CONSERVATION AND ACTIVITY UPDATE

We realize it's been some time since our last activity update in August 2020!  Rest assured we have been very active on the ground throughout the intervening time.  September to December 2020 was a challenging time out at the wildlife boreholes in NG3 when an accelerating influx of large numbers of elephants required modification / reinforcement of the borehole infrastructure to ensure its protection from elephant damage and a constant clean water supply for all wildlife.  We also had to implement night-time pumping using a generator at the Eastern (Morama) borehole to cope with the 24H water demand of thirsty visiting elephant bachelor and breeding herds. 

Employment of local game guards to maintain a presence at the boreholes and gather data on wildlife has also been continuous (even throughout the peak rainy season), and we have maintained our monthly field trips to supply food, pay salaries, rotate staff members, collect data and attend to repairs.  Wildlife populations continue to slowly recover in NG3 as a result of this conservation management, but there are now a number of new emerging threats that we are very concerned about (see below).  After an exceptionally good rainy season (December 2020 to March 2021), conditions are drying out once again and the critical role of these boreholes - in helping to reduce human-elephant conflict in populated areas, and in terms of providing safe refuge and water access for all wildlife - is again becoming manifest.  Thanks to Lion Recovery Fund (Wildlife Conservation Network), for support over those crucial months, and for the additional support from Elephants Without Borders, Future for Elephants, Morama Trust and Mike and Karen McCune.  A special thanks also to Frank Gasefele and Rentsi Obuseng of Bush Diamond Safaris for their hard work since December 2020 in assisting with the monthly resupply trips out to the NG3 boreholes and the communities involved in our projects.

Keeping the communities employed in this way has been very much part of our Covid relief strategy, as has been education, health and medical support (e.g. provision of food and vitamin supplementation).  With the opening up of Botswana once again to international tourism we look forward to again being able resume securing tourism bookings for the Kagusi Wilderness Campsite and to the resumption of tourism income streams for the Xaranxago (!Harin//axo) community.

In November 2020, in collaboration with Dr. Megan Biesele (a pioneering anthropologist whose working relationship with the Ju/hoansi spans 50 years) and the  Fire Bird Foundation, we initiated an unique Ju/hoansi oral history recording and traditional healer training project centered around Botswana's last surviving 'master' Ju/hoansi healers:  The project recognizes the urgent need for these masters to pass on their skills on to younger generations, to avert its imminent extinction, which would be a great loss for all of humanity.  We have identified all the surviving practitioners of this ancient knowledge system (who are less than 10 in number) as well as apprentices (trainees, mostly younger persons) and we are assisting in creating regular opportunities for Ju/hoansi-only healing ceremonies (dances) involving the training of those apprentices.  We do this by networking with the healers (who live in different scattered localities), organizing the healing dances, and providing the necessary transport and subsistence support for these gatherings, in addition to other forms of support.  The approach is non-invasive (as outsiders we prefer not to intrude on these sacred ceremonies) and designed to empower the Ju/hoansi to take the lead in their knowledge conservation process, based on their own growing realization of the dangers of lack of inter-generational knowledge transfer and how the commercialization of "trance dancing" has undermined its authenticity and function as a powerful tool for Ju/hoansi spiritual growth and achievement of social harmony.   As entering into the trance state in healing ceremonies is physically very taxing, it has health impacts on the more elderly healers, particularly if done on a regular basis for commercial tourism display purposes, and their preference is to be able to reserve their remaining energy for helping their own kind and ensuring the skill is strengthened within their extended family circles.  Commercial exploitation of the eldest (and most knowledgeable) healers by tourism entities and members of the general public seeking magical cures to ailments, has certainly had negative health impacts and exacerbates the risk of contracting Coronavirus.  In this regard we have assisted some of the healers and related family members in their endeavour to return to traditional territorial localities outside of the settlements, to improve their access to nutritional bush food supplies (for improved health), and so as to create for themselves a more independent and freer environment where they can dedicate focused time towards imparting their skills on other Ju/hoansi.  In the 5 months since this project was initiated there has been a noticeable improvement in the health, energy levels and sense of well-being and purpose of these elders.  Our field team also undertakes digital audio recordings of interviews related to their life stories and traditional knowledge, which are then sent to the Tsumkwe transcription group in Namibia for processing.  Considering the advanced age of the master healers, this project represents possibly the last opportunity to prevent the extinction of one of humankind's oldest skills - a skill which also has great significance to the reawakening of our own long-forgotten energetic connections with the natural world.  Mike and Karen McCune have also kindly lent support to this important project.

Other activities, concerns and planned work:

Throughout this time we have also been supporting the Ju/hoansi San communities in their perpetual struggle to obtain recognition of and respect for their ancestral land rights by local Government structures in particular the Tribal Land Board, and to lobby for the protection of their territorial lands and wildlife resources from environmentally-harmful and fraudulent land allocations, as well as other development threats - an ongoing effort that takes up vast amounts of our time and remains unfunded.  If we can secure the funding, we hope this year to undertake a detailed cultural inventory (by employing the participatory land mapping methodology we've developed over many years of land mapping work in the Central Kalahari) to strengthen their case for the protection of remaining undeveloped territorial lands from allocations to outsiders (who are often involved in criminal activity such as bush-meat poaching), and to promote sensible land use planning and sustainable use of the  natural and cultural heritage resources of these areas for the primary benefit of the bona-fide traditional occupants.

In our capacity as ecological consultants (under Arthur Albertson Consulting), we also coordinated ground (wildlife spoor based) surveys of veterinary fences for AHEAD (Animal Health for the Environment and Development), which is closely collaborating with the Department of Veterinary Services (DVS) and National Committee on Fences in identifying viable opportunities for removal, realignment and modification to fences so as to reduce impacts on migratory wildlife.  Whilst doing this survey work in December 2020, we also became aware of efforts by DVS to repair the border fence (after a period of no maintenance of this fence of around 20 years) resulting in the closing of gaps (broken down sections) used by wildlife as regular crossing points:  The affected communities and KWT quickly took action by engaging with DVS to explain the sensitivities and so far the response has been positive in that repair work has been halted, thus keeping these crossing points intact for now.

Another serious threat to the wildlife resources of NG3 now comes in the form of hunting: Quotas have been allocated for hunting in NG3 in spite of many communities strongly objecting to it on the basis of safety, ecological and operational concerns.  The stakeholders are hopeful of persuading DWNP to reverse its decision in favour of a non-consumptive approach to using local wildlife resources, which are low in number and need to be habituated around existing and planned wildlife boreholes so they can be used on a sustainable basis by community tourism enterprises.  In this regard, the Heritage Trail (See 29th July 2020 activity post) is nearing the start-up of the implementation phase, which will see the planning and set up of three community based tourism enterprises, namely at: Mahopa, Nxau-nxau and Shaikarawe. 

We are also pleased to announce our partnership with Cheetah Conservation Botswana (CCB) and Conserve Global for supporting the Xwiskurusa Natural Resources Conservation Trust in managing the GH10 Wildlife Management Area (their almost 1million hectare lease areas since 2006).  As part of this engagement, we will be coordinating territorial land and resource mapping, developing an updated land use management plan, implementing wildlife monitoring (expanding on CCB's conservation performance payment activities funded by Lion Recovery Fund) and initiating tourism developments.  UNDP's Kgalagadi & Ghanzi Dry Lands Ecosystem Project currently underway, aims to strengthen the natural landscape and wildlife connectivity between the Central Kalahari Game Reserve and the Kgalagadi Transfrontier Park and our partnership in GH10 is very much aligned with that objective too. Both UNDP and CCB (with support from KWT), have also helped the Xwiskurusa Trust in transition from a near defunct status to a position of relative strength and that process is ongoing.   Development of craft production capacity in GH10 and the adjacent GH11 (also a wildlife management area) is also a key focus, which is being coordinated by Sandi Albertson. We will share much more on all this with you in due course.

Please scroll down for a selection of images from each month since our last update (August, 2020):
(move cursor over images to see captions)

Firstly, some archival photos from July 2020, which was a particularly good month for camera trap wildlife imagery: Much of this wildlife is dependent on being able to cross over gaps in the fence along the Botswana-Namibia borderline (Western NG3) which lies close to and west of the Western borehole.

March 2021:  KWT participation in workshops held at Bere and Kacgae together with the GH10 and GH11 Community Trusts in Ghanzi District (organized by our partners Cheetah Conservation Botswana) for purposes of planning 2021 conservation activities.  Craft producers and their products were also identified in preparation for planned craft production capacity development.

Emergency repairs out at Morama borehole..

February 2021: 

KWT game guards participating in fence surveys

Matriarch female elephant pushing over Ikoga Fence to allow calves to cross over.

Identifying spoor at elephant fence crossing point

Wildlife movement path running parallel to the Namibian border fence line.

New traditional dwellings constructed by elders taking up residence at a traditional camp.

Installation of rain harvester at Goshe village homestead.

January 2021:

patrols camp at Western borehole

All spoor encountered is recorded by game guards as part of their monitoring duties.

Game guard data book entry

Visiting Government officials: The western borehole is under consistent pressure from outsiders wanting to stop the community's conservation activities or take control of their borehole to use it for cattle farming.

after good rains..

Reinforced pipeline area

Vitamin C and D is supplied to the most vulnerable elders to help boost their immune systems and guard against Coronavirus infection.

Morama staff food resupply.

Additional training on use of Satellite phone.

Staff camp

December 2020:

Preparing the pipeline area behind the outlet at western borehole.

Delivery of rocks to reinforce pipeline

Job complete!

We regularly purchase crafts from the communities: a vital source of income in addition to the wildlife monitoring patrols and tourism activities at Kagusi.

Checking depth of water in the rain harvester at Nxeim.

The Morama water outlet as it appeared by December after arrival of good rains.

November 2020:

Martial eagle landing at Western borehole close to the Namibia borderline.

White-backed vultures: poisoning incidents by criminals involved in elephant poaching and land grabs remain a persistent threat to the raptor populations in Western Ngamiland, which are well represented in NG3.

Visiting bull elephants from Namibia's Nyae-nyae conservancy, with wild dog in the foreground. Both species are now listed as endangered on the IUCN red list.

Western borehole camera encased in concrete reinforced pole

Game guard team members with Kashe.

Attending to generator servicing at Morama

Morama visiting bachelor herd

Breeding herd visit to new outlet point at Morama

Breeding herds tend to prefer night-time visits due to dominance of bachelor groups in the day.

Refilling water supply point for long distance patrols north of the Western borehole.

Damme Nxowe on an extended patrol, digging up a Fockea angustifolia, a valuable source of drinking water for the Ju/hoansi.

Nxeim camp: a focal area for the oral history conservation project.

Digging a hole to install a portable rainwater harvester to supply Nxeim camp.

Installing the container part of the rain harvester.

Installation complete and ready to start harvesting the upcoming rains!

October 2020:

Trench dug around borehole and solar system to prevent elephant entry.

Pipe entering the main water hole prior to the outlet replanning

Using an old concrete-filled drum (used in the past by Morama Trust for a similar purpose), we created a large bowl-like structure using rock and cement to contain and separate out the clean water before it runs down into the waterhole. The pipeline was then realigned accordingly.  The system has generally worked quite well, ensuring access to clean water for all species.

September 2020:

Eastern (Morama) borehole: towards the peak of the dry season (October/November), elephant herds from far afield including from areas disturbed by human activity (e.g. around the western periphery of the Okavango Delta, more than 70km east of Morama), start to visit this water point on a continual rotational basis.  Each herd that arrives is soon followed by the next herd, and the same herds return on a daily basis or otherwise depending on the size of their respective home range. This pattern extends throughout the day and night until the rains arrive and surface water is again widely available at different natural waterholes across NG3.

Western (!Ghi'han) borehole:  the water outlet point and the pipeline leading up to it, as at Morama, has to be constantly checked and reinforced to withstand elephant damage and ensure a continuous supply of fresh water for all wildlife species.

On a daily basis the community game guards walk in a circle around the waterpoint (approx. 60 to 80m radius) to intercept all incoming and outgoing spoor.

After each survey, the incoming and outgoing wildlife movements are mapped by the game guards in relation to the survey path and compass points.

In September we assisted master healer Kxao Qamme in visiting !Harin//axo to perform a much-needed healing ceremony, and to move to a traditional locality he has long wanted to reside at.

Late afternoon Morama visit by one of the local bachelor (male) herds

Some of our ultra-dependable and hardworking Morama team members.

Some of the Western borehole game guard team members with KWT's community liaison officer, Kashe Nxouwe (second from left).