Innholdsfortegnelse for October-December 2019 i Travel Africa

“My team encountered this isolated giraffe late one afternoon on the dry lake, and it immediately seemed core to the prevailing mood to emphasize the dust being kicked up by the giraffe’s hooves,” explains photographer David Yarrow. “Amboseli is all about dust and its capture should make the picture, not be ancillary to it. This meant not only shooting into the light, but also shooting from behind the giraffe. This was at odds with a fairly standard rule of mine to be positioned ahead of or at least parallel to a moving subject, but given all the other factors involved, it appeared breaking this rule would be the most effective way to tell the story.”…

BY AXEL JANSSENS, WIM DEMESSEMAEKERS AND STEPHEN WALCKIERS (UNTOLD) We’ve been looking forward to a new coffee table book on Tanzania for some time. And it’s been well worth the wait with the release of the self-published A Taste of Tanzania. At 176 pages, and with no expense spared on the print and paper quality, this is a statement production. The photography is fresh and expressive, allowed to breathe by a minimalistic design. The accompanying text is short but evocative – mostly extended captions – which creates a perfect balance: you can enjoy the images and understand the context without being distracted by heavy text to read. The book records the travels of Wim Demessemaekers and his friend, chef Axel Janssens, as they explore the country together to discover hidden gems…

Why do we travel? What are we seeking? Each of us will have our own reasons. Perhaps it is simply to discover new lands, to learn about foreign cultures or to admire wildlife we treasure but cannot see at home. Maybe it is something deeper: to challenge our perceptions or to take ourselves out of our comfort zone. Reza Pakravan is a world record-holding adventurer listed and one of the world’s most seasoned travellers. He does nothing in small measure. Reza has recently returned from a grand expedition making him the first person in modern history to travel the length of the Sahel – traversing Africa through a band of land that separates the Sahara from the temperate habitats and forests to the south. He ventured into areas that most…

The starting point for any road trip in Africa has to be a good spreadsheet. That may sound unlikely but entering your chosen way-stops into Excel will be a sobering experience if, like us, you have visions of driving over 4500km in just three weeks. Achieving such an undertaking in many African countries would be lunacy; the infrastructure simply wouldn’t allow it. But Namibia, after Mongolia, has some of the straightest and most deserted roads on the planet. Planning your trip from the UK, you will find it difficult to imagine that after a few days of driving in Namibia you will be talking about driving 200km to the next turning as if it were a trip to the local shop to buy milk. But you will be. One thing…

RIVERFRONT LODGES/CAMPSI The largest facilities, situated in their own, exclusive-use concession areas. The biggest accommodates 32 guests. 1 Ruckomechi Camp and Little Ruckomechi (Wilderness Safaris) A permanent camp on a private concession in woodland near the confluence of the Zambezi and Ruckomechi Rivers. It has 10 spacious en suite tented units built on wooden platforms and an expansive wooden-decked central living area, with dining-sitting-bar area, pool, and a star-gazing deck. Within the concession is Little Ruckomechi tented camp, which is available for exclusive use by groups of up to six people. 2 Vundu Camp (Bushlife Safaris) This camp has seven spacious tent-under-thatch en suite chalets and a family unit. Its large, double-storey, wooden central living area is set under shady trees overlooking the river. The main camp is complemented by…

INSIDE THE CHIAWA GMA 1 Gwabi River Lodge This was one of the first lodges to be established in the Lower Zambezi Valley. Situated on banks of the Kafue River, 6km from the Zambezi and only 145km from Lusaka, Gwabi is easily accessible throughout the year. Accommodation ranges from chalets to camping for all budgets. 2 Kiambi Safaris Situated high up on the banks of the Zambezi, near the confluence with the Kafue River, Kaimbi offers a variety of accommodation styles and budgets, from air-conditioned chalets to self-catering and camping. The Lower Zambezi NP is 65km downriver. 3 Kanyemba Lodge and Kanyemba Island Bush Camp Only two and a half hours from Lusaka, Kanyemba is a popular family getaway, accommodating up to 20 people. The spacious restaurant and bar overlook…

The world is getting closer to the day when ivory markets are shut down everywhere — when, in effect, we will have a worldwide ivory ban. Currently, international ivory trade is illegal. Through the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species (CITES), the world banned the trading of ivory across national borders in 1989. But many countries allowed domestic trade of ‘legal’ (old/already stockpiled) ivory. And these domestic ivory markets keep poachers in business, posing a dire threat to the estimated 415,000 elephants remaining in Africa. Legal markets are notoriously difficult to regulate and police and often countries don’t even try to regulate them well. This means traffickers slip new ivory into the legal stockpiles of ivory on the way to markets. Legal markets also feed demand by reinforcing the concept…

When I ask my children what they enjoyed most on our Kenyan safari they talk over each other in their excitement. “Jumping off that rock, holding a chameleon, seeing the new-born dik-dik, finding the leopard footprints, searching for scorpions, feeding the baby goshawk…” Eventually one of them mentions the moment they saw elephants for the first time. I remind them that we also saw lions, hippos and herds of giraffe. We even spotted a genet on a night safari. Apparently that was all great, but not great enough to make it onto the list of their top ten favourite moments. Surprised? I was. It’s a difficult truth about safaris: traditional game drives can be a drag for children. They are pulled out of their bed before dawn for long trips…

AWF Council member Toby Wosskow’s powerful, dramatic short film Sides of a Horn has been a success on the film festival circuit, winning awards and prominent media coverage alike. But accolades and publicity are ancillary to Wosskow’s primary goal — engendering conversation about factors that can motivate poachers on the one hand and wildlife protectors, who often work at great personal cost, on the other. “One strength of the short film medium is the ability to tell vital, urgent stories,” he says, “and this story is as urgent as they come.” The film follows the difficult paths of a dedicated South African park ranger, Dumi, and his brother-in-law who, struggling to provide for his family, is tempted by the payouts of poaching. Now that the film has premiered globally and is streaming…

Two dead tawny eagles, three elephant carcasses, and 537 killed vultures. That was what rangers with the Botswana Department of Wildlife and National Parks encountered in June. Poachers, after mutilating the skulls of the elephants for their tusks, had laced the bodies with poisonous chemicals. Why? To avoid detection. Vultures are the “first responders” to fresh kills. They clear 70 percent of Africa’s carrion, playing a pivotal role in ecosystems. Unfortunately, their rapid response to the deaths of others makes them a target of “sentinel poisoning.” Circling above kills, they give away poachers’ positions to wildlife authorities. Mass kills by poisoning are a recurring problem. In 2016, poachers poisoned 100 vultures in South Africa’s Kruger National Park. In February of 2018, another 87. Among the vultures killed in June were 468 white-backed…

The world is getting closer to the day when ivory markets are shut down everywhere — when, in effect, we will have a worldwide ivory ban. Currently international ivory trade is illegal. Through the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species (CITES), the world banned the trading of ivory across national borders in 1989. But many countries allowed domestic trade of “legal” (old/already stockpiled) ivory. And these domestic ivory markets keep poachers in business, posing a dire threat to the estimated 415,000 elephants remaining in Africa. Legal markets are notoriously difficult to regulate and police, and often countries don’t even try to regulate them well. This means traffickers slip new ivory into the legal stockpiles of ivory on the way to markets. Legal markets also feed demand for ivory by…

Two years ago I had no knowledge of Gnaoua music. I was just beginning to get into music from the Middle East and Africa because I was tired of the standard fare the West had to offer. So when a friend recommended I check out the Gnaoua Festival in the small coastal town of Essaouira, three hours west of Morocco, I booked a flight and accommodation in a riad for a week. Before heading out I learned that I had ancestors, on my father’s side of the family, who had settled in Morocco around the same time the slave population had established themselves in the region. Perhaps then, this would be a homecoming of sorts? For the next three days there was a sea of colours, sights and sounds, all…

END OF THE RAINBOW CENTRAL KALAHARI GAME RESERVE It’s risky driving into the Central Kalahari Game Reserve in January, but there is a window after the rains have begun, when it is not too wet and the roads are still navigable. But if you are brave enough, the rewards are great. The rain had turned the area around Phokoje pan into a grassland – you would be forgiven for thinking this is the plains of East Africa. We had followed the resident lions for three days. They had enthralled us with various antics, the dominant male mating regularly with his lady. A huge afternoon storm was building up from the east, the sun was setting behind us and there was not another soul around. The mating pair were bathed in…

AWAKENINGS Sunrise in the Lower Zambezi Valley and the low light pours across the floodplains, igniting the tops of the winterthorn glades where elephants are feeding on fallen seedpods. No matter where you stay – luxury lodge, no-frills bushcamp or star bed sleep-out – wild Africa is all around you. The night air echoes to the rumble of lions. You fall asleep to the honking of hippos and awake to the yelping cries of fish eagles. Through it all runs the mighty Zambezi, Africa’s fourth longest river, its mile-wide waters forming a natural barrier between Zimbabwe and Zambia who together share its natural wonders. On the Zimbabwean side is Mana Pools National Park, a stunning UNESCO World Heritage Site half the size of Surrey. On the opposite bank lies Zambia’s…

It seems we already know so much about Kenya; its better-known destinations feel so familiar and images of its rich culture are recognisable the world over. Beyond these iconic drawcards, Kenya is extraordinarily diverse, offering a wealth of natural attractions and enriching experiences. Planning a trip to such an accessible and varied country brings its own challenges. At first, it could appear relatively straightforward, but with so many options perhaps it requires a bit more thought. We hope the following 24 pages of expert advice and inspiration will set you on your way. First, we tackle the questions most commonly asked by visitors, then we dig a little deeper with insights into the many places you could enjoy.…

Nairobi and environs NAIROBI If the mood takes us, we could be in Nairobi National Park for breakfast, searching for lion and rhino. But it’s not the only reason to stop in Nairobi for a few days. There’s the art scene, for one, where you can wander into a studio collective such as Kuona, chat with the artists and buy a piece of their work. When I have visitors, I take them to the city centre for a tour of the old textile districts, the curio markets, or whisk them up to the top of the Kenyatta International Convention Centre for a 360-degree view of the city. We’ll invariably end up at Trattoria, an old family-run Italian restaurant that memorably remained open during the 1982 failed coup. Nairobi’s food scene…

As our tiny Cessna 182 buzzes low over yellowing savannah and plum-red acacia gum trees, the pilot, Craig Reid, spots Africa’s most northerly elephant herd. Some 500 animals are sheltering within the safe embrace of spiny forest. A few high-spirited youngsters cavort in the thermal Sahelian heat. “You wouldn’t have seen this a decade ago, particularly so many babies,” says Reid, referring back to when Zakouma’s elephants were being poached into oblivion. Back then, Chad’s civil war raged and armed Janjaweed militias from Sudan flooded over the country’s unprotected eastern border to remorselessly poach Zakouma’s ivory. Between 2000 and 2010 the herd reduced by 90 per cent to roughly 400. Reid says the traumatised elephants were scarcely breeding and any babies born could be killed in panicked stampedes. “Look at…

THE FUTURE OF OUR WILDLIFE NEWS FROM THE FIELD HOW A PYTHON FEEDS FOR MORE ON HER WORK, SEE ISSUE 86 FRESH START Nine black rhino have been relocated from South Africa to the private Singita Grumeti concession in the greater Serengeti ecosystem. This is the largest movement of rhino into Tanzania, increasing the population here by almost 10 per cent. The latest arrivals join two eastern black rhinos previously relocated from zoos in the UK and USA. The exercises have been undertaken by the Grumeti Fund in partnership with the Tanzanian Wildlife Management Authority, and supported by Singita Grumeti, in an effort to reestablish a healthy breeding population of eastern black rhino. Earlier this year, African Parks and the Rwanda Development Board translocated five eastern black rhinos from European zoos…

The wildlife-rich, 48,000-acre Soysambu Conservancy, located about 130 kilometres north and slightly west of Nairobi, was a privately held cattle ranch for decades. This land use transformed the ecosystem and drove out large predators. But lions are returning now, thanks to growing zebra and buffalo populations. Leopards are making a comeback as well, drawn by the thriving populations of impala, Thompson’s and Grant’s gazelle, reedbuck, steenbok and klipspringer. Soysambu (‘the place of striated rock’ in Maasai) sits on Lake Elmenteita, which is part of the Rift Valley’s Kenya Lake System, a UNESCO-designated World Heritage Site. The conservancy is in the heart of an important landscape that could form a conservation area from Lake Nakuru south to Lake Naivasha (and possibly even further south to the popular Hell’s Gate National Park,…

Route 62 is South Africa’s answer to Australia’s Outback, to America’s Arizona Desert. Set back from the renowned Garden Route, few visitors have heard of it, let alone driven it – making it one of the least travelled highways in the country. It is dotted with padstalle serving home-bakes like koeksusters (small plaited pastries, deep fried then marinated in syrup), buttermilk rusks and farm produce, whilst others host frontier bars serving moonshine, biltong, dröewors and Nik-Naks corn bites. It’s a journey undertaken by the most adventurous of long-distance road-trippers… and one that gives a glimpse of life in the Karoo Back in the day a South African padstal (roadside store) was a sad affair: a rickety shed standing forlornly on the side of a deserted road; the wares displayed on…

In northern Ethiopia, the last species of grass-eating primates roam the rugged landscape of the Ethiopian Plateau. The gelada — also known as the “bleeding heart” monkey or baboon because of the vivid patches of red skin on its chest — is especially numerous in Simien Mountains National Park, a World Heritage Site. Despite multiple threats to its survival in this landscape, the gelada has managed to thrive. According to a recent census, the number of individuals in the park is 18,851, a 27 percent increase over the past 10 years. The status of the gelada population is especially impressive when considering the challenges they face, even in the park’s protected space. As geladas became more habituated to humans, their altered behavior increases their exposure to a fatal parasite, the…

AWF’s list of Big Five species is a different take on the historic and well-known “Big 5” wildlife species of Africa. In this photo essay we highlight five iconic and/or highly endangered species that we help protect in landscapes throughout Africa: the elephant, rhino, lion, giraffe, and pangolin. These and other African species — thriving, vulnerable, and endangered — are at the heart of our untiring efforts to ensure that wildlife and wild lands thrive in modern Africa. DO YOU ♥ AWF ON IG? If you love wildlife photos like these, check out AWF on Instagram! There you’ll find beautiful, awe-inspiring, compelling images of elephants, giraffes, big cats and other African wildlife, as well as updates related to AWF petitions demanding action on behalf of endangered species. For more images,…

01 WATER WORLD WHITE WATER RAFTING Bounce, spin and surf down the River Nile on a bag of air, armed with only a paddle. With names such as ‘Bad Place’, ‘Vengeance’ and ‘Bubogo’ (meaning ‘condolences’), the waters near Jinja are home to some of the world’s finest Grade 5 rapids. And, what’s more, this wildest of rides is available all-year round. For the ultimate thrill-seeker, this is also one of the few places on the planet where you can tackle major rapids in a two-man raft – just you and a guide against the elements. KAYAKING Run the Nile’s raging waters solo – or, for the less experienced, in a pair – going airborne as you crash through the waves and over drops. RIVER BOARDING For the serious white water…

As the roar of a lion vibrated through my chest I sat bolt upright in my little camp bed. We were on our second night of fly camping on the banks of the Ruaha River. “There’s no way I am going out there to the toilet,” I told my partner, who was, by now, also sitting up listening to the sound of an approaching pride (we learned the next morning that they had been just 50 metres behind our camp). The previous night, unable to rouse our armed ranger, we had resorted to ‘taking a leak’ immediately outside the tent, with one of us watching over the other while waving a torch at the bushes. The lions that night hadn’t started roaring until 4.30am, by which time we had already…

In the Tuli Block, a group of wildlife lovers from around the world are developing an exciting project that secures them complete freedom of their own safari experience and enables them to engage directly in a number of important conservation programmes. And you too can participate. Part of Africa offers individuals the opportunity to invest in freehold land in a 20,500ha private reserve. For many of the co-owners, this has enabled them to take their safari experience to a new level. It’s also meant they can make a meaningful contribution to several important programmes aimed at conserving and reintroducing endangered species, such as rhinos, wild dogs, elephants, lions and pangolins. The creation of the reserve saw farmland returned to its natural habitat, coupled with the reintroduction of rhino, wild dogs…

The ‘Middle Zambezi Valley Wildlife Complex’ extends along 160 miles of the Zambezi River between the Kariba and Cabora Bassa reservoirs, where the Zambezi Valley itself is defined by its twin escarpments, rising some 2000ft above the Valley lowlands. The northern escarpment lies close to the Zambian shore; on the Zimbabwean side, it lies up to 50km south of the Zambezi itself. The entire complex covers about 14,000sq km. So why is so much of the wildlife tourism to this magnificent area confined to the (very roughly) 40sq km pocket-handkerchief-sized area beside the Zambezi and known locally – but not entirely correctly – as the ‘Mana Pools floodplains’? Tourism tends to focus on spectacular gatherings of wildlife; and the Mana floodplains are one of very few – and certainly the…

The 4,092sq km Lower Zambezi National Park hugs the northern bank of the Zambezi River. Until 1983, when the area was declared a National Park, it was the private game reserve of Zambia’s president. This protected it from the ravages of mass tourism, leaving it a relatively pristine wilderness. The Park itself is surrounded by a much larger Game Management Area (GMA), but there are no fences between the two and animals are free to roam throughout the area. The GMA acts as a buffer zone between the National Park and areas of human settlement, to reduce human/wildlife conflict and to stop human encroachment. Whilst some GMAs permit hunting, the Lower Zambezi National Park (LZNP) is unique in that the Chiawa GMA on its western boundary is a no-hunting zone,…

WHY VISIT? Quite simply because it’s one of the most diverse and rewarding countries in the world. Rolling savannahs thundering with wildlife contrast with rugged highlands swathed in tea and coffee plantations. A string of jewel-like lakes dot the yawning fault line of the Great Rift Valley, while away to the north stretches a vast domain of rocky desert, pricked by ‘sky islands’ (mountainous, green oases). And down on the coast is a sultry land of palmy beaches, bathed by the Indian Ocean and imbued with a thousand years of Swahili history. Kenya’s population of 50 million comprises more than 40 distinct ethnic groups, each with its own language, traditions and regional identity. Stay in a hotel in Lamu and you might be served by a woman whose roots go…

“And as an added bonus I get to stay in her house!” exclaimed Doctor Anthony Collins, Director of Baboon Research at the Jane Goodall Institute (JGI) in Gombe, and a lifelong friend and colleague of Goodall herself. The iconic black and white photo of Jane Goodall holding her binoculars as she scans the landscape from the ‘Peak’ for a glimpse of beloved chimpanzees in Gombe nearly 60 years ago has always been a great inspiration for me. And clearly Dr Collins feels the same. “It is a great privilege to work here, continuing the amazing research started by Jane back in July 1960, and to have worked alongside her since I first came here in 1972,” he says. “We are now seeing the third generation of chimps here at Gombe…

Lions are undoubtably the most revered and iconic animals in the natural world. For most of us, no safari would be complete without a sighting of the big cats. Yet, their future is threatened by growing pressure on their habitats from burgeoning human populations. With the publication of Remembering Lions, Margot Raggett aims to celebrate the lion’s place in nature and in our hearts, while encouraging an urgent and sustained effort to conserve them. “We must realise that collective will is the only thing that will save the situation,” she writes in her introduction to the book. “What brings me hope is that it can be done… I’ve seen for myself that when lion conservation leads to improved education, healthcare, food security and skills training, communities become true champions of…

This voracious reptile would happily down a turkey in one – and perhaps a couple more, if available. This, after all, is a snake that can swallow a warthog. But how does it manage? Granted, this is a very big snake – the continent’s largest, by some distance, exceptionally exceeding 5m in length and weighing over 50kg (the northern subspecies being larger than the southern). But even outsized individuals have a head little bigger than a man’s hand. The trick lies in the snake’s ability to dislocate its jaws, enabling it to engulf huge prey and work it down the oesophagus using rhythmic muscular contractions and copious lubricating saliva. Prey is swallowed headfirst and whole, hooves, horns and all. Digestion involves powerful gastric fluids – and, with really big meals,…

30,000 Approximate pounds of food that AWF-trained detection dogs (Canines for Conservation) eat per year Despite losing more than half of its elephants over the past two decades, Tanzania still boasts Africa’s third-highest population of these land giants. More than 16,000 elephants make their home in the country’s northern region alone. These northern landscapes are vulnerable because they’re on the Kenyan border and not far from ports in Dar es Salaam and Mombasa, where traffickers can smuggle out illegal wildlife products such as ivory, rhino horn, lion pelts and bones, and pangolin scales. To cut off traffickers’ access to the northern region, the Tanzania Wildlife Authority (TAWA) will soon deploy a specialized anti-trafficking unit — made up of AWF’s elite detection dog-and-handler teams — to key points along the Tanzania-Kenya border.…

In late June 2019, five rhinos were flown from the Czech Republic to Rwanda at a cost of more than $1 million. The 30-hour journey took three female and two male eastern black rhinos to Akagera National Park, where they joined a founder group of 20. The initial group — transferred from South Africa in 2017 — had been a vital first step in reintroducing rhinos to a country that had not seen these peaceful giants within its borders since 2007. Reintroductions of zoo-born rhinos could become more common as the world’s poaching crisis continues. Rising disposable income in Asian countries translates to an increasingly active market for rhino horn and other wildlife products such as ivory, pangolin scales, and lion bone. The subsequent increase in rhino poaching has been…

The wildlife-rich, 48,000-acre Soysambu Conservancy, located about 130 kilometers north and slightly west of Nairobi, was a privately held cattle ranch for decades. This land use transformed the ecosystem and drove out large predators. But lions are returning now, thanks to growing zebra and buffalo populations. Leopards are making a comeback as well, drawn by the thriving populations of impala, Thompson’s and Grant’s gazelle, reedbuck, steenbok, and klipspringer. Soysambu (“the place of striated rock” in Maasai) sits on Lake Elmenteita, which is part of the Rift Valley’s Kenya Lake System, a UNESCO-designated World Heritage Site. The conservancy is in the heart of an important landscape that could form a conservation area from Lake Nakuru south to Lake Naivasha (and possibly even further south to the popular Hell’s Gate National Park,…