17th December
Frantic dash round Pemba to get shopping before D’s flight at noon. Pocketfuls of cash swinging merrily along in my shorts. Sat in airport lounge with D and Jasper, we talked about D’s encounter with airborne hunters. Jasper had a hunch that he knew the helicopter involved from the grainy pictures D showed him. Sure enough, it was parked below us on the side of the runway. We stepped outside briefly, before D went through to the departure lounge, and he spotted a hunting company car. Apparently, the owner is one of the main players in ivory poaching and trafficking. He had been issued previously with a 24/20 (24 hours to leave the country with 20kgs of luggage) but has since, amazingly, risen like a phoenix and is doing very nicely once again. I think it’s safe to say the whole thing stinks like one of the ivory stripped carcasses he’s left lying in the bush.
18th December
First evening meal alone in Mareja. Beautiful evening light, sat on the estate house veranda looking out across the eastern expanse of rolling hills and flood plains. Pemba’s presence is just a thin strip of lights on the horizon, with the trawlers and tankers in the bay winking in and out of sight. How much longer until all that expands beyond recognition with the millions of oil money?
19th December
Roll on the completion of the roof project. A smattering of rain woke me early this morning. We should be very close to completing the thatching by the end of today.
21st December
Local intelligence suggests there are elephant poachers in a village called Lindi, to the north of Mareja. We went to Poto, with me logging various points (Muaco wa piawe, Namituco, Ndriti river) along the way. Found barefoot tracks of a poacher from this morning at the Namituco water hole, that a lot of elephant use. Also, a rain shelter set up by elephant poachers. Yusuf pointed out an old booby trap from the Civil War; a hand grenade rigged to a trip wire by the side of a path from/to water. The forest as we descended into gulleys approaching the water course was lush, dense and towering above us were well buttressed trees. Birds were to be seen and heard in good numbers. One group of rangers cut across a possible entry point from Lindi on foot, whilst the rest of us approached Poto by car before patrolling. The only signs of life were 4 kudu from today, further up the dry Ndriti river and some old poacher tracks.
We collect 2 squared off sections of Pterocarpus angolensis (umbila/mninga) that had been cut last month but not yet planked. Other trees in the vicinity had suffered a similar fate and the poachers had returned for the timber. The rangers will patrol from Muaco wa piawe towards Namituco, overnight at Namituco and proceed to Poto the next day to overnight in the area where poachers may be active. Meanwhile, I’m building a kitchen roof.
22nd December
All uprights are in position for the kitchen roof. We had a visit from the owner of the shamba cleared in riverine forest at Namalala. He brought a letter requesting the presence of all the rangers at his village for a meeting with the local police regarding the burning of his property. The rangers asked me what we should do; we were doing our job and found a section of cleared habitat in a National Park, so destroyed all items on site. We have no case to answer so I saw no reason to waste our time attending a village meeting that would inevitably take hours. Apparently, he intends to return to the site; we shall be paying him another visit in that case. Until someone from the National Park shows me written permission for him to be farming in the National park, we will ensure he doesn’t do any further damage to the area. He cleared an area less than 10 metres from the Mareja boundary. That cannot be tolerated as it will inevitably lead to others doing the same and the inevitable disappearance of buffer zones between the cultivation-free Mareja and the sham that is Quirimbas National Park.
23rd December
Dropped 3 rangers (Adamo, Casamo, Salim) off at Mahipa for a 3 day patrol of there, Ngango and Pataka. No sooner had we returned than Adamo was on the radio reporting that they had seen 2 adult elephants and a youngster. One never knows whether they mean mature animals or simply larger teenagers. The overall size of Mareja’s elephants has dwindled due to poaching.
Collected 4 rangers from Nipululu (Unkahili, Eduardo, Marselino, Suleimani) and they reported seeing 4 adult elephant at the Tehere waterhole today. Yesterday, in the same area, they saw 9 sable antelope (2 adult males, 4 females, 2 young). On the way to Nipululu, we had a wonderful view of a beautiful black male sable antelope. His sweeping horns and majestic stature made us all quite silent, appreciating such a stunning animal. It was a poignant moment and I was glad to witness such appreciation from the Bakari, Yusuf and Pwepwere. Upon our return through the same area, we saw him again, streaking off through an open glade. I wish him well as there are numerous sable skulls to match his, lying bleached in the sun at Mareja HQ courtesy of poachers’ endeavours.
24th December
4 (Drisa, Suleimani, Pwepwere, Marselino) rangers to Sovare. They will walk in to check whether the shamba man has returned to Namalala, then on to base their camp at Nove. From there, they’ll spend another day patrolling as it is a poaching hotspot. I feel it is vital to keep the pressure on poachers, so they do not get complacent and never know we will appear next. I told the guys yesterday where we are heading for today, on the assumption that none of them are feeding poachers information.
25th December – Merry Christmas everyone.
On 24/12, Sovare patrol found that the shamba man had returned to Namalala and planted cassava as well as preparing to rebuild his shelter we burned, with bamboo and grass. The rangers uprooted the cassava and burned everything, again. On the way to collect the guys from Sovare, we had to stop 3 times to clear trees felled by elephant after the Masapelo crossing. At Maliha, they saw 6 elephant (4 adults, 2 young) and fresh kudu tracks. Today, a bull elephant was sighted at Namalala and 12 sable antelope (3 mature males, 1 female, 4 young) were seen between Namalala and Sovare in the woodland near the Maguide river. Last night, 4 elephant dug for water at Sovare.
On 24/12, Mahipa patrol found fresh tracks of 5 buffalo at Ngango; they are presumably the same group who’s tracks were found by their favourite dust wallow in the area. Today, tracks of a poacher were found at Pataka, no more than a day old. Tracks of 12 sable were seen at Namakasa.
All this information strongly suggests that the patrolling intensity must not subside until the big rains begin. Tehere seems to be one of the main watering holes and the evidence of at least one poacher not far from there means there will be snares on well used trails to water. I will send a patrol to Sovare/Namalala/Nove again in 5 days as even though there was no fresh activity at the poachers’ camp we burnt down, the amount of large game in the area will draw them back soon. I am very concerned about the persistence and insistence of the man who cleared the shamba right on the Mareja boundary. If we admit defeat and allow him to gain a foothold there, we can kiss goodbye to the area as an important habitat and harbour for game great and small.
26th December
The last couple of nights have been pretty horrible in terms of heat at night; I dread to think what it will be like in Pemba next month. The feast last night with the team was good fun and after a couple of thank you speeches from me and Unkahili, we all waded into the biggest pot of rice and beef stew I’ve ever seen. 7kgs of rice and 4 kgs of beef later, the pots were empty and I for one was groaning due to over indulgence. It seems that regardless of what continent I’m on, Christmas means mountains of food. My thoughts inevitably turned to family and very dear friends. I trust there were smiles and toasts, as well as tears, in memory of Will Appleby.
Bakari met a poacher at Masapelo water hole this morning; they had both gone there to get water. He ran when he saw Bakari. He was only carrying containers for about 10L, so I assumed he was a) not camped far away b) only in the area on a scouting mission to see if any elephants were around c) alone. Both him and Bakari saw 3 elephants (1 bull with ivory about 2 feet long, 1 cow and a yearling calf) at the waterhole. I arranged for 2 teams of 4 to loop around either side of where I thought he may be based beyond the watercourse, meet up then work back to the water. They did not manage to cut him off but found his tracks heading towards an area called Nkumbini, which was already on my hit list of places to patrol. He was wearing boots which can often mean an elephant poacher as they are better equipped and ex-guerilla/army.
When they all returned, we settled on a 2 night/3 day patrol, dropped off at Nkumbini and working round the Kovovoni river, Nanlakalaka and Namikundi. From the last 2 areas, one can call HQ on VHF radio. There has recently been timber poaching in the area (see pod mahogany planks in picture that were confiscated the day I arrived at Mareja 8/12/2011) so I’m extra keen to know what is happening there.
27th December
1 hr’s drive from HQ to Nkumbini. Adamo, Suleimani, Salim and Uncahili on the patrol. Plenty of elephant have been digging for water in the sand at the Masapelo river crossing. Very close to the drop-off point at Nkumbini, we found an mtumbu (star chestnut) tree that had been felled but not yet sectioned. It is fine timber for roof spars and we’ll return to collect it before it can be taken by the poachers. Kitchen roof complete.
28th December
Yusuf, Drisa, Eduardo and Marselino to patrol Namichoro, Pataka and Sikwakwa for 1 night. They left 0630. Torrential rain and thunder 1130-1200 (we were soaked whilst clearing a huge capoc tree from the plantation track) then 1245-1430. We only just made it up an innocuous hill from the plantation; after the rain soaked the black cotton soil road surface, it was like driving on ice. First test of the garage and kitchen rooves; both leaked but the guys assured me that it always happened until the grass bedded down to provide a better barrier.
29th December
Heavy rain began at 1515, very strong winds built up by 1530 and the rain drove on until it eased and stopped just after 1600. The rainwater storage tank from the “Shop” roof is ¾ full.
Bakari, Cassamo on Napala patrol for the day. They left about 0700 after securing the tarpaulin over the estate house veranda roof. They saw 1 bull and 1 cow elephant this morning and 10 adult sable.
Nkumbini patrol; on 27/12, 1 bull elephant was seen in Nkumbini area. On 28/12, a group of 16 were seen in Namikundi area, that they suspect had been living around Mareja HQ and visiting the Masapelo waterhole. In Namikundi, 2 sable (1 bull, 1 cow) were also seen. Today, 1 bull and 1 cow sable were seen in Nanlakalaka area.
Namichoro patrol; on 28/12, 8 adult elephant were seen in the Namichoro area and 12 sable (2 mature bulls, 10 cows) were seen in Pataka area. Today, 6 elephant were seen this morning in Pataka area (3 adults, 3 young 5-8 years old).
1st January 2012
Happy New Year everyone. I'm sending this from Pemba. In town to get a puncture fixed then back out to Mareja tie up some loose ends. We returned to Nkumbini yesterday to collect the poached timber I mentioned earlier. What a heavy rascal that was to manhandle into the back of the Defender. Felt good to do it though. They are very striking trees and a great shame to see a large specimen brought down. Yesterday evening was a peach of a sunset with the full range of colours over the hills from pink through to a warm gold. The clouds hat had been rumbling for the last couple of days were illuminated by a succession of lightning flashes, great and small. That went on into the night with the moon and stars bearing witness to the glorious show. They've seen it all before, but a puny mortal like me was transfixed by such an awesome display.
No comments:
Post a Comment