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Luxury Tented Safaris

Tented Camps in the fabulous Masai Mara Game Reserve,Serengeti National Park, on the floor of NgorongoroCrater, at Amboseli, Samburu and Meru National Park.

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See Afrlca's wonderful bird life with experts. Whatever yourspecial interests, we have guides who can cater for them.

Summer CampsA choice of ventures designed for the active young.Expeditioning to Lake Turkana, sailing the East Africancoast aboard a dhow, horse riding through game countryor back-packing up Mt. Kenya including instruction inbushcraft and survival techniques.

Iron Snake SafarisJoumey into the Past - travel on our exclusive and luxury private

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Trout fishing or deep-sea fishing. Bird shooting ormountaineering. We can even organise golf safaris or anyother kind of sporting activity for the enthusiast.

Air ChartersWe can arrange charter flights, or fly you in our ownaircraft anywhere in East Africa-Lake Turkana (Rudolf),Lamu, Serengeti or even to Zaire or the Sudan.

Exclusive Lodge Safaris

Visit the luxury Game Lodges and Hotels of East Africa withpersonal vehicle and guide. Group tours can also be arranged.

Convention Safaris

Whilst in Nairobi, whose convention centre is one of onlysix complete centres in the world, spend a few days onsafari to one or two of Kenya's exciting game areas;by plane or by road you can see a lot in four days.

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AFRI i\NA~Vol. 6No. 6 July, 1977Edito,: JOHN EAMES; ProductionEditor: ELAINE MWANGO; publisher:Marketing & Publishing Ltd.; editorialoffices: Kenya Litho Ltd., Changamwe Rd.,P.O. Box 40775, Nairobi, Kenya; Tel.555244; advertising and accounts:Nation House, Tom Mboya St. P.O. Box49010, Nairobi Tel. 337691/2; Cables:Nationwise, Nairobi. "Africana" incorporatesthe Quarterly Review of the EastAfrican Wild Life Society and QuarterlyNotes from World Wildlife Fund-Kenya.

CONTENTS

Cover:Water-colour ... by CARTER BLACK

pages 9-16; 25-32Editorial Review: A satirical report on a4,000-mile tour of Kenya.

Page 17A critical response to "Africana's" Aprileditorial and major statement on TanzaniaNational Parks since the closure of theTanzania-Kenya border ... by DEREKBRYCESON, M.P , Director, TanzaniaNational Parks.

Page 18How Many Croc Must Be Killed ••• acritical review of scientific research-byProf. CARL GANS and A. C. POOLEY.

Page 19ALISTAIR GRAHAM's latest crocodile andallied wildlife research projects at OkavangoSwamp, Botswana--photo-report by hiswife JANE GRAHAM.

Centre Section (pages i-viii)The Society's Notes compiled by TEDNORRIS; World Wildlife Fund-KenyaNotes by EI.L1SMONKS; and WildlifeClubs of Kenya Notes by SANDY PRICE.(A tribute to the Late Maj. David Sheldrick.page V.. by Peter Jenkins.

Page 21A hunter's wife, ADA WINCZA, remembersthe hey-dey of hunting in East Africa, andadds a postscript on Kenya's recent ban.

page 23A Giraffe by Any Other Name •••JOCK and BETTY LESLIE-MELVILLE reporton-a successful government translocation ofRothschild's Giraffe from Western Kenya toLake Nakuru-and a,ddan appeal for anendangered species sanctuary.

Page 32What To Do When Bitten by a BlackMamba-EDWARD RODWELL'S column.

Page 33'Letters to the Editor

Page 37The Big Footpl'ints-Hammond-lnnes'snew novel on '1984" in East Africa reviewedbyJOHN McDOUGALL

A KENYAODYSSEYOr,insome respects ...'Crythe Beloved Country'

I IMAGINEDI was "Shadow" Minister for Tourism and Wildlife,somehow unbelievably appointed to the substantive job. And inmy imaginings, I was pleased that my predecessor had gone outwith credit for the hunting ban-and a good Press for a change.

So I thought I would keep up the good work, and go off on an amazing4,OOO-mile tour of the country to see what we have to offer now we can'tquietly include Serengeti and Ngorongoro in the Kenya holiday "package".The problem is that in spite of initial optimism, Americans and Japaneseare tending to cancel out since Tanzania put its little red seal on the border,and we now have to re-sell Kenya in the markets as a complete holidaydestination with everything Tanzania has to offer, but without the marxisthassles.When I returned from this tour, the first thing I said to our highly professionalmarketing operation in his closet office along the corridor was as follows:Kenya is a magnificent country; radiant in the sun, and beautiful.

I then pointed out that unfortunately it was being stripped and raped at themoment in what might be regarded by Sir Kenneth Clark's civilised worldas a crime against nature or against humanity. For some reason, peoplelike him equate our wildlife and wilderness with their old cathedrals, andwill not accept that it is our sovereign right to destroy them if we so wish.However, it occurred to me that I'm the responsible Minister of the KenyaGovernment and might just be held accountable in history if I didn't atleast try to safeguard what's left of the "precious heritage" they're all soconcerned about, I suppose it's possible that in doing so, I might also helpconfirm some people's opinion that my country is comparatively advanced,decent and-all right-civilised, whatever that really means.So what I've decided to do is buy space in Africana for the first time andendorse the magazine's irritating campaign for genuine commitment andintegrity in the management of Kenya's tourism and wildlife affairs. Hopefullythere will be a positive response to this new approach to conservation fromreaders like Prince Philip and Mr. McNamara, and perhaps sympathy andunderstanding on the political implications of tourism from others such asMr. Podgorny in Addis, Hargeisa, Kampala-or perhaps it's Siberia now?Anyway, with some trepidation, I release a very long, frank, and strictlyconfidential staff memorandum on my tour of inspection. It is published below,complete and unexpurgated, for which my grateful thanks to the editor.

continued overleaf

A KENYAODYSSEYDear Vladimir,The comments and instructions whichfollow are tabled in respect of my itineraryas it was undertaken-in other words in theorder of geographic sequence and notadministrative consequence.

I. KAJIADO DISTRICTThe Masai have managed to graze outthe area pretty well completely and therecent rains merely flushed away the topsoil. The country looks frightful, andthere's not a buck or giraffe around torelieve the monotony.Still the Masai have lost-what is it ( ?)-three-quarters of their stock herds in thedrought before the rains, so furthererosion shouldn't be a problem for thenext few years. Perhaps they'll keep busyin the meantime by planting a few trees-but of course I forgot, they won't dig in theground like we lesser peasants so maybewe should ,suggest moving in a few morebantu fellows to improve the land for them.Please memo the National Council of Womento go plant their 15million trees in Masailand.As for wildlife, we will have no more ofthose U.N. "conservation" projects, likethat multi-million dollar cowboy act inKajiado which I suspect would be. aninternational scandal if FAO ever releasedits investigation report. Anyway, it's allover now and with the removal of wildlife"experts" and white hunters from the area,the game might have a chance to conserveitself against the single remaining constraintof poaching.On that issue, I intend to remindParliament that it promised a SelectCommittee inquiry into the conduct of thisMinistry. I know it was first opposed by theformer administratian, but I personallywould welcome an excuse to have an anti-poaching office clear-out and generallyring round the brass in Nairobi and tellthem to layoff the game for a while.The committee would no doubt bereassured by the ban on professionalhunting which shows we're at last on theright track on this conservation business,even though the loss is a million and a halfdollars a year and a couple of thousandpeople out of work.

In a way, I suppose I shouldn't haveaccepted hospitality at Captain LaddyWincza's concession camp in Kajiado,since we'd put him out of business. As amatter of fact he was all right as hunters go,running an expensive anti-poaching patrolbecause we couldn't do the job for him.But the argument that hunting is justifiedfor its deterrent value against poaching wasdenied by the facts, and allowing thehunters to pot everything the illegalexterminators missed just couldn't go on.Where we might have been wrong was inimposing an instant ban, like a Big Dada-style diktat which couldn't have done agreat deal of good for Kenya's imageabroad. Perhaps we ought to have let thehunters honour their commitments, rundown their businesses gradually, andreceive compensation for the loss of theconcession areas or the reduced value ofconverting for photographic safaris. Maybeit was rather cynical to expect them toqueue up for the photo-licences instead

of going half way to meet them withincentives to stay on, maintain the qualitytourist flow, reduce the present cash lossprojection, and help us clobber thepoachers. In any case, we must applycommon decency, good manners, andordinary business practices in dealingwith the private tourism sector-that iswith the possible exception of the curiotrade if it should prove that the stocks ofskins and trophies do not reduce now thatthere is no legitimate supply apart fromthis Ministry's game control and ivoryrecovery operations. If they continue tofinance, organise and otherwise supportpoaching then, no matter what theirconnections, they should get the samesummary chop as the hunters.That also goes for their agents, like thatfellow at the Ministry of Works who mighttake time off from organising poaching inMasailand and fix the roads in the bushbetween Kajiado town and the northerngate to Amboseli National Park.

I know it would be extra mileage for thetour operators, but I'm sure their clientswould appreciate getting among genuineMasai instead of the painted cardboardreplicas posing for pictures at twentyshilijngs a time on the main drag. I triedto get through, but someone in theMinistry had closed this access route toAmboseli and, in any case, some blackcotton patches were in need (Jf surfacingand a concrete drift is required over theSelengei River.

There, by the way, is a place of culturalinterest with proof that the Masai are aLost Tribe of Israel. They've got a rockthere which they say was a young nditowho looked back to eye up some moranshe fancied, and got petrified by her angryfather. It's of course the story of Lot'swife, so maybe we should declare it anational park and post a ranger there to stopthe moran from whittling it away bysharpening their simis on her kneecaps.It might be an attraction for Israeli tourists,if we're still talking to the Hebes-or dowe rather need the Arabs' money and that25 million dollar "Perfumed GardensHotel" in Nairobi, or whatever it's goingto be called.

But seriously, the back-country inKajiado is attractive and should be openedup. Please see to it.We should also do something about theMasai "dorobo" who are now poaching.I said I could understand the detribalisedwhatnots getting into the racket, butcouldn't we ask the real political chiefs, theolaiguenani and olotuno, to put a stop to it.But I was told that it was precisely peoplelike these who have been given the rifles.

Also, please see about trans locating somerhino back into Amboseli will you?I seem to remember the Warden DanielSindiyo and young David Western warnedsome time ago that if we didn't buck up,the sex-sagging Chinese and their localagents would get the last horn. Well it looksas if they were dead right, and the lasttwo rhino have already gone to that coupleof poachers recently, for what was it-some piddling fine or other.I've an idea we're in for some bad publicityon this, like that "1984" Hammond Innesstuff, writing off the game completely.What does he know about it anyway?One last thing on Amboseli: The idea ofpiping water outside the park for theMasai hasn't worked, so maybe we oughtto give the New York Zoological Society

their money t.:t,; TIIC Masai are inand out of the put IIld tourists at theSerena Lodge are back t6 taking pictures ofcattle and .goats from the game viewingverandah. FortuDately Kilimanjaro is stillthere as a backdrop, although I believe theTanzanians wanted to move it away fromKenya so that it doesn't show in thepostcards-but it was too heavy.

We must have a road linking these tworeserves immediately. It's a question ofbringing down present tour costs andcreating a mini-milk-run that would bealmost as good as the maxi-circuit throughNorthern Tanzania.Please send a note to the World Bank askingthem for the money, if they haven't alreadycome across. Because no way could I getthrough-four-wheel drive, power winch,sand-boards, mud-chains, water-wings,the lot!I mean the road from Kajiado to LakeMagadi must be worse than anything inthe NFD. Great scenery, but mostlyviewed at right-angles dropping down arock scree, or sliding through a drift, orup-ended trying to jump the railwayembankment. After making our own tracksup the side of the valley, we finallysubmerged in a bog with the tarmac toMagadi in sight as we went down.Not that it mattered too much, I don'tthink, because we were tol~\.\"e wouldneed forty-eight hours to get up theNguruman Escarpment beyond the lake.And this with the aid of a runner guide,a short-wheel base truck to get round thetrees a chain saw to cut some of the waythrough, and ideally a Coles crane to getup the worst of the rock steps. But theNgurumans and the Loita Hills beyond aremarvellously raw and of great potential fortourism.

3. NAROK DISTRICTSO what we did was to sneak back toKajiado, along the tar through Nairobiand on to Narok, pretending we'd made itacross country.We stayed the night with a great English-man, Fr Mick O'Neill, and his brotherCatholic priests at the Narok Mission. Nota dog-collar in sight, but every one of thema saint-with the exception of the cook,whose geriatric goat had died that evening.Still we revived the remains with someFrench gravy, so the after-dinner conver-sation was convivial.For instance, they told us of a fellow in thedistrict called William ole Ntimama,who is Chairman or something of the localCounty Council. He's upset at what hecalls the wholesale destruction of game in ••Narok District and is naming names,presumably starting with the duka-wallahdown the road from Narok town. He can'tbe popular with my friend in the NaturalResources Ministry whose name-did youknow ?-seems to derive from the Masaifor "drizzle." It must be a joke, surelyI mean no-one should have a handle likethe Hon. Stanley Drizzle, even if it couldbe said to be apposite at times. But, ofcourse I'm kidding. Stanley is a good chap,isn't he?Not humorous, however, is the story ofLabosso dying in a plane crash. He wasprobably the best of our District GameWardens, and a man apart in the GameDepartment for integrity and guts. It'shard to understand, though, why hereported his last arrest of poachers to

Nakuru C.LD. instead of the Ministry.Maybe he thought there would be morechance of prosecution that way, butwhat could have given him that idea?Other bad news at Narok arrived in themail, indicating that we're going to havetrouble in sequestering any more Masailand for wildlife reserves. There was aletter on the subject from a Masai I'dnever heard of, by the name of Edwardole Mbarnoti. It was actually written in1962, but you know what the Kenyapost is like!Anyway he wrote with surprising literacyas follows:-

TO WHOM IT MAY CONCERNIt is we Masai who have preserved thisprecious heritage in our land which we weresharing with the wild animals long before thearrival of those who use game only as ameans of getting money. So please do nottell us that we must be pushed out of ourland for the financial convenience of com-mercial hunters and hotel-keepers. And do nottell us that we must live only by the rules andregulations of zoologists. If Uhuru meansanything at all, it means that we are goingto be treated like humans and not animals."

I suppose this explains why the Masai haveprevented us expanding Nairobi Park intothe Kitengela, and really don't care muchabout respecting wildlife exclusivity inAmboseli and the Mara. So it occurred tome that maybe they've got a point; thatthey can exist well enough with wildlife anddon't need to be shoved out of the way somuch. In which case, we could declarethe whole of Masailand as a "StateConservation Area" and the wildlife astotally protected "State Game", whichit's supposed to be now any way-poachers,farmers and ranchers permitting.The area is after all just about the last"saleable" remnant of wild Africa inKenya, and so has to be a priority forconservation. And it can be done simplyenough by paying the Masai a regulargrazing fee from tourist revenues to makeup for the competition from the wildlife.If and when the game builds up to anintolerable level, then just maybe we couldthink about those "beneficial" and"sensible" FAO-type cropping schemes.In the meantime, if the experts wantsomething useful to do, they might finda vaccine for malignant catarrh which isabout the only transferable disease thatbothers the Masai.We should ask Charles if it [uould beconstitutionally feasible to give Masailandspecial reserve status so that its uniquewilderness quality may be permanentlypreserved. I know this would meanexercising a great deal more care infurther development for agriculture andproductive ranching, but it shouldn't be

.,. forgotten that the land could yield seventimes more national revenue from tourismthat it could from cattle production underthe most sophisticated conditions.

4. THE MAUIt's too late for wildlife in this area, .ofcourse, but no matter. In fact it's scenicallyacceptable for tourists, with those greatVan Gogh wheat fields, the Rabby Burns'glens and heather hills, and deep broodingStrinberg forest-except that some of it isbeing burned and hacked out by wananchiup from Naivasha. The worst area istowards Eburru and the back-end of thelake where they're clearing for nothingbut scruffy beans and maize sham bas.Perhaps we should set aside a week for a

continued overleafThe route: map-by CARTER BLACK andcourtesy of the United Touring Co. Ltd.

A KENYAODYSSEY (from page 11)

short chat with Joy Adamson, to see if wecan't do what she wants and set aside theNaivasha hinterland as a Reserve. In themeantime, suggest to that excellent fellowGeorge Muhoho and his National Environ-ment Secretariat that they get up there anddo a bit of the grass-roots' persuasionagainst de-forestation that they'vepromised.But, as I said, the Mau is still superbcountry and tour operators should taketheir people to Nakuru via Mau Narokat least one way because it's a sight morescenic than back-to-back petrol lorries onthe main road.

5. NAKURUI looked briefly over Lake Nakuru andsaw there were still a few flamingo there.We are definitely going to remove thatcopper-oxychloride factory, so my friendEllis Monks can start his World WildlifeFund money rolling again. I suppose wehave to hand it to the man for his gutsyand lonely campaign to save Nakuru, buthe'll get his reward sometime-I shouldthink either with a Jubilee "K" from theQueen or the Order of the Burning Spearstrategically placed from us.Anyway we should now do what he suggestsand have the Park extensions gazetted andmade permanent, which is something thatshould have been done months ago to stopthat councillor creeping in with his shambaand prevent any of our people mowing theanimals' grass and flogging it for hay.Furthermore we'll have to try and opentip public access to Elementaita becauseit's silly that the lake should remain aprivate estate when it could be earning forthe country. There's a mile differencebetween the lake perimeter boundary asshown in the title deeds and the actual linetoday, and that means there's a foreshorewhich is Government land and might beavailable for a National Park. Please fix itwith Lord D. or whoever.

Nakuru to Bogoria is more or less atransport section for tourists, but thelake itself is all right. We could marketit as . . . "a magnificent, romantic, lostparadise of a lake, with angry hissinggeysers, shimmering silver water, mistycobalt mountains . . ." and so on. Alsothere are no tourists, which puts us oneup on Yellowstone.Only one thing is missing from thepicture, and that is a foreground, since allbut a couple of the greater kudu have beenpoached, and there's not much else walkingaround except some cows and wananchi.Maybe we should send in some of theendangered RO,thschilds from Soy or theGrevy from Samburu which, now I cometo think of it, would be a fitting memorialto David Sheldrick since a survey of thearea for a Reserve waS the last job he didfor us before he died. It's sad, really, thatat this stage of our history we can'toverlook the fact that he was born anEnglishman and recognise that his heartwas planted deeply in this country for28 years. But it's impossible, otherwisewe might name the Reserve after himrather than a nondescript river.However, this is not the place, nor is it'Properly my place to say much aboutDavid Sheldrick's example to us all interms of integrity and capability; thisshould be left to someone who was closer

to him. But I will say that I know whathe was up against in Tsavo in the monthsbefore he was pulled oilt, trying to ensurethe country got the benefit from thepark's ivory stock, including the last ofthe largest tusks which he hid until he wasreasonably sure that they were safe fromthe curio merchants. I also appreciatewhat he did in the last few days of hislife, ensuring the Treasury got our £3million development estimates for NationalReserves over the next five years-andI only hope someone has done the samething for parks. It would be a tragedy ifthrough someone's neglect, we havefailed to provide for what was the finestnational parks system on earth.I personally would have appointed David asH.Q. commander of the new anti-poachingforces the World Bank is helping us setup, and he would have been delighted todo the job. But for the same qualities ofmilitary-style leadership and discipline,I suppose we should now look at PeterJenkins at Meru or Billy Woodley in themountains.

7. BARINGOThe circular lake road at Hannin~onis finished, but the circuit link to Barinll;oneeds fixing up from a confusion of tracksand one or two bad drifts. Not that I'msure why tourists would want to p;othereanyway, since if there were any Trades'Description Act or advertising ethic inKenya, we'd have to promote it as "achocolate brown reservoir for the goat-eaten landscape of Baringo." I believe thiscreeping desert is now causinll; a dry-upof the north Nakuru area, so ,iump on theNjemps or whoever and I(et them to sacrificea few mbuzis and revegetate. It's really adisaster area and there's less than tenfeet of water left above the silt.

8. TUGENS-KERlO-CHERANGANIS

Pretty country, but of marginal touristinterest. There's no game that I could see,and in the Kerio not a blade of grass.Plenty of trees, but everything elsesacrificed to useless goats.What's worse is that the Pokot are shiftingtheir little Sahara up into the northernCheranganis, slashinlZand burning out theforest as though Michaela Dennis hadnever been heard of. I'm lI;oinll;to write abook about it called "Cry the BelovedCountry," if someone hasn't already usedthe title, because it really makes you weepto see that virgin hill country ravaged theway it is.We should tell Ambassador Marshall hecan have the Kerio for his scheme to turnsemi-arid Kenya into another SouthernCalifornia, with citrus and fruit orchards.The missions are doinlZ a bit along thewater-course from the Cheranganis, but atthe rate the Pokot are removing thecatchment forests I shouldn't be surprisedif the valley doesn't dry out altogether.But I forgot, Jimmy Carter has movedMarshall out on account of party politics,which thankfully we're not botheredwith in Kenya. It's a pity because Tonywas good for us in our. little western islandin eastern Africa, with his mini-MarshallPlan, his low profile, and his understandingof a need for a U.S. filHn where the Britsare leavinll;a vacuum.I think Marshall may even be convincedthat tourism might be a priority forAmerican support, since its stabilising,liberalising influence helps keep Kenyaon the right alignment.For this reason, perhaps Mr. Carter would

send him back to head up a team from theU.S. National Pub ayIteID, which I haveconsidered might be introduced in theMinistry as executive advisers-ratherlike the Irish in Kenya Airways.We have a £45 million business now, andwe ought to operate it with a degree ofcorporate management method andexpertise. The U.S. Parks are the oldestin the world, and they've been through theproblems we've got now-like visitorover-use; to cull-or-not-cull; butprincipally how to maximise profits fromtourism-wildlife.Please write a project request to Washingtonfor technical and management assistance.We might get some conservation cash aswell, which would give our WildlifeTrustees something to do.

9. MT. ELGONPlease don't send tourists to Elgon for thetime being, because they obviously interferewith coffee smuggling down the Park'sSummit 'A' road-if it hasn't been stoppedyet.I didn't let on to the Warden who I was, sowe were turned back by armed rangersat a road barrier inside the park. But a smartnew Landrover ahead of us got through,although I thought the chap driving was introuble with a rifle pointed between hiseyes. But there was a huddled discussion,and eventually the car was waived on up theroad.Anyway, I called on the Warden for anexplanation, but he wasn't there so I leftinstructions for him to report to me at thelodge that evening, which he did at about10 p.m.He said the road was closed because some"Dorobo" had held up' tourists lastDecember; and I said I was sU1'Prisedthatthe coffee trucks were not attractive toperhaps better-heeled "Dorobo" sincetheir load at that time was worth about9,000 dollars a ton.And so the light banter went on for anhour until Mr. Nyeki agreed that a camphad been set up in the summit area whereUganda sellers were meeting Kenyabuyers and trading coffee with up to aseven-to-one premium on Kenya Shillingsfor Idi's funny money.In fact, I don't give a red cent for theracket, but what does concern me is thatElgon is supposed to be a tourist park andnot a private thoroughfare for a fewprivileged locals.Anyway, in the end, the Warden was goodenough to refer my persistent request toinspect the park to the Divisional GameWarden, Kitale, who was relaxing at thefireside in the residents' lounge of the lodge.Mr. Joshua Orumoi considered the matterfairly and then turned me down on thegrounds, he said, of "national security". •Perhaps we ought to check out this chap,soplease look back in the files. If I rememberrightly he was in trouble at Maralal forsome sort of private enterprise after whichhe was promoted sideways.

THE KTDCAlso memo the KTDC about Elgon Lodge,which is less an expensive tourist hotelthan a price controlled beer shop. I can'timagine what Sir Howard de Waldonwould say if he saw the decor in the oldhouse, or dined as I did on the lodge'sclassic menu of glutinous soup, frozenchicken and chips, and amorphous tart-for three nights running!

continued on page 29

CROC from page 18

reward over the last several decades and itis obviously in their own interest nowto invest in the management and con-servation of the resources they havedepleted.Unfortunately, a confusion of valuesseems to have arisen where certain crocodile"farms" remind one of certain alligatorand snake "farms" in the U.S.A. whereexhibition rather than reproduction is theprimary concern.Some crocodile farms in Africa attempt tohatch eggs, but most have not succeededin achieving egg deposition among adults.They must, therefor~, obtain. eggs byrobbing the nests of wild crocodiles.Such a procedure undoubtedly involyessignificant disturbance to the nestmgfemales which exhibit complex parentalcare. When numerous "farmers" areissued licences that allow the taking of 20to 60 nests (-=40 eggs/nest; 800-2400eggs) in a season, but with inadeq!la~econtrols and enforcement measures, It ISdifficult to argue that the resulting hidesare produced within the guidelines ofconservation.Recently, very significant research has beenconducted by studying undisturbedcrocodiles in nature. Modha (1967)observed wild crocodiles on CentralIsland in Lake Turkana, Kenya. Hedescribes the social signals that Nilecrocodiles use to communicate with eachother and reveals complex social relation-ships among breeding crocodiles.In addition to providing invaluable dataon their behaviour, the study is relevant toany proposed management scheme.

Consider the consequences of cropping thelargest males, i.e., the individuals that mostoften breed. These territorial males appearto maintain the social organization of thebreeding population, which appears torelate directly to the survival of theoffspring. The disruption of such abreeding system by indiscriminately killingthe largest crocodiles may reduce thereproductive potential of those that remain,and might seriously jeopardize futureoffspring survival and consequently thesurvival of the population.Fortunately, captive crocodilians alsobreed readily in large, natural enclosures.Studies of such crocodilians (Pooley 1969)have contributed significantly to ourunderstanding of the biology of the Nilecrocodile. Elsewhere, studies of captivepopulations are now beginning to reveal afascinating array of behaviours, particularlythose associated with parental care andsocial organization among the 21 livingspecies of crocodilians.Clearly, research on crocodilians need notinvolve slaughter of the study animals.Zoologists should examine carefully con-servation-associated "research" projectsto determine if the results of the studyjustify any further killing or if the projectmerely gives a spurious mark of respecta-bility to a commercial harvest that leadsto eventual extinction.Furthermore, we suggest that the productsderived from crocodilian hides shouldcontinue to be barred from the marketuntil the industry has demonstratedadequate conservation methods. Thedemand for leather should not lead tocontinuous erosion of the already limitedstocks of these spectacular vestiges of pastages.

CROC from page 19

the nesting behaviour s.eems t? remainintact. However, for us It was Importantnot to dig up the eggs until after thephotograph had been taken.The object of the croc research was tobuild up a log of the nesting femalepopulation by relating size to age, and t~enestablish the patterns of reproductIVebehaviour in - terms of nest use,productivity, age structure, etc.This particular job constituted only a smallpart of Alistair's research work in theOkavango Delta in northern Botswana.He was attached, as wildlife ecologist, to a2.\ year FAO project which aimed toestablish the hydrological regime of theDelta-how much water came in, whathappened to it, how much came out, how itinfluenced the country round it.Alistair was to find out how the waterregime influenced the comparatively largeanimal populations which obviouslydepended in many ways on the Delta.As very little was known about theseanimal populations, a major part of hiswork was to find out how many animalsthere were, what their movements wereand which parts of the Delta supportedwhich species.Two thirds of the Delta water comes viathe Okavango River from the highlands ofAngola and the remaining third is localrain water. At its highest the water covers6,000 square miles of country. The annualflood can be compared to a tidal waveadvancin~ from Angola, the crest of whichreaches Shakawe, in the very north, shortlyafter Christmas. Four months later thesame wave, having travelled 150 milesacross the swamp, hits Maun. During thecourse of its journey 95°;'; of the waterevaporates and I per cent goes under-ground, leaving only 4 per cent to flowpast Maun and on to Lake Ngami and theMakarikari Pans.

The whole of northern Botswana includingthe Delta consists of Kalahari sand so theground is nutritionally very poor andnot much grows on it. As a result animaland fish numbers are low. Shakawe is thebest fishing area and 13 pound tiger fishand 7 pound bream can be caught by thelucky fisherman. However, in populatedareas like Maun you are lucky to catch afish of a quarter of a pound.The absence of silt in the swamp waterleaves it as clear as any city water supplyand one can easily watch fish and crocodilesas they swim along beneath the surface.There are 35,000-40,000 buffalo in andaround the swamp. They are the mostnumerous large animal there and they arethe subject of research not only by theGame Department but also the VeterinaryDepartment. Every September the vetsrun a large scale darting project and some200 buffalo are darted from a helicopter.Blood samples are collected to test forFoot and Mouth disease and fortrypanosomiasis.At the same time the Game Departmentear tags and collars animals, so that theirmovements can be followed; various datais collected on growth and reproduction.Similar work is done on lechwe, which isone of the other most numerous swampanimals. Some 3,000 elephants live in theswamp too, though these are small tuskersand a Botswana hunter is happy to bag aforty pounder. Lions, the males with fine

black manes, sitatunga, tsessebe, giraffe,kudu and reedbuck exist in the Delta inrelatively large numbers, but th~e ~esurprisingly few water buck and hippo 10the area. In the drier country around theDelta small numbers of roan and sable roamand in the Kalahari are large herds ofhartebeeste, gemsbok and springbok.One of the most spectacular sights inBotswana is the Makarikari, where thelast drops of Okavango water finallyevaporate. On the grassy plains surround-ing the huge, white salt pans liveapproximately 25,000 zebra and 20,000wildebeest.At the top end of Sua, the easternmostpan, where wa.ter from the l;lata riverspills out to form a small lake 10 the wetseason, the pink of up to a million flamingoshimmers in the sunlight. It is not knownfor certain from where these birds come,but the general concensus of opinion is thatthey are from the Rift Valley. Occasionallythey breed on Sua pan.On the western side of Sua pan is a smallgranite kopje-a rare phenomenon in acountry covered with a deep mantle ofsand.Two years ago, Ian Parker, who was doingan ostrich survey in the area, flew lowover this kopje and saw a massive stonewall, eight or nine feet high and 15 feetthick, in the form of a circle. Curious, helanded on the hard salty pan surface tolook at it. It proved to be an iron agestone ruin, about which the Gaboronemuseum knew nothing.

DISCOVERYThis in a sense was a mysterious discoveryfor later we visited the spot and just150 yards away from the ruin, at the endof the kopje we found a survey beacon.The survey team, because they were onfoot, obviously had no idea they were oJ:?lya short distance from a very extensiveruin. Nor did they probably ever find 8:nyof the numerous stone age artifacts whichlie all around the edge of the pan.Close to Makarikari is Orapa, whereAnglo American have a big diamond mine.When it opened in 1969 it was hoped thatthe swamp water could be harnessed andused on the mine and at any other mineswhich might develop. However, no decisioncould be made on what effects such ascheme may have on the Delta andeventually Orapa developed their ownwater supplies.As the greater part of Botswana is Kalaharidesert, dry scrub depending on a rainfallofless than fifteen inches, naturally enough,the Botswana people are interested in usingthe swamp for cattle and agriculture.Up until this time it has not been possibleto do this because of the presence oftsetse fly. However, an extensive flyeradication programme is underway andthe consequences of this on the Delta'sfuture are not yet clear.The fly eradication will certainly be arelief for the tourist who spends most ofhis game drive swotting at flies as theytry to creep into his ears, nose and eyes,and he has little time to look at the animals.Following the holiday there is always agood chance, too, of his developing a doseof sleeping sickness.Some think the fate of the Delta hingesupon the tsetse, and that its eradication,which seems inevitable, will herald thereplacement of wild with domestic animals,of bush with fields. But the BotswanaGovernment is keeping its options open,and does not propose to dispose of thewilderness if it can be shown to be in thepeople's long term interest to keep it.

New Life membersThe Society has pleasure in welcomingthe following new Life members.

Life donor membersCANADAMr. Arthur Latornell

SWITZERLANDMr. E. Georg Fey

Life ordinary membersAUSTRALIAMr. and Mrs. R. B. Roberts

BELGIUMMr. Lawrence Bost

CANADAMrs. Lorna Machell

IRELANDKevin S. Pim

KENYAMr. R. I. M. CampbellMr. and Mrs. P. H. LeonardMr. C. M. T. Mann

NEW ZEALANDMrs. Clare Sumpter

NIGERIAMr. P. Hall

SWITZERLANDMr. and Mrs. Gerald Stamm

UNITED STATESMrs. William BoldonMs. Nancy DinstmanMiss Dorothy C. GriggVirgil W. HarpMr. Brian W. HigbeePeter MalcolmMrs. Jerold RosenblumMrs. Fannette H. Sawyer

The Societywelcomes thehunting ban

THE Society whole-heartedly supports the move by the Kenya Govern-ment to ban hunting.

We wish to make it clear we have never opposed legalised hunting carriedout with the true ethics of sportsmanship. It was unfortunate, however, that thehigh degree of sportsmanship for which the professional hunters Kenya havebeen so renowned was brought into disrepute by the actions of an unscrupulousfew.

The ban means that the great danger ofdepleted wildlife stocks, apparently un-foreseen by the economists who wereresponsible for writing Sessional PaperNO.3 of 1975,has been realised. The horrorof carrying out their recommendation of"maximum consumptive utilisation" ofwild animals through hunting and croppinghas, we are pleased to see, been stopped.

CURIOSBut, now the legal hunter is banned,

are we to assume the illegal killer willcontinue to supply the shops?

The Minister for Tourism and Wildlife,Mr. Mathews Ogutu, told the nation overtelevision on May 31st, that the ban onhunting would not affect the curio dealersas they do not obtain their stocks fromprofessional hunters.

A baby'mothers'

roan with twoat Shimba Hills

MISS Ranka Sekulic sends us theinteresting news of a female Roan antelopefeeding another female's offspring,observed during her study of the Roanand Sable antelopes in the Shimba Hills.

Normally, Roan mothers feed theircalves only twice during daylight hours.The first time, after the mothers get up tograze in the mornings and the secondtime, at the beginning of the afternoon'sintensive grazing period.

In the herd under observation were abull; four cows; two two-year old females;one male and one female calf of aboutfour months old.

The male calf disappeared, possiblytaken by a leopard but, before this tragedyoccurred, one of the cows was observed tosuckle both calves at the same time. Shesuckled the male calf alone on two occasionsand the female calf on four occasions.After the disappearance of the male bothfemales suckled the female calf.

Roan antelope become very secretivebefore and after giving birth by hiding

ii

away; and, it is said, during this phasethe mother receives stimuli important forstrengthening the social bond with herinfant.

To create such a situation, Miss Sekulicsuspects the female calf began sucklingthe female, not her mother, while still inpartial hiding. The two calves may havebeen lying out quite close together.

Curio shopschecked onColobus skinsTHE International Primate ProtectionLeague carried out an investigation of thecurio shops in Nairobi regarding the saleQfBlack and White Colobus skins.

Most of the shops were reported tostock these skins to supply the requirementsof American and German tourists althoughit is doubtful if many of the "trophies"originated in Kenya.

The Administrative Manager ofEthiopia's Wildlife Division, Mr. FikreMorian Demeke,. has stated, that inEthiopia "the Colobus monkey is now fullyprotected", with both hunting and thepossession of skins forbidden.

People caught in possession are finedand the confiscated skins are branded andsold only through Government licensedshops in Addis Ababa. Export is allowedonly on the production of an officialexport licence.

However, Mr. Demeke admitted thatlarge-scale poaching takes place and thattruckloads of up to 20,000 Colobus skinsin each are regularly smuggled to Nairobi,Djibouti and other places. This hasseverely depleted the Ethiopian Colobusmonkey populations and exterminated _them in some areas.

In November, 1976, the Colobusmonkey was added to Appendix II of theConvention on International Trade inEndangered Species which means that"products" from Colobus cannot beimported by any Signatory nation withouteither (a) an official Export Certificatefrom Kenya if any of the monkeys wereshot in Kenya or (b) an official re-exportpermit from Kenya based on proof oflegal export from Ethiopia or the countryof origin.

However, until Kenya itself ratifies theConvention and re-inforces the tradecontrols, we would ask our Members toadvise all their friends and acquaintancesNOT to buy Colobus skins as they arecertain to be keeping active an illicitmarket by doing so.

SOCIETY PROJECTSFINANCED IN 1976I. Funds for operating expenses for anti-poaching units in Kenya2. Purchase of equipment for Meru National Park anti-poaching3. Funds for anti-poaching Tsavo East National Park4. Purchase of vehicle and equipment for Kidepo Valley National Park-UgandaS. Funds for equipment and anti-poaching operating expenses in Tsavo West

National Park6. Towards cost of publication of book "Beginning Ecology"7. Funds for anti-poaching in Northern Tanzania ..8. Scientific and Technical Committee mammals working group grant for

production of publication on "Status of Mammals in East Mrica"9. Scientific and Technical Committee mammals working group grant for

administrative expenses10. Scientific and Technical Committee bird working group-study of birds in

Kakamega ForestII. Funds for study of threatened bird species in Arabuke/Sokoke Forest on the

Kenya coast ..12. Continuation of study of Hunter's Antelope13. Continuation of Marine Turtle survey on Kenya coast14. Funds for publication of study on Marine Corals on the East African coast ..IS. Final pay for research studentship on ecology ..16. Society aircraft operating expenses in Tsavo East National Park, research and

anti-poaching17. Study of woodland changes in Tsavo East National Park18. Funds towards research on elephant in Amboseli National Park19. Study of effect of visitors in Amboseli National Park "20. Grant for the study of the impact of giraffe feeding habits upon woodlands of

the Serengeti ecosystem21. Provision on publications and cost of production for reading educational

material for the Wildlife Clubs of Kenya22. Cost of free issues of the Society's Scientific Journal to institutions in East

Mrica23. Grant for Seminars for Wildlife Clubs of Uganda

I. WILDLIFE CLUBS OF KENYA(a) Publications for Club teachers, educational material(b) Wildlife seminars 1977-4 courses(c) Teacher's workshop-accommodation meals and transport

(d) Africana magazines year 19772. Equipment for the Uganda Institute of Ecology-Prot. 683. Rain forest Biology and Conservation in the Mbale-Uganda-Mr. Basuta-

Student Pro;. 734. Bird Working Group-Uluguru Usumbara Mountains-Mr. Diamond-

Proj·74S. National Museum of Western Kenya-Nature Trail-Kitale Museum-

Education Conservation) .6. Cost of free issues of the Society's Scientific Journal to Institutions in East

Mrica-Vol. IS7. Wildlife Clubs of Uganda Africana magazines year 1977

K£4>277

205133

3,102

3,386433

51265

£ 210£ 711£ 154

£1,075

£ 321£1,320

£1,050

£ 550

£ 250

£ 250£ 64

£4,880iiiiiOiii __ iiiiiOiii

AVAILABLE FROM THE EAST AFRICAN WILD LIFE SOCIETY.P.O. Box 20110. NAIROBI. KENYA. BROCHURES ON:DAVID SHEPHERD'S PRINTS BIRD AND ANIMAL PRINTS CHRISTMASCARDS AND CALENDARS OTHER ITEMS FOR SALE

Hong Konglooks atits role inthe ivorytrade

HONG KONG, we understand, iscurrently reviewing its participation inthe world ivory trade. This was apparentat a recent conference in Switzerlandconvened by IUCN, which has placedthe Mrican elephant in Appendix II ofthe Endangered species convention. Let'shope the world's biggest market for ivoryreally begins to wind down.

The conference was attended by 24parties to the convention, out of 32 nationsentitled to attend.

Delegates came together to achieveresults in the knowledge that they sharedthe same basic views and an enthusiasticmood of lets-get-on-with-it prevailed.

When the much-persecuted rhino wasraised as an issue, it provoked the onlyserious contentious debate. The huntinglobby, represented by "Safari OubInternational," maintained that to stop biggame hunters from taking their trophieshome would discourage them from comingto Africa at all, which, they said, wouldmilitate against the Mrican economies.

However, it was appropriate that anMrican delegation-from Zaire-rebuttedthe argument.

Tourists, they said, came from alloverthe world to see Mrica's wildlife,particularly the big game animals. Theycame to shoot it-with cameras. Those whocame to shoot it with guns, far fromsupporting the national economies, areplundering them.

The Conference decisively supportedthis view, and, ALL rhino species are nowplaced within Appendix I.

Art donationWe are extremely grateful to

Mrs. Elizabeth Roseberg forhaving, so kindly, given Sh.4501- from the Art Exhibitionshe held at the French CulturalCentre.

This money has beenplace inour Anti-poaching Account.

Crazy touristsA barrier has had to be erected

around the lower viewing platformof a Kenyan game lodge after theManager found two guests literallycrouched underneath the elephantstrunks whilst they were drinking.

They were dragged away beforethey were able to get their flashlightsinto action. And later, when asked ifthey had wanted to get themselveskilled, they replied: "We thought allthese elephants were tame".

a highly confidential letter to the GameDepartment in Arusha, telling them aboutour discovery. Obviously one of thesecretaries disclosed our secret to a boy-friend and when Clary returned to "our"place one year later, he found the "mbuga"criss-crossed with car tracks and the gameas "spooky" as everywhere else.The place described above was not theonly one "discovered" by us. We trampledon foot, our equipment loaded on thebacks of Masai donkeys, through thewilderness of Mkomasi and Daluni.We penetrated unknown places in theMiombo Forest in Itigi region andeverywhere we went, we observed year byyear, the penetration by the poachers, theencroachment of settlements, thedestruction of game by the villagers, butvery little activities by sportsmen hunters.With his vast experience in Africa, Claryformed his own theory: Never closea region(except National Parks)for hunting-it willonly create a glorious time for poachers.As an example, he always quoted the caseof sable antelopes in Handeni, Tanzania.As far as 1947 there were still plenty ofthese animals in the district, then the GameDepartment closed the sable hunting inthe region. Two years later there were nosable antelopes around Handeni, but onecould see plenty of horns scattered hereand there, discarded by poachers after themeat had been taken. Sad relics of thissplendid animal.But there are so many gloriousremembrances we have of the old days inthe "bundu"!How can one forget the night when acheeky leopard came to our camp and stolebiltong hung to dry on the wire betweentwo trees. He was totally unmoved by ourfrantic shouts of "go away you bastard,"and other choice instructions.Another night an inquisitive rhino paidus a visit and played with the dinky toysleft by Palmer-Wilson's unfant son infront of our tent.

In those days we did not sleep in theluxurious "Manyara" tents; we dozed inour camp beds under a tarpaulin stretchedbetween two trees and listened to the roarsof the lions and the din made by elephantscoming to a waterhole. .Those were the days when one could leavea camp alone with full equipment for twoweeks and be sure that nothing would bestolen. In those days the poachers were notattracted by the high price of ivory,which was then only about a pound perpound and did not leave a huge marginfor profit. The skins of leopards andzebras were not then fashionable and nopoacher armed with bow and arrow wouldrisk his skin to get a lion, whose hidehad no commercial value.Should I describe the huge herds ofzebras on the outskirts of Arusha, thethousands of gazelles between the AthiRiver and Kajiado, the multitude ofbuffaloes on the banks of the Athi River,the rhinos in Block 30 near HuntersLodge.I shall always remember the migration ofelephants near the Ruvu River in Tanzania(Tanganyika). We were observing the hugeherds of those pachyderms from the top ofGordiuka hill advancing towards thewaters of the river, along the same trackstheir ancestors trampled thousands of years

ago, and we counted seven hundred, andstopped counting because they were toomany.To illustrate how fast the member of aparticular species of animal can dwindlein Africa, let me cite the case of thecrocodile.Up to 1949 those amphibians wereclassified as vermin, and the banks of EastAfrican rivers were swarming with them.I remember a most uncomfortable trip in a"dug-out" midstream the River Ruvu.At least twenty crocodiles were trailingour little canoe, others were observing usfrom the banks of the river. The boatwas wobbling and had a lot of water at thebottom. The local fisherman who tried tokeep his balance at the prow had afrightened face. And all around us wecould see the noses and protruding eyes ofthe menacing crocodiles, waiting for prey.Then in the beginning of 1950 somebodystarted rumours that there was money incrocodile skins. One could get more in aweekend hunting crocodiles than in amonth of hard work in a well paid job.So banks of the rivers of East Africabegan to swarm with people, every fewmiles a camp was erected and the skins ofcrocodiles looking like huge rollmops couldbe seen everywhere. The prehistoricamphibians were hunted during the nightand during the day; they were shot,trapped, speared.Finally, the authorities took notice of thesituation. But it took a long time todeclassify the crocodiles as vermin and toput them on the list of game animals.By the time the new law was passed afterthe three readings in the Parliament andwas printed in the Official Gazette, the

crocodiles were gone; or only a pitifulnumber of small ones were left in therivers of East Africa. It takes a short timeto destroy game, but it takes a muchlonger time to breed them back.In Bisil, in Kajiado District, there wereso many leopards that practically everybait was taken, often as many as fiveleopards fed on one tree. Suddenly in aspan of a couple of months, nearly all theleopards there were killed by poachers whowere employed by some smart en-trepreneurs from across the border. InBlock 29 there were still so many elephantsone decade ago that shooting a onehundred pounder the first morning of thehunt was not an extraordinary experience.Two years later the game was gone, thetrees were gone and their places taken bysome. miserable hovels, inhabited by halfstarvmg peasants, desperately looking forgame to appease their hunger in this arid,unfriendly region.Was Clary Palmer-Wilson over-pessimisticthen? I hope he was. It is still not too late,the game has a tremendous power ofrevival. Proof: the buffaloes were nearlyextinct at the turn of the century due torinderpest but fifteen years later were againquite abundant in East Africa.A vIsionary, clever game policy isimperative. With the goodwill of allconcerned-the hunters, the rural in-habitants and the game authorities-a newbeneficial climate may be created in whichthe game animals can live, perhaps not inthe primordial environment of yesterdaybut in harmony with humans who wouldlearn to derive profit from the game.But . . . it is alre~dy five minutes tomidnight.

I wrote this shortly before the ban onhunting was announced. Well, theMimstry of TOUrism & Wildlife hasacted, but tackled-the problem from thewrong end in my opinion.Why wreck the entire hunting industry.Why to spoil the good name of Kenya,which up to now always honoured hercontracts.Why lose millions of shillings and putthousands of workers out of work,when it would be much simpler todeclare an immediate ban on all sellingin curio shops of artifacts made fromwild animals skins, horns and ivory!The decision to increase the war againstthe poachers is to be praised, but itwould be meaningless if at the sametime, and with the immediate effect, theMinistry did not pounce on receiversand middlemen of illegal trophies whoact practically under our noses inNairobi, Mombasa and Nakuru.The Ministry should have noticed thatthe ban on hunting elephants made twoyears ago did not in any way improvethe situation; on the contrary, theelephants are still killed by poachersin increased numbers.There was a noble African tradition tohonour the opinion of elders-the"Wazee." So why didn't the young menfrom the Ministry of Tourism andWildlife consult the old-timers fromhunting community; why did they notask the opinion of retired honourable

members of the Professional HuntersAssociation like Bill Ryan, DonaldKerr, T. Carr-Hartley-men who livedthrough the rise and decline of huntingin Africa.And why did they not ask the opinionof old gun-bearers and trackers, whospend their lives in the African bush,first as poachers and then as reformed,honest hunters. People like AbdallaBata, Ngatia Kiboi, Nzuki Kiala andmany, many others.It is possible that I may sound a bitfrustrated, but I cannot help to askmyself a question, for which I do notsee any answers.The Minister for Tourism & Wildliferepeated time and time again that oneof the main reasons for banning allhunting was the difficulty of differen-tiating between a poacher and a bonafide hunter-both carrying guns. Fromnow on, he said, only thieves will carryarms.Why then has poaching inside theNational Parks is increased since 1974,although noone was ever authorizedto carry guns there except the Parkspersonnel ?Pray the Lord that the terribleprediction of Palmer-Wilson, won't befulfilled and we shan't see the day whenthe last of the elephants (and rhinos)will have been killed by a blunderbussor a machine gun.

GIRAFFE frompage23

dik-dik and leopard; there are wart hogsand wild giraffe and ant-bears andhyaenas-in fact we found "Hyaena City",a secret place on a sloping bank where thegrass doesn't grow but the ground iscarpeted with leaves and twigs whichcrackles as you tread. Maybe ten hyaenaslive here in their inverted skyscrapersunderground.

High above Hyaena City the treeschatter with busy birds-there are over140 species in the forest-and wild flowersand orchids and lichen help make this ama~ic place.

We could only afford fifteen acres ofthis paradise inside the city boundary ofNairobi, but since it adjoins our unfencedproperty we walk through it and pretendit is ours. Kenneth Matiba, who ownsthe forest, was planning to divide it intotwo and a half acre plots and to buildhouses on it. Lost forever would be thenatural forest, the game, the beauty. So wehad the notion of creating a sanctuary inwhich people could walk about since nonesuch exists in Kenya-let alone within thecity, Ken said that he, too, would love it tobecome a sanctuary so that the forestwould not be reduced to just moresuburbia, and he magnanimously halted hisdevelopment plans, giving us to the end ofthe year to try to raise the money for it orto find a buyer prepared to retain it intact.

The owners of 100 more similar un-touched adjacent acres in Langata haveenthusiastically agreed to incorporate theirproperties too, thus making a unit of250 acres altogether. In addition to theanimals already there it could be stockedwith more Rothschild orphans (which wewould feed until they could fend forthemselves) with Grevy zebra, perhaps,and oribi, and other animals not indigenousto the Nairobi area. For school childrenand others around Nairobi it would presentthe only opportunity they might everhave to be on foot among animals (notdangerous species) in a natural setting,and would have valuable educationalresults. It would be a fine thing for a Cityof the stature of Nairobi to have such asanctuary within its boundaries. We havetouched on this idea in an article forNational Geographic, as well as in ourforthcoming book. "Raising DaisyRothschild" .

The cost would not be slight-with theland and the fencing and the stocking$750,000 would be needed-but in ten ortwenty years time that would seem asnothing for a sanctuary in the City.

When Margaret Mead came to our houserecently she fell in love with Marlon andDaisy, and just as she was leaving wepromised, "We'll name the next giraffeafter you." She was thrilled, and it gaveus an idea of raising money which justmight work: although most people cannothave a giraffe in their house or around theapartment, they could adopt one in Kenya.Milton Gordon, a New York friend,recently had us to dinner with FrankSinatra and his wife Barbara, and we toldthem all about the giraffe. Then we sentMilton a copy of the last Africanacontaining our article and mentioned thematter of adoption. We received a generouscheque immediately and he wrote: "I amcompletely overcome by the honour ofhaving a giraffe named after me." He's thefirst, but now we are writing to the Sinatras,to Candice Bergen, and Jack Paar, andWalter Cronkite, and Jimmy Stewart and

24

Reggie Bosanquet, - all of whom areKenya fans-and many others whom wehave met here over the years, too, and wewould hope to move all their namesakes tosafety.

Each giraffe would be identified by aphotograph showing its individualmarkings. (Of course we would know ourtwo anywhere, but the only way we couldprove it to someone else would be byDaisy's three butterfly patterns on herneck, or Marlon's perfect heart where hismane ends-he wears his heart on hisshoulder.) We would send Margaret Meada picture of Margaret Mead and FrankSinatra a picture of Frank Sinatra, andthere could even be a newsletter every fewmonths-Candy Bergen had a baby, wethink either Richard Chamberlain orWalter Cronkite is the father ....

Why do people (not just us) get involvedin all this work, all this scheming andletter writing, and cajoling to help theGovernment in its efforts? It costs moneyand is terribly time consuming. Would itreally make any difference to the world ifthere weren't any Rothschild giraffe in it ?

The answer is, yes, it would make a lotof difference. Like a Michaelangelo or aVan Gough, a giraffe sub species (orany animal) once destroyed can never bere-created. Therefore, for the sake ofbeauty alone, we should preserve animals.Think, too, of the diversity and joy animalsafford man. But wild creatures cannotthemselves speak out or vote for theircause, which is simply defined: survival.So we must try to do things for them.

Vendors in the streets of Nairobi sellgiraffe hair bracelets, and many peoplebuy them as well as zebra skins and ivoryornaments. It must be because they areignorant of the danger that their purchaseposes to the original owner of the tusk orclaw-ignorant of the horror of how theycome to be for sale in the first place.I know many people who buy a giraffehair bracelet, yet I don't know of anybodywho would kill Daisy for one. Whenpeople learn of the unimaginable pain of thepoison arrow, the terrible snares, thedying of thirst or hunger, or loss of bloodfrom tearing their feet off, they can nolonger plead innocence.

Poacher ignorance is more easily under-stood. We can understand that he doesn'tunderstand. Often a simple peasant tryingto feed his family, he may not be able toread and has no concept of the largerscale destruction in which he is involved.The middle man who hires him, uses him,pays him little and marks up hundredsof per cent, is the knowing venal villain.

But if we won't buy he can't sell.In the States we have created scenes

in Saks and Bloomingdales, demanding tosee buyers because baby zebra skins andcolobus monkey rugs were on sale. Thenwe have written to the presidents of thosestores, threatening to close our chargeaccounts and to persuade a dozen of ourfriends to do likewise. And we have hadgood responses, pleading (always)ignorance, but promising not to transgressin the future; so you see, it does work, andbecause it works it is worth keeping ontrying.

Would you help to Save a Wild Child?Money raised will be used to acquireacreage at Langata and animals, the onein proportion to the other as fundsaccumulate, and the resulting sanctuarywould be held by a Trust in perpetuity.

All contributions are tax deductiblein the U.S.A. if sent to: The Daisy Fund:clo Phelps Stokes Fund, 10 East 87thStreet, New York, N. Y. /0028, U.S.A.

LETTER

THE LESSONSI LEARNEDFROMDAVIDSHELDRICK

from FRANCIS NJIRI, former DeputyDirector, Kenya National Parks

Sir-I should like to pay my tribute to thelate David Sheldrick, with whom I workedclosely over the past eleven yeatS; but Ifind it difficult to express my appreciationof this officer's efforts for the preservationand welfare of Tsavo National Park, oftenin the face of insurmountable odds.

For neatly three decades, since he tookover the Tsavo station, he worked dayand night to contain the poachers' en-croachment, to develop tourist facilitiessuch as roads and camping grounds, andto take care of the park's wildlife, includingthe "orphans" and injured animals hefound and rehabilitated, mostly at his ownexpense.

To a large extent, David's love ofanimals had a profound effect on mepersonally, especially in the early days whenI joined the former Kenya National ParksDepartment. I learned a great deal fromhim in the field about the habits, move-ments and other characteristics of ourwildlife-much more than any book couldhave taught me.

In many respects, but particularlybecause of his military training andexperience, David made an ideal Wardenfor Tsavo which has always been ruggedand extremely difficult to manage. But hedefended his park and its stock Withall thededication a rancher would apply to takingcare of his steers against thieves anddiseases. Perhaps not too many peoplerealise that the area which has now becomeinternationally famous owes its existenceand survival, to a large extent, to the single-minded devotion of David Sheldrick.

If the denizens of Tavo Park couldexpress themselves, perhaps they wouldwrite the best epitaph for this man whoforsook a comfortable life in the cities forthe harshness of Tsavo for their benefit andsustained protection.

In the brief history of conservation inthis country, Major Sheldrick is a dominat-ing figure and will, I think, remain so.He will be remembered, and certainly byhis contemporary colleagues who had theopportunity of rubbing shoulders with aman who cared so much more for theaesthetic value of Kenya's wildlife than forpersonal reward or glory.

What better tribute can Kenya payDavid Sheldrick than to continue toreaJise his vision for conservation in thiscountry. We have indeed lost a great man,but we must not lose or diminish hisconservation zeal.

-F. A. Njiri,Nairobi.

A KENYAODYSSEYfrom page 29The purge might also extend to thedepartment's Investigation Unit in Nairobiif they can't come up with effectiveprosecution from the field operations.What, for instance, is happening in the caseof two people caught transporting 30,000dikdik horns concealed in salad oil cans?That's 23,000 small animals, countingfemales and non-fatal gut-shots.It's also a few trinkets one top hotel won'tbe able to give out to women guests withthe port and cigars, because they'vebeen rotting up at Isiolo for months andare still there. Keiller has had to salt themdown to prevent the evidence disintegratingaltogether while the case is "pending".Now, for some unexplained reason, he'stold to sell the stuff to the curio trade.He says he knows the organising merchantin Nairobi, and would be more thansomewhat aggrieved if the man got awaywith it this time.The Isiolo operation is a credit to Kenya,but it's devalued grossly and a disciplined,efficient company of seventy men is awaste of time and money unless there is atleast token back-up.By that I mean when the Unit picks up theother big dealer from Nairobi, with hisMercedes stuffed with thirty tusks, thereshould be a more encouraging responsethan an order for his immediate release anda severe reprimand for Keiller.The Unit might also expect support fromthe courts with deterrent sentences handeddown whenever they manage to get aconviction. But I understand that atMeru recently, two men caught inpossession of a rifle, ammunition and 28giraffe tails were discharged. In anothercase, a man found transporting 96 tusks,six rhino horns, and six Grevy zebraskins was given a fine which he paid onthe spot.

Keiller tells a story, not without somebitterness, of official response after a MeruPark Ranger was killed in a recent shoot-out with Somalis. The man got hit in thechest, walked up to the gang, shot theleader stone dead, then got back to his lineto hand his rifle in before he died. A fewdays later Keiller thinks he caught up withpart of the same group after a chasethrough the bush during which eleventusks were thrown out.But it seems the follow-up so far is another"case pending" and an admin. notefrom someone in this Ministry to ammendthe pay roster, whereas a citation for theRanger's action might have been moreappropriate. Please draft it for my signatureand at the same time fix a compensationchequefor the man's family.But not everything is wrong. Forinstance, Keiller says he got good supportfrom the Police and G.S.U. in combinedoperations, like what sounded a gloriouspunch-up with thirty Somalis after which308 tusks were recovered. What happenedto these by the way? Keiller reckons theywere delivered direct to the Ministry likemost other trophies the Unit collects andconverted into public funds. But you mightmake sure, and check the stock and recordsat the Ivory Room. As I said, there seems tobe a good thing going with the police andmilitary, but Keiller wasn't entirely happywith the negative interventions of one

A.C.P. and has had to speak to the Armycommanders about a few officers suspectedof running ivory through the road blocks.Presumably he also told them that, in hisopinion, the Somali poaching is politicaland deliberately provocative.Personally, I'm not at all sure what'sgoing on, and the Unit's Somali second-in-command, Ali Jama, reckons it's allopportunist and commercial.But Keiller talks of an arrest he madearound Mbalambala, where he interrogatedtwo Somali poachers over an extendedperiod. Eventually they told him they hadbeen encouraged to wander across intoKenya, get to know the terrain still markedon their maps as part of Somalia, and useup the grazing and wildlife as much aspossible. If there were reprisals, thesemight be exploited as "unprovokedmilitary action against civilians of ethnicSomali origin".But whatever the truth of this is, there'sno doubt who has clobbered most of thegame in the north and, having wasted theelephant, are now into the last few hundredGrevy zebra.According to Ian Grimwood and theIUCN, the species is now extinct inSouthern Somalia and down to not morethan 1,500 in Kenya, with none seen inareas like Wamba, Baragoi and LeroghiPlateau which used to be stiff with them.However, against Major Grimwood'srecommendation, the special licencehunting of Grevy has stopped with all therest-and if nothing else this will preventany further embarrassment by thatscurrilous ad. in the local Press offering a"knock-down sale on the last remainingstocks".

Instead, maybe we'll get some positivepublicity, for a change, on the currentGrevy translocation "experiment" to whichwe are committed in spite of doubtsexpressed by the Herr Doktor Professorof ecosystems, whoever and whatever he is.Unfortunately we can't wait for his two-year study of the implications of movingGrevy to Tsavo West and no eco-ponti-fication-even if it were to be expressedin plain English for a change-wouldpersuade us to leave the zebra where theyare. Besides, with the promise of a militaryairlift of Grevy, once the Somalis have beendealt with, we should get a great inter-national Press which can't do us any harmat this stage.Anyway, 25 animals are already withTed Goss, and they'll take their chancein Tsavo, which is more than somewhatbetter than they had in Samburu country.If someone would donate the hay orlucerne, we might also try feeding a fewover an extended period in the SamburuReserve to see if they'd stay put and notwalk over the boundary into the line offire. It's actually a bit siCKthat we'vegot to scramble around at the last momenttrying to save remnant species of Grevyand Rothschild's from local extinction;but that's the way it is, so we've got tomake the best of it.The translocation is hard, practical con-servation-and if any of our moresentimental animal lovers continue to snipeat Don Hunt and his catching operation,they have my personal invitation to go upand try it themselves. If they think it'seither hugely profitable or fun, they mightjust be disillusioned.The invitation, which includes bed andboard, comes with only two provisos:-

First, any takers will be required to donate£500 for every animal caught, which isabout what it's costing Don and hispartner William Holden. Then they wouldbe required to help catch a zebra, whichis what I did ....The performance is more or less standardfor every capture. You look for the animalson a stretch of level, open ground, but youwon't find it so, it's, just a shade tougheron the vehicles and the crew.Anyway, once you've 'located the chosenbeast, the procedure is to stand up in theback of an open Toyota truck, shovedthrough a rubber ring, and waive a lassoopole in the general direction of the fleeingzebra. You rush across the bush at betweenSo and 60 miles an hour, and the bigAfrican holding your legs will prevent yousailing towards the horizon when the truckhits a pig-hole or a deep drift. If, at thispoint, the vehicle is inclined to turn over,the trick is to remove your upper torsobelow the roll bar to avoid a fatal accident.But the chase is relatively short-it's gotto be otherwise the animal would die fromexhaustion and shock, so it's got to beroped at speed or not at all.In most cases, the professional all-African,crew will cope, but it's expected that oncethe animal is stopped, you help grab itstail, tranquilise it and later hand-haul thebucking crateful of zebra onto a transporttruck.

After a ride in the catching car, it wassupremely comfortable on a camel up theSeyia Lugga at the foot of the MathewsRange.Quite seriously, Julian McKeand wastelling me that he even, hoisted somedoughnut-fed American ladies on thebeasts and they loved every minute of it-swaying sensuously forward and back intothe desert sunset. It was definitely anexperience of a lifetime, they said, somaybe we should market the camel ridein the kaufhofs and hope to take somepressure off our beach-boys at the coast.I'm kidding of course, but just the samethe camel trek must be about the mostromantic way of getting about Kenya nowthat we've stoppered up the champagnehunting safaris. Julian actually beat theban by some months, by getting into camelsand out of shooting mostly because he wastired of it, but also because it becameuneconomic trying to find and assassinatewhat's left of the game in the north.Anyway, he seems to have made the changehappily enough and is content to trundlealong with the camels-slowly and closeenough to the ground to observe the lilliesof the field and other botany.But it was a hard sell to the corporateAmericans. They had to be persuadedthat the Hillaby romance of a trek to theJade Sea was as excitingly virile in its wayas a Hemingway slaughter safari and wasn'tthe long hot slog they were sure they wouldnever manage. Instead it's a gentlesoporific, good for ulcers and thecholesterol cowit, and incidentally lessexpensive than their analyst's treatment forstress reaction to crowds, pollution, noise,encroachment on personal freedoms, andrat-pack competition at work.In fact, I think our Ministry should helppromote the idea of this medicinal wilder-ness phenomenon, which is so easily andpleasantly available in Kenya. But Isuppose we'd have to hire a fellow like SirFrank Fraser-Darling to put it across, orsomeone else who appreciates the rarecommodities we're offering-like peace

and quiet, space and air, and such-likefundamental abstracts.The camel safari offers all that, with aportable luxury hotel attached. It'sdeliberately miles away from the roads, thepost office and other people-exceptSamburu nomads, Somali whatever theyare, and the occasional well-knownescapists like Prince Charles who was onceseen on a camel in Samburu weasing afive-day growth of beard.Altogether, the trek was among the moreilluminating experiences of the tour, withonly one disappointment. That waspossibly the last of the Seyia rhino seenlying in the lugga with a bullet hole in thecarcass.

17. MARSABITYou could say we took a circuitous routevia Mt. Nyiru and a place called Tum,which sounds ridiculous but is actually aniced-water forest oasis overlooking thedesert at the southern end of Lake Rudolf.From there you get lost up the MerilleLugga which appears to be a better trackthan the main route past the Ndotos, thewells of Ilaut, the seven high hills ofNgoronet and the depression of the KaisutDesert. Still, Marsabit Lodge is a finewatering place once you get there, and foronce a decoration for the KTDC chain,or more properly for the Mrican managernamed Adam.On the other hand, the Marsabit Reserveis a shambles of an operation, run by theold Game Department people with all theapplication to the job that Keiller suggestedwas standard in the north. Every touristroad, with the exception of the mainentrance track to the lodge and a short waybeyond to Lake Paradise, was completelyblocked by fallen trees which had beenthere so long the moss was reviving.There were no anti-poaching patrols that Isaw; no general road maintenance; and theReserve was wide open on the Gof Bohgoleside to anyone after a free maize patch oran elephant.However, I have to report that Abdul isalive and well, or rather a forlorn little six-man honour guard said they'd onlymislaid him a couple of days before.And so that local government official who

The romantic imaf!e of the Mara in the drawing by JONATHAN SCOTT is still valid. but thereare also some unpleasant realities-like the lion with a leg missing in his photograph.

thought he had shot Kenya's wildlifeemblem from his Land Rover only wroteoff some other specimen of Marsabit'sunique big tuskers.Incidentally, this Big Fish was given anominal fine, which is why they're havingto throw the smaller fry back-like afellow we caught with poached giraffemeat.This was at a Gabra manyatta we raidedwith Keiller's men who were up aroundMarsabit at the request of a D.C. whoactually cares. It was an impressive show-twenty armed men invading out of thedesert, searching the tents and generallyfrightening the daylights out of thewananchi.Eventually the Rangers brought out thisone fellow who insisted that an enormoussteak he had concealed in a kikoi originatedin a small goat-and for straining anyone'scredulity he had the meat rammed up hisnostrils.They were actually going to arrest him formy benefit, but that would have cost themtwo witnesses away from Isiolo for apossible conviction contributing a maxi-mum £10 to the national exchequer.

I said don't bother, so they clipped the manround the ear, warned the elders to watchout, and then departed having deterred oneHamitic community from poaching for awhile. And this, of course, is the presentvalue of the Unit-until it can mount airoperations and is otherwise properlyfunded, manned and equipped ....

From Marsabit, which we must soon declarea national park, it was a long tiresomedrag back to Isiolo and across the endless,camphorated nyika bush through GarbaTulia to Garissa.I remember a retired parson in NandiHills, who came to Kenya so far backhe had to walk to his parish from the coast,had a bright idea for this area. He thoughtthat as the Americans were shifting theirIndian Ocean defence stores from Ethiopiato Lamu, they might stop on their way anddrop a nuclear bomb on the Tana. Thiswould cause a large indentation, said myCanon Cribb-alias George C. Scott-which would fill up as a lake and precipitate

continued OTJerleaf

A KENYAODYSSEYfrom page 31rain on the godless bush, transforming itinto another Mara.But, as it turned out, the trip remainedboring and uneventful all along the Tana toGarsen, where I thought our chaps mightat least have put out signposts to the newprimate and nature Reserves, whereverthey are. But there again I was told theywere in Garissa and had been stuck therefor months.However, at Witu and Kipini we were atlast back in the familiar wilderness of grassand green trees and elephants which tookone look at our vehicles and went berserkwith fear. No doubt they would soon calmdown if this attractive area for wildlife,human antiquities, and a deserted beachcould be included in the Lamu hinterlandReserve, if and when it's set up.Lamu is, of course, a national monumentto gracious, 18th Century living, althoughit's not yet gazetted as such and preservedfrom the D.C.'s modern, wheeledcombustion engine. Moreover, they'rebuilding a Catholic Church, with a belltower to compete with the 29 muezzin, slapin the middle of the Lamu water-front.I should think we're in for a right oldding-dong with the Musselmen, so tospeak, if we don't do something soon toconserve Lamu for Islam.

Thereafter, the tour of inspection wasrained off by what I thought was going tobe the second Deluge.The rain agitated the tsetse and swampedthe road to the Boni Forest and KiungaReserves which I'd planned to inspectbefore the first visitors arrived. It burstthe Athi-Galana-Sabaki artery, spilling theblood-red soil of Kikuyu and Kambacountry into Malindi Bay to pollute thebeach and kill the coral in the marinepark. Or perhaps it was after all the ghostsof Sir Wilfrid Havelock's elephants inTsavo East who were shovelling thecremated park into the river.It doused a camp-fire we'd built under acheeky notice-board claiming the entireriver edge to the Sala Gate as the privateestate of Crocodile Camp. It turnedTsavo West into an unbelievable wild-flower garden, with significantly nugebunches of elephant; and it made thescenic drive across the Chyulu Hillsimpossibly dangerous.Back in Nairobi, it rained for forty daysand forty nights, on and off-and I wasreminded of that biblical minister fortourism and wildlife who was reduced tothe single option of a cruise holiday andto saving the last of the game, two bytwo.

EDWARD RDDWELL1SCDLUMN

What to dowhen youget bitten

by a black mambaI was once writing a series of

articles on hashish, bhang,marajuana or whatever it is calledin you.r part of the world.

Better to understand my subjectI asked the office messenger to buy metwo reefers. I gave him a sixpence anda few minutes later told my secretaryto scram for there was no knowing whatwould happen to her when the potbegan to boil.

But nothing happened. I was smokingparticularly strong cheroots at the time.They were made by the White Fathersat Mutelere in Uganda. I could onlyimagine that Uganda tobacco wasstronger than Kenya hemp.

My secretary suggested that I wouldhave to become a mainliner and injectthe drug into a vein. But for an amateurto find a vein is the devil's own job.

I am thinking of this because a weekor so ago my friend Peter Bramwell,the Kilifi snake man, was bitten by ablack mamba. He caught the mambawith his loop-stick and· was putting itinto a bag when the serpent struckat the cloth, bit through the bag andits fangs sank into Peter's hand.

Peter Bramwell looked at his wifeJanet. "We are in big trouble," he said.A minute or two later Janet wasinjecting anti-snake bite serumintramuscularly into her husband'sarms and legs, and then for luck a shotof anti-histamine. She used four vials ofthe snake serum and that amounted to40 mls.

A shot of high old drama enters thestory. Janet knew that she could notdrive the Jeep at any speed from Kilifito the hospital at Mombasa, forty milesaway. She drove instead to Mnaraniand found a car and driver more suitablefor the task.

And so Peter Bramwell was drivento hospital where preparations had beenmade against his arrival.

This happened in 1977. Had theoccasion occurred in 1877 that oldknow-all Francis Galton who wrote"Art of Travel" would have had hisown prescription for snake-bite. Iquote:

"Tie a string tight above the' part,suck the wound and caustic it as soonas .you can. For want of caustic,explode gunpowder in the wound orotherwise cut away with a knife andafterwards burn out with the end ofyour iron ramrod, heated to as nearwhite heat as you can readily get it.

"The arteries lie deep and muchflesh may without much danger beburnt or cut into as the fingers canpinch up. The next step is to use theutmost energy, and even cruelty, toprevent the patient's giving way to thatlethargy and drowsiness which is theusual effect of snake poison, and oftenends in death."Oh, come on. You know that men

were men in those days. "Brace up,Ponsonby. Bare the arm and grip yourteeth on a kerchief. Damn. Thegunpowder has hardly singed you.Hand me the white hot iron ... "

But let us continue with the sad taleof Peter Bramwell. An hour after thebite he was still on his way to hosoitalwhen he began to feel the effect of thepoison. Initially pins and needlesspread from his eyes to chin, then thepain reached his chest and soeechbecame difficult owing to constrictionof the throat. At the hospital he wasjust able to mumble "Black Mamba."From bite to operating table: one hourand a half.

Peter became unconscious andparalysis set in; breathing apparatus wasapplied and a series of anti-venominjections, intravenous this time, weregiven.

And that was how it was when Janetand I waited outside the room wheredoctors and nurses sought to preventt>eter from meeting his namesake at thePearly Gates.

While we waited I thought of all thecures I had been told of. Razor bladesand pot. permang. Sucking the wound,a fill of brandy and keep the patient onthe move. And Galton's gunpowder,white hot irons and whatever.

I am sure the doctors would not havelistened to any advice I could give.

The next morning I didn't knowwhether to call upon the undertakeror at the hospital. I chose the latterand found Peter Bramwell sitting up inbed and smiling. He told me thataltogether he had something over200 mls. of anti-snake venom in hisveins. The next day he went home.

So it goes. After settling himself inhis house with a glass of beer PeterBramwell was called out to despatcha mamba, a viper and a spitting cobra.

And if I can say so with an un-accustomed touch of vulgarity, nodoubt he felt, being no more thanhuman, that he was getting a little ofhis own back.

Write:The Editorr'AFRICANA', p.o. 80x49010, NAIROBI I:Cropping-butonly ifproperlycontrolledSir-I have just seen your editorial inthe last issue, in which you engage insevere criticism of Tanzania's recentattitude concerning the border with Kenya,tourist-safari routes, etc. You state "So welook for a deliberately subversive group inDar es Salaam, even though it may not exist,which is opposed to tourism .... It is this

,group which, like Dr. Norman Myers ...looks at the Serengeti and sees only 40 million"cans of wildebeest meat."In my book, "The Long African Day",which has been available in Kenya forfour years, I state that "the wildebeestcould supply up to 24 million pounds ofcanned meat a year, without removing morethan the natural increase and withoutdepriving the predators of their food."I think that your editorial might haveadded this critical rider, to the effect thatcropping of the type I advocate would notaffect the overall population levels of thewildebeest herds; if (as I stress severaltimes in the book) preliminary small-scaleexperimental projects were to indicate~nything else, the. cropping initiativeshould not be pursued.In an article in the American professionaljournal, Science, December 22nd 1972I wrote! "Viewing the parks as naturairesource ecosystems, rather than as refugesfor wild animals and tourists from thecrowded world, would at least allow a start'onthe mobilisation of all exploitable resources.,This measure would anticipate the time whensuch huge tracts of land will have to justifytheir' existence by meeting local needs-'as they surely must do before long, if theyare not to have appeared and disappearedwithin the space of a few dozen years. Suchmultiple-purposes units would still leavescopefor the purist to experience wild nature,ostensibly undefiled by man's hands. Twothousand elephants and 3000 hippopotamuseshave been taken out of Murchison Fallsa~d 'fo tou~ist can tell. the difference, whethe;within .z.mile or 30, within 1week or 5years.The vIsitor to Ngorongoro Crater does notfind his day's enjoyment diminished becausehe. is not in a park or because he is offeredWildebeest steak for dinner at the safari

I lodge."'In an article in National Parks and.Conservation magazine, another American.conservat:~>nistp~blication, Au~st 1973,I wrote The (wildebeest cropping projectwould leave just as many wildebeest anotherye~r for the man who insists that wildlife is athing of beauty to be exploited never. Somepeople "fight object to cropping in theSerengetl on the grounds that it wouldeventually decimate wildbeest zebra andgazell~ populations. But s~stained~yieldcropping, as the name implies, takes onlythe number. of. animals annually that can bereplaced within a yearly reproductive cycle.A properly conducted cropping programwould no more lead to the demise of theSerengeti migrations than a rancher's annualharvest leads to the end of his cattle herd.OJ course, the cropping would have to be

managed under the auspices of· experts inherbivore population dynamics."I have made similar concise, explicitstatements with regard to 'a proposedwildebeest cropping project in Serengeti,on many other occasions.As for tourism, "The Long African Day"devotes much more space and argumentto promoting this form of wildlifeexploitation than it does to cropping.It stresses, repeatedly, that croppingshould be viewed as no more than anadjunct to tourism, i.e. a support whentourism as a conservation rationale provesinsufficient in itself. During the past halfdozen years, I have written some 40,000words,.in professional journals and popularmagazines, urging the expansion oftourismin East Africa as a means to safeguard thewildlife.

(Dr.) Norman MyersNairobi.

Hog poachingSir-I .would like to congratulate Mr.R. J. Prickett on the beautiful photographsof the giant forest hog in the last issue.However, it is not correct to state that thegiant forest hog is shy and nocturnal. In factthey are neither. I have repeatedly observedthem graze in full sunshine at any hourof the day when I could approach themas close as 10 yards.

Their strength and courage at timesturns out to be a fatal disadvantagebecause they will stand their ground whe~hunted with dogs and fall victim to thespears of the poacher.

It is generally not known that in everyforest village around the Aberdares andMt. Kenya, there is at least one persone11,1ployedto hun~ bush pig which aresaid to be destructive to forest plantations.These people kill a lot of giant foresthog a~ well, an~ the number of poachedhogs IS appreciable. I once interceptedtwo poachers with spears and a pack ofdogs when they approached a giant foresthog sow.with a litter of four, very near toMountain Lodge. When I questionedthem, they said they were out to hunthogs as food for the pack of dogs whichthey claimed belonged to the GameDepartment at Nyeri. They showed me Iidocument listing the animals they hadkilled in the past week which amounted toroughly one day, mOst of them buffalo.They reluctantly went away, but perhapsreturned later.

Dr. M. Gwynne and myself arepreparing a publication on the diet of thegiant forest hog which are essentiallygrazers, preferring lush green grass when-ever available and turning to dicotyledonsin the dry se.ason.They have a very largestomach which, because of its size, isreminiscent of a rumen. They do not seemto break the soil as other pig species do,and have a soft snout.

Dr. P. Hoppe,Senior Lecturer, Department of

Animal Physiology,University of Nairobi.

Cheetah accidentSir-I refer to the letter in the last issueof "Africana" concerning a cheetah inSerengeti injured by a radio collar. Thefacts are as follows:

Last October 14 at about 16.00 hours,a. Park Guide reported to us as havingSighted a cheetah .with an odd-lookingdevice around its neck and lodged between

its upper and lower jaws.We immediately made for the location

near Maasai Kopjes in the Park; and withgreat luck we located the animal at thereported area. Our earlier thought of aneck snare was soon abandoned as it nowwas clear that the odd-looking device wasindeed a radio transmitter.

We approached the animal, a youngadult male, in a vehicle but he moved alittle away from us. We then planned astrategy and decided to disembark and givechase in the hope to catching the cheetah.Our efforts were rewarded after a chaseof about 400 metres!

The assistants were instructed to restrainthe animal carefully and gently becauseany cheetah's bones are easily breakable.So, the strap of the radio transmitterwas· cautiously cut off using a knife andafter some trouble we successfully dislodgedthe solid part of the transmitter from thecanine teeth. The animal was weak,dehydrated, and a foul smell issued fromthe mouth-and so we decided to send it ona passenger seat of a Toyota Land Cruiserto the Veterinary Clinic of the SerengetiResearch Institute for further examinationand the requisite treatment.

The mouth lesions consisted of necroticinflammation of the gums, the tip of thetongue, and the alveoli of the up-rootedleft lower canine tooth. No attempt wasmade at sedation or anaesthesia due to thepoor physical condition of the animal-fast and weak heart beats, fast and labouredrespirations, and marked dehydration.

The animal was immediately given aninjection of 1,200,000 units of ProcainePenicillin G divided in two equal dosesat two sites deep in the gluteal muscles.It struggled after this injection and it waslet free. The animal ran away at reducedspeed, but we were of the opinion that itwould soon be able to drink water and laterfeed. Mouth lesions of this nature tend toheal rather fast without complications.

This accident was no doubt a result of aloosely fitting radio transmitter whosesolid part got lodged between the upperand lower jaws as the animal attempted todislodge the device for reasons not fullyunderstood by us. However, we are quitesure the animal would not have survivedfor quite obvious reasons had the radiocollar remained there for a few more days.

-C. L. Mollel (Veterinary Surgeon)and H. Nassari (Park Warden)

Serengeti National Park.

InaccurateAmboseliSir-When conservation bodies or govern-ments spend money on research andplanning, they anticipate that the resultswill be used or at least consulted. I wouldlike to use the report on "Amboseli UnderPressure" which appeared in the "SocietyNotes" section of your January issue as anexample of poor reporting that can do theSociety nothing but harm at a time whenit seeks greater credibility and involvementin wildlife planning.Amboseli has been monitored consistentlyin terms of wildlife, human and livestocknumbers and distributions since 1967,sponsored in part.by the Society. It is allthe more inexcusable, therefore, that thearticle in Africana so badly misrepresentedthe situation, which it gave as follows:In 1975 there were only eight Maasaisettlements in the Amboseli area, whereas by

continued on page 37

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from page 17

been coming through Nairobi. In the old situation ourtourist transport company did not function well; carswere unreliable and so were many of the drivers. But, newtour vehicles are due to arrive next month, and a rigoroustraining programme is being started to teach the drive-guides how to look after their cars, their visitors and thewildlife-in other words our reputation with the outsidetourist world generally. Both the Police Department andour Parks staff are combining in order to ensure theeffectiveness of this training.

In these past four months, the numbers of visitors fromoverseas has fallen considerably, but the signs are that theywill build up again as quickly as we are able to develop thecapacity to service tours. While this exercisewill of necessitytake some time, it is equally wrong to say that Tanzanians"have killed their own (tourist) industry stone dead",as it would be for me to claim that there has been no fallingoff in visitor numbers.

QUESTIONS AMERICANS ASKI have just returned from a three-week visit to the

United States, the source of the majority of our tourists.I visited fourteen major cities in this time and attendedlunches, dinners, receptions, interviews and lectures.Exhausting, but interesting.

Talking to a very wide audience about visiting Tanzania,the questions asked most were, 'NOfJJthat the Kenya borderis closed, how do we get to your Parks?" and "If I come toTanzania, can I expect to receive adequate services at areasonable cost ?".

The answer is that we are building up our capacity toservice visitors as quickly as it is possible to do efficiently.Until numbers build up again we have to ask Governmentfor an increased contribution from public funds to keepthe Parks service running properly. Since the governmentreflects the wish .of the people to maintain the parks, thenecessary money has been forthcoming and I have nodoubt will continue in spite of pressing needs for develop-ment funds for basic services such as water, health, andeducation to the villages.

THE CONDITION OF THE PARKSAs I write this, I have just flown back from Ruaha

National Park. The rains in most Parks have been rathershort this year and Ruaha is already looking dry. But a

survey of Acacia Albida along the river is being carried outso as to get some estimate of the amount of damage causedby the removal of bark by the elephants last year. We awaitthe results in statistical form, but first indication~ are thatthe proportion of trees killed could be as high as 50 per centin the headquarters' area.

Mter the article in January issue of "Africana" requestinghelp for our tree-saving campaign, we have received acheque for USSr,coo from Mr. and Mrs. Kenneth Jungeof Norway and a promise of a further donation from theWorld Wildlife Fund. We have bought rolls of wire forRuaha and Manyara and work has started on protectingthe tree. Hopefully more money will be coming in soonso that we can finish most of the protection before thebarking season starts.

Mikumi, on the other hand, does not appear to besuffering in the same way, except that on the flood plainsmany of the trees are shallow rooted and are liable to beblown over in high winds. These two parks do not seem tohave been affected by the border closure as the visitorsare mainly from Dar es Salaam and very few ever camethrough Nairobi anyway.

The northern Parks are looking very well now, as theyshould be at this time of year. Even so, the rain~ were latethere too, and seem to have stopped early, so I'm not veryhappy about prospects for the forthcoming dry months.

The Serengeti has had a lot of rain and in parts the roadsystem has suffered, although this can be quickly putright.

Last week, the beginning of June, it was unusual to findso many of the migratory herds still on the plains. Ourestimate puts the number of wildebeests now over the1.5 million mark. Certainly the calf drop has been high thisyear and mortality not great.

Kilimanjaro,· the scene of celebration over the openingof the headquarters by the President, reports that bookingsof visitors for the months of August and September areshowing healthy increases on last year's figures.

Chatting with the President after the official opening,I told him about the report that the local Wachagga wouldnot join in the national move towards Socialism to whichthey were opposed. We both laughed as we rememberedthat afternoon's excitement, the enthusiasm of the gailycoloured crowds and the proud happy faces of the childrenof the choirs which had sung songs of welcome.

A picture that had been repeated over and over in manyof the Kilimanjaro villages during those few days of thePresident's visit to the region. "Oh yes," said Mwalimu,"I've heard such stories tOOjif only I had such opposition allOfJerthe country my problems would be much easier."

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