Innholdsfortegnelse for Edition 89, January-March 2020 i Travel Africa

Namaste With increasing numbers of people appreciating the benefits of yoga, more lodges are encouraging guests to engage while on safari. Doing sun salutations overlooking the savannah at dawn is perhaps the perfect marriage of practice and place. Muchenje Safari Lodge in western Chobe, Botswana, is one such location. In November 2020 Muchenje will introduce its first ever yoga break of 7-10 days, with early morning and late afternoon sessions complementing normal game-viewing activities. WWW.MUCHENJE.COM WHAT’S YOUR FAVOURITE PLACE? EMAIL EDITOR@TRAVELAFRICAMAG.COM…

Food is an important part of safari life, with chefs across the continent producing amazing food in often difficult conditions. Having seen many a hand-written recipe shared with their guests, the team at Sabi Sabi Private Game Reserve decided to compile a book that pulled together some of their more popular recipes and which resonated with the safari experience. “Dining is such a huge part of our culture,” they say. “It’s a time to tell stories, share adventures and, for us, a time to introduce you to some amazing dishes inspired by South African flavours, fresh local produce and cooking styles that have been passed down from generation to generation.” Here’s a particular favourite recipe of ours from Sabi Sabi’s Bringing the Bush Home for you to try at home.…

Namibia is a vast and diverse country that often feels untamed and unregulated. This is also true of the choice of accommodation establishments here, which range from very basic guest farms to expensive luxury lodges – with no easily understandable grading system to assist in differentiating. However, with a little guidance, planning and compromise, it’s possible to find accommodation to suit both your budget and style. The country has managed to avoid the large international hotel chains. The lodge groups that do operate here are locally or regionally owned (Wilderness Safaris, Gondwana Collection and Namibia Wildlife Resorts are among the bigger portfolios). However, most establishments are privately owned and operated, and frequently somewhat eclectic. Don’t expect beige, uniform, boring hotel rooms – the owner of your lodge may have decided…

My heart sinks as our vehicle rounds the corner. A large grey object lies slumped, like some discarded mattress, across our track. No need to guess. It’s just 48 hours since we arrived in Hwange National Park and already this sorry sight has become a familiar part of the landscape: termite mound, camelthorn tree, dead elephant… Nobody speaks but I can sense the tension among my companions as we approach. This is grim. Any second now, we’ll be holding our noses. Or worse still, perhaps the animal’s struggles aren’t over. Perhaps it’s just fallen, unable to rise. We’ll be helpless witnesses to its final agonies. “It’s dead,” confirms our guide Dickson Dube – somewhat to my relief – as we pull up alongside. I look closer. The modest size, small…

Our Samburu tracker had seen the three bull elephants nearly a mile away, high up near the top of the Yatta Escarpment as they were beginning their descent down through thick vegetation towards the Galana River. It was a remarkable piece of spotting that even Iain Allan, the doyen of Kenyan walking guides, admitted he would not have made with the naked eye, for the elephants blended seamlessly. Knowing the decades-old trail they would follow to the river, he led us to within 25 yards of where they would cross our route and motioned for us to crouch low and make no sound. Soon after, the three bulls sauntered noiselessly past us, completely unaware of our presence, for the wind was blowing our scent back behind us. The oldest, whom…

Sometimes, just sometimes, you find yourself thinking you’ve been somewhere before. Could this be the Chobe River? It isn’t, yet there are around 120 elephants on the opposite bank browsing, socialising and enjoying a dip in the water. The setting and terrific wildlife is so similar to Botswana’s northern waterway as to make me wonder whether I have visited here previously. I am in fact on the Shire River in Malawi’s Liwonde National Park. These elephants are not an unusual sight here. Indeed, all the way up from Liwonde town to Mvuu Lodge and Kuthengo Camp there are a number of herds of a similar size which come to the riverbank in the afternoon to drink. But what makes this special is that it feels like our moment: just my…

Nothing gets you in the safari spirit quite like boarding a tiny six-seater aircraft at Nairobi’s Wilson Airport for the short hop to a grassy airstrip in the middle of the Maasai Mara. Since it was founded in 2004, Safarilink Aviation has plied the routes to Kenya’s most celebrated wildlife parks. “Safari is in our DNA,” says Alex Avedi, who took over as chief executive in the middle of last year. It has been an extraordinary shift for Avedi, from a 12-year stint as a senior executive at national airline Kenya Airways to a small carrier which has at its core a charter business flying clients to remote destinations. “Kenya Airlines is really mass market; you hardly know your customer,” says Avedi. “This is very concierge, very bespoke. You have…

Lending new insight into the complex interdependencies of rainforest ecosystems, researchers have found that elephants help forests store carbon. The researchers modeled the effects of forest elephant extinction and found that without elephants, there would be a significant reduction in aboveground biomass in western and central African rainforests. This drop would lead to the release of billions of tons more carbon into the atmosphere. The researchers say that when elephants are gone, smaller, fast-growing tree species thrive. But when elephants are around to feed on these trees, larger trees with high-density wood are more prevalent. These slower-growing trees are better at storing carbon. The elephants represent a carbon storage service of $43 billion, the researchers said. Trees take in carbon dioxide from the atmosphere and use it in photosynthesis, releasing oxygen.…

With Africa as the world’s youngest continent, it seems clear that conservation success depends on youth involvement. AWF has made it a strategic goal to engage Africa’s youth as leaders in conservation. In November, young people from all over Africa gathered in Cape Town to participate in discussions that could help shape the continent’s economic, development, and political futures. “Our Joint Future — Lessons From Africa,” was a one-of-a-kind youth summit running parallel to the annual summit of the Club of Rome, a leading international think tank. Organized in collaboration with AWF, the event brought together young leaders with policymakers, business leaders, and members of the Club of Rome to address urgent issues in Africa and beyond. The young people came from across the globe but especially from African countries…

A new year – let alone a fresh decade – is a good time to mentally declutter, count our blessings and reflect on how we live our lives and what is important to us. This year doing so seems particularly relevant. The world seems to be in a bit of a mess at the moment, with more pressure, discord, anxiety and frustration than I can remember. At the same time, it is clear that we’re all more aware than ever of the need to be kinder – to ourselves, to each other, to the environment – and I am sure this will have a positive influence on the choices we make, individually and as a society. You will already be very aware of the intrinsic benefits that travel offers, and…

BY ANDREW JENNINGS AND GERALDINE VERON (WHITTLES PUBLISHING) This comprehensive guide to everything mongoose covers all 34 species (25 of which are found in Africa), from the lovable meerkat to the rarely-seen Jackson’s mongoose. Aside from the meerkat, not a great deal is known about these remarkable creatures. Yet, the intriguing, diverse mongoose family is deserving of our attention – and they also face the same conservation threats as the larger carnivores. While the first part of the book covers the natural history of mongooses (including diet and foraging behaviours, breeding and social organisation, and their relationships with humans), the second section comprises detailed accounts on each species, including distribution maps, their ecology and conservation status. Although its textbook style may not appeal to everybody, it is a fascinating read…

As Namibia celebrates thirty years of independence, we look at the growth of community conservation tourism here and its ever-important role in building a sustainable future – while providing an immensely rewarding experience for visitors. Some revolutions explode onto the scene, seemingly in an instant, leaving a wake of destruction and a precarious path for change. Others are silent, where long days and nights spent around the homefires evoke memories of the past and inspire the future. Namibia is born of both. On 21 March 2020, the country celebrates thirty years of independence. Her struggle for autonomy is peppered with war and compromise, anger and acceptance – a clash of conditions that, through the will of the people, has created one of the most stable democracies in Africa. Around campfires…

The quarter century since the democratic elections of 1994 has witnessed a remarkable blossoming of private reserves in South Africa. Most famous, and justifiably so, is the cluster of five-star ‘Big Five’ properties — Londolozi, Sabi Sabi, Singita and so on — protected within the classic bushveld of Sabi Sands Game Reserve on the eastern border of the Kruger National Park. But the country boasts dozens upon dozens of other less lauded private reserves, all of which offer all-inclusive guided safari packages to visitors who prefer not to take the self-drive approach. Philip Briggs has recently visited most of the country’s top private reserves in the course of researching a new Rough Guide to the Game Parks of South Africa, and we asked him to pick 15 properties that particularly…

I lunch, some mischievous baboons entered. They ripped the I made a calamitous mistake at Bilimungwe bush camp. Failing to close my chalet door firmly as I went for mosquito net, ate the soap and tossed a cushion into the lagoon, likely startling the elephants which were hosing themselves with murky water just metres away. Yet this is what I came for. Not baboons rummaging through my stuff, obviously, but thorough wildlife immersion. Your choice of accommodation helps to shape your safari experience. The options may sound a little bamboozling: whether to select a lodge, tented camp, or bush camp? But it’s the latter that’s more likely to lead to the most visceral and exhilarating encounters and a sense of being submerged in nature. In issue 80 Travel Africa featured…

At the 2019 Tusk Conservations Awards, in partnership with Investec Asset Management, The Tusk Award for Conservation in Africa, sponsored by Land Rover, was given to Senegal’s Tomas Diagne, who was recognised for his ground-breaking work on the protection of tortoise and the freshwater and sea turtles of West Africa. The other finalists were Dr Gladys Kalema-Zikusoka, the CEO of the Uganda-based Conservation through Public Health, and Kenya’s Jeneria Lekilelei, Ewaso Lions’ Director of Community Conservation. The Prince William Award for Conservation in Africa, recognising a lifetime achievement, was given to Dr Carlos Pereira, Director of Law Enforcement and Anti-poaching in Mozambique. Presenting the awards, Prince William said: “As so much of the natural world continues to face the alarming and real threat of extinction, it is vital we recognise…

Early morning on the Sabie River in South Africa’s Kruger Park. A goliath heron employs a seldom-seen fishing technique, dropping a short piece of stick on the water to attract curious fish within range. Every few minutes, it repositions the bait. At last, there’s a nibble. The heron strikes – but just too slow: the fish escapes. It retrieves the stick and starts again: if at first you don’t succeed… Bait fishing, a form of ‘proto tool-use,’ is documented in only seven bird species worldwide. One published record exists for goliath heron, from Tanzania in 2003 (Waterbirds 27). “Because goliath herons are usually solitary foragers,” writes its author, ornithologist Malcom L Hunter, “it is likely that individuals learn this behaviour from observing the reaction of fish to fallen objects rather…

STAR BED, RUCKOMECHI Those who like their safaris rugged and rustic love Mana Pools in northern Zimbabwe. With glossy waterways and agile elephants, it’s a magnet for self-sufficient campers and canoeists. If guided safaris are more your style, but you’d still like a brush with adventure, treat yourself to a night at Ruckomechi’s romantic Star Bed. To the uninitiated, it looks alarmingly exposed: perched on a platform under the canopy of an ancient tree, there’s just a mosquito net, a ladder and a railing between you and nature in the raw. Worry not: you’re not far from camp, your guide will remain within calling distance and, in reality, dangerous animals steer clear. The set-up is minimalist, with piles of cosy bedding, a sofa and an eco-loo. With stars overhead and…

As we welcome in not only a new year but a new decade, the thoughts – for those of us in the northern hemisphere at least – turn to sunnier climes to get us through the dark winter months. We find inspiration in the pages of magazines, including Travel Africa, and the constant stream of wanderlust presented to us through social media, David Attenborough’s documentaries and friends’ holiday snaps. In our increasingly connected world we are now able to communicate in a quick, efficient and cost effective way from almost all corners of the world. When combining this connectivity and the wealth of information available, one would have thought that it would now be practical to tie together all the elements of a safari and book directly with the operators…

Threats such as habitat loss and poaching jeopardize the future of Africa’s giraffes. Last summer, the international regulatory body CITES (Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species) transferred all nine subspecies of giraffe to Appendix II, which means that trade in giraffe will be strictly regulated and that it will be much harder for countries to buy and sell giraffe parts. The proposal to start regulating giraffe trade received overwhelming support from CITES Parties gathered in Geneva, Switzerland. It was put forward by the Central African Republic, Chad, Kenya, Mali, Niger, and Senegal, who argued that all nine subspecies of giraffes must be protected to counter the species’ fast-plummeting numbers. Scientists are calling giraffe population trends a “silent extinction” occurring right under our noses. Africa has lost 40 percent of…

While cross-border trade in ivory is banned by international law via the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES), domestic ivory trade is left to the individual treaty parties, or countries, to regulate. At the 2019 CITES convention in Switzerland in August, a sweeping proposal to ban all domestic ivory markets didn’t advance. But Singapore, Israel, and Australia in 2019 all joined the global trend and announced their intent to close their domestic markets. Singapore’s ban is especially significant, considering the country is an active hub for the trafficking of illegal wildlife products, including ivory. The announcement came just weeks after Singapore officials seized a record-breaking 8.8 tons of ivory — representing almost 300 elephants slaughtered for their tusks. CITES authorities urged holdout countries…

An infant chimpanzee named Bouamir is in safe and nurturing hands now that AWF helped rescue her from wildlife traffickers. Named for an iconic rock formation in the 5,260-square kilometer Dja Faunal Reserve in southern Cameroon, the 10-month-old chimp was recovered last June. She had been tied up and left all alone in an empty house in a village outside the reserve. Her rescuers and area children named her after the rock outcropping as a symbol of her resilience. Poachers capture infants like Bouamir for the live animal trade. Many of the young chimps who survive the trauma of seeing their families slaughtered and then are smuggled to a new place will spend their lives in cages as entertainment animals. In these substandard roadside zoos and other such attractions, they…

A new report supported by AWF and others details the valuable ecosystem services provided by “lionscapes,” or landscapes in which lions thrive as apex predators. Lionscapes offer a larger than average share of: ● direct benefits such as water and food security ● supporting services such as photosynthesis, soil formation, and nutrient cycling ● regulating services such as soil stability and carbon storage ● cultural value in the recreational, historical, aesthetic, and even spiritual realms The lion is an indicator species: Those in healthy populations often correlate to healthy landscapes, which typically provide a range of benefits not only to human communities but to other species of flora and fauna. Healthy landscapes maintain essential water sources, support food security, mitigate climate change, and create resilience to flooding and other weather-related…

DAVID LAZENBY PHOTOGRAPHY, P76 “History, both natural and cultural, is my full-time occupation. When I am not in Africa or other far-flung locations around our planet photographing wildlife and wild places, I design immersive, highly visual exhibits for museums and other visitor attractions. As such, the origins of photography and the adventures of those hardy, intrepid men and women that first hauled their hulking great contraptions into the wild have always been fascinating for me. As for my part in the story… To the person that invented autofocus, I praise thee! Africa would be a whole lot blurrier without you!” MARK STRATTON BUSH CAMP, P110 “I’ve been lucky to stay in all manner of safari accommodation and invariably my finest experiences have been at smaller more remote bush camps. When…

GREAT DESIGN! Seeking hide Founded out of the hazy days of maternity leave and motivated by the beauty of South Africa’s Nguni cattle, the Australia-based Herd of Ubuntu creates quality cowhide travel goods, including this handy satchel – designed to carry all those safari essentials, such as binos, camera, guide book, insect repellent… What’s more, a percentage of the profits go towards rhino conservation projects. WWW.HERDOFUBUNTU.COM, AUS$199 (£105) COLOUR TO YOUR SOLE In a modern twist on a South African classic, the Veldskoen walking boot now sports a funky choice of coloured soles and matching laces – from Pinotage red to Bloem orange to J-bay blue and beyond. In case you were wondering, Veldskoen is a combination of the Afrikaans words veld and skoen, meaning ‘field shoe’. UK AND EUROPE:…

Squatting on a high rock, the sun was setting, the moon rising. Below me elephants grazed. It was an unexpected moment in my life, and I couldn’t stop staring. Monday morning. Everyone I know was at work, but I was on the rock looking across one of the last known wildernesses on Earth. I was in Namibia, the northern Kunene Region, and luck had risen early. There, below me, a herd. Nicknamed Mama Africa. They weren’t my focus here, just a surprise treat. Elephants are traditionally matriarchal creatures, wandering about as mothers, grandmothers, sisters, aunts. But I wasn’t looking for the female desert elephant, I’m on the trail of the male. The bull. The largest land mammal in the world. The first time I saw the big bull named Voortrekker…

Neither Amos or the backup trails guide, Jacob Kesotegile, carried a weapon, and it changed the whole experience for me Lion tracks”, Amos Disho murmured. My walking guide pointed to a feline pair of pad marks that sat crisply in Botswana’s Kalahari sand. Insects had yet to crisscross the pawprint and no botanical debris littered the indent. All signs indicated the tracks were fresh as the morning dew that clung to my trousers. “Do you mind if we follow them?” Amos asked. I shook my head (nervously, I admit) and we set off in pursuit. Watching my own feet, I made sure to follow Amos’ footsteps exactly to mitigate any undesirable crunching or branch snapping – just as he’d briefed us at the start of our walking safari in the…

The Ngorongoro Crater is an iconic and singular wildlife destination. Inside the world’s largest volcanic caldera is a plethora of Big 5 animals; so much so that you could tick off the list within an hour of venturing down it’s 600-metre-high rim. The crater epitomises what one might imagine the Garden of Eden to be like… if Noah’s ark also capsized in it. For anyone considering travelling to northern Tanzania, you simply must see one of Africa’s greatest wonders before you leave. One of the misconceptions about the Ngorongoro is that the wildlife can be seen only within the crater itself. However, the Ngorongoro Conservation Area (NCA) spans right up to the southern Serengeti. To the north of the crater, in the Ndutu region (often mistaken for the southern Serengeti…

‘Tchik, tchik!’ goes the alarm call. ‘Tchik, tchik!’ The unhappy bird has been in my ear ever since we parked at the waterhole. Reluctantly, I turn my attention from the elephants and look left. A capped wheatear is hopping from bush to ground and back to bush again. Its mate, equally agitated, perches nearby, tail flicking furiously. What’s their problem? Is it me? Then another movement catches my eye: the flickering tongue of a snake, protruding from a hole. As I watch, a snouted cobra emerges slowly onto the dusty ground. The birds redouble their efforts, hopping and fluttering around the reptile, which, undeterred, eases its gleaming length back into another hole. Of course! Capped wheatears nest in burrows. The brave birds must be doing their best to protect their…

Putting women in roles of law enforcement has brought conservation and communities together “As we move further into the interior, the realisation that these women are my lifeline dawned on me. We are patrolling on the front lines. Challenges present themselves at every corner; wild and dangerous beasts roaming, snare wire coiled round trees like spiders’ webs awaiting their prey, the thorny undergrowth, the stifling heat of the sun, the desperate lack of water and signs of poachers’ presence make this a very hostile environment to be in.” This is one reflection by Holly Budge of her time spent with the all-female Akashinga rangers in Zimbabwe’s Lower Zambezi Valley. Founder Damien Mander says “by putting women into the power roles of law enforcement, management, decision making, we’ve completely deescalated the majority…

Interactions with all infant wildlife, walking with predators or elephants, interacting with predators and the riding of wild animals are no longer acceptable practices in South Africa, according to the South African Tourism Services Association (SATSA). The SATSA guidelines, the result a year-long research process, are aimed at helping operators, product owners and tourists to make ethical choices. Wildlife tourism is the bedrock of South Africa’s tourism industry. However, not all wildlife experiences involve animals in the wild. In recent years, many tourists have realised that captive attractions or activities involving wild animals are unacceptable, especially if they result in poor welfare and treatment, with forced activities contrary to their natural behaviour. As a result, new guidelines containing strict disqualifying criteria are applicable for the following: 01 PERFORMING ANIMALS (all…

A 12-strong herd of elephant strode into view. Among them was a young male with half his trunk missing. “We think it was bitten off by a crocodile when he was very young,” says guide Joseph. “He is about ten years old now. Normally, he would have been thrown out of the group aged seven or eight to make his own way, but he has been kept within the family group because he isn’t able to look after himself.” “It was odd to think that [the herd] knew he’d got a disability,” says Tanya Beaney, herself disabled. “This was quite something to see – a disabled elephant being cared for by his family.” Maybe it’s a lesson we can all learn from. Tanya, who can only walk with the aid…

Street view Want to have a decent look at the parks you’ll be visiting in Kenya? Thanks to a collaboration between Google, Kenya’s tourism ministry, Kenya Wildlife Service, the county governments of Narok and Samburu and Ol Pejeta Conservancy, you can now explore 21 reserves on Google’s Street View, the 360-degree ground-level imagery layer found on Google Maps. Users are able to remotely explore landmarks, navigate a trip, explore the streets of cities and towns, and visit other places of interest. In Kenya, imagery has already been published for major cities and towns. Capturing the national parks was the second phase. “Google Street View will bring Kenya to the world… and also bring the world to Kenya, by growing a user’s interest to physically visit a place they have experienced virtually,”…

AWF has launched an online campaign urging Congress to pass the Critically Endangered Animals Conservation Act of 2019 (CEACA). The bill, sponsored by Reps. Jared Huffman (D-CA) and Vern Buchanan (R-FL), would reestablish a program that funded projects dedicated to conserving vulnerable species in Africa, Asia, South America, and Oceania. The US Fish and Wildlife Service ended the program in the wake of cuts to the agency’s budget. Iconic African species such as elephants benefit from projects supported by the Multinational Species Conservation Fund, but this fund does not cover all of the 27,000 species threatened with extinction. CEACA addresses wildlife populations that are small and narrowly distributed, such as Ethiopian wolves and African wild dogs. Ethiopian wolves are the most endangered carnivore in Africa, with an estimated population below…

Dear AWF friends, The discussions and debates about conservation in Africa encompass ideals, values, and even moral beliefs, but there are also pragmatic considerations. Considerations such as ecosystem services — the less romantic but compelling argument that reflects our everyday self-interests. We can’t survive without the water or food security that healthy ecosystems support. Without the plants and fungi that give us life-saving medicines, the trees that sequester carbon, their roots that keep our soil intact. Ecosystems also support sustainable livelihoods, especially tourism-based enterprises, that are aligned with many young Africans’ dreams of continued progress on the continent without a sacrifice of biodiversity. In this issue of Travel Africa, you’ll see a few of the many ways in which wildlife support ecosystem services. New research shows that elephants shape forests…