and Etosha, to name but a few, more and more safari camps and lodges, situated within concession areas negotiated with local communities, are opening their doors to foreign visitors. As the game fences come down between the Parks and the areas surrounding them, so wildlife can move freely and gain a larger area in which to roam, and at the same time local communities can benefit from a more regular income stream, less affected by the vagaries of the weather and a subsistence existence.
Private Reserves - many private game reserves and wildlife sanctuaries have been established and have invested in breeding and reintroduction programs of selected species into areas where they have been absent for decades – most notably, the black rhino and African wild dog but also sable, sitatunga and buffalo.
Parks increase - never has so much land been set aside by so many for so few! Nearly 30% of Tanzania’s total land area has been proclaimed as wildlife reserve or is under wildlife management. In Botswana, I believe the figure is even higher, closer to 40%. They are not alone.
In a single gesture in 2002 the President of Gabon, Omar Bongo, signed into legislation the creation of 13 National Parks in the West African country of Gabon. This not only saw the creation of 28,500 sq. kms of new parkland but also effected the cancellation of 800,000 hectares of logging concessions.
In 2003, at the Fifth World Parks Congress, the President of Madagascar, Marc Ravolomanana, announced that he would triple the size of Madagascar’s National Parks and reserves (from 3% to 10% of the total land area) over the next five years. To date, an additional two million hectares of newly protected areas have been declared, seven new National Parks or special reserves created, and numerous conservation projects have received government support. Reforestation projects are in full swing and ecotourism is on the rise. Three quarters of the species found in Madagascar occur nowhere else in the world.
In 2007, the government of the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), in conjunction with the Bonobo Conservation Initiative, announced the formation of the11,804 sq. mile Sankuru Nature Reserve, home to the endangered bonobo (considered to be the most closely related big ape to humans).
As recently as 2010, Namibia announced the declaration of the Dorob National Park, the last piece in the puzzle converting the total Namibian coast, from the mouth of the Kunene River in the north to the mouth of the Orange River in the south, into the eighth largest protected area in the world – to be known as the Namib-Skeleton Coast National Park.
Conservation takes hold - post colonial governments throughout Africa continue to take heed of their natural heritage and support a range of conservation measures in each country. Even as far back as 1961 Julius Nyerere, the newly elected President of Tanzania, made a speech that became known as the Arusha Manifesto and a mantra for conservation in East Africa: “The survival of our wildlife is a matter of grave concern to all of us in Africa. These wild creatures amid the wild places they inhabit are not only important as a resource of wonder and inspiration but are an integral part of our natural resources and our future livelihood and wellbeing. In accepting the trusteeship of our wildlife we solemnly declare that we will do everything in our power to make sure that our children's grand-children will be able to enjoy this rich and precious inheritance. The conservation of wildlife and wild places calls for specialist knowledge, trained manpower, and money, and we look to other nations to co-operate with us in this important task the success or failure of which not only affects the continent of Africa but the rest of the world as well.” Julius Nyerere, President of Tanzania
Recent discoveries - a 2007 aerial survey of the southern Sudan by the Wildlife Conservation Society has revealed that, despite a 25 year civil war in that country, a population of upwards of 1 million white-eared kob still inhabits this vast wilderness. In a migration to rival that of the Serengeti these antelope, once feared extinct, may form one of the largest remaining migrations on the planet. Also seen were an estimated 8,000 elephant, 4,000 nile lechwe, 250,000 mongalla gazelles, 160,000 tiang, 13,000 reedbuck, 2,800 ostriches and numerous endangered beisa oryx.
Pride in their wildlife - Africans themselves are becoming more aware of their own wildlife assets. The people of Rwanda, who have endured frightening conflicts in the past, have been encouraged to look upon the endangered Mountain Gorillas as a symbol of their country, something to be proud of and to protect for the generations to come. In recent years, along with Uganda, this has led to a substantial increase in Mountain Gorilla numbers to a recent estimate of over 700. In Namibia, where poaching is at almost negligible levels, they proudly boast that the numbers of free-roaming lion are on the increase, that they have both the largest population of free-roaming cheetah and the largest population of black rhino in Africa.
Co-operation - Transfrontier Parks, through the Peace Parks Foundation, are encouraging neighbouring countries to work together to create contiguous protected areas that either extend park boundaries to create a larger, more viable ecosystem or provide wildlife corridors that allow larger animals, like elephant, to move freely.
Community involvement – a new founding principle is being adopted across the continent that balances the needs of wildlife with that of the local communities that live alongside them. In more and more countries, like Mozambique, where wildlife populations were drastically affected by decades of civil unrest, authorities have begun to set aside new game reserves based on the inclusion of the people who live there. There is now a recognition that a balance needs to be found between the interests of wildlife and the needs of the community. For wildlife to hold a place in Africa, people must also benefit. Community based programs are now commonplace, reinforcing two overarching objectives – the conservation of biological diversity and the alleviation of rural poverty. Although tourism brings jobs and a boost to ailing economies, the welfare of wildlife cannot be held to be more important than the needs of the people. Only once we meet the needs of the people of Africa can we truly justify the existence of vast tracts of land set aside to protect wild animals.
This is the challenge for today’s Africa.
“Once the decision has been made that we want to keep this beauty for future generations, we have to get down to work, first to understand what is happening to the land and the wildlife and then to find solutions to the problems facing Africa’s people. Of one thing we are certain: The fates of both are inextricably bound.” - Molly Buchanon, Safari – The Romance & the Reality, National Geographic
The not such good news
To be weighed against the good news is the fact that the numbers of large mammals in Africa continues to decline, with estimates of declining numbers ranging from as much as 60 to 85% since 1970, depending on species and region (with West Africa being the most affected). The list of endangered species remains long, with many species locally threatened due to ignorance and mismanagement. The threat of habitat loss and poaching of forest elephant, hippo and the primate species of West Africa is very real, and the numbers of okapi, mandrill and even the African grey parrot are extremely low.
All the great ape species, which include the chimpanzee, bonobo, orangutan and gorilla, are threatened with extinction in the wild through human encroachment into their habitats. Three of these are found only in Africa. Uncontrolled logging, together with civil unrest and land pressures, continues to put them at risk.
When European settlers first began moving into the interior of east and southern Africa in the 19th century, the savannahs teemed with rhino. They were so plentiful that it was not unusual to encounter dozens in a single day. However, due to relentless hunting by settlers, and later poaching from wildlife parks and reserves, the numbers and distribution of both the black and white rhinoceros quickly declined. Poaching pressure escalated as a result of the rising demand for rhino horn in Asia and the Middle East, and between 1970 and the mid 1990s, the rhino suffered a 95% decline
