UmPhafa Blog by Liam Westall, Project Coordinator on the UmPhafa Reserve
Blog posted: Wednesday 2nd June 2010
Another exciting week began for the volunteers with an excursion to Nambiti Game Reserve. Nambiti is the closest 'Big 5' reserve to UmPhafa and we try to fit in a trip for all our volunteer research assistants. After all, it's a long flight from the UK to then go home without having the chance to see elephants!! As it happened we didn't see any elephants, although a perfect viewing of three male cheetahs grooming each other in the grass more than made up for this.
It was a relaxing way to spend the weekend before another busy week back on UmPhafa. This week we concentrated our efforts on Geluk and Vertrek farms in order to prepare for habitat assessments later in the year. Large tracts of these farms are unreachable by vehicle and we spent two days marching through the thick bush, hacking a path with a bush knife and camping overnight in the field. It often surprises visitors to southern Africa how cold night times can be during the winter. A warm day of 24 degrees soon dropped to 6 as the sun set leaving all of us reluctant to leave the warmth of the campfire for a cold, uncomfortable nights sleep.
But we survived the night and after finishing our field work, indulging in a (very) hot shower and a real nights rest we continued with our preparation for the visit to Colenso Primary School. We have been meeting with the teachers of this school over the previous few months in the hope of building close links between the school and UmPhafa, and on Thursday we gave our first presentation to a class of 12 year olds. The kids were extremely enthusiastic and it was very satisfying to see how keen they were to listen to what we had to say. Even more satisfying was the look on their face when they realised that they had rhino and giraffe on their doorstep!! We very much hope that we will soon be opening our gates to these children for a visit here on UmPhafa.
Sadly this was the last week for two of our current volunteers, Sarah and Martin, who we had to say goodbye to on Sunday, but their trip would not have been complete without a true Zulu experience and so on saturday we visited a local homestead for an afternoon of traditional singing, dancing and food. This was a very pleasant day, although less pleasant was the putrid, yeasty after-taste (and headache) of the Zulu Beer. Tasting like a mixture of sour yogurt and marmite it certainly was an acquired taste, but all part of the experience and I'm happy to have sent Sarah and Martin off with a real understanding of Zulu culture!!
Blog posted: Thursday 10th June 2010
Defining the delicate balance between the species of UmPhafa is one of the most challenging and important processes of successfully managing a reserve. Most people have the basic understanding of predator-prey relationships but few know that even herbivores are equally separated into different categories that are dependent on each other to maintain their habitat in a condition suitable for them to thrive. After countless hours of carrying out vegetation surveys on the reserve we have identified the need for more zebra. Zebra fall into the category of bulk-feeders and will graze the long, coarser grasses that animals such as impala, a selective-grazer, cannot process as efficiently. Without the bulk-grazers, species of grass that are unpalatable to impala will take over leaving little food for the selective-grazers.
This week has largely been taken up with the arranging of additional zebra to be translocated from another game farm onto the reserve. Within the next couple of weeks we hope to have forty new individuals arriving on UmPhafa which will boost our numbers of bulk-grazers and ensure that the habitat is maintained in a condition that is beneficial to all of our animals.
Another species that has received my attention in particular is the bushpig. Bushpig account for the highest frequency of reported crop raiding incidents by wildlife throughout Africa and we are currently running a research project to assess the home ranges and foraging behaviour of the bushpig so that we can assess and minimize the conflict between this species and the local farmers. Using a mixture old cabbage, maize cobs and traditional zulu beer we have been baiting for these animals in order to draw this elusive animal into a regular feeding-pattern from which we can begin the main field work of this study. We are now beginning to get bushpig visit our bait sites. We will be putting the camera trap videos on to the UmPhafa website very soon!
Blog posted: Friday 18th June 2010
The winter has well and truly hit us all here on UmPhafa and who would have thought Africa could be so cold!!! I'm sure it must have caught out more than a few visiting professional footballers. It is an interesting sight to wake up in the mornings to see the impala in the garden, licking the frost from the grass. But the first hard frosts signal an important time in the year on an African nature reserve as it is now time to begin the fire-breaks. The now long, dead grass provides perfect fuel for a flame and the slightest spark is enough to start a blaze. Even a piece of broken bottle is enough to act as a magnifying glass in the bright mid-day sun and ignite the veld; and in my opinion nothing is more terrifying in Africa than an out-of-control bush fire!!!
Fire-breaks are not something to take lightly. By burning a strip around the reserve you are effectively starting a fire to prevent one. One moments lapse in concentration at a critical point could mean the loss of dozens of hectares of grazing lands. I'm happy to work with Mike taking the lead on this with all his years experience of fire-break burning.
The first group of zebra arrived this week with twenty-one new members joining our population here on UmPhafa. Several of the mares appeared to be quite heavily pregnant which is a good sign and it won't be too much longer until we have some new foals born right here on the reserve. Also to arrive amongst this group was one of the largest stallions I have ever seen!!! He is instantly recognisable and appears to have taken his females to the grasslands of the mountain plateau. We will be keeping a careful watch of these new animals over the next week to ensure that they settle comfortably.
We hope to introduce a total of forty zebra at this stage and are still awaiting the outcome of another capture from a local game farm, but hopefully we will be receiving a second group here very soon. Watch this space, I'll keep you posted!
Blog posted: Friday 2nd July 2010
More interesting news from UmPhafa Private Nature Reserve, unfortunately however not all of it I am happy to report. It seems that even the smaller game farms and reserves here in our little town of Colenso are not safe from the ruthless rhino horn traders that have recently made a come back in full force. Last week, Tugela Private Reserve, neighbours of UmPhafa, were hit by the devastating reality of an attack on one of their white rhino cows. This is yet another case of the worryingly professional syndicates that have become the scourge of the conservation world in recent years. Far from the days of amateur organisations armed with automatic weapons and 4x4's, the new threat is from the air! Poachers are using helicopters to track down their targets to evade capture on the ground. Quieter dart-guns are used to administer an overdose of the powerful M-99 veterinary drug, after which the horn is removed and the animal left to die. This is the 10th reported attack in the Kwa-Zulu Natal province alone in 2010, however this is the first that I have heard of where the rhino has survived! Miraculously the rhino had come round from the drugs and was picked up by game guards an estimated 5 - 7 days later in a very poor condition. A chainsaw had been used to remove both horns, cutting deeply into the face and nasal cavity. Vetanarians were called onto the scene immediately and it is thought that the rhino will recover well from its wounds, sadly the month old calf of the cow has not been found. It is suspected that this was abducted during the attack.
Immediately after hearing this news early on saturday morning I raced out into the field, eager to track down our three white rhino. I eventually found them, as well as ever, resting up in a thicket on the lower slopes of Mount Thala, which brought not just a little relief. Between the staff of UmPhafa it is considered a priority to visually locate all three of our population at least once a week but little can be done in the face of a real threat to their safety by these attackers. All we can do is maintain constant vigilance, keep a visual security patrol on the ground as often as possible, and report in any suspicious aerial activity.
Rhino horn poaching had begun to drastically decrease until three years ago with only 13 reported incidents in 2007. In 2008 there was a sharp spike in the number of cases with 83 in total. This was followed by another rise in 2009 of 122. This year already 94 incidents have been reported, still with another 6 months to go. The troubling news is that the list of suspects includes Vets, professional hunters, game rangers and other conservationists. Suspiciously very few prosecutions seem to stick on these individuals, often released with a fine a few days later. The rise in rhino horn trade has been linked directly to the oriental medicine industry in China and Vietnam. An outrageous report supported by a number of Chinese pharmaceutical companies was released recently (Effectively Utilizing Traditional Chinese Medicine in Unexpected Event) outlining the need to stockpile certain animal based products and claimed that an unknown quantity in the figure of 'tons' of rhino horn was being stored for its use in China.
But I don't ever like to leave things on a bad note so wouldn't have ever have dreamed of giving you this news without something positive to end off with. It seems that with the increase in numbers of game in the area have begun to facilitate the return of an awe-inspiring animal - The Leopard!!! Tracks and signs are occasionally found every once in a blue moon, but rarely does anyone here see them with their own eyes as a local game farm manager did two weeks ago. However, this news hits closer to home still. A section of UmPhafa that is currently un-stocked with game is leased out to a local cattle farmer to ensure that the habitat is constantly grazed and does not deteriorate before we introduce wild animals. This farmer recently found a new-born calf killed, eaten and placed in such a way which could only be leopard. I have since put camera traps in those hills and eagerly await the outcome.
Blog posted: Tuesday 20th July 2010
As a follow up to the horrific attack on a rhino at a local game reserve, the month old calf was later found dead within the grounds. Due to the wounds inflicted on the mother, the adult was unable to locate the calf in time and it unfortunately starved. Sadly the bad news does not stop there. Just days after this incident another attack was reported in the Transvaal area with a adult rhino killed for its horns. Fortunately this time at least the calf survived.
In response to the recent rise in poaching activity serious remarks have been made by concerned individuals into whether or not rhino's should be dehorned to prevent the unnecessary death. Whether or not this is the road to take is hard to say. I cannot even begin to accurately calculate what the implications would be in terms of lose of revenue to the tourist industry through photographic safari, which is imperative to the endurance of conservation practices. Not to mention the very real possibility that children may grow up never having the opportunity to see a rhino with a horn in the wild because it was necessary to surrender this to the few greedy and ruthless parties impacting the survival of these species on the planet. Some might state, controversially, that the loss of perhaps some 150 rhinos a year is a tolerable level. I find this completely unacceptable although I don't want to see the systematic removal of all rhino horns either.
Currently China's demand for rhino horn is growing at an exceptional rate and with so large an area to cover there is no way that the funds or resources are available to protect these animals with total efficiency. Medicine derived from rhino horn must be shown up as the fallacy that it is and this must happen through widespread public awareness of the true facts, something that Elle Macphearson apparently showed complete ignorance of when she promoted the use of these products on Twitter.
16/8/10 Another group of Volunteers started their placements here on UmPhafa last week and things have been as busy as always. As an introduction to some of our research techniques we have been focusing largely on camera trapping and small to medium-sized carnivore studies which these guys have taken to like ducks to water. In the first week that they have been present on the reserve the group has already managed to produce some of the best footage we have ever recorded in these studies and we have managed to capture for the first time on camera trap the elusive and strictly nocturnal white-tailed mongoose. This video will be on the UmPhafa site very shortly along with some highly entertaining recordings of acrobatic genets.
But in fact so much has been achieved with the volunteers arrival this month that feet have barely touched the ground! The new research camp is coming along very nicely with the extra hands and we have managed to put up yet another hornbill nesting box on the reserve, a vital project in ensuring the sustainability of the local population. We are also building bat-houses in order to provide crucial habitat to these often misunderstood species. Bats have a particularly bad reputation amongst the zulu community with many even today believing that they are evil and utilised for the spreading of curses and witchcraft. It is our aim to change these misconceptions starting at the local schools in one of our regular environmental education sessions.
One of the key observations made in the field this week was of the giraffe. With the winter in full swing these animals tend to move around a lot more in search of food but when we encountered them just the other day my suspicions were confirmed. One of the adult females is clearly pregnant and review of the volunteers many photos later confirmed this without a doubt. It will be very nice to see another two pairs of legs around here soon...
Blog posted: Friday 18th June 2010
Blog posted: Tuesday 20th July 2010
16/8/10