(Photos
coming soon. Only when I am in Livingstone next time will I be
able to ‘upload’ them. )
Another three
months gone. As we all thought the rainy season was well over
then suddenly we had a few days with thunder, hails and rain
again. It was not just a brief shower; it actually rained quite
a bit. One of my watchmen could only remember that it had also
rained in June back in 1975. He remembered it as at that time he
was in Mongu. So an unusual year so far with regard to rain. The
worst flooding in exactly 50 years – 1959 - and rain in June.
The rain caused renewed problems along the road for a few days
before the situation went back to ‘normal’ (although this road
is never normal).
Because of
the flooding the stretch of road from the pontoon at Kalongolo
to Senanga it has not been possible to go from Sesheke to
Senanga and onward to Mongu until mid June. The pontoon was even
non operational for a few days after the above stretch finally
became passable. For now the pontoon and the road is ok…..so..
so…
With regard
to the road I have been informed that funds have been set aside
for some emergency spot repairs and grading of the road this
year. Work is planned to start soon. The real thing –
construction of the new road - will start next year. Included in
the package will be a tarmac road from Senanga – on the Northern
side of the Zambezi - to Maziba Bay area a few kilometers
upstream from Sioma Camp where a bridge will be constructed. The
tarmac road will then continue on this – Southern side of the
Zambezi – to Sesheke. From here to Kalongolo (where the pontoon
is) there will also be a tarmac road. And - which was new to me
– a new tarmac road will be constructed from Maziba Bay area to
the district headquarter in Shangombo (at the Kwando River/the
border with Angola). Everything – I assume - to be financed by
my ‘old’ embassy/Danida.
The bad
stretch from the pontoon to Senanga will be a problem during and
after the rainy season for a few more years effectively
hindering traffic of vehicles from Senanga to Sesheke. I just
hope the bridge will be built quickly. Half a year every year
without any tourists being able to drive the ‘Western Circuit’
is not good for (my) business.
Mid May I went to Durban to participate in
the Indaba Tourism and Travel Show. A new world to me with new
abbreviations and terms….destination management company…., FIT
meaning …I think….Fixed Individual Travel, rack/STO rates and so
on. But it was useful and I got a lot of contacts. Subsequently
I have been sending emails to more than 120 tourism
operators/actors of (hopefully) relevance to my kind of business
(tour operators, travel agencies etc. Some positive feedbacks
have been received and mails keep coming in. Global recession or
no recession there is no turning back. At the Indaba I stumbled
into a stand with the logo ‘Boundless’. It turned out to be a
special marketing set up to promote the various Peace Parks in
Southern Africa. So far there are seven, including the Kavango
Zambezi Transfrontier Conservation Area of which Sioma Ngwezi
National Park is part. Another relevant piece of information was
that the South African adventurer Kingsley Holgate is doing a
tour through all the Peace parks in order to promote them prior
to next years World Soccer Tournament in South Africa (see
www.kingsleyholgate.co.za) or (www.boundlesssa.com).
I have mailed the organizers and told them that I would like to
invite Kingsley Holgate for a glass of Captain Morgan Rum (his
favorite brand…..and sponsoring several of Holgate’s adventure
travels).
(Kingsley
Holgate and his Boundless Expedition passed through already in
mid July. Holgate and two of his expedition team members – Mike
and Johan - visited my camp (it was my impression that they
liked what they saw) and afterwards we shared a bottle of
Captain Morgan in the bar. They were nice people with a lot of
experience and good ideas on local development, wildlife and
tourism and on development of my camp as well. For me it was a
very enjoyable and profitable meeting. I wish them all the best
on the remainder of their 120 days expedition).
Business…..another three months with very few clients. The road
is the main culprit. Nobody wants to go up here and return using
the same (bad) road. Only within the last few weeks the numbers
of travelers seem to have increased a bit, but not a lot.
However I hope that the season will really take off
now…beginning of July.
I have had
guests from University of South Bohemia doing research on
rodents, including mice, bats and moles. Other unusual guests
were a couple from Belgium on bicycles. Although they had good
Koga Miyata mountain bikes the Kalahari sand was killing them.
But they managed and I have heard that they passed through Kafue
National Park and stayed a few days at Kaingu Lodge before
moving on to Lusaka. Other guests include a newly married
Italian couple on their honeymoon travel (first time in Sub
Saharan Africa) in a rented car through Western Zambia. Well
done. Also a birthday party – 65 years - was held here, a
Russian business man came just to see the Falls. My boat had a
problem, so eventually he managed to go in a mokoro (dug out
canoe), the lion researcher, a family with 4 children (all
boys!) all the way from Cape Town etc. Quite a journey. So, I
meet a ‘lot’ of interesting people up here.
Wildlife. We
have had a female leopard wandering through the camp….from the
camp site to my tent to the chalets and the river and back to
the bush…..almost every night for three weeks. Mubita…my
driver/tracker….saw it one evening at eight o’clock. It has not
been around for the last few weeks though. While guiding the
above mentioned group of researchers from University of South
Bohemia Mubita also saw a big male leopard at one of the
waterholes at the bush camp. He was walking as he saw the
leopard only 40 meter away coming towards him. He ran, which was
probably not a very wise thing to do….if you run you are
food…..but he was lucky that the leopard did not shift into
hunting mode. This morning I heard that a man had been
hospitalized after being attacked by a leopard…..or rather he
attacked the leopard trying to recover a calf that the leopard
had killed. His arm was badly torn, but he will survive.
Apparently he killed the leopard. How he did it I do not – yet –
know. Around here another leopard – I assume – killed a dog and
a group of four leopards (I assume it must be a female with
three big cubs) killed eight goats in one go including two of my
old goats that I had sold. Lions continue to kill cattle in
enclosures up north around Kaanja and Nangweshi. Perhaps it
would be an idea to do as I have seen it done by Samburus in
Kenya and Karamajong in Uganda. They put up a five meter wide
‘buffer zone’ of huge acacia thorns around the kraal. The way
they arranged the thorn trees/bushes they created an almost
impenetrable barrier and at least it kept the lions away. A lion
researcher recently visited Sioma Ngwezi for a few days. It was
a kind of ‘familiarization’ mission, but hopefully she will be
coming back soon and eventually be able to come up with some
update info on the lion population in the area.
The hippo has
been around several times. It seems to be moving up and down the
river and is reoccurring around here with certain intervals. A
few times we have seen him out of water mid day. Always alone.
As far as I know they are social animals, always ‘pooling’
together. I guess he must be a bit bored. He probably hopes he
will soon manage to attract a nice female hippo…..with rounded
hips you know. I keep on trying to grow a bit of maize to make
him stay. But most of the maize that germinate and grow is being
eaten by the cows that keep invading my plot. I have seen vervet
monkeys and duikers a few times around my camp. A few days ago I
saw two bushbabies close to my tent. This is the first time I
have seen them around since July 2007 when I stayed here a few
days before moving. There have been a few Puffadders around,
Angolan Green Snakes, Tiger Snakes (in the kitchen window) and
Stripe Bellied Sand Snake. Otters are often seen as well as Nile
Monitors and occasionally crocodiles. One hyena has been down to
the river – once in a while we hear them nearby – as well as
sable and roan on a few occasions. Elands have been passing by
in the bush not far away, but they have not been seen here. One
evening I saw a jackal crossing the road just off my plot. On a
few drives to Ijobwe pools I have seen giraffes. I recently went
to the bushcamp to get it up and running again. There had been a
party of hyenas recently and we saw several tracks of both male
and female leopards. My dug out water holes still hold water.
Take a look
at some of the photos. End May I was lucky and caught a Zambezi
Perch (hoaxus liarus) weighing 46 kg. Fantastic isn’t it? Some
would say unbelievable as they are quite rare. About the same
time I did a bit of snorkeling in the Zambezi. No, I did not see
any crocodiles, but several tigerfish ….ok, they were fairly
small…(see photos)
Various
events made me wonder how the local people see me and how they
look at what I am doing here. There seems to be a lot of
misperceptions in the community. It was therefore a good
opportunity to do a little to improve my public image when there
was an agricultural show in Sioma end of June. Sioma Camp
participated with a stand…a tent and one of the game drive
vehicles. We brought books (on wildlife, environment, natural
resources, community based natural resource management etc.) and
I made a multiple choice wildlife quiz with 20 questions….and
asked the participants to write a small essay on why we should
preserve wildlife. A solar charger for mobile phones, binoculars
and a school bag were the prizes. Many – especially young –
people participated. I think we were the most visited stand. I
hope many students will once in a while visit my camp (when I
have no guests…which unfortunately is most of the time) and
spend some time in my library reading/studying literature about
wildlife, natural resources, community development etc.
Peace Parks
are still moving on (although funding seems to be a bit
delayed), together with ZAWA. Recruitment of village scouts,
starting a process similar to the development of communal
conservancies in Namibia is in the pipeline. A Zambian parallel
to the organization in Namibia IRDNC (Integrated Rural
Development and Nature Conservation) has been created called
CCCD (Community Conservation and Development …something…So the
process is coming on slowly, slowly.
I recently
wrote an ‘article’ about wildlife based tourism, conservation of
nature and poverty reduction in rural Africa. (you can read it
on this website if you like). I also mailed it to a few
newspapers, but so far nobody wants to bring it. Well, I will
probably never win The Pulitzer prize.
Car problems
continue …because of that !!!!! road. When driving back from the
agricultural show my Nissan lost its propshaft and I had to be
towed 20 km back to camp. When I went to Katima Mulilo in
Namibia to get the spare part the diesel filter of the Mercedes
Jeep got blocked and I hardly made it over the last hills before
Sesheke…..there was no fuel coming through and therefore the
engine had no power. Anyway, I had the filter cleaned and even
found a spare filter…after shopping around to 5-6 places of
course. I reckon that if I have been driven up and down that
road say 50 times I have had various car problems on 35 of those
trips. That’s life in rural Africa it seems….at least for me.
The latest
mechanical problem concerns the boat. After hitting a rock in
December the lower part of the outboard engine (with the
propeller) was replaced by a second hand one. Then …mid July… on
the way back from the Falls we experienced problems with the
cooling system….no water coming through. So we did a bit of
paddling that evening. The problem was the water pump impeller;
old and worn down as it was small pieces of rubber had been torn
off and cloaked the water cooling system. So…next task…I must
find this specific spare part. I am on it, but it is a challenge
every time.
The
construction is ongoing, but with fewer workers. The restaurant
and bar now looks quite good. Especially the bar which front is
decorated with 18 huge wooden face masks looks quite impressive.
The library also looks attractive and is an inviting, cozy and
relaxing place to spend the cold winter evenings that we are
experiencing now. The rock building absorbs heat from the sun
during the day and releases it during evening time. A few weeks
ago the staff and I had a small inauguration party of the braai
boma. We had roasted goat. Delicious. Enjoying a tasty meal
under the stars and the moon with a campfire in front of
you……well, it just makes you de-stress. (See the photos).
I think that
is all I have to say for now.
See you.
Hans
Christian Aaskov
Sioma Camp
Please note
that the photos may not yet be on the website. Only when I am in
Livingstone next time will I be able to ‘upload’ them.
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