Wildlife conservation in Africa

Wildlife conservation issues are often complicated and fraught with social, environmental and political problems. Volunteering in Africa in Damaraland, Namibia on a desert elephant project showed why the elephants in this region desperately need protecting and the curent barriers that are faced.

"Prior to heading back to base camp, we headed into pure wilderness. Was a bit worried as the jeep is suffering from

a) slow puncture

b) brake fluid leaking

c) right hand suspension knackered

d) fuel pump faulty

Our trip into the wilderness was also pretty treacherous - huge boulders plus big trenches and ips to navigate through. Quite a few crunches to the undercarriage were heard and Joe had to pump up the tyre four times. The scenery was stunning though - so vast. Saw lots of kudu and springbok. And the piece de resistance - we saw a rare black rhino.

Apparantly the only person who lives out here is a madman recluse who ‘looks after' the area. Once some guy tried to build a lodge out here but the local community campaigned against it so all that is left is a half built road up an incredibly steep hill and one small shelter.

The sunset here was honestly the most amazing thing I have ever seen in my life and the worst part is I know my photos will not do it justice, nor will my rantings on about it!

Found out a bit more information about the project we are helping with today. EHRA are aiming towards a community run set - up (this means that tourists are charged an entry fee to go and view the elephants and damaraland and the money goes directly back to the local community.)The community must ensure that the land and the elephants are protected. This type of set - up worked extremely well for Mwalunganje elephant reserve. The locals even used the elephant poo to make photo albums and postcards to create more income.

Unfortunately the situation here is complicated as there are arguements and confusion as to who is the ‘chief' of the area - a HUGE deal here, plus the youngsters now aren't really following the ‘old school' way of thinking about respecting your elders and obeying the chief so there is no real leader present here. However things are changing slowly and the locals are starting to see the elephants as ‘their' herds and be proud of them visiting.

The changes in society here are definitely a problem. Even only being here two weeks, we've noticed how lazy locals are - a lot just drink all the time, their homes are just a mess and they have no respect for their local environment or knowledge about to make the best for themselves and their families, hugely different to what we saw in Watamu , where families are a big deal and communities pull together for their local environment. The education system here is pretty dire. EHRA have begun working with a local school to increase their education about bush culture but it's a huge project and it's going to take time to make any sort of impact.

One problem with the elephants is that they really are a bit of a pest! On the turtle conservation project, there was a lot Watamu Turtles could do education wise to show how important turtles are to the environment and to help conserve fish stocks, but elephants have no real benefit to farmers, and are a nuisance because they destroy water pumps. EHRA are trying to encourage the tourism here and the community run scheme so the locals can use the elephants to their advantage. Elephants do play a part in the ecosystem - their dung is a great source of nutrients. The acacia that goats and cows eat are actually seeded by elephant dung that passes through the eles undigested.

Elephants here tend not to be very destructive. They generally eat everything they pull off. Elephants from other areas in Africa just trash everywhere they go. The Director of EHRA thinks that a reason for this may be that elephants from other areas are more socially stressed and have gone through more upheavals e.g translocation, war, overpopulation and have ‘lost' their survival knowledge. Kind of sad to think that the humans in this area are exactly the opposite here.

Another contraversial (and complicated) issue is how to control the widely varying elephant populations throughout Africa. Some conservancies see controlled hunting of wild animals as a good thing, which EHRA strongly disagrees with as the money does not go feed back to the local community. Relocation is a hugely stressful and expensive option but is preferable to culling. Elephants can't naturally migrate across borders anymore due to the different hunting (and cultural) protocols on elephant management. Elephants soon realise dangerous areas and will stay away. A good example of this is the Botswana/Namibia corridor where restrictions to kill elephants are freer in Namibia. Opening up migration routes is the ideal solution to prevent the need for relocation or culling, would probably decrease social stress and therefore would decrease elephants destructive behaviour."

To volunteer with EHRA visit www.desertelephant.org