Mana Pools Game Count

Every year, national parks and some conservation societies are organizing the count of the WILD animals in parks. I had the opportunity to go to Matusodona National park earlier in August, and Lou and I joined a group of happy counters for the Mana Pools Game Count earlier in Septembre. 

couldn't post the cartoons because I was in wilder Maputo right after.

These counts are organized by societies that are doing a tremendous and great job,... but seem not to be actively recruiting new members. Most of the members are friends of a friend of a friend. 

Everyone needs a friend. 

So last year a friend of a friend of a friend called Pat, had a neighbour who had a friend who was involved in the count. 

Pat is very social so he talks to his neighbour, probably sharing a glass of wine or two and talking about the best car on the planet, the land rover defender. From that discussion they spoka about the Wild, and from the wild about the game count. the friend of the neighbour, reaching the end of the bottle invited Pat to come. That is how new members are made.

Coming from the frozen plains of Marple Country, he was immediatly interested in joining in. Any opportunity is good to see something else than a raccoon or a moose.

He was then introduced and accepted as a full endorsed member by the Wildlife and Environment Society of Zimbabwe - WEZ for the fans of abreviations. 

Being a very social person, he thought that making a group to walk together was wise. He was right, as some of the WEZ members are very interesting caracters (who happen to also be from my -not so- distant family) who are strictly respecting the "drink enough" rule - fearing dehydratation more than they fear a rabid hyena.

So Pat and crew bravely went. And they really enjoyed it. So they decided to do it again. And to take the recruitment of new WEZers to a different level all together.

A year later, the guy gathered one massive crew of 6 groups of 6 (=36 people), and because there are not enough Canadians in Zim, he was not that picky about where the people came from. As long as they were friends of friends, you know. And I happen to be the dad of a friend of his son. Bingo.

We were from 14 different nationalities. 

We joined the 200 other counting fellows. Who were at first excited to see newbies, then a bit puzzled, then relatively wary to see so many new faces speaking with weird accents, but still pronouncing "Yes" in some heavy "Yaa" or  knowing how to appreciate good biltong . 

The organizers were lost in translation. The members of the society, speechless, not really sure how to deal with these.... FTs? 

And because Pat is a very social person, who likes good things, he managed and organized the 35 FTs in  Glamping... (Glamorous Camping for those uninitiated), Gourmet meals (with 14 nationalities, each had to out-do the other), wine and whiskey, but above all an incredible experience of walking in the bush, counting all the animals you could see: Impalas by the hundreds (that is the main reason why you should be over 14 to do the walks), elephants charging French runners or old bullies, kudus, lions on the hunt, and many others. Just amazing. 

And the group just chilled. It was completely amazing. You really need more Pats in the world, to put people together, have a Norse Viking to make a Mechoui, some Israelians to feed the planet, a Chilean and Guatemalan missis to prepare mexican food, and millions of other fun things. 

People really enjoyed each other's company, and talked (loudly) into the still night over GnTs and Wine and Mauritian Rhum and... I guess these substances don't only keep the doctor away, but also the hyenas. Good to know. Mental note. 

Funny thing as well, a fake swiss-greek, but real belgian who was in my group of happy walkers happened -obviously- to have been my senior of 5 years in college. And a scout of the 35ème BP. Same Same. I had to meet the guy in the middle of nowhere, reading a GPS and counting buffalos. Last time that happened to me I was sharing sushis in Kinshasa. Cannot wait for the next time.

Thanks for all who made that trip amazing, respect.

Next year I'm back there, for sure. 

(c) Yaron C.

(c) Yaron C.

Matusadona Game count

After a week in the bush, your legs are scratched, your beard looks rough, you smell like a cave man and you really enjoy the absence of tsetse flies when you shower. 

Following the dino trip to Mana Angwa I received a phone call out of the blue asking if  

1. I had a big 4*4 and 
2. I was interested in doing a game count in Matusadona the next WE. 

Yes! A landie actually makes you popular in these tropics, and people are ready to bet that the landie driver is actually not an unpleasant individual trying to compensate with a square diesel engine. Or maybe they know what to expect but also know that it will be ok to deal with it. 

The negociation with my wife was (not so) tough, not really a negociation as well. I am sure that she did not mind at all staying with the kids, and welcoming 4 friends at home when I was away. She says that it was easy, at the end, to fit all the 8 people in our honda fit. Now that I know that, I will feel less remorse next time.

So, I joined a group of four all of whom turned out to be really interesting and cool people. The Matusadona Game count was organized by the Zambezi Society. 

A game count really consist of walking for some days (4 in our case) in a national park, with a ranger, recording tracks, sights and signs of animals and human activity. The animals are counted in order to estimate the population and species of mamals (and birds,...) in the area, and the human activity to estimate the poaching and interaction between wildlife and humans in the park. 

We camped in the park, walked in the area that was allocated to us and recorded whatever we could see, climbing hills, checking water spots, following animal tracks, and trying to be usefull to the parks and Zambezi Society. 

I hope we did a good job. 

Our walks and observations unfortunatly revealed that if we saw many tracks of animals, buffalo, elephants, porcupines, hyenas, kudus, steinbuck, klipspringers, roan antelopes, sables, zebras, genet cat, etc, the tracks were mainly made of droppings, scats, dungs, poo, shit and middens, along with foot prints, and bones for we have not seen many animals alive. 

We walked, climbed, observed, searched for hours from high viewpoints for signs of meat-fur-and-flesh-moving things but could not see much. In four days we saw a family of elies (about 13 of them, with youngsters and teens), 4 klipspringers, one steinbuck, a couple of wardhogs and squirrels, 2 lions and a shrew. We heard a baboon, and a hyena. Not much. 

On the other hand, the entire area we walked in burned on our second day, we found three skeletons of elephants, whose skulls had been cut so the tusks could be removed and saw for ourselves that the animals were fearing humans: we got charged by the elies, enough to confirm the great training and professionnal reactions of the ranger. 

The area we had to survey is bordering the communal land that is rented to the camp fire project for hunters. The proximity with humans is generally synonymous to low numbers of animals, which we knew from the start. On our second day we spotted a fire starting behind a hill a few km away, so decided to go check it. The ranger knew that they were poachers, as they use that burn tactic to hide their tracks or to see better animals, when hunting with dogs. Reaching the hill top we saw that the fire was not alone, that fires were being lit as far as we could see, in a line, between us and the camp. such fires are made to clear an area, but are also made to move animals in one direction. 

The fire did come very close to the camp and Lucy, who stayed on the campside for the day, packed up the entire camp in the cars and drove them to the river bed, saving the day for us. 

 

(c) Lucy Broderick, 2014

On our hill top, watching the smokes and hearing the cracks of the wood burning I really felt that such a fire was not really made to help local poachers, but maybe designed to push the game towards the hunting concession. That feeling came back a couple of days later, when, on the main road we came across a hunting party. So on one hand we try to monitor the population of animals, one of the use of it is also to identify the quotas allocated for hunters, and on the other hand we saw something that seemed organized to clean the national park wildlife, push the game to the hunting grounds, and at the end we struggle to see much animals. Human-animal interaction. Humans, one point. For sure, in a country facing economical difficulties, hunters bring big money, poaching as well and there seems to be little alternatives. 

Anyway, the week was very enriching and great, we clicked well in the group. 

 

It is always amazing to walk in the bush, pay attention to small things, trying to help and make a difference, meeting new people and just doing something new. 

It was also something I set as a goal for 2014: Multiply opportunities to walk in the bush and getting involved in environmental societies. Check. 

Now I need to find some jobs. 

   

(c) Lucy Broderick, 2014

Wild in Chirundu

We went to B&T's wedding on the banks of the Mighty Zambezi river, in Chirundu, last WE. A quick trip in a stunning place. Amazing sunsets, a lot of elies and the bush that turns colours now. 

The morning of the wedding we went for a river cruise, the family, friends and a springy 88 years old granny. The kids were fishing and only my 4 years-old caught a fillet size bream. She was so happy:  she was then THE expert, telling all the others kids that if they wanted she could catch the fish and they could bring it up. That did not go down well with them, hahaha. For the smallest girl to give fishing advises to her older sibblings, they took it hard on their pride. 

As she was chatting about her skills tree elephants came just right next to us for a drink. They must have smelled the passion fruits and apples we had as snacks. They were chilled, we were right in the wind so they were fully aware of our presence there. They stayed for a full half an hour, it was amazing. 

Sunsets were wonderful, the wedding in the most gorgeous place, in a plain along the river, with hippos in the water, elies on the other side and a group of baboons crossing the plain. Good omens for B&T!

Here under some sketches I did of our trip. 

My colours are still not coming right after the scan, I kind of give up on that issue.