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April 1991 |
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Marula-Puku Camp
April 1991
Dear Everybody,
Elephant poaching in North Luangwa is on the decline! We know that we have reported this to you before, and then had to disappoint you again, when poaching increased. But this time there is a general, steady reduction in poaching, which we believe is real. We believe this is a direct result of our project's improved Law Enforcement, Community Service, and Conservation Education Program, and the International Ivory Ban.
When we arrived in 1986, there were only seven game guards in the Mano Unit who were supposed to protect the entire national Park. They were a rag-tag, motley crew, with only four rifles and one round of ammunition. Now there are fifty eight game guards on the western boundary of the park alone. We have given them new camping gear, firearms, a truck, a tractor and trailer for hauling supplies, a mill for grinding their corn, a reliable food supply, and pride. They are now the Number One Unit in Zambia, capturing more poachers than any other unit! In addition, the Zambian government has provided new Unit Leaders, who have been a great inspiration to the men.
Mark is now conducting his anti-poaching flights at night to frighten away the bands of commercial poachers. By flying on moonlit nights he can see their campfires, so they can no longer hide from the airplane. He swoops in low over the tree tops, shining a powerful spotlight on the poachers, who abandon their camps and literally run for the hills. But the game guards are positioned at the secret exit trails and capture the poachers as they attempt to escape.
Our work to involve the local people in conservation is also progressing better than we ever hoped. Mwamfushi is one of the most notorious poaching villages in this part of Africa. At least six infamous, large scale ivory poachers lived in the village. They hired the local men, even young sixteen year old boys, as bearers to carry the ivory from the national park. In fact, poaching elephants for ivory and buffalo for meat, was the number one industry in the village.
We have been working with villagers near the park for four years now, but many people had warned us that Mwamfushi was too dangerous for us to visit. We would not be welcome there. But we knew, if our project was to succeed, we had to win over the people of Mwamfushi. In January we made our first visit and gave a conservation presentation to the children giving out Ranger Rick magazines and little wildlife buckets from our friends at the Tulsa Zoo.
We announced that there would be a town meeting with the Chief and Headmen, and forty-eight villagers came. We told the men that we didn't care how much poaching they had done in the past, if they would lay down their weapons, we would give them a job. We discovered that the men knew carpentry, brick making and fish farming. The women knew sewing and baking. But there were no small scale industries because they had no equipment or supplies. Since then we have started a carpentry shop, a sewing cooperative, a road crew, and a grinding mill. Already many of the villagers who once had to carry ivory as a job, have new skills and legal employment.
During one of the meetings, as we sat on the bare ground under the banana trees talking with the villagers, Mark was handed a note from one of the major ivory poachers. It stated that he was waiting for Mark behind a mud brick hut outside the village. He wanted to turn in his gun and surrender, if we would give him a job. But, he stated that Mark must come alone. This sounded like the perfect set up and I pleaded with Mark to wait until the game guards could escort him. But, Mark insisted that he must go, and the poacher surrendered his AK-47 semi-automatic rifle. He is now a carpenter.
Our Village Outreach Program has expanded so much that we have hired one of the Mpika District Council members, Mr. Max Saili to assist us. Also, Tom and Wanda Canon of Dallas, Texas, have joined us as volunteers to coordinate the program. This year we will reach ten more villages. The Educational Program is also progressing well and we look forward to having Marie Hill return from maternity leave in May. She has a new baby boy, Michael Robert.
All of this much needed assistance has given us more time to conduct our research. We are following the movements of the elephants from the airplane and radio tracking the lions. As we expected the Luangwa lions' territories are much smaller than those in the Kalahari, and their range movements are almost opposite of those in the desert. The Luangwa lions expand their ranges away from the rivers in the wet season, when the prey species are scattered. In the dry season, the lions remain close to the rivers where the prey is concentrated. This brings them into close proximity with the other predators and scavengers and leads to intense competition. There is even a crocodile along the Mwaleshi River, who often rushes in and snatches a few bites from the lions' kills.
The marula fruits in camp are ripening and falling to the ground. It was these plump, sweet-smelling fruits that attracted the elephant, Survivor, into our camp last year. Poachers shot at his group in September, and we do not know if he survived that encounter. We will not know until he returns to our area in May. We are waiting for him. We will let you know if he comes.
Thank you for all you do.
Cheers from the Bush,
Mark and Delia
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