It was just after the crack of dawn that my tracker and I were hacking our way through the thick undergrowth of the Odzala-Kokoua National Park in the Republic of Congo (also Congo-Brazzaville). Soon we could sense the presence of a large group of gorillas. They were foraging for roots, shoots and termites while a few were high up in the trees in search of fruits. Out of nowhere, a pair of brown eyes was suddenly gazing at us from behind the undergrowth. It was a young juvenile male, also very curious. He stared, blinked and then emerged from his seclusion, almost as though he wanted to greet us in his abode.
This moment could not have happened but for over 17 years of hard work by researchers who have helped habituate gorillas to human presence. This difficult process has been accomplished by the sheer skill of the famous BaAka (pygmy) trackers. Unlike with the mountain gorillas, the habituation process of western lowland gorillas has proven difficult because of several factors: limited visibility in the lowland forests, difficulties following gorilla tracks through the dense forest and across the long distances that they travel.
The Odzala park in Congo’s remote north-west is one of Africa’s oldest. It is 13,600 square kilometers of pristine rainforest and an integral part of both the Congo Basin and the TRIDOM Transfrontier Park overlapping Gabon, Congo and Cameroon.
<div id="attachment_31792" style="width: 704px" class="wp-caption alignnone"><img aria-describedby="caption-attachment-31792" decoding="async" loading="lazy" class="wp-image-31792 size-large" src="http://www.forbesafrica.com/app/uploads/2017/05/58-_RIP3321-694x1024.jpg" alt="" width="694" height="1024" srcset="https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/05/58-_RIP3321.jpg 694w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/05/58-_RIP3321-300x443.jpg 300w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/05/58-_RIP3321-600x885.jpg 600w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/05/58-_RIP3321-203x300.jpg 203w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/05/58-_RIP3321-768x1134.jpg 768w" sizes="(max-width: 694px) 100vw, 694px" />Gorillas are still being hunted for their bush meat and the young sold as pets; five percent of the species is killed each year.</div>
Covered in forests, rivers, marshes and swamps, the park receives 1,500 millimeter of rain annually. The TRIDOM is the first three-country transboundary area to become a World Heritage Site and is one of the largest blocks of pristine tropical lowland forest in the world.
As the juvenile gorilla approached me, two other members of the group, a young female and another male, peeked through the undergrowth. The three of them were fast approaching me. While my heart was pounding with excitement, I was reminded by the tracker and forest companion Zephron that we had to maintain a seven meter distance from the animals, lest we transmit human diseases. So I had to backtrack with a heavy heart while still covering my face with a surgical mask.
My tracker understood their movements and soon positioned me in a different location. His tracking experience came to play as the huge silverback male emerged right in front of me. Known as Neptuno by the researchers, he was 35 years old, handsome, big and 380lbs to boot. He managed his group of 16 gorillas by leading, protecting and showing them prime feeding grounds. Neptuno was keeping a check on me while ensuring his group’s safety. Soon, the other 15 members filed past me. Some stopped to look, others rushed while a few sat down to observe me. Neptuno was with the young and either led the group or stopped to ensure their safety. He was known to charge human beings when threatened.
Odzala Camps was launched in 2013, boasting the highest density of gorillas in Africa including seven habituated western lowland gorilla families (about 105 gorillas). Visitors encounter 11 species of diurnal primates including chimpanzee, De Brazza’s monkey, putty-nosed monkey, grey-cheeked mangabey, crowned monkey, colobus monkey and moustached monkey. The area includes birdlife and herds of forest elephant and dwarf buffalo.
<img decoding="async" loading="lazy" class="alignnone wp-image-31790 size-full" src="http://www.forbesafrica.com/app/uploads/2017/05/01-schlein-distribution-gorilla-labeled-2.jpg" alt="" width="504" height="513" srcset="https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/05/01-schlein-distribution-gorilla-labeled-2.jpg 504w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/05/01-schlein-distribution-gorilla-labeled-2-300x305.jpg 300w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/05/01-schlein-distribution-gorilla-labeled-2-295x300.jpg 295w" sizes="(max-width: 504px) 100vw, 504px" />
I am one of less than 750 visitors to have experienced this park. Access was impossible prior to 2013. It took a long time for Spanish primatologist Magda Bermejo to win the trust of the Ndzehi people as they had seen western lowland gorillas in the rainforest being poached, hunted for trophies, or shipped off to zoos. Eventually, when she earned their respect, the Ndzehi packed up their whole village and moved with Bermejo to Lossi, home to the largest population of gorillas in the Congo, to help her with her research. Their intimate knowledge of the rainforest and gorilla-tracking skills proved invaluable to Bermejo’s work.
A recent census of the gorilla populations in equatorial Africa was thought to be 100,000. In 2004, there was an Ebola outbreak in Odzala wiping out 90% of the resident population of 10,000. Because of these outbreaks, the International Union for Conservation of Nature updated the status of western lowland gorillas from “endangered” to “critically endangered”.
The gorillas are still being hunted for their bush meat and the young sold as pets; five percent of the species is killed each year. Commercial poaching of chimpanzees, forest elephants, and western gorillas results from increased amount of commercial logging and infrastructure. The Wildlife Conservation Society is working in the Congo and surrounding countries to limit the bush meat trade by enforcing laws and also helping the local people find new sources of protein.

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The planet of the Apes

The tiger has always played a part in our collective consciousness, often interpreted as a symbol of power, strength and beauty. In Hindu culture, the tiger is revered as the sacred vehicle of Durga, the warrior goddess.
And I had the opportunity to come face-to-face with this mighty animal on a recent trip through the forests of central India where a majority of them still roam.
I arrived at the Bandhavgarh National Park (BNP), in the Indian state of Madhya Pradesh, by plane from New Delhi, landing in Jabalpur and then by car to the park; a journey of 600 miles to visit the home of an animal that has existed for two million years.
Known to have evolved from the saber-toothed cat that lived 32 million years ago, tigers have spread from their original home in China and evolved into many subspecies including the Royal Bengal Tiger of India. The BNP was the hunting preserve of the rulers of the state in the 1800s and has hosted many hunters from the British Raj; it has documented killings of over 350 cats by one particular hunter during his five-year posting in India. At the close of the 19th century, when Rudyard Kipling penned The Jungle Book, some 50,000 to 100,000 tigers were thought to roam the Indian subcontinent.
The tiger once ranged widely across Asia, from Anatolian Turkey in the west to Kamchatka, in the eastern coast of Russia; over the past 100 years tigers have disappeared from southwest and central Asia. According to the World Wildlife Fund (WWF), tigers inhabit less than 6% of their historic range with a 42% decline since 2006. Breeding populations of tigers are currently found in eight range states: Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, Indonesia, Malaysia, Nepal, Russia, and Thailand.
Since 1900, the number of tigers in the wild has shrunk from an estimated 100,000 to as few as 3,200. WWF is working toward a bold but achievable goal to double the number of tigers in the wild by 2022, the next Year of the Tiger. A 2015 news report reveals healthy population increases in all ranges in south and central India.
Strictly-managed and controlled jeep safaris are the only way one can encounter these magnificent animals in their natural habitat. My first encounter on my trip was with a mother and her three grown cubs that paced majestically through the sal tree forest, disappearing often into the high grass that grows after the monsoons.
This was the beginning of a four-day, 32-hour photographic ‘hunt’ for these animals. Sighting and photographing seven of them was not easy since they are primarily active in the wee hours, returning after a hunt, or during dusk before a hunt. Being solitary animals and effectively camouflaged, tracking them is one of the great joys and challenges of wildlife photography.
BNP allows a maximum of 32 jeeps per day in two four-hour windows. This capacity control was established by Project Tiger, an Indian initiative to protect the tigers. The park has a huge variety of mammals such as black bears, antelopes, deer, reptiles including crocodiles and snakes, and over 350 species of birds.
At 6AM on a cold morning, I was filled with excitement when I spotted a young male tiger, looking tired and hungry after an unsuccessful night of hunting. He approached my jeep from 600 feet away, oblivious to my presence and walked within a few feet marking his territory along the way.
Tigers need to kill 60-75 large prey animals per year. They are opportunistic predators, however, their diet includes birds, fish, rodents, insects, amphibians and reptiles in addition to other mammals such as primates and porcupines. Tigers can also take ungulate prey much larger than themselves, including the water buffalo, Indian bison, small elephants and on occasion even rhinos. Bandhavgarh boasts all of the above animals except the rhino and elephant which are distributed further north in Chitwan Park near the border with Nepal, another known tiger range.
On my last evening, after patiently waiting near a waterhole for two hours, I was rewarded with a large male tiger emerging from the bamboo thicket to drink water barely 15 feet away. His majesty made for some amazing pictures. I left Bandhavgarh and my lovely lodge with a heavy heart knowing that this tiger could be the victim of poachers any time.
National Geographic reports that it is rarely poor locals who are poaching the tigers – it’s organized gangs.
“Tigers are part of a massive wildlife trade that’s run by sophisticated international crime syndicates, the same trade that’s wiping out elephants, rhinos and so many other species. It’s a $19-billion-a-year business,” quotes the magazine.
These majestic cats are being slaughtered across India and the entire Southeast Asian range, mostly for their bones and magnificent pelts. Smuggled into China for use in expensive traditional tonics, tiger bones are thought to impart the animal’s great energy and strength. In addition, across their entire distribution, tigers face unrelenting pressure from retaliatory killings by farmers and habitat loss. They are forced to compete for space with an ever-growing human population.
Alas, in the end, it would seem their fate is no different from their fierce, feline and equally-famous cousin – the African lion.

DSC_4935

Tracking India’s Feisty Feline

Tucked inside Kenya’s Rift Valley are the Olkaria geothermal fields. A mix of a national park (Hell’s Gate National Park) and steam wells, the fields are powering Kenya’s growing electricity demands.
The first steam wells, also known as geothermal wells, in Kenya were built more than 30 years ago. Then, there was little regard for geothermal power – energy generated from natural steam from the earth. It was regarded as one of the many expensive ventures by the government.
Today, the focus on renewable energy has never been greater in Kenya. Several billionaires attended the Global Entrepreneurship Summit in July in Nairobi to explore investing in renewable energy in the East African nation.
“Investors in this initiative have chosen Kenya because the government is ready to listen to ideas and help implement them,” said Sir Richard Branson who led a delegation at the summit.
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Energy demands in Kenya are growing. This is largely due to renewed investor confidence in the country as well as the government’s improving retail consumer connectivity. This has seen the government work on an ambitious strategy to generate 5,000 megawatts (MW) by 2018.
Out of this, renewable energy is expected to take center stage as hydroelectric and fossil fuel generation are cut significantly.
In 2006, Kenya created the Geothermal Development Company to speed up the development of geothermal resources. The firm took shape through funding from the national treasury to offset the cost of drilling steam wells.
However, much of the work has been done by listed state corporation, Kenya Electricity Generation Company, popularly known as KenGen.
“Kenya is taking off and energy is the anchor engine. As a power generating firm, we have now developed a robust strategic plan heavily hinged on geothermal power,” says Albert Mugo, the Managing Director of KenGen.
According to government statistics, Kenya has a total power demand of slightly more than 1,500MW. The installed capacity is 2,000MW. Out of this, geothermal power contributes around 579MW, which translates to 44% to the national grid.
“We have a potential of 10,000MW of geothermal power in this country. We can still do more in terms of contribution to the national grid,” says Mugo.
The challenge in boosting geothermal power is financing. It is estimated that drilling one well costs between $8 and $10 million. To date, Kenya has more than 260 geothermal wells, mostly in Olkaria.
“The greatest challenge in this geothermal business is the perceived risk in exploring the steam wells,” says Mugo.
Apart from KenGen, other geothermal power producers have joined the fray, such as OrPower and Akira.
Kenya is ranked eighth in the world in geothermal positioning and first in Africa.
However, the focus is not only on geothermal energy. There is also interest in wind energy and solar power. While the two are at a nascent stage, Kenya has commissioned its first large-scale wind power project.
The Lake Turkana Wind Power Project (LTWP) farm site covers 40,000 acres and is expected to contribute 300MW to the national grid. When complete, it will become Africa’s largest wind power plant. Another wind project, managed by Aeolus Kenya, is expected to take shape soon. Located in central Kenya, it is expected to feed 60.8MW to the national grid.
The government, through KenGen, is also prospecting on a 400MW wind farm. This is scheduled for implementation in early 2016. Like the abundant geothermal energy sites, Kenya also has an area close to 90,000 square kilometers with excellent wind speeds of at least 6m/s.
Solar power is taking root with a number of companies entering the household market. This has seen many homes, especially in rural areas, replace the national power grid with solar energy.
“This growth in use of solar energy by household is largely attributed to the cost advantage. Solar power is much cheaper than national grid power,” says Robert Pavel Oimeke, the Director of Renewable Energy at the state-run Energy Regulatory Commission.
It seems that Kenya’s green energy growth plan is leading the way in Africa.

Full Steam Ahead

Set in Kenya’s Hell’s Gate National Park, Disney’s animated film, The Lion King celebrates 20 years on June 15. The Lion King’s stage adaptation of the original 1994 film has grossed more than $5 billion across the globe. The original film is the highest grossing hand-drawn film in history.
It tells the story of Simba, a young lion who is to succeed his father, Mufasa, as king. But after Simba’s uncle Scar murders Mufasa, Simba is fooled into thinking he was responsible and flees into exile in shame and despair.
While growing up with two wastrels, Simba is given some valuable perspective from his friend Nala and his shaman, Rafiki, before returning to challenge Scar to end his tyranny.
The story is set in the kingdom of lions in east Africa, with influences from biblical stories of Joseph and Moses, as well as William Shakespeare’s Hamlet.
Though it has had great success, the production of The Lion King has also had its problems. A dispute arose between Disney and the family of South African Solomon Linda, who composed the song, ‘The Lion Sleeps Tonight’, originally titled ‘Mbube’ in 1939. In July 2004, the family filed a lawsuit for $1.6 million in royalties from Disney. Two years later, Linda’s heirs reached a legal settlement with Abilene Music who held the worldwide rights and licensed the song to Disney.
In 1997, three years after the release of The Lion King, Walt Disney produced the musical stage adaptation of the same name, with the first show in Minneapolis in the United States. The musical went on to become one of the most successful in Broadway history and is still running across the globe to this day.
Britain’s stage production of The Lion King casts a huge number of South Africans. In the current run, 25-year-old Nicholas Nkuna is wowing audiences as the third South African to be cast as Simba, following Brian Temba and Andile Gumbi. Before heading to Britain to play Simba, Nkuna was the second youngest black Phantom in the musical The Phantom of the Opera.
“I auditioned for the show for two years and got a call back for the final in the third year. I went to Florida in America to do my final call back. Towards the end of Phantom, they rang me to let me know I got the job,” says Nkuna.
In July 2012, Nkuna moved to Bristol to start rehearsals for the spectacle.
Playing the lead is a huge responsibility and expectations are high. But as time went on, Nkuna says he eased into the role.
“It was incredible; it was eye-opening. The standard of performance is different, the preparation is different. With The Lion King, there’s acting, there’s singing and dancing and you also have the animal elements to it. So you’re half a lion, half a human,” he says.
“You need to learn how to move like a lion. It was interesting to do those workshops. We did Javanese movements. There’s certain cultural depth that they do that’s sort of similar to how humans would move animal-like.”
After two years of traveling with The Lion King, Nkuna has decided to end his journey as Simba to focus on his music and other business adventures.
But the show must go on. In March 2013, The Lion King was launched in Brazil and for the first time in Portuguese. It has been performed in six other languages. It has also been seen on every continent besides Antarctica.
The creators of The Lion King are probably sitting somewhere saying to themselves, ‘Hakuna Matata’, as the Lion King could enthral audiences for decades to come.
<h4>The Soul Of Simba</h4>
The opening scene of The Lion King is unforgettable. As the yellow African sun rises over the horizon, a Zulu voice cries ‘Nants ingonyama bagithi Baba’. It means ‘Here comes a lion, Father’.
That voice belongs to South African award winning musician Lebohang Morake, but to the world of arts and entertainment he’s known as Lebo M.
Morake grew up in Soweto, Johannesburg. From a young age, he started singing in a local pop band. In his first interaction with the music business he saw corruption. At the age of 12, he released his first single Celebration which received a lot of local success. However, Morake only received $20.
After finding success in Lesotho, Morake received a scholarship to study music in the United States (US). It was there that he met world-renowned composer Hans Zimmer. The two worked together on the score for the film The Power of One.
Years later, Hans Zimmer was hired to score the most successful animated movie in history, The Lion King. Zimmer wanted to make the music authentically African and there was only one person he had in mind for the job.
Zimmer traveled to South Africa to find Morake. The two returned to the US where they created a soundtrack to the film that won them numerous awards as well as a Grammy for best instrumental arrangement with accompanying vocal for The Circle Of Life.
Riding on the success of the film, Morake was then commissioned to write the music for The Lion King musical which instantly became a Broadway hit. Morake composed new songs for the production which went well with the music from the original movie.
It has become one of Broadway’s longest-running shows with productions in several countries around the world.
Morake’s original compositions and voice can be heard in a number of films including Chicken Little, Mighty Joe Young, Congo and Tears of the Sun. When you listen to Morake sing, you may not understand the lyrics but you will understand why everyone calls him the voice of The Lion King.

A Roaring Success

When an elephant charges, all you can do is pray and try and get out of its way; especially when you are stuck in a two-man canoe riding the powerful current on the Zambezi River.
It is a far cry from sipping a pina colada on a deckchair under a tree. It’s the last thing you would expect, but staring into the eyes of a two-ton beast that is only 10 meters away from you, will change the way you look at the world. This is the Lower Zambezi National Park, in Zambia, where the idea of a good time is getting as close as you can to nature without being trampled.
Most tourists would find Zambia difficult to point out on the map. It’s quite easy to overlook. It is hemmed in by Africa’s best known wildlife tourist destinations: Botswana; Mozambique; the Democratic Republic of Congo; Malawi; Tanzania and Zimbabwe. Up until 1991, the country was a socialist state, which prized copper over tourism. Now, the country has flung open its doors and is hoping to double tourism from 300,000 to 600,000 visits by 2015 and increase GDP from 2% to 7%, in line with Zimbabwe. It is arguably the freest economy in sub-Saharan Africa.
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What it means is more people are likely to be drawn to the thundering Victoria Falls, millions of fruit bats migrating, tiger fish jumping out of the water, and running away from elephants on the banks of the Zambezi River; or in some cases rowing furiously.
My introduction to Zambia came from game ranger, Wallace Kabompa, who works in the national park where he grew up, for Chiawa Camp; the only bush camp in the big five reserve, which lies on the Zimbabwe border.
For Kabompa, hippos and elephants walking in your backyard is just another day. He grew up fishing along the Zambezi, he has chased leopards from his patio and he has run from so many elephants in the bush he could do it professionally.
“The dangers are very real. I have seen it first-hand. When I was very young, I went swimming in a pool close to the river with my friend. My friend went down, underwater, and then he went for good. I never saw him again. His parents came to me and said ‘where is your friend?’. I said I didn’t know. He had been eaten by a crocodile. I tell you, I have been beaten by my parents not to swim in the Zambezi. My parents would say don’t you know there are crocodiles, it’s dangerous,&#8221; he says.
Standing by the river he warns tourists of the dangers of canoes.
“I just need to point out that the Zambezi River is dangerous. When you are in the canoe please do not dip your hands into the river. Crocodiles are advantageous predators, and we don’t want them to take advantage of your hands. Elephants will give you a toot when they think you are getting too close. But it’s nothing to be scared of, they are just saying hi. If we encounter a mother with her baby they are more aggressive. All you can do is try not to get in their way. So… who wants to go in front?” he says.
A Dutch family, red of nose and sweating profusely in the 40 degree heat, watch skeptically as he speaks. Their sunburned faces turn white at the mention of being in front. With Kabompa’s cautious speech over, we board our canoes and enter the Zambezi. Kabompa boards the two-man canoe with me, the eager photographer, in front.
As the sun sets, the water glistens in golden light. In the still of the evening, Kabompa’s warning came to life like a snake in a bed. It started so sedately. In the distance, a herd of elephants crossed the river. The only problem was at the end of the line were two females with a baby.
“Let’s get close, I really need a good photo,” I say.
Kabompa obliges and we drift closer, hugging the shoreline. It was as quiet as the grave. The elephants begin to cross the river, but as they reach our side of the shore there is a problem. They get stuck. In their panic, their bodies crash against one another. Their ears flap madly. They then turn and come straight for us.
You may think an elephant charging in water is slow. Think again. An elephant slices through water like it is going through a field of grass. White water churns at their feet. Their trumpeting gets louder with every step. Their trunks smash the water. It is terrifying.
When it is 50 meters away you think it can never reach you. When it is 35 meters away you worry that it will. When it is just 15 meters you realize one stamp of the foot could turn your body to dog meat.
It is at this time that Kabompa saves us from the butcher shop. He slams his paddle in the water violently, sending us in reverse. Ten meters from us, where our canoe was a few moments before, the beasts take a sharp right turn and scramble up the bank. I thank the heavens.
Our canoe rocks in the elephants’ wash. I turn to Kabompa, too stunned to speak. He looks back with a smile as wide as the Zambezi.
“Was that close enough?” he asks.
All I could do is nod in agreement as the canoe drifts away to live another day.
“Do you need to change your pants?” Michelle, one of the Dutch tourists, asks.
No change needed after a moment deep in the Zambian bush that will live with me for the rest of my life.
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With gratitude to the Zambian Tourism Board and Proflight Zambia for accommodation and flights.

Tag: National Park

FORBES AFRICA SOCIAL MEDIA

The planet of the Apes

Tracking India’s Feisty Feline

Full Steam Ahead

A Roaring Success

When The Elephant Says Hi… Run!