Dear All

A town pic of our Museum - the largest museum in Zambia. When was the last time you went for a visit?

LIVINGSTONE

Elephants cause Problems

Two cyclists met up with some elephants on the Falls Road through the park. They managed to get out of the way and were not hurt but their bicycles and parcels were trashed. Lusizi Mwale, Warden of the Southern Region, has warned people not to walk or ride bikes through the park during the dark because it is dangerous.

ZAMBIA

Road Blocks

Obvious Mwaliteta, Lusaka Province Minister, has told the police in Kafue that they should not have unnecessary road blocks which inconvenience road users.

Obvious Mwaliteta: Offi cer-in-charge, I’m concerned with the number of unnecessary roadblocks along the Kafue-Lusaka road, how can your offi cers mount three roadblocks within a distance of 30 kilometres, from Muyangana’s [Pleasure Resort] to Day Break Farms? These same roadblocks have brought more harm than good because the money that is collected from these checkpoints is not well accounted for.

I have noticed in Livingstone that the road blocks are increasing so I hope this directive is taken to heart nationwide.

Conservation Lower Zambezi

Changing hydrology is another ecological effect of humans on river systems. On Tuesday we witnessed a rapid water level drop in the Zambezi. The water receded two metres in just a few hours with some dramatic effects. Sandbars were exposed, moored boats stranded and most dramatic of all were the massive fl oating islands of vegetation that suddenly appeared in the main channel of the river.

The sudden drop in water level had caused water to fl ush rapidly out of normally still back channels, shifting almost 4 hectares of fl oating mats of reeds and vegetation they had covered the usually quite waters of a partially connected oxbow lake.

While rivers are naturally dynamic systems with a degree of resilience to change, human disruptions to fl ow are often extreme and unpredictable and can result in sometimes drastic changes in habitat and water quality. The sudden drop in water level was caused by a system failure in Zambia’s electrical grid that resulted in shutdowns at Kariba North Bank and Kafue Gorge hydropower stations. With water no longer fl owing through the turbines, water levels dropped rapidly downstream of the dams.

In this case, a large area of previously heavily vegetated habitat is now open water, but a similar event in 2010 resulted in massive fi sh kills as fi sh were trapped in shrinking ponds. This is a dramatic demonstration that even “green” sources of energy do still have major ecological impacts

Problems around Lukusuzi Continue

Lukusuzi is an important park as it is part of the Transfrontier Conservation Area between Zambia and Malawi. The park, however, has been neglected for years which allowed the local people to gradually encroach into the park, cut down the trees, plant their crops and build their homes. Last year they were moved out of the park by ZAWA. Now, though, those people still do not have new homes and the issue is being used as a political tool as the traditional leaders and politicians are vying to show their empathy with the villagers.

What should be done? The villagers have never had any benefi t from the park except that which they took illegally. Can you imagine the incredulity of these villagers as they sit in their degraded land over the hills to the lush environment of the park which has been set aside for animals!

Kafue National ParkBy United States Ambassador to Zambia Eric Schultz

April 22, 2015. Lusaka.

My visit this past week to Kafue National Park, the largest park in Zambia and the second largest park in all of Africa, was wonderful and alarming at the same time. I was very much looking forward to this visit because Zambian wildlife is one of my favourite features of your beautiful country. When I was Deputy Chief of Mission at our Embassy in Zimbabwe more than 10 years ago, it was the unique wildlife and ecosystem that sparked my family’s dream to return to southern Africa. But my trip to Kafue National Park, while pleasing to me as a nature-lover, was a wake-up call to the tragedy of wildlife poaching in Zambia. And it will take all of us working together to put an end to this devastating scourge.

Alarming Poaching CrisisI had primed myself to view some of Zambia’s majestic elephants while I was at Kafue National Park but was disappointed not to see a single one. Later, in talking to Zambia Wildlife Authority (ZAWA) offi cials, to wildlife protection NGOs, and to community members in Kafue, I learned that the Kafue National Park and Game Management Area elephant population is estimated to have been cut almost in half over the past fi ve years due to poaching. It is no secret that the poaching crisis has affected all of southern Africa and that poachers operate within Zambia’s borders. Informal surveys estimate there are no more than 2,000 elephants left within the park boundaries. The criminals who kill this most regal of Zambia’s creatures, taking only its tusks, should be sought out and prosecuted to the fullest extent of Zambia’s law. Zambia’s elephants, rhinos, and other treasured wildlife are for all Zambians to enjoy and appreciate. More, elephants and other wildlife can be a centre-piece of a thriving and profi table tourism industry, employing tens of thousands of Zambians, but only if that wildlife is well-protected.

Even as we drove along the Lusaka-Kaoma road, which lies inside the boundaries of the park, I couldn’t help but think of how Kafue National Park’s wildlife is at risk. Cars, buses, and trucks were speeding along the road. Later, when I talked to community members, I learned that it is not uncommon for leopards and other prized animals to be hit and killed by this speeding traffi c.

Encroachment is also a major problem. At one point, ZAWA offi cials showed us settlements and farmland encroaching on the park boundaries and pointed to the deforestation this encroachment results in, reducing the habitat for the wildlife.

How can we reconcile the needs of human progress and development with the need to protect Zambia’s wilderness and keep its animals alive? The answer lies in tourism that creates jobs and revenue for the communities living near Zambia’s national parks and game management areas. This is also the answer to reducing poaching. These communities must see the wildlife for the precious and renewable resource it is.

An important part of my visit to Kafue National Park was meeting with ZAWA offi cials and seeing fi rst-hand the challenges they face. Charged with managing a huge area, often with very few resources and limited manpower, these offi cers work long days in the bush, living under diffi cult conditions, yet remain highly committed. I congratulate ZAWA and its offi cers for their commitment and dedication to protecting Zambia’s wildlife under such harsh circumstances and in the face of rising poaching pressures.

But ZAWA can’t do it alone; it needs support from all of us. There are many organizations working hard to support ZAWA in the Kafue area, such as Game Rangers International, and I applaud them and others who have risen to this challenge. Now let’s get other community members, NGOs, the Zambian government, the international community, and others working together to support ZAWA’s efforts to protect wildlife in Kafue National Park and throughout the country.

Communities Must Benefi t from Protecting WildlifePart of the challenge for elephants and other wildlife in and around Kafue National Park is that the local community does not appear to benefi t at present from the protection of wildlife or from the tourism in the park. I was dismayed at the condition of facilities in a Game Management Area community close to the main entrance gate of the park. Together with community leaders, I visited a primary school with two small buildings and only four teachers serving more than 400 children! There were not nearly enough desks and chairs for all of the students, and the buildings were in desperate need of repair. Community members said the only fi nancial benefi t they have seen from the park in recent years was support received from hunting license revenues coming from the Game Management Area, not from tourism generated within the park itself. Hunting can play a positive role in conservation but tourism, by promoting the preservation of Kafue’s wildlife, can and should play a much bigger role in improving the welfare of the communities near the Park.

Community members in and around national parks must play an active, positive role if wildlife is to be saved from extinction and form the basis for a tourism industry from which all Zambians will benefi t. ZAWA, NGOs, the Zambian government, and international community must engage with local communities to determine how Zambia’s parks and

tourism can benefi t local communities so that they are part of the wildlife protection solution. Despite Victoria Falls and some of the largest and potentially best national parks in Africa, Zambia attracts only a few hundred thousand tourists a year. It has the potential to attract millions who would contribute to the Zambian economy and to the benefi t of all Zambians but most especially to the local communities that are home to this precious natural heritage.

The Time is NowI encourage the government to look for new ways to support the communities around its national parks, and I encourage all stakeholders to work together with the Zambian government and communities to support their efforts.

We have a chance to turn the tragic poaching crisis trend around and for Zambia to establish a framework under which both local communities and the entire economy will profi t from Zambia’s wilderness treasures for generations to come. But the time to act is now. Once elephants are nearly extinct or gone from Zambia, it will be too late. We must all work together with ZAWA to combat this crisis.

Reliable poaching statistics need to be regularly available so that we can properly address the challenge, and so that people around the world can be educated about the regional poaching crisis. By raising awareness, we can encourage additional funding to ZAWA, wildlife protection NGOs, and others so that we have a fi ghting chance to stop these crimes from continuing. In closing, I continue to be fascinated by Zambia’s natural beauty. Though we saw no elephants, on one game drive in the park we did spot a leopard. It was the highlight of the trip. This is what tourists pay to see: animals in their natural habitats. To experience Africa’s nature is what motivates people to fl y to Zambia from across the world. This is Zambia’s greatest natural resource, which – if protected – can help provide a bright economic future for all Zambians

Gill Comment: I applaud this statement by Eric Schultz and hope that the international community can wake up to the fact that, in Africa, we are in charge of one of the most important wildlife habitats in the world. The problem is that we are failing; failing because our wildlife estates are suffering from encroachment, poaching, bush fi res and general degradation of the land. The majority of Africans do not care if there are elephants and lions roaming the land. In fact, they would happily see all of them removed. Other continents have destroyed their dangerous wildlife many years ago and the people’s homes and farms are safe and secure. Now, though, when our farmers complain that their year’s crop has been destroyed in one night by an elephant herd, the international community says ‘Shame, but the elephants are only doing what elephants do.’ African governments generally do not have the money and often the will to protect our wildlife estates. We have massive population increase of poor people who live on the land nearby to our parks and protected areas. The people are more important than the wildlife. The answer to me is that the international community has to come on board and help us to protect our wildlife estates for the benefi t of future generations. We have many NGOS in Africa which are funded by overseas donors but this is a drop in the ocean. We need people like Eric Schultz to galvanise their countries to put real money into African countries to protect the wildlife. If we don’t it will be gone and future generations will only know an elephant or a lion from a picture in a book.

ZIMBABWEMosi-oa-Tunya Development Company

According to an article in The Herald, the Mosi-oa-Tunya Development Company is now an entity which is set to modernise Victoria Falls Town and environs. Walter Mzembi, Minister of Tourism has appointed the board with the instruction to change the face of tourism in the town. The fi rst job is to develop the facilities at the land allocated to them – 274 hectares. ( 274 hectares is about 2.7 km x 1 km). I assume this is the land by the airport. However, before they can start the development they need to fi nd some investors.

Rhino Poached in Matopos National Park

Matopos is only a small park south-east of Bulawayo. It has history ‘to die for’ (Rhodes Grave at World’s View, just one of the historical aspects), balancing rocks and black and white rhinos. In 2014 there were no poaching incidents. Well-wishers had also funded the completion of a fence which was erected to protect the wildlife.

Sadly it has just been reported that one white rhino has recently been poached in the park.

From the Zambia Weekly

Wage freeze lifted

President Lungu has lifted the two-year wage freeze in the civil service – or has he?

It all started in 2013, when government decided to dramatically increase the salaries of its 120,000 civil servants, against the recommendation of its own Salaries Review Commission, which had revealed that government spent 50% of its resources on personal emoluments in 2012, against an international best practice of 25%.

Nonetheless, with effect from 1 September 2013, civil servants were granted pay rises ranging from 4% to 200%, with the highest increases going to the lowest paid workers. As a result, Zambian civil servants became the highest paid in the region with a minimum basic salary of K3,000 per month. When presenting the 2014 national budget in October 2013, Finance Minister Alexander Chikwanda therefore proposed a two-year freeze on wages and recruitments in the public sector until 2015. Chikwanda pointed out that government would spend 52.5% of its revenue on public wages in 2014.

The freeze was opposed by the unions – and the opposition – but it remained in place for a year. When presenting the 2015 national budget in October 2014, Chikwanda lifted the freeze on recruitment, but not on salaries, despite Labour Minister Fackson Shamenda arguing that it was illegal, based on a court ruling under President Chiluba. Parliament even voted to lift the wage freeze, with 50 voting for, while 81 voted against.

Chikwanda explained that 75% of government’s domestic revenue of K35.1 billion in 2015 would be consumed by wages, including those of civil servants (which in the meantime had ballooned to 200,000 employees) and other salaries supported by government.

Gill Comment: With so many civil servants we would think that our government institutions were effi cient. Many of them are, but some still require the use of a consultant to get the job done. It really irks me when I go into an offi ce and fi nd people sitting on desks and chatting to their friends or glued to their computers on facebook. For me, jobs in government, are a drain on national resources if they are not doing their job, and if we are paying half of our taxes to pay for these jobs, surely we can get some more effi ciency.

No money to repay Eurobonds?

Secretary to the Treasury Fredson Yamba has explained that government is considering how to repay its two Eurobonds of $750 million and $1 billion when they become due in 2022 and 2024, respectively. Yamba said government has started talking with key stakeholders about refi nancing the debt by reselling it to new fi nanciers under new repayment conditions. Alternatively, government will have to begin to set aside funds for their repayment.

Matusadona Anti-Poaching Project

The young elephant attended to by MAPP, Rhino Safari Camp, Bumi Hills Anti Poaching Unit (BHAPU), African Lion & Environmental Research Trust, Changa Safari Camp, ZPWMA and Andries Scholtz for a leg injury last month has recently been sighted with the rest of his herd looking to have recovered well. He is still walking with a slight limp and still has some swelling but has made a tremendous improvement since being treated and is in very good condition. Well done to all those in Matusadona NP who attended to him!

New Solar Pump for Makwa Pan in HwangeFriends of Hwange

The pictures show it all ....

From Wild Zambezi

EMERGENCY MEDICAL SERVICES IN ZIMBABWE: WILD ZAMBEZI WELCOMES THREE NEW PARTNERS TO OUR NETWORK! The Wild Zambezi travel network is delighted to welcome three new partners offering private emergency medical services in Zimbabwe. This should be of interest to visitors who might be worried about what is available in terms of medical facilities should any emergency occur, especially in the more remote parts of the Zambezi Valley. There are surprisingly good medical facilities, doctors and emergency rescue and evacuation services in Zimbabwe, as long as you have proper medical insurance which covers private facilities and services.

KARIBA HALF-MARATHON/FUN RUN DATES AND INFO – Sunday 9th August 2015The date has been set for the 2015 Kariba 21km Half-Marathon, 10km Fun Run/Walk and Kids Run. The event will take place on Sunday 9th August. ...

PUBLIC WALKING IN MANA POOLS – RECENT CONTROVERSY There has recently been a great deal of controversy in social and other media centred around the issue of whether visiting members of the public are to continue to be allowed to walk “unguided” in Mana Pools National Park. In the recently-published draft of the ZimParks Tariffs for 2015 (not yet gazetted), there is a confusing reference to rules pertaining to “tours” stating that “tours must be guided...” By implication this clause could be intended to mean “no unguided walking”. Many have interpreted it to mean a ban on public walking - a unique privilege which has been in place in this Park for many years. This has caused outrage on Social Media.

Conservation organisation, The Zambezi Society, which represents the interests of the visiting public to places like Mana Pools, has engaged the ZimParks Authority for clarifi cation on this, as have other visitor representatives. The Society recently conducted a consultation survey regarding visitor behaviour to Mana Pools via its website. This was in response to recent worrying reports emanating from the Park about inappropriate behaviour and fl outing of the Park regulations on the part of some visitors, (e.g. wildlife photographers disturbing animals by approaching too closely and crowding them, off-road driving, use of spotlights at night, littering etc). “It has been noted” states The Zambezi Society “that the perpetrators of the abuse are a relatively small percentage of the local and foreign visiting public as well as some tour operators. It would be a travesty if, as custodians alongside Zimbabwe’s Parks and Wildlife Management Authority (ZPWMA), we allow the situation to deteriorate. This would inevitably result in draconian restrictions being imposed on tourism, thus reducing the area to a “typical game park” as opposed to a singularly unique environment with global signifi cance as a UNESCO World Heritage Site.”

In consultation with the Park Management, tour operators, photographers and members of the public, the Zambezi Society set about drafting a comprehensive Code of Conduct for Visitors to Mana Pools, aimed at creating awareness of the problems and providing clear guidelines for future visitor behaviour in the Park. However, this is now on hold pending clarifi cation of the “guided tours” controversy.

Wild Zambezi urges the public to wait for the outcome of negotiations and clarifi cation of this issue.

Gill Comment: I mentioned this in the last issue of the newsletter and had an email from one of the readers that the visitors are to blame for the crackdown. I was told that some people misbehave by getting too close to the wildlife and that there had been incidents of elephants reacting to people taking advantage of their normal good nature.Mana Pools (and Lower Zambezi) have probably the most human-habituated elephants in the wild.

Meanwhile in Lake Kariba off Matusadona National Park, a stunning photograph of elephants playing in the lake. From MAPP

Poaching in Namibia

Namibia has lost 60 rhino to poaching this year, most of them in the world famous Etosha National Park, the Ministry of Environment and Tourism said Monday.

“Of the 60 rhinos, 54 rhinos were poached in the Etosha Park and six rhinos were poached in the Kunene Region west of Etosha, Minister Pohamba Shifeta told reporters.”

A reward of N$60,000 has been issued for any information leading to the arrest of people involved in poaching,”Shifeta added. Staff of the Ministry at Etosha are also being probed.”

Allegations have been made against ministerial staff and the relevant authorities are investigating, nothing will be swept under the carpet,” Shifeta noted. According to him, 24 rhino were poached in 2014, bringing the total of poached rhino to 84 since last year.

According to the Ministry 78 elephant were poached last year and 23 elephant this year, totalling 101 elephants since January 2014.

Flamingoes

Just a great photograph of fl amingoes from Namibia Environment & Wildlife Society

NAMIBIA

From the Ngami Times

The Botswana Qualifi cations Authority (BQA) has awarded licences to only 240 guides out of 1 652 applications.

The shock announcement was made late last week when the BQA assessment offi cer, Emmanuel Chimbombi, told this to the HATAB annual conference in Kasane after many complaints from tour guides about the new grading system introduced by BQA. ... He admitted that guides had labelled the system as unreasonable and an obstacle to their profession. Some of the affected guides had been working in the Botswana bush for more than 20 years.

Some of the new conditions included swimming and whether or not a guide had confronted wild animals.

A professional tour guide, Grant Nel, had complained at the conference about the criteria used for assessing them and questioned the credibility of the assessors.

“The problem is that we are being assessed by people who do not know anything about the industry. They are not qualifi ed to assess us hence their competency is questionable,” he said.

Another guide, who also owns Dreams Safaris, Mist Setaung, said one of the conditions set by the BQA is an itinerary for safaris but it did not make sense as guides were never involved in planning itineraries. “Itineraries do not involve guides. They simply implement what is already written on the itinerary provided,” he argued.

John Aron, another guide, said as guides they did not understand exactly what the BQA wanted from them.

“I would like to know how many people have qualifi ed because just about everybody that I know includes those that did not make it,” he said.

Chimbombi explained that they ensured that every guide was awarded licences as they deserved it. He explained that sometimes even the most qualifi ed guides did not make it because they failed to submit all the required documents.

“We have an appeals’ offi ce where those with grievances can go to,” he said. He acknowledged that it was the fi rst time they have carried out an exercise of such magnitude and it was “normal” to have complaints. He did, however, assure guides that he was confi dent of the assessors they have engaged as well as the system they used to assess them.

Another speaker also cautioned that such a grading system might send the wrong message to the world that guides in Botswana were not qualifi ed and hence might damage the country’s reputation.

The Minister responsible for Tourism, Tshekedi Khama, was not present at the conference but the Permanent Secretary in the Ministry of Environment, Wildlife and Tourism (MEWT), Elias Magosi, admitted that it was clear that the new grading system was causing the industry too much pain and not helping them to qualify.

“I propose that we sit with the guides and BQA to evaluate this matter because if the assessment panel does not involve guides, then there is a problem,” he said. ...

BOTSWANA

Navigability study of the Chire and Zambezi rivers in Mozambique, ready in AugustFrom Macaubub

The study on the navigability of the Chire and Zambezi rivers in Mozambique should be completed by August, said the director of international relations at the Ministry of Transport and Communications, Fortunato Albreiro, cited by Rádio Moçambique.

The study was conducted at the request of neighbouring Malawi, which wants to use the two rivers to import and export its goods, with the prospect of lowering transport costs by about 60 percent.

Fortunato Albreiro said, however, that preliminary studies advise against trade and international navigation in those two rivers and added that observing the environmental, social and even economic impacts “it would be very diffi cult, if not impossible, to allow international commercial shipping in both watercourses.”

Albreiro recalled that the two rivers had their own characteristics and were of greater economic importance to Mozambique, particularly the Zambezi where the Cahora Bassa hydroelectric dam is located.

The river Chire, in turn, is narrow but deep, with depths up to eight metres, so there would be no need to dredge it to achieve the drafts required for commercial shipping, but it has a large amount of aquatic plants, which would be a serious obstacle to navigation.

Gill Comment: I added this article because this is the way David Livingstone used during one of his explorations. From Livingstone’s Travels. 1858 at the mouth of the Zambezi:

A small steam launch, having been brought out in sections, was screwed together. She was called the Ma Robert after Mrs Livingstone ...

The Zambezi has four mouths, of which the most western, the Kongone, was found to be the best entrance. ...

The fi rst twenty kilometres of the Kongone are enclosed in mangrove jungle. Huge ferns, palm bushes, and occasionally wild date-palms, peer out of the forest; the bunches of bright yellow, though scarcely edible fruit, contrasting prettily with the graceful green leaves. The Pandanus, or screw palm, also appears, and some are so tall as in the distance to remind us of the steeples of our native land, and make us relish the remark of an old sailor, that but one thing was wanting to complete the picture - a grog-shop near the church.

...On reaching Mazaro, we found that the Portuguese were at war with a half-caste named Mariano, who, having built a stockade near the mouth of the Shire, owned all the country between the river and Mazaro. He was a keen slave-hunter and kept a large number of men well armed with muskets. ... The atrocities of this villain at last became intolerable. All spoke of him as a rare monster of humanity. ...

MOZAMBIQUE

EAST AFRICA NEWS FROM WOLFGANG THOME

LEAKEY RETURNS TO THE KENYA WILDLIFE SERVICE AS CHAIRMANOften described as the most effective Director General the Kenya Wildlife Service ever had, and his successes never matched by any of those who followed him, has Dr. Richard Leakey, who will turn 71 in December, returned to the organization after being appointed to the position as Chairman by President Kenyatta.The move to appoint a new board of trustees and chairman was years overdue and has in the opinion of many led to the present challenges the organization is faced with as policy guidance and oversight was clearly lacking at a time when poaching has returned. It was in fact Leakey who under former President Daniel arap Moi was put in charge to come down hard on the poachers in the late 1980’s, and like a ton of bricks did he come down on the. In military style operations did he smoke out the poachers hideouts, cut off their supply and escape routes and decimated them, clearing the way for many years of hardly any poaching incidents being reported. ...

FLASH FLOODS SWEEP ACROSS NAROK – THE SPRINGBOARD TO THE MASAI MARAMany people are feared to have died yesterday as fl ash fl oods swept through the town of Narok after the Ewaso Nyiro River broke its banks and in a matter of minutes inundated the town centre and outlying areas. Narok is the springboard to the world famous Masai Mara when travelling there by road and efforts are underway to establish if any foreign tourists were affected by this massive disaster. Narok is a regular rest stop for tourists when their vehicles stop to refuel, allowing them time to buy souvenirs or have a snack and a cold drink and equally are backpackers using the overland busses to reach the area. Environmental sources were swift to blame the tragedy on the relentless cutting of trees in one of Kenya’s most important water towers, the Mau Forest and as recently as two weeks ago was a delegation from the Kenya Water Tower Agency on site to review the situation. The Mau Forest was invaded during the Moi era and a relentless assault on the forest started, cutting trees for timber, to burn charcoal and make space for land to till and subsequent governments have failed to comprehensively deal with the issue until now. Isaac Kalua in fact, following his visit, posted several pictures on his Facebook page showing an area bare of trees and it is this wanton destruction which in the opinion of experts now led to the disaster as absorption capacity of what is left of the forest has considerably reduced, causing the fl ash fl oods. ...

Have a good two weeks

Gill

EXCHANGE RATES

US$1 K7.35

P9.84

Nam$11.90

WEATHER

Min Temp Max Temp

16°C 29°C

THE SMILE

Moved straight into the cold season. Yesterday the temperature in the morning was 11

Many of our gardens in Livingstone are being beautifi ed by some topiary - cutting plants into shapes. I thought you might like to see some really exciting examples.