Come to the aid of Africa’s animals
The halting of safaris is harming wildlife – but we can help from home, says
The aftershock of Sir David Attenborough’s devastating Extinction: The Facts on BBC One last weekend is still being felt by many. One in eight species on Earth is threatened with extinction, while the world’s vertebrate population (mammals, birds, amphibians and reptiles) has plunged 60 per cent since 1970.
And now Covid-19 has thrown another grenade into the conflagration. Before the pandemic struck, the African safari industry was booming. In financial terms it was estimated to be worth £9.6 billion a year. In human terms it employed around 3.6 million people, directly and indirectly. In conservation terms it was priceless.
The story today is very different. Bookings have declined by around 75 per cent, with calamitous impacts on humans and wildlife. Even as lockdown eases across parts of Africa, most lodges are empty of guests and poaching is on the rise.
The Game Ranger Association of Africa estimates that there are between 40,000 and 50,000 rangers in
Africa – and the vast majority have had their salary reduced by 50 to 80 per cent. Unease in rural communities hit by the pandemic is fuelling poaching for bushmeat by families struggling to feed themselves, as well as to supply the insatiable Asian market trading in ivory, rhino horn and other animal body parts.
Perhaps the most heart-wrenching poaching story is the death of Rafiki, the 25-year-old silverback leader of the Nkuringo group of 17 mountain gorillas in Uganda’s Bwindi National Park. Until recently, they generated much-needed tourism revenue. There are fears that coronavirus is deadly to the gorillas, so Bwindi rangers now wear face masks, use hand sanitiser, and keep their distance from the animals.
“Poaching actually declined during
the first few months of lockdown,” says Map Ives, a bush guide and former director of Rhino Conservation, Botswana, which oversaw a rise in rhino numbers in the Okavango Delta. “However, poaching returned to crisis proportions in June and July.” He believes the reason for the lull was that weapons and poached body parts were impossible to move because of lockdown restrictions, and the price of rhino horn and ivory briefly plunged as Asian economies faltered. “Now that Asian economies are returning to normal, buyers are out and about again,” he says. In response, the Department of Wildlife and National Parks has taken the decision to move many of the rhinos, as the Delta’s watery terrain makes it hard for security forces to operate. “The cost of keeping them in the Okavango is rising fast,” says Ives, “and may not be sustainable in the long run.” An upsurge in poaching for bushmeat has been caused by local communities being plunged into poverty. “There has been an increase in subsistence hunting with dogs and snares for bushmeat in some areas surrounding our reserves,” says Inge Kotze, head of conservation at Singita, a five-star safari operator with lodges in Zimbabwe, Rwanda, South Africa and Tanzania. So how can poaching be stopped? Deborah Kemp-White, of Lankester White Safaris, thinks collaboration between governments is key. “Countries have unwieldy protocols that slow down any reaction across borders,” she says. Poachers, by comparison, “do not have to write letters of permission or respect protocols. They grab an inflatable mattress, float across the water and wreak havoc with new equipment supplied by criminal networks.” On the plus side, southern Africa’s most prolific wildlife trafficking gang was recently prosecuted in Malawi. Its nine members were sentenced to a total of more than 50 years in prison. Beks Ndlovu, of African Bush Camps, says the company is doing everything it can to support staff and anti-poaching rangers, who are role models in their communities. “But funding for antipoaching units has been severely affected by lack of tourism fees and donations from tourists,” he adds. Dr Neil Midlane, group sustainability manager at Wilderness Safaris, believes poaching will increase. “We are only a few months into reduced income for people who rely on tourism for their livelihoods, yet we are seeing a huge increase in food insecurity,” he says. “We expect this to drive demand for illegal bushmeat, with antelope, zebra and giraffe targeted through wire snaring. “We’re contributing essential aid such as food, water and sanitation to communities suffering as a result of the pandemic, but we’re running on limited resources. Donations from safari-goers will make a huge difference.”