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Parks scouts move into Cleveland
Environment Africa
Extracted from Cleveland Newsletter, Issue No. 5
June 01, 2004

On 26 May 2004 a 7 man patrol under the able command of Ranger Hukuimwe arrived at Cleveland at the request of Environment Africa.

"We were given the area map of the Cleveland Catchment area and the Park. We then patrolled the same area for familiarization and identification of the problem areas as well as assessing the impact of the illegal activities on the game and the terrain."

"We observed that the people from the surrounding areas were cutting down trees from the Haka Game Park for domestic use and for sale. The same people were also coming into the park to hunt with dogs and firearms." The Parks and Wildlife Authority (previously Department of National Parks and Wildlife Management) will now maintain a presence in the Cleveland Catchment Area for an extended period, to prevent illegal activities and to help Environment Africa develop a comprehensive management plan for the entire Catchment Area.

The Parks patrol first concentrated on preventing poaching in Haka and their presence was almost instantly successful, though a single gunshot was fired in Haka at 0100hrs on 31 May. They then turned their attention to the tree cutting cutters. At first they were stopping as many as 40 tree cutters in a single day, but this is now also being brought under control, with only occasional arrests.

Other recorded urgent concerns include:

• "severe damage to the fence …"
• "there seems to have been unprofessional handling of game..."
• "as if striving to survive in this Haka Park is not enough, the game in the park has another hidden problem - the tick. Walk in the park in any part of the grassland and before you have gone 50 metres, you have hundreds of these disease-causing parasites crawling on every part of you."
• "... in its present state a single fire could wipe out the entire park as there seems to be no comprehensive fire plan"
• "comprehensive measures have to be taken to ensure the survival…"

All of this reinforces the urgent need for Environment Africa together with Harare City Council to put the entire Cleveland Catchment Area under allinclusive and effective management. Preparations for this are now at an advanced stage.

Environment Africa thanks Parks Authority Director-General Dr. Morris Mtsambiwa and Chief Warden Lovemore Mungwashu for all their encouragement and support

Visit the Environment Africa fact sheet

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