Newsletter February 2003

It’s more than 6 months since the last newsletter and a lot has happened in Kasanka! Following signing of the new agreement with the Wildlife Authority in May, the Trust was able to pursue its management and development work with new enthusiasm. In August we received 2 volunteers from the German Development Service. Cornelie Van der Feen returned under their sponsorship to resume control of the community relations, whilst Nico Reitsma was placed to further develop ecotourism.

Visitors enjoying the Luwombwa River

TIM ASHWORTH On a very sad note, I have to record the passing of Dr. Tim Ashworth, the UK Trust’s Secretary and Medical Adviser for many years. Dr. Ashworth put an enormous amount of energy and time into the cause of Kasanka administering the UK Trust. In 1996 he spent 3 months in and around Kasanka carrying out a Community Survey of the surrounding communities and made a short film entitled "The Park and the People".
	Dr. Tim Ashworth
	Results of the survey showed an urgent need for better healthcare facilities in the expanding Chalilo area, and so his interest in the Chalilo Clinic was started. It was his driving energy above all else which brought Chalilo Clinic on from a concept to the fully equipped building that stands today. Tim will be sorely missed by all who knew him and our deepest sympathies go out to his family.

ANIMAL TRANSLOCATION

The most exciting development however was the capture and translocation of animals from the nearby Bangweulu swamps into Kasanka. For some time the Trust has had an objective of replacing and strengthening some mammal species which were either locally extinct or in non-viable numbers when the project started. At the beginning of November permission was received from Zambia Wildlife Authority (ZAWA) to capture Tsessebe, Oribi and Buffalos from Bangweulu, near to Shoebill Camp and bring them to Kasanka.

Manhandling a drugged buffalo

Once caught in the net, the Tsessebe are quickly sedated, blindfolded and loaded onto the truck.

Capturing wild animals is such an open space is no simple task and a team of experts was hired using a helicopter, trucks and nets. A specialist Vet was included to administer the all important Drugs which sedate the animals and prevent them suffering undue stress. Over 3 days 10 Tsessebe and 10 Buffaloes were successfully caught and released in Kasanka. The Oribi proved a tougher proposition and after several hours chasing with the helicopter they always slipped out sideways! This was put down to their strongly territorial behaviour.

Tsessebe are released in Kasanka
after the journey from Bangweulu

The animals brought in seem to be adapting to their new home and there have been a good few sightings. To assist identification of the buffalo from the small population already here, the new animals had their horns marked with paint.

The Trust is most grateful to Rainforest Concern and Luawata Conservation who both provided funding to pay for the exercise.
Future translocation plans are:

To bring 24 Zebra from Livingstone where they are now overcrowded in the small Mosi-oa-Tunya park.

Finding an easier source or Oribi maybe from a game farm where they can be caught more easily!

Bringing more Tsessebe and perhaps Buffaloes to create more sustainable populations.

Drugged Buffalo await loading onto the truck

CLINIC OPENING

On July 22nd we were honoured with a visit from the German Ambassador to Zambia. The main purpose of this visit was to preside at the official handing over of the Chalilo Clinic to the Ministry of Health. Dr. Ashworth made one last visit to Kasanka and was able to be present at this important event which he had worked so hard towards. The clinic has not yet opened to treat patients, but the Ministry has now assigned a Public Health Practitioner to be based there and we hope that he will arrive soon. Meanwhile we are very Grateful to the FIDES charitable foundation from the Netherlands who has provided funding for the construction of 2 standard houses at the Clinic which will facilitate the placement of staff.

His Excellency the German Ambassador (foreground) attends the Handing over of the Chalilo Clinic

NEW LODGE BUILDINGS

The German Ambassador was also able to preside over an informal opening of the new Lodge building at Wasa, built with funding from the Beit Trust.
This project now finished with 3 new ensuite chalets each at Wasa and Luwombwa Lodges and the new Bar, Dining, Reception and Verandah at Wasa.

These upgraded facilities have been well received by recent visitors and we hope to add more such structures in the coming years, but without changing the friendly traditional atmosphere the park is famous for!

The new Wasa building by candlelight

EDUCATION PROJECT

The Trust’s education project continued to support 4 volunteer teachers and 21 secondary students. All of these are sponsored by individuals and organisations who donate for a specific teacher or student. We are always keen to increase the number we can support so would be keen to hear from any more potential sponsors for school children (£50 to £150 p.a.) or teachers (£600 p.a.) .

So far for the school year beginning in February we have funding for 5 teachers and 10 pupils. One of the teachers working with us last year, Frederick Chanda has been accepted to teacher training college based on his experience.

Work already under way on
Kafinda School Classrooms

Although he has saved a lot towards the college fees he is also seeking sponsorship of £100 to help him complete the course. He proved himself to be an exceptionally dedicated teacher and has committed himself to return to this area when he completes his training.Naboa school where he was teaching is so remote that the children had no access to buy books and stationary, so Fredrick was using his own initiative to bring them in from outside. Another of last year’s teachers, Mabo Chola so impressed us that he has now been permanently retained on or Community Relations staff .

The other big news on education is that we have just received funding from the German Development Service to rehabilitate the Kafinda School. Kafinda School is the oldest in the Chiefdom and is situated near the entrance to Kasanka Park. Although staffed by a motivated team and well supported by parents , the buildings have been deteriorating over the years with no help available from government. The work is being done by the PTA on a volunteer basis with materials from GDS and logistical and technical support from Kasanka Trust. We hope it will be finished within a couple of months, making the 3rd school we have extensively rehabilitated in the area.

BATS

Perhaps Kasanka’s most unique feature is the visiting colony of Straw-coloured fruitbats.
Estimated at 5-15 million in number they started arriving for their recent visit bang on schedule on 22nd October 2002. No-one who witnesses their flight out in the evenings can forget it!

This year Prof. Racey from Aberdeen University, an expert on fruit-bats visited with an assistant to see the spectacle he had heard of but never quite been able to believe!

He was suitably impressed and confirmed it as the largest known gathering of fruit-bats in Africa and probably in the world today. He is looking into plans for future research programs both on the bats and other topics.

The evening flight of fruitbats from Fibwe forest

RESEARCH

We received several research volunteers in the second half of 2002. Some continued work on the Elephant project, whilst others started a study of Sitatunga. We are hoping to have some more in depth projects in the near future on which visitors could spend a few weeks assisting. This is a popular attraction at other conservation projects but we are keen to ensure that all visitors participating can make a valuable contribution with their time.

O.B.E.

The work of the Trust, and the vision of its founder in particular, were given a valued recognition by the award in the Queen’s Jubilee Honours of an OBE to David Lloyd. The medal was presented by the British High Commissioner in Lusaka in a ceremony at his residence.

POACHING

Although the park is attracting ever more visitors and animal numbers are visibly increasing in many areas, the battle against poaching is far from over.

Efforts to win over the ‘Hearts and Minds’of the community have a long way to go despite the development they are starting to see from the Trust, and the main deterrent remains law enforcement from The Trust’s own scout force.

Scouts apprehending some poachers red handed

During 2003 a total of 73 suspects were arrested either poaching inside the park, or having been found with illegal firearms or game-meat in the surrounding areas. 24 Muzzle loading guns - many of them home made burning bush gunpowder and firing old bearing rollers and the like, as well as 4 Greener single shot Shotguns were seized. A staggering total of 761 wire snare traps were collected from the bush. This shows that however many people are caught, others are willing to risk imprisonment for the chance of some game meat. The problem is not one of lacking food, as the much publicised drought never affected these Northern parts of Zambia, but rather poaching represents a quick way to get some money for nothing. More akin to people stealing car stereos on the developed world!

The Trust’s anti-poaching force was boosted on several occasions by help from ZAWA scouts based at Kanona. These experienced officers helped train new recruits as well as conduct operations inside and outside the park.

COMMUNITY RESOURCE BOARD GETS 5%

On the other side of the coin we are making renewed efforts to involve the community more positively in tourism and the benefits they can derive. From June 2002 we have agreed to give 5% of all tourism revenue to the Community Resource Board. This has hugely uplifted interest in the Resource Board as they will now have a source of revenue! They will use the resources for local development projects of their own design, and also hopefully take a more active interest in the management of natural resources.

DAVID ROGERS
In June we had a visit from David Rogers, a South African photo-journalist who took a series of photographs of Kasanka and Bangweulu, and also wrote an article on Kasanka in the January edition of the popular South African travel magazine "Getaway".

One of David Rogers Photographs showing
the New Lodge building at Sunrise"

SHOEBILL ISLAND

Shoebill Island Camp saw a busy season and I can report that every visitor who came between April and July saw a Shoebill!
From August onwards they move further away from the camp but can still often be seen by more intrepid adventurers who up to a walk! For those who have never visited the Bangweulu Wetlands I cannot describe in words what awaits you! The BBC filmed a large part of the first ‘Congo’ episode there and also I believe used footage of both Bangweulu and Kasanka in the recent ‘Lakes and Rivers’ program.

David Rogers and John Warburton-Lee (a UK Photographer and Journalist who also visited in June) captured some of the magic of this lost wilderness in their photographs.

Shoebill Island Camp

Herds of Lechwe beyond Imagination

Fishing at Sunrise

Lechwe in the morning mist

Shoebill Stork in flight

AEROPLANE

The Trust received a huge boost to logistics in June when a light aircraft was made available to it.

Piloted by the Park Manager the plane has been invaluable especially as transport between our camps in Kasanka and Bangweulu. This trip is 20 minutes by air or 5 hours by bumpy dirt road!
The Cessna 206 can carry almost as much as a 4x4 vehicle so is much more cost effective for such journeys not to mention the time saving. It has also been used experimentally for spotting poachers’ camps and surveying animal distribution and human encroachment.

Whilst it has proved itself as a very valuable tool in these roles, the Trust does not yet have funding to cover the costs. If anyone can contribute or suggest an organization who might help we would be very grateful as we believe it could be a major tool to improve the protection of Kasanka. We also hope that later this year the plane will be licensed to carry passengers which will give us much greater flexibility in organising visitors’ itineraries.

WILDLIFE MONITORING

In September, October and November annual population counts were conducted in Kasanka to monitor the major mammal species. These counts are done every year in exactly the same way by driving along set routes and counting all the animals seen on each side of the vehicle. This way a comparison can be made between the years and some idea of population tends deduced.

Early examination of the data collected over the past 4 years seems to show positive growth for almost all the species counted, but more work needs to be done on the data before it can be published. In particular many regular visitors have noticed for themselves an increase in elephant activity.

A family group near the airfield at Chikufwe

Although Kasanka will never rival parks like the South Luangwa, Kruger, Chobe or Hwange in elephant densities, these magnificent beasts are becoming more permanent features of the Kasanka landscape, leaving their droppings and broken trees to be seen even if they are often hidden in the bushes themselves!

The End!
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