AWF Blog

• Lions and Rhinos and Okapi, Oh, My!

  Posted: August 30, 2011, 9:47 pm by Erin

  The air is electric with anticipation. Dozens of eyes fix intensely on a single target. The crowd hushes. Suddenly, a pack of African wild dogs charge forth from their den, barking and yelping as they begin feasting on the meal laid before them.

  This exciting sight was witnessed, not by safari goers in Africa, but by zoo-goers just 14 miles from downtown Chicago.  On July 23, more than 900 members of the African Wildlife Foundation (AWF) helped celebrate the organization’s 50th anniversary with a day at the Brookfield Zoo. Sporting VIP badges, AWF supporters from the Chicago metropolitan area, as well as Wisconsin, Minnesota, Michigan and Iowa, enjoyed special keeper chats and feedings with zoo and AWF staff, as well as a picnic-style BBQ hosted by AWF Board Chair and Brookfield Zoo Trustee, Dennis Keller.

  Together with a Brookfield naturalist, AWF held a special zookeeper chat on the African wild dog. Where once there were 500,000 wild dogs living in 39 countries across Africa, today there are fewer than 5,000. Photo: Jim Schulz/CZS

  AWF is a leading conservation organization focused solely on Africa. Headquartered in Nairobi, Kenya, AWF works directly on the ground in more than a dozen nations in key, defined landscapes—called Heartlands—to save wildlife, preserve natural habitats, and develop sustainable initiatives that benefit the people living closest to the wildlife.

  Even though AWF’s work is focused on Africa, according to AWF CEO, Dr. Patrick Bergin, celebrating the organization’s 50th anniversary at the Brookfield Zoo was a natural fit. “Zoos are critical conservation partners for AWF; they help bring Africa closer to the general public,” he said. “They show people just how magnificent the species that call Africa home are and why it is so imperative that we work together to protect them and their habitats. Events like this connect people with AWF and our mission to ensure that the wildlife and wild lands of Africa endure forever.”

  In Brookfield’s Habitat Africa exhibit, guests were awestruck to see two of Africa’s most intriguing—and least-known—species: the red river hog and the okapi, the latter of which was once thought to be extinct. Other Africa-related sights included the Pachyderm House, home to hippos and lowland tapirs; and the Fragile Kingdom, where visitors learned about some of Africa’s smaller cats, such as caracals and sand cats. Throughout the day, people were overheard sharing stories from their own travels to Africa.

  AWF CEO Patrick Bergin (center, in green shirt) and a Brookfield zookeeper lead a chat on black rhinos and AWF's conservation efforts with the endangered species. Demand for rhino horn has increased rhino poaching in Africa. Photo: Jim Schulz/CZS

  Over the past 50 years, AWF has been at the forefront of African conservation initiatives, from establishing a research project on mountain gorillas to leading the charge against elephant poaching and international ivory sales. And while it is wonderful to look back on all that AWF has accomplished during its past five decades of service, Bergin stressed that there is still much more that needs to be done.

  “While AWF has achieved some notable conservation successes in the past 50 years, we will continue to confront challenges as Africa modernizes,” he said. “Thanks to our loyal members, AWF can continue working to prevent key and vital wildlife from passing into myth and habitats from being decimated.”

  AWF thanks all of its supporters, trustees and the Brookfield Zoo for helping it to achieve 50 years of conservation success in Africa, and looks forward to many more years of the same.

  AWF is a proud member of EarthShare. Find out how easy it is to support AWF and dozens of other environmental and conservation charities through a workplace giving campaign.  Federal employees can support AWF in the CFC by donating to #11219.

• Leopard Project Progress and the Hippo Encounter

  Posted: August 23, 2011, 6:47 pm by Nakedi

  During the month of August in 2010, after our CEO had visited and left, but before the Corne family visited, Kaizer and I were out looking for the best sites to place cameras when we came across a puddle of water in a dry river bed. It really looked like a puddle and Kaizer and I stood in front of it and discussed the best direction to go to set a camera station. Suddenly there was whirl wind, which came in our direction and went right over the puddle. Suddenly a ginormous, hippo head popped up like a bobble-head and scuttled to the opposite end of what was a puddle a few moments earlier. My thinking at the time was that we were standing there and this hippo was probably looking at us from under the water all along. I told Kaizer that we had to leave instantly as hippos are really dangerous and accounted for more human casualties than any other large mammal in Africa. That is what I wanted to tell him at the time, but what I actually said was:

   

  The hippopotamus, whose hide alone can weigh half a ton, is the third-largest living land mammal, after elephants and white rhinos.

  Me: Kaizer, let’s get out of here, hippos kill people.

  Kaizer: I want to see how big it is.

  Me: No, let’s go dude. That thing runs faster than us. Let’s go.

  Kaizer (Picks up a pebble and throws it at the hippo’s head): Nothing will happen; I lived with the big five for two years. Two years, without taking a shower or anything like that. I was like an animal and nothing happened to me. (Picks up another pebble)

  Me:  No man, don’t do that. Okay if you want to die, you do it alone. I’m leaving.

  I turned around and started for the car, which was about 200 meters away. I barely took ten strides when I heard Kaizer screaming “HELP”, and the billowing of a clearly upset animal coming from behind me. My first instinct was to turn around and see what was going on. Kaizer was running in my direction with the rifle in his right hand and behind him, was an ill tempered hippo in pursuit. For a moment there, time stood still and everything seemed to be going in slow motion. The hippo was rapidly closing in on Kaizer, who while screaming tried to change direction, but then slipped and hit the deck hard and got up like a ping pong ball. As he changed direction, the hippo saw yours truly, who by the way was still shell shocked and frozen. The hippo stopped for a second because Kaizer was running in the other direction now. I guess it was deciding on whom to take on first. It went after Kaizer and they disappeared in the bushes.

  The noise that came from there was disturbing. Trees were shaking vigorously. I wanted to run after them and see what was going on, but I couldn’t. I just stood there in awe, like a lightning victim. My mind was working though. I thought Kaizer was being killed and I couldn’t do anything to help him. Disappointment in my lack of courage to help Kaizer took over. “It all happened so fast”, I tried to look for an excuse for my cowardliness. Suddenly I heard Kaizer shout: “Nakedi run to the car, he’s coming for you.”

  … To be continued next month.

   

• The Nairobi National Park (NNP)

  Posted: August 22, 2011, 6:14 pm by Kathleen

  Nairobi National Park is one of the world’s only national parks that sit on the edge of a major city.  It is truly amazing that one can escape the booming city of Nairobi with its 6 million people and world-renowned traffic jams in a matter of minutes into the forest and grasslands of Nairobi National Park—the green lung of Nairobi. Its resource as an air filter to the city as well as educational resource for millions of Kenyans who come to experience nature is truly invaluable.

  Founded in 1946, the Park covers an area of 117.21 square kilometers (28,963 acres). You can see all the big five in this amazing Park, except the elephant.

  It’s a Saturday and we drive down to Nairobi National Park (NNP) for a late afternoon game drive. It is crowded with Kenyans and tourists. It is great to see people taking advantage of their Park. There are people of all ages, enjoying the outdoors, watching and learning about wildlife.

  Lion cub in Nairobi National Park

  I have heard there are a number of lions in the Park, so we come in search of lions. Lion populations in Kenya are declining rapidly. There are currently only 2,000 lions left in Kenya and these numbers continue to decrease. Over the past century, lion numbers have plunged from 100,000 individuals to approximately 23,000 across Africa. Imagine Kenya, let alone Africa without lions. The Park currently hosts approximately 38 lions plus at least 6 cubs, an important source area for lions.

  We drive on the dirt roads in search of the tawny lion color in the tall grass and are fortunate to spot a female with three cubs. She is eating an impala that she recently killed, and the cubs are lounging and playing in the grass. Occasionally the cubs barrel over towards their mother to snack on the impala, but then run away playfully. We sit for hours in the quiet of the Park watching these magnificent mammals. As the sun sets casting a brilliant orange hew on the grasslands, another female lion crests the ridge and roars towards the female we are watching. The female roars back, picks up the impala and makes her way to the other female. As the light fades it is hard to make the tiny cubs out in the grass, but we watch them as they trot along behind their mother and eventually disappear into a river bed.

  Lion in Nairobi National Park dragging an impala to a river bed for safe eating

  AWF has been working in the dispersal area south of Nairobi National Park, the Kitengela-Isinya-Kipeto region, with a goal of keeping it open for wildlife and pastoralism. Like many protected areas in Kenya, NNP is dependent upon the adjacent lands for its survival. The Kaputei plains are critical to the Park for dispersal and additional habitat. The land is primarily owned by Maasai, but with the pressures of Nairobi banging on their doorstep, keeping this land open has become severely challenging. Sub-division is rampant, land prices are through the roof and it is getting harder and harder for the Maasai to maintain their pastoralist lifestyle. Simultaneously, wildlife is unable to continue their movement patterns and human-wildlife conflict escalates, resulting in a dramatic decline in wildlife in this region.

  As Nairobi searches for new land for expansion, the race against time is fierce. There is a new proposed highway that will cut along the southern edge of the Park, which will entirely cut off the Park from the dispersal area.

  Proposed road network in Nairobi. The proposed southern by-pass will cut of the southern dispersal area of Nairobi National Park; thereby, completely isolating the Park (click to enlarge map)

  A community driven Land Use Master Plan for this entire area was developed and approved by the government last year. This will greatly regulate development and sub-divisions within the Kitengela-Isinya-Kipeto region. There has been a significant delay in launching the plan, the first of its kind in Kenya, but we hope to see it launched by the end of this month. With proper planning as set out in the plan, there is a chance to save this landscape and ensure that the wildlife and people thrive in this area.

   

• Dismay over light sentencing of mountain gorilla poachers in Bwindi

  Posted: August 15, 2011, 6:35 pm by Anna

  What is the worth of a mountain gorilla? The international community places a high value on these critically-endangered animals and in recent years, there is a growing appreciation for the value of mountain gorillas in communities that live in close proximity to the protected areas that harbor the worldís remaining 780 mountain gorillas.

  It is for this reason that there is widespread dismay over the recent sentencing of three men charged with the killing of a mountain gorilla in Bwindi Impenetrable National Park, resulting in fines ranging from around 18 to 37 US dollars.

   

  Bwindi Impenetrable Forest is one of the most biologically diverse areas in the world, where half the world's highly endangered Mountain Gorillas live in its jungles.

  The Uganda Wildlife Authority originally reported the death of a blackback male mountain gorilla, named Mizano, at the hands of poachers in Bwindi Impenetrable National Park, Uganda, in June this year. They have today issued a statement on their dismay over the light sentence handed down, a sentiment shared by the International Gorilla Conservation Programme.

  A necropsy and subsequent investigation concluded that the mountain gorilla had been killed when a spear pierced its lung. That spear belonged to poachers who were in the national park with dogs searching for small antelopes caught in previously set snares. Following an investigation and the use of a police dog unit, three men were arrested from Karambi Trading Centre and several bloodied pangas and spears were confiscated.

  During the recent trial, the magistrate at the court in Kanungu District, Uganda, concluded that there was not enough evidence presented in court to link the men to the dead mountain gorilla. It was noted that no DNA test was carried out to link the blood found on the confiscated weapons to the mountain gorilla and the results of the necropsy were never presented in court. In short, there was no direct evidence presented in court linking the men to the death of the mountain gorilla.

  The result of the lack of evidence presented has resulted in one man being charged with entering a protected area without authority and possession of illegal devices capable of killing wildlife species, with the penalty a fine totaling 100,000 Ugandan Shillings, approximately 37 US Dollars. The other two men were charged with trying to escape arrest, each given a fine of 50,000 Ugandan Shillings, approximately 18 US Dollars.

  While there is no evidence that the poachers in this case were intending to harm gorillas until their chance encounter with the Habinyanja group in the forest, the fact remains that a mountain gorilla is dead at the hands of people who should not have been in the forest to begin with, stated Eugene Rutagarama, Director of the International Gorilla Conservation Programme (IGCP), a coalition of the African Wildlife Foundation, Fauna & Flora International, and the World Wide Fund for Nature.

  We are disheartened to hear that the evidence collected by the park authorities and conservation organizations never made it to the court and we are working closely with the Uganda Wildlife Authority to support efforts to forge better connections between wildlife forensics and the legal system in Uganda, he continued.

  In the statement released today, the Uganda Wildlife Authority stated that although we will not appeal the sentence, we express our shock in the strongest terms and we will be bringing up this issue with the Office of the Chief Justice.  Other efforts at the field level are also being planned, including training for park staff as well as sensitization of communities, local government and court systems about the value of mountain gorillas to the local and national economy and their fragility as a species.

• Kwita Izina: Checking in on 3-year-old SACOLA

  Posted: August 3, 2011, 5:57 pm by AWF

  Three years ago this month, a baby mountain gorilla was given a name. It wasn’t aware that it had received a name, as it was and still is a wild mountain gorilla living on the slopes of volcanoes in the appropriately-named Volcanoes National Park. This baby gorilla was given the name of SACOLA by Patrick Bergin, the CEO of the African Wildlife Foundation, on behalf of the coalition of the International Gorilla Conservation Programme as well as the people living in close proximity to the park.

  SACOLA runs through the forest.

  Three years on, Rwanda is poised to celebrate the 7th Annual Kwita Izina gorilla naming ceremony tomorrow on June 18th, with the theme of ‘community development for sustained conservation.’ Last week, I checked in on SACOLA the gorilla thriving within the park and SACOLA the community association thriving outside of the park.

  As we approached the Sabyinyo family group, through the thick bamboo in the saddle between the Sabyinyo and Visoke volcanoes, we immediately came across SACOLA and his mother Kampanga. Kampanga was lounging on her back holding her one-week-old infant, while SACOLA was playing and periodically eating nearby. Several times SACOLA came to sit near her mother and the new baby, trying to nuzzle in close to her mother, and then again going to sit several meters away.

  Eventually, six-year old Isheja aka Big Ben joined SACOLA and began to groom her. And much to everyone’s delight that I was with, Guhonda the silverback of Sabyinyo group sat down between Kampanga with her infant and SACOLA and Big Ben. 40-year-old Guhonda is the largest known silverback mountain gorilla, estimated to be well over 400 pounds. He tends to sit and observe both his family and the visitors, as he did just then.

  In total, there are 17 mountain gorillas in the Sabyinyo family group, and we saw a large majority of them at one time or another during our hour-long visit. SACOLA was doing well, in spite of getting caught in an antelope snare a few months previously. Thankfully, a successful intervention by the Gorilla Doctors relieved her of that potentially life-threatening burden.

  Gihishamwutsi, 2nd silverback in the Sabyinyo family group sits among several females.

  It is amazing to witness the level of protection that these named mountain gorillas receive. In fact, these ‘extreme conservation’ measures have made a huge impact on improving the growth rate of these critically endangered animals. Only habituated mountain gorillas, in the groups regularly visited by researchers or tourists, are given names and offered this level of protection and care.

  Being with the Sabyinyo family group was amazing and we also got some very good views of the to-be-named infant of Umurinzi who was born in August last year.

  We also had quite an eye-full of the rough and tumble play of Big Ben with this infant and other young gorillas in the group. The bamboo was too thick to get a decent photograph of SACOLA. That’s one thing you have to be willing to accept when you go to see the wild mountain gorillas in Rwanda, Uganda, or the Democratic Republic of Congo. Expect to be captivated and awe-struck at being among gorillas in their own habitat. Don’t expect to get your ‘National Geographic’ photo op.

  SACOLA represents what mountain gorilla tourism can mean to the development of communities around the parks in which they live. SACOLA, an association established in 2004, stands for the Sabyinyo Community Livelihoods Association representing all adult members of the Kinigi and Nyange sectors bordering the park, about 50,000 people.

  This association receives income from a luxury community lodge that they are owners of, an arrangement facilitated by IGCP and AWF. This income they re-invest in conservation and development projects within their communities.

  Two SACOLA villages have been built, providing adequate shelter and facilities for the community’s most vulnerable; Kinigi Cultural Center and Community Walk developed; water tanks constructed; roads rehabilitated; electricity provided to Nyange, classrooms built; the buffalo wall maintained; and more.

  SACOLA, after three years of operation is moving toward having earned and re-invested 1 million USD back into the community. When speaking to someone on the ground, the return on investment in this economic activity has incredible return on investment to the communities that ultimately are responsible for the conservation of the mountain gorillas and their habitat. From preliminary assessment of ranger-based monitoring data, we’ve seen a decrease to illegal activities in the park in the areas neighboring the two SACOLA sectors. Further analysis is needed and will be reported on through this blog.

  Twenty-two mountain gorillas are ready to receive names at tomorrow’s (June 18th) ceremony. You can take a look at them through this Flickr set, or start planning your trip to meet them in person. I am happy to report that both SACOLA the three-year-old mountain gorilla and SACOLA the seven-year-old community association both have a bright future.

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Fish cakes

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Yet more fish cakes

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The end of the fish cakes