MARCH 2019
NEWSLETTER
By Trevor Lane
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The Trust extends it's deepest sympathies to all those afflicted by the disaster of Cyclone Idai, both in Zimbabwe and in Mozambique, and salutes all those who rose to the challenge in providing emergency aid and support. The eastern districts were pounded by heavy rains from Cyclone Idai (over 850 mm or 34 inches recorded in 3 days in some places) and suffered devastating floods in what is termed the worst floods in decades!
Ironically, on the western side of Zimbabwe around Victoria Falls we have not had so much as 1 mm of rain since the 16th February, and our rainy season, which normally ends in mid-April, looks to be done two months early - the worst drought seen in decades!
In Victoria Falls, we are sitting on 223 mm of rain total as of the end of March - about 25 to 30% of normal. The Zambezi River is at an all time low.
In the field, the grass has already wilted, and the bush is visibly drying out, after endless days of burning sun, with temperatures regularly going into the forties. Food poverty and animals dying of starvation will undoubtedly become a major issue later in the year.
We will monitor the situation as we go, but it is in the lap of the gods now!! We are going to have a very tough year!!.
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The sorry state of the Zambezi River - the blue line represents this years flood - heading for an all time low!
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I attended the National Rhino Meeting in Harare, where all parties involved in rhino conservation in Zimbabwe get together annually to give an update on rhino's under their jurisdiction, and a conservation strategy is mapped out for the year ahead. It was a well attended meeting and very informative. The good news was that yet again Zimbabwe recorded an increase in overall rhino numbers in the country, and congratulations to all those out there protecting the rhino. The biggest rhino losses were recorded in Bubye Valley Conservancy, which also has the biggest rhino population, and has a vast area with porous borders. However, BVC has put in innovative security checks which has exposed poacher informants in their ranks, and has put in new security measures which is already reaping dividends, and as it stands we look to an even more successful year on rhino conservation.
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Bhejane Trust has been nominated as a beneficiary from the Enduro Motorcycle event to be held in the Falls from the 27th - 28th April. We are proud to be associated with this event, and will be there to assist on the ground. A big thanks to Ian Gloss for our inclusion.
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WE had a stakeholders meeting between in Sinamatella between all the operators from both Sinamatella and Robins, and National Parks. It was a very open meeting, conducted in a good atmosphere and I thought it very productive. All issues relating to parks/operators were discussed, what assistance Parks needs, what are the problems and how can we all tackle them together. The Trust was appointed a facilitator for programs such as collecting diesel for road grading, and ration funding for patrols. I am pleased to say we have received 100% buy in from at the operators, and we thank all involved for the spirit of cooperation between the parties
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to The effect of the drought is noticeable in the Chamabonda, with the grass being sparser then normal, and already dying off.
The elephants dug up the pipeline at No 3 but we repaired it again before the pan lost any water. We have been cleaning up around the panels before the fires start!
The extreme heat is putting a lot of pressure on water, and also on the animals! The elephants have started pouring back into the vlei and hammering the water points - during the last week of the month there was a visible drop in water levels in No 3 and No 2 pans due to the excessive heat and the number of elephants drinking - it felt and looked more like October! We are reinstalling the old pump at No 3 which we mistakenly thought we would not need again, as the new pump has preformed so well! This second pump will give us an extra 30,000 litres per day into the pan
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Our man in Robins, Onias, has continued our program of water point assessment and maintenance, cleaning around all the panels and pumps, painting the frames, and generally tidying up, before the pressure of the season kicks in. We repaired the pump at Deteema 4 which is now pumping into the dam, plus have Dandari 2 pump working again.
Onias repaired the hole in the Deteema Dam wall, but unfortunately there has been no more rain to top up the dam since!! The dam lost about 20cm of water height (a large volume) but the dam still should have enough water to carry it through the year, assisted by the pumps.
Onias has also tidied up and has done any maintenance required at the Little Toms and Big Toms hides.
On top of all this cleaning and maintenance work, Onias has undertaken all the patrol deployments for Parks, plus assisted them where possible
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SINAMATELLA
Report by Stephen Long
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I am way behind time in writing this so, perhaps to the relief of many people, I will be keeping my contribution to the March newsletter very brief.
I’ll start with the weather in general and rainfall in particular. Two photos will sum up the situation…….these were our two most under-utilised pieces of equipment in March..
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Compared with some places where there was absolutely no rain, we were lucky because we received 3mm on the 6th, but that was all and with the total for the season still below 400mm, the graphs look like this…….
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Obviously our problems are minor compared with the people affected by cyclone Idai but, travelling between Hwange and Victoria Falls we can see that the maize crops in most of the villages have failed through drought so people are going to be hungry this year which inevitably means an increase in poaching pressure. The animals (apart from the vultures and hyenas) will also be hungry and perhaps thirsty later in the year.
As well as being very dry, March was also very hot. We had many days when the thermometer in the house never went below 30oC so of course, out in the Park, the pans dried up and the grass began to look as yellow as we would expect to find it in a couple of months’ time. That of course is the real problem. We can, we hope, keep water flowing at most of our pumps but we can’t increase the food supply.All of this means we have a tough dry season ahead of us.
If we are going to manage to supply all the water that’s going to be needed, we can’t afford for any of the pumps to be ‘down’ for too long so we need to visit them on a regular basis. In March that wasn’t easy because for the first half of the month we were still suffering from a shortage of diesel and we had to be very careful about making unnecessary journeys. We kept the rhino monitoring unit in action but Tshuma and I spent a lot of time at Sinamatella pottering around working on the vehicles, tidying the store-room and so on. It wasn’t exciting and it was a great relief when we got some diesel and were able to get out and start checking on the pumps. Baobab and Lukosi were first on the list as both of those pumps were turned off in February when we had heavy rain. We found Baobab was only about half full and Lukosi (which is very shallow) was almost dry but they soon filled up when we re-started the pumps.
The big round trough at Baobab was completely empty with a layer of dry, cracked mud on the bottom. Once water started pouring a frog emerged from the mud, swam around a little then sat on a stone smiling at the unexpected water......
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It was soon joined by a rather sinister-looking terrapin.......
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And within a few minutes the terrapin justified that description by catching and eating the frog, reminding us yet again that under the peaceful surface, life in the wild is often far from friendly!
When we checked Mashambo and Bumboosie South, we found breakdowns waiting for us. At Mashambo, which works on mains electricity, one part of the armoured cable between the transformer and the pump had undergone a spectacular meltdown. Luckily, we were able to source the spares and repair it within a couple of days and also to collect the ZESA technicians so that they could replace the fuse that the meltdown had blown on the transformer. Like Baobab and Lukosi, the level of water in the pan quickly rose once the pump was running, in spite of heavy use by elephants.
We weren’t so successful at Bumboosie South where we found the motor of the solar pump had failed and will need to be replaced. There’s something unlucky about Bumboosie South. We have probably spent more time, with less success working there than we have at any of our other game water sites. Even the new borehole that was drilled the year before last was a problem. It doesn’t have any water – and really that’s about as big a problem as you can have with a borehole.
By the end of March we had a fairly clear picture of our water situation. It isn't perfect of course, and the elephants are already using the pumped supplies in big numbers but for now, all we can say is that, given the very poor rains, things could be worse - and by the end of the dry season they almost certainly will be.
To finish, readers of the January/February newsletter may have noticed that the Sinamatella section ended rather abruptly. That was presumably a copy and paste error - it wasn't that I simply lost interest! Here's how it was supposed to end.....
Early in January we embarked on a project to try out a few different techniques for rehabilitating some of the ground around Sinamatella that is damaged by sheet erosion.
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Sheet erosion near Sinamatella.
The work was kindly funded by Hwange Conservation Society and if it is a success we hope to scale it up later in the year. We tested out five different approaches - opening up the soil with a ripper, opening contour trenches with a grader blade, covering part of each of these treatments with cut brush and finally laying brush lines without any opening of the soil. It didn't take very long for the results of these various experiments to be visible. Brush alone laid on the ground had very little effect, but we hadn't really expected the small amount of brush we had available to be effective so we were not surprised. On the other hand, brush laid over the lines that had been opened with a ripper worked really well. Later in the season we will carry out some careful measurements to see how the five treatments compare.
Finally, a first for this newsletter - an advertisement. We have been in contact with a company from Bulawayo called Afrikatize who make and sell conservation-themed tee shirts and give a percentage of all sales to the organisation featured on a particular shirt. The shirts are printed and shipped from the UK and they now have a rhino conservation themed shirt featuring Bhejane Trust so if you are looking for a smart new tee shirt, please have a look at..........
https://afrikatize.com/products/mens-bhejane-trust-save-a-rhino-t-shirt
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The seven Chinese nationals arrested in Victoria Falls for rhino horn possession are still in remand, with their appeal to have the case thrown out dismissed by the magistrate. Their trial should come up in April.
An elephant was poisoned in Ngamo Forest, but luckily the poison site was discovered before more damage could be done. Parks are chasing a suspect in this case
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Ngamo Forest Area - the poison at a pan and the young bull that died from it
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Main Camp rangers had a contact with 3 poachers, but none were captured. However, the poached ivory was recovered.(see below) Follow ups continue.
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Two persons were arrested in Matopos for possession of 404 pangolin scales. Another three suspects were arrested, also in the Matopos, for possession of a pangolin skin. All suspects are awaiting trial.
Parks investigations and the ZRP Mineral, Flora and Fauna Unit arrested the ex-Mayor of Victoria Falls, Sifiso Mpofu, and two accomplices for illegal possession of ivory, in a raid on his house. They were caught carrying the ivory out to the "buyers" car late at night. 11 tusks were recovered, of which 4 were stamped and the cards indicated they were clients ivory - Mpofu has a game ranch outside of the Falls but elephant are infrequent visitors here. 7 tusks were raw unmarked ivory. Mpofu is currently out on bail.
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Of interest, 6 poachers arrested in Kongola in Namibia, in possession of four tusks, were 2 Zambians, 3 Angolans and 1 Namibian, which goes to show the cross border links in all the poaching in this KAZA region.
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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:
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.
Ian Thomson and Ian Gloss
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
Michel Buenerd of Le Pic Vert, and Le Pal Nature Foundation, for funding what will be their 6th borehole and pump in Sinamatella!
Deb Chusid of New York for a great personal effort to raise funds to assist us
Piet and Anthea Erasmus
Dr Mark Bristow and Hunters and Guides for the financing of our Rhino Monitoring and Protection Unit
Wildlife & Environmental Society of Zimbabwe (WEZ), Matabeleland Branch. Thanks to Pete Kendall, Colin Gillies, and Stuart Johnson for their continuing support, and the donation of a solar unit for Njekwa
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
Ian Gloss and Victoria Falls Liquorama
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
A big thanks to Ministry and Parks Staff :
The Hon Minister - Ms Priscah Mupfumira
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!!
And a big thanks to the Minister of Environment, Climate and Water, Ms Priscilla Mapfumira
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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