Innholdsfortegnelse for January-March 2019 i Travel Africa

THIS ISSUE Sarah Baxter, Laura Birtles, Hilary Bradt, Philip Briggs, Justin Fox, William Gray, Emma Gregg, Sophie Ibbotson, Brian Jackman, Lauren Jarvis, Jackson Looseyia, Guy Mavor, Martha Mukaiwa, Heather Richardson, Philip Stander, Mike Unwin, Sue Watt, Lizzie Williams TRAVEL AFRICA EXTRA To receive our free monthly e-mag and occasional newsletters, join our mailing list at travelafricamag.com. We do not share data or allow third party mailings. Your address will be used purely for the Travel Africa newsletters you sign up to in accordance with our Privacy Policy. ON THE COVER Turkana girls, by Carol Beckwith and Angela Fisher, from the book African Twilight. FOOT NOTE A jackal’s footprint sits at the end of each feature in this issue.…

A Guide to the Birds of East Africa: A Novel NICHOLAS DRAYSON I read this on safari in South Africa and it made me chuckle. A little Alexander McCall Smith-esque, it’s a beguiling love story between the honourable Mr Malik and Rose, president of the East African Ornithological Society. Quietly humorous and very charming, it also gives the reader a glimpse into a hidden side of Nairobi. Mukiwa: A White Boy in Africa PETER GODWIN Godwin’s story of growing up in Rhodesia in the 1960s is as much a memoir of childhood adventure as it is an account of a troubled country. Against a backdrop of the country’s transition into Zimbabwe, Godwin tells of his personal transformation from child to soldier to journalist. Nervous Conditions TSITSI DANGAREMBGA This is my…

According to a 2018 Ofcom report, the average person in the UK spends more than a day a week online, checking their smartphones every 12 minutes. Do that in Africa, and that’s a lot of wilderness you’re going to miss. Indeed, the number-one way to make your safari better for your wellbeing is to also switch off, reckons Terry Murphy of African Budget Safaris. “Many places are wonderfully remote and access to the Internet is little-to non-existent,” he says. “So not only do you get to have the once-in-a-lifetime experience of an African safari, you get to have a digital detox too.” Studies show that contact with nature can reduce anxiety and boost mental health, and it’s easier to make meaningful contact without that bleating ringtone. Why watch kitten videos…

1 Cape Cross (Namibia): Black-backed jackals patrol the huge colony of Cape fur seals on the Skeleton Coast by day and night, looking for unguarded pups, discarded afterbirth and any other pickings from the ocean. 2 Kgalagadi Transfrontier Park (South Africa/Botswana): Black-backed jackals are especially numerous in the semi-arid savannah; at dusk their wailing calls are the classic Kalahari soundtrack. Check waterholes, where they hunt drinking doves. 3 Nyika Plateau (Malawi): These high, well-watered grasslands are a top spot for side-striped jackals, which are especially thick-furred here due to the high altitude and more often seen by day than elsewhere. Black-backed jackals do not occur. 4 Kruger Park (South Africa): Both species occur in the park, which offers a good illustration of their habitat preferences. Black-backed are more common, with…

WHEN TO GO The tropical climate is warm year round. There’s usually some rain mixed with sunshine. The rainy months are October, November, March and April. NEED TO KNOW We recommend you take Euros to exchange for Dobras, the local currency. Malaria protection is recommended. Yellow-fever documentation is required if you’re travelling via another African country. HOW TO GET THERE International flights come into São Tomé, from where you can fly to Príncipe (daily return flights). WHERE TO STAY On São Tomé, the author stayed at Omali Lodge, DB&B from €170 pp sharing. On Príncipe, he stayed at Roça Sundy (DB&B from €175 pp sharing) and at Praia Sundy (DB&B from €380 pp sharing). Any island stay can be tailor-made, but we suggest the 7-night, DB&B package which costs €2,750…

For three years, the rains didn’t come. The channels which criss-crossed Barotseland dried up and the thunderous Maoma drums which summoned the royal oarsmen to the Litunga’s palace stayed silent. The Litunga, King of the Lozi, could not travel by royal barge from Lealui to his residence at Limulunga, because without a river in spate, how could he perform the symbolic ‘getting out of the water’ ceremony, the Kuomboka? But Lady Liuwa, the lioness incarnated from the daughter of a Lozi elder, Mambeti, listened to the Lozis’ prayers. She waited, resisted, survived, as she had done for almost two decades in the face of every adversity. She hung on, the grand old lady and guardian of Liuwa Plain, until the rains finally returned. And then she slipped away. Lady Liuwa’s…

WHERE TO STAY: There are two distinct accommodation options at Kariba: water-based houseboats or land-based lodges. My suggestion is to experience both if possible. For houseboats, think cruises; small self-contained, fully-catered floating hotels or lodges, the likes of which you don’t find anywhere else in Africa. (See pages 92-93 to learn more). I stayed on CroisiEurope’s African Dream as part of a set departure that also visits Chobe (Botswana) and the Caprivi Strip (Namibia). Other operators include Zambezi Cruise & Safaris, with a range of vessels. Boats are usually launched from Kariba, Binga or Milibisi, and most moor overnight in the vicinity of Matusadona National Park. There are a handful of lodges on the islands and lake shore. I stayed at Bumi Hills Safari Lodge, which is the only accommodation…

Male beauty pageant Each year, at the end of the rainy season in September, thousands of Wodaabe — a sub-group of the nomadic Fulani people — gather to participate in the Gerewol Festival at a location that is only revealed days before. This is the most important date in the Wodaabe calendar, where clans and families congregate for a week-long get-together of socialising, dancing, courtship, horse races, trade… and courtship. At its heart is the male beauty pageant. The Wodaabe are unashamedly vain. Tall, slim, white teeth, white eyes, long and an aquiline nose are considered desirable traits by Wodaabe women. Young men are up at daybreak, armed with pocket mirrors, with family members helping to ensure they are perfectly groomed. This involves a lengthy process of shaving hairlines, plaiting…

It’s a crisp, clear night in Botswana’s deep midwinter, so cold we can see our breath as we whisper. By rights, we should be in some cosy lodge with a warm, roaring fire in our room. But no, we’re sleeping outdoors, five metres up in a Skybed, with nothing but stars for a ceiling. Sleeping out in the Okavango Delta has long been on my wish list, lured by the romance of twinkling skies above a vast, untrammelled wilderness. My partner Will and I had slept in star-beds before, but they’d always been on the decking of our rooms or tents, and that sense of wild open space under the night sky had somewhat eluded us. Skybeds in Khwai Private Reserve, bordering Moremi, is very different. As our wild night…

Today, much of the world is either rabies-free or has had just a handful of cases in decades. Not so in Africa and Asia, which together account for 95 per cent of human rabies deaths. Indeed, rabies kills 24,000 in Africa each year, mainly in rural communities without access to treatment and preventative measures such as vaccinations. Rabies is a fatal viral encephalitis (brain inflammation) that occurs in wild and domesticated mammals. Transmission to humans is through the bite, saliva or scratches from an infected animal. The gestation period is around one to three months, although symptoms may appear after anything from a week to a year. It’s common in Africa to see stray, mangy-looking dogs, and it’s advisable to avoid contact with these and other animals that can carry…

Young conservation leaders took to the world stage last summer, convening during the United Nations General Assembly to champion and discuss global conservation and wildlife protection. AWF hosted the “Youth Voices for Wildlife” panel in partnership with Nickelodeon and the Permanent Mission of Gabon, Germany, and Uganda to the United Nations. Global leaders alongside AWF’s President discussed challenges, successes, and opportunities in the fight to protect Africa’s wildlife. Nickelodeon filmed the event, which was featured in the final episode of its “Together For Good Wildlife Special” series. This January episode recapped Nickelodeon’s 2018 journey to meet AWF and other conservation heroes in Uganda. It also took viewers inside AWF’s special NYC gathering, where young people posed questions for the UN leaders and activists such as Tiassa Mutunkei, aka “the elephant…

Ludovika Malemba knows the rugged hills and dusty tracks of LUMO Community Wildlife Sanctuary like the back of her hand. She’s patrolled many kilometers as a wildlife scout of the community-owned conservancy since its establishment in 2001. A native of the vast wildlife-rich landscape in Taita-Taveta connecting Kenya’s Tsavo conservation area and Mkomazi National Park in Tanzania, she found her calling close to home. “I really like the work of rangers,” she says, “I was a game scout when I was in primary school — conservation is in my blood.” ‘Like a desert’ LUMO gets its name from three ranches — the limited company Lualenyi plus the communally owned Mramba and Oza — that consolidated 416 square kilometers to be set aside for wildlife conservation. Malemba is part of a…

Protected and other wildlife areas in the Democratic Republic of Congo may be remote, but that has not prevented the poaching crisis from reaching the forest elephants and great apes native to this landscape. Political instability and inadequate law enforcement make the region attractive to poachers, who take advantage of the thick forest environment to escape capture. High poverty levels also drive community members to hunt for bushmeat and to poach. The U.S. State Department’s Bureau of International Narcotics and Law Enforcement (INL) recently gave AWF a large, 1.5-year grant to combat wildlife trafficking in the DRC. Working with the DRC’s wildlife authority, the Congolese Institute for Nature Conservation (ICCN), AWF will use the grant to provide anti-trafficking investigative, judicial, and prosecutorial support. AWF has already hosted two judicial and prosecutorial trainings…

In early 1998, in our fourth issue, we published a story about the challenges facing the Maasai in Kenya’s rapidly modernising economy. Soon afterwards, at a consumer travel show in London, a young East European student spent some time gazing at the cover before asking me: “Is this the face of Africa you should be portraying?” I was in my late twenties and, frankly, hadn’t given much thought to the role we played in how people might view the continent; at that point we simply wanted to share our love for Africa and encourage others to visit. We ended up having a wide-ranging and thought-provoking discussion about the role of the media at a time when cultural tourism was beginning to make a serious impact. The questions raised in that…

As a passionate cyclist I like nothing more than getting out on an open road, and I’ve recently discovered the joy of exploring new places by bike. You get a feel for the landscape, the smell of the air, and come across some unexpectedly delightful spots to stop at. I’m drawn to dramatic scenery, and I hanker to cycle from Cape Town to Cape Point, along that most picturesque peninsula with the two southern oceans either side. I believe it is possible also to go mountain biking in Table Mountain National Park, so that’s my Cape holiday sorted. COUNTRY MANAGER UK FOR SWAROVSKI OPTIK…

At a charms and totem market in Accra, a young woman recommends the Bint El Sudan, a small blue bottle of perfume shining bright in the late afternoon between wells of cowrie shells, ceremonial bells and a neat little pile of ritual stones. The Bint El Sudan will bring me luck, but the smooth, blunt-ended rocks are for something darker. An enemy, a death wish, for knocking together during a storm. The young hawker is delighted to see me shudder. She smiles slightly, then laughs for the first time since I arrived with Baffoe, my Urban Adventures tour guide. He leads me through the market’s narrow walkways shaking his head firmly at the insistent chorus of “hallos” following us past towers of tortoise shells, wooden figurines and gourds dangling from…

A safari home with the earth, people, conservation and wildlife @heart This charming owner-managed lodge is located on a private concession along the famous Hwange National Park and 200km from the majestic Victoria Falls. The African home-style rondavels are scattered in the teak forest and along the old river bed that is the Dete Vlei; the vlei is home to an abundance of birdlife and wildlife including the famous Presidential elephants, huge herds of buffalo, sable, lion, cheetah, zebra and the African wild dog to name a few. Brian and Marleen’s other passion is impactful community development, wildlife conservation and environmental awareness and are therefore involved in a number of projects in the communal areas of Mabale and Dete. Sable Sands offers an authentic safari and nature experience that will…

1 SOUTH LUANGWA, ZAMBIA Why? To explore the home of the walking safari A huge sweep of open plains, woodland savannah, a snaking river and a progressive attitude to conservation, South Luangwa is the birthplace of walking safaris. Indeed, in some areas you can ONLY walk — there are no roads and no vehicles allowed. That said, walks are not route marches: distances are short, stops are frequent, the pace is relaxed, the wildlife prolific. Try: Wildlife Worldwide’s 14-day Classic Luangwa Walking Safari is just that — classic — including nights in both tented and mobile camps, walking with some of Africa’s best guides. 2 GARDEN ROUTE, SOUTH AFRICA Why? It’s far better on foot The Garden Route is a classic road-trip. But you’ll see much more of this botanically…

Today Africa may have just two species of jackal, but until recently it had three. This is not a case of extinction, thankfully, but one of reclassification. Before 2015, an African subspecies of the Eurasian golden jackal was thought to roam east and north Africa. Made famous in Jane Goodall’s classic Innocent Killers, and deified as the Egyptian god Anubis, this animal was — and still is — a common sight for visitors to Serengeti and the Ngorongoro Crater. Three years ago, however, molecular research confirmed what many scientists had long suspected: that this jackal is a completely separate species from the Eurasian golden jackal, and indeed is more closely related to the grey wolf than it is to any of the three true jackals. It has thus now been renamed…

GETTING THERE Airkenya flies twice daily to Meru from Nairobi’s Wilson Airport; the 50-minute flight offers great views of Mount Kenya, and also connect to the Masai Mara and Samburu. It’s very feasible to go by road in a rental car, either self-driving or with a driver/guide, and the roughly 345km from Nairobi takes around six hours — either via Nyeri-Nanyuki or Embu and turning off at Meru on the C91 for 85km to Murera Gate. Visit kws.go.ke for park entry and vehicle fees. GETTING AROUND The gravel/murram tracks are mostly in good condition; junctions are marked by signposts and numbered cairns. A high-clearance vehicle (4WD in the wet) is required as the numerous streams form a lattice-like network of long ‘islands’ with roads looping back and forth over crossing…

GETTING THERE By road, Liuwa is a long drive from Livingstone through Sioma, with the journey blighted by the rains. But access is now considerably easier as Proflight offer a twice-weekly flight (one hour, 45 minutes) from Livingstone to Kalabo. THE WILDEBEEST MIGRATION Liuwa Plain is home to the second largest wildebeest migration in Africa. Vast herds of blue wildebeest, zebra and lechwe roam the seasonally flooded grassy plains in the south. Around June/July the plains dry up and the herds move north, into the woodlands that surround the park, drifting back between August and October. Come November and December, the first rains fall and the plains are teeming with wildlife, making it typically the best time to visit the park. King Lewanika lodge is closed from mid-July to the…

1 You can plan long road journeys Just make sure your car stereo has a bluetooth connection so they can play the music on their phones through it. Pack lots of travel snacks and intersperse long days in the car with a chilling-out day at a lodge or a completely different activity, like hiking. We made the mistake of trying to do too many game drives at the lodges we stayed in. We were probably ‘in a car’ too much. 2 Wifi is important to teens. Don’t fight it. You’ll only end up stressed and miserable. They’ll want to keep in touch with their mates back home and post to Instagram. And there’s no point in being draconian and banning their phones because they’ll want to use the cameras on…

HOW TO GET THERE Most international flights arrive at Lilongwe. From there, it’s an hour’s flight with Ulendo Airlink to Likoma Island. Your other option is to take the MV Ilala ferry, which stops at Likoma twice a week. WHERE TO STAY The writer was hosted by Kaya Mawa, a high-end lodge in the south of the island. Backpackers can be accommodated at Mango Drift. If staying in Lilongwe en route to Likoma, try the chic Latitude 13 or the family-run Kumbali Country Lodge. WHEN TO GO Malawi has a hot and wet summer from November to April, so the best time to visit is during the drier winter months, from early May to late October. PHOTOGRAPHY Likoma’s unique scenery and friendly people make it a photographer’s heaven, so make…

Endangered ceremonies: Dassenech age passages A Dassenech elder attending the Dimi, a coming-of-age ceremony celebrating fathers and their daughters who together pass to the next stage of life. The Dassenech live on small islands in the mouth of Ethiopia’s Omo River as it flows into Lake Turkana. Isolated, they have held on to traditions that have vanished elsewhere. In the Dimi, fathers graduate into elderhood while their daughters are prepared for their future marriages. During six weeks of feasting, the fathers paint their bodies with yellow ochre, wrap themselves in leopard skins and wear headdresses of ostrich features, armbands of giraffe tails and bells on their legs. Men who have killed enemies in battle scarify their torsos with marks in the pattern of crocodile hides. Royalty: the Kuba kingdom: It…

“Wildife is a resource belonging to our future and present generations. We must change our attitude on wildlife and everybody must get involved in ensuring sustainable use,” says Vincent Opyene, the winner of the Tusk Award for Conservation in Africa 2018. Based on his experiences conducting field patrols for Uganda Wildlife Authority and his work as a state prosecutor, Vincent established the Natural Resource Conservation Network, changing how Uganda addresses wildlife crime. For more on Vincent and the other finalists, who reflect the remarkable, selfless work done by so many across the continent, visit tuskawards.com SUPPORTED BY AFRICAN WILDLIFE FOUNDATION AWF.ORG…

1 Loisaba, Kenya The original, but still one of the most alluring. Handcrafted four-poster wooden beds on raised platforms overlooking the Loisaba Conservancy in Laikipia. 2 Elephant’s Eye, Zimbabwe Sneak a night on the sleep-out deck overlooking a waterhole in a concession bordering Hwange National Park, particularly well frequented by hyenas. 3 Nkwichi, Lake Malawi We love the sound of sleeping on a secluded beach with water lapping at the shore, reflecting the night sky. 4 Little Kulala, Namibia You simply can’t go to Namibia, with its ginormous night sky, and not sleep out under the stars. It would be doing it a huge disservice.…

In what is now an extremely competitive market, the emphasis must be on providing guests with the best possible end-to-end experience, from the time they start looking at travelling to Africa all the way through to when they come home. In an age where the consumer wants an answer immediately, operators will need to invest in innovative and intuitive technology to process bookings seamlessly, along with adding personal touches to make their client perfect bespoke trips. Connecting products, operators and guests together with the use of technology will be key to efficient, hassle-free bookings in 2019. Destinations on the rise include countries such as Congo, Chad, Central African Republic, Angola, Sudan and St Helena. While these are unlikely to become mainstream destinations, they do offer some once-in-a-lifetime experiences run by…

Navigation app Turn your phone into a satnav with GPS Navigation, Maps & Traffic — Scout. Download regions/countries for offline use. Packed with information about a range of destinations. App Store, from £0.69 Portable washing machine The Scrubba Wash Bag is a flexible internal washboard that provides a machin-equality wash in minutes, making it perfect for travel and camping. thescrubba.com, from £41.89 Emergency kit The AA Breakdown & Safety Kit Plus includes essential motoring products in case of any unexpected events on the road. Better to be safe than sorry. theaa.com, £50…

Elephant ivory is a high-profile issue, but many people don’t know that hippos are poached for ivory, too. Ivory from hippo teeth is smaller, easier to smuggle and escapes the growing attention surrounding traditional sources of ivory. Hippo teeth are cheaper than more recognized sources of ivory and they are also legal to trade. Hong Kong has a limited legal trade in hippo teeth, and the regulations that are in place are loosely enforced and easily exploited. Want to help hippos? Sign AWF’s petition urging the Hong Kong government to broaden its upcoming 2021 elephant ivory ban to include hippo ivory: www.awf.org/strengthen-ivory-ban…

1 BRIAN JACKMAN African Twilight, page 118 Africa seems to attract the most extraordinary individuals, free spirits blessed with rare talents and unbelievable courage, as epitomised by Angela Fisher and Carol Beckwith. It was the photographer David Coulson, co-founder of the African Rock Art Foundation who introduced me to them. That was in Nairobi in the 1980s when I was a Sunday Times travel writer. Like me, they had fallen under the spell of the Maasai, the red-robed warrior pastoralists who strode across the East African plains like Old Testament prophets. But while I chose to follow the big cats that shared the Maasai rangelands, Angela and Carol had already set out on a different road, photographing the Maasai and their way of life and then reaching out right across…

After two years of R&D, the world’s first 100 per cent recycled plastic dhow was launched in Lamu on International Ocean Clean-up Day 2018, and is expected to sail to Zanzibar in partnership with the UNEP Clean Seas Programme, arriving in time for the Sauti za Busara Festival from February 7-10. It will then be exhibited in Nairobi at the UN Environment Assembly in March. Measuring nine metres in length, the Flipiflopi was built using several tonnes of plastic waste and 30,000 discarded flipflops. “Our objective has always been to share a simple message that single-use plastics don’t make sense. For every piece of plastic the ocean picks up, the tide brings five new pieces. To bring about change, we have to inspire people to rethink their single-use plastic consumption,”…

“Making sense of birding in the African Region can be a challenge,” says author Michael Mills in his introduction to this innovative book. Too true: the continent offers some 2792 bird species spread over 68 territories, many of which present serious practical difficulties to even the most adventurous birder. Neither field guide nor site guide, rather this is a companion that helps the reader identify the kind of birding experience that is right for them and then points them in the right direction. Five distinct breeds of birder are identified, from casual safari-goer to ardent world-lister, and each territory is ranked according to a range of criteria, from number of endemics to ease of travel. The usual suspects, including Kenya, Tanzania, Ethiopia, South Africa and Madagascar, come out on top,…

Uganda has come a long way since I first backpacked around the country in 1988. Thirty years ago its economy, infrastructure and human spirit were still tangibly shattered following 15-years of violent civil conflict. Four years later, when I returned to research the first edition of a pioneering Bradt guide, Uganda was visibly on the mend but tourism remained in the doldrums. Incredibly, there was no facility to track gorillas or chimps in 1992, nor any white-water rafting, while national parks such as Queen Elizabeth and Murchison Falls were almost as void of plains game as they were of amenities suited to any but the most phlegmatic of travellers. All that has changed dramatically; over the course of a 10-week trip in late 2018, researching what will be the 9th…

HOW LONG There is so much to do and see in Limpopo that I would recommend spending at least a week exploring northern Limpopo, preferably two, during which time you could drive about 1500km to and from Johannesburg and visiting places to the west and northeast as I did. GETTING AROUND Exploring the breadth of Limpopo Province is easily done by road. It took five hours to drive from Johannesburg to the Pont Drift border post, less than an hour from there to Mapungubwe and three hours onwards to Pafuri Camp in the northeast. I chose the slow route to Madi a Thavha through Kruger NP, but you can make it in three hours going direct. H12 Leshiba is less than an hour from Madi a Thavha, and it was…

1 Chobe River Chobe Game Lodge & Chobe Savanna Lodge The Chobe National Park is home to the largest concentration of elephants in Africa and is one of the continent’s leading wildlife destinations, with year-round game viewing. Experience the diversity of the Chobe River from a boat or on a guided vehicle safari. 2 The Moremi Game Reserve Camp Moremi & Camp Xakanaxa Established in 1963, the Moremi Game Reserve was the first sanctuary in southern Africa to be set aside by a local community. Today it is recognised as one of Africa’s finest reserves. Covering one third of the Okavango Delta, it boasts a rich diversity of habitats and wildlife encounters. 3 The Okavango Delta Camp Okavango & Xugana Island Lodge The Okavango Delta is one of the largest…

Culture is a lifestyle which binds people together. As Maasai, our culture keeps us level, guides us, like a constitution guides a country. It gives us our identity and brings discipline within our community. It has helped us to make choices and test the benefit of things like education, modern medicine and technology. We have a Maasai proverb which says matouaake emotorogi enkare. This means ‘let’s watch the goose to see if it can land safely and manage to swim’. In other words: if you practice a lifestyle, will you manage or will you sink? In my opinion, people in the West have a very different way of thinking, and value different lifestyles. As Maasai, we have a lot of sharing in our culture: nobody says “this is mine”; we…

I can pinpoint the moment when I first questioned my conviction that rural lifestyles should remain unchanged. A few years earlier, in the late 1960s, I had visited one of the car-free villages around Lake Atitlan in Guatemala and filmed, with my old cine camera, the village women collecting water from their communal well. I watched them scoop up the water in hollow bamboos and let it trickle into their earthenware vessels, chatting and laughing together before heading back to their houses with the heavy pots supported on their heads. With their exquisitely embroidered blouses and the terracotta pots, it was a beautifully photogenic scene, one I was proud of. A few years later I returned, and headed to the same village with my camera. Oh no! The women were…

Ludovika Malemba knows the rugged hills and dusty tracks of LUMO Community Wildlife Sanctuary like the back of her hand. She’s patrolled many kilometers as a wildlife scout of the community-owned conservancy since its establishment in 2001. A native of the vast wildlife-rich landscape in Taita-Taveta connecting Kenya’s Tsavo conservation area and Mkomazi National Park in Tanzania, she found her calling close to home. “I really like the work of rangers,” she says, “I was a game scout when I was in primary school — conservation is in my blood.” ‘LIKE A DESERT’ LUMO gets its name from three ranches — the limited company Lualenyi plus the communally owned Mramba and Oza — that consolidated 416 square kilometers to be set aside for wildlife conservation. Malemba is part of a…

When Lemala Camps opened their new Mpingo Ridge in Tanzania’s Tarangire National Park, they made sure you could wash the dust off at the end of the day without losing sight of the reason you came in the first place: to bathe in the wonder of its endless views, searching for its renowned elephant herds among the baobabs. The company has also recently opened Lemala Ewanjan in central Serengeti and Lemala Mara and Ndutu camps, which follow the migration.…

In a remote, private concession in the central south-eastern part of Hwange, Verney’s Camp opened in May 2018 with ten spacious tents set around a waterhole, surrounded by teak trees. With all the comforts expected at a high-end, all-inclusive safari camp — a pool deck overlooking the waterhole, bedtime hot-water bottles, warm and professional service — Verney’s still maintains a relaxed, low-key vibe. The food is fresh and light, with meals such as tender steak kebabs with couscous and salad for lunch and lemon-and-herb-crusted chicken, potato croquettes and avocado salad for dinner. Breakfast is a buffet affair with the usual range of hot and cold options. The ensuite tents are spread out under the trees either side of the main living area. Each has a private deck, copper shower and…

AIRBORNE OVER NAMIBIAI Fancy getting a bird’s-eye view over the Namib desert? Well, strap yourself in because Wild Air Safaris now offer powered Paramotor tandem flights from Desert Homestead Lodge in the Sossusvlei dunes region. Track the wild dogs Following the BBC’s recent Dynasties series, which featured the wild dogs (or painted wolves) in Mana Pools, Zimbabwe, local operator African Bush Camps has launched a 9-night itinerary focused on the wild dogs of Mana Pools and Hwange National Park, including the opportunity to track them on foot along the shores of the Zambezi River. GET HANDS ON Lilongwe Wildlife Trust has launched the Malawi Conservation Experience, offering participants an opportunity to work with rescued animals at the country’s only wildlife sanctuary and with elephant and primate researchers… before relaxing on…

Congo creates new park The Republic of Congohas officially created its fifth national park, lending protection to great apes, forest elephants and other threatened wildlife. The new Ogooué-Leketi National Park spans 3,500 sq km, and forms a transboundary protected area of more than 5,500 sq km with Batéké Plateau National Park in neighbouring Gabon. The area is a unique patchwork of large rolling savannahs on sandy hills, interrupted by strips of dense forests and river valleys. It is home to several threatened species, including the endangered western lowland gorilla, the central chimpanzee, forest elephant, forest buffalo, red river hog and the mandrill. According to Wildlife Conservation Society Congo, which has been surveying the area since 2004, the designation of Ogooué-Leketi NP comes after three logging concessions that overlapped the proposed…

With Farm Radio International, AWF is producing programs that reach cocoa, sugarcane, and bee farmers in Tanzania with valuable information about climate-smart agriculture and other best practices. In 2017 and 2018, the project aired 20 radio programs in Kilombero Valley, southern Tanzania, reaching a potential audience of 3.5 million rural, working-age people. The programs highlighted cocoa nursery management practices, clean seed cane multiplication, and use of beehive fences as elephant deterrents. These topics were selected because climate-smart agriculture is crucial to the local small farmers and commercial viability, and the solutions benefit women and youth, were tested, and had demonstrated short-term results. AWF funded the project with the International Union for the Conservation of Nature (IUCN) as part of IUCN’s SUSTAIN-Africa program. The larger goal of the SUSTAIN program is to…

Dear friends of African wildlife, While news of Africa is often daunting — and sometimes downright depressing — it is the successes that keep the staff of AWF uplifted and hopeful. We are fortunate to have a staff of committed and passionate people — all devoted to conservation, the continent, the people, and the wildlife. They work tirelessly to preserve wild lands and wild animals in a thriving, modern Africa. And their work is paying off. On October 10-11, representatives from both NGOs and governments met to discuss illegal wildlife trafficking. This has become a global problem and, while horrible in terms of depleting species, the trade also feeds terrorism, drug trafficking, and other criminal enterprises. (See page 8.) AWF made a commitment to raise $25 million over the next…