2008 Progress reports: January 2008 9th April 2008 13th April 2008 20th April 2008 18th May 2008 1st June 2008
2007 progress reports: March 2007, August 2007, September 2007, October/November 2007, December 2007 field trip.
Spotted hyaenas are the most abundant large carnivore in sub-Saharan Africa occurring in a wide range of habitats. However their range, especially in southern Africa has become drastically reduced in this century. This reduction in the number and distribution of spotted hyaenas has been accelerating as human population increases resulting in an increase in conflict with human development. This problem is accentuated in areas of high density, such as the Caprivi and Kavango Regions.
The future for spotted hyaenas outside protected areas remains precarious. They are formidable livestock killers and are actively persecuted. Hyaena social structure is complex and the removal of a number of key individuals is likely to lead to the breakdown of the social group. Once a spotted hyaena social group has disappeared, it is difficult to repopulate the area. The spotted hyaena is unable to inhabit agricultural areas successfully and its future is tied to the long-term future of conservation areas.
Most Namibians depend on the land for their subsistence, but the present of many species of large mammals, combined with settlement patterns of people, leads to conflict between people and wildlife. Large carnivores occur throughout the Caprivi and Kavango Regions and frequently cross international borders. Their population dynamics, movements and conservation status are poorly understood despite ongoing conflict with local people. In the Caprivi Region between 1996 and 2001, 246 predator incidents were reported, resulting in the death of 694 livestock equivalents. As the number of communal conservancies increased so has the systematic reporting of problem animal incidents through the event book system highlighting that previous reports on livestock damage were most likely under reported. Event book records show that between 2001 and 2006 some 2766 large carnivore incidents were reported of which 1401 were of spotted hyaenas, resulting in damage to 3125 livestock equivalents.
Whether problem causing hyaenas are resident within the communal area or originate from the park is unknown. Human – wildlife Conflict (HWC) is an issue of pressing conservation concern particularly when it involves threatened species, and accurately identifying the causes of such conflict is fundamental to developing effective resolution strategies. Long-term conservation of spotted hyaenas in the Caprivi and Kavango depends on their persistence in protected areas like Bwabwata National Park and in resolving human-wildlife conflict with the communities on the periphery.
Hyaenas are unique and vital components of most African ecosystems and understanding the mechanisms that regulate or limit their population should be taken into consideration when developing management plans for protected areas. For example, in a study in Etosha National Park, 71% of hyaena mortality was due to lions. Diseases in spotted hyaenas may play an important role as a limiting factor in populations inside protected areas. Blood samples taken from spotted hyaenas throughout their range have tested positive for antibodies for a wide range of viral diseases including rabies and anthrax. There is some evidence that rabies may depress the southern Kalahari population and in the Serengeti, cubs under the age of six months succumbed to the 1993 canine distemper outbreak There is little data from the Namibian population and none from the Caprivi Region. Additionally, Spotted hyaenas have a substantial effect on less abundant prey species or the establishment of new species in protected areas and can even effect other carnivore populations.
Home range sizes and densities in spotted hyaenas vary considerably in
different habitats. In Etosha National Park, Hyaena home ranges of up to 360 km2
have been recorded. No study of spotted hyaenas has yet been undertaken in the
Caprivi Region, but it is likely that home ranges fall across international
boundaries which could have strong implications in trans-boundary conservation
strategies
Problem causing animals are and always will remain a challenge in Africa
wherever people and wildlife live together. Sound ecological data, such as
reliable population estimate, distribution and population demography are crucial
in the implementation of conservation strategies and conflict resolution.
The intensive study area focusing on population ecology of spotted hyaenas will fall within the Bwabwata National Park with particular focus on the core conservation areas of Susuwe and Buffalo. This area is 32 km wide and 190 km long and covers approximately 6000 km2. It stretches from the Kavango River in the west to the Kwando River in the east and is bordered by Angola in the north and Botswana in the south. Bwabwata national park does not appear on any maps as it is in the process of being made a National Park. It will be made up of two parts - the main part is what is currently the Caprivi Game Reserve, and the second part is the Mahango National Park. This area will also form a key part of the proposed Kavango-Zambezi Transfrontier park which will create a single park that includes areas of Namibia, Angola, Botswana, Zambia and Zimbabwe.
The extensive study area focusing on land use practices and human-wildlife conflict will fall within the human settlement areas of the Caprivi, i.e. communities within the Kyaramacan Association of the west Caprivi and the conservancies of the east Caprivi. It covers an area of approximately 20 000 km2 of which the majority falls within Kalahari woodland land type and has an mean annual rainfall of 550 mm.
1. Demography, land use characteristics, social structure and limiting factors
Spotted hyaenas will be immobilized with Zoletil and fitted with GPS and VHF collars as well as visual collars. At least two high ranking individuals in each clan will be collared with GPS collars due to the probability of clans moving across international borders and to establish the land use characteristics of the clan. Two additional individuals in each clan will be radio collared with particular attention to emigrating males in order to monitor their daily activities and movements outside the protected area. Radio collared hyaenas will be located regularly by aircraft followed by ground observations to record group composition.
Visual collars will be placed on additional hyaenas living close to the boundaries of the conservation area so as to assist with identification should they move out into communal and livestock farming areas or are killed as problem animals.
Clan structure will be studied by individual identification through recognition spot patterns, scars and natural ear notches when monitoring communal den sites with individuals considered to be clan members with repeated visits to the den.
2. Genetic status and disease
Blood samples will be taken from all collared hyaenas and in collaboration with Dr Michael Briggs of African Predator Conservation Research Organisation (APCRO) and Dr Jean DuBach of Brookfield Zoo will be analysed for a wide range of viral antibodies. DNA analyses will be done to establish genetic diversity and viability of the hyaena population.. In addition, blood samples will be sent to Dr Mike Pierce in the United Kingdom to be analysed for blood parasites.
The trophy hunting concession holders have agreed to allow post mortems of trophy hunted species. These samples along with post mortem samples of carnivores killed in conflict by the community will be analysed for infectious disease by Dr Mike Kinsel of Illinois University.
External parasites will be collected and sent to veterinarian Dr Kathy Alexander for identification and to establish their role as potential disease vectors.
3. Human Wildlife Conflict
A survey will be conducted to assess the animal husbandry methods used throughout the communities of the caprivi with particular attention to kraal construction and vigilance of livestock owners. Where possible, losses will be followed up in order to establish the species of problem animals and compare these to perceptions of the community. In collaboration with the community, livestock protection methods will be improved and implemented.
4. Community Training
Individuals from communities falling under the Kyaramacan Association will be identified and trained in research field techniques. These will include taking post mortem samples and techniques in radio telemetry for the ongoing monitoring of large carnivore population as well as wildlife diseases within the Caprivi Region.
In March 2007 the Trustees of the Predator Conservation Trust made a grant to Lise Hanssen to fund a field trip for her to do the preliminary surveys and meetings necessary to prepare her application for a research permit to study large carnivores in the Caprivi region. Read Lise's report on the resulting field trip.
In late September 2007, the Trustees of the Predator Conservation Trust received a request for funding from Lise Hanssen for the Caprivi Carnivore Project. After evaluating the proposal, the Trustees approved funding for the project. The funding will cover a number of items essential for the project to get fully up and running. The main item is a dart gun (plus darts) for use in tranquilising animals to allow collars to be fitted and blood samples taken. Also covered by the grant are a number of items of medical and veterinary supplies including the animal tranquiliser Zoletil which will be used when darting the Spotted Hyenas being studied, visual identification collars, fuel and various other items.
In October 2007, PCT received a donation of a digital SLR camera plus lenses
and a flashgun along with a number of reference books, research papers and other
equipment for Lise Hanssen’s project. PCT Trustee Anthony May was
travelling to Namibia on holiday in October and delivered them to Lise in
Windhoek.
See second page for reports from 2007
I have been awarded a Grant through the WildiZe Foundation in the United States for around US$16,000 which will cover the costs of GPS collars and a VHF / UHF receiver, which will allow me to start field work as soon as the rains have declined. I am presently working on developing a questionnaire for a survey of Human Wildlife Conflict to be carried out shortly among the communities in the Caprivi Region.
Lise Hanssen
A substantial grant from Sidney Schultz was made to the Hyaena project through the WildiZe Foundation in the USA. This majority of this grant will be used to cover the cost of GPS collars and telemetry equipment and along with the grant received from the Predator Conservation Trust, which covered the cost of a dart gun, veterinary drugs and other supplies, will get the field work up and running.
Excessive rain in northern Namibia including the Caprivi Region delayed my departure somewhat, but I was able to purchase a number of items of equipment and do extensive research on the intricacies of GPS collar technology. Examples of some of the technical aspects of concern are as follows: Does the VHF tracking facility work all the time or only at preset times? Do the collars come with remote release features or does the animal have to be recaptured to retrieve the collar? Does one have to be line of sight or within a particular distance to the UHF receiver to remote download the stored locations? . Researching carnivores in many places in Namibia is rather unique in that they are extremely shy of people, the areas they cover are vast (in the Caprivi they could cross four international borders in one day) and access to those areas can be extremely difficult if not impossible so certain GPS collar features can literally be the difference between getting data or losing it all.
I met with Apollo Kannyinga at the Ministry of Environment and Tourism (MET) office in Rundu and Philip Steyn (MET) at Shamvura Camp to discuss the issue of setting up baits to lure in hyaenas when the time came for darting and collaring. Using the meat of domestic stock as bait is often assumed to promote livestock predation and as livestock loss is already a problem for the community living within Bwabwata, this option would not be possible. I was instructed to write a separate proposal to my initial research proposal justifying the use of bait for darting as well as for calling stations. Once the trophy hunting concession tenders for Bwabwata have gone through the process, then hopefully obtaining some sort of bait will become easier.
I am focusing on conducting a questionnaire survey on human wildlife conflict (HWC) throughout the west Caprivi (Bwabwata) and the Conservancies that fall within the Mudumu North Complex, which are four Conservancies (Mayuni, Mashi, Kwando and Sobbe) on the boundary of Bwabwata on the eastern side of the Kwando River. If time allows I would like to include some of the villages in the Kavango Region that fall between Bwabwata and Mahangu Park on the Okavango River.
Carrying out the survey is by no means a straight forward process. On meeting with Friedrich Alpers (IRDNC) at Buffalo, I received extensive advice on who in the community should be kept informed at all times about my movements in the Caprivi. This includes the police, the military, the conservancies, the Kyaramacan Trust, MET and the NGO’s. Much of my time is spent on setting up the survey and PR before venturing out to actually gather the required information.
I have met with the Facilitator and the Secretary of Mayuni Conservancy as well as the Research Co-ordinator of the Mudumu North Complex to introduce the project and get their input on the final version of the questionnaire. I have set up meetings with the Chief Game Guard of Mayuni in order to go through the Event Books for the Conservancy where incidents of HWC have been recorded over the years, with the Co-ordinator of the HACCS project (an insurance scheme for HWC) and with the Kwando Conservancy to present the project to the community.
Dan Stephens from Mazambala Lodge has arranged for me to set up camp at their campsite which is only two kilometres off the main tar road and just across the bridge from Bwabwata. From here I only have to drive five minutes east to Kongola where IRDNC and Mayuni Conservancy have offices and five minutes west to Susuwe where there is a MET Ranger station.
The questionnaire is in process, but the actual survey cannot be conducted before I have consulted with the remainder of the Mudumu North Complex Conservancies and the Kyaramacan Trust.
Lise Hanssen
Things are progressing slowly, but smoothly and definitely forward. I have driven the east Caprivi conservancy route flat and some more than once trying to cover everyone who is anyone. I got approached yesterday by a local who already knew that I was here to study hyaenas as it was brought up at a workshop in Katima two days ago. The word is getting around.
The local wildlife has become my immediate neighbour. A large baboon spider has moved into my kitchen utensil trunk and hides behind the spoon every time I lift the lid. I now leave it slightly open so he can come and go as he pleases, but use a fork to prod around on the bottom to find things rather than using my hand. I got serenaded by two rock thrushes this morning who kept going at full pitch for ages.
There is a thriving NGO and research community around Kongola and I keep bumping into folks that I have met over the years or Masters students doing some or other wildlife study. I got fetched by some guides yesterday evening and taken by boat along the Kwando River and then treated to supper at Mazambala which was a most unexpected treat. The joys of unconventional work – one ends up doing amazing stuff.
I put up my big tent yesterday after staying in the little one for a while now and it is absolute luxury. Ones sense of luxury definitely takes on a new perspective out here. Running water out of a tap near by is very luxurious – no dredging the river with 20 litre plastic bottles. Last night a hippo was grazing away just outside and I felt perfectly safe.
The pace of life here is very slow. I always compare it to swimming through honey. Even the oxen dragging their loads along the side of the road seem to move in slow motion. I have met heaps of new people with the strangest of names. Yesterday a guy introduced himself as Moscow. There seems to be quite a bit of interest in Bliksem as most of the village dogs don’t even get noticed. They are just part of the scenery and Bliksem takes an active role everywhere he goes. In Kavango I was surrounded by a bunch of tiny little village kids who screamed with delight when Bliksem swam out and retrieved sticks from the water.
Cow bells have become part of the ambient Caprivi sound along with turtle doves and is very soothing, but I am sure they sound more like the dinner bell to all lions far and near.
Lise Hanssen
In order to conduct the HWC survey it is vital to identify the stakeholders and understand the complex system of beneficiaries within the Caprivi Region. Most of my time on this trip has been spent on developing the questionnaire with the input of the relative support bodies and network of partnerships and collaborators on the ground. I have learned an incredible amount on how the conservancy system works, but it has been time very time consuming.
The Conservancy system was developed so that people living on state land could receive the benefits from consumptive and non-consumptive wildlife utilization within their area. This would include trophy hunting, tourism through joint ventures and training through research projects. They become stakeholders in income generating projects like lodges, campsites and trophy hunting concessions. Conservancies have defined boundaries and with the assistance of NGO’s , develop management plans which include wildlife and forest utilization and long-term monitoring. The Conservancy is then officially gazetted by the Namibian government so it is a legal body. In order to thoroughly represent the individuals within their community, the staffing structure is quite complex. Each has a manager and a secretary who are based at the conservancy office. There are a number of area representatives who liaise between the management and the people. The monitoring process is carried out by the game guards of which the number depends on the size of the conservancy. The game guards are headed by a Chief Ranger and a Field officer.
There is a largely San community living within the west Caprivi which has now
been officially declared as the Bwabwata National Park and falls within the
Kavango Zambezi (KAZA) Trans-Frontier Conservation Area. Because the area is a
National Park, the residents are unable to form a conservancy. In order to
receive benefits from the utilization of wildlife through the two trophy hunting
concessions inside the park boundaries, through trophy fees and meat, they have
formed the Kyaramacan Trust, which mostly functions along the same lines as a
conservancy.
There are vast areas outside the National Parks which have diverse species of
trees and other vegetation that can be utilized by the communities in and around
them. Some of the areas fall under the management of the Forestry department in
the Ministry of Agriculture and others have been declared as Community Forests
and monitored by the Conservancies.
The Mudumu North Complex (MNC), which is where I will be working in the East Caprivi, is the area covering the Bwabwata National Park, Mudumu National Park, Community Forests, National Forests and four conservancies in between. The monitoring of plants and wildlife and the utilization thereof is under joint management between the Ministry of Environment, the Ministry of Agriculture and the four conservancies. The MNC has its own personnel structure, which includes a General Co-ordinator, a Research Co-ordinator and a Monitoring Co-ordinator who are chosen from with the surrounding community. These individuals might also fall within the Conservancy Structure.
Wildlife monitoring within this entire area is carried out under the game guard system. Each game guard works within a specific block, which would include villages and surrounding land. The information they collect through the event book system is extremely detailed and impressive. They will cover their entire block through the period of a month where they record incidences of livestock loss to predators, poaching, wildlife deaths, predator observations and spoor, observations of rare and endangered game species, like sable and eland that have been reintroduced to the area by the Ministry of Environment and Tourism. With NGO logistical support, they also conduct a bi-annual wildlife census of the parks and conservancy areas for the Caprivi Region.
While developing the questionnaire I have met with the Managers, Secretaries and some of the Head Rangers of the MNC conservancies. I have given presentations to Area Representatives and Game Guards at the Kwando and Mashi Conservancies. I still need to meet with the Field Officer and Head Ranger of the Kyaramacan Trust as well as introduce myself to the Chief of the Mbarakwena people.
Instead of including unnecessary questions about the livestock farming system it was necessary for me to discuss the industry with the Department of Veterinary Services (DVS). The veterinary technicians, Israel Kaatura, Sharon Zambwe, Sandra Nyame and Marklee Matengu based at the Katima regional DVS office explained about the commercial beef industry and the vaccination procedures for livestock. The technicians visit DVS sub-sections which include a number of villages throughout the east Caprivi and vaccinate all livestock and domestics dogs for rabies as well as other diseases. They kindly provided me with a map showing every single village and the sub-section boundaries of the east Caprivi. This map will be used to choose the villages where the questionnaire will be carried out.
Interestingly, no vaccinations of livestock and dogs are undertaken in the west Caprivi. This is because there is no commercial trade and livestock is kept on a subsistence basis only. Therefore it does not fall under the control of the DVS which is within the Ministry of Agriculture. Any animal-related activities within west Caprivi fall under the Ministry of Environment. It would be interesting to perform viral antibody tests on the domestic dog population of the west Caprivi.
The above information provided by DVS was thorough enough so as to exclude it
from the questionnaire. In addition, records of stock losses to predators,
poisonous plants and theft are also kept by DVS and will be interesting to
compare to the information received during the survey.
I also met with Beaven Munali based at the IRDNC Caprivi office in Katima to
discuss the objectives of the study and the logistical problems in carrying out
the survey. He suggested that with the help of IRDNC, we will hold a training
workshop for the game guards of the MDC conservancies and Kyaramacan Trust and
thereafter they would carry out the survey within their patrol blocks as they
know the area intimately and can also speak the language. The first draft of the
questionnaire has been circulated and I have received excellent suggestions.
After modifications, the second draft will be distributed to the conservancy
management and NGO’s over the next two days.
I briefly met with Shadreck Siloka, Chief of Caprivi Parks to update him on my activities and progress so far.
During last week it came to my attention that the UHF receiver used to download locations from GPS collars was no longer available from African Wildlife Tracking, the company that is providing the telemetry equipment for the study. Instead they have introduced a UHF/GPRS receiver which is slightly more complicated to work with. One has to download the location as before, but is unable to access them from the receiver. One then has to travel to an area that has cell phone network coverage and the data is sent via the GPRS network to AWT. One can access the data from their website using a password system.
The wildlife field work will begin within the Kwando system where there is reasonable to good cellphone coverage so I have ordered GSM collars for this part of the project. I will also be able to use GSM collars on the Okavango River side of the park. No receiver is required and the locations of the collared hyaenas are automatically via SMS to my cellphone daily. If a collared hyaena goes out of cell phone range, the collar continues to store data using the GPS facility on the collar. These locations will immediately be sent to me via SMS the minute the animal steps into cellphone range again.
I will reconsider the GPS collar system when work has developed to the point
that I can move on to the central part of Bwabwata, where there is little to no
cellphone network coverage at all. I have ordered a whip antenna which is
attached to the vehicle. This will allow me to leave the receiver on scanning
mode so that all VHF frequencies can be scanned constantly every time I drive.
Collaring is due to start in the latter half of May.
I contacted the Hyaena Specialist Group before departing from Windhoek and asked
if they would send me hyaena posters which they compiled a number of years ago.
These posters have pictures, facts and distribution maps of the four hyaena
species that exist throughout the world and will be distributed to schools,
conservation bodies, NGO’s and conservancies throughout the Caprivi and Kavango
Regions.
Lise Hanssen
The second draft of the questionnaire was distributed to the Mayuni, Mashi, Sobbe and Kwandu Conservancies as well as the Kyaramacan Trust before I had to leave for Windhoek. It was also translated into Afrikaans for the West Caprivi residents and emailed to employees of IRDNC for their perusal. The managers and field officers were requested to go through the hard copies and make any changes they thought necessary. Some of the changes suggested to the first and second drafts included the following:
Through IRDNC staff I was able to set up a meeting with the Traditional Authority (TA). Luskin accompanied me to the Khuta (Office of the Traditional Authority) to translate my explanation of the hyaena project to the Ndunas. They asked me many and varied questions, but mostly regarding my impact on the area and the villagers as well as long-term benefits for the community. I was then taken to be formally introduced to Chief Mayuni at the Palace. Luskin and one of the Nduna’s accompanies me and performed the translations that is tradition when speaking to the Chief. His questions of this study were mostly conservation related and I was challenged on how my project could provide additional knowledge when so many other projects and training had already taken place. The Chief and the Khuta have given outright approval and support to the Hyaena study.
While in Windhoek I received the hyaena posters that had been sent by the Endangered Wildlife Trust via the Hyaena Specialist Group to distribute to the conservancy and conservation offices as well as to schools in the north east of Namibia.
I met with Chris Weaver from WWF to ask advice on funding administration for the project. He suggested that I contact Namibia Nature Foundation (NNF) as they administer funds for an extensive range of conservation and community projects for a reasonable fee. I have since been in touch with NNF and plans are in progress.
I also had a number of meetings at MET. One meeting was with Mark Jago, the Game Capture Vet to discuss ear notching of hyaenas and to get some diagrams of the configuration used on black rhinos by MET. The second meeting was with Pierre Du Preez, Chief Scientist for Scientific Services to discuss quality of GSM collar data and setting the number of locations per day for the collars. Graphs comparing data quality between satellite and GSM collars showed that GSM data was far superior in terms of regularity of feedback. He also showed me how locations received from African Wildlife Tracking can be overlaid on base maps from Google Earth as well as base maps from their website using the collared buffalo and sable in the Caprivi as an example. He suggested I set the collars to take five locations per day rolling over by one hour every 24 hours so that over time I could get locations of hyaenas around the clock as well as extend battery life of the collars. For carrying out the questionnaire Pierre suggested I zone the villages in the East Caprivi according to the distance from the National Parks and then randomly pick villages within the zones as well as within the conservancies so as to look at whether attitudes to predators differ with distance from the parks as well as within different conservancies.
In meeting with Sobbe Conservancy on my return to Caprivi I realized that it is also necessary to include questions about whether people thought that predators came out of the park, killed livestock and returned to the park or whether the predators were resident in areas surrounding the villages. This came from getting the questionnaire back from the Conservancy Manager who had misunderstood my request and had filled in the questionnaire as a respondent. I saw that he had put lions and spotted hyaenas down in the Big Problem category and he lives in a village that is over 40 km from the boundary of Bwabwata National Park. Interestingly he also ticked the category for wanting predators (all species) to increase in the area which lends weight to respondents filling in what they think interviewers want to hear. I am hoping that using the local game guards as interviewers will minimize this problem. In question time after presenting the project to the conservancy the questions were many and varied and mainly focused on job creation, remuneration and training within the conservation field.
I have contacted Beaven Munali at IRDNC Caprivi office to start setting up a questionnaire training workshop for the game guards of the Kyaramacan Trust (KT) and the Mudumu North Complex Conservancies. I will have to contribute towards transport costs and daily per diem for the game guards to carry out the survey.
The next week to ten days will be spent in the West Caprivi setting up meetings
with the Headmen of the villages and the game guards of the KT to learn more
about predator problems within a National Park where no predators can be
classified as “problems” because they have protected status. I will also be
driving most of the dirt tracks in the park to tracklog them on my GPS as well
as looking for hyaena activity through densites, spoor and latrines. I will be
out of contact for most of this time as there is little cellphone coverage in
the interior of the park.
I would like to take this opportunity to thank Mazambala Island Lodge for making
me feel so welcome and providing me with the ideal base from which to carry out
my work.
Lise Hanssen
I was accompanied by Dan Stephens, a guide from Mazambala Island Lodge, on a week long trip into the interior of Bwabwata National Park. The aim of the trip was to gain a better understanding of the lay out of the park such as border cut-lines, pans, tracks, vegetation type and cover, dens and animal sightings or spoor. All places of interest were recorded on the GPS. In addition we were looking at ideal habitat and areas where the field work of marking and collaring spotted hyaenas could take place.
I had been wondering if most of the game and the carnivores were concentrated along the core areas which fall in the park extremities along the Okavango and Kwando River systems. Apart from these rivers the only other available water within the interior would be concentrated in pans - many of which would have dried up by this time. We were on the lookout throughout the trip for vegetation and animals which were water dependent and which would give us some indication of available surface water.
As I do not yet have the track logs of the interior roads of the park on my GPS, we started the trip at Buffalo Ranger Station. Inside the office is an impressively detailed map including pans, tracks, villages and game concentration of Bwabwata. We took detailed photographs of the tracks and points of reference for guidance and then proceeded into the Buffalo Core Area. Within an hour of driving we had seen a young male leopard, buffalo, kudu, impala, crocodile, hippo and warthog.
Although the rivers are receding, they are still reasonably high so some areas are inaccessible.
Spotted hyaenas do like crocodile free water and it will be interesting to see if they spend time around the marshy areas once the river level has dropped. On the first night spent camping along the Okavango River, we heard very loud, frequent and prolonged vocalization of a number of spotted hyaenas.
Every track leading north and south from the main tar road that runs along the middle of the Caprivi was explored as we travelled in an easterly direction towards Cheto. I was keeping an eye on the cellphone network coverage for the possible use of GSM collars anywhere in the interior. Unfortunately it seems unless I am specifically working within the Omega vicinity which has a tower, GPS collars are going to be necessary once moving inland from the rivers.
Although the habitat in the Caprivi appears homogeneous from the Trans Caprivi Highway, it is actually incredibly varied from the interior. There are numerous pans though out the park, many of which have dried up since the wet season, but some were slightly damp near the bottom. All of these were investigated for carnivore spoor, but only one had fresh spoor of a lioness and cub that had drunk there within the hour. This pan was approximately 30 km west of the Kwando River, which is a reasonable distance from the main river. The spoor then led in an easterly direction.
Some of the tracks are fairly clear but others are so overgrown that it is hard to tell there is actually a track there.
Spoor of an array of animal species were seen throughout the park. Fresh tracks of spotted hyaena, cheetah and wild dog were picked up between 40km and 60 km east of the Okavango River towards the Angolan border as well as cheetah scat. Fresh cheetah tracks as well as numerous disused hyaena dens were found in the middle of the park near the Botswana border in a mopane woodland habitat. One pan that was filled with water, but was within 100 metres of human habitation and had no tracks of wild animals whatsoever. There were only tracks of livestock that had drunk there.
While driving on a track north of Cheto about 1 km south of Angola we came across two water filled pans with numerous antelope tracks present in the mud. A lone elephant bull with a satellite collar was the only actual wildlife sighting in the vicinity. The habitat east of this area changed to bushy scrub, very similar to areas within Nyae Nyae and ideal for wild dog, where we found and GPS’d a disused wild dog den. There was even a preserved spoor in the hardened substrate on the side of the den just inside the entrance.
Many areas in the Caprivi undulate and change from open grassy veldt to forest thickets very quickly. The forested areas are where most of the spoor and scat of all wildlife was seen.
On Wednesday 28 May 2008 I drove to Popa Falls community campsite to attend a meeting of the Kyaramacan Trust to update them on my progress and inform them of my future plans. I explained the project outlay in having three main objectives, i.e. spotted hyaena demography, human wildlife conflict and community training and capacity building. The biggest San (Bushman) communities within the park are around Cheto and Omega and this is where a number of problems involving large carnivores, especially wild dogs occur. Unfortunately these people are unable to take action when they lose livestock as they are living inside a protected area so none of these animals may be declared “problem animals”. I explained that I would like to investigate in detail occurrences of livestock losses so that we can gain a proper understanding of the conflict and come up with solutions for the long-term. My intentions for capacity building are to train individuals within all the relevant communities of the study to be able to carry out research technician work including collecting samples and use radio telemetry effectively. All training will be done under the guidance and in collaboration with IRDNC and with the communities themselves.
Hyaena information posters provided by the Endangered Wildlife Trust have been handed out to the Sobbe Conservancy office and the Kyaramacan Trust at both the conservancy office at Cheto and at Popa Falls as well as the IRDNC office in Katima Mulilo. All the GPS positions of the carnivore spoor collected during the trip will be recorded in the Incident books at Susuwe Ranger Station in the park.
The telemetry equipment will be ready to send to Namibia from South Africa in early June. I will travel to Windhoek to make arrangements for import and collecting the equipment. Field work will commence in Kwando core area, slightly away from the river due to elephant disturbance. Thereafter I would like to look immediately at the area surrounding Omega due to the conflict.
On Tuesday I depart to Cheto to go through the Event Books where problem animal
incidences as well as predator observations and spoor are recorded by the KT
game guards. I am in the process of writing a report for the Ministry of
Environment and Tourism in order to renew my research permit.
The time has flown by on this trip. Its hard to believe it has been almost a
month since I left Windhoek. It feels so good to be back in the field again. I
forgot what I was missing all this time. One thing that I remember well is that
no two days are alike and it is really difficult to get a schedule going as one
is often working by the seat of one’s pants. Another thing that is glaringly
obvious when one is working on a tight budget is the increasing price of fuel –
I swear someone made the size of a litre smaller too as not only does the bakkie
cost one and a half times more to fill, it seems to get one and a half times
less mileage on the same fuel. Weird.
As I have mentioned before, but not explained – I had the formal introduction at
the Khuta (Traditional Authority office). I was terribly nervous as it is
a whole formal ritualistic thing. The whole meeting introduction to the
Nduna’s (tribal elders) was set up by a local guy called Luskin who is
wonderfully helpful. He instructed me to wear a skirt and to look clean and
neat. I didn’t pack a skirt so I managed to buy a colourful traditional
wraparound that the villagers wear round here. Some of them are a bit
loud, but I got my hands on a nice orange one that would go well with my orange
T-shirt. Back at camp I paraded my outfit to Jeffrey and Raymond who gave
me instructions on how to wrap and tie it properly. They were very
enthusiastic about my traditional dress and said that that the Khuta would
approve.
For a first timer, a khuta is really intimidating. One has to go on ones hands and knees and clap outside the door with your head bowed. The Nduna’s file in and one only speaks when spoken too and this is through a translator. The tribe and language is Mafwe and as I have no previous exposure to it, I had absolutely no idea what was being said. I was politely grilled by the Ndunas on my intentions and I kept an eye on Luskin’s body language out of the corner of my eye and copied every move he made. The Chief was not present, but I was asked if I would like to see the Chief. Now that question is not as easy to answer as one thinks. If I said yes, I might sound demanding and out of place and if I said no, I might come across as rude and arrogant so I ended up saying “only if the Chief has time” - How was I to know that this question was part of the whole introductory ritual. The Chief was at the palace at the far side of the yard. Everyone speaks in hushed tones and bows their head non-stop in a submissive way. I thought I would explode from stress and tension. One Nduna came back to confirm that the Chief would like to see me now. I was hoping that he would be too busy so was getting really nervous at this point.
The clapping, kneeling and submissive ritual outside the palace was quite hectic and once in the presence of the Chief, one stays on the floor until he invites you to sit on the furniture. Chief Mayuni is a wonderful man. He is kind and a visionary of note. A real father figure type. I made so many faux pax in that scenario I couldn’t begin to tell you. I blush when I recall. I have since, on another occasion in an informal setting, met Chief Mayuni again and I bought him a beautiful tie in Katima Mulilo to go with the suit that he wears to formal functions. He is very good looking so I thought that tie would look spectacular on him and he really loved it. I look forward to my next interaction with him.
My bakkie is taking a hammering of a lifetime and I am averaging one flat tyre per week. Not the end of the world and thank goodness it’s a hilux. Toyotas truly are the best. I reckon its got some life left in it yet, which is just as well as one ends up taxiing folks all over the place and loading their thatch grass and reeds that they cut to repair their homes. This is the way of the life here and I am fitting right in. Bliksem is having the time of his life and the challenges and learning curves make him the happiest dog of all time.
Lise Hanssen
© Predator Conservation Trust.
