Who Protects Africa’s Wildlife?

BY AWAKE! CORRESPONDENT IN SOUTH AFRICA

SOME unkind things have been said about the way Africans view their wildlife heritage. ‘They have no real appreciation for it; they just view it as a source of food and money,’ some visitors say. A reason for these conclusions? Reserves are often full of Western tourists and very few locals. But a Zulu chief in South Africa once explained: “There are difficulties in the way of blacks visiting game reserves. To us wildlife conservation is a luxury which only a handful of blacks are in an economic position to enjoy.”

Many Africans today, unlike their forefathers, grow up in city slums, where they are cut off from wildlife. Also, rural dwellers are often victims of poverty and neglect. “Only those with full bellies can afford to preserve game purely for aesthetic, cultural and education reasons,” explained a game warden of a West African country.

In spite of these negative factors, wildlife is a popular theme in African art, as a visit to African curio shops will testify. Archaeology reveals wild animals as a theme of African art from ancient times. Is that not proof of an aesthetic appreciation for wildlife?

Consider the case of Abel and Rebecca, who have spent a number of vacations in game reserves of southern Africa. Yet, both grew up in black townships of South Africa. Rebecca’s interest in wildlife got started thanks to public zoos in Johannesburg and Pretoria. “As a child,” she explains, “the only time we saw wild animals was when we visited these zoos.”

Abel’s love for wildlife started differently. He often spent school holidays in the rurals with his grandparents. “My grandfather,” he recalls, “would point out different animals and explain their habits. I remember his telling me about the honey badger and a clever little bird, the greater honey guide, which is believed to lead animals to beehives.” Abel relates this fascinating experience he had as a 12-year-old boy.

“One day, while we were walking in the bush, my grandfather drew my attention to a small bird that seemed to be calling us. It was a honey guide. So we followed the bird as it flew ahead from bush to bush. This went on for over half an hour. Eventually the bird rested on a branch and stopped calling. My grandfather said we must now look around for the hive. Sure enough, we soon saw bees entering a hole under a rock. Carefully my grandfather extracted some honey. Then he took a piece of comb with larvae in it and placed it on the rock. This was his way of saying thank you to the bird for leading us to the beehive.”

This remarkable relationship between man and the honey guide has been well documented by ornithologists. “I will never forget the experience,” continues Abel. “It made me want to learn more about wildlife.”

A former Masai warrior of Tanzania, Solomon ole Saibull, who later qualified as a wildlife conservationist, put matters in perspective when he gently explained to a Western author: “I know a large number of Africans who appreciate not only the economics of wildlife preservation, but also the intangible values . . . These are people​—Africans—​who can sit and watch Nature as it manifests itself in different subtle ways. The setting sun over the mauve hills, the lush scenery and the landscapes of rivers and valleys, the variety and abundance of creatures in their entire freedom​—all forming a multitude of fascinating phenomena. Surely, this rather fine feeling is not confined to Europe and America?”

Yes, from humble township dwellers to highly educated scientists​—who can fail to be impressed by Africa’s wildlife heritage? A German veterinary student who recently visited South Africa and its Kruger National Park said: “I found the nature and wildlife to be the most interesting and fascinating thing about this country. With our small variety of big game and shortage of space in Germany, nature recreation and conservation on this scale is totally unknown to me.”

Tourists are also attracted to the vast wildlife reserves in Botswana, Namibia, and Zimbabwe. But perhaps the largest concentration of big game in Africa is found in and around the Serengeti National Park of Tanzania and Masai Mara Game Reserve of Kenya. These famous parks adjoin each other, and the animals are not fenced in. “Together,” explains International Wildlife magazine, “the Serengeti-Mara supports one of the world’s greatest wildlife populations: 1.7 million wildebeest, 500,000 gazelles, 200,000 zebras, 18,000 elands, plus a substantial number of elephant, lion and cheetah.”

John Ledger, editor of the South African journal Endangered Wildlife, paid his first visit to Kenya in 1992 and described it as ‘a dream come true.’ The Masai Mara, he wrote, “must be like the landscapes of yesterday that Cornwallis Harris [19th-century author and hunter] saw, as he explored the interior of South Africa in the 1820’s. Rolling grasslands, sparse thorn trees, and numerous wild animals, as far as the eye can see!”

A Shadow of Past Glory

Sadly, in much of Africa today, we see far fewer animals than European settlers saw in past centuries. For example, in 1824 the first white man settled in what became the British colony of Natal (now a province of South Africa). The small colony teemed with so much wildlife that hunting trophies and other wildlife products were its main trade. In one year, up to 62,000 wildebeest skins and zebra skins were shipped from Durban harbor, and in another record year, over 19 tons of ivory was exported. Soon, the white population had grown to over 30,000, but most of the game had been wiped out. “There is very little game left,” reported a Natal magistrate in 1878.

The same sad story can be told in other parts of Africa where colonial governments allowed the destruction of wildlife to continue well into the 20th century. Consider Angola, which gained independence from Portugal in 1975. “The record of the former colonial regime,” writes Michael Main in his book Kalahari, “is not impressive. In order to open the Huila District for cattle ranching, the notorious Diploma Legislativo Number 2242 of 1950 declared the area a free hunting zone. As a result, a mass slaughter of game took place . . . Virtually every large mammal was eliminated. It has been estimated that the slaughter included 1,000 black rhino, several thousand giraffe, and tens of thousands of wildebeest, zebra and buffalo. The Diploma was not repealed for nearly two and a half years, by which time the damage was done, and there were no animals left.”

But what is the situation today, and what kind of future awaits Africa’s wildlife?

[Box on page 5]

Wildlife Cash Reserves

Africa’s game reserves and national parks are scattered about this vast continent to an estimated total of 330,000 square miles [850,000 sq km]. That is equivalent to an area much larger than Britain and Germany combined.

In many of these wildlife reserves, you can see the so-called big five​—elephant, rhino, lion, leopard, and buffalo. From majestic eagles soaring in the skies to lowly dung beetles rolling their balls of manure across roads, there are numerous creatures to fascinate the eye.

Thousands of overseas tourists appreciate this wildlife. Each year they pour more than a billion dollars into countries that cater to wildlife enthusiasts. Yes, wildlife reserves bring in cash.

[Picture on page 4]

Not too long ago, countless thousands of wild animals were killed each year for trophies and skins in South Africa

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Courtesy Africana Museum, Johannesburg

Is There Room for Both Man and Beast?

WHY is wildlife decreasing in so many parts of Africa? (See box, opposite page.) Some blame the rapid growth of the continent’s human population.

True, some parts of Africa, especially around the cities, are overpopulated. Also, rural regions are overgrazed by the livestock of many peasant farmers. For example, consider the populous regions of Venda, Gazankulu, and Kangwane, which border Kruger National Park. These black homelands were formed as part of South Africa’s former apartheid policy and have population densities of from 180 to over 250 persons per square mile [70 to 100 per sq km]. Traveling through these regions on the way to enjoy a vacation in Kruger National Park can be disturbing. “Communities who live on the borders . . . are poor, mostly unemployed and starving,” explains the South African newspaper Sowetan. “The animals,” notes another local newspaper, The Natal Witness, “live in lush splendour on their side of the fence.”

According to recent reports, the Kruger Park authorities intend to do more to help the people on the park borders. But what would happen if all the fences were taken down and unrestricted access was allowed to hunters, herders, and settlers? Conservationists fear that eventually most wild animals would be wiped out, as has happened in other countries.

Well-managed game reserves play a vital role in the preservation of wildlife, especially in densely populated regions. Reserves can also bring much-needed cash from foreign tourists. (See box, page 5.) “These areas,” concludes African journalist Musa Zondi, in the Sowetan article referred to above, “also provide job opportunities for thousands of people​—especially those living next to these reserves. Furthermore, this is our heritage. We could not leave our children a better gift than these places.”

Overpopulation​—The Only Threat?

Human population explosion is not the only threat to Africa’s wildlife. Consider, for example, four large African countries that share common borders: Namibia, Botswana, Angola, and Zambia. These make up an area larger than India, yet have a combined population density of only 17 persons per square mile [6 per sq km]. That is not much when compared with the population densities of such countries as Germany, with 574 per square mile [222 per sq km]; Britain, with 611 per square mile [236 per sq km]; and India, with 713 per square mile [275 per sq km]! In fact, the population density for the whole of Africa, 58 per square mile [22 per sq km], is well below the world average of 103 [40].

“The human population in Africa is increasing rapidly,” admits Zambian Richard Bell in the book Conservation in Africa, “but the overall population density is still relatively low except in certain localised concentrations.”

Diseases, devastating droughts, international poaching operations, civil wars, and neglect of rural peasants all contribute to Africa’s decreasing wildlife.

The superpower struggle between the former Soviet Union and the West resulted in conflicts throughout Africa, with both sides pouring sophisticated weapons into the continent. Often, some of the automatic weapons have been turned on wildlife to feed starving armies and to obtain more weapons from the sale of elephant tusks, rhino horns, and other animal trophies and products. The rapid destruction of wildlife did not stop with the end of the Cold War. The weapons still remain in Africa. Regarding one of Africa’s civil wars, in Angola, the journal Africa South reports: “Poaching, already rife throughout the war, has escalated since the ceasefire because there has been no control of demobilised fighters.” And that war has since been renewed.

Many poachers risk their lives because of the huge amounts of money involved. “A single [rhino] horn can fetch $25,000,” reports an African newspaper, The Star. A conservationist, Dr. Esmond Martin, visited an Asian country in 1988 and found that the price of rhino horn had increased within three years from $695 to $2,114 a pound [$1,532 to $4,660 per kg].

Who Will Strike First?

Drastic measures have been taken to draw attention to the threat caused by the demand for ivory and rhino horn. In July 1989, millions of TV viewers throughout the world watched a huge pile of 12 tons of ivory, with an estimated value of between three million and six million dollars, being set on fire by Kenya’s president, Daniel arap Moi. Kenya’s director of wildlife, Dr. Richard Leakey, was asked how such apparent waste could be justified. “We would not have been able to convince people in America, Canada or Japan to stop buying ivory if we were still selling it,” he replied. Indeed, such measures shocked many people into cooperating with an international ban on ivory trade. The demand for ivory products sharply decreased.

With rhino, the story is different. Though Kenya’s president set fire to millions of dollars’ worth of rhino horn in 1990, the demand continues. (See box “Why Rhino Horn Is So Popular,” page 9.) To protect dwindling rhino populations, some countries have resorted to sawing off the horns of these creatures. Sometimes it is a desperate race as to who will strike first, the conservationist with immobilizing dart or the poacher with lethal automatic weapon.

A New Trend in Conservation

Western hunters and conservationists have long valued the animal-tracking abilities of rural dwellers. Indeed, many Africans have a remarkable knowledge of wildlife. “Much of this knowledge,” explains Lloyd Timberlake in his book Africa in Crisis, “is orally-transmitted, and is threatened as Africans leave the countryside for the cities . . . The world is thus in danger of losing what . . . anthropologist Leslie Brownrigg has called ‘many person-centuries of human scientific research.’”

In the past, colonial governments set up national parks by pushing out the peasants who for centuries had depended on wildlife for food. Now some African governments are seeking the help of these long-neglected rural farmers. “In several southern African nations,” reports Worldwatch Institute, “the state has ceded exclusive control over wildlife. Rural communities living in 10 of Zambia’s 31 Game Management Areas have been granted rights to wildlife; poaching has fallen dramatically and wildlife populations appear to be rebounding as a result.” There are other reports of success where rural peasants have become involved with their own conservation, such as among the black rhino and desert elephants of Kaokoland in Namibia, in game reserves of Kangwane in South Africa, and in other African countries.

In spite of this promising trend, conservationists remain concerned about the future. At best this new approach is only a temporary solution. In the long term, mankind’s rapid population growth remains a threat. “Over the next century,” explains U.S.News & World Report, “the human population is expected to increase by roughly 5 billion, mostly in developing countries that, not coincidentally, are also the last refuges for wildlife on the planet.”

As the human population expands into wilderness regions, a conflict develops between man and beast. “Many species of large African animal are incompatible with most forms of rural development, for example elephant, hippopotamus, rhinoceros, buffalo, lion and crocodile, as well as some of the larger antelopes, primates and pigs,” explains the book Conservation in Africa.

Since man does not seem to have a solution to the long-term survival of Africa’s wildlife, who does?

[Box/​Map on page 7]

“Buffalo are down from 55,000 to fewer than 4,000, waterbuck from 45,000 to fewer than 5,000, zebra from 2,720 to about 1,000, and hippo have been reduced from 1,770 to about 260.”​—A comparison of two aerial surveys conducted in 1979 and 1990 in Mozambique’s Marromeu Delta and reported in the journal African Wildlife, March/​April 1992.

“In 1981 about 45,000 zebra migrated through the grasslands and forests [of northern Botswana]. But by 1991 only some 7,000 completed the same journey.”​—From the magazine Getaway in its review of the wildlife video Patterns in the Grass, November 1992.

“During our visit [to Togo, West Africa] we found an interesting and unexpected population of forest elephants in the Fosse aux Lions Nature Reserve . . . An aerial census carried out in March 1991 yielded a total of 130 animals. . . . [But in less than a year,] the numbers of elephants at Fosse aux Lions have dropped to 25.”​—Reported in the journal African Wildlife, March/​April 1992.

[Map]

(For fully formatted text, see publication)

African game reserves play a vital role in preserving many species

AFRICA

MOROCCO

WESTERN SAHARA

MAURITANIA

ALGERIA

MALI

TUNISIA

LIBYA

NIGER

NIGERIA

EGYPT

CHAD

SUDAN

DJIBOUTI

ETHIOPIA

CENTRAL AFRICAN REPUBLIC

CAMEROON

CONGO

Cabinda (Angola)

GABON

ZAIRE

UGANDA

KENYA

SOMALIA

TANZANIA

ANGOLA

ZAMBIA

MALAWI

NAMIBIA

ZIMBABWE

MOZAMBIQUE

BOTSWANA

MADAGASCAR

SOUTH AFRICA

SENEGAL

GAMBIA

GUINEA-BISSAU

GUINEA

BURKINA FASO

BENIN

SIERRA LEONE

LIBERIA

CÔTE D’IVOIRE

GHANA

TOGO

EQUATORIAL GUINEA

RWANDA

BURUNDI

SWAZILAND

LESOTHO

Fosse aux Lions

Nature Reserve

Masai Mara Game Reserve

Serengeti National Park

Marromeu Delta

Kruger National Park

Mediterranean Sea

Red Sea

Indian Ocean

Areas Cited in Article

Major National Parks

[Box/​Pictures on page 9]

Why Rhino Horn Is So Popular

“THREE LEGS Brand Rhinoceros Horn Anti-Fever Water.” That is the name of a popular medicine sold in Malaysia, according to the authors of the book Rhino, Daryl and Sharna Balfour. The label on this purported medicine contains this message: “This medicine is carefully prepared from the best selected Rhinoceros Horn and Anti-Fever Drugs, and under the direct supervision of Experts. This wonderful medicine acts like a charm in giving immediate relief to those suffering from: Malaria, High Temperature, Fever affecting the Heart and Four Limbs, Against Climate Giddiness, Insanity, Toothache, etc.”​—Italics ours.

Such beliefs are widespread in countries of Asia. Rhino horn in liquid or powder form is easily available in many Asian cities. In hopes of counteracting its popularity, the Balfours claim: “Taking a dose of rhino horn has the same medicinal value as chewing your fingernails.”

In Yemen, rhino horn is prized for another reason​—as a material for dagger handles. More than 22 tons was imported into the country during the decade of the ’70’s, and it is hard to find a suitable replacement. “The Yemenis,” explain the Balfours, “have found that there is nothing as good as rhino horn for durability as well as appearance. . . . The older [the dagger handles] get the better they look, taking on a translucency similar to amber with age.”

[Graphs/​Pictures on page 8]

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2,720

1,000

1979 Zebra population 1990

55,000

3,696

1979 Buffalo population 1990

1,770

260

1979 Hippo population 1990

45,000

4,480

1979 Waterbuck population 1990

Comparative trends in the Marromeu Delta wildlife populations for 1979 and 1990

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Bottom left: Safari-Zoo of Ramat-Gan, Tel Aviv