Shining a bright light on ellie conservation

Elephants roam in Namibia's Torra Conservancy. A safari company is running Damaraland Camp in the conservancy in a joint venture with the local community. Rates start at R5 200 each a night. Call 011 807 1800.

Elephants roam in Namibia's Torra Conservancy. A safari company is running Damaraland Camp in the conservancy in a joint venture with the local community. Rates start at R5 200 each a night. Call 011 807 1800.

Published Jan 12, 2016

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Gaborone - On one bank of the river Chobe, elephant carcasses can be found, lost to hunters and poachers. On the other bank, herds emerge from the surrounding flood plain each evening to drink and bathe.

The contrast illustrates the status of elephants in the two states, whose border is marked by the waterway.

On the Namibian side, hunting is still allowed and elephants are lost to poachers. On the Botswana side, in the Linyanti Wildlife Area and the neighbouring 11 632km Chobe national park, 80 000 elephants roam free.

The rising price of ivory in Asia has led to the slaughter of elephants in recent years. In the Democratic Republic of Congo, poachers used helicopters to shoot herds from the air. In Zimbabwe, waterholes were poisoned with cyanide. Throughout last year, one elephant was killed on average every 20 minutes.

Amid this, Botswana has shone as a rare bright spot. Blessed by being the least corrupt country in Africa, and with a small human population, Botswana is home to a population of around 200 000 savannah elephants, a third of all that remain in Africa.

Through its newly established endangered species trust, Tlhokomela, Botswana has signed a declaration making it the fourth country to join The Giants Club, an elephant-protection plan to fight the illegal ivory trade. It joins Kenya, Gabon and Uganda in a bid to save Africa’s elephant populations from extinction in the wild.

With The Giants Club implementation charity, Space for Giants, work is now under way to build the capacity of the wildlife departments’ anti-poaching units and implement programmes to ensure human-wildlife co-existence in areas where elephants roam.

The Tlhokomela Trust is a private-public partnership. Its patron is President Seretse Khama Ian Khama, who recently hosted an international summit on the illegal wildlife trade.

“One live elephant is worth so much more than all the pieces of art made from ivory gathering dust in homes far removed from the African plains,” the president said.

In this struggle, he has been aided by his brother, the minister of environment, wildlife and tourism, Tshekedi Khama. Under him, the country’s anti-poaching teams have been strengthened, community action empowered and new wildlife relocation projects introduced.

“‘Tlhokomela’ means ‘to look after and protect’,” Khama said, but this had come at a “big cost” to the state.

“Some of our neighbouring countries do not attest to the same sort of level of protection to endangered wildlife species as we do,” he warned, “and as a result we have a tremendous migratory pattern of wildlife from neighbours into this country.”

“As Botswana has been listed as a middle-income economy, our traditional donors have stopped donating or giving us assistance in wildlife protection, and this has presented us with several challenges as to what we are able to do,” the president said.

The Independent

 

Take a trip to see the jumbos

l Siyabona Africa offers luxury five-day close-up elephant encounters, game drives, boat cruises and nature walks from $4 000 (R62 000) a person in the Okavango Delta and Chobe National Park. They operate almost all year round, but advise that June to October is the best viewing time, as that is when the animals focus on water sources. Call 021 424 1037.

l Botswana Tours & Travel offers a 10-day Okavango trip from about R12 000, taking in Maun and Victoria Falls. Call 011 471 7400.

 

Rescuing rhinos

Botswana’s rhino population has risen sixfold in the past decade.

 

South Africa lost more than 1 200 rhinos in 2014. They were killed for their horns, which can secure up to R11.5-million on the black market. And Botswana’s authorities know the rate of relocation from states where they’re threatened means the poachers must come their way. Map Ives, national rhino co-ordinator and Tlhokomela trustee, warned: “We have no doubt the syndicates are highly organised.”

In response, intelligence networks and hi-tech anti-poaching operations have been stepped up.

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