotal piece of the migration route of elephants and other wildlife from Eastern to Southern Africa. Safeguarding Tsavo means preserving a crucial link in the chain of African wildlife migration. (01:16) Click here to watch
In Namibia’s Kunene region, desert-adapted lions face a dire threat. As natural prey dwindles due to drought and overhunting, these predators are driven to attack livestock, leading to fatal conflicts with humans. Izak Smit highlights the urgent need for alternative conservation strategies and explores solutions to preserve the unique genetic heritage of these iconic species (predator and prey), to secure a sustainable future for Namibia’s wildlife and tourism industry.
By now, many are aware of the plight of predators, including lions, leopards, cheetahs, and hyenas, in human-predator conflict in the Kunene region of Namibia.
The scarcity of natural prey in this area, resulting from drought and hunting, forces these predators to seek alternatives. This desperate search often leads to them being shot in the vicinity of kraals and livestock.
Data gathered by NACSO (Namibian Association of CBNRM Support Organisations) on wildlife populations in the Kunene region indicate the near absence of typical natural prey for lions – especially larger species such as kudu and gemsbok (which are experiencing severe declines in the region). Trends over the last decade underscore the bleak forecast for their survival, with a drastic decline in various animal populations since 2014, including kudu, gemsbok, zebra, springbok, and ostrich. For example, kudu present in Northwest Namibia dropped from 221 in 2014 to 41 in 2022; gemsbok from 1,791 to 309 and springbok from 7,531 to 2,449.
Adding this threat to the formidable challenges these species face to survive (such as fierce and prolonged droughts, poaching, lack of water availability, and human encroachment), it is clear that culling and hunting these species without proper management is not sustainable and constitutes their systemic eradication. Such eradication does not bode well for tourism in the area and is bound to irreversibly erode the attraction value on which the tourism industry depends for survival.
When the last lion passes through the shooting gallery, what will remain? Hunters, when confronting animal-rights activists on social media, are quick to point out that no workable alternatives to trophy hunting are on offer. But when all has been depleted, those self-proclaimed “conservation hunters” will search for other hunting grounds while the conservancies end up devoid of natural tourist attractions. In Namibia, no mechanisms, checks or balances are in place to assess the impacts and long-term effects of destroying “problem animals” by way of culling or trophy hunting. The killing of lion XPL-107 (also known as Mwezi) – allegedly declared a “problem animal” (without the correct notices issued) and then shot during a trophy hunt – is an excellent example of this. XPL-107 was a reproductively successful and important animal in the coastal desert-adapted lion population, and officials made no provision to protect him despite his status being well known.
There are also no workable plans to prevent human-wildlife conflict and the eventual eradication of wildlife. Short-term gratification is sought only in the form of, in my view, the illegal conversion of problem animals into profitable trophies while ignoring the looming, disastrous long-term effects.
Since the lion population in the Kunene region has drastically diminished over the last few years (by 45–60%, according to the 2022 survey), it is only logical that conflict incidences will reduce accordingly.
Only a few years ago, the Huab pride of desert-adapted lions, while on the brink of starvation, were removed from Torra Conservancy and translocated to a wildlife sanctuary. Before this, they had been raiding communal farmsteads, targeting chicken pens and dogs due to the lack of alternative prey. Today, these lions are alive and well, some having been rehabilitated to Timbila Game Reserve and some to Zannier Game Reserve, both in Namibia.
This has now led to discussions on alternatives for killing so-called “problem animals” in conservancies. It can also be said that the natural boom and bust cycles of animal populations in the Northwest/Kunene region also contribute to fluctuations in human-lion conflict. However, humans’ unrealistic “harvesting” of the lion’s natural prey also significantly contributed to this problem. During “boom cycles”, wildlife numbers increase. During “bust cycles” in drought periods, the surplus of weaker genes is weeded out. Animals with stronger genes survive, and are able to pro-create after the drought during the next boom cycle. This is natural selection, through which predators benefit during dry spells. But as the best genes are removed through trophy hunting, this natural cycle becomes compromised, impacting the survival of populations.
Lion XPL107 (Mwezi) was shot and killed in the vicinity of Skeleton Coast National Park
We see increasingly more private game lodges and reserves developed with state-of-the-art infrastructure, fencing and wildlife-management mechanisms. One such entity suggested that where bonafide problem animals become unmanageable in conservancies, they could be translocated to these facilities and managed or rehabilitated. While in their care, these infrastructure-rich lodges could donate a percentage of revenue derived from tourism to the conservancy’s coffers for the duration of the stay until the animal either dies of natural causes or is returned to an alternative natural habitat. This would help solve the conservancy community’s human-wildlife conflict issues and ensure revenue even after removing the animal. It will also enable options like re-introduction, if possible, and complement conservancy conservation efforts.
Only reserves on vast land areas where the species can find a natural equilibrium between prey and predator should be considered for these translocations. Genetic diversity should also be diligently managed and maintained, and management principles acceptable for closed systems should also be maintained. Human interaction other than game drives should be prohibited, allowing predators to function as nature intended.
Until now, conservancies usually received about N$60,000 (about US$3,300) as a once-off payment for the trophy hunting of a desert-adapted male lion. This, while the actual price paid by the hunter client, could go as high as N$1,25–1,5 million (US$68,950–US$82,740). When offsetting this payment against the loss in photo-tourism value over a decade and more, trophy hunting’s benefit to the conservancy becomes a pittance in real terms.
In simple mathematical terms, considering that game drives are conducted by several vehicles several times a day at game lodges, the potential for a good daily income for problem animals hosted on private game reserves is large. Over five years and more, this amount becomes substantial and trumps the once-off revenue earned through trophy hunting. For example, a lodge occupancy averages at 60% for eight months of the year. Two game-viewing vehicles that can seat seven would each carry four passengers (on average) daily. At only N$75 per game drive – with the highlight being to see these animals – this could translate to N$144,000 (US$8,000 per year). With good management and prey availability, such animals easily live to around 14 years of age. If translocated in their prime, it could mean an average lifespan of anything from 5–8 years in such a sanctuary. In the worst-case scenario, that would mean N$720,000–N$1.52 million (US$39,715–US$83,844) in income for the conservancies from such an attraction over 5–8 years.
Through careful management, such a facility could prioritise accommodating problem animals instead of breeding them to meet the optimum carrying capacity. As with rhinos, custodianship agreements could be entered into and maintained.
The upside of this scenario is the conservation value and preservation of valuable genetic material. Considering the disappearance of iconic animals such as desert-adapted lions, this value is far greater than a wall-mounted trophy in a far-off land, which affords the “owner” bragging rights and the hunting organisation huge profits.
Some entities have already raised their hands to take on these problem animals – perhaps this is an action plan we need to roll out ASAP.
In the case of desert-adapted lions, the ideal would be to re-introduce lions to their original habitats once conditions are ideal – for example after prey species are reintroduced during favourable climatic conditions, leading to prey population booms.
Still, reintroduction should only be done in specific habitats if they have been proclaimed and gazetted as legally protected areas. By re-stocking these areas, they can become viable and can be optimised for tourism, generating revenue. Where habitat can be extended, as in the Iona National Park in Angola (managed by African Parks), repopulation from animals that have been rehomed to reserves would also be possible, provided that the custodians follow strict protocols regarding the exposure of such lions. Desert-adapted lions historically roamed Northwest Namibia and arid southern Angola, which are the same habitat type. Populations roamed across the border and can be restored as part of the Transfrontier Park initiative, restoring their historic habitat.
The conservation of desert-adapted lions and other predators in the Kunene region of Namibia is at a critical juncture. The unsustainable practices of trophy hunting and culling problem animals have led to a drastic reduction in these species’ populations, jeopardising the natural balance and the tourism industry that relies on these majestic creatures. It is imperative that we explore and implement alternative solutions, such as the translocation of problem animals to well-managed private game reserves. These facilities can offer a sustainable and ethical way to counter human-wildlife conflict while generating continuous revenue. By prioritising long-term conservation over short-term gains, we can preserve the unique genetic heritage of these species and ensure that future generations can witness the beauty of Namibia’s wildlife. The time for action is now, before it is too late to save these iconic animals.
Once again, the expedition Defender D300s are put through their paces as they tackle narrow, winding, switchback roads that take us through Rwanda’s land of a thousand hills. One moment, we’re winding through rural landscapes of rolling tea plantations and steeply terraced hills growing every crop imaginable; the next, a dense tangle of gigantic trees looms ahead, the road clinging improbably to steep, forested slopes that tumble like huge green waves towards the distant Burundi border. We are heading to Nyungwe National Park.
The excitement grows as we get a message from Nyungwe park manager Protais Niyigaba saying that the calabash ceremony to collect symbolic water from all 22 African Parks-managed areas across the continent will, in the case of Nyungwe, take place at a small spring deep in the rainforest. With today’s modern mapping, this tiny rivulet has been proven to be the furthest and highest source of Africa’s longest river – the Nile.
Renowned African explorer Kingsley Holgate and his expedition team from the Kingsley Holgate Foundation recently set off on the Afrika Odyssey expedition – an 18-month journey through 12 African countries to connect 22 national parks managed by African Parks. The expedition’s journey of purpose is to raise awareness about conservation, highlight the importance of national parks and the work done by African Parks, and provide support to local communities. Follow the journey: see stories and more info from the Afrika Odyssey expedition here.
The source of the White Nile was, for centuries, one of the world’s great unsolved mysteries, and we’ve given a chunk of our lives to exploring this historic river, much of it in inflatable boats. We’ve been to the Blue Nile’s source in Ethiopia’s Highlands and the southernmost source of the White Nile in Burundi. We’ve stood at the Speke monument, marking the Lake Victoria source of the Nile and, with good friend Jon Dahl of Nile River Explorers, rafted the rapids below the Bujagali Falls. We’ve stood in awe on the lip of the Murchison Falls near Lake Albert and reached Omdurman in the Republic of Sudan, where the Blue and White Niles meet. We’ve tracked the mighty river’s meandering course past the pyramids, temples and tombs of Sudan and Egypt to reach the two mouths of Damietta and Rosetta on the Mediterranean coast, where the famous Rosetta Stone that unravelled the mysteries of ancient Egyptian hieroglyphics was discovered in 1799. As part of this Afrika Odyssey expedition, finally reaching the furthest and highest source of the White Nile in Nyungwe is an important milestone.
An old forester’s cottage becomes our base camp at the Uwinka visitors centre in the heart of Nyungwe National Park. The African Parks management team is, as always, their smiling, welcoming selves. Protais gives us a colourful background to the impressive conservation and community work that the African Parks team, with the Rwanda Development Board and other partners, has been achieving since the partnership was formed three years ago.
But it seems we’ve got a bit of work to do before getting to the source of the Nile. “You’re going to acclimatise a bit first,” says Protais with a cheeky grin. “Some hill walking to understand the forests better and what’s in them, together with some community interactions and then on the last day, we’ll take you to the Nile’s source.”
Nyungwe National Park turns out to be one of Rwanda’s best-kept secrets – included in Africa Geographic’s ultimate primate safari. Tucked into the southwest corner and with misty views over beautiful Lake Kivu to the Virunga volcanoes in the north, it’s one of the oldest rainforests left in Africa, covering 1,000km² of dense Afromontane forests, interspersed with bamboo-covered slopes, sun-dappled grasslands, tumbling mountain streams and wetlands. Nyungwe, in a word, is magnificent. The forest takes on a liberating primal presence even before you’ve got your walking shoes on.
Endless forest occupies the view towards Lake Kivu
Booted up, carrying rain jackets and armed with sturdy hiking sticks, our too-many-weeks-in-Landies fitness levels are put to the test as senior ranger-guide Claver Ntoyinkima leads us on the first trail – destination, the Ndambarare waterfall. “It’s just a short walk, about seven kilometres there and back,” Claver says impishly. For him, it’s literally a walk in the park, but what he doesn’t mention is the high altitude and that, at times, the trail becomes a near-vertical drop as it twists and turns down steep, thickly forested slopes, putting dodgy knees and creaky muscles to the test. Even super-fit Ross is out of breath by the time we reach the waterfall’s base. It’s spectacularly beautiful and well worth the effort, and we gather water-smoothed pebbles to join the growing pile that will be used to build the end-of-expedition ceremonial isivivane (pile of stones) in a few months. Gazing up into the forest heights above, Kambogo Ildephonse, Nyungwe’s energetic commercial development manager, says cheerfully, “In Rwanda, we have a saying: what goes down must come up! But, we’ll take it easy.”
Both Claver and Kambogo are veritable mines of information. As we puff and pant back up the trail, its clear they love their forest home. They tell us that Nyungwe is the watershed for Africa’s two largest rivers, the Congo and the Nile, providing significant portions of Rwanda’s fresh water. It contains over 1,100 recorded plant species – a single, giant tree can be home to a host of other plants, and exquisite flowering orchids found nowhere else are endemic here – and 85 mammal species, including 13 of Africa’s primates. Some notable primates include the eastern chimpanzee, Ruwenzori black-and-white colobus, silver, owl-Faced, golden, mona and L’Hoest’s monkeys.
Nyungwe is the watershed for Africa’s two largest rivers, the Congo and the Nile
Wiping the condensation from his glasses, Kambogo also tells us that the scientific world is abuzz with the recent discovery of the critically endangered Hills Horseshoe Bat in these forests and that Nyungwe has just been added to the UNESCO World Heritage List, Rwanda’s first site to get this coveted status.
Claver stops to identify every bird call – he’s not called the ‘Bird Man of Nyungwe’ for nothing. There are over 350 bird species in these forests, and Nyungwe is one of Africa’s most important sites for bird conservation. Claver also talks about the positive change since African Parks came on board, the development of more trails and growing tourism, stronger community involvement, and former poachers now helping to conserve the forests by becoming eco-rangers and removing hundreds of snares from the forest. “So much improvement in just three years!” he laughs as a crack of thunder booms overhead.
Claver quickly climbs into his waterproof gear – trousers, poncho, hood and gumboots, looking more like a salmon fisherman. The rest of us get drenched; the deluge is icy cold, our rain jackets are no match, and we’re soaked to the skin in minutes. “It’s not called a rainforest for nothing,” grumbles Kingsley, looking like a water-logged forest troglodyte, slowly putting one muddy size 14 boot in front of the other as we trek soggily back through the dripping trees to the Defenders.
With wet boots, socks and clothes steaming next to the fire in our cosy basecamp cottage, we wolf down plates of Ross’s chicken curry. At last light, the clouds lift to reveal the endless forested hills that make up the eastern escarpment of Africa’s Great Rift Valley and beyond, Lake Kivu shining silver as the stars come out.
DID YOU KNOW that African Parks offers safari lodges and campsites where 100% of tourism revenue goes to conservation and local communities? You can plan and book your African Parks safari to Nyungwe National Park and other parks by clicking here.
It’s early to bed – we’re up at 4am the next morning for chimp and colobus trekking and get to see both, first, in the Cyamudongo forest and then later, more chimps of the 70-strong Mayebe community in the shadow of Mt Bigugu, the highest peak in the park, making it a truly ultimate primate safari.
Chimpanzee trekking in Nyungwe
In a valley close to the Nyungwe River, Claver brings us close to a troop of at least 50 Ruwenzori black-and-white colobus monkeys, high up in the canopies and feeding on fresh leaves. Leaping from tree to tree, they truly are the acrobats of Nyungwe, and we learn that this group is part of the largest known colobus troop in the world – more than 500.
A Ruwenzori pied colobus with baby, spotted in the forest canopy
The days are action-packed: lots more trail walking, Rite to Sight and malaria prevention work at the Kitabi Health Centre, and Ross and Claver tackle the 70m-high suspended bridge that adds an incredible aerial experience for visitors to Nyungwe.
Nyungwe’s 70m-high suspension bridge
Like Akagera National Park, Nyungwe has also embraced Rwanda’s community cooperative ideal and once again, we’re amazed at the many innovative business projects that African Parks has helped develop to generate income for neighbouring communities and stimulate local support for conservation. This includes everything from pig farming to public toilets on the main road through the park, to vehicle recovery teams (when trucks miss a tight turn) and even the construction of the new park HQ. The HQ is being built almost entirely by community cooperatives from handmade mudbricks and pit-sawn timber from nearby exotic tree plantations. Theopiste Mushimire, the dynamic lady overseeing the enormous construction site, tells us that when finished, it will be one of the finest forest conservation facilities in the world.
Jes Gruner (African Parks’ regional manager) and Ross take off on a long trek to overnight at the newly built riverside Cyinzobe Camp with its wooden A-frame huts. “It’s the most beautiful forest trail and rustic camp I’ve ever experienced,” Ross says later. “We could hear the sounds of the Kamiranzovu Waterfall all night and all around us, 360° of pristine rainforest and mountains.”
The new riverside Cyinzobe Camp
The surrounding tea plantations are wet, shiny green as we follow bouncy Pierre Ntimemuka (whose surname means ‘God never disappoints’), dodging puddles and running through the rain to the Gisakura School hall, where children have gathered for the judging ceremony of the Wildlife Art competition. With 16 years of experience at Nyungwe, Pierre is the community liaison manager and tells us that one of the critical components of Nyungwe’s community engagement is working with local schools through environmental clubs.
These Wildlife Art competitions form an exciting part of this Afrika Odyssey expedition, but this is different. Instead of the ordinary elephant and rhino on the templates, today is the first time that the art subject is a large chimpanzee, around which the young artists have drawn rainforests, mountains, waterfalls, colobus monkeys and birds like the great blue turaco. The best artists each get a turn with the expedition’s talking stick and read out their messages, like: ‘Conservation is the future, and young people must take responsibility’; ‘Protect these forests – they bring tourism, development, clean air and water for all’; and ‘My message to all is: stand together, stop illegal activities like mining, poaching and tree-cutting – protect our beautiful forest heritage.’
Wildlife art from Gisakura School children
There’s a hushed silence – who will be the ultimate winner? The hall erupts with cheers as Nathan Niyonsaba is called forward –the hot favourite. Nathan then presents Kingsley with a framed portrait of his bearded self on behalf of the school. Unbeknownst to us, the school had found a picture of the ‘Wise Man’, and Nathan had spent days creating the lifelike drawing – it’s a big surprise and adds conviviality to the event!
Kingsley is gifted a self-portrait by the children of Gisakura
Then comes the adventure of getting to the highest and furthest source of the Nile. It’s one of the most picturesque 4×4 tracks in Rwanda that seems to climb forever into the sky, through remote villages, terraced hillsides, potato fields, tea plantations and belts of exotic trees – we’re told they were planted decades ago to protect the Nyungwe rainforests. It’s a race against time – the light is starting to fade. We reach a summit hillside in the far north of the park, leave the Defenders and enter the forest on foot.
The rugged 4×4 track to reach the trail to the source of the Nile
A snake slithers across the trail; park manager Protais jumps back. There’s loads of humour between us and the African Parks team of Protais, Jes, Kambogo, and Pierre.
Finally, we reach it – a small, spongey spring, the trickle of water funnelled into a little pool by a single, broad, green leaf… we’ve reached the furthest source of the White Nile!
Pierre, Kambogo and Protais on the hike to the source of the Nile
A board reads ‘Distance from Egypt – 6,719km’, with the date 2006 and three names: Neil McGregor, Cam McLeay and Garth McIntyre. Kambogo explains that these were the three members of the Ascend the Nile Expedition, who traced the full journey of the Nile from its Mediterranean mouth to this very point and, using GPS, proved beyond doubt that this is the furthest – and highest – source of the White Nile.
Reaching the highest and furthest source of the NilePark manager Protais Niyigaba with Nile water in the expedition calabash
Protais is given the job of adding symbolic water to the calabash. He gives a broad grin as his boots fill with water, and he sinks into the soft mud—everybody roars with laughter.
Heading up the trail
As we leave Nyungwe, winding through countless hairpin bends, heading north towards the next expedition objective of Garamba NP in the DRC, our lasting memories of this pristine green jewel are its custodians—the extraordinary individuals, each with an inspiring story to tell, who are so committed to preserving this ancient, magnificent rainforest for future generations. Nyungwe is in good hands, and we’re privileged to have been embraced by it.
Further reading
Nyungwe National Park is one of Rwanda’s best kept secrets – a magical tract of montane forest bursting with extraordinary biodiversity. Read more about Nyungwe here.
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Photo finalists + BIG news + ivory for sale
Announcing the NEW largest overland mammal migration in the world! No longer can the spectacular Great Wildebeest Migration across the vast Maasai Mara Serengeti ecosystem claim this prestigious title. Is this the biggest wildlife news event of the year?
Those of you lucky enough to have travelled on one of our Great Wildebeest Migration safaris will know what an awe-inspiring experience it is to encounter 1.5 to 2 million wildebeest, zebras and other species plodding or cantering across the plains in pursuit of good grazing, and risking life and limb as they crash across the Mara River. Well, imagine if there were more than THREE times as many of them!
Africa never stops redefining our perspectives and revealing how little we actually know about this glorious continent.
Find out more in our story and video below. Happy reading, and thanks again for spending part of your day with teamAG 🙂
Simon Espley – CEO, Africa Geographic
From our Editor – Taryn van Jaarsveld
Wow, wow, wow. Our Finalists gallery is here – and the pics we’ve chosen will take your breath away. That means in only a few days, we’ll announce the winners of Photographer of the Year 2024. Until then… Gallery 1 below features a shot of Africa’s most venomous snake. Do you know what it is?
The boomslang has the most potent venom of any snake in Africa. The amount of venom it requires to kill a human is so small that one can barely see it with the naked eye. But there are seldom more than one or two boomslang bites a year in South Africa – as boomslangs are not always likely to bite unless severely provoked. And, as a back-fanged snake, it has primitive glands and is required to strike multiple times to envenomate its prey – which is the fate suffered by the flap-necked chameleon in our gallery below.
This week, also check out investigative journalist Paul Hilton’s story on the hippo ivory trade – the oft-forgotten plight threatening hippo populations throughout Africa.
This safari takes you to the Big 5 havens of Majete Wildlife Reserve, Liwonde National Park and the rugged wilderness of Nkhotakota Wildlife Reserve.
The conservation success stories of these parks are what responsible travel is all about. Come find out for yourself and make a real difference where it counts.
This fantastic combination of walking and vehicle-based game viewing will appeal to experienced safari-goers and novices alike. Expect exceptional wildlife, tracking on foot in the birthplace of the walking safari, scrumptious bush breakfasts and unforgettable sundowners in Zambia’s premier safari destination.
WATCH:The Great Nile Migration of South Sudan
African Parks, in partnership with the Government of the Republic of South Sudan, recently conducted surveys in Boma and Badingilo National Parks to understand wildlife movement and the extent of antelope populations in the region. The results were astonishing: South Sudan is home to the largest overland mammal migration on Earth, estimated at approximately 6 million antelope which move north and east across the country towards Gambella National Park. (06:41) Click here to watch
Here are the Finalists for our 2024 Photographer of the Year! We will announce the overall winner and two runners-up at the beginning of July. Each of the three winners (the overall winner plus two runners-up) will become a personal sponsor of a wild Hwange lion research collar. Winners and their partners will also join our CEO Simon Espley on a conservation safariin Botswana. Read more about the Photographer of the Year 2024 prizes here.
Photographer of the Year 2024 is now closed for entries.
Here are the Finalists for our 2024 Photographer of the Year! We will announce the overall winner and two runners-up at the beginning of July. Each of the three winners (the overall winner plus two runners-up) will become a personal sponsor of a wild Hwange lion research collar. Winners and their partners will also join our CEO Simon Espley on a conservation safariin Botswana. Read more about the Photographer of the Year 2024 prizes here.
Photographer of the Year 2024 is now closed for entries.
Hippo teeth confiscated by officials in Uganda. Hippos are under threat due to a rise in the demand for ivory
When we think of ivory, elephants come to mind. Yet, hippos are also victims of the relentless ivory trade, with their teeth coveted as a legal and cheaper alternative. Investigative photojournalist Paul Hilton ventured to Uganda, uncovering the grim reality: hippo populations are dwindling due to the soaring demand for ivory, primarily trafficked through Hong Kong.
When we hear the word “ivory”, several factors would likely spring to mind: that ivory is synonymous with elephants, that the industry has decimated elephant populations, and that the trade in their tusks has been highly illegal for decades.
What may be less obvious is that ivory is still greatly prized, particularly in mainland China. Such is the demand it equates to a 23 billion US dollar-a-year industry, with Hong Kong being the primary trafficking portal. What also flies under the radar is that, when it comes to ivory, we aren’t just talking about elephants.
Earlier this year, the spotlight fell on hippos when Hong Kong customs seized a hoard of hippo teeth, which, like the tusks of warthogs and other mammals, are also classed as ivory. While they are used in the same way as elephant ivory, such as in decorative carvings, hippo teeth are not only a legal alternative, they cost far less. They are much easier to come by than elephant ivory.
Buyers believe they are purchasing elephant ivory, resulting in considerable discrepancies in the volume of teeth being declared by importers and exporters and a shocking decline in hippo numbers.
As an investigative photojournalist, I decided to travel to the source of the trade, which brought me to Uganda.
Like many other African countries, Uganda is home to diverse and unique wildlife, including hippopotamuses. Like other fauna-abundant nations, it faces daily challenges with wildlife poaching and illegal trafficking. Rangers are being killed on the frontlines as the last defence for these animals. While the increased scrutiny from rangers means some species numbers are recovering, the hippo (and the lion, due to the big cat bone trade) are not.
A hippo photographed in Uganda
Flying my drone over a bloat (yes, a bloat) of hippos from the banks of the river Nile, I observe how languid they seem, reminding me of whales lazily breaking the water’s surface.
On land, they are at home as in the water. Running up to speeds of 30km per hour, hippos are known for spraying their faeces! As anti-social as that sounds, it’s actually a territory-marking exercise aimed at warding off other hippos while also making for more efficient seed dispersal.
With the hippo’s bad temper, enormous jaws and sharp teeth, each measuring half a meter in length, I find myself recalling the saying, “Never get between the hippo and water.” Knowing that hippos kill more humans than any other African animal, this is good advice. The fact that hippos are vegetarians is of little comfort.
Meanwhile, on land, they seem cumbersome and out of place with their large barrel-shaped bodies weighing in at over one and a half tons. Still, they are a joy to watch, and it is a great shame that this unique animal is threatened with extinction, all because of an insatiable desire, half a world away, for ivory.
Rangers from the Ugandan Wildlife Authority, who I spoke with, say that hippos are being targeted every day.
Michael Keigwin, founder of the Uganda Conservation Foundation, acknowledges that the dangerous trade in hippo teeth has led to a significant decline in their population, with over 50% lost nationally in recent years, driven by the ivory trade for their teeth. “Rangers are working overtime to protect them on land and along the rivers systems and lakes. Organised criminal networks and corruption must be stamped out and the demand stopped”.
Ivory on sale in Hong Kong
In Hong Kong, efforts are underway to choke off the ivory thoroughfare. Due to its strategic location, Hong Kong provides an ideal gateway for the illegal wildlife trade between Africa and various parts of Asia. Wildlife products are frequently smuggled through the South Asia Region to destinations such as mainland China and other Southeast Asian countries, where there remains a high demand for exotic creatures and traditional medicines made from animal parts.
Over the years, millions of consumers have travelled to Hong Kong from mainland China to take advantage of the lower prices of luxury wildlife items, and this influx grew with the mainland’s domestic ivory ban taking effect in January 2018.
Even before China instituted the closure of its domestic ivory markets and ivory carving industry, African hippo ivory was in high demand. Up to 90% of the 771,000 kg of hippo ivory traded internationally since 1975 was imported by Hong Kong. Almost three-quarters of this ivory originated from Uganda and Tanzania, but trade with Malawi, Zambia, and Zimbabwe is, worryingly, also on the rise.
Admittedly, Uganda is the only source country to ban the hippo-teeth industry, but trade volume suggests that supply has shifted to the black market.
Confiscated hippo teeth pictured with an AK47, the weapon of choice for hippo poachers.
A study by the University of Hong Kong’s School of Biological Sciences reveals that since 1975, Hong Kong has processed as much as 90% of the 770 tons of hippo teeth traded worldwide.
Uganda became a signatory to the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES) 1991. In just 19 transactions with Hong Kong since then, discrepancies in the declared trade volumes amount to more than 14,000kg of hippo teeth, amounting to some 2,700 individual hippos killed.
Hippo teeth and mammoth ivory on sale in Hong Kong, China. Hong Kong, which has been an international hub for legal and illegal wildlife trade, banned commercial trade in elephant ivory in January 2022. Before the ban, hippo teeth were a common find among the illicit elephant tusks, pangolin scales, and rhino horns intercepted by customs officials at Hong Kong’s ports
Export numbers from Tanzania, the other primary source of hippo teeth, were similarly found to be fudged downward since 1980, with an estimated 3,176kg more teeth exported than the country admitted.
Since Hong Kong’s ban on elephant ivory in December 2021, nothing has been done to protect non-elephant ivory species, such as hippos, walrus, narwhal, warthog and orca. In fact, the only difference now is the elephant trade still flowing through the city under the guise of “ice ivory”, better known as mammoth tusks.
It may be hard to grasp in 2023, but mammoth tusks equate to the flawless diamonds of the ivory trade, given that the species died out 4,000 years ago. Yet, while it’s true that mammoth tusks are still being dug up from the Arctic tundra, perfectly preserved in permafrost, they are also particularly easy to fake by using the ivory of non-mammoth species while charging mammoth prices.
When left in its whole form, the mammoth is easily distinguished from other tusks; however, once carved into trinkets, nobody would be any the wiser. Nevertheless, would a ban on mammoth tusks fix the trade in harvesting all ivory, or would a prohibited tag merely drive the cost up while other species, like hippo, pay the real price?
Some experts believe that mammoth ivory should be banned altogether. “As long as mammoth ivory is helping to keep the ivory trade going, there will always be demand for modern elephant ivory as well, but at the same time, this could fast track these species to extinction”, said paleobiologist Adrian Lister at London’s Natural History Museum.
However, scientists at the University of Hong Kong are working on a way to combat that scenario by developing a rapid test capable of distinguishing, in the first instance, between elephant and mammoth ivory.
Associate Professor David Baker from HKU’s School of Biological Sciences says the new method measures isotopes in a one-gram sample and could return results within a day, much faster than sending samples overseas for age-dating or weeks-long DNA analysis.
While the test, in its current iteration, may not apply to hippos, the survival of the species is heavily dependent on scientific advances like this, coupled with greater awareness. The hippo has been listed by the International Union for Conservation of Nature as vulnerable since 2006, meaning these magnificent, lumbering beasts could be extinct within a century if numbers continue to fall at current rates. Being classed merely as “vulnerable” also means hippos are not afforded the same protection status as “endangered” or “critically endangered” species, such as the elephant.
Hippo ivory on sale in Hong Kong, China. Deepening restrictions on ivory trafficking have led to an increase of the trade-in hippopotamus teeth, wildlife campaigners are warning, with potentially serious effects for a species already listed as “vulnerable”
While CITES was created almost fifty years ago to regulate the wild animal trade, hippopotamus numbers have continued to plunge. In the past 30 years, their population globally has dropped by 30%.
Astrid Andersson, head researcher for the HKU study, says authorities need to act now to stop the international trade in threatened species before they are exposed to unmanageable exploitation levels that could ultimately lead to extinction.
While it was initially encouraging that, at last year’s CITES Conference of the Parties in Panama, 10 African countries proposed to promote the hippopotamus to Appendix I i.e: critically endangered, the motion was overruled for several reasons; among them sub-standard supporting data on continental hippo populations.
This is a perfect example of how critical it is for hippo range states and the international community to cooperate to protect the hippopotamus. Working to bolster law enforcement, boost public awareness, and implement tighter regulations on the import and export of wildlife products is paramount to stamping out the ivory trade. If we act with purpose, perhaps we may even be able to rewind the clock to a time when the numbers of ivory-bearing species are given the chance to rise again and the only revenue expectations come from wildlife safari experiences.
Further reading
The hippopotamus – a large semiaquatic mammal – is one of the most powerful, speedy and feared animals in Africa. Read more about hippos here.
An aerial survey of wildlife in South Sudan, conducted by African Parks and the Government of South Sudan, has revealed that South Sudan is home to the largest land mammal migration on Earth. Each year, 6 million antelope– including white-eared kob, Mongalla gazelle, tiang and reedbuck – migrate across the Boma Badingilo Jonglei Landscape.
The first comprehensive aerial survey of wildlife in South Sudan has been conducted, revealing the largest land mammal migration on Earth. This spectacular phenomenon is referred to as the Great Nile Migration. The survey is part of an ongoing partnership between African Parks and the Government of South Sudan, the objective of which is to ensure the region’s long-term sustainability.
Salva Kiir Mayardit, the President of the Republic of South Sudan, announced the results of the comprehensive aerial survey of the Boma Badingilo Jonglei Landscape (BBJL), which revealed approximately six million antelope, making it the world’s largest land mammal migration. The results of the systematic assessment of wildlife, livestock and human activity show that millions of white-eared kobs, Mongalla gazelles, tiangs and reedbucks migrate across the BBJL each year. Gambella National Park in Ethiopia is a critical component of this ecosystem.
The Great Nile Migration takes place across the Boma Badingilo Jonglei Landscape, which includes Boma and Badingilo National Parks
African Parks conducted the survey in partnership with the South Sudanese Ministry of Wildlife Conservation and Tourism, with support from The Wilderness Project. The findings confirm a remarkable and unmatched wildlife phenomenon across a landscape of immense ecological importance. The survey results, combined with data from the collaring of hundreds of different animals from multiple species, help develop an understanding of the ecosystem, allowing African Parks to develop strategies to ensure they can deliver sustainability for both the wildlife and the people who depend on it.
DID YOU KNOW that African Parks offers safari camps (lodges and campsites) where 100% of tourism revenue goes to conservation and local communities? Find out more and book your African Parks safari.
Situated in the east of South Sudan, the (BBJL) forms an integral part of a larger 200,000km2 ecosystem that stretches east of the Nile. This immense landscape is critically important to the Sudd Swamps, the largest wetlands in Africa and the second largest in the world.
The estimates, together with confidence intervals, indicate that the BBJL contains the largest land mammal migration on Earth, including white-eared kob (±5,089,421), tiang (±298,776), Mongalla gazelle (±346,273), and Bohor reedbuck (±161,903). Altogether, these four species total ±5,896,373.
White eared kob move across the Boma Badingilo Jonglei Landscape. Between January and June, the kob, tiang and gazelle move north and east from the wetlands on the eastern bank of the White Nile towards Boma National Park and Gambella National Park just across the border in Ethiopia
Many ethnic groups live within the BBJL, including the Dinka, Murle, Anyuak, Jie, Toposa, Nyangatom, Nuer, Mudari, Bari, Lokyoya, Madi, Lolubo, Ari, Lopit, Latuka, Boya, and Didinga. Each of these communities has deep cultural traditions and livelihood activities that are firmly embedded and heavily reliant on wildlife and the vast landscapes they inhabit.
South Sudan’s remarkable natural heritage, a cornerstone of its future prosperity, faces significant vulnerability despite the numbers. Unmanaged exploitation of this resource could trigger the collapse of migratory patterns, ecological integrity, and the livelihoods dependent upon them. A comparison with studies conducted in the 1980s shows that there have been substantial declines in most sedentary species which do not exhibit a migratory pattern, including elephant, warthog, cheetah, hippo and buffalo.
There has been a substantial decline in most sedentary species which do not exhibit a migratory pattern, including elephants
Salva Kiir Mayardit, President of the Republic of South Sudan, says: “As we all know South Sudan is a land rich in biodiversity, boasting some of the most beautiful animals. Our grasslands and protected sites provide a haven for some of the largest populations of antelope on earth. Today, with great pride, I announce the findings of this census to this nation and the international community. It has brought us the position of number one [in the world]. As South Sudan continues to develop we are committed to transforming the wildlife sector into a sustainable tourism industry. To activate
this I call upon the security forces, particularly the Ministry of Wildlife and its partners, to prioritise the training and equipping of wildlife rangers to combat poaching and trafficking of illegal wildlife products in protected areas.”
The survey covered a 122,774km2 contiguous block, encompassing the entire known range of the four main migratory antelope species in the Great Nile Migration. Data from 251 tracking collars placed on large mammals was also integrated into the assessment, providing a holistic understanding of the region’s ecological dynamics, which continues across the boundary of South Sudan into Ethiopia.
This comprehensive Systematic Reconnaissance Survey employed two planes equipped with cameras that captured over 330,000 images throughout the survey period. A team of seven graduates from the University of Juba, trained in specialised software, meticulously analysed 59,718 photos across 64 transects, documenting wildlife presence. Dr Kevin Dunham peer-reviewed the survey results.
A herd of tiang on the move in Boma and Badingilo National Park. As a part of the migration, the herds return to Boma National Park and the vast inland delta known as the Sudd between November and January
Peter Fearnhead, CEO of African Parks, says: “The results of this survey are nothing short of staggering. The astonishing scale of the migration is only equalled by the responsibility to ensure that it survives into the future in an extremely complex landscape. This wildlife and larger ecosystem is the basis for survival for multiple ethnic groupings, which are often in conflict with each other over resources. Successful management of this landscape will only be possible through building trust with and amongst these ethnic groupings. Already, the threats to the system are abundantly clear with commercial poaching of the wildlife at a scale that we have never witnessed before. Working with these local communities to protect this vital ecosystem will help perpetuate this global phenomenon whilst also bringing about stability, safety and security and creating a sustainable future for the people who live in this area – many of whom are still recovering after years of war and disruption. This survey is a testament to the dedication of and invaluable support from the Government of the Republic of South Sudan and the Ministry of Wildlife and Tourism, The Wilderness Project and our committed donors.”
Endangered Nile lechwe also form part of the migration
The sustained operations and infrastructure of Boma and Badingilo National Parks have been made possible by the support of several funders, including Elephant Crisis Fund (ECF), Fondation Segré, Hempel Foundation, Rainforest Trust, Wildlife Conservation Network’s Lion Recovery Fund (LRF), Wyss Foundation, welcoming the European Union as a new strategic donor.
Hundreds of white-eared kob seen from the air
Editorial note
Prior to this declaration of the Great Nile Migration of South Sudan as the largest landmammal migration, it was thought that the Great Migration in the Maasai Mara / Serengeti ecosystem in Tanzania and Kenya was the largest land mammal (or overland) migration in the world. During the Great Migration, between 1.5 and 2 million wildebeest, zebras and other species migrate each year. The prestige of the largestmammal migration in the world still belongs to the Kasanka Bat Migration, during which at least 8 million straw-coloured fruit bats descend into the samps of Kasanka National Park in Zambia between October and December each year.
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Top 105 photos + Africa’s sky islands
This week, I watched the premier of a stirring documentary in a room packed with camo-clad men and women with serious demeanours and kind eyes.
RHINO MAN tells the story of the most important people when it comes to protecting our wild places against poachers – our game rangers. But this is no ordinary tale.
You see, one of the leading figureheads was assassinated by the evil ones during the filming of this important documentary. What’s more, he knew that they were coming for him, and his main concern – as evidenced in the documentary via recorded voice messages, was for his family. Anton Mazimba was killed because he was good at his job – think about that for a moment.
Anton – posthumously awarded ‘Africa’s Best Game Ranger’ by the African Conservation Awards – has become the figurehead for game rangers. Many like him are good at their jobs and passionate about conservation, yet they stare death in the face every day. This is their story.
It was never meant to be like this. A career as a game ranger should be about the love of spending time in the bushveld, learning about nature and celebrating Africa’s awesomeness. And yet here we are – militarised rangers putting their lives on the line.
“Rangers are buying us time, but it’s what we do with that time that matters” Anton Mazimba.
Simon Espley – CEO, Africa Geographic
From our Editor – Taryn van Jaarsveld
Did you know that the termite mounds of Namaqualand in South Africa have been around for 34,000 years? This makes these mounds the oldest inhabited termite mounds on the planet.
When scientists set out to test why groundwater surrounding Namaqualand is saline, they used carbon dating to see when minerals in the mounds were flushed to groundwater. But their tests revealed much more – that these mounds have been around much longer than the 4,000-year-old mounds from Brazil, previously thought of as Earth’s oldest. This means the Namaqualand termite mounds were there through the end of the Late Stone Age and the transformation from hunter-gathering to nomadic pastoralism. The scientists also found that the mounds act as long-term carbon sinks and sequester carbon dioxide through the leaching of soil to groundwater – a method that carbon-storage companies are spending millions trying to replicate. Though often considered pests in agriculture, termites are ecosystem engineers and occupy an important space in global carbon dynamics.
This week, I am so excited to announce that we have selected the Top 105 photos for Photographer of the Year 2024. Choosing these images was no easy feat, involving days of deliberation between our judges. These four galleries are not to be missed. Plus, a new ecoregion has been proposed for Southern Africa – see more in our story below.
Here are two irresistible trips for those wanting to fully immerse themselves in their surroundings while on safari. Check out our recommendations below and book your dream safari today!
Enjoy this iconic bush and beach safari – the best that South Africa offers.
Greater Kruger’s exceptional Big 5 game viewing will sweep you off your feet. This safari also includes a full-day road trip to the stunning scenery and cultural delights of the Lowveld. Then, head on to vibey Cape Town, her beaches, and the nearby Winelands.
This package is the one chance to flatten three bucket-list items in one epic safari – in one country! From searching for the Big 5 in Akagera NP, to the forests of Nyungwe NP for chimpanzees, and Volcanoes NP for mountain gorillas. What more could you ask for? Aside from rare golden monkeys, the Kigali Genocide Memorial and more – which are also on offer during this safari.
The bushveld winter is pangolin POACHING SEASON. This pangolin was recently poached and kept for days in a mesh wire contraption in a backpack, unable to uncurl and without much ventilation.
Fortunately, he was rescued from the illegal trade and placed in the capable hands of Provet Wildlife Services & Animal Hospital, Limpopo Pangolin Collective, and Umoya Khulula Wildlife Centre, who are all giving him a second chance at life. Thanks to these amazing teams, he is now safe and undergoing rehab before being placed back into the wild where he belongs.
Note that all pangolins are housed at offsite locations for security purposes
WATCH: Mother leopard Olimba proves her ability as a skilled hunter as she stalks a troop of baboons. A master class in stealth and speed, and the circle of life in action. (02:20) Click here to watch
Here are the Top 105 entries in our 2024 Photographer of the Year! We will announce the overall winner and two runners-up at the beginning of July. Each of the three winners (the overall winner plus two runners-up) will become a personal sponsor of a wild Hwange lion research collar. Winners and their partners will also join our CEO Simon Espley on a conservation safariin Botswana. Read more about the Photographer of the Year 2024 prizes here.
Photographer of the Year is now closed for entries. Final judging will take place throughout the month of June 2024.
Here are the Top 105 entries in our 2024 Photographer of the Year! We will announce the overall winner and two runners-up at the beginning of July. Each of the three winners (the overall winner plus two runners-up) will become a personal sponsor of a wild Hwange lion research collar. Winners and their partners will also join our CEO Simon Espley on a conservation safariin Botswana. Read more about the Photographer of the Year 2024 prizes here.
Photographer of the Year is now closed for entries. Final judging will take place throughout the month of June 2024.
Here are the Top 105 entries in our 2024 Photographer of the Year! We will announce the overall winner and two runners-up at the beginning of July. Each of the three winners (the overall winner plus two runners-up) will become a personal sponsor of a wild Hwange lion research collar. Winners and their partners will also join our CEO Simon Espley on the Photographer of the Year conservation safariin Botswana. Read more about the Photographer of the Year 2024 prizes here.
Photographer of the Year is now closed for entries. Final judging will take place throughout the month of June 2024.
Here are the Top 105 entries in our 2024 Photographer of the Year! We will announce the overall winner and two runners-up at the beginning of July. Each of the three winners (the overall winner plus two runners-up) will become a personal sponsor of a wild Hwange lion research collar. Winners and their partners will also join our CEO Simon Espley on a conservation safariin Botswana. Read more about the Photographer of the Year 2024 prizes here.
Photographer of the Year is now closed for entries. Final judging will take place throughout the month of June 2024.
Perched high in the sky amid the clouds in southeast Africa lies a dazzling array of natural wonders. Straddling the borders between Malawi and Mozambique lies a collection of ancient granite mountains that harbour some of the richest biodiversity on the continent. These isolated mountainous habitats are home to rare forests, endemic plants and animals found nowhere else on earth. Now, a group of scientists is proposing that Southern Africa’s threatened ‘sky islands’, consisting of 30 isolated mountains in southern Malawi and northern Mozambique, be declared as Africa’s newest ecoregion.
A long, long time ago (8 to 33 million years ago), large parts of eastern and southern Africa were covered with rainforest. Then came periods of geological activity and continental uprising, and the climate became drier, and rainforests disappeared. Except, that is, for pockets of rainforest on the cooler, wetter slopes of higher mountainous areas. During these periods of isolation, the rainforests became ‘islands’ in effect.
The breaking up and reconnecting of the rainforest across Africa has happened several times since the beginning of time, resulting in these isolated forests on the slopes of mountains becoming reasonably similar to each other, but individually diverse at the same time. These mountain tops have become ‘islands in the sky’. The well-known island phenomenon resulting from these periods of isolation is known as allopatric speciation. This is when a species separates into two separate groups that are isolated, making it impossible for them to breed with one another. They end up diverging into two separate species. (This explains to some degree why islands such as Madagascar have high species richness.)
Now, some of these islands in the sky are getting a new classification – as an ecoregion. Scientists have recently proposed that this new ecoregion in Africa be recognised. An ecoregion is a group of ecosystems with shared geology, evolutionary history, and characteristic species assemblages. A well-known example is the Eastern Arc ecoregion in Tanzania and Kenya. The scientists have proposed that the granitic inselbergs – consisting of an inland archipelago of 30 isolated mountains in southern Malawi and northern Mozambique – are also worthy of this status. They suggest that this ecoregion be referred to as the South East Africa Montane Archipelago (SEAMA).
This name captures why this area is so biologically important. ‘Montane’ refers to the slopes of mountains, and ‘archipelago’ is the collective noun for a cluster of islands. Thus, the ecoregion is made up of isolated mountainous habitats, the conditions of which have resulted in a unique and endemic assemblage of flora and fauna.
SEAMA encompasses 30 granite mountains higher than 1,000m above sea level, with Mount Mabu in Mozambique hosting the largest and Mount Lico the smallest mid-level rainforests in Southern Africa. Their elevations range from 800m to an impressive 3,002m at Mount Mulanje, Southern Africa’s second-tallest freestanding peak. These mountains date back 600-126 million years. Each mountain supports plants and animals that evolved in isolation over millions of years.
“It took decades of international collaboration to gather sufficient evidence to define the ecoregion,” said study leader Professor Julian Bayliss, a Visiting Professor at Oxford Brookes University. More than 100 experts formed part of the surveys. “We documented hundreds of previously undescribed species and researched the geology, climate, and genetic history of the ecosystems,” Bayliss added.
The flora of Mount Mulanje, one of southern Malawi’s sky islands
Why has this ecoregion only gained attention recently? Although studies have been undertaken in the southern Malawi inselbergs for over a century, which identified endemic animals and plants, the inselbergs in northern Mozambique have not had the same level of attention due to political unrest. In the last 20 years, though, a plethora of surveys and studies have shown that there are high levels of overlapping endemism between these sites.
Scientists were amazed to discover over 100 types of trees in Mount Mabu in Mozambique’s forest alone. Epiphytic plants drape branches, ferns carpet the jungle floor and orchids feature amid the foliage. Spotlight surveys also revealed a wealth of nocturnal creatures, from giant forest owls to tiny tree shrews. Herping teams have found frogs, snakes and other reptiles adapted for life in this mountain Eden. The mid-elevation rainforests and biologically unique montane grasslands of these inselbergs support 127 endemic plants, 45 endemic vertebrates (amphibians, reptiles, birds, mammals), 45 invertebrate species (butterflies, freshwater crabs), and two endemic genera of plants and reptile. Many new species have been discovered in the region, too.
The authors define the SEAMA ecoregion as “a range of ancient granitic inselbergs in southern Malawi and northern Mozambique, climatically isolated by topography and trade winds, hosting humid evergreen forest, montane grassland and shrublands notable for their high levels of endemism across multiple taxa.” The definition refers to its climatic envelope, delineated by a break to the north and connections to the coast. The southeast trade winds carry moisture to the mountains of the ecoregion throughout the year, funnelled up through the Mozambique Channel. Still, to the north, outside of the SEAMA, moisture levels drop because these areas are in the “rain shadow” of Madagascar. Further south of the ecoregion, the air is cooler and so holds less moisture, especially in the dry season. So, these islands in the sky are wetter and more humid than the surrounding areas, and this has played a part in why they still support humid evergreen forests and the rich conditions for species diversity and endemicity.
The SEAMA ecoregion, with a core area of 336,200ha, incorporates various Centres of Plant Endemism, several Key Biodiversity Areas, nine Important Bird Areas (IBAs), and eight Important Plant Areas (IPAs). It is an area characterised by high levels of endemism and richness. Sadly, the region’s unique fauna and flora are under threat. Since 2000, SEAMA forests have been lost to deforestation, fire, and agriculture, and at some sites, the forest has been completely felled, such as on Mount Thyolo where the Thyolo alethe (Chamaetylas choloensis), a small, shy, chocolate and grey forest bird, was first described. The Thyolo alethe occurs on some of the other mountains, but it is the ‘canary in the goldmine’. Were the Thyolo alethe to disappear from these forests – as it has from Mount Thyolo – this would signify significant damage to these forest ecosystems. Similarly, several pygmy chameleons are also only found on these inselbergs, and unlike the Thyolo alethe, they cannot fly to new areas once their habitat is lost.
The disappearance of the Thyolo alethe from these sky islands would signify major damage to these new ecoregions
The good news is that if this new ecoregion receives the recognition and support it so clearly deserves, several conservation initiatives in place will benefit from an area-wide approach. There are various Mozambican conservation groups focusing on this area, who are now working with mountain communities to reconcile development needs with biodiversity protection. Successful initiatives include alternative fuel sources to reduce firewood demand, sustainable harvest quotas and tourism incentives. Reforestation programs aim to regrow lost habitats. Some of the study’s co-authors are also involved with Mozambique’s National Network for Community Management of Natural Resources (ReGECom). The Mulanje Mountain Conservation Trust is an organisation operating on the Malawian side of the ecoregion.
By increasing SEAMA’s protected area coverage and spearheading land stewardship, conservationists hope to safeguard its natural legacy for future generations. Let’s hope all these fascinating research findings find their way into international conservation arenas and that there is a swell of support for these weird and wonderful sky islands to continue enchanting future generations.
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Rhino victory + final pics + malaria-free Madikwe
Is this the most important wildlife conservation undertaking of our time?
I have just returned from five days with the African Parks and GKEPF* crews – translocating 32 rhinos from a large fenced paddock in South Africa’s bitterly cold, windswept winter Highveld (frost on my tent) to the sunny Lowveld of the Greater Kruger (see the press release below).
The scale of this project to move 2,000 farmed rhinos (plus their future progeny) into the wild is surely unprecedented, and I was blown away by the logistical, animal welfare, and security complexities of catching and transporting these lumbering giants.
What hit home most for me was that this slick operation is powered by a large team of skilled professionals working under stressful, exhausting conditions. This kinship of cooks to rhino camp masters on horseback, vets to helicopter pilots and truck drivers was powered by absolute passion, dedication and a management team obsessed with detail.
This is a complex project with many layers, risks and implications, and I will attempt to do it justice in a story I am compiling. Stand by for that.
As the early winter safari season unfolds, our clients are experiencing remarkable encounters across this magnificent continent, which I am privileged to call home. We are deeply grateful for your support, as it is your safaris that empower us to share our stories with the world. Safari njema, and thank you.
OK, that’s it from me for this week. Thank you for spending part of your day with us.
*GKEPF – Greater Kruger Environmental Protection Foundation
Simon Espley – CEO, Africa Geographic
From our Editor – Taryn van Jaarsveld
The mighty ancient baobab. From the iconic Adonsonia digitata of sub-Saharan Africa, to the tubby Adonsonia gregorii of Australia, to the tall and regal Adansonia grandidieri and five other species of Madagascar, these trees that hold history in their trunks deserve all the credit they get.
Some can live up to 3,000 years old, and have witnessed the rise and fall of multiple civilisations. They are the centre of entire ecosystems, produce nutritious fruits that nourish hundreds of species in the dry season, and store water and provide shelter for all from birds to bats and elephants. But did you know that ALL baobabs originated from Madagascar? Scientists have found evidence of ancient hybridisation between species, meaning that various species of baobab living together in Madagascar interbred to form the species we see today.
From around 12 million years ago, the seeds of Madagascar’s baobabs floated on debris rafts to the African mainland and all the way across the Indian Ocean to Australia. In Africa, they were spread across the continent by the ancestors of elephants. We are constantly learning more about the fascinating origins of the Tree of Life – spectacular beings that are worth celebrating…
This week was a judging odyssey for our Photographer of the Year 2024 – the last week for entries is always an epic one, with so many inspiring submissions. Check out the THREE galleries filled with stunning photos below. Plus, we’re celebrating African Parks’ successful rewilding of 120 rhinos to Greater Kruger – check out the story below.
Fancy a one-of-a-kind safari to Madikwe Game Reserve in South Africa? This malaria-free Big 5 reserve has it all – from the Big 5 to wild dogs, cheetahs, and brown hyenas.
Madikwe Game Reserve is a prime safari location known for exceptional Big 5 sightings.
This is one of South Africa’s largest reserves and features diverse ecosystems.
It’s no wonder this is one of our most popular safaris!
Experience the bushveld while unlocking your creativity as you join professional wildlife artist Alison Nicholls on this art safari. Enjoy game drives, attend art workshops, and hone your wildlife-sketching skills in the best setting possible. Artists of all levels are welcome! Only 1 spot left.
WATCH: Western lowland gorillas, forest elephants, bongos, dwarf crocodiles, huge flocks of grey parrots & green pigeons – and much more. Odzala-Kokoua National Park in the remote northwest of Congo-Brazzaville is covered in forests, rivers, marshes, and swamps. Here, marshy areas rich in minerals and salts attract a plethora of wildlife. Odzala-Kokoua is one of Africa’s oldest national parks and the ideal destination for lowland gorilla trekking. Learn more here. (05:27) Click here to watch
Our Photographer of the Year 2024 is underway. Each of the three winners (the overall winner plus two runners-up) will become a personal sponsor of a wild Hwange lion research collar. Winners and their partners will also join our CEO Simon Espley on a conservation safariin Botswana. Read more about the Photographer of the Year 2024 prizes here.
Photographer of the Year is now closed for entries. Final judging will take place throughout the month of June 2024, and the winners will be announced in July 2024.
Here is Gallery 3 of the best Photographer of the Year submissions for this week. To see the other two galleries, follow the links: Gallery 1 + Gallery 2
Our Photographer of the Year 2024 is underway. Each of the three winners (the overall winner plus two runners-up) will become a personal sponsor of a wild Hwange lion research collar. Winners and their partners will also join our CEO Simon Espley on a conservation safariin Botswana. Read more about the Photographer of the Year 2024 prizes here.
Photographer of the Year is now closed for entries. Final judging will take place throughout the month of June 2024, and the winners will be announced in July 2024.
Here is Gallery 2 of the best Photographer of the Year submissions for this week. To see the other two galleries, follow the links: Gallery 1 + Gallery 3
Our Photographer of the Year 2024 is underway. Each of the three winners (the overall winner plus two runners-up) will become a personal sponsor of a wild Hwange lion research collar. Winners and their partners will also join our CEO Simon Espley on a conservation safariin Botswana. Read more about the Photographer of the Year 2024 prizes here.
Photographer of the Year is now closed for entries. Final judging will take place throughout the month of June 2024, and the winners will be announced in July 2024.
Here is Gallery 1 of the best Photographer of the Year submissions for this week. To see the other two galleries, follow the links: Gallery 2 + Gallery 3
GKEPF vet, Günter Nowak, carefully guides a sedated rhino to a translocation crate
120 southern white rhinos have been successfully translocated to reserves represented by the Greater Kruger Environmental Protection Foundation (GKEPF) in Mpumalanga and Limpopo, South Africa. This translocation is the second move under Rhino Rewild, an African Parks initiative to rewild 2,000 southern white rhinos into secure, protected African areas.
Editorial note about rhino poaching: Information about the presence of rhinos in protected areas comes from within – staff, third-party contractors, pseudo-tourists, relevant government departments, etc. There is no way to prevent poaching syndicates from accessing this information. Successful poaching syndicates find out exactly where in the reserve the target rhino is at any specific time – so that they can get in and out quickly. None of the information in this article is news to the syndicates, and it is also not specific enough for their purposes.
One hundred and twenty southern white rhinos have just been translocated to member reserves of the Greater Kruger Environmental Protection Foundation (GKEPF) in Mpumalanga and Limpopo provinces, South Africa. This boost to the southern white rhino population in the Greater Kruger area is part of African Parks’ Rhino Rewild initiative, an ambitious plan to rewild 2,000 southern white rhinos into secure, protected areas in Africa over the next ten years. This follows the translocation of 40 southern white rhino to Munywana Conservancy in South Africa in May.
GKEPF, established in 2016, is an alliance of nine private reserves, one provincial park, and one national park to service the protection needs of the western and eastern buffers of the Kruger National Park (KNP) and the Greater Limpopo Transfrontier National Park. This translocation comes when poaching rates within GKEPF reserves have significantly declined, indicating the effectiveness of security and anti-poaching measures.
In September 2023, African Parks purchased the world’s largest captive rhino breeding operation from John Hume in a bid to rescue 2,000 southern white rhinos following a failed auction, with one primary objective: to rewild them all to well-managed and secure protected areas, to establish or supplement strategic populations, ultimately helping to de-risk the future of the species.
DID YOU KNOW that African Parks offers safari camps (lodges and campsites) where 100% of tourism revenue goes to conservation and local communities? Find out more and book your African Parks safari.
Through Rhino Rewild, African Parks is dedicated to bolstering healthy southern white rhino populations in South Africa – and recognises the country’s efforts in rhino conservation for the benefit of the African continent.
Rhinos are darted with tranquilliser from a helicopter
“Moving 120 rhinos under the Rhino Rewild initiative to GKEPF will augment the existing rhino population in the Greater Kruger and ensure that these rhino are fulfilling their role in their natural environment, which has been our vision from the start,” says Peter Fearnhead, CEO of African Parks. “Despite significant pressures, GKEPF members have played a critical role in the conservation of the Greater Kruger landscape, providing an important buffer to the Kruger, and we support their commendable progress in protecting rhino populations in their native range.”
Sharon Haussmann, CEO of GKEPF, says, “The rewilding itself bears testament to the cumulative knowledge, partnerships, and insights of a protracted period of anti-poaching efforts in the Greater Kruger landscape. That the benefits so clearly outweigh the risks presents a significant opportunity for rewarding the efforts of everyone who has remained committed to safeguarding rhino populations amid extremely challenging circumstances over the past 10 to 15 years.”
Collaboration is at the heart of GKEPF’s mandate. While rhinos will not be released into the KNP itself but into private game reserves along its western boundary, the project received consensus, collaboration, and expert inputs from KNP and South African National Parks (SANParks). This strategic placement to private reserves sharing an unfenced border with the KNP strengthens the rhino metapopulation and lays the groundwork for potential future collaboration as the Kruger continues its fight against poaching.
This region of South Africa is an ideal habitat for southern white rhinos. The fertile and water-rich grasslands of the selected release areas are suitable for ensuring optimal rhino health and population growth. Through a decade-long collaborative effort to combat rhino poaching, reserves and stakeholders have developed and shared a wealth of expertise. This has significantly bolstered their ability to proactively and effectively address poaching threats and safeguard the species.
The safety of these translocated rhinos is at the forefront for everyone involved. “The rhino will come in dehorned, which is a very effective way to decrease the poaching risk in this landscape. We’re at a point where this risk is well calculated,” says Markus Hofmeyr, a wildlife vet and Director of the Rhino Recovery Fund. “This will be the first reintroduction of rhinos into this landscape in about 50 years,” he adds.
A rhino is led towards transportation crates
Moving 120 rhinos is an enormous undertaking in every way, and it has taken, as Haussmann explains, “many, many sleepless nights” and extensive funding. African Parks is donating the animals to the reserve, with GKEPF donors contributing to the translocation costs and the subsequent ongoing monitoring of the rhino, a critical element for the project’s long-term success.
A word of thanks from African Parks: The Rob Walton Foundation and the Pershing Square Foundation are the initial funders of Rhino Rewild. Thanks to the OAK Foundation, Rhino Recovery Fund, Hancock Family, Max Planck Institute & Contemplate Wild, and Land Rover Sandton/SMH Group for their support of this translocation to GKEPF.
Günter Nowak and GKEPF CEO Sharon Haussmann inspect the ear of a tranquillised rhino prior to attaching a tracking deviceA rewilded rhino takes it first steps into Greater Kruger from a transport crateA rewilded rhino approaches the water hole inside the boma in Greater Kruger
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Africa’s parrots + epic pics + classic East African safaris
If you live in South Africa or are familiar with South African current affairs, you’ll know of the dire situation concerning the country’s power grid, which is unable to meet the nation’s demand for electricity. This results in scheduled rolling blackouts across the country, known as “load-shedding”. While load-shedding is detrimental to the country’s economy, scientists from the Fitzpatrick Institute have identified its upside: these blackouts allow the unique opportunity to study the impact of artificial light on wildlife across a wide range of habitats and species.
As home ranges of most species can be studied in total darkness during the hours of load-shedding on one evening and bathed in light during the same time the next, there are ample prospects to study the impacts of artificial light on wildlife – from feeding behaviours to species interactions and more. The researchers have challenged the global research community to exploit this opportunity to shed light on how artificial light affects the behaviours of free-ranging animals. Every cloud has a light-diffracted silver lining…
This week, we take a look at the wonders of Africa’s diverse parrot species – see our story below. And don’t miss the drama, colour, splendour and gore of our Photographer of the Year entries for week 12. Brace yourself!
Taryn van Jaarsveld – Editor
Story 1 https://africageographic.com/stories/africas-parrots/
AFRICA’S PARROTS
Africa’s parrots are colourful characters that live in complex social groups. But they are among the most threatened of all bird families. Learn more about these fascinating birds
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Do you have a friend who wants to go on an African safari? Refer them to Africa Geographic, and you’ll help protect African lion populations.
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If a person you refer to AG books a safari with us, both of you will be added to an AG lion COALITION, and AG will donate $250 towards the satellite collaring of a lion.
Each satellite collar costs $2,500. this means that once the COALITION reaches ten referrals – raising enough to purchase a collar – we finalise that COALITION and start building the next one.
Once that COALITION’s lion has been identified and collared, each COALITION member (including you) receives general updates from the research team about the lion – secure in the knowledge that they have made a decisive contribution to the ongoing survival of Africa’s free-roaming wild lions.
WATCH: A little elephant calf – only a few days old – has had enough. Tired and hungry, the pink-eared calf throws a bushveld tantrum. Take a moment to enjoy a glimpse into a precious moment in the wilderness. (02:11) Click here to watch
Our Photographer of the Year 2024 is underway. Each of the three winners (the overall winner plus two runners-up) will become a personal sponsor of a wild Hwange lion research collar. Winners and their partners will also join our CEO Simon Espley on a conservation safariin Botswana. Read more about the Photographer of the Year 2024 prizes here.
Photographer of the Year is now closed for entries. Judging will take place throughout the month of June 2024, and the winners will be announced in early July 2024.
Our Photographer of the Year 2024 is underway. Each of the three winners (the overall winner plus two runners-up) will become a personal sponsor of a wild Hwange lion research collar. Winners and their partners will also join our CEO Simon Espley on a conservation safariin Botswana. Read more about the Photographer of the Year 2024 prizes here.
Photographer of the Year is now closed for entries. Judging will take place throughout the month of June 2024, and the winners will be announced in early July 2024.
Throughout his life, Alex was said to be able to identify 50 different objects, count up to six, and distinguish between seven colours and five shapes. He had a vocabulary of over a hundred words and reacted with indignation when deceived. Reports suggest that he may have understood apologies, the application of pronouns and the concept of “zero”. All of these accomplishments are made more impressive because Alex was a parrot – an African grey parrot, to be precise. Alex and his ilk belong to the order Psittaciformes – one of the world’s most fascinating, intelligent, and threatened bird groupings. The Psittaciformes order encompasses over 400 species belonging to at least 101 genera, including parakeets, macaws, cockatoos, lovebirds, lorikeets and “true parrots”. While South America, Central America and Australasia play host to the greatest diversity, five genera of parrots are found throughout sub-Saharan Africa and on the surrounding islands.
In the wild where they belong, these colourful characters fill forests and savannahs with cheerful voices, constantly communicating with the other members of their complex and sophisticated social groups. So, without further ado, meet the kaleidoscope of African parrots, decorated to the nines in glamorous hues and filled to the brim with personality:
Grey matters: the Psittacus genus
Grey parrots are unequivocally the most famous of Africa’s parrot species, though sadly, their notoriety is based more on their desirability as pets than anything else. However, in the wild, they are found predominantly in the primary and secondary forests of West and Central Africa. Here, they gather in noisy flocks to forage and chatter in the canopies or descend to the clearings for a drink and a quick bite of mineral-rich clay.
A flock of 300 African grey parrots feed on the aquatic plants in a large Baï in Odzala-Kokoua National Park, Congo-Brazzaville
There are two species: the African grey parrot (Psittacus erithacus – also known simply as the grey or Congo grey parrot) and the recently recognised Timneh parrot (Psittacus timneh), which was formerly considered a subspecies. As the name suggests, both species are predominantly charcoal in colour, but the Timneh parrot is darker in colour and sports a maroon tail in contrast to the scarlet feathers of the African grey.
Timneh parrot
Due to the number of grey parrots in captivity, we know that these birds are highly intelligent, not only in speech and cognition but also in demonstrating emotion-based behaviours such as altruism. Less is known about their wild interactions, but there is no question that this intelligence translates to intricate social complexities and intimate bonds between individuals. Their repertoire reportedly includes over 200 different sounds, and they communicate almost constantly with each other while foraging.
Sadly, the wild grey parrot populations have plummeted over the past few decades to just a shadow of their former numbers (see more below). However, there are still places where one can see them in the wild, especially on the West African island of Príncipe (where they are still found in large numbers) and around the baïs of Odzala-Kokoua National Park.
Like their close relatives, the grey parrots, the wild parrots of the Poicephalus genus are endemic to Africa. There are at least eleven species, but avian taxonomy remains a somewhat murky and confused world, so that number is likely to change as future research distinguishes separate species. At present, the Poicephalus group includes:
Cape parrot (P. robustus)
Meyer’s parrot (P. meyeri)
Senegal parrot (P. senegalus)
African orange-bellied parrot (P. rufiventris)
Brown-headed parrot (P. cryptoxanthus)
Red-fronted parrot (P. gulielmi)
Brown-necked parrot (P. fuscicollisfuscicollis)
Grey-headed parrot (P. fuscicollissuahelicus)
Rüppell’s parrot (P. rueppellii)
Yellow-fronted parrot (P. flavifrons)
Niam-Niam parrot (P. crassus)
The complicated knot of parrot taxonomy is perhaps best explained by the case of the Cape parrot – South Africa’s only endemic parrot species. Until 2017, the Cape parrot, the brown-necked parrot and the grey-headed parrot were all considered subspecies of the same species, P. robustus. Research into the differences, including genetic, physical and behavioural, proved the distinction. Consequently, the Cape parrot was included on the Red List with a more conservative conservation status of ‘Vulnerable’.
Those wishing to find the Poicephalus species in the wild will find it a relatively easy task on almost any conventional safari. However, rarer species such as the Cape, Niam-Niam or Senegal parrots will likely require a specialised birding trip in the company of expert guides.
The Cape parrot is South Africa’s only endemic parrot speciesBrown-headed parrot in Kruger National Park, South AfricaMeyer’s parrot at the waterhole in Mashatu Game Reserve, BotswanaAfrican orange-bellied parrot having a drink in Tsavo National Park in KenyaGrey-headed parrot in Kruger National Park, South Africa
A loving cupful of parrots: the Agapornis genus
All nine species of lovebirds are native to Africa. However, their popularity as pets and for aviaries has seen the establishment of feral colonies and hybrid species that exist far outside their natural ranges, including in many parts of the United States.
Members of the Agapornis genus include:
Rosy-faced lovebird (A. roseicollis)
Yellow-collared lovebird (A. personatus)
Fischer’s lovebird (A.fischeri)
Lilian’s lovebird (A.lilianae)
Black-cheeked lovebird (A.nigrigenis)
Black-winged lovebird (A. taranta)
Red-headed lovebird (A. pullarius)
Grey-headed lovebird (A.canus)
Black-collared lovebird (A. swindernianus)
In the wild, most species are geographically separated, so avid birders looking to spot them all will have to travel the length and breadth of the continent. A special trip to the island of Madagascar will also be necessary to find the unique and endemic grey-headed lovebird.
Rosy-faced lovebird in flight in Spitzkoppe, NamibiaYellow-collared lovebirds in Tarangire National Park, TanzaniaLilian’s lovebirds in South Luangwa National Park, ZambiaFischer’s lovebirds in Serengeti National Park, Tanzania
The loneliest parrot: the Psittacula genus
There is only one extant representative of the parakeet genus on mainland Africa: the African rose-ringed parakeet (Psittacula krameri krameri). Its natural range extends from Guinea in West Africa to Uganda and northwards to the Nile Valley.
There is one other naturally-occurring parakeet in the vicinity – the echo parakeet of Mauritius. Sadly, this is the last living parakeet species of the Mascarene Islands. The Réunion parrot, Newton’s parakeet, Mascarene grey parakeet and Seychelles parakeet all became extinct during the 18th century due to human activity.
Rose-ringed parakeet
Islands in the sun: the Coracopsis genus
The fifth and final genus of African parrots: the largely unknown group of vasa parrots of Coracopsis. Though some disparity exists as to exact divisions, there are four confirmed species: the greater vasa parrot (C. vasa) and the lesser vasa parrot (C. nigra), both found in Madagascar, along with the Comoros black parrot (C. sibilans) and the Seychelles black parrot (C. barklyi) of their respective eponymous islands.
The members of the Coracopsis genus have several morphological features that set them apart from other parrot species. Their bodies are truncated, their necks long, their plumage without any bright colouration and the genitalia of the males are entirely unique.
A greater vasa parrot in Tsimanampetsotsa Nature Reserve, Madagascar (left), and a lesser vasa parrot in Zombitse-Vohibasia National Park, Madagascar
A word on the conservation of parrots
Globally, parrots are among the most threatened of all bird families, and while a full treaty on their conservation status is beyond the scope of this article, omitting the reality would be remiss. Their attractive looks, intelligence and propensity for mimicry have made them highly desirable as pets. Even with restrictions, the pet trade remains one of the most significant threats to their future. This is especially true for grey parrots, which have been trapped in their millions, but also for several members of the Poicephalus genus, including the Senegal parrot, one of the most frequently caught species in the wild. Their wild populations are also highly susceptible to habitat loss (primarily due to logging) and traditional medicine trade.
Resources on parrots
Visit the World Parrot Trust to learn more about the dangers facing African parrots and how to help.
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
Guest payments go into a third-party TRUST ACCOUNT - protecting them in the unlikely event of a financial setback on our part. Also, we are members of SATSA who attest to our integrity, legal compliance and financial stability.
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!
TRAVEL DESK: 
WATCH: An oldie but a goodie… Watch this incredible video of a wildebeest fleeing a pride of hunting lions in the Kruger National Park, captured by Laura Hughes. (0:29) Click here to watch
Want to visit Kahuzi-Biega National Park? Check out 
Did giraffes evolve their iconic long necks for sex or food? A new study explores whether these majestic features evolved more for foraging or mating, offering fresh insights into giraffe evolution.
How does lion pride behaviour differ between fenced and open systems? Research teams monitoring lions in Kruger National Park, Pilanesberg National Park and Savé Valley Conservancy aim to find out. By collecting GPS, genetic-stress and behavioural data in a set of fenced reserves researchers are able to study how aggressiveness and territoriality regarding kinship between prides are affected by management practices. 
You can help in this important study by sponsoring a collar in full or by donating any amount—large or small—to support this critical conservation project. These collars collect GPS, genetic stress, and behavioural data. 
European rollers are a flagship species for migratory birds. But their population has declined by more than 30% in 15 years. New efforts to save these rollers – and their migratory paths – will benefit a wide variety of species
Originally from Windhoek, Namibia, Dewald grew up in the small rural town of Belfast, Mpumalanga. As a child, all his family holidays were spent camping or hiking in the Kruger National Park. This is where his love for nature was cultivated. Although he works in the medical field, wildlife photography has been his passion for the last 20 years. Dewald and his wife have travelled extensively around the globe to photograph rare and exciting wildlife. Through his images, he wants to influence people to start thinking about conservation and protecting the last remaining wild places on Earth.
Ivan was born into a family of wildlife and photography enthusiasts in South Africa, where his deep passion for African wildlife and wildlife photography took root at an early age. Sharing this passion through his photography has always brought him joy. In his mid-twenties, Ivan emigrated to Australia and began his corporate career. During those years, his focus shifted away from wildlife and photography as his professional responsibilities and family took precedence. However, in 2019, an extraordinary opportunity presented itself when Ivan 
For over two decades, South African-born Greg du Toit has been solely devoted to photographing Africa’s wildlife. His fine art collections have been shown from New York to Singapore, and his work has hung in natural history museums from Canada to Australia. His solo exhibition, ‘Authentic Africa’, hosted by the National Geographic gallery on London’s Regent Street, was a sell-out. The BBC Wildlife Magazine featured the article, ‘A waiting game’, detailing his 270 hours spent sitting inside a Kenyan waterhole. He is the author of three books: AWE, a coffee-table book containing a decade’s worth of imagery and Getting it right in camera, a how-to book for wildlife photographers. Wilderness dreaming is the title of his African memoir, filled with wild bush adventures in his search of lost Africa. The BBC World Service has interviewed him, he has appeared on NBC’s TODAY show and has, as a guest speaker, delivered presentations as far afield as northern Finland. Through his online galleries, his limited-edition prints bring Africa to the walls of homes worldwide. Greg donates some of his prints to both humanitarian and wildlife charities.
Perched high in the sky amid the clouds in southeast Africa lies a dazzling array of natural wonders. Straddling the borders between Malawi and Mozambique lies a collection of ancient granite mountains that harbour some of the richest biodiversity on the continent. These isolated mountainous habitats are home to rare forests, endemic plants and animals found nowhere else on earth. Now, a group of scientists is proposing that Southern Africa’s threatened ‘sky islands’, consisting of 30 isolated mountains in southern Malawi and northern Mozambique, be declared as Africa’s newest ecoregion.
