Early explorers & traditional protectors

Early explorers, naturalists & traditional protectors

Wildlife conservation is a nominally recent concept – for the simple reason that in times past the sheer numbers of wild animals roaming the grassland, woodlands and forests were so numerous as to be inexhaustable. The idea that they needed to be ‘conserved’ seemed unnecessary. But times change, populations increase, and commercial interests destroy habitat, exploit species and call into question the need to protect and preserve.

Early hunters, explorers & naturalits

From the time of the early European hunters, explorers and naturalists who, through their adventures on the dark continent, shone a light (and knowledge) on the extraordinary landscapes, animals and wild places of this rich continent. Through their tales of adventure and exploration they brought this unknown land to the eyes and ears of the world. Some were hunters, othes keen naturalists..

Traditional protectors

Even before wildlife conservation began its journey, traditional land owners had sought to set aside specific areas as royal hunting grounds and, showing considerable foresight, sought to set aside such areas as wildlife santuaries and the creation of protected reserves that exist to this day.

Early Hunters, Explorers & Naturalists

In the early 19th century intrepid explorers and naturalists from Europe first brought the dark continent to the attention of the world - names like James Chapman, Joseph Thomson, Richard Burton, Anderson & Galton, and Pierre de Brazza. At around the same time, early hunters like John Hunter and the legendary Frederick Courtney Selous, wrote extensively of their adventures in Africa and brought attention to the wild places of this little-known continent. This in turn encouraged celebrity hunters like Teddy Roosevelt to embark on lavish hunting safaris. It has been said that Teddy Roosevelt’s African expedition (1908-10) redefined the safari and put the continent on the tourist map, and that his celebrity pulling power helped create an industry that has helped sustain Africa’s wildlife ever since. Later, the famous writer, Ernest Hemingway, ventured to Africa where he became mesmerised by the abundance he encountered writing novels like The Green Hills of Africa to satisfy a hungry audience in the west.

William Burchell (1781 to 1863) - English explorer, naturalist, traveller, artist and author

In 1810, a 30-year-old Englishman named William Burchell landed in Cape Town after a four-year stint as a naturalist on St Helena island. The following year he embarked on an epic journey through the Cape Colony, which lasted four years and during which he covered 7 000 kilometres, mainly through unexplored terrain, and collected over 50 000 plant and animal specimens, as well as built up a vast collection of sketches and paintings. He was renowned as a meticulous collector, botanist and artist, publishing his two-volume work - Travels in the Interior of Southern Africa in 1822 & 1824 drawn from his copious notes made to accompany every collected specimen, detailing habit and habitat, as well as the numerous drawings and paintings of landscapes, portraits, costumes, people, animals and plants that he encountered. He has been credited as the first European to describe the white rhinocerous and has a number of animal and bird species named in his honour - the Plains zebra (Equus burchelli), Burchell's coucal and Burchell's starling.
Francois Levaillant (1753 to 1824) – French author, explorer, naturalist, zoological collector, and noted ornithologist

François Levaillant, born in Dutch Guiana and son of the French consul there, was a French explorer, naturalist, author, zoological collector, and noted ornithologist. He described many new species of birds based on specimens he collected on his travels from the Cape from 1781 and published a six-volume book, Histoire Naturelle des Oiseaux d'Afrique now considered a classic of African ornithology (published between 1801 and 1806 and containing 144 colour-printed engravings). He was among the first to use colour plates for illustrating birds and opposed the use of binomial nomenclature introduced by Linnaeus, preferring instead to use descriptive French names such as the bateleur (meaning "tight-rope walker") for the distinctive African eagle. The crested barbet (Trachyphonus vaillantii) is named after him (and he named the narina trogan and Klaas's cuckoo after his khoi khoi servants!).
Charles Darwin (12 February 1809 – 19 April 1882)

On his voyage aboard the HMS Beagle in 1836, Charles Darwin stopped at Simon's Town in the Cape longer than in any other port on his voyage, except the Galapagos Islands (between 31 May and 18 June 1836).

Darwin described Cape Town as “a great inn, on the great highway to the east” in a letter to his sister Catherine during his visit and recorded sightings of animals like elephant, rhinoceros, giraffe, hippopotamus and even the now extinct Quagga, all within the boundaries of the Cape! He is said to have called the area known as Wynberg ‘a grand wall of mountains that gives the scene a degree of uncommon beauty’, with Sea Point making a lasting impression on the scientist - the melting and fusion of rocks posed a geological question for him that the ‘ordinary theory, of granite having been injected whilst liquefied’ could not convincingly explain (the rocks in this area are known as the Seapoint Contact, where the metamorphosed sedimentary rocks from the Malmesbury group meets Cape granite).

Darwin also visited Paarl and Franschhoek returning to Cape Town via Sir Lowry Cole’s pass along ‘unfrequented paths’. From the summit he was to comment on the view over False Bay, Table mountain and the Hottentot Holland valley.
David Livingstone (19 March 1813 – 1 May 1873)

Livingstone was a missionary and explorer, and one of the most popular British heroes of the late-19th-century in the Victorian era. He had a mythical status that operated on a number of interconnected levels: Protestant missionary martyr, working-class "rags-to-riches" inspirational story, scientific investigator and explorer, imperial reformer, anti-slavery crusader, and advocate of commercial and colonial expansion. Livingstone advocated the establishment of trade and religious missions in central Africa but the abolition of the African slave trade (which became his primary goal). His motto—now inscribed on his statue at Victoria Falls was "Christianity, Commerce and Civilization", a combination that he hoped would form an alternative to the slave trade, and impart dignity to the Africans in the eyes of Europeans. But it was his earlier mission to seek the source of the Nile that captured people imagination and spurred on countless other explorers.

Legend states that he was the first European to see the Mosi-o-Tunya ("the smoke that thunders") waterfall, which he called Victoria Falls after his monarch Queen Victoria, and through his writings in "Missionary Travels in southern Africa", and involvement with the Royal Geographical Society, he opened the eyes of the world to the dark continent - its unique landscapes and abundant wildlife.
Theodore Roosevelt (1858-1919)

The twenty-sixth president of the United States was also a world-renowned hunter, conservationist, soldier, and scholar. Teddy Roosevelt’s African expedition (1908-10) redefined the safari and put the continent on the tourist map. His celebrity pulling power helped create an industry that has helped sustain Africa’s wildlife ever since.

The strange relationship between hunting, conservation, tourism and politics is never more sharply in focus – and perhaps could be said to have been invented – by Teddy Roosevelt’s East African safari. It was an epic adventure that lasted nearly a year, from 21 April, 1909, to 14 March, 1910, and took him and his 21-year-old son, Kermit (the expedition photographer), from Mombasa north along the Nile to Khartoum and west, deep into the heart of the Belgian Congo. It also resulted in the slaughter of 11,397 carefully catalogued animals including 512 big game species (including 9 elephant and 9 white rhino), 4,000 birds and 500 fishes. They believed in being inclusive and killed everything from elephants to dung beetles, although obviously big-game hunting proved more entertaining.

His account of this adventure, African Game Trails, is as remarkably fresh today as it was when these adventures on the veldt were first published. Roosevelt describes the excitement of the chase, the people he met (including such famous hunters as Cunningham and Selous), and the flora and fauna he collected in the name of science. Big game hunting and travelling in style were never the same!
Frederick Courteney Selous (31 December 1851 - 4 January 1917)

FC Selous was a British explorer, officer, hunter, and conservationist, famous for his exploits in south and east of Africa. From an early age Selous had been fascinated by wildlife and collected and hunted widely as a youth. Determined to be an elephant-hunter, at age 19 he sailed for Africa arriving in Port Elizabeth in 1871. The next eight years are described in his book, A Hunter's Wanderings in Africa, which was read widely back home (and later followed by African Nature Notes & Reminisces in 1908). Many of Selous's hunting trophies found there way into museums and natural-history collections, notably that of the Natural History Museum in London. In their Selous Collection they have 524 mammals from three continents, all shot by him, including nineteen African lions. He was also a friend of Theodore Roosevelt who chose Selous to make the arrangements,a nd accompanied him, on his famous safari to British East Africa in 1909. Roosevelt wrote of Selous: "Mr. Selous is the last of the big game hunters of Southern Africa; the last of the mighty hunters whose experience lay in the greatest hunting ground which this world has seen since civilised man has appeared herein." In 1890 Rhodes chose Selous to lead the Pioneer Column into present day Zimbabwe and was later involved in the Matabele Uprising of 1893. Even though in his sixties, Selous volunteered for active duty in World War I - he was killed by a German sniper on 4 January 1917 fighting a bush-war on the banks of the Rufiji River in what later became the Selous Game Reserve in modern day Tanzania.
Cecil John Rhodes (5 July 1853 – 26 March 1902)

Rhodes was a British businessman, mining magnate and politician in southern Africa who served as Prime Minister of the Cape Colony from 1890 to 1896. An ardent believer in British imperialism, Rhodes and his British South Africa Company founded the southern African territory of Rhodesia (now Zimbabwe and Zambia), which the company named after him in 1895. South Africa's Rhodes University is also named after him. Rhodes set up the provisions of the Rhodes Scholarship, which is funded by his estate, and put much effort towards his vision of a Cape to Cairo Railway through British territory.

At his death he was considered one of the wealthiest men in the world. He might seem an unlikely candidate for honours as a conservationist, but his love of the country which bore his name was supported by his postumous gifts to the nation (see below).

He was extremely fond of the Matobo Hills, and on his death in the Cape in 1902 his body was transported by rail to the Matobo Hills in Rhodesia, and then by gun carriage, drawn by a team of oxen, to World's View where he lies to this day (and sent on his way with the Ndebele royal salute: "Bayete").

In a trust established before his death, Rhodes had bequethed two important conservation areas for the generations to come: the trust formed and administered the Rhodes Matopos National Park and also gifted to the nation his estates in the eastern highlands of Zimbabawe, now called the Rhodes Nyanga National Park.
Names that live on in the Rwenzoris

In the Rwenzoris (or Mountains of the Moon) in western Uganda, the highest peaks are each named after six significant explorers – Mounts Baker, Speke, Stanley, Gessi, Emin & Luigi di Savoia (the man responsible for this naming following a comprehensive mapping of this area in 1906). Each of these individuals were “accomplished, complex individuals who lived fascinating, often difficult, lives and sometimes met a violent end."

Sir Samuel White Baker (1821 – 1893) was a British explorer, officer, naturalist, big game hunter, engineer, writer and abolitionist. He is mostly remembered as the 'discoverer' of Lake Albert on March 14th 1864 (named in honour of Queen Victoria's husband, Albert, who had died in 1861) and the first European to view the Murchison Falls in Uganda. He was accompanied on his expeditions by his wife whom he had purchased at a slave bazaar in the Balkans!

John Hanning Speke (1827- 1864) spent 10 years with the Indian Army before starting his travels with Burton in Africa. Speke discovered Lake Victoria in August 1858. He initially believed it to be the source of the Nile but Burton didn't believe him and in 1860 Speke set out again, this time with James Grant. In July 1862 he did find what became accepted as the source of the Nile - the Ripon Falls north of Lake Victoria.

Henry Morton Stanley (1841-1904) was a journalist sent in 1869 by the New York Herald to find Livingstone, who had been presumed dead for four years because no-one in Europe had heard from him in that time. Stanley found him at Uiji on the edge of Lake Tanganyika in Central Africa on 13 November 1871. Stanley's words "Dr Livingstone, I presume?" have gone down in history as one of the greatest understatements ever made.

Traditional protectors

The role of traditional land owners, and national governments, should not be overlooked in the conservation story of Africa. In many countries, much foresight and determination to protect this natural heritage has seen vast tracts of land set aside in the name of wildlife conservation - here are some early stories:

Liuwa Plain in western Zambia has one of the oldest conservation histories in Africa, dating back to the late 19th century when the King of Barotseland, Lubosi Lewanika, appointed his people as the custodians of the reserve. The result is a unique ecosystem where people and wildlife live together, and where the priority is to sustainably manage these natural resources, to make this coexistence mutually beneficial for all. (Source: Africa Parks).

Proclaimed a protected area by the Litunga, the traditional King of Barotseland, in the early 1880s Liuwa Plain is one of the oldest conservation areas in Africa. Traditionally, the plains were the Litunga's private hunting ground, and the villagers who lived in and along the periphery of the preserve were charged with looking after the animals for him. In 1972 Liuwa Plain was declared a national park and is currently managed by African Parks (Zambia), which is a partnership between African Parks, the Zambia Wildlife Authority (ZAWA) and the Barotse Royal Establishment, the traditional government of the Lozi people. Liuwa Plain is a great example of co-habitation of people and animals as the Lozi still have utilisation rights in the Park. It is not unusual to see subsistence farmers tending their crops of maize or cassava or practising traditional fishing in the pans and rivers. Traditional plants are harvested for medicinal purposes as well as basket and map weaving. On the odd occasion one may even see an ox cart transporting villagers from one side of the park to the other.

Courtesy Sally Moon – New Frontiers Tours, South Africa.

STORIES OF INTEREST:

His Majesty the Litunga of the BRE Celebrates Over a Century of Conservation in Liuwa Plain National Park in Zambia, with the Official Opening of King Lewanika Lodge (2019)
The Moremi Game Reserve was declared as a wildlife reserve by the BaTawana people in 1963, the first wildlife sanctuary to be created by an African tribe in their own area, and as such is unique. During the early 1960’s the BaTawana tribe was governed by Mrs Mohumagadi Moremi as Regent, the widow of Chief Moremi III. She was concerned about the increase in game hunting and established the game reserve on her own land. The Moremi Game Reserve was officially proclaimed on 15 March 1963. The area was initially run by the Fauna Conservation Society of Ngamiland. The reserve has since been extended to include Chief’s Island in 1976 and during 1979 the park was taken over The Department of Wildlife and National Parks.

Chief’s Island is the largest of the Okavango Delta’s islands, and perhaps its most well known. Once the royal hunting preserve of Chief Moremi, the traditional leader of the local tribes - its inclusion adding considerably to the reputation of the game reserve as a place to find the full gamut of Africa's big game.
Hluhluwe–Imfolozi Park, formerly Hluhluwe–Umfolozi Game Reserve, is the oldest proclaimed game reserve in Africa. It consists of 960 km² (96,000 ha) of hilly topography 280 kilometres (170 miles) north of Durban in central Zululand, KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa and is known for its rich wildlife and conservation efforts, and due to these conservation efforts, the Park now has the largest population of white rhino in the world.

The area was originally a royal hunting ground for the Zulu kingdom, but was established as a game reserve in 1895. The area has always been a haven for animals as tsetse flies, carrying the nagana disease which affects domestic livestock, were common. However, as Zululand was settled by European farmers the game was blamed for the prevalence of the tsetse fly and the reserves became experimental areas in the efforts to eradicate the fly. Farmers called for the slaughter of game and about 100,000 animals were killed in the reserve before the introduction of DDT spraying in 1945 solved the problem. However, white rhinoceros were not targeted in the cull and later, Hluhluwe–Umfolozi became the centre for rhino conservation as the population of this species plummetted throughoutb the continent and white rhino were placed on the endangered species list. Today a population of about 1000 is maintained.

As the home of Operation Rhino in the 1950s and 60s, the Park became world renowned for its white rhino conservation. It is also well known for its wilderness trails, which originated in Imfolozi in the 1950s, and its renowned Game Capture Unit.

On April 30, 1995, the then President, Nelson Mandela, visited the Hluhluwe Game Reserve to celebrate the park's centenary.
Situated in Northern Zululand, adjacent to the Mozambique border, Tembe National Elephant Park is most widely known for having over 200 of the world’s largest elephants. These elephants are the last remaining indigenous herd in KwaZulu-Natal and include the legendary “Tuskers”. (“Tuskers” are elephants whose enormous tusks weigh more than 45.45kg.) In Tembe you could be lucky enough to see “Isilo”, who at 60+ years of age is the largest Tusker in Southern Africa.

Tembe is comprised of 30,000 hectares – the land was historically owned by the Tembe tribe, the ancestral custodians of the area. Nkosi (Chief) Mzimba Tembe donated the land for the formation of this game reserve, and it is now 50% co-owned and managed by the Tembe tribe, while its precious bio-diversity is managed by Ezemvelo KZN Wildlife; the KwaZulu-Natal conservation service.

Courtesy Wildlifeact.com
In the 19th century, the area now known as the Luangwa Valley, was crossed by many European explorers who came to hunt, trade, or bring the gospel; or simply to satisfy their curiosity. Around 1810 to 1820, a trading post was opened at Malambo, some 100km north of Mfuwe. This was on the main trade route from Tete to Lake Mweru, which had first been established by Lacerda as early as 1798.

In his last book, Kakuli, Norman Carr quotes a Portuguese captain, Antonio Gamitto, as writing of the Luangwa in around 1832, proclaiming: "Game of all kinds is very abundant at this season of drought; great numbers of wild animals collect here, leaving dry areas in search of water… we can only say that this district appears to be the richest in animal life of any we have seen."

Later, in December 1866, when Livingstone crossed the Luangwa at Perekani (a place north of Tafika and south of Chibembe), he was just one of many Europeans exploring the continent. He commented: "I will make this land better known to men that it may become one of their haunts. It is impossible to describe its luxuriance."

In 1904 a Luangwa Game Park was declared on the eastern bank of the river. However, this was not maintained, hunting licences were given out to control allegedly marauding elephants, and the park came to mean little. Then on 27 May 1938 three parks were defined in the valley: the North Luangwa Game Reserve, the Lukusuzi Game Reserve, and the South Luangwa Game Reserve – which corresponded roughly to the present park, though without the Chifungwe Plain or the Nsefu Sector.

In the following year, Norman Carr and Bert Schultz were appointed as game rangers and villages within the reserves were moved outside its boundaries. Initially Norman Carr recommended that hunting safaris be started, but over the coming decade he realised that visitors would also come for what are now called 'photographic safaris'.

In 1949, Chief Nsefu, prompted by Norman Carr, established a private game reserve on the Luangwa's eastern bank, between the Mwasauke and Kauluzi Rivers. A safari camp was started here which sent some of its income directly back to the local community. (Norman Carr was ahead of his time!) This soon moved to the site of the present-day Nsefu Camp. The chief's reserve became the Nsefu Sector, which was absorbed into the boundaries of the present park – along with the Chifungwe Plain, north of the Mupamadzi River – when new legislation turned all game reserves into national parks on February 15 1972.

In the later years of his life, Norman Carr lived at Kapani Safari Lodge, having played a pivotal role in the history of the valley by pioneering commercial walking safaris, upon which South Luangwa has founded its reputation. He remained an important and highly outspoken figure to the end, and devoted much energy in his latter years to development projects designed to help the surrounding local communities to benefit from the park. He was especially involved with projects involving local schools: encouraging the next generation of Zambians to value their wildlife heritage.

Courtesy Zambia-Travel-Guide.com
The Kgalagadi Transfrontier Park contains the Kalahari Gemsbok National Park in South Africa and the Gemsbok National Park in Botswana. This vast wilderness of approximately 38,000 km² is a protected area where the boundary between the two countries has no physical barriers. This allows for free movement of animals along ancient migration routes that is so necessary for the survival in the harsh desert environment.

The Kalahari Gemsbok National Park in South Africa was established in July 1931 mainly to protect the migrating game, especially the gemsbok, from poaching.

After World War 1, several farmers settled along the Auob and Nossob Rivers. However, these farmers struggled to make a comfortable living from their farms due to the harsh environment. The settlers therefore took to hunting and they, together with the biltong hunters from further afield, ensured a gradual decline in game year after year.

Prior to establishing the park most of the privately-owned farms were purchased and the people were moved to an area south of the newly established park.

Seven years later in 1938 the Botswana Gemsbok National Park was proclaimed by what was then called Bechuanaland. The same year the farmers on the Botswana side, 84 families with more than 5000 head of stock were told to resettle to the area south of the park. The ruins of an old dwelling and several graves are still located at Rooiputs. Mabuasehube Game Reserve was established in 1971 and was incorporated into Gembok National Park in 1992.

In 1948 an informal verbal agreement was made between the then Bechuanaland Protectorate and the Union of South Africa to set up a conservation area in the adjacent areas of the two countries. In June 1992 representatives from the South African National Parks Board (now SANParks) and the Department of Wildlife and National Parks (DWNP) of Botswana set up a joint management committee to manage the area as a single ecological unit. A management plan was drafted, reviewed, and approved in 1997. The parties agreed to cooperate in tourism and share equally in park entrance fees. On 7 April 1999, Botswana and South Africa signed a historic bilateral agreement whereby both countries undertook to manage their neighbouring national parks as a single ecological unit. The boundary between the two parks has no physical barriers, although it is also the international border between the two countries. On 12 May 2000, President Festus Mogae of Botswana and President Thabo Mbeki of South Africa formally launched Southern Africa’s first peace park, the Kgalagadi Transfrontier Park.
For thirty years King Taapopi of the Uukwaluudhi traditional authority persisted with his goal of establishing a protected wildlife area in his homeland. For much of that time conservationist Chris Eyre shared the King’s commitment. Together, along a long and winding route, the two men turned this vision into reality, writes freelance film-maker and journalist Ginger Mauney.

In the mid-1970s, long before the concept of conservancies had taken root in Namibia, King Taapopi of the Uukwaluudhi traditional authority had a vision. It was inspired by childhood memories and fired by his wife’s support. He remembered a time when wildebeest, springbok and zebra roamed his homeland freely and in large numbers. He wanted to bring wildlife back.

The King’s idea came at an extremely difficult time in Namibia’s history. A war was being fought in the north, poachers operated with near impunity and traditional authorities lacked control. But by the late 1980s things were finally changing and King Taapopi knew this was the time to act. Even then, he was way ahead of his time. His vision, already more than 10 years old, to re-establish game in a core area in his traditional authority in a manner that would benefit the people living there, was still more than 10 years ahead of its time.

Fortunately it wasn’t only the King’s wife who shared his dream. King Taapopi knew and trusted Chris Eyre, a conservator with the Ministry of Environment and Tourism based in Opuwo. The King shared his idea of starting a small game reserve with Chris, who immediately recognised it as a wonderful opportunity for the Ministry to reach out and work with the people of Owambo. In fact, it was the first opportunity. For the next thirteen years, through many negotiations and despite political resistance and discouragement, the two persisted. Finally, in 2002, the dream became a reality.

However, turning a dream of a protected area in Uuk-waluudhi into reality was a long and circuitous route. To appreciate how far the idea of conservancies has come, it is one worth following.

After the King’s visit, Chris Eyre took the idea of establishing a conservation area in the traditional authority to Chris Weaver of the World Wildlife Fund. The area the King was interested in was north of Etosha National Park and south of Tsandi. It formed part of an old and important migratory route running between Etosha, Ruacana and southern Angola. Not only was there a history of wildlife in the area, but wildlife was also an important feature of the culture and folklore of the local people. Once the WWF had done an assessment, it became clear that there was potential for the King’s idea.

King Taapopi then had to elicit support from the local community, because the area under consideration for the future reserve was currently prime grazing land and cattle are also an important part of the culture and economy in the north. The King had strong support from the people of his generation who remembered wildlife and wanted to see game returned and the land brought back to life. But naturally there were others concerned about giving away grazing land and jeopardising their livelihood for what might turn out to be a pipe dream.

With the help of the then Deputy Minister of the Ministry of Wildlife and Tourism, Peter Illongo, negotiations were held with all members of the community. Boundaries for the future reserve expanded and contracted as time passed, and meeting after countless meeting took place. But as the negotiations continued, support was building up, and by 1996 legislation had evolved so that there was a framework for developing community-based conservation areas.

It was becoming clear to the community that the King’s idea had the potential for future eco-nomic, educational and re–creational benefits. Finally, with the support of the community and after years of hard work, 5 800 hectares of prime land with beautiful hills and views extending across the plains to Kaokoland, was set aside for the Uukwaluudhi Conservancy.

Now King Taapopi and Chris faced the next hurdle. The land had to be fenced and water points established before game could be re-introduced. With the hard work of Rural Waters, water points were built inside the conservancy area and importantly, also outside the conservancy. By providing direct assistance to the community farmers, greater support for the return of wildlife to the area was insured.

Finally, in 2003, wildlife from Namibia’s national parks was relocated to Uukwaluudhi. Species such as eland, hartebeest, springbok, kudu, zebra, giraffe, and black-faced impala are now successfully breeding in the conservancy, reclaiming an area and a place in the people’s imaginations. And in March of this year, for the first time, rare black rhino were taken from a protected national park and returned to a communal area. Today four black rhino roam the plains of Uukwaluudhi.

Now that the fences are up and the wildlife back, the emphasis is on developing the park for the benefit of the community. With the commitment and assistance of the World Wildlife Fund, Rössing Foundation, the Namibia Community Based Tourism Association and the Ministry of Environment and Tourism, investors are now interested in developing lodges in the area, which generate employment opportunities and income, and in placing the power to protect the land back into the hands of the community.

In 2003 His Royal Highness King Taapopi of the Uukwaluudhi Traditional Authority, and Chris Eyr, were jointly presented with the fourth Namibia Nature Foundation Environmental Award. Together they inspired the concept of conservancies. Their tireless efforts have had a positive impact on the expansion of wildlife areas and ensured that local communities have a stake in these areas for the benefit of the future of wildlife and themselves.

Today there is growing support for the concept of conservancies in northern Namibia. King Taapopi’s dream is now inspiring dreams in other areas of traditional authority. For example, King Kaluma is interested in protecting the donga areas and King Jaffet Makundi wants to establish a protected area for wildlife in Ongandjera.

Thus the Uukwaluudhi Conservancy is not only a dream come true; it is also an inspiration for the realisation of other such dreams.

This article appeared in the 2004/5 edition of Conservation and the Environment in Namibia.
BUILDING a wall of trees across the width of Africa is a tall order. Solving the twin problems of land degradation and desertification poses a greater challenge still. But more than 60 years after it was first proposed, just such a project is underway at the edge of the Sahara. The opening ceremony of the Olympics in Rio de Janeiro thrust it into the limelight, with footage of its progress. On completion, it is set to be the world's largest living structure, three times the size of the Great Barrier Reef. What is Africa’s “Great Green Wall”?

In 1952 Richard St Barbe Baker, a British environmental scientist, proposed planting a swathe of trees across the southern reaches of the Sahara. The trees would block the wind and sand that move southward from the desert and improve the quality of the soil by binding sediment together and adding nutrients to the mix. Although Mr Baker was unable to convince others of his plan during his lifetime, the idea has since taken root. In 2005, Olusegun Obasanjo, then president of Nigeria, revisited Mr Baker’s proposition, seeing in it an answer to some of the social, economic and environmental problems afflicting the Sahel-Sahara region. An estimated 83% of rural sub-Saharan Africans are dependent on the region’s land for their livelihoods, but 40% of it is degraded—worn away by soil erosion, human activity and scorching temperatures—leaving much of it unfit for use.

In 2007, Mr Obasanjo gained the support of the African Union. The Great Green Wall Initiative was launched the same year. Today some 21 African countries are involved in the project, which has grown in scope. Trees have been planted, but building a wall of them is no longer the priority. Instead, the wall of trees has become a vehicle for a wider goal: countries in the region working together to tackle climate change, food security and economic growth. Recent projects include abating soil erosion and improving water management in Nigeria, agri-business development in Senegal and forestry management in Mali. Each country takes it own approach to achieving shared goals. Some focus on community planning through education, while others are expanding investment in technology and training for farmers. Since the project started, 15m hectares of land have been restored in Ethiopia and 20,000 jobs have been created in Nigeria.

In May 2014, the Great Green Wall Initiative held its first conference, in Dakar. African leaders renewed their commitment to the project and pledged to accelerate its progress with the “Dakar Declaration”. They will show off their achievements at COP22, a global climate-change conference, in Morocco later this year. Plans are afoot to take the idea to other continents too. As Chinese emperors knew all too well, a great wall takes time to build but can last forever. With luck, Africa’s green one will prove just as resilient.

Courtesey The Economist blog
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

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.

On April 1, 2016, 286 343 hectares of private and public land in the Great Karoo region of the Eastern Cape was formally declared a Protected Environment and in August the following year, the management plan was approved by the Minister of Environmental Affairs. The Karoo Corridor project incorporates the area between the region’s two national parks – the Mountain Zebra and the Camdeboo National Parks – and the private land in between. The mission of this joint initiative, which was established by SANParks in partnership with 65 private landowners, is to maintain the current landscape in terms of its scenic biodiversity and landscape through collective action by the private landowners and to legally protect the area from detrimental development. In the official approval of the management plan, the Minister of Environmental Affairs, Edna Molewa said it was a pleasure to inform (the Mountain Zebra Camdeboo Protected Environment (MZCPE)) that the requirements had been met, thereby authorising the implementation of the proposed plan.

“…the spiritual quality of the wilderness – the serene sense of peacefulness it gives to a man’s soul.”

Norman Carr, Valley of the Elephants

Early hunters, explorers & naturalits

Traditional protectors

William Burchell (1781 to 1863) - English explorer, naturalist, traveller, artist and author

Francois Levaillant (1753 to 1824) – French author, explorer, naturalist, zoological collector, and noted ornithologist

Charles Darwin (12 February 1809 – 19 April 1882)

David Livingstone (19 March 1813 – 1 May 1873)

Theodore Roosevelt (1858-1919)

Frederick Courteney Selous (31 December 1851 - 4 January 1917)

Cecil John Rhodes (5 July 1853 – 26 March 1902)

Names that live on in the Rwenzoris