Back to Index

ZimConservation Newsletter September/October 2006
ZimConservation
November 05, 2006

3 November - South African ornithologist Ken Newman dies.... Ken Newman, the author and painter who sold a million books on the birds of Southern Africa, has died in Johannesburg at the age of 82.

31 October - Donated Wild Dogs Released Into Hwange National Park... THE 16 endangered wild dogs (Lycaon pictus) donated to Zimbabwe by the South African National Parks were yesterday released into the Hwange National Park after five months of rehabilitation.

30 October - Rhino Poached in Sinamatella.... We have a report of one incident of rhino poaching at Sinamatela IPZ. The rhino was killed last week, in the Robbins Camp Area, some distance outside the IPZ. We are informed that the rangers had an encounter and exchange with the poachers, one of the poachers was injured but managed to escape.

27 October - Hunting 'has conservation role'.... Rifle-toting tourists hunting exotic animals could actually help protect Africa's vulnerable species, a leading conservationist has suggested. Elephant populations had benefited from a permit system that allowed sport hunters to kill a limited number of the beasts, according to Eugene Lapointe.

27 October - Wheeler Catches Biggest Tiger.... 150 boats last week converged on the mighty Lake Kariba to compete in the 45th Kariba Invitational Tiger Fish Tournament with Charter X being dethroned by Remmington Gold and Ian Wheeler catching the biggest tiger.

27 October - 45 Percent Increase in Tourist Arrivals.... Zimbabwe recorded a 45 percent increase in tourist arrivals in the first nine months of 2006 compared to the same period last year, the Zimbabwe Tourism Authority has said.

27 October - Parks Authority Completes Road, Builds 3 Lodges.... The National Parks and Wildlife Management Authority has completed the construction of three lodges and a 170km road that links centres in Gonarezhou National Park.

22 October - Zimbabwe recovers 22 tusks, poaching on rise.... Zimbabwean officials have recovered 22 tusks after suspected poachers killed 11 elephants in a state wildlife park (Chizarira), official media reported last week, adding that cases of poaching were on the rise.

20 October - NIT Wants Rangers' Land for Industrial Development.... The National Investment Trust (NIT) will soon approach government and the Parks and Wildlife Authority of Zimbabwe requesting the game rangers to cede part of large swathes of land it controls in the resort town of Kariba for industrial development, business digest established this week.

19 October - Zimbabwe Conservation Task Force report Oct 06.... Eye witness account of National Parks staff hunting game in Chirundu; Volunteers on a game count witness a rhino being shot for its horn in Hwange; Gold panning unabated in Umfurudzi.

18 October - How we benefit by conserving the Blue Swallow.... The Blue Swallow is an ambassador for a vital South African ecosystem namely grasslands. The South African grasslands form the major portion of our water catchment areas. More than 60% of the Grassland Biome has already been modified - forestry and agriculture playing largest roles. In South Africa only 2,23% of the Grassland Biome is formally conserved. The Grassland Biome is the least conserved, most transformed and therefore most highly threatened of South Africa's 7 biomes.

18 October - Forestry Commission Steps Up Marketing Strategies.... THE Forestry Commission has stepped up its marketing strategies to attract tourists who will visit the region for the 2010 World Cup soccer finals.

18 October - Report highlights plight of Zimbabwe's wildlife.... A new, independent report depicts emptying nature reserves staffed by ill-disciplined, poorly equipped rangers cruelly killing the animals they were meant to protect. Wildlife has become another victim of Zimbabwe's economic chaos.

18 October - At war with elephants... GOKWE - Precious Nyoni, 35, surveys his garden. The vegetable and sugarcane stalks are flattened, and half-eaten crops lie all around. This was his only livelihood, and in one night, it is all gone. "(Zimbabwe's) liberation struggle ended in 1980. But now we have another war, with the elephants. We are not allowed to kill them, hence we just frighten them, but look, where am I going to get the food to survive when everything has been trampled by these creatures?

13 October - Zimbabwe wants you!.... Zimbabwe opened an international tourism fair on Thursday to promote its once booming resorts, lying largely deserted over President Robert Mugabe's controversial politics. The southern African country's tourism revenues have collapsed in the face of a crumbling economy, chronic fuel shortages and Mugabe's standoff with Britain and other Western nations that oppose his policies.

12 October - International Conservation Asian, Caribbean, African projects receive support to protect wildlife.... Washington -- A census of elephant populations in Zimbabwe, equipment for scouts in a game management area in Zambia, and research on re-establishing a viable population of tigers in southwest China are just a few of the wildlife conservation projects around the world receiving support from the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS).

6 October - Thousands join Zim diamond rush.... Harare - Thousands of Zimbabweans have joined a diamond rush in a remote eastern district of the country, cutting down trees and digging pits and gullies in a desperate attempt to strike it rich, a weekly newspaper reported on Friday.

5 October - UN Delays Ivory Sale.... GENEVA, Switzerland, October 5, 2006 (ENS) - Three African nations will not be allowed to sell some 60 metric tons of ivory, the United Nations announced today. The one-time ivory sale has been postponed because UN environment officials need more information on the status of African elephant populations and on poaching rates.

2 October - Four Rhinos Handed Over to Conservancy... [The] Government has handed over four rhinos to a private conservancy as efforts get underway to reintroduce the animal in this resort town to boost tourism.

2 October - Government sanctioned hunting... Disturbing reports have been received of government sanctioned hunting, operating in Zimbabwe's part of the Great Limpopo Transfrontier Park.

2 October - President's elephants suffer .... Zimbabwe's wildlife continues to suffer terrible atrocities. Snaring is reported to be rife, with the country's larger, stronger animals (such as the elephant) sometimes managing to break free of these deadly wire traps, and later seen with hideous wire injuries.

27 September - Should This Man Be Taken Seriously?... SHOULD this man be taken seriously? That is the question exasperated Zimbabweans must be asking following the ridiculous attempt by Agriculture Minister Joseph Made to pass the buck on to a monkey for the collapse of the agricultural sector and his failure for the umpteenth time to plan ahead for the next planting season.

[Ed: When all the white, gay british foreign correspondents moonlighting as aid agency workers that are striving to undermine Mugabe have left the country who'se left to blame? Why a monkey of course!]

27 September - Matetsi bidder fails to pay up... THE ownership wrangle of the lucrative Matetsi Unit 3 Concession in Matabeleland North has taken another twist following the failure by the highest bidder of last month's auction to honour his $710 million bid.

25 September - Forgotten lowveld... For the past few weeks we have concentrated the articles on areas around Zimbabwe which we have termed "The forgotten regions". Hopefully we have managed to sway at least a few people to go out and visit these areas and experience Zimbabwe as a package deal and not just as a one-stop option. Our final forgotten region brings us to the dry, hot Lowveld region of south-eastern Zimbabwe - home to private game farms, sugar-cane plantations and several National Parks.

[Ed: a useful guide to who is still in business]

24 September - Safari Hunting in Gonarezhou... Local tourists who were booked in at Sumaweni camp at Buffalo bend in the Southwest of GONA RE ZHOU were refused the camp and had to move to another camp close by, because a safari company VICTORIA FALLS HUNTERS had been allocated their camp.

20 September - [Namibia] Millionaire Frustrated With Land Reform... Gert Joubert, the Cape Town based multi-millionaire and owner of Erindi ranch in Windhoek, has reiterated his view that Namibia can be ranked among the top five richest countries in the world if only its land reform policy is changed to allow foreigners to buy land. "Foreigners do not want to invest if they are cannot resell the land, in which they have invested," he said.

[Ed: it seems like the land ownership issue extends beyond Zimbabwe's borders and foreign investors are shy of deals involving land ownership].

20 September - [Mozambique] American Millionaire Invests in Mozambique... Gregory Carr, an American millionaire, is investing about 30 million Euros (about 39 million US dollars) to restore the Gorongosa National Park, in the central Mozambican province of Sofala.

[Ed: this kind of model is simply off the cards for Zimbabwe under the current regime but may be worth exploring in the post-Mugabe Zimbabwe]

18 September - In Zimbabwe, loyalists of wild kingdom rush to the rescue.... HWANGE NATIONAL PARK, Zimbabwe -- Wildlife guide Mike Scott followed footprints of one large animal after another -- elephant, buffalo, kudu, leopard, lion -- and then stopped suddenly, sniffing the air. ``Shall we follow our noses?" he said, heading toward a powerful stench that grew more noxious by the step.

18 September - Parks appoints new board... THE Parks and Wildlife Management Authority has appointed a new eight-member board, with Mr George Pangeti bouncing back as chairman.

18 September - WHO reverses policy, recommends use of DDT to control malaria... The World Health Organization, reversing an earlier policy, has now approved the use indoors of long-banned insecticide DDT in the fight against mosquitoes that spread malaria.

15 September - Human drugs stop croc chlamydia... An antibiotic used to treat chlamydia in humans may be the answer to a deadly bacteria threatening far north Queensland's multi-million dollar crocodile skin and meat industry.

8 September - Pioneering Conservationist dies.... One of Southern Africa's most noted conservationists, Clem Coetzee, died after suffering a heart attack at his farm in southern Zimbabwe, family members and friends said on Thursday. He was 67.

5 September - Engines and pump for Hwange... Hwange National Park has received two "very generous" donations of goods from Duncan Paul of Dunadventures and Rob Melville and Syd Kelly of Valverite in South Africa.

Visit the ZimConservation fact sheet

Please credit www.kubatana.net if you make use of material from this website. This work is licensed under a Creative Commons License unless stated otherwise.

TOP