AUGUST 2019
NEWSLETTER
By Trevor Lane
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We are now beginning to feel the impact of the drought here, with a lot of pressure on water points and also in some cases, declining water table levels and consequently reduced volumes pumped. There has also been a big influx of elephant, obviously from Botswana, where they are fleeing the drought and probably the poaching pressure. The Hwange game count will be interesting this year, and the elephant numbers could even exceed 40,000 for the Park - however, once the rains come the influx will return to Botswana.
Wilderness Wildlife Trust, of Wilderness Safaris, have made a generous donation towards our program of upgrading our water point program, where we are going over all our established pumps and reassessing them to align maximum flows with the installed equipment, so as to standardise throughout.
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We have a problem at Andre's Pan (No 5) where there is a declining water table compounded by an increasing elephant population.! Mark and Shelley Burden kindly supplied a drilling machine free of charge to drill for more water - all the signs were good and I was pretty confident that I had sorted out my divining skills. However I was soon deflated as we got to 108m and very little water! Very disappointing but thanks again to Mark and Shelley!
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Drilling at Andre's - a small but very efficient drilling rig!
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Drinking at the pipeline at Andre's - and slowly breaking the end off and making a trench! heading back towards the pump Kiggen Builders and Piet and Anthea Erasmus are sponsoring a trough to prevent this!
I did another trip with the Area Manager, Constance Gurure, to assess the drought vulnerability of the area, but I think we will be ok for this season, though the bush has dried out very quickly.
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I have been working at Kazuma this month with assistance from Jos Danckwerts, from Wild is Life- an NGO based in the adjoining Panda Masuie Forest area. Jos provided the patrol rations for the Kazuma rangers for this month, and has also supplied September rations.
Kanda Pan , a new pan drilled centrally by Carl van der Riet, was operational for a short while untill the elephant ripped up the pipeline, which had not been secured! We are now digging a deeper trench and Jos has his team moving in shortly to build a drinking trough.
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Scene from Kazuma Corner Pan - being the only water around it is teeming with wildlife, from lion and elephant to tsessebe and Roan. Note all the vultures sunning in front!
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This month we have concentrated on mobile patrols mainly along the Botswana border to counter the poaching threat. Our man would take out Parks rangers for several days at a time along the border, covering an extensive area. One poached elephant was found , though not recent, plus some tusks believed dropped when a patrol was encountered. There is no sign of recent poaching, and with the water drying up in Botswana, the poachers would be restricted. Come the rains though and they will be back!
We have also kept up our water maintenance program, and most pumps are working - we have a couple of problem ones which we are working on.
Thanks to Machaba Safaris for supplying patrol rations to the Robins rangers
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The road into Robins being upgraded - thanks to Machaba Safaris!
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SINAMATELLA
Report by Stephen Long
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I must start with an apology. My e mail was not working from late in July until almost the end of August so if you sent me a mail during that time and I was slow to reply, sorry, it wasn't through laziness or inefficiency. Given my poor understanding of the ways of computers I can't actually say what the problem was but it seems now to be solved and I have caught up with most of the outstanding mail. Unfortunately I think some mail was completely lost so if I still have not replied, please mail me again.
Game Water.
As you would expect, August was a busy month for game water supply. We had breakdowns at four pumps, one of which is yet to be solved. Patrick's pump, which was out of order at the end of July, was re-started after repairs to the inverter by Forster Irrigation and of course there were the usual check and maintenance jobs to be done. The breakdowns were at Sinamatella wind pump, Mafa's Pan, Lukosi Pan and Gurangwenya.
At Sinamatella wind pump the water runs from the pump to a trough, and the overflow from the trough goes through a pipeline to the Sinamatella Pan - or at least it is meant to. We noticed that the water level in the pan was dropping but the water meter suggested the pump was working fine. Eventually we traced the problem to this..........
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I don't know how long that steel pipe had been in the ground but it has obviously been a while! It wasn't easy to replace, being an unusual size but in the end I found a suitable pvc pipe in Victoria Falls and Tshuma made the repair. We thought that was the end of the story but there was a second problem - a blockage somewhere down the hundred meters or so of pipe. By the time we cleared that we had lost nearly two weeks of pumping and the pan was dry. Animals have been able to access water at the trough but once a pan goes dry it is difficult to catch up and I don't think the very low-yield borehole at the wind pump will do the job unless we have many windy days and nights. A shame but not a disaster so long as the large trough continues to fill.
Two of the other breakdowns we had to deal with were down to the elephants. At Lukosi they broke the pipe carrying water down to the pan. We found the damage on one of our maintenance visits and fixed it the next day. At Mafa's Pan, although the damage was started by elephants, ably assisted later by a hyena or two, I will accept a lot of the blame myself. After we installed the new pump at Mafa's we only had time to make a temporary well-head. I intended that we would soon return and make it as near elephant-proof as we could but there was always something else to be done and finally the elephants decided it was time for a reminder so they pulled up the cable running from the panels to the pump and left it for the hyenas to chew. It was repairable and we got it running again with an afternoon's work. While we were there we had the great satisfaction of seeing elephants come to enjoy the water, which makes all the effort worthwhile.
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The one pump that we couldn't repair was Gurangwenya. We tried various things to get it working properly but it deteriorated throughout the month and at the time of writing this we are still not sure what is wrong. The water flow has not stopped completely so the pan hasn't dried up and we will fix the problem in the end.....I hope!
Wildlife.
Back in 2011 when we had a very poor rainy season, we saw Red-eyed bulbuls at a few places around Sinamatella sector. We were relatively new to the area in those days and thought that was probably normal but then we have never recorded them again until this year, again following poor rains. The first Southern Africa Bird Atlas shows very few records of the species in our part of the Park and says ".......dry season influxes are obvious in part of the Limpopo catchment in the eastern Botswana hardveld, particularly during drought years". That seems to be true for our area as well and must be what has happened this year as we have seen Red-eyed bulbuls in good numbers in several places........
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The bulbuls are obviously an indicator of dry conditions for us, and they are very welcome to join us for a few months and take a little of our game water supplies. Unfortunately, what the bulbuls have done also seems to be what the elephants have done - no doubt for the very same reasons, and we are absolutely inundated with them - probably many of them coming from Botswana. Of course the elephants are also welcome but coping with their water demands is a real headache. Our August mammal count at Masuma Dam this year recorded 293 elephants during daylight. If I plot a graph showing Masuma daytime elephant numbers in August and rainfall for the previous season, over the past ten years there is (not surprisingly) a close correlation between high rainfall and low elephant numbers - and vice versa.
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Last time we saw this sort of situation a lot of animals died (the bones of some are still visible at Masuma and Shumba) so we should expect the same this year, though I hope our efforts since 2011 to improve the water supply and spread the animals out more widely will reduce the losses. We'll see.
Along with unusual numbers of elephants and an influx of Red-eyed bulbuls, we have also been seeing very large numbers of buffalo. Two or three hundred have been visiting Sinamatella flood plain and drinking from pools in the river as well as at the wind pump trough and pan, a large herd regularly drinks at Mandavu and another, very large herd has been using Masuma. I'm not absolutely certain yet that the Masuma and Mandavu herds are separate but if they are, that represents probably twice as many buffalo as we normally see.
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A small part of the huge buffalo herd drinking at Masuma.
Miscellaneous.
Not much to report under this heading for August. The usual transport problems persisted, with the Parks vehicle still not available and diesel increasingly hard to find. This situation has cost a lot, both in dollars and in wear and tear on vehicles and drivers (and believe me, as one of the drivers involved, I can confirm that the wear is beginning to show!). No matter, we realised long ago that conservation is not all Discovery Channel style and the unglamorous jobs also need to be done - but all the same, we will be glad when the Parks Land Cruiser returns. It would be nice if readily available diesel supplies returned as well but that is probably too much to hope for.
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RHINO MONITORING & PROTECTION UNIT
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Thanks to Debs Chusid of New York who held a function and managed to buy more camera Traps for the Unit. Also to Colin Gillies and DP Printers for printing out Rhino Monitoring cards, to be issued to guides who might come across rhino on their walks. We also acquired new tents thanks to Antoinette van Wyk.
Our Rhino monitors are out daily, but are involved not only in tracking and monitoring the rhino, but also in anti-poaching operations - a vital and integral part of the rhino protection. Here is a report by Nicholas Long which gives an insight into some of the work undertaken by the unit:
"We deployed at Kudu dam on the colliery concession to do a snare sweep as we had seen high poaching activity a few weeks before. After a couple of days we discovered a large active snare line stretching into the park and then decided to ambush the snare line as the poacher had caught a warthog the day before. We ambushed the snare line for 3 days and got the poacher on the 3rdmorning, he was arrested and he showed us his snare line. We found 106 kudu-sized snares, 2 elephant snares and 24 guinea-fowl snares. Also at his base and along the snare line we found evidence of 2 hyenas, 1 aardvark, 3 kudu, 1 porcupine and a fresh female kudu. He was handed over to the police on Wednesday 21 August 2019 and his trial date was set for Friday 23 August 2019. He was sentenced to 15 months in prison.
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Masawuso with all his snares and skulls of animals he poached
When we arrived in Hwange for the court case we divided into two groups and some of us proceeded to try and arrest a person who supposedly had some cyanide for sale. After some surveillance we managed to arrest a suspect at Thulani hotel in Hwange. He was taken to National Parks Investigations Branch where we met a MFF CID officer who searched the suspect, he had approximately 2 kg cyanide in block form and 3 pangolin scales. He has since been remanded in police custody until the 9thSeptember 2019."
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Parks Investigations again struck in the Dete area, in two related raids, arresting four suspected poachers and recovering 8 tusks totally 31kg, plus a further 2 tusks and 3kg of cyanide. The suspects admitted to having previously being involved in poaching, including poisoning in Hwange National Park. They are remanded at present.
A poacher heading for Bubye Conservancy was arrested in possession of a 303 rifle and ammunition. His car was impounded but his three accomplices fled and a follow up is in progress.
Unfortunately one black rhino was found poached in the Matopos National Park
A man arrested in Lubimbi with a 303 rifle and pangolin scales was sentenced to 9 years for the pangolin, and one year for the rifle.
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We have had an amazing period of support from all our friends, new and old, out there, and we really appreciate all this support.However, we have received some donations into our account with no record of who it came from and we would like to be notified so we can at least acknowledge the support! Our heartfelt thanks to (in no particular order):
Mark and Shelley Burden of Kwe Kwe got their assistance in drilling in the Chamabonda
Wilderness Wildlife Trust for their donation towards our water point program
Dr Mark Bristow and Hunters and Guides for the financing of our Rhino Monitoring and Protection Unit.Mark came out and pledged assistance for a further three years!!!
Michel Buenerd of Le Pic Vert, and Le Pal Nature Foundation, for funding what will be their NINTH borehole and pump in Sinamatella!
Wild is Life for their assistance in Kazuma Pan
Machaba safaris for their assistance at Robins
Gareth Jocks and Cadac for their donation
Colin Gillies and DP Printers for their assistance
Glynn Burger for his help.
Machaba Safaris for their donation and field assistance
Mike Thorne for his donation to the repairs of our vehicle
Ian Gloss and the Zambezi Off Road Club for their efforts!!
Patrick Jacquemin has once again risen to the fore with a great donation to help our operational costs, and to put in a new borehole and pump, which will go in early this year
Mark Unwin and the Clarkson Family Trust, for yet another generous donation.
The Muller Brothers and Master Paint & Hardware of Bulawayo for piping for Masuma dam
"Solid Performance" - Antoinette van Wijk - of Holland for a fundraiser in support of the RMPU
Andre Cilliers and Charles Painter fo donated clothing
Deb Chusid of New York for a great personal effort to raise funds to assist us - she has held a fund raiser in New York.
Piet and Anthea Erasmus
Wildlife & Environmental Society of Zimbabwe (WEZ), Mat'land Branch. Thanks to Pete Kendall, Colin Gillies, and Stuart Johnson for their continuing support.
Nicholas Duncan and the SAVE The African Rhino Foundation of Australia – a staunch supporter.
RAM Petroleum
Ricky Forster and Forster Irrigation of Bulawayo
Makomo Mine – donation of diesel
JR Goddard - donation of diesel
Dave Carson and Camp Hwange for helping fund our Sinamatella Rhino Monitoring Unit and game water supplies.
John Karasellos of Hisspan Motors for his continuing assistance and support.
Mike Karasellos for the grading the roads in the Chamabonda.
Hwange Conservation Society (UK) - John Gillon
Danie Schoeman for his donation
Richard Scripps for his donation
Kayt and John from the uS Embassy in Lusaka for their donation
A big thanks to Ministry and Parks Staff :
The Director General - Mr Fulton Mangwanya
The Chief Conservator - Mt Arthur Musakwa
The Cluster Manager (Mat North) - Matabeleland - Mr Samson Chibaya,
Area Manager - Zambezi --Mrs Constance Gurure
Area Manager, - Robins and Sinamatella - Mr Innocent Mupedze
Area Manager - Sinamatella - Mr Marvellous Mbikiyana
and all their guys on the ground for all their support and assistance.
To my wife Liz for her continual support in all my comings and goings!!
Apologies if we have inadvertently left anyone out!! Your help is much appreciated
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Bhejane Trust relies on donations to continue it’s operations, which includes our daily operating costs, as well as specific projects.
PLEASE HELP!!
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Donate to help us save our wildlife heritage - any donations would be gratefully accepted . Donations can be through our “PayNow” button on our website “bhejanetrust.org” or direct to our bank account:
Bank details :
Bhejane Trust,
FBC Bank,
Galleria Building, Parkway
Victoria Falls
Zimbabwe
Branch Code : 8512
Swift Code : FBCPZWHA
Account No : 2245093780275
Bhejane Trust office address:
231 Sopers Crescent,
P.O.Box 210
Victoria Falls,
Zimbabwe
Note - we do not have postal codes in Zimbabwe (00)
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CONTACT DETAILS
Trevor Lane : trevor@bhejanetrust.org +263 777 057 024
Stephen Long : stephen@bhejanetrust.org
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