Three months have passed since the last news update. This is not because there’s been no news but rather that our team in the park have been run off their feet! The total solar eclipse on 21^st June brought an influx of visitors to make a good start to the season. Although Kasanka and Shoebill were not in the line of total eclipse, many visitors passed through before and after the event. The heavy rainfalls between November and March kept water levels higher than we have we have ever seen. The Kasanka river pontoon is still in use as the nearby ford has more than a meter of water over it! This has made for an excellent season in Bangweulu with Shoebill Island only being accessed by its causeway from early August.

As the grasses dried out controlled burning was continued and many areas opened up making the wildlife easier to see. Elephants have been seen more regularly including family groups such as the one pictured below enjoying a bath in Lake Kalamba near Wasa.
Some more groups of German students have continued the ongoing study in elephant movements to establish which areas of the park they use most and in which directions they move in and out of Kasanka. This should provide invaluable information to help conserve elephants in and around Kasanka.

On August 11th Kasanka was inundated with visitors for the wedding of Edmund Farmer, the Park Manager, and Kim Brebber the Projects Co-ordinator. Friends and relatives visited from all around the world and the ceremony was conducted by Father Robert Levertue from the White Father’s Mission in Serenje. [INSERT WEDDING PICTURE] More pictures can be seen on http://signaturecolor.clubphoto.com/john454829/

 In September the annual index counting of wildlife was started. This is an exercise in which every year we drive the same routes at the same time and count all the animals seen from each side of the vehicle. After a few years we should be able to identify relative population trends and see if numbers are increasing. These relative figures can also be related back to total figures obtained from line transect counts. The road index counts will be repeated in October and November.

 The three new chalets at Luwombwa (funded by the Beit Trust) are now open for visitors. Each has it’s own bathroom and wooden veranda deck. 2 of them have an additional upstairs bedroom making them ideal for families. The 3 new Wasa chalets are near completion and work has started on the new dining room bar and reception complex. Meanwhile a new kitchen was built and in the process of being fitted out when the (very) old one burnt down! Whilst the loss of the building was none too serious, a lot of equipment was lost. This is a risk which is hard to avoid with thatch buildings! Meanwhile at Shoebill Island  the camp is slowly being upgraded and all the safari tents now have their own en suite showers built under the same thatch roof which protects the tent.

During August a team was sent into Lavushi Manda National Park to re-open and improve the track which had been made the previous year. This road provides access to the beautiful Lavushi Hill in the centre of the deserted park, and it is hoped that some of the more adventurous visitors will be interested to visit this large wilderness area.

Work has been progressing will at Mpelembe school which is being renovated by Kasanka Trust with funding from FIDES a Dutch Charity. Dilapidated teachers houses are being renovated with new roofs, floors and plaster; the schoolroom blocks which had been condemned as unsafe are being repaired and re-roofed with steel frames to avoid the recurrent problem of termites eating the roof timbers!

The Trust is still paying salaries for four full time teachers and one part time to uplift the local education standard. The help these teachers give cannot be underestimated with some of them working in schools which have 6 classes but only 2 teachers. Thirteen Secondary school pupils are also being sponsored with school fees, transport to and from school, uniforms books and other needs.  This has all been made possible by individual donors who have sponsored a teacher (£600) or student (£150).

The Trust’s other major community project is continuing to progress if rather slowly. Chalilo Clinic now has the concrete foundation slab finished and concrete blocks are being moulded for the walls.  Funding from the German Embassy has been added to grant from the states of Guernsey and used to buy building materials so that everything needed to finish the building is now ready. The community who are providing the labour on a self-help basis are now working hard to make progress before the rains set in.

 
“Sitatunga seen from the Fibwe tree hide”]

Edmund Farmer 30 September 2001