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We have now got Chamabonda 3 pump going again - this is after the Zambians smashed some panels and stole the pump a while back. This pump supplements Chamabonda 3A for when the drinking pressure gets heavy, which is already starting!
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Restoring and securing new panels and pump at Chambonda 3
Thanks to local support we are also progressing on making the main access road in the Chamabonda all-weather, by gravelling the black clay sections which get sticky in the rains!
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Gravel being dumped on the Chamabonda Road - thanks to Esor and Brendan Malloch-Brown
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We have been donated a small canoe with a 5hp engine by Craig Gobey of Kalahari Drilling. This is perfect for anti-poaching and illegal fishing along the Zambezi. We are working with Parks and Victoria Falls Anti-Poaching Unit on the deployment of this boat.
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We test pumped the new borehole at Kazuma Corner Pan, and came up with over 6000l/hr - it is sitting on an aquifer with almost unlimited water. We will install a solar pump unit early next month
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We managed to finally get the drilling rig inro Bumbumutsa Pan and successfully drilled a borehole to replace the old borehole which had collapsed. Bumbumutsa Pan is an essential pan for the distribution of the elephant population in the area, as it compliments Shumba and Masuma Pans and takes a lot of pressure off them. We test pumped the borehole and it gave us over 6000l/hr - a great result!
A new pump here will be installed in early July. Thanks to Michel Buenerd and Le Pic Vert/Le Pal Nature!
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Bumbumutsa Pan Hitting water!
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Forster Irrigation donated a new DC pump for Mahoboti Pan. Thus is the new technology coming out which is 30% more efficient then the old AC pumps. This has allowed us to increase the water supply to Mahoboti without having to add more panels. This is critical for the impending dry season, when Mahoboti comes under a lot of elephant pressure - this pressure however relieves some stress on Masuma and Shumba pans.
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The first thing I must do is apologise to anyone who expected an e mail from me in recent weeks but has not received it. We have been having problems with our wifi and much of the time I haven’t been able to send or receive mail. I hope to get the problem solved once and for all early in July.
OK………. June was cold! For the first time ever, we were able to include penguins on some of our Southern Africa Bird Atlas Project lists (alright, I made that up – but it was cold). I don’t like that sort of weather but every cloud has a silver lining (even the freezing ones) and the good thing about June’s weather was that it put the Park into a sort of suspended animation. We are perhaps a third of the way through the 2021 dry season but many of the trees are still as green as they were a month ago, the pans (even quite small ones) still hold water from the rains, in places the Lukosi River still has water flowing over the sand instead of under it and the elephants are not yet laying siege to our water points.
Demand for game water might have been unusually low but we had a busy month anyway. We have been increasing the security of the pump infrastructure in the most vulnerable places which meant many hours of cutting and welding and fitting steel frames to protect the panels, and installing steel pipes to protect the pumps and motors. I only hope it would be as difficult for thieves to remove it all as it was for us to install it.
It would have been typical if, while we were busy with that, some of the other pumps had gone wrong or the elephants had seized the opportunity to break something important but in fact none of that happened and by the end of June the game water situation was excellent with most places looking like this……..
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or (when Sue is taking the photo), like this……..
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Wildlife.
Luckily visitors were amongst the rarest animals in the Park in June because game viewing has remained very poor. This is, of course, due to the water availability and the still-dense tree cover rather than to anything worrying. Our 24-hour count at the June full moon turned up slightly fewer elephants than at the same time last year but the numbers of daytime drinkers such as impala and kudu were way down. The explanation was simple – lions. A small group of lions was present close to the dam for the whole of the 24-hour period and prey animals sensibly stayed away. We repeated the daytime count a few days later, lions were absent and impala and kudu numbers returned to normal.
Although the game viewing might not have been Serengeti standard, we still had some good sightings during the month. This lion ignored us and our car as she walked along the road between Mandavu and Masuma and she came close enough for this great picture…..
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At the other end of the size scale we were fascinated by thousands of red-billed quelea drinking at Tshontanda Vlei….
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And we enjoyed watching a slender mongoose, clearly posing for the camera close to the car…..
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There is no such thing as a boring day in the Park!
Miscellaneous
A few months ago I reported that a group of archaeologists had been working at the Bumbusi Ruins, amongst other things clearing away the encroaching bush. We had not visited the site since they were here, so one Sunday afternoon in June we decided to go and have a look – and what a difference the clearance has made. I had never before realised how extensive the ruins are but with the bush removed, lots of previously invisible walls are exposed…….
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And there are good views into the distance across the Deka river…..
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Sadly though, some of the beautiful things we see in and around the Park are again threatened by coal mining. I will stick entirely to the facts here…..
A company called ZZCC has been given a special grant to explore a large part of the Deka Safari Area for coal. They are currently drilling for core samples close to the road to Sinamatella. As things stand now, visitors to Sinamatella have to pass two coal mines on their way to the Camp. These are perfectly legally sited outside the Parks Estate. There is nothing illegal about ZZCC’s drilling operations either (they have a special grant, signed by the President) but if they find coal and exploit it, the view along the road into Sinamatella will change from this……
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I hope the people with the power to stop it will see which of those two has the greater long-term value.
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RHINO MONITORING & PROTECTION UNIT
Report By Nick Long
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During the month of June the team did a total of 23 patrols 10 of these being Rhino monitoring patrols (157.27 Km) and the other 13 being Anti-poaching patrols (284.39 Km). As can be seen from the above figures we did more Anti-poaching patrols than Rhino monitoring. We found a total of 26 wire snares and 1 poachers’ base.
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One of our maps from SMART showing Anti-poaching and Rhino monitoring patrols
Unfortunately we didn’t find any rhino during the Rhino monitoring patrols although we did find plenty of signs of their presence. Just a day ago the team found mother and calf spoor which was tracked for about 12km to no avail with a total of 22km walked during the entire patrol. We are pleased the calf seems to be a new one as the spoor is still very small, but we can only celebrate once manage to find it and get a photograph.
At the beginning of the month while setting camera traps we saw an adult bull elephant with a snare around its front left leg. The team was deployed to the area and asked to advise Sinamatella base if they saw it again so that the snare could be removed. After a few days they managed to find it and the ZimParks vet was notified He arrived from Umtshibi later that day, proceeded to the area the animal was in and it was successfully darted. Thanks to everyone involved it was a successful operation and the snare was removed and the elephant sent on its way.
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The elephant being cooled with water by Rhino monitor Tichaona Chisato.
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The wounded leg before and after removal of the snare
Once we again we would like to thank all our donors and supporters with whom all of this would not be possible and not forgetting our colleagues on the ground ZimParks.
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The carcass of a White Rhino that had been poached was found in the Whitewaters section of the Matopos National Park, and although the carcass was quite old, it represents their first loss in this area for a while - a worrying development! The Matopos urgently needs support to ensure the survival of the remaining rhino!
Parks Investigations arrested several men after 6 tusks were found in Bulawayo, the ivory having come from the Gwai area. The ivory was sourced from previously convicted poachers
Hwange Parks Investigation Unit, working together with the crack Police Minerals Unit, bust four men in possession of 4 tusks weighing approximately 60 kg. They also impounded the vehicle being used to transport them.The four poachers were remanded in custody until their case comes up in July. It is very encouraging that despite the hard times, Parks Investigation and the Zimbabwe Police are still professionally on top of things!
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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. Our heartfelt thanks to (in no particular order):
Friends of Hwange and Dave Dell for sponsoring the borehole and new battery system at Masuma
Patrick Jacquemin for his donation to help our operational costs.
Mark Unwin and the Clarkson Family Trust, for yet another generous donation.
Lion Recovery Fund and Rhino Recovery Fund - a big thanks to Peter Lindsay and Markus Hofmeyr
Morne and Michelle Muller of Surgical and Opthalmic Supplies for their pledge of support for this year
Piet Weller, through Lionel and Annelise Finaughty for the offer to sponsor a wateroint in Kazuma in memory of Wessels Weller
Larry Norton for his offer of a percentage of sales of certain prints to go to the trust.
Frank Zindell of the Educasa Foundation and a longtime supporter has made a very generous donation, which is very much appreciated.Thanks to Stuart Danks of Simply Africa for facilitation
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!!!
Simon and Portia Rowlands for a very generous donation towards s complete borehole/pump unit
SATIB and the Southern Africa Conservation Trust for their support on insurances - thanks to Brian Courtney
Ian Gloss of Victoria Falls Liquorama for his continued assistance
Pieter and Anthea Erasmus for their continued support, and for the use of their vehicle Thanks for the donated equipment.
Michel Buenerd of Le Pic Vert, and Le Pal Nature Foundation, for funding their eleventh borehole and pump in Sinamatella/Robins area!
Antoinette van Wijk of Holland for her sterling fund raising effort
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 for donated pumps and continued assistance
John Karasellos of Hisspan Motors for his continuing assistance and support.
Hwange Conservation Society (UK) - John Gillon - for their generous support
Inke Kreling-Boysen for her generous donation
Mike Karasellos for grading and mowing roads in the Chamabonda
Rich Low from the African Touch for the woodwork on Timots Hide
Graham Andrews for his donation
Dale Kiigen and Kiggen Builders for their support in refurbishing Timots Hide
Mark and Shelley Burden for their donation of borehole casing.
Craig Gobey and Zambezi Sands Drilling for the donation of a small boat and engine for anti-poaching on the Zambezi River
Brendan Malloch-Brown - gravel transport
Esor Zimbabwe - supplying gravel for the ZNP
Thanks to our Board of Trustees for all the hard work they are putting in - Ian Gloss, Dave Carson, Dan Jones, Stephen Long and Trevor Lane
A big thanks to Ministry and Parks Staff :
Minister of Environment, Climate, Tourism and Hospitality, the Hon. Nqobizitha Mangaliso Ndhlovu
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 Marvellous Mbikbiyana
Area Manager, - Robins and Kazuma - Mrs N Moyo
Area Manager - Sinamatella - Mr Mutandwa
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 (below) or direct to our bank account:
Bank details :
Bhejane Trust,
FBC Bank,
Sawanga Mall
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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