AWF Blog

• A Visit to Victoria Falls

  Posted: September 29, 2011, 12:29 am by Becky

  A photo diary from Becky Walter, an AWF intern in the field. Click on any of the stunning images below to view it in full size.

  “Near the end of my stay in the Kazungula Heartland, I went up in a helicopter above Victoria Falls.  Having spent a lot of time on foot in the area, it was incredible seeing and making sense of the landscape from above.”

   

  Mosi-Oa-Tunya was the original name of Victoria Falls, translating to “the smoke that thunders.” Flying towards the fall in the air, the “smoke” is actually water coming back up from the fall, and into the air, mimicking the clouds in the sky.

  We approached the fall from above, on the same path that the Zambezi River takes as it pours out over the fall. The river then winds around the sharp bends below, snaking its way further into the landscape.

  As we came around the fall, I began to understand just how enormous a stretch of land and water the fall truly is. The sheer amount of water flowing over the fall is simply breathtaking.

  Victoria Falls is over 5,600 feet wide, and 350 feet tall: the largest sheet of falling water in the world. To the right is Zambia, and to the left is Zimbabwe, with paths on the banks opposite of the fall.

  Flying over the fall you see where the Zambezi river makes its first turn after the fall, down on the right. Water and light combining, they create magnificent rainbows all around the fall, changing with each move we made.

  A rainbow stretches between the fall and the opposite bank. It was absolutely spectacular seeing the fall from above, and watching as the light and water morphed rainbows here and there, making large arches down over the land below.

• Experiencing Conservation through RBM (Ranger-Based Monitoring)

  Posted: September 23, 2011, 8:44 pm by Anna

  A key tool for the conservation of mountain gorillas and their montane habitat is Ranger Based Monitoring (RBM). We are Patrick and Louise, two zoology students from Newcastle University, UK, and we spent two weeks in Rwanda with IGCP experiencing conservation of a critically-endangered species and important habitat through RBM.

  RBM is a simple and cost effective method for collecting data, used to monitor ecosystems and help make park management decisions. We were able to view RBM from many different perspectives- we met park rangers, trackers and staff from the Rwanda Development Board, local community members, and gained the perspective of an NGO while staying with IGCP. We found Ranger Based Monitoring to work like a well-oiled machine, systematic and functional in often complex circumstances.

  RBM has evolved as a basic tool to collect information about the Mountain Gorillas; with the aim being a cost effective method to collect the maximum amount of information without the need for a large increase in manpower. RBM helped create family group profiles and to know each individual gorilla systematically, facilitating extreme conservation.’

  RBM is used not only to develop gorilla-based tourism, but also as an information-rich law enforcement tool to reduce the amount of illegal activity in the park. This helps to protect the gorillas, and decrease the incidences of poaching and accidental capture. The data produced allows RDB to make informed decisions about the management of Volcanoes National Park, and to direct their efforts successfully and efficiently. It also shows how effective management strategies have been based on the continuous data collected.

  During our first week in Rwanda, we got the chance to visit the gorillas ourselves when we went to trek the Amahoro group. We were walking through the park for around half an hour before we were met by a group of trackers, who then led us to the Amahoro group, including the silverback Ubumwe. We spent one hour with the gorillas, watching the babies play, the adults lying sleepily on the forest floor and saw how at ease they all were with not only the trackers, but also with us. While seeing the gorillas themselves was an incredible experience, we also gained insight into the key role trackers play in RBM.

  Trackers from Volcanoes National Park spend all day with the gorillas, from when they wake up in the morning until they go to sleep at night. They collect a wide range of data; from the location of the gorillas to information on the demographics, health and behaviour of each gorilla group. This data has provided a greater understanding of the gorillas and their habitat, as well as close health monitoring, so that the veterinarians can intervene at the first sign of life-threatening illness or injury.

  Another crucial role for the continued success of RBM, is played by the park rangers. These rangers, who risk their lives to protect the park and its critically endangered mountain gorillas, collect information on illegal activities within the park. These illegal activities are done to extract resources- snares set to capture bush meat, hives for beekeeping and the cutting down of bamboo. As well as protecting the park, the information rangers collect, especially GPS points, allow park management to ensure the whole park is covered and to direct patrols to critical areas. We spoke to a team of rangers directly, who informed us they had seen a significant reduction in the number of snares and other illegal activities in the park over the last few years. They said that collaboration with ex-poachers as well as a good partnership with the local government was key in making this possible; again highlighting the importance of bringing all aspects of RBM together in order to manage the park successfully.

  As RBM has become an established tool in Mountain Gorilla conservation, its uses have expanded into the communities surrounding the park in an attempt to tackle human-wildlife conflicts. When animals such as buffalo or even the gorillas leave the park, members of local communities, trained by IGCP and the Rwanda Development Board, record important information such as the location, species and any damage done. This simple technique gives a picture of where and how often conflicts with local wildlife are taking place allowing potential solutions to be directed accordingly. By involving people from local communities, many of whom were at one time involved in poaching themselves, RBM provides an alternative to poaching and allows the local people to feel involved with gorilla conservation and conservation of Volcanoes National Park as a whole.

  As we discovered more about RBM, we found ourselves surprised at how adaptable and fluid it can be. RBM has successfully overcome a number of potential problems, such as the transboundary nature of the Virunga Massif. It has taken tremendous amounts of collaboration to harmonise data collection and monitoring between the three countries- Rwanda, Uganda and Democratic Republic of Congo- which share the Virunga Massif. Furthermore, with the continued help of NGOs such as the International Gorilla Conservation Programme (IGCP) the Virunga Massif is better able to be considered as one area rather than as three separate and independent National Parks.

  Learning about RBM gave us an important and valuable insight and understanding into how in situ conservation works in the real world compared with the theory learned in class. We were able to observe firsthand what is needed in order to create successful conservation strategies, and how community involvement is essential to the long-term success of conservation. The time we spent in Rwanda really opened our eyes to what conservation is really about, and while seeing the gorillas in the wild was a truly unforgettable experience, we learnt that it is the cooperation between government, NGOs and communities that determines the success of conservation projects.

• The Hippo Encounter: Part 2

  Posted: September 15, 2011, 5:09 pm by Nakedi

  I found a donga (the bank of a gully) along the way, which I jumped over and stood on the other side. I was confident that even if this were a super athletic hippo, the Michael Jordan of hippos, it would take him a month to jump across that part of the donga. “This would buy me time to get into AWF’s research vehicle,” I thought. Indeed, when the hippo finally caught up with me, there was a donga separating us. I think that donga saved my life because all the big trees where in Kaizer’s direction and there was no way I could out sprint a charging hippo to get to them.

  The hippo stood on the other side, looking at me and at the donga at the same time. Understandably, he was furious. He had been infuriated and wanted us to feel his wrath, or the sharpness of his enormous tusks. In addition, he was still bellowing, as if saying: “I’m coming for you buddy, just wait until I jump this trench.” For a moment I stopped the idiocy of comtemplating the hippo’s lack of athleticism and ran into the car. Meanwhile the hippo went to the shallow end of the donga at the same time looking at the car with malevolent hatred.

   

  Hundreds of hippos are shot each year in “controlled management” schemes, despite the fact that hippos are easily deterred by ditches or low fences.

  When I got in, my whole body was in tremors. I started the car and revved the engine with my trembling right foot in the hopes scaring the hippo away. That was a big mistake because the hippo took it as a challenge opened its mouth and came for the car. My thoughts were: “Uh oh, what am I going to tell AWF happened to the vehicle, which by the way was kindly donated to us to carry out leopard work; not to wrestle hippos?” I reversed the car away from the hippo. There was dust everywhere. The hippo suddenly stopped looked at me and then ran into the bushes and disappeared. All I could hear were branches breaking and his angry bellows.

  Meanwhile, Kaizer was still up in the tree, out of sight. I cautiously opened the car window and shouted that the hippo was gone. Something tells me that Kaizer didn’t believe me because he stayed there for about fifteen minutes after the hippo had left. When he eventually emerged he looked traumatized, but obliviously walking in the same direction that the hippo had gone. I jumped out of the car and mentioned that he was following the hippo. I have never seen so much fear on a man’s face before. He ran like an Olympic sprinter with his eyes bulging out. He threw himself into the car. Nothing was mentioned of the hippo until we got back to camp that evening. But the trauma stayed with us for days after that. Our senses became sharp. We ran from elephants that were at least 200 metres from us, we even ran from the noise caused by the wind against the trees. In the end I had had enough of running with those heavy batteries and cameras and one day when we were about to leave the vehicle I said to Kaizer: “Okay, before we go out there, when do we run and when do we walk?” We decided then that we would not run again and then normality ensued. That afternoon we confidently walked past a herd of elephants and a big elephant bull.

  We started to respect and appreciate the field way more than ever before. It was a great lesson. It was stupid of us to disrespect the poor animal. We were lucky to survive the attack.

  Unfortunately Kaizer left the leopard project and in the months that followed, I worked with Mr Ozias Kubayi. I will tell you more about him in the next post.

Blah blah blah

Fish cakes

Alas a fish cake.

Yet more fish cakes

Guess what ... yeah ... fish cakes.

The end of the fish cakes