Dateline 1995
Dr. P went on an Earthwatch trip studying Black rhino's in Zimbabwe for
2 weeks. After 2 weeks of looking for rhino's in African bush he spent
some time traveling around the area. This is his report, although the
names have been changed to protect the innocent....
One of the most endangered mammals on
the planet is the Black Rhinoceros. Their numbers have plummeted from
65,000 in 1970 to just a few hundred or less wild individuals today.
This has been due to poaching for their horns, which are used for two
main purposes. The first is for dagger handles for the men of Yemen,
although recently the handles have been replaced with materials other
than rhino horn. The other main use has been for medicinals (not
aphrodisiacs as is commonly thought) in China, particularly when the
horn is powdered.
Unfortunately, for all the
effort put into saving this species, the future is bleak in this part
of Africa.
This is an article from
the Los Angeles Times.
Dr. P went on this trip for
several reasons. The first and main reason of course was to help with
conservation work on the black rhino. The second was to raft the
Zambezi river.
The 3rd reason was to work with the British who were in charge of this
project. The are organized and have a great (and ongoing) sense of
humor to put it midly. This is an
excerpt from the exhibition briefing written by the British researcher
in charge of the project describing what happens when (if) we find a
black rhino.
Just in case you have never
seen one of
these before, this is a Brit. Many of them have this silly grin on
their faces, and yes, they usually are imbibing in some beverage.
When we
first arrived at the camp and told them we are the American
contingent, they greeted us with "oh, so you are from the
colonies"!
This
sign upon our arrival at camp should read "Earthwatch Earth Corps, Come
Help a Changing Planet. After the Brits got to it the message came out
a little different.
Enough of
the Limeys, let's get on with the expedition.....
The Black Rhino trip started in the
country of Zimbabwe, formerly know
as Rhodesia. It is the same size as Texas. It is here that
conservationists are waging an all out battle against the poachers. The
park rangers in Zimbabwe have license to kill poachers on sight.
Unfortunately corruption is ever present, and makes their job
difficult. Our exact location was Hwange National Park, in the western
section of the country.
The
blue horizontal line denotes the equator, so we are in the southern
hemisphere. The blue arrow points to Zimbabwe.
After a quick tour of the
Sinamatella camp we will start looking for those rhino's.
The resident hornbill that
kept us company at our campsite.
Two person tents gave us plenty of room to store all those supplies we
brought along and never used.
After a hot, long, and
dusty day in the bush we came back to some nice showers.
We even had our laundry washed for us whenever we needed.
Believe it or not he actually put hot coals in the iron!
There is a reason they did our laundry for us besides just being nice.
They ironed our clothes because it kills the eggs of the Putzi Fly
(African Tumbu Fly). This fly lays eggs in clothes that are moist from
perspiration. The eggs turn into larvae (maggots) and burrow into your
skin when you put the clothes back on. Routine washing does not kill
the eggs, you need the heat of the iron to do this.
Here are some of the characters on the trip. Anton, a south African who
works at the camp, was a sheer joy to work with. He is on the left
wearing the green shirt. Do you notice what is in his left hand? Sue is
on the right, and even though the expediton briefing clearly,
unequivocally, emphatically, and succinctly told us to break in our
hiking boots, Sue purchased hers just prior to the trip. So she has a
blister. You can guess what Anton is going to do......
.....yes, he is going to stick a needle in her blister and take off the
fluid!.
Anton
told Sue not to worry because he sterilizes all his surgical equipment
with Jix. We have no idea what Jix is, and neither did Anton probably.
We do know though that the HIV prevalence in this part of Africa in
1995 was 30% !
Evening
meals brought visitors from throughout the area for some good food and
cold beers. We stayed up late many nights around the campfire talking
the night away.
This is the view from our campsite. Lets test your game viewing
abilities. The blue arrow points to a white windmill off in the
distance. Use this as your landmark. Is there anything else of
interest in this photo, perhaps and animal or two. Look closely...
When we zoom in a little
more you can visualize the white windmill much easier. Now do you see
anything?
Lets try a little
closer.....Look at the top left of the picture. Those are elephants.
One last zoom of the
camera and a lone elephant is apparent.
Lets try another one. Do you see any wildlife
in this picture?
Its an elephant again, in the top left
quadrant in the photo above.
Now that you are an expert give this one a try......
If you want the answer you have to email us with your guess. Good luck!
Our day started early, before the heat
became too intense. We were required to take at least 2 liters of water
before we were allowed to leave camp. When we were picked up by the
jeep at the end of the day they had to bring water because we were out.
First
thing every morning our leader Skye meet with the park rangers to
determine what areas were too dangerous to enter. Dangerous meant
poachers or large amounts of lions.
We were then assigned sectors for our transect, always walking from
north to south.
Once
we had our water and sector it was time to pile into the jeeps for the
1-2 hour ride to our transect point.
These roads aren't exactly paved, so we had to hang on for most of the
ride.
We would
spend 6-8 hours walking a specific transect looking for any evidence of
rhinoceros. Hard to believe there are any animals in this dry brush.
One of
the park rangers always lead the way carrying an AK-47, his main
anti-poaching weapon (although a poor weapon against big game). This
guide's name is Zhou. These men are rugged individuals that can
function in this environment with minimal food and water.
 
We looked for any evidence
of rhino. This shows how they browse and
leave evidence of their presence.
 
Whenever
we came across a Black rhino footprint we did two things after the park
ranger verified it was the right rear foot of a Black Rhino. First, it
was logged into our notes, measured, and a picture was taken. Next we
traced it with acetate paper for later scanning into a computer for
identification. Rhino's are so scarce that just finding a footprint of
one was considered a successful day.
Where
we found the tracks was of critical importance. In addition to our maps
and compass, we used a GPS system to help increase the accuracy of our
data.
When we got real lucky we actually saw rhino. This is a radio collared
female. Notice how the mother's horns have been trimmed. This is an
effort by the government to decrease poaching, since if a rhino has no
horns, it is not worth it to kill it. Unfortunately this did not work.
Her
calf was with her. If you look carefully
you can see the oxpecker on the mother's back. Rhino's have terrible
eyesight but keen senses of smell and hearing.
There
are several safety precautions to take when a rhino starts moving
towards you like these two did. One of the most important ones it to
get into a tree ASAP. An added advantage to being in the tree is it
decreases their ability to smell you, allowing for some great
photographic opportunities when they wander close.
The calf came into the open so I shot a quick photo as I shimmied up
the tree.
You can see the 3 toes on her feet. This classifies her as a
perrisodactyl (having one or an odd number of toes).
Most of the time this is the photo you
get of a rhinoceros- the south end while the rhino is going north.
This day
was very successful. Our group came across 3 rhinos, while the groups
walking other transects saw none. As a reward I gave Zhou my Swiss army
knife.
You
can see from his smile the present was well appreciated.
Without the skills of the park rangers there is minimal chance we would
see any Rhino's.
After a long and hot day walking the transects a pickup truck (with
water, thank you) was there to greet us and take us back. Hmmmm, hope
there are no snakes in this grass.
Some of the best game viewing occurred standing in the bed of the
pickup while driving back to camp. While everyone else was inside
nodding out Dr. P enjoyed the African bush as the sun was setting and
creating his shadow.
Our africa adventure does not end here
though. After working hard for 2 weeks it is time for some game viewing
in other areas of Zimbabwe. The first area I went to was called Nemba
camp. It was much more luxurious then our tents at Hwange. The
proprietor of the camp was Chris, a former big game hunter. Like all
guides his knowledge of the area was impressive.
Dinner time was announced with a little more style.
We went from only beer at
Hwange to "would you prefer white wine or red wine with your meal sir"
After dinner we indulged in
some of the finest scotch available. This is Gordon, an Irishman on the
trip that brought along some scotch that was over 35 years old. The
"lion attacking the guides" stories started flowing after a few
shots.......
Accomodations were a permanent tent.
Your morning shower was outside with the blue sky as your backdop.
At Nemba camp the
guides were professional game scouts and not park
rangers. Our first guide was Mark, who preferred an elephant gun
(like all the guides) to an AK-47, since he was not concerned with
poachers. As you can see from the picture with the elephant, it is rare
for them to use their weapons. They have a profound understanding of
when an animal is bluffing, like this elephant, and when there is an
actual charge.
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These guides are naturalists
and have knowledge of all the plants and animals in their area.
Anthropology time- did you know these are Baboon skulls on the left,
and a Vervet monkey skull on the far right?
It is ironic that a country
with a
plummeting population of Black rhinos can have a surplus of elephants.
There is such a surplus of elephants that they have to be culled. Some
of the old bulls are quite large, as evidenced by this thigh (femur)
bone.
You can tell the age by the molars. Look how the molars on an old
elephant on the left are worn down much more than the young elephant on
the right.
 
This place was lots of fun.
At tea time (4 PM) we would climb a tree over a waterhole and watch the
elephants as we sipped our tea. One time Dr. P asked if we could have
Jamba Juice next time instead of tea. He decided to drop the request
after the looks he received.
From this vantage point the elephants didn't seem to care about us.
Chris set us up with
camouflage around a waterhole to get close to the action.
As the afternoon progressed
the herds start coming in from the distance.
When they arrived at the waterhole they seemed to all drink on cue.
The wind was just right, so some of the wildlife literally walked right
past us.
This cape buffalo gave us
quite a stare before he felt comfortable enough to proceed for his
drink.
The baboons put on a continual show. This large male was the king of
the hill.
While this little guy (he reminded me of my nephew) bounced on this
branch continually.
Eventually the sun settled,
and so did the baboons, in the branches of a tree.
Dr. P got one last shot of
the elephants at the waterhole to end a successful day.
Time for a change of scenery and a new guide (Andy).
This new location was 3
houseboats in the Lake Kariba area. Talk about quaint! In the morning
someone from the dining room (the houseboat on the picture on the
right) would bring morning coffee via canoe.
 
Dr. P had Andy to himself
and got to track some lions. Andy got a little too close to a lioness
with her cub. Here she is after a bluff charge telling us not to come
any closer.
We wanted to get a better
look at the chicks, so after the mother flew off again we climbed an
adjacent branch.
In the last
leg of the trip Dr. P went to a place called Mana pools in the northern
part of the country. Instead of walking in the bush, most of the time
was spent in a canoe. This guide was named Dave, and he specialized in
the river.
Dr. P had the opportunity
to sit in the front of the lead canoe. This led to many a good
photographic opportunty.
The group was an eclectic group of doctors and nurses from Arizona.
Whenever we took a break
Dave would walk around an make sure all was safe. He is checking out
what he calls "adrenaline grass". Its his way of saying that it could
easily hide lions.
The four week trip finally ended with a
visit to Victoria Falls, one of the 7 wonders of the world. The Zambezi
river at the base of the falls is a great place to go whitewater
rafting, especially if you
don't mind getting wet!
The End!
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