Poaching Elephants

We pulled up to the ZAWA offices at 7:30am as scheduled to meet a scout who would accompany us the 12km through the bush to the “elephant orphanage” sponsored by David Shephard. Kathy had helped set it up a year earlier for the release of Phoenix who very sadly did not make it, succumbing to bone tick disease as a result of an underdeveloped immune system due to being raised in captivity. However, there was not a sole around at ZAWA. A good rule of thumb around here is to tell people you want to meet 20-40 minutes before you actually do, no one is ever on time.

Sebastian turned up around 8am, and we radioed Belinda to confirm our visit and couldn’t help but notice a room filled with rifles to the left of the radio. Sebastian, eagerly showed us the contents, but when I reached for my camera his tune changed. He would lose his job. ZAWA wanted the contents of the room kept quiet (and of course here I am blogging about it). Hundreds and hundreds of rifles were stacked in the room. And protruding from beneath them were ivory tusks, each marked with a date and location. Each rifle had once belonged to a poacher and the tusks belonged to poached elephants. A depressing reminder of the reality in Kafue National Park and Zambia generally. A reality that the country is trying to keep under wraps as it works to increase tourism.

Poaching became a huge problem in the 90’s, decimating large populations of animals – the Black Rhino is completely gone from the Park. Ngoma itself was originally a high-end safari lodge, but by the mid-90’s it had shut down due to the massive decline in wildlife. Elephants were among the primary targets, and although herds numbering in the hundreds can once again be seen in the Park, poaching remains a huge problem here and in the Lower Zambezi. ZAWA is doing its best to combat poaching, but with limited funding and infrastructure, it is impossible for them to properly patrol the areas. So every year baby elephants continue to be orphaned by poachers and thanks to the David Shephard project at least some of those found alive now have a chance at surviving.

We met an inordinate amount of Tsetse flies on the drive down. Katie aggressively attacked and killed a handful of the miserable creatures, but I still had several bites before we pulled into the camp. The camp itself was beautiful – a far cry from what Sarah and I had seen last summer when we came down with Kathy. Proper structures had been erected and there were a full staff of caretakers and scouts overseeing the project. Belinda, who is wonderful, and runs the project, escorted us to the orphanage that three elephants, the youngest of which, Zama, is recovering from a cold, call home. The elephants are walked twice a day in the bush by their caretakers and will be re-introduced into the surrounding bush when they are big and strong enough to survive on their own – at present one of the cats would take them out. In the meantime, they cause trouble by picking locks and occasionally charging safari vehicles. The visit was a lot of fun, the little ones were adorable, and the team had clearly learned a lot from Phoenix, so with a bit of luck, these and other orphans will one day be found grazing the plains around Ngoma.

On the way back, I was glad Mr. Kaoma had insisted we take a scout with us as we came across wild elephants headed straight for the road. When I realized they were on both sides of the road, I hit the brakes, thinking that driving into the middle of a herd elephants was a terrible idea – I have been charged more times than I care to think about – but Angela shouted “go go go”. We must have been too close at that point, and stopping would have left us sitting ducks. The wild elephants in the area are aggressive, charging people and vehicles regularly as many of the adults lost parents or herd members to poaching. A vicious cycle.