1. Africa Update
Responsible Tourism award
Jo Pope of Robin Pope Safaris was the recipient of an
award for Outstanding Personal Contribution to responsible tourism
worldwide at the recent World Travel Market. The citation went as
follows:
"Jo and her husband, Robin, have always advocated the training up
of Zambian staff members. Jo’s staff are well-paid, well-treated
and very well motivated – with an admirable company ethos that has
engendered a lot of loyalty. Many guides and camp staff have been
with the company for years, and each year the best members of
staff are chosen from within the general staff of the camp to be
trained up as guides. Jo has for many years supported the local
schools and clinics in her area and backed and helped the
villagers of Kawaza village to set up and run their own viable
village tourism."
View the kawaza village projects at Tena Tena camp.
Turtle season off to a good start
From
mid-October, massive Leatherbacks and other turtles have been
arriving on the golden beaches along Southern Africa's East Coast
and Islands to nest. The hatchlings from nests of up to 100 eggs
each, emerge from December to April. Only four turtles per nest
are expected to survive to maturity - those that do will return to
the beach of their birth to lay eggs of their own. Many beach
lodges offer
guided
turtle tours in the evenings and play an important role in the
monitoring of these reptiles.
Resources dry up at Zimbabwe's Hwange National Park
Once an icon amongst African game reserves, Zimbabwe's
Hwange NP is sadly now better known for its mis-management and
poaching. Recent months have seen hundreds of animals dying from
a lack of water and illegal hunting. Besides the area being
naturally dry at this time of year, only seven out of 60 boreholes
are reportedly still working. Private sector companies have been
working hard to bring relief efforts to the park - but with an
elephant population of 50 000, each drinking 100 litres of water a
day, the task is a huge one. To find out more or how you can help,
visit
http://www.swradioafrica.com/ZCTF2/ZCTF221105.htm
2. Have your say:
Cultural Conservancies and hope for
conservation in Kenya by Lizanne du Plessis
The previous article in this series discussed the problematic
issue of saving wildlife or sustaining people. We saw that both
are equally important as parts of the intricately-woven web of
life where everything is connected to and influenced by everything
else. In Africa, this is a very real issue as many conservation
areas border traditional tribal communities. In areas where
there is still a heavy dependence on subsistence
farming, communities perceive wildlife as a major threat to their
own survival.
Lizanne writes about her experience with the Pokot people of
Laikipia, Kenya and her thoughts on the concept of cultural
conservancies.
Read
the full article
3. New on ecoAfrica.com
Guludo Camp
in northern Mozambique is situated in an area of extreme beauty
and poverty - giving guests the opportunity to have an
unforgettable beach holiday, but also to help the local people.
You may choose to simply let your holiday money be put to good use
by the lodge's many conservation and community projects, or to
help in these projects yourself. There are many unique village-run
activities on offer: traditional facials, seaweed collection,
football with the locals and even Friday night discos!
Thonga
Beach Lodge is set on the pristine shores of the
Maputuland coast, KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa. The thatched suites
of this 22-bed luxury lodge are hidden in the
coastal dune forest and raised on wooden stilts to ensure no harm
comes to the sensitive dune soils. Canoeing, snorkelling and
guided walks are all included; scuba diving, turtle tracking and
dolphin encounters are offered at an extra cost.
4. Ranger Diaries
Dive report from Rocktail
Bay, South Africa:
"It isn't every day that you get to see a
Leatherback Turtle in the water, and today these lucky folks had
the privilege of doing just that. They all had a good look at her
massive bulk, before she dived down and disappeared into the blue.
Some guests from Joburg also came down to spend the weekend with
us and diving was high on their to do list. This family’s first
day out on the boat will go down in the Rocktail history books.
They had incredible sightings of: Bottlenose Dolphins, a Blacktip
Reef Shark, Humpback Dolphins, Humpback Whales, and not one, not
two, but three WHALE SHARKS – all in a matter of a couple of
hours. We could not believe it when they arrived back at the
lodge, and told us about their unbelievable day out."
5. Traveller Feedback
