MARCH 2020
NEWSLETTER
By Trevor Lane
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BHEJANE TRUST WOULD LIKE TO CONVEY TO ALL OUT FRIENDS AND SUPPORTERS OUR SUPPORT IN THIS DIFFICULT TIME, AND PLEASE STAY SECLUDED, SAFE AND WELL. WE ALSO EXTEND OUR SUPPORT TO ALL THE DEDICATED PARKS STAFF IN THE FIELD WHO ARE OPERATING DESPITE RISKS THEY MIGHT FACE.. MAY WE ALL COME OUT OF THIS IN THE END STRONGER!!
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This is maybe the hardest newsletter I have had to put together. The month started as per normal, and in mid month I put a couple of articles into the draft newsletter, such as the article on fire. All was on track and we were planning our season preparations as normal. And then how the world changed!!!
All our plans went up in smoke as we faced a new, daunting challenge, and we are back to the drawing board! However, the Trust is still fully operational in the field, supporting Parks and ensuring all pumps and systems are functional for the upcoming dry season.
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HOW WILL COVID-19 AFFECT OUR WILDLIFE?
There is a serious concern that our wildlife will be a collateral victim of the Covid-19 pandemic now raging through the world. Although the animals are not affected by the virus itself in any way, our concerns for the wildlife relate to various issues :
- National Parks – they rely nearly 100% on the tourism and hunting market for their funding. With the total collapse of both markets, this leaves them with virtually no income. It is thus very uncertain how they will operate on the ground, let alone pay salaries. This is very unfortunate when you consider they had just got rid of their legacy debt, and the future was looking financially stronger for them. Parks hopefully might already be trying to work on a plan – even if it just to support the rangers, just to get them through this difficult period. However, I think it would take an international aid organization at this stage to bail out Parks at the moment. The NGO’s on the ground can try within their limits to alleviate the individual pressures on the stations, but they are also affected.
- Many people fled the cities to the communal areas with the impending lockdown, where they felt they had a better chance of surviving in their rural homes. We now have a scenario of packed communal areas, with no food, no income to buy anything, and desperation setting in. There is no government support, so they will naturally turn to poaching as a means of survival. If we can continue to support Parks, we can contain this threat
- With the tremendous economic impact this Covid-19 pandemic is going to have on the whole world, we can expect a drop in donor support, as they no longer have free funds available. This will severely hamper our operations when they are at their most critical stage, and we will have to carefully budget for what we can afford to support, and what we have to put on hold.
- We have suspended our volunteer program, which we relied on for keeping Sinamatella afloat. Without the funding from the volunteers, we will have to severely curtail operations in Sinamatella, which will have a knock-on effect on all our other operations
Thus, with the tragic mayhem besetting the world now, unfortunately wildlife will, as always, have to take a back seat! We will have to do the best we can with limited resources to contain the damage. Lets hope we do not go as far back as 2008 when the wildlife was decimated, and which took us years to recover from. However, I do believe we are stronger now, and that Parks will maintain their integrity, and if we all work together, we will survive together, and keep our wildlife heritage intact for when the world stabilizes again!!
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FIRE AS A MANAGEMENT TOOL
Fire is a very valuable management tool when used correctly, and is one of the best tools in an area managers toolbox for environmental management. However, mismanagement of an environment through bad fire policies can be devastating, as has been demonstrated again and again – Australia, Cape Town, USA. Over protection from fire is even more damaging then under protection!
My take (and I stand to be corrected) on the Australia fires, is that what was very noticeable was the intensity of the fires burning on the ground – not the normal Crown fire associated with Eucalypts – indicating there was an excessive fuel load on the ground, which must have accumulated over many years. As I see it, the role of Global Warming in the Australia fires was just to dry out this accumulated fuel load until there was an ignition, and then you had an uncontrollable situation – it was inevitably going to happen at some stage. To me, it appears that it was gross mismanagement that ever allowed this situation to get to this stage, and Global Warming is being used as an excuse!
Cape Town experienced a similar situation with the fynbos, where they were very proud of their fire protection program, and when they finally had a massive fire after the years of protection, it proved difficult to bring under control and was very damaging. I believe they have now revised their fire policy for the fynbos.
The greatest tragedy of these massive fires is the devastating effect on the wildlife – these creatures can normally survive the annual smaller fires, but not the intense accumulated fires.
Fires have occurred naturally in Africa since time immemorial, and ecosystems have evolved around fire. If you stopped the annual burning of the grasslands in western Zambia, it would be a recipe for an ecological disaster – these areas have evolved around annual burns. One of the factors that shaped the Kalahari Forests in Matabeleland over thousands of years was fire, and some of the vegetation species are fire dependent eg the Mukwa seed needs to be burnt to germinate
Kalahari Forests need to be burnt at least once every three years, to keep them in prime condition. Where the effect of fire versus no fire is very apparent in Kalahari Forest is by comparing along a road where one side of the road has had a strip along it burnt for many, many years as a firebreak, while the other side of the road has been protected for many, many years .
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The above photos illustrate the effect of constant annual burning (on the left, the fireguard), and very few fires on the right. There is a marked difference, with the better forest being the more open on the left. The thick bushy forest on the right will be difficult to control once it inevitably is on fire!
The vlei’s also need frequent burning – any grasses after two to three years have become moribund, with a big cellulose build up, and is unpalatable to animals. You can see by the colour of the grass whether it is moribund or not. Many years ago, I ran an experiment on vlei burning – I demarcated three adjoining areas in a vlei, which were visible from our camp on the hill. One area had not been burnt for three years – it was grey in colour. One had not been burnt for two years – it was brown in colour. The third area had been burnt the previous year – the grass was yellow in colour. We would watch the sable herds grazing – they would criss-cross the yellow (one year) grass, might take a few steps into the brown (two year grass) before turning around, but we never saw a single animal ever in the grey (three year) grass!
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The grass on the left of the road has not been burnt for years, and is moribund, while the grass on the right hand side of the road is from a burn the previous year. Note also the bush encroachment of the left, also a result of poor fire management.
When one looks at the Hwange Main Camp, the 10 Mile Drive area used to teem with animals, but the grass is now grey and moribund as the area has not been burned for over 10 years, and it is reflected in the paucity of animals now resident in the area. A good burn would bring the area back to life!
Controlled burns can be undertaken for different reasons – an early season “cold” burn (when there is still moisture in the grass) which removes dead material, is patchy and leaves cover for animals, does not damage root stock, and , on vleis, brings out a green bite for the animals (a cold burn can also be done after the first rains, when there is now moisture present to dampen the fire) – or a late season ”hot” burn, when everything is very dry, and which will be an intense fire, to remove encroachment onto vleis of unfavourable shrubs and trees
However, not all areas fare well under fire , such as the basalts, which once burnt will only recover in the rains. One has to assess the vegetation first, and then plan accordingly
Global Warming is not an excuse for poor management practices – it may have an effect on the environment, but any manager worth his salt will react to the changes as they occur and adjust his planning as required.
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THE ZAMBEZI FLOOD SITUATION FOR 2020
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From an article from the Bhejane Trust Facebook page on 10th March:
"A satellite picture from NASA taken in early March gives an idea of the Zambezi/ Okavango River systems.. The Zambezi enters Zambia from Angola at Chavuma and in the very top left corner one can see the bottom of the huge swamp in Angola which supplies much of the water to the river. The Barotse Flood Plain is full ( bigger than Kariba) with more large rivers coming out of Angola feeding it. The flood waters have now reached the Caprivi - they are just starting to fill up this flood plain. Will not be long before the waters hit Victoria Falls and then Kariba! You can also see the Okavango River at the top of the swamps starting to spread out into the delta"
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An update on the Zambezi as of 6th April, 2020. ( graph from the Zambezi River Authority)
We are in for a massive flood - probably the third largest recorded after 1958 and 1969. There are unfortunately seem to be no records of the upper river for 1958 and one can see from the above graph that part of the record for the 1969 flood is missing (ZRA -"possibly Gauge Plate could have been knocked down by high current"). One can see the second surge which has developed ( which is bigger than the first surge) and will flow over an already full Barotse Flood plain. This surge will peak at Chavuma in a few days time - it is (as of 6th April) at 5825m3/sec compared to 695m3/sec last year (the green line on the graph)
When this second surge hits Victoria Falls, expected later in April, it will be an awesome experience of raw power!!
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Whike checking on things in the Chambonda, I came across the scene below - 4 solar panels stolen from No 3 unit. I assume it was our neighbours , the Zambians , in action again!!! They only took 4 panels as this was obviously all they could carry.. They must have used a crowbar or lever of sorts to break off our welded in blockers, which would have undoubtedly damaged the panels. We have added additional security measures after replacing the missing panels. I do not doubt that the Zambians will be back to try again!
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Repaired - panels welded itno a steel frame. Re-doing the wiring which had all been cut
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Now it apears not only the solar panels are being stolen, but the pumps also, so we now have to secure these, not only against elephants, but against thieves!!
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And again! Six panels stolen from our old pump unit at No 3. Obviously the same Zambian felons! These are old panels dating back 10 years but I had just rigged them up to supply a standby pump for No 3 pan. We had not thought to weld them in place after all these years - our oversight!!.
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We did not visit Kazuma this month as the rains have made the roads impassable. We will wait until the area dries out a bit
We supplied Kazuma with patrol rations for March.
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Robins has had good rain, which has restricted all our activities. We have been primarily involved in the deployment of Parks patrols, and the resupply of these patrols. We have also started cleaning under the solar units for fire protection, and securing pump heads. With the onset of the lockdown, Onias is in Robins for the duration, assisting Parks where ever possible
We supplied Robins with patrol rations for March
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Rainfall and Game Water.
Rainfall at Sinamatella was above average for the second month running and is now very close to average for the season as a whole…..
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As it has been throughout the season, the rain was quite patchy so by the end of March the game water situation was rather mixed. The good news was that Baobab Pan, Lukosi Pan, Tshontanda Vlei, Grassy Pan, Shumba Pan, Mashambo Pan, Gurangwenya Pan and Masuma Dam were all full.
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Baobab Pan at the end of March
Mandavu Dam is almost full but, Inyantue Dam, Tshompani Dam and the Tendele/Tshompani Pan complex were all quite low.
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Tshompani Dam at the end of March.
We didn’t have a great deal of game water work forced on us in March, just one bit of elephant damage, almost inevitably at Masuma. Otherwise we mainly worked at keeping things tidy and monitoring the pumps for any sign of trouble. At this stage it’s very hard to predict how the coming dry season will be. We seemed at one time to have many elephants returning early to our area, which was a worry, but in March they were less in evidence. Perhaps they have wandered off again. Yesterday, I checked the long-term weather forecast for April. It suggested no rain at all for the month but just a few minutes later a big cloud gathered over Sinamatella and a little rain fell on us so I don’t think we can rely on that!
Unfortunately our plans for upgrading the game water infrastructure have been put on hold at the very least, thanks to Covid-19, so we may not be able to do everything we had hoped. Over the past nine years we have increased our pumping capacity every year but I think the current financial situation might well mean that we can’t do everything that we would like and possibly we may even be pumping less water this year than in 2019 if there are breakdowns that we can’t fix.
Wildlife
This season’s weather pattern seems to have suited the grass and herbs. Wherever we go the grass is tall and full of seed so the grazers and seed-eating birds certainly shouldn’t be short of food through the dry months. In places the grass is also full of yellow-flowering Bidens schimperi and/or Calostephane divaricata.
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We see more and more of these flowers every year but have no real idea why they should be increasing. I tried researching a little in various books and by asking Professor Google if he knew anything but there was very little of interest apart from several references to the supposed edibility of Bidens. Given the possibility of food shortages in the near future I thought I should try some as a public service. My recommendation to anyone thinking of trying Sadza and Bidens to add a bit of variety to life under lockdown is simple. Don’t!
I wrote in the last newsletter that our friendly Red-billed Hornbill ‘Dumb’ had finally walled herself up in the nest box and was being maintained by her faithful (but dim) partner, ‘Dumber’. She shut herself in on the 1st February and didn’t emerge until fifty-seven days later on the 28th March, by which time poor Dumber was exhausted. Dumb flew from the nest and landed on the ground nearby, looking somewhat dazed, while Dumber called to her from a branch just above. I thought she would take a while to get back to normal but within minutes she was off finding food for her noisy brood (the Dumbettes?) in the nest box. She and Dumber have been working hard ever since to keep the youngsters fed though they do take time off now and again to dance together in the Mopane tree or to attack their reflections in the car mirrors. The babies are due out of the nest towards the end of April.
Miscellaneous
March was another month with a lot of vehicle repairs so I have been spending quite a bit of time in camp and not as much as I would like out in the Park. However, when you open up a wheel hub and something like this falls out, you really have no choice but to do something about it……
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Travelling has been a little difficult at times anyway, due to the rain. On one day I had to go and tow a Parks vehicle out of mud. That was easy enough but even a Land Rover wasn’t going to move this one ……..
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Front-end loader bogged down en route to the new camp at Tshakabika.
As far as I know, it’s still there.
Another job that’s (almost) beyond us is this…….
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The bridge has been partly down since 2015 but cars were able to pass through the river bed to one side. This year’s rains however, swept away most of the rest of the bridge and took away the river bank as well so instead of a steep but driveable slope down, we now have a meter high vertical step. We will make it passable again but working just with picks, shovels and manpower it isn’t going to be easy.
Finally, a note on ‘lockdown’. Sinamatella is observing the lockdown by restricting entry and exit through Mbala gate so that only essential journeys to town are allowed. Within the Camp, life is more or less normal and we are able to get out into the Park and continue with our work. To counter an expected increase in small-scale poaching, Parks have been sending out extra daily patrols along the periphery and normal patrolling continues. So long as we haven’t locked the virus in with us, we should be OK and our ‘lockdown’ must be one of the least restricted of any. Even if we have to stay in and around the house, we have this view at the end of the ‘garden’
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To anyone reading this whose horizons are currently restricted to four walls, all I can say is, sorry if I’ve made you jealous but it will still be there when everything returns to normal - and we will be very happy to see you if you come to visit.
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RHINO MONITORING & PROTECTION UNIT
Report By Nick Long
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In March our activities were again a mixture of rhino monitoring and anti-poaching. We followed up on a number of reports of rhino spoor that were seen by Parks patrols, some in quite unexpected areas. In each case it seemed that the rhino had only been passing through and although we saw signs of them, there was nothing to suggest that they were resident. Tracking was very difficult with so much grass cover and we did not get any actual ‘visuals’.
The anti-poaching patrols were a bit more successful. We are still trying to catch one particular pair of poachers who have been setting snares within the Park. We have to be very careful when we go into the area they use so as not to leave any sign that will alarm them and so far they are winning the cat and mouse game but sooner or later they will make a mistake and we’ll get them. Meanwhile we conducted a few patrols in the northern sector and we found a lot of sign of human activity. We caught two small-scale fish poachers and handed them over to the police in Hwange but there are obviously more poachers out there, catching fish and setting snares so we plan a longer patrol in the area in April. A Parks day patrol also found quite a lot of charcoal-making activity and snare-setting just outside the Park so we will check that area as well.
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There was very little to report on the local poaching front for March. Parks Investigations have cracked another poaching team and arrested the ring leader with 6 tusks. The other team members are being tracked down and prosecutions are pending.
In Botswana, BDF seem to have been motivated in the rhino war, after one of their members was killed in a shootout with Zambians. They have subsequently had two punch ups with the Zambian gangs and killed a total of five poachers! However, it seems the rhino are likely to be saved by the rising flood waters in the Okavango, at least temporarily. This might give the Botswana authorities some breathing space to restructure and come up with a feasible plan to look after their rhino in the future. The poachers will now turn their attention back to the elephant. Unfortunately the poaching will not stop as it has high level backing in Zambia.
With the Covid-19 Lockdown, we are expecting a big increase in subsistence poaching as the economic situation deteriorates and hunger, and consequent desperation sets in. We are ready to support Parks with rations and deployments where ever we can
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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):
Elka Lenherr-Toedtii for her generous donation towards a complete borehole/pump setup
Simon and Portia Rowlands for a very generous donation towards s complete borehole/pump unit
Frik Muller and team for donated piping
Frank Zindell for his generous donation
Ian Gloss of Victoria Falls Liquorama for donation of tyres
Andre Cilliers and Louis were back again in Hwange, with more donated clothing and useful items - thanks to Frik du Preez, Hannes Davel and Charles Painter for their donations
David Jackson and family from Family Tree Farms of California, for their generous donation
Matt Austen and Pariah State Restaurant for their support
Pieter and Anthea Erasmus for their continued support
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 their NINTH borehole and pump in Sinamatella, with their tenth coming up!
Michelle & Morne Muller from SOS - Surgical & Opthalmic Supplies in South Africa
Wild is Life and Jos Dankwerts for their assistance in Kazuma Pan
Gareth Jocks and Cadac for their donation
Machaba Safaris for their donation and field assistance
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.
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.
Antoinette van Wijk of Holland for her stirling fund raising effort
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
Jim Goddard of JRG for monthly diesel donation
Ricky Forster and Forster Irrigation of Bulawayo
Makomo Mine – 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.
Hwange Conservation Society (UK) - John Gillon
James Wessels for his donation
Ian Gloss for donating tyres - much needed!!
Dr Inka Kreiling-Boysen
Doris and Jurgen Ebert
Laurel Ostrom
Vivienne Croisette
Tiffany Caster
Cal Lin
Buster Marillier for his donation
Richard, Jane and Will Scripps 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 --Mr Daniel Sibanda
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 : FBCPZWHAX
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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