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THE ZAMBEZI SOCIETY is a non-profit, non-governmental organisation. We rely on donations from individuals and organisations in support of our work. Please help us to protect the Zambezi River's valuable wildlife and wildernesses. You can help by donating via our secure online PAYNOW facility or via a bank transfer - see SUPPORT THE ZAMBEZI SOCIETY. Follow us on FACEBOOK
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THE BULLETIN HEADLINES: DECEMBER 2016
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DONATE TO PROTECT ZAMBEZI ELEPHANTS
Rather than giving the usual conventional gifts this holiday season, why not consider giving a gift that will help protect and preserve one of the world’s greatest living creatures, the magnificent African elephant?
In the Zambezi Valley in Zimbabwe, one of the continent’s last remaining strongholds, we are now losing elephants at an alarming rate to poaching. Unless we do something now, elephants will certainly disappear forever.
The Zambezi Society is working with the Zambezi Elephant Fund (ZEF) which is funding a support organisation collaborating with the Zimbabwe Parks Authority, NGOs and the private sector to establish real needs and priorities to harness synergies and develop, implement and manage anti-poaching operations.
It takes just a few minutes to dedicate a donation towards this important work on someone else’s behalf - and to let them know about your special gift. Elephants are sentient beings and their family structures are very similar to ours. It’s that time of year when friends and families come together - and what better way to honour that than helping the elephant families of the Zambezi Valley in Zimbabwe.
How will your gift make a difference?
• The Zambezi Elephant Fund requires help in areas such as -
• supporting the rangers that protect elephants, through training, rations, weapons, equipment and field gear
• surveillance, operations & monitoring equipment, deployment vehicles, fuel and
administration
You can make your gift either via The Zambezi Society or direct to the Zambezi Elephant Fund
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ANTI-POACHING IN THE ZAMBEZI VALLEY: WE ADOPT A CO-ORDINATING ROLE
As a result of the escalating levels of wildlife poaching in the Zambezi Valley areas, there has, in recent years, been a huge increase in the number of individual organisations working to combat the threats and to assist the cash-strapped Zimbabwe Parks and Wildlife Authority (ZPWMA) to carry out their mandate of protecting the nation's natural areas and the wildlife within them.
However, without effective co-ordination of effort, there is a danger that activities will be duplicated, valuable funding resources wasted and prospective donors discouraged by apparent fragmentation.
So, at the request of the Zimbabwe Parks and Wildlife Authority (ZPWMA) and some of the individual conservation groups concerned, The Zambezi Society, in association with the Zambezi Elephant Fund, has stepped up to the mark and has adopted a co-ordinating role in Zambezi Valley anti-poaching activities.
There are many advantages to such a co-ordinated approach, not the least of which is the ability to present a unified face to attract funding from well-wishers and prospective donors worldwide.
The first opportunity to present a co-ordinated Zambezi Valley anti-poaching stance was provided in October this year, when The Zambezi Society was invited to take part in this year's Wildlife Conservation Network (WCN) Expo in San Francisco, California (see article below).
The publicity information presented by The Zambezi Society at this prestigious event was carefully designed with collaboration and co-ordination in mind:-
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WILDLIFE CONSERVATION EXPO - SAN FRANCISCO, OCT 2016
The Zambezi Society's Strategic Director, Richard Maasdorp, attended the Wildlife Conservation Expo in the USA in October (pictured). He reports:-
Although the invite was extended to The Zambezi Society I decided to present a collaborative face highlighting the work of all the conservation organisations involved in protecting wildlife and combating poaching in the Zambezi Valley.
I feel that this was very worthwhile in terms of the costs in money and time. There is little to beat face-to-face contact especially when there is a clear need to correct misperceptions about Zimbabwe. The Expo provided an excellent opportunity to engage with potential donors and to develop a personal relationship with WCN (The Wildlife Conservation Network). I felt very comfortable with their management ethos and staff and feel this is the start of a longer term relationship for us as a collective.
We managed to develop a tax effective channel for major direct donations – and piloted this successfully on behalf of The Bushlife Support Unit's anti-poaching work.
Two days after the San Francisco Expo, The Zambezi Society heard that a proposal submitted to the Elephant Crisis Fund in August this year had been approved, allowing some funding support for the efforts of MAPP (the Matusadona Anti-Poaching Project), Flying for Wildlife, KAWFT (the Kariba Animal Welfare Fund Trust), the Bushlife Support Unit and The Zambezi Society.
Further proposals are in the pipeline.
The Zambezi Society would like to thank the following for their assistance in making this trip possible.
- The five anti-poaching support organisations who contributed 90% of the costs of the airfare to the USA
- John and Nicci Stevens and Laura of The Zambezi Elephant Fund who allowed The Zambezi Society access to the materials used during their recent USA fund-raising trip.
- Sign of the Times, Harare, for printing our poster and banner as a donation on a flexible and resilient material which made the return journey of 40,000km unscathed.
- Paul Howard of TexColour Zimbabwe for producing T-shirts for the display
- Nicola Maasdorp who assisted Richard on the stand.
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 CHANGES AT ZIMPARKS
At the request of Zimbabwe's Minister of the Environment, a team of consultants, funded by the EU, has almost completed a Performance Review of the operators of the Zimbabwe Parks and Wildlife Management Authority (ZPWMA). The Zambezi Society has been privileged to have face-to-face discussions with the team and attended an all-stakeholder workshop on the subject in late November.
Congratulations to Mrs Doris Tom who has been promoted to Action Head of Management Services at the Parks Head Office. Her previous post as Regional Manager (Northern) has been filled by Mrs Kwanele Manungo.
The Zambezi Society and the Zambezi Elephant Fund are already working with her to set up a Valley-wide “control, information and data room” at their regional office. We thank Mr Aiden Hogg (Micro Man) for his donation of a new desk top monitor to assist this process.
We wish Mr Samson Chabaya (previous Area Manager of Mana Pools) all the best in his new post as Acting Regional Manager (Matabeleland) based in Bulawayo. We take this opportunity to thank him for the positive impact on all aspects of Mana Pools activities, but notably in the anti-poaching arena.
We welcome Mr Kapesa who takes on the Mana challenge after his brief but impact-full time at Hwange Main Camp.
We also wish Mr Robert Miliyasi who leaves the Marongora Parks station the very best in his well-deserved promotion. |
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KEY TO PROTECTING ZAMBEZI WILDLIFE & HABITAT - WORKING TOGETHER
Parks and the private sector
In line with the co-ordinated approach to anti-poaching in the Zambezi Valley areas (from Matusadona/Kariba through to Chewore/Dande) 2016 has seen the introduction of regular anti-poaching planning and information-sharing workshops, facilitated by ZimParks, The Zambezi Society and The Zambezi Elephant Fund.
The first of these took place on 16th June 2016 at Marongora Parks Station and brought together the relevant management personnel of the Zimbabwe Parks and Wildlife Authority and a number of important stakeholders working in the Valley, including conservation NGOs, tour operators, hunters and educators.
This provided the opportunity for anti-poaching information and statistics to be shared and major issues to be raised included:-
- Ranger welfare, training etc
- Management of the anti-poaching efforts and coordination of support efforts in the Lower Zambezi area (Kariba to Dande)
- Dry and wet season plans
- Establishment of a forum to share progress on resource mobilisation
- Data collection, collation, analysis and response
- Community engagement in the buffer zones around protected areas.
A second, follow-up anti-poaching workshop is to take place in Marongora on 19th December 2016. In view of the changes to Parks personnel at Station and Regional level (see article above), this will be an opportunity for them to meet with all the co-ordinating organisations involved in anti-poaching in the Zambezi Valley and to focus on urgently refining anti-poaching strategies for the coming rainy season when poaching activity is known to escalate.
 Conservation and the communities
In the meantime, as reported in our last (August 2016) Bulletin, The Zambezi Society is deeply concerned about the massive devastation of pristine woodland habitat in the community wildlife areas surrounding the Zambezi Valley by small-scale tobacco growing (and curing).
In an attempt to engage the communities involved, our Strategic Director, Richard Maasdorp, together with Arthur Mavhima and Dr Paul Muchineripi recently held useful discussions with Chief Chundu in which they heard about the challenges faced by people living in the buffer zones around places like Mana Pools, in the current economic climate. The Chief is pictured here (centre) with his wife and Dr Muchineripi, at a breakfast meeting with the Zambezi Society in Harare.
We have also held strategic discussions with NGOs such as Carbon Green who are already working in these community areas, with a view to collaboration.
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PARKS RANGERS UNDERGO FIREARMS TRAINING
At the end of October this year, 11 Parks and Wildlife rangers from Marongora Station (National Parks Authority HQ for the Zambezi Valley) took part in a basic retraining firearms course as part of the Zambezi Society ongoing anti-poaching ranger support program.
Our most grateful thanks to Andy Hunter, John Stevens and Gary Layard for conducting the course which proved to be a fantastic morale-booster for the rangers involved (see report below).
Thanks to funding secured from the Elephant Crisis Fund, the The Zambezi Society was able to cover all expenses. Five more such courses are planned in other areas in the Zambezi Valley. The next will take place shortly in Kariba.
Gary Layard reports:-
"The rangers together with senior ranger, Walter Kamujangwari, were collected from Marongora station and transported in 2 vehicles to "C" Camp on the banks of the Zambezi River 20 km upstream of Chirundu border post on Friday morning 28th October. The training site was deliberately selected within earshot of the Zambian inhabitants on the other side of the river, so that word would spread to would-be poachers regarding sustained training gun fire.
The course started later that afternoon with lectures and handouts on fire arm safety, the principals of accurate rifle shooting and rifle stripping, care and cleaning and some "back to basics" range shooting with light calibre weapons.
The following morning the rangers continued with the light calibre rifles, range shooting from prone, kneeling and standing positions. In the afternoon the rangers progressed to shooting their own AK 47's and SKS's, again starting with prone and progressing to kneeling and standing shooting positions.
Sunday was competition day and started with each ranger taking an oral test on firearm safety and principals of accurate shooting.
Station two was a "pressure shoot" - a timed run down a gulley to a firing position where they would shoot as quickly as they could with instructors applying verbal pressure!
Station 3 was a "Jungle Lane" simulating a live combat scenario, with 6 targets, where tracking, observation and movement skills were taken into account.
During the lunch hour scores were totalled, and in the afternoon, at the rangers request, (despite afternoon temperatures being in the mid 40,s !!) the pressure shoot was repeated. Without exception, the standard achieved was very high by any benchmark.
Prize giving took place in the early evening with each ranger receiving a certificate and rifle cleaning kit. Medals were awarded to the top 3 rangers with the bronze medal going to Constance Charidza (right), silver to Tahwina Mumba (centre), with the overall winner and gold medalist being Prosper Vengai (left).
Sincere thanks must be given to the Zimbabwe Parks and Wildlife Director General's office, as well as the regional offices in Chinoyi and Marongora for making this invaluable training possible. Thanks also to Louis Muller, the safari operator in Rifa Safari Area, for his support.
This program undoubtedly gave the rangers a much-needed morale and confidence boost, as well as improving their firearm handling ability and accuracy to a level which far exceeded expectation. It is to be remembered that these men and women are risking their lives almost daily, combating armed poaching incursion into our Parks and Wildlife Estate."
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 ANTI-POACHING AWARENESS PROJECT INSPIRES URBAN & RURAL KIDS
"DON'T POACH ELEPHANTS" was the theme of a recent Zambezi Society art campaign aimed at encouraging schoolchildren from both urban and rural areas to learn more about poaching and its consequences.
The programme, led by Mrs Leslie Maasdorp, encouraged Primary School children and their teachers to address the issue of elephant poaching through art by creating posters illustrating the anti-poaching theme.
The images show examples of some of the posters created by pupils from Sinoia Primary School (Chinhoyi) - top left; Sharon School (Harare) - top right; Rutendo Primary School (Chirundu) - bottom left; and Southerton Primary School (Harare) - bottom right. The winner of the competition received a cash prize and all the schools taking part received books for their libraries on natural history topics.
The most eye-catching and relevant posters have been copied by The Zambezi Society and sent to selected offices of the Parks and Wildlife Authority, local authorities, District Council and Municipal offices, Civic Centres and courtrooms in order to further spread Public awareness of the threat to Zimbabwe's elephant populations through poaching.
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 NEW ANTI-POACHING VEHICLES FOR MANA
Congratulations to the Bushlife Support Unit for using donor funds to purchase three anti-poaching and reaction vehicles to add to their fleet already in use in the Zambezi Valley.
The Land-Cruiser vehicles were all fitted with satellite tracking systems generously provided by Ezytrack Zimbabwe at cost.
These vehicles are already in Mana Pools National Park helping to deploy rangers in the fight against poaching.
Efficient transport is essential especially during the rainy season months when historically, the poaching figures escalate. The Zambezi Society is proud to have been of assistance in this excellent team effort.
 ROAD CLEARANCE
The Bushlife Support Unit has also been hard at work with earth-moving equipment, clearing and opening up some little-used tracks in the escarpment hills and along the southern boundary of Mana Pools National Park.
A road-clearing operation was also carried out along the Middle Jesse Road through the centre of the Park.
This is important, especially just before the rainy season, in order to open up access for anti-poaching deployments, which are being carried out with assistance from The Zambezi Society's Volunteer Unit and the Bushlife Support Unit.
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RANGER DEPLOYMENT WORKING WELL
The Zambezi Society Voluntary Service, co-ordinated by Gary Layard and using our own dedicated Land-Cruiser vehicle in Mana Pools, is doing very useful work alongside the Bushlife Support Unit and some tour operators in deploying National Parks rangers throughout the Park on anti-poaching work.
The Land-Cruiser and driver started work in the field on 10th July, moving rangers to and from all parts of the National Park. Between July and October this year, more than 12 500 kms have been covered and around 400 rangers mobilised, especially on the vulnerable southern boundary and in the thick "jesse" area in the centre of the Park.
The continued presence of a force of rangers and vehicles deploying regularly throughout the Park assisted by the various conservation groups involved is undoubtedly paying off, and there have been several arrests for elephant poaching during the past year.
 The Society was recently involved in a 48-hour operation along the southern boundary of the Park, in the company of the Mana Pools National Parks Area Manager.
This resulted in the arrest of two poachers (pictured), and was a collaborative effort between National Parks patrols, Parks intelligence wing, the Bushlife Support Unit and the Zimbabwe Republic Police.
Meanwhile, a base has been constructed at Parks HQ at Nyamepi to house the driver of the Zambezi Society vehicle, who is relieved by a team of volunteers whenever he is off-duty.
Our Strategic Director, Richard Maasdorp, undertook one of these relief stints at the end of October this year and deployed call signs along the width and breadth of Mana Pools getting to understand at first hand the challenges faced by these brave and committed rangers. He was also able to assess the opening up of roads currently being undertaken by the Bushlife Support Unit and National Parks.
The problem with protecting Mana Pools is that the Park covers a vast area of rugged and largely inaccessible terrain, and the poaching threat is extremely difficult to contain, with limited resources. A further problem is that weaknesses in the judicial system means that poaching offenders caught red-handed are often released without charge by the courts on technicalities that could have been avoided. Organisations like the Tikki Hywood Trust are working hard to prevent these unfortunate occurrances, but it is not easy.
Extra fuel supplies have recently been brought in so that patrols can continue during this year's rainy season, when poaching traditionally increases.
Funding for this very important work is a constant challenge. Please assist if you can can by donating through the Zambezi Society's various payment options - details on the SUPPORT US page of our website.
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TOURISM IN MANA POOLS -
PLEASE FOLLOW THE CODES OF CONDUCT
Reports from visitors to Mana Pools continue to be received by The Zambezi Society of individuals and organised (operator led) groups intruding on the personal space of wildlife and often disregarding the viewing ambience of other visitors to the Park.
We remind ALL visitors and operators of the guidelines issued by The Zambezi Society last year as CODES OF CONDUCT for visitor behaviour in Mana Pools and at Chitake Springs.
Firearms
There have also been photographs of members of the public carrying firearms while in the Park (or at Chitake Springs). May we remind visitors that ALL firearms entering the Park are required by law to be declared (and certificates produced). In addition, any firearm belonging to a member of the public who is NOT a professional guide licensed to operate in Mana Pools has to be sealed at the office on arrival, and remain sealed for the duration of your stay in the Park.
Anyone witnessing behaviour which is intrusive or in blatant contradiction of either the Park Rules or the Code of Conduct should report the offender to a senior officer of National Parks (preferably with a photograph showing the offence and a vehicle numberplate).
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NKUPE CAMP TOURISM CONCESSION RE-APPEARS AND RAISES CONCERNS
 It has been brought to the attention of The Zambezi Society that a concession has been granted by ZimParks to an existing Mana Pools operator to develop a tourism camp at Nkupe Campsite.
This location is an existing "Exclusive campsite" for public use, and is just few hundred metres downstream from "Mana Mouth" (pictured) - a well-known scenic tourism and fishing spot at the confluence of the Zambezi and Mana Rivers.
There was considerable public outcry and controversy a few years ago when this same public campsite was granted as a tourism concession. However, the development was delayed and then stalled and the site was subsequently returned to public use.
The Society has concerns about the regeneration of this new tourism concession. We will be taking the issue up with the Zimbabwe Parks Authority, to ask the following questions:-
- Does this development fall within the tourism provisions allowed in the Mana Pools Management Plan? If not, why has the concession been granted?
- If the development is to go ahead, what type of camp will it be (permanent/temporary; seasonal/year-round) how many people will it accommodate and how large will the concession be?
- Given increased operator traffic to and from the camp, what provisions will be made for improved road access, (particularly if the camp is to remain open during the rainy season)?
- Since Nkupe is currently a public campsite, what alternative site will be made available by National Parks for public use? If so, where? Does the existing Management Plan make provision for a new public campsite in lieu of this development?
- Will the concession area incorporate or overlook Mana Mouth?
- If so, what provisions will be made for public recreational access to Mana Mouth?
The Society will also be seeking reassurances from ZimParks that all the proper Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) channels will be followed by the developers and that all stakeholders will be duly and properly consulted.
The Zambezi Society welcomes feedback from its supporters and friends regarding this proposed development. Please e-mail your informed comments and opinions to us at zambezi@iwayafrica.co.zw .
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FIELDWORK AND ASSISTANCE TO ZIMPARKS
Matusadona Predator Survey 2016
This amazing "flash"-camera image of a leopard in the wild was taken during the field work for the Matusadona Predator Survey, which wrapped up end of September this year. The analysis of all the data and images is being worked on by the team from WildCRU (Oxford University) who co-ordinated the research work.
The Zambezi Society was a collaborating partner in this project. In total there were 122 WildCRU ‘flash’ cameras and the Society's own ínfra-red’ cameras, placed in pairs approximately 4km x 4km apart, covering the Zambezi valley floor and a decent-size sample of the escarpment area. Footage from each pair over a 40-day period will be analysed by the team from WildCRU and the preliminary results are expected early next year.
 Continued collaboration with MAPP (the Matusadona Anti-Poaching Project)
The Zambezi Society continues to provide funding and logistical support to the MAPP anti-poaching activities in Matusadona National Park to try to prevent tragedies like the ones depicted here - (the elephant pictured right was wounded by poachers and died later in the water).
However, lack of access to this very remote Park and a critical shortage of National Parks manpower at all Matusadona stations is critically hampering efforts. We are working on a solution to this problem through our ranger training programme and hope to be able to deploy rangers from Kariba into the Matusadona on a more regular basis in future.
Ranger ration programme
The Zambezi Society, through its ranger ration programme funded by generous local donors, is currently providing monthly deployment rations each month to National Parks staff based within the Matusadona (and Mana Pools) National Parks. This programme has been running for nearly two years now, and the Matusadona is one of the few Parks where "ration hunting" no longer takes place. This programme supplements a staff chicken project set up a few years ago by MAPP at the Parks HQ at Tashinga.
Roads and maintenance
After a successful season of road clearance to improve access for anti-poaching activities in the Matusadona National Park last year, The Zambezi Society was unfortunately unable to continue the work with our TLB earth-moving machinery this year due to lack of National Parks manpower and funding.
However, the Society's Projects Director, Pete Musto, is currently on anti-poaching patrol deploying rangers in the Park and is assessing the state of roads along the southern boundary of the Park with a view to determining what is required for future road clearance activities.
We have agreed with the Parks Authority that we will continue work on opening up the internal roads in the Matusadona after the 2016-2017 rainy season. We continue to be most grateful to the Elephant Crisis Fund for facilitating the purchase of such a valuable resource (the TLB equipment) for long-term use in Parks in the Zambezi Valley.
The main access road into the National Park remains virtually impassable in places, and requires a considerable amount of work which is too much of a challenge for our our machinery to tackle. Major funding is required.
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CAUGHT IN THE ACT!
"FLASH" CAMERAS WORK FOR ANTI-POACHING!
These two poachers were caught "red-handed" by one of the "flash" cameras carefully located in the Matusadona National Park to monitor wildlife movements! Another group were caught with a camera in their rucksack (they had removed it from its position)!
There is definitely a strong case for increased use of these cameras for anti-poaching work - not only to monitor wildlife, but also to monitor human movement.
The Zambezi Society is looking into the possibility of purchasing more sophisticated "invisible" cameras which can be concealed without danger of them being removed or damaged.
Funding is required. If you can help, please do so via the funding options on our Zambezi Society SUPPORT US page.
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