Where to begin? Oh, yeah, I know. The
road. Work is progressing, albeit at a slower pace than I
would like to see. But of course my patience may not be a good
measuring tool as I would have preferred that road completed two
years ago. The state of the road definitely has improved
recently, assisted also by the onset of the rains which always
helps in compacting the sand. Previously it would take about 3½
hours to drive from here to Sesheke. Now it can be done in 2½- 3
hours. The contractor on the first section from Sesheke to
around Kalubelelwa (midway) seems to be slower than the
contractor on the second section. (The same who did the Zimba
road north of Livingstone).
News on the construction of the bridge
remains a bit elusive. It seems though that a contractor
(Chinese) and the supervising engineer (South African) have been
selected and that work will start in a few months time. What I
have not yet been able to ascertain is where the bridge is
actually going to be built. Apparently the previously selected
site a bit upriver from Maziba Bay has been rejected. The slopes
were too steep I am told. Although latest information indicates
a location close to Sankandi School six km upriver from here no
one has yet been able to confirm hundred percent.
Businesswise October was a good month,
November also fairly ok (but then I had some huge expenses) and
December satisfactory, but not much more. In October and
November we had quite a lot of organised tour groups passing
through on their way to Liuwa Plain to watch the wildebeest
migration. The rains have started late so only in November did
guests see huge numbers of wildebeests. Most of the people I
talked too had also seen a lot of hyenas and often also the
three lions. It seems the lone lioness is beyond her
reproductive age and that a younger lioness will be introduced
soon. One guest told me that the two male lions had wrecked
havoc in one of the hyena dens and killed all the cubs forcing
the hyenas to relocate. Predator competition can be fierce.
The number of individual travellers has
been markedly less than last year. I guess they all came for the
world football tournament and the recession probably also has
had a negative impact. Mid October Bradt Travel Guide visited
Sioma Camp in connection with an information gathering and
updating exercise regarding Western Province. I hope the next
edition will reflect the attractiveness of this area (at least
for the more ‘adventurous’ travellers). By the way, on our boat
trip to Ngonye Falls we saw 7-8 otters close to the falls.
One group of travellers that seem to have
some difficulties getting out here is the motor bikers. Several
groups have planned to drive through Western Province, but so
far only a few individuals have actually succeeded. The chance –
statistically speaking – of getting all the way out here in a
group of 4-6 bikers without any bodily injuries apparently is
too small. The soft sand is not easy to negotiate with a bike.
I still wonder why I don’t get any
backpackers...or very few.....sorry, but I must conclude that
the young generation are not as adventurous as when I was
young......too long ago, I am afraid. Today backpackers seem to
prefer the comfort of tourist hubs such as Livingstone.
Adventure today apparently only means bungy jumping and river
rafting, not visiting remote wilderness areas only accessible in
an outdated bus on a bad and bumby road. Well, most likely it is
just another indication of me getting older; finding misplaced
pleasure in harassing the young generation on an unfair
basis...or what?
I will not mention that I wrecked another
car engine (too painful to talk about) or crashed my harddrive...(not
my brain, that happened long ago) ...and had it recovered it in
South Africa for a total of USD 450 (I could buy a new laptop
for that amount) and any of the other small ‘happenings’ that
make my life shine. No, I will go straight to the wildlife
sightings. At least there are some positive things to report
about.
We did several bush drives over the last
few months and the general impression is that the number of
wildlife is higher than expected. This is still not South
Luangwa or Lower Zambezi NP, but we had a fair number of
sightings. On a ‘standard’ bush drive from my bush camp via
Ijobwe Pools along the north western boundary of the Sioma
Ngwezi NP we would see say 4-8 giraffes, several groups of kudu
with 5-8 in each group, a few groups of impala, a few groups of
tsessebe, a few roans (from 2 to 16, although herds of 30-50
have been reported), a few groups of sable (from 5 to 15), plus
some warthog, oribi, stenbok and reedbuck. Within less than two
weeks I saw 2 leopards. One at my bushcamp in the early morning
(a male; two females were nearby as well) and one at Ijobwe pool
around 2 pm. But again you have to be patient. This is the real
Africa; the game is being hunted! We rarely see elephants, but
they are around. My driver observed more than 200 crossing the
main road ten km from camp as they were heading for a pool near
the river.
Here at the river camp we also had a bit of
wildlife. End October with just two days in between our campsite
was visited by a small family pride of lions (male, female, two
cubs) and two male lions. Both groups were going to the river.
It was an unexpected pleasure to be able to warn my guests about
the roaming lions. (This was about the same time that I heard
about lions killing a tourist in Mana Pools). In the same week
the American missionaries a few km downriver had a big male
leopard visiting their plot. The leopard bit one of their dogs
(a young Doberman) in the throat. Miraculously the dog survived
(but got very skinny). The leopard came back twice, but
eventually went to a nearby village and killed three dogs; ate
the ‘fillets’ of two dogs on the spot and disappeared with the
third dog.
Luckily it seems that there is quite a good
number of leopards around. Again, in the same week our female
leopard walked through camp at night, checking out our cars and
the various structures. She went into the thatched structure
where I sleep (in a tent without a zipper; I use shade cloth as
a front cover instead). I can’t help finding it a bit
fascinating that a leopard passes by in the middle of the night
less than 2 meters from where I am sleeping.
The caretaker at the missionaries place had
18 goats half a year ago. Now he has 2. They have all been taken
by leopards. The last two he has now relocated to the other side
of the river where apparently there is no wildlife left. I
discussed with him the economics of the matter....ref. my last
newsletter.....and assuming that a leopard was to be eventually
hunted by a sport hunter paying say USD 6000 for the shooting
the unlucky goat owner could be compensated with a sum of money
equivalent to more than 300 goats. If the proper structures and
procedure were in place that is. The loss of a goat here is a
real financial loss for the goat owner. In that context I recall
how in Norway 3 (out of a population of 8) wolves were hunted
(and killed) in 2001 (or thereabout) because of the sheep they
were preying on. The Scandinavian wolf is a fairly endangered
species (the main population is in Sweden) and I never quite
understood the rationality behind the wolf hunt in Norway.
Norwegians are well informed, normally big nature lovers and
among the most environment conscious people I know. If the
Norwegians kill wolves because the wolves are killing ‘a few
sheep’ (in one of the richest countries in the world) then I
must conclude there is no hope for the conservation of wildlife,
especially not in Africa where poverty is real. I can take my
own country Denmark as well. In the late nineties after a
debate in the media had died out some ‘illegal immigrant’ wild
boars were shot in a government sanctioned campaign because of
the risk of contagious diseases spreading to pig farms and
thereby threatening the Danish export of pork products (bacon).
Or take Bruno the Bear in the Alps. After a long and heated
media debate in South Germany he was shot too. Westeners want
poor rural Africans to accept wildlife (even wildlife that is
really dangerous to people) and want them to stop poaching (or
subsistence hunting), while we gladly kill off the last
remaining wild animals in our wildlife deficient part of the
world. Doesn’t make sense, does it?
A few weeks before a hyena had attacked a
cow and forced it to flee to the river. I first thought the cow
had been attacked by a crocodile, but it was a hyena. The cow
had managed to escape, but had suffered severe injuries and had
to be slaughtered.
Early November a local woman fetching water
at the sandbank a few hundred meters from our tented chalets was
attacked by a crocodile. She escaped although the croc even came
on land trying to get her. A few days later I saw the biggest
crocodile I have seen in the area around here so far. It climbed
onto the rocks in the middle of the river in front of the
restaurant deck. My guess is that it was around 4 meter long. I
saw it again a few days later. A few days ago a 7 year old boy
was attacked at the same place. These incidents are of course
followed up by demands that ZAWA must come and shoot the
‘monster’. Not that I don’t understand the frustration of the
locals, but killing off even dangerous wildlife is not the
solution if you want to promote this area as a wildlife area for
tourists. The problem is exacerbated by the fact that the
borehole in the village is not working and therefore people
(read women and children) must go to the river to get water. In
my cynical mood I somehow can’t help getting the feeling that if
men were in danger (and not ‘only’ women and children) perhaps a
solution would be found, say sticking poles in the riverbed
creating some kind of protective fencing. Anyway I am thinking
about constructing a perimeter of some kind. Something that can
easily be removed as the water goes up or down. A floating
device would be even better. We will make a plan......
Snakes......we have seen a few. A tour
guide saw a black mamba at the camp site. A boomslang was moving
around in a tree next to our kitchen and I almost ‘overstepped’
a black necked spitting cobra on the path between my tent and
the main building. (I must conclude that it can be dangerous to
go in your own thoughts). Once I realized that the long black
rubberlike thing on the path was the tail end of a snake I of
course stopped and then spotted the head of the snake rising
from the grass. We looked at each other (it did not spit
although it was less than two meter away) and apparently
deciding I did not pose any danger slowly moved off.
Vervet monkeys are getting closer and
closer even entering the kitchen. The crows too. The crows are
very intelligent birds and I have the feeling that they are
truly analysing the various situations, weighing risks against
potential gains. Some guinea fowls have started breeding
somewhere nearby. There are always some around.
After months without hippos they have
returned. A few days ago there were three hippos ...a couple and
a solitary young bull... in front of the main building. The
couple were mating so now I hope for a hippo baby. Last year
there was no offspring, perhaps this time it will happen. We
will see in about 250 day’s time.
I had a visit by an angler from Solwezi
where he is working on the mines as a security manager. This guy
had a scientific approach to fishing. It took him a day or two
to identify the best way of catching Tiger Fish in this area.
And then he got going. Just as an example; the second last day
he and his driver/assistant (also a keen angler) had 21 fights
(not only strikes, but real fights) with tigers. In the
afternoon they had 34 fights. So a total of 55 in one day. Not
bad. He described this place as the best for catching Tigers
that he had ever been to. Most of the catches were between 3-5
kg, but he said they had hooked several in the 8 kg class and
even several probably above 10 kg. But they all got away.
I told you so! This place has not really
been fished for the last 5-7 years, so there is bound to be a
lot of tigers out there. Perhaps it had to do with the starting
of the rains. You could virtually see the tigers chasing smaller
fish all over the place. The surface waters seemed alive.
I should also mention the latest
developments regarding the implementation of the Peace Park
plans. However there is not much to tell. The money apparently
is available, but has not yet reached the ground level. A
familiar story I am afraid. From plans of ‘grand projects’ are
conceived and consultations held with local communities and to
the time where something really happens on the ground it simply
takes to long. Communities are patient...they have no other
choice.....but in the end they simply loose the initial
enthusiasm and what would otherwise have been a perfect take off
climate more often than not turns into disillusion and
suspicion. I think it is vital to have at least a small sum of
money from the onset that can be used quickly to show commitment
to the plans and the promises extended towards the local
communities. If this does not happen the expectations turn sour
and any subsequent step (once the money finally arrives) becomes
an uphill battle. It is difficult for me to say where the
problem is, but of course a huge project such as Kavango Zambezi
Transfrontier Conservation Park involving 5 countries is not an
easy one. What is easy to see is that it is the local
communities and thereby in the end also the conservation of
wildlife that suffers.
At least one thing has been implemented. An
electrified elephant fence – total length close to 20 km long -
has been constructed around the village Kabula 2. (Poetic name
for a village!). It will be interesting to see if it really
works once the maize harvest time comes. Elephants are not
stupid and I have heard lot of stories how elephants have
overcome obstacles in order for them to get to a desired food
source. The arms race is on. The WWF facilitated community
development plans, including organisational capacity building
and conservation farming, are being implemented albeit also not
in an impressive speed. It seems that village scouts are going
to be recruited soon.
Finally let me present my own – admittedly
small scale - idea on how tourism can support local communities
and wildlife conservation in one shot. A lot of mechanisms have
been devised for channelling revenue from tourism operations
into local community pockets.....as a percentage of income, a
community fee per bed night or simply regular payments etc. I
have tried to come up with an idea that would link the existence
of wildlife directly to the actual funds paid to communities. In
other words trying to show directly that wildlife is worth
money. If you can make villagers understand that perhaps it is
not a good idea to allow uncle Albert to poach a kudu (and sell
the bush meat in a nearby town for small money) when in fact
this kudu is worth a lot more as an object for tourism
activities.....photographic and eventually perhaps as a hunting
object for a sport hunter.....then you may in the end be getting
somewhere, both in terms of local development and conservation
(and expansion) of wildlife.
The system should be simple, manageable and
accountable while linking the diversity and amount of wildlife
to the actual revenue generated for communities.
In short the idea behind the scheme is to
generate money from tourist observations of different species in
accordance with a remuneration system based on specific fees for
each of five categories of game. Species, not numbers of
individual animals, are counted. If, say a group of tourists on
a bush drive/walk see kudu, duiker, impala, tsessebe, roan,
giraffe and elephant these observations would be priced at a
rate of 1US$ for a duiker (category 1), 2 US$ for impala and
tsessebe, 3 US$ for roan and kudu, 4 US$ for giraffe and US$ 5
for elephant; a total sum of US$ 20. The number of game
observations will be certified by the driver/guide and the
tourists. The tourists would pay this community contribution (on
top of Sioma Camp fee) following each game drive/walk. Sioma
Camp would then pay each Village Action Group (depending on
which VAG area the activity occurred) at the end of every month.
My hope is that especially in areas where there is a need to
boost small game populations the scheme could be relevant. Would
it work? I hope so, although adaptations may be required. If
there are any good ideas/comments from the readers of this
newsletter please give me a feedback. I think the system must be
voluntary though. I don’t think you can force tourists to pay;
on top of the regular game drive rate. What do you think? Would
you pay? Are the amounts too big or too small? It should be a
pilot phase so alterations can be made following each season.
I have been thinking about applying the
same system when it comes to tiger fishing. Whereas a catch and
release policy makes sense in most areas you could actually
apply another measure in a place like this where there seems to
be a very healthy population of tiger fish. Based on input from
the sports angler mentioned above you could put in place a
system where say keeping 2 tiger fish a day per angler is
allowed. For each tiger fish a community fee could be paid based
perhaps on a progressive scheme with US$ 2 being paid for fish
weighing less than 3 kg, 3 US$ for fish between 3-5 kg and US$ 4
from 5-7 kg. Fish above 7 kg could cost US$ 5. The revenue
generated should primarily go to development of fish farms (an
obvious idea in this area with plenty of ‘dambos’ and similar
‘waterlogged’ areas).
Again, any input to these proposals would
be welcome.
All for now......but for one last
thing.....Mubita, my tracker just told me that we now seem to
have five resident side striped jackals on our little plot. They
seem to like the thicket here which is growing more and more
dense because the plot has not really been burned since I
started building Sioma Camp.
One very last
thing..........................Merry Christmas (belated) and a
Happy New Year.
See you in 2011.
Hans Aaskov
Sioma camp
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