The rumblings of Covid-19’s devastating impact on the tourism industry could be felt deep in Tanzania’s wildlife parks too, where this year, few arrived to witness the annual wildebeest migration.



July at the Serengeti National Park in Tanzania was a different experience this year. The unending savannah looked the same, the animals roamed in their natural habitat and the wildebeest set out to migrate in vast numbers as they do this time every year. But it was the silence that was deafening. Normally, at this time, every year, the park is a magnet for international tourists eager to witness the largest animal migration in the world.



This park was eerily empty, and I was the only guest at the camp I stayed at.&nbsp;



Having gone on safari many times, including to the Maasai Mara on the Kenyan side of the park, and to other parks in East and West Africa, this experience was humbling. Covid-19’s devastating impact on the tourism industry could be felt here too, as tour operators and other stakeholders pivoted in unexpected ways to focus on the domestic market.



The Mbalageti Safari Camp, the property I stayed at, in any other year, attracts at least 75% of the tourists who arrive to see the wildebeest migration. The camp is located on a hill overlooking the Mbalageti River and is one of 37 permanent camps in the park. This time period coincides with not only the annual migration in the Western Corridor, but also the summer vacation period in the United States and Europe, from where most tourists normally arrive.



Shamez Karmali, the sales and marketing director at Mbalageti, admits: “We have seen guest volumes drop by over 90% during this high season… we have been forced to reduce our on-site headcount, due to lack of necessity, as well as manage costs.” In an effort to revive the industry, many local tour and safari operators have had to drop prices, to make these experiences more affordable for the price-sensitive local market. They are hopeful things will pick up once people regain confidence in international travel.



For locals like me, the reduced prices and slow tourist traffic, proved to be advantageous at this time, especially since outbound travel is still not an option due to the pandemic.&nbsp;



A possible boom in domestic tourism was wholly unexpected when Karmali drew up operational expectations for the year at Mbalageti, and he fully believes this to be the case industry-wide.&nbsp;



Even with the current travel restrictions in place across the globe, Tanzania has opened its borders to tourists. But in the short time the borders were closed, the positive impact of it was that many shortcomings in the industry were brought to light, says Collin Fortes, a director at Fortes Africa Ltd, which both the private sector and government have worked to address. One of the key issues was health and safety. The government provided training sessions for stakeholders on how to go about making this better, which in turn has improved the outlook on providing better customer service, especially since competition is now at its peak, adds Fortes. Fortes has since seen a rise in self-drive safari and camping requests from international tourists, but adds these are not ideal conditions for tourists who want a relaxing holiday.&nbsp;



The future of the tourism industry remains uncertain. Fortes and others like him have been inspired to get creative and market packages in line with the domestic market. “The current market conditions would not allow us to be viable if they persist for a prolonged period,” rues Karmali.&nbsp;



But for the mighty wildebeest, migrating across the ecosystems, it was business as usual.



-By Inaara Gangji

Africa. Tanzania. Serengeti National Park. The Mara River Area. The Annual Migration of The Wildebeests (connochaetes Taurinus)

The Greatest Show On Earth Few Saw

Africa is the last true wild frontier in the world; its wildlife racks up more than $30 billion annually.
But, in countries such as Zimbabwe, less money is reaching the government and animal extinction is becoming a reality.
The ruthless killing of Cecil the Lion in Zimbabwe sent shockwaves around the world. It raises the question of whether Africa is getting a raw deal for its wildlife.
In 2012, the tourism sector contributed 10% to Zimbabwe’s Gross Domestic Product (GDP) and the projection was that by this year it should have reached 15%. Statistics for this year are only available in 2016 but there has been a surge in tourists, particularly from the United States.
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Some American tourists, though, have been caught on the wrong side of the law by participating in unsanctioned lion hunts.
Johnny Rodrigues, a wildlife conservationist, believes the biggest problem standing in the way of animal conservation in Zimbabwe is corruption.
“In the case of Cecil, an American tourist bribed guides for $55,000 to kill a lion that was at the center of major international research. There are many such cases that go unreported,” he says.
In the past 20 years, the lion population in Africa has been depleted by 30%. As of 2014, it is estimated that there are only 30,000 left on the continent.
Zimbabwe has a population of around 1,600 lions, most of which are kept in protected areas away from hunters. Between 1999 and 2009, it was recorded that 800 lions were killed in legal hunts but it is understood that many more were killed in illegal hunts.
Lions, rhino, elephant, giraffe and buffalo are the most popular targets for hunters, but some lesser known animals are also caught up in the illicit trade.
Langton Masunda, a tour operator in Zimbabwe, says poachers and illegal hunters are more equipped and better funded than government rangers. This gives them an obvious advantage over those trying to save the country’s wild animals.
“They have more sophisticated weaponry, are usually better trained and they have communication equipment that the government does not have,” says Masunda.
Not so long ago, more effort was put into protecting the rhinoceros, but poachers shifted their focus to elephants. Zimbabwe has an elephant population of 85,000, with around 30,000 of those being calves. Because of the demand in the Asian market, poachers targeted the elephant at an industrial scale.
“Water sources were contaminated with cyanide. Hundreds would drop dead and in the process other animals, which the poachers had no use for, died too. Even people in rural communities surviving on the same water sources were affected. What makes it bad is that in many cases locals in poverty stricken communities would assist poachers,” says Masunda.
Although they have a harsh penal system for poaching, countries such as South Africa are havens for illegal hunts.
“Each year, more than 20,000 elephants – possibly up to 35,000 – are killed by poachers for their tusks, which are shipped to ivory markets, predominantly in countries such as China and Thailand. In 2014, 1,215 rhinos were killed in South Africa alone, which, when compared with the 13 killed by poachers in 2007, represents a more than 9,000 percent increase in rhino poaching,” says a World Economic Forum report.
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The spiraling poaching figures are driven by the Asian market. In countries such as China and Vietnam, it is believed the rhino horn has medicinal properties that can cure everything from headaches to cancer. Elephant tusks are crushed into a powder and used to make aphrodisiacs, among other things.
The development of rural communities is also a factor that opens trade links with the rest of the world. It makes smuggling easier.
But, in Southern Africa, there is hope that some of the targeted animals can be saved, especially at the Kavango Zambezi Transfrontier Conservation Area (KAZA) that brings together Zambia, Namibia, Zimbabwe, Angola and Botswana.
KAZA is the world’s largest wildlife park, slightly bigger than Italy.
In 2014, on the Botswana side of the park, President Ian Khama banned hunting to preserve the animals. As an alternative, the country is investing in luxurious camps. Last year alone, it was estimated that tourism brought in $337.5 million. A few greedy tourists with rifles should not be allowed to decimate this important source of income.

The Bullets Killing More Than Animals

It was like a scene from a Hollywood movie in the African bush. A helicopter hovered in the bright morning sun before swooping on a patch of long grass. A stocky man in a khaki cap, short-sleeve shirt and shorts, with a cigarette dangling from the corner of his mouth, emerged with a walk to equal the power of his arrival. This is the game auction business. The man was Waltie van der Walt, a game farmer and wildlife breeder in the Limpopo province, in the north of South Africa. In this business, Van der Walt is the lion of the jungle. He strides to the auction through a fleet of Land Rovers, 4&#215;4 double-cabs; the trappings of a multi-million-dollar business.
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In Limpopo wildlife auctions, Van der Walt is a kingpin with a large wallet. He is the founder and owner of Superior Game Breeders (SGB) on the Oorlogsfontein Game Ranch in Mokopane, Limpopo. You could argue he commands auctions as much as bids. Such is his standing that he doesn’t even deign to enter the auction. For the duration of his bidding, Van der Walt merely leans through the doorway.
Chere du Toit, a manager at Aucor Wildlife Auctions, likens him to fellow game buyers Johann Rupert, one of the richest men in Africa, and Cyril Ramaphosa, South Africa’s deputy president. Ramaphosa put game auctions in the news with his attempt to buy a buffalo cow and its calf in Rustenburg, in the North West province of South Africa, in 2012. He lost to farmer, Boet Troskie, who paid around R20 million ($1.6 million). Ramaphosa later apologized to the nation for this attempt at conspicuous cow consumption.
Like Ramaphosa, Van der Walt, found this Saturday, in late March, was not his day. To his chagrin, a young man, bidding on behalf of somebody else, bought the kudu bull he was after. The most expensive kudu bull on the day went for R510,000 (around $40,000). An exasperated Van der Walt hovered off to another auction 30 kilometers away.
“I plan my bidding before I go to auctions. The animals are advertized on the auction’s website, so when you go there you already know precisely what you are after. Needless to say, I went to the auction knowing exactly what I wanted and what I am willing to pay for the animal. It must be within my budget. This was ridiculously expensive,” says Van der Walt later.
Van der Walt also owns Superior African Hunting Safaris, a hunting farm that his son Eli van der Walt manages. They have been in the business since 2001.
Among the 110 bidders who spent millions on the day, was Arie Kuhn, a game farmer in Limpopo, who is also a chartered accountant in Johannesburg. He says the game farmers were stocking up for the hunting season between May and September.
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“We know what the hunters want, so we stock on those animals that are trending. On my farm, we host trophy hunters who are mainly from abroad. Normally they like blue wildebeest because it’s a cheaper animal to shoot. You can shoot it for R6,000 (around $500) and take your animal home. I purchased a lot of them. We also do exotic game breeding in other camps but these are not for hunting,” says Kuhn.
He says his auction budget is determined by his bookings.
Kuhn has been in the game farming business for nine years and grew up on the farms of Limpopo. He brought his two children, Kaylen and Jayden, with him. Jayden, his eight-year-old son, has taken to his father’s passion of hunting impala.
As the auction wore on, the mood was festive at Aucor Wildlife Auctions. Du Toit says that this may not be one of their best days, without saying how much, but seemed satisfied.
In the near distance, in a thatched-roof building, rapped the voice of auctioneer Mike Killassy. He’s in his element and in high spirits. This auction lasted four hours.
“Hammer is up. Can you make it R10,000 ($800) now, sir? Are you happy, can we sell it?” asks the auctioneer.
Killassy, owner of Killassy Auctioneering, has spent more than three decades auctioneering and worked in the United States, Australia and Europe. He says his career’s highlight was being featured in TIME. Killassy was born in Aberdeen, a farming town in the Eastern Cape, to a family with more than 100 years in agriculture. He started as a stock farming auctioneer; these days he is inundated with wildlife auctions. They come up every week in South Africa.
The business has grown enough to attract analysis. Academics in North West University, South Africa, carried out a study. They found game ranching to be a better bet than banking and the stock exchange.
Flippie Cloete, an academic from North West University, says the economic contribution of game farming was close to at least R20 billion ($1.6 billion) in 2014.
Around 29,000 animals were sold at auctions in 2014, making R1.88 billion ($151 million). In total, around 130,000 game animals were traded during the 2014 season. This means a mere 22% of animals were sold at auctions.
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“If we assume that the trade composition of official auctions and private trade are analogous, then the economic contribution from live wildlife trade alone was close if not in excess of R10 billion ($800 million). This is not even considering the economic contribution for services such as capture and translocation, pharmaceuticals, veterinary expense. In addition, the contribution of hunting is estimated to be in excess of R8 billion ($642 million),” says Cloete.
“Game yields higher returns because of the cumulative effect. You have an asset with a reproductive ability. The returns of your investment are not only determined by the change in value of the original animals that were bought, but also from the progeny. If I put my money on stock exchange, or buy a house as an investment, then the returns will to a degree depend on what happened to the value of the shares or the house. However, the big difference is that one share can’t become two or a house can’t become two. But one animal becomes two and so forth. There’s a cumulative effect,” says Cloete.
Van der Walt concurs.
“There’s no comparison between investing in property and wildlife. The animals multiply themselves but property doesn’t. In animals you are guaranteed a 30 percent profit the next year,” he says.
Meanwhile, Andrew Lianos, a chartered accountant at River Group, wants to list wildlife animals on the Johannesburg Stock Exchange (JSE). This has never been done before but he’s convinced he will have his way.
“The JSE does not comment on potential listings in the pipeline. It will only comment once a listing has been confirmed and this confirmation occurs via a SENS announcement as per JSE listing rules,” says Andre Visser, the General Manager for Issuer Regulation at the JSE.
On that sunny day in the bushes of Limpopo, Van der Walt may not have got his way in buying the kudu, but you could argue he has taken the game business by the horns.

Taking Millions By The Horns

If you own a Twitter or Facebook account you would have seen the recent anger leveled against Walter Palmer for shooting Cecil, Zimbabwe’s most renowned male lion. You may have also heard the outcries of comedian Ricky Gervais and the general public last year about United States television host, Melissa Bachman, and football cheerleader, Kendall Jones, who both posted pictures of lions they hunted in South Africa. These hunts were labeled unethical, barbaric and cruel. But, as I waded through a plethora of social media posts, I noticed that the criticism never seemed to consider the ecological dangers of trophy hunting or, contrastingly, its use to generate revenue for wildlife management.
The African lion is 220 kilograms – with a muscled physique enabling them to hunt buffalo and giraffe – that possesses a roar that can be heard from five kilometers away. I can understand why people have a problem with the ethics of wealthy hunters killing lions in Africa, but there are deeper issues. With as few as 22,000 lions left in just seven population strongholds on the continent, many of Africa’s lions are in crisis. Furthermore, male lions group together, and depend on the size and protective power of their coalitions to protect their prides from neighboring males who will kill non-related offspring when they attempt to gain control of a pride. Hunting too many male lions destabilizes the defensive power of male coalitions and doesn’t allow adult males to be in an area long enough to protect their sons and daughters.
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In Zimbabwe’s Hwange National Park, where Cecil was killed, a team of Oxford University researchers, led by Andy Loveridge, found that between 1999 and 2004, 24 of the 62 radio-collared lions were shot by trophy hunters. Overhunting halved the ratio of males to females and new males killed unrelated cubs. Zoologists, Matt Becker and Elias Rosenblatt, found a similar trend in Zambia’s South Luangwa National Park, where trophy hunting was the leading cause of lion deaths, resulting in fewer cubs, low teenage and adult male survival and lower life expectancies for females. Even the world’s most tenured lion biologist, Craig Packer, showed that Africa’s lion stronghold, Tanzania, was being subjected to overhunting in a lot of the hunting blocks across the country over the past decade.
Trophy hunting of large carnivores affects almost every large mammal, from black rhinoceros to elephant, and even common antelope like impala. The list is endless and so is the need for developing scientifically robust techniques to protect populations against the negative effects of hunting.
But, there are several places in Africa where animal populations are holding steady despite being hunted. The leopard population in the north of South Africa’s KwaZulu-Natal province suffered from unscrupulous hunting, with 40% of the population dying between 2002 and 2004. However, with a series of legislative reforms, a cap in quotas and intensive population monitoring, the population recovered to near capacity. The lion hunting management scheme, pioneered by Colleen Begg, in Niassa National Park, Mozambique, is another place where large carnivores are hunted but are not declining. Niassa employs a reward system with its outfitters, encouraging them to hunt older animals – considered safe for the population because they have sired at least one litter of cubs to independence – then their quota increases for the next season. If the hunter chooses a young individual or a female then their quota will decrease. Even in Zimbabwe, the land of the mythical Cecil, lion hunting is now capped, and lion populations have been stable since the hunting reforms made by Loveridge and his team.
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Millions of people in Africa live inside or on the borders of protected wildlife areas and their associated management zones. Many have to protect their livelihoods and sometimes their lives against animals such as lions and elephants. Surprising to most, many of Africa’s parks are linked to trophy hunting and the revenue generated from it. Recent science suggests hunting contributes to local economies and livelihoods. A recent study by Peter Lindsey, a leading wildlife management policy expert, and his colleagues found that approximately $400,000 generated through trophy hunting in Mozambique is ploughed back into the management of Niassa National Park, which amounts to 20% of the parks funding. On a larger scale, the $11 million generated by the Zambia Wildlife Authority, the country’s wildlife management and conservation body, is made up of $5 million from trophy hunting.
In 2000, a study by Michael Humavindu and Jonathan Barnes found that trophy hunting constituted about 14% of Namibia’s annual tourism and $19.6 million in gross output. But what about money going back to local communities? Lindsey found that in Tanzania 60 to 65% of hunting income from wildlife management areas, where wildlife and people live together, goes back to local communities. In Zambia 50% of hunt license fees and 20% of concession fees go back to communities. They also found families in wildlife-rich game management areas get about 17% more income and have a 7.8% better chance of finding a job than those living outside. Similarly, Humavindu and Barnes found about 24% of income earned from Namibian hunting went back to the poorer sector of the population.
Some of these statistics are difficult to ignore, especially if one considers Africa’s population growth will surpass China and India in the next 35 years. Much of this population growth will take place inside or along the borders of some of Africa’s largest wildlife areas.
Two recent studies suggested if lion hunting was banned in several countries, as much as 59,538km2 of wild land could become unviable for hunting. What would happen to that land? Although some operators could opt to try game drives or birding safaris, there is nothing to say that the land won’t be used for agriculture or the lions will not get poached.
Replacing hunting with tourism and photographic safaris might be plausible in some areas, but will be dependent on wildlife sightings in hunting zones being as good as those in national parks and whether the animals are scared of vehicles and people or not. In Zimbabwe’s Matetsi concession, a large hunting zone bordering Hwange National Park, the densities of buffalo, giraffe, kudu and zebra were similar to those of the national park between 1995 and 2010. However, if one looks at Zambia, the majority of game management areas have far fewer numbers of wildlife compared to their neighboring national parks. This would make safaris difficult unless they were geared towards specific species, rare birds or landscape and culture.
The Zimanga Private Game Reserve in South Africa has an intriguing idea of creating an artificial wetland and state-of-the-art bird hide which would allow photographers an eye-level opportunity to photograph animals. If such initiatives were attempted in Botswana, Zimbabwe and Tanzania, and community members were integrated into these ventures, they could become profitable. However, at this stage, there is no legal framework linking community benefits and photographic tourism in national parks. Is it not time to make it easier to pick up a camera than a rifle?

Can Hunting  Save Animals?

Africa was regarded the last frontier for adventure and exploration during the colonial rule. Today, it’s the polar seas, the Arctic and the Antarctic, that have not been invaded by mass tourism – yet.
Only a few years ago, it was daunting to travel to its far reaches, but today, for a hefty sum, one can step on the North Pole or South Pole – and proudly proclaim oneself an adventure tourist.
The land of the midnight sun offers some of the most scenic and finest wildlife experiences in the world. The most accessible parts of the Arctic are the seas between northern Canada, Greenland and the Svalbard archipelago in Norway. Thanks to modern travel, one can fly from Oslo to Longyearbyen, the largest settlement in Svalbard in Norway, by commercial jet and then approach 80 degrees N latitude by ice class ships, which offer adventure tourists some of the most magnificent vistas of the polar world.
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With glaciers and ice caps covering 24,000 square miles, Svalbard is one of the largest glaciated areas in the Arctic with 2,100 named glaciers. In comparison, the Himalayas only have 380 glaciers. The climate in the Arctic is currently warming at a faster rate than observed elsewhere on earth and future projections suggest that in 60 years, there may be no glaciers left.
Polar travel can be daunting, exhilarating and often disappointing, primarily due to unpredictable weather conditions. Like the weather, spotting wildlife can also be a hit or miss, depending on how lucky you are.
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Trekking The Tundra
My polar adventure began the moment I boarded the Russian registered expedition ship, Akademik Sergey Vavilov, in Longyearbyen, Spitsbergen. I had traveled on this same ship to Antarctica two years ago. It’s an ice class vessel capable of cutting through loose floes (sheets of floating ice).
The Arctic Ocean is a frozen landmass that extends across six million square miles in winter and drops to 145,000 square miles in summer. There is increasing evidence that it has shrunk over the past few years. The rigid ice cap is sometimes 50 feet thick. When it melts, it creates floes and icebergs that can block shipping lanes – remember how the Titanic sank?
The 70-odd passengers in the vessel with me embarked on daily boat expeditions, 10 per boat, to visit bird cliffs, track polar bears and walruses, land on isolated beaches or enjoy tundra walks of up to three miles. In doing so, we observed polar bears feasting on seals, pods of walruses on the beaches, cliffs with over 500,000 birds and rare arctic foxes. Trekking on the tundra, a frozen, barren land, with only peat and moss growing for months in a year, provided me a unique perspective on the ecology of the arctic lands.
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The tundra supports herbivores like reindeers that graze for two months to build enough reserves for the entire winter. There are over 120 species of arctic flowers amongst the 1,700 species of plant life.
Any visit to the Arctic is not complete without spotting a polar bear. The polar bear habitat encompasses the entire circumpolar Arctic region. Their main habitat is on offshore pack ice, and along coasts and islands of the Arctic region. Over 40% of all polar bears live in Northern Canada, on pack ice and along the shores of the many islands there. Bears will remain in this ice pack habitat all year. It is estimated that over 3,400 bears live in the Svalbard area.
The vast tundra, the glacial rivers of ice, animals on the brink of extinction due to global warming, and rich oceans where over 25 humpback whales feed all around the ship, are all experiences one can never forget. The camaraderie of an international group of passengers makes the trip even more enjoyable.

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Polar Bears And Rivers Of ice

In silence and solitude we traverse the scrub-specked grasslands of Kenya’s famed Masai Mara in search of an elusive leopard spotted the previous day.
The rains have begun and newly formed rivers and gorges pockmark a terrain sketched with the region’s emblematic acacia trees. Shuka-clad Masai tend cattle on conservancy land fringing the national reserve and copious wildlife blankets the expanse. But few of the roughly 700,000 tourists who descend annually upon one of  the Seven New Wonders of the Natural World remain. Soon, shuttered camps will reopen and from July through October crowds will return to witness the Great Migration of countless wildebeest, zebra and other game transiting from Tanzania’s adjoining Serengeti National Park.
Navigating the muddy soil, even in a tank-like vehicle, proves challenging. But perseverance rewards us with remarkable sights. A buoyant Thompson Gazelle inexplicably chases a rare Denham’s bustard, lions feast on zebra remnants, the carcass of a newly killed giraffe sadly succumbs to scavengers, while herds of majestic elephants lumber across the plains. Bones and skulls litter the landscape, but rebirth abounds. An endangered cheetah lounges amid camouflaging scrub just meters from her two young cubs. Babies of every endemic breed suckle their mothers’ teats as siblings frolic nearby. It’s the natural order of things and I feel privileged to behold this diverse kingdom without mobs encroaching.
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Unfortunately, serenity masks peril as escalating human-animal conflict and an ivory poaching pandemic threatens survival of the animals we come to see.
Enter the crusaders, one of whom is Kenyan native Richard Roberts, founder of The Mara Elephant Project (MEP). It works alongside government and environmental groups—including the Kenya Wildlife Service (KWS), American-based Escape Foundation and prominent NGO Save The Elephants. The privately funded non-profit organization was created in 2011 to help communities “combat the increasing human-animal discord” and augment anti-poaching efforts. In 2012, the Mara suffered 149 elephant mortalities, 139 of those attributed to poaching.
“Too many elephants were getting killed. Something needed to be done to help farmers and wildlife coexist Without wildlife there is no tourism… and tourism is wildlife’s savior. There are more eyes on the ground and more incentive to protect the animals,” says Roberts. And as the tourist industry accounts for 14 percent of Kenya’s GDP, raking in $1.2 billion in 2011, that’s a lot of incentive to keep visitors coming.
“A funny disconnect exists. The Masai love tourism but don’t like the wildlife. They don’t see the correlation,” adds Marc Goss, director of MEP and manager of Mara North Conservancy.
But that’s not a universal sentiment, especially amongst the more than 100 Masai, who have thus far benefited from sponsored training at the Mara’s Rekero Camp guide school. For them, the dual crisis is evident as I learn from Teketi “Stephen” Nabala, my ardently well-informed guide from the exclusive Ngerende Island Lodge.
“We [Masai] benefit greatly from tourism, economically and socially. Exposure to more people and increased education is beginning to open eyes to the importance of protecting our ecosystem.”
Recent demonstrations in the Mara calling for stronger government action substantiate changing attitudes.
Since the reserve opened in 1948 on a scant 520 kilometers­—today park and conservancy land spans more than 1,500km2—tourism has exploded. The Masai Mara alone generates $50 million annually.  In the mid-nineties, privately-managed conservancies sprouted on the reserve’s perimeters when Masai began leasing newly-owned parcels of formerly communal land to lodge operators. This arrangement provides income, employment and camp-endorsed community support for residents, while visitor fees ($70 to $100 for non-East African residents) subsidize Conservancy management and preservation efforts.
But it’s a precarious balancing act. Animals don’t recognize boundaries and often venture outside protected areas. In the past two years, farmers increasingly greet encroaching elephants with violence, while the acute resurgence of poaching continues unabated. These are complex and convoluted issues stemming from Kenya’s ballooning population (up from seven to 43 million since 1963), traditional pastoralist Masai culture embracing agriculture, limited arable land and the revitalized, highly profitable, high-demand illegal ivory trade.
<img loading="lazy" decoding="async" class="size-medium wp-image-31202 alignleft" src="http://www.forbesafrica.com/app/uploads/2017/05/IMG_6148-300x200.jpg" alt="" width="300" height="200" srcset="https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/05/IMG_6148-300x200.jpg 300w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/05/IMG_6148-600x400.jpg 600w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/05/IMG_6148-768x512.jpg 768w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/05/IMG_6148.jpg 1024w" sizes="(max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px" />
Although the MEP collars and monitors Mara elephants, maintains a network of paid informants and two roving general security teams, “our resources are insufficient,” says Roberts.
Hoping to secure an airplane and additional security teams this year, it all comes down to funding.
“We’re seeing that poachers are becoming more organized and lethal, further emphasizing the need to expand MEP,” Goss interjects.
“The good news is that the KWS has many dedicated employees with whom we share information and resources. Kenya is very lucky to have one central wildlife service, which eliminates the kind of bureaucracy Tanzania has,” says Roberts.
Further encouragement derives from the new constitution that empowers the county rather than local government to oversee the Mara.
“We’re hopeful that things will improve with decentralization and the recent election of Narok County Governor Samuel Tunai. If all private sector revenue coming from Narok was used in a transparent manner it would be the third richest county in Kenya. If that money was used sustainably, we would solve a lot of these issues,” says Goss.
“In the past, administrators ignored anything going on outside their boundaries,” notes Ol Chorro Conservancy Manager James Hardy.
“Everyone is now realizing that we’re in this together and that one region’s problems ultimately affect and belong to all [regions]. We’ve recently established a conservancies forum to address issues and voice concerns on a national level.”
It’s Roberts’ birthday and he’s invited a few friends to celebrate. Pouring rain, snorting hippos and the menacing yelps of hyenas provide the soundtrack. Yet even in the relaxed ambiance of Roberts’ tented camp, conversation turns serious. Will the newly decentralized government be as effective as hoped? Will education help mitigate the human-animal and poaching crises? Will national reserve and conservancy entrance fees get to the right places and be used efficiently?
Before returning to my tent, I’m treated to a bedtime story that hinders any chance of peaceful sleep. It’s the tale of a huge and beloved Mara elephant named Heritage, who, although collared, had twice been wounded and treated for farmer-inflicted injuries. “We thought this elephant was blessed with a cat’s nine lives. Then a few weeks ago he was poached,” Goss laments, clearly taking it personally.
Heritage’s death adds yet another to the toll of seven mutilated bulls discovered in Mara West last December. Since January, 74 elephants have been slaughtered in Kenya. In 2012, a reported 656 elephants were killed (149 in the Mara), up from 578 in 2011. Samburu and Tsavo National Parks are especially vulnerable, the latter having lost 12 elephants, including a two-month-old calf, in March. In total, wildlife organization Born Free estimates that more than 32,000 elephants have been killed since the beginning of 2012.
Fueled by an insatiable Asian appetite for ivory, particularly amongst China’s newly affluent, the “shifta” with suspected links to Al-Qaeda, as some speculate, through Al-Shabaab in neighboring Somalia, are infiltrating Kenya in record numbers. With a kilogram of ivory fetching up to $2,000, this illicit industry nets an estimated $7 billion annually.
Most illegal large-scale ivory seizures over the last three years have originated in Kenya and Tanzania, which, alongside Uganda and five Asian nations were targeted at the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES) conference in March for failing to adequately crack down on the ivory trade.
<img loading="lazy" decoding="async" class="alignnone size-medium wp-image-31201" src="http://www.forbesafrica.com/app/uploads/2017/05/IMG_2517-300x200.jpg" alt="" width="300" height="200" srcset="https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/05/IMG_2517-300x200.jpg 300w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/05/IMG_2517-600x401.jpg 600w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/05/IMG_2517-768x513.jpg 768w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/05/IMG_2517.jpg 1024w" sizes="(max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px" />
The good guys face tough odds as organized cartels, allegedly unscrupulous officials and outdated Kenyan laws that impose absurdly tame poaching penalties, conspire against them.
That said, notwithstanding a recent poor track record, Kenya has long been at the forefront of wildlife conservation. One of the first African countries to ban trophy hunting in 1973, Kenya vehemently opposed the CITES edict permitting China to purchase non–poached ivory and is currently countering Tanzania’s attempt to remove elephants from the endangered species list. To date, Kenya has allied with 16 African nations (two-thirds of the 23 member African Elephants Coalition) to quash the proposal that will repave the way for legal ivory sales.
Despite international outcry and support, officials and NGOs in Kenya and throughout Africa are fighting an uphill battle. A CITES report last June documented the highest African poaching numbers in a decade and the most ivory seizures recorded since 1989. The contraband ivory trade has more than doubled globally since 2007 and is three times larger than in 1998.
“The new wave of killing elephants in Africa is in many ways far graver than the crisis of the 1970s and 1980s… there are fewer elephants and demand is far higher. Record ivory prices in the Far East are fueling poachers, organized crime and political instability across the African elephant range and the situation shows no sign of calming,” wrote Save The Elephants founder Iain Douglas-Hamilton in the January-March issue of conservation journal SWARA.
Like most visitors, I journeyed to the Mara in pursuit of spotting big game. But, I depart with something far more indelible than beautiful photos, muddy shoes and Masai beaded jewelry. I take with me a profound awareness and renewed appreciation for the consequences of human infringement on our fragile planet. And a fierce desire to do s

2301

A New Wave Of Killing

Our roads are peppered with potholes; hijackings are a way of life; wildlife sometimes seems to have a vendetta against moving vehicles; traffic jams can rival the migration in the Serengeti, and all this is when we have roads to begin with! And let’s not forget the plight of the minibus drivers; having to furiously shuttle their sardine tins full of people, who are sometimes laden like hermit crabs with their personal belongings.
What is to be done about the seemingly Sisyphean mountain of obstacles that befall us as regular road users, you ask? Extreme all-terrain vehicles are, in my humble opinion, the obvious answer to Africa’s daunting road conditions. Take for example the Russian-built Viking-2992 from Aton Impulse (brought to you by the people who built some frighteningly effective submarines, so why not surface-dwelling amphibious vehicles too?). This road-legal behemoth is capable of conquering not only the worst tarmac, but it’s just as comfortable in more aquatic climes.
Looking, for all the world, like a bullfrog on steroids, the Viking’s high-flotation boat frame allows it to traverse the water at speeds of up to 15km/h. Equally suited to that leisurely weekend trip across the Vaal dam in South Africa (imagine the stares from those overpriced boats packed with scantily clad women and cigar-chomping businessmen), or those unscheduled flash floods, the car boasts pneumatic front and rear suspension and balloon tyres—equipped to “minimize environmental impact and soil damage”. Exactly what we were concerned about. And, should the humanitarian bug ever bite, the Viking makes a superb search-and-rescue vehicle; coming in a 6&#215;6 wheel configuration that can transport 12 people. Enough to make any taxi driver flush with envy; especially considering the car’s got climate control and a rear-view camera for ease of parking.
Another contender, in our bid to conquer Africa’s unforgiving terrain, is the Mercedes-Benz Zetros. The towering Teuton comes in either a four-liter six-ton payload or seven-liter, ten-ton variety. This truck is perfectly suited to hosting those pesky, end-of-month shopping expeditions with parking posing no problem—that Hummer’s roof will do nicely, thank you. Hijackers will stare agog, contemplating how on earth to scale the sides so they can point their quivering gun at the safely ensconced driver. Twin axles mean the cabin and payload move independently (like a belly dancer working her way through college)—helpful when encountering potholes the size of Australia, as we do after a brief cloud burst. Water reaching up to a height of 1,100mm (with the additional modifications) holds little fear for this übertruck. Let’s see someone try to push in front of one of these at the next intersection.
When it comes to sure-footedness though, nothing beats the insanity of the Chainlink extreme 4&#215;4. Powered by a fuel-injected five-liter V8 engine sourced from a Ford Mustang, the unique feature of this vehicle is that its one-meter-high tires dangle off the end of hydraulically controlled swing arms that can work independently or as a team. This unsurpassed articulation (two meters in total travel) means the Chainlink virtually bounds over boulders, seemingly negating the need for roads at all. While disturbing to look at, and its gait is reminiscent of a drunkard at a twisting competition, the Chainlink gets the job done.
Ever wary of expenditure, we’ve managed to uncover a more cost-effective manner of taming the African wilderness. It comes in the form of the Desert Fox conversion. Designed to fit your existing Toyota Land Cruiser or Nissan Patrol (chosen specifically for their impervious nature and easy access of parts), the kit comprises of a fully galvanized platform that simply bolts on (housing eight molded seats protected by three rollover bars) and transforms the ‘bakkie’ into a light infantry patrol vehicle. In addition, the suspension undergoes some radical reworking thanks to new leaf and coil springs, gas-powered shock absorbers, a heavy-duty steering damper and anti-sway bar.
Criminals stand no chance against the Desert Fox’s optional armor plating, and it even comes with its own water supply (100 liters) and dual battery with charging system. Making this kit a must-have for those expeditions to war-torn territories is the optional gun turret. A handy feature, to keep the masses at bay; especially if you’ve opted to purchase another product from the same company—the mobile field kitchen. Simply throw this contraption onto the tow hitch, and you can almost literally make food for Africa; 300 people at a go, and up to 1,000 in total. The kitchen uses diesel to power its hot plates (switching over to solar when hot) and can pump out 24 loaves of bread in 20 minutes. That’ll satisfy the biggest appetite! No wonder military brass, from numerous countries, are showing interest—and it’s exactly what a hungry, take-no-crap, sick-to-death-of-traffic road user really needs.
If the Desert Fox has piqued your interest in military grade vehicles, take a gander at www.milweb.net—apparently they are “the world’s largest and busiest military marketplace for military vehicles”. Nothing says “get the hell out of my way” quite like a tank, which is why we’d simply have to opt for one if we inadvertently won the Lotto. While owning and driving a tank on public roads might be completely illegal, such technicalities haven’t stopped a host of drivers in our laissez faire continent, thanks to the pliability of our cash-strapped authorities. Ah, Africa—the cradle of mankind. We might not have invented corruption, but we’ve certainly come close to perfecting it. And yet, this is our land—diverse, unique, challenging and exciting. If you don’t like it—well, you know the rest&#8230;

Tag: wildlife

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