Tag Archives: africa
62% of African forest elephants killed in 10 years
The sheer scale and speed of elephant poaching in central Africa has been highlighted in a new long-term multi-national study of forest elephant populations. In 10 years 62% of the elephants have been killed and a third of all their habitat of 10 years ago is now too dangerous for them to live in. The [...]
West Africa agrees to multi-national anti-poaching force
A gang of 300 Sudanese elephant poachers have wrecked havoc across west African elephant populations. Now the affected African states are fighting back and have agreed to the formation of a specialist 1,000 strong anti-poaching unit that will cost USD 2.3 million. The 15 west African countries that make up the Economic Community of West [...]
Male lions hunt in a hidden world
When you watch nature programmes it’s easy to think that the male lion in Africa has an easy life with the females heading out on hunts to feed the pride. But it may not be quite so simple. New research seems to indicate that male lions are just as effective at females on hunts but [...]
The night of elephant slaughter in Chad
Chadian government authorities have confirmed that at least 89 elephants were killed in one night – Thursday March 14-15 – near the town of Ganba in southern Chad. The slaughtered elephants included 33 pregnant females and 15 elephant calves. Sources said that the poachers arrived on horseback and were speaking Arabic. It was estimated that [...]
African parrots return home from Bulgaria
Thirty-two illegally caught African Gray parrots that ended up being seized in Bulgaria have now found their way back home to Africa in a first of its kind operation. While confiscated parrots in Africa have been returned to the wild before, for the first time confiscated parrots from outside the continent have been returned for [...]
Attenborough’s Africa leads a safari renaissance
Sir David Attenborough’s latest BBC series Africa has relaunched the safari tourism trade and with modern internet sharing and online watching it is not just the British audience that have been inspired to look again at the African safari for a holiday this year. Many safari holiday operators have had a tough few years with [...]
A tale of two rhino
Just as in the Dickens novel ‘A Tale of Two Cities’ we can see just how different the settings are for the African rhino at Kruger National Park and the Asian rhino at the Kaziranga National Park. The plight of the two could not be more different. The southern white rhino of southern Africa number [...]
Can restaurants help save the vulture?
GPS tracking of young white-backed vultures in southern Africa shows that these fast diminishing birds tend to avoid national parks and prefer to feed on dead cattle on grasslands and farmland. This poses a real problem as chemicals used in cattle rearing can be toxic to vultures. However when a bird finds a ‘vulture restaurant’ [...]
The disappearing savannah
A new study by Duke University using high-resolution satellite images has shown that in the last 50 years over 75% of African savannah has been lost and there is just 10 locations left that are able to support a sustainable lion population in the long-term. The new study highlights how using high-resolution mapping can change the view of land [...]
Interpol prepares to target African poachers
Interpol has just released details about the successful conclusion of a 6 day training course for wildlife officers from across Africa. The course involved 20 officers from 10 western African countries being trained in how to ‘conduct strategic wildlife law enforcement inspections’. The main reason for the training was to prepare the officers so they [...]
The forgotten plight of the lion
The lion is an iconic part of the landscape in Africa. It’s one of the Big Five and draws in tourists. But has the plight of the lion been overshadowed by conservation concerns of other species. could it be that the lion is so iconic that we forget that it is in a pretty precarious [...]
Germany agrees to fund the Serengeti Highway
Following a meeting earlier today between Tanzanian government ministers and a German trade mission Germany has offered to fund the construction of the controversial Serengeti Highway which is planned to cut through the southern section of a national park and cross the route of one of the last great wildlife migrations. The meeting which led [...]
WWF staff fired in USD400,000 fraud
Eight employees of WWF’s offices in Tanzania have been fired for their involvement in a US$400,000 fraud. The staff submitted fake expense receipts which were discovered during an audit by accountants from Ernst & Young. Fake hotel and taxi receipts submitted in fraud. The ex-staff submitted fake taxi and hotel expenses among others to defraud the [...]
Be prepared for bad news on elephant poaching
Each year CITES releases a report on the state of illegal elephant killings – mainly from poaching. The figures for last year (2011) are due for release in the next few weeks in preparation for the CITES Standing Committee meeting in July. The numbers of elephant killings could be higher than 2010. Late last week [...]
3D African photo safari
Having finally received my 3d glasses from an Amazon 3rd party shop (it took much longer than buying my new smartphone from China – I wonder why China is racing ahead of UK in it’s economy?) I thought I’d sort out some africa safari images and convert some to 3D. The best software I find for converting [...]
Adventure All Round Namibia
Peeling away from the country’s excellent network of gravel roads, Louise Stanion from luxury holidays operator Cox & Kings, finds adventure is all around in Namibia’s vast landscape. ‘For the next four days we can do exactly what we like…’ And with that Eric, Namibia Tracks & Trails’ head-guide, hung a sharp right off the [...]
Nuisance elephants and honey bees
As the human population carries on growing the risks of human-wildlife conflict increases. This is a particular problem in Africa where new settlements now expand into traditional wildlife habitats and corridors.
How hunting is improving the lives of the poor in Namibia
For a lot of people in Africa life is tough. When you’re part of a rural community in Namibia that has traditionally been at the bottom of society then things are really tough. Extreme poverty and hunger becomes part of life. Sustainable hunting in community managed lands are turning the lives of the San group [...]
Make way gorillas – there’s oil in them there hills
A report in the Financial Times is a real concern. The article brings to light the fact that DR Congo Environment Minister, José Endundo, is considering a petition by 41 local MP’s to redraw the boundaries of the Virunga National Park to allow oil companies in.
Black leopard in Wild at Heart
Last night the team at Leopard’s Den came across a black leopard. When reports of a black leopard in the area came in De Plessis was immediately dismissive of the reports saying that black leopards did not live in the area. Should he have been quite so quick to dismiss the sightings?