Archive for June, 2008
Hello, I’m going to have to be a bit careful what I write here for obvious reasons, but since today is the day if the run-off elections here in Zimbabwe, I just wanted to reassure you that my scouts and I are doing fine, and to let you know a little about what is going on where I am. The ranch I live on has its own polling station in the compound where I live (all the ranches in the conservancy have their own polling stations), and voting has been going on very quietly all morning. I think the intimidation in the run up to today has been sufficient to avoid the need for any further violence today… I would hardly know there was an election going on actually, if it wasn’t for the rather bored looking policeman sitting outside the polling station, who waves at me with his clenched fist whenever I walk past! Some friends have arrived from Harare to spend this election period down in the bush here, and they tell me the exchange rate is now about 50 billion Zim$ to 1US$, forecast to be 100 billion by next week. That means that next week, US$10 will be worth one trillion Zimbabwe dollars - How crazy is that?! Imagine writing a cheque for (for example) thirty seven trillion, seven hundred and sixty eight billion, four hundred and twenty three million, one hundred and eighty two thousand, eight hundred and ninety six dollars… And that would be about US$300 only. It was bad enough writing the cheques when it was just billions, but this is getting absurd now. Luckily, they are making the cheque books extra long and the putting extra lines to write on now…seriously… And I am told they have just bought out a 50 trillion dollar note. Can it get any more stupid? The good news in that when I run out of loo roll, I can use all those 10 million dollar notes that I still have! Anyway, news from the wild dogs: unfortunately we have not yet located any more dens. We know that one pack is not denning this year because the alpha male was killed in a snare last year, and the only other male in the pack is the alpha female’s son. Sadly that pack is also down to only 4 adult dogs now, because they are surrounded by resettled farmers and the snaring is pretty bad in their home range area. We also suspect a couple of other packs are not denning – or at least not yet. Being optimistic, I could attribute it to the fact that they are just late denning this year, but being more realistic, it is possible the alpha female has been killed somehow, and they therefore wont den this year at all. Anyhow, we should have about 8 or 9 packs in the conservancy, so we are still out every day following spoor and following up on reports, and we’ll hopefully find at least a couple more dens soon. That’s all from me for now. Let’s keep our fingers crossed that something positive comes out of these elections, and I’ll try to keep you updated about the situation where I am. Bye for now, Rosemary
Hi everyone, Good news! I managed to get two GPS data logger collars onto the wild dogs a couple of days ago. We put one onto an adult male from the Maera pack and one onto an adult female in the Jacana pack. Both collars store the GPS positions of the individuals at certain times – we’ve set ours to record positions at 5:00a.m., 7:00a.m., 9:00a.m., 12:00 noon, 6:00p.m., 8:00p.m. and 1:00a.m. That way we get information about where they rest during the middle of the day and the middle of the night, and where they go hunting. It will be extremely valuable information. Also, the political situation here is a bit worrying at the moment, and if for any reason we have to leave the field at short notice, it will be good to know that those collars are at least collecting some information for us! Picture of the scout team with the immobilised adult female
I was a little concerned about disturbing the pups at one of the dens where we collared the female dog, but just as we finished the collaring, and came back round to the den to check that the newly collared individual had joined the rest of the pack, all the pups were out and playing, and clearly not remotely bothered by us! A wonderful sight – and there are 14 pups now, not just 12… I’m sure they multiply every time I see them! The dogs and pups at the den
Anyway, will be back with more news soon. Bye for now, Rosemary
Hi all, Good news! Last week, I posted a picture of five puppies at one of the dens. Well, we saw that pack again yesterday, and those five pups were actually five of twelve… All twelve were out yesterday, playing around the den site and the adults were nice and relaxed too which made it a great experience. Adults and pups at the den
And for those of you who have been following the pack histories, I’ve managed to get an individual identification on several of the dogs from the pack with the puppies and can confirm that it is the Jacana pack. They are an un-collared pack, so it’s great that we have found their den site so early in the season as it will give me a chance to get a collar onto one of them. I’ve also got some sad news – I found a wild dog carcass last week – a young adult killed by a snare. And our scouts found another dead dog yesterday – probably also due to snaring. Just a reminder of the constant threat these dogs face from human activities… The head of the wild dog killed by a snare
Anyhow, the denning season is a time to be positive and hopefully with all the work we are putting into the conservation of these wild dogs, incidences like this will become more and more infrequent. Back soon, Rosemary
Hi guys, Just a very quick post as I am flat out with field work at the moment . I just wanted to share this picture with you - the first pups we have seen this year!
And the proud mother….
We have found 2 dens now, and one probable one, and hope to get our first collars on next week. And of course see lots more pups. Back with more news soon, Rosemary
Hello all, I’m finally back in the conservancy now. It’s great to be out of the city and back in the bush where, instead of waking to car horns or an alarm clock, we are woken by bird calls (or even in the past leopard calling or lions roaring). The car is looking super-smart now: it has front bull bars and roll bars at the rear of the cab for safety, a seat in the back for the scouts, proper wheel brackets so we can carry two spare tyres, and (most usefully) an extra 110 litre fuel tank! Our newly kitted out vehicle
The extra fuel tank is especially useful on the long drive to and from Harare - we ran out of fuel on the way in last time, despite having a full tank (before this new bigger tank). It’s situations like that - when driving past enless empty, deserted fuel stations with your fuel warning light on - that you really notice the collapse of this country. And speaking of collapse - I did get my hands on a 25 billion dollar bill the other day! I’ve posted a picture of it here. It was worth about US$20 when I got it - now it is worth less than $12…
I only got back to the field late last night, so I havent got much wild dog news to report quite yet. But the scouts have been working hard while I’ve been away and we have plenty of sightings to follow up on. We’ll be putting the collars on in the next month or two, so lots of photos of that coming up… Lastly HUGE thanks to all those who have donated to our project - money goes a long way out here in Zim, and with the support we have recieved so far, we have managed to do an awful lot. Many thanks. Rosemary xx
Hello folks, I’m still in Harare waiting for the car… By the end of this week I should be able to collect it and head back to Save Valley and the wild dogs. Bush bars, roll bars, safari seat and long-range fuel tank - we’ll really be kitted out for some serious work! I’ve heard from our scouts in the field and they have located what is potentially a new pack of 5 adult dogs. As soon as I’m back, we’ll follow up on reports of that and try to get pictures so we can see where they have come from. I’ll keep you posted. We have also collected our collars and the drugs for immoblisation have arrived too, so as soon as the car is ready we’ll be working full-steam ahead to get those collars on. In the meantime however, life is full of different challenges. Just surviving in Harare is pretty much a full time job. I went shopping the other day - to find certain elusive items such as bread, eggs and milk. I eventually located somewhere I could get these, and bought 30 eggs, 6 bread rolls, 2 pints of milk and two blocks of cheese. The total bill came to 9 billion, 600 million dollars. Fortunately I could write a cheque for this, but I tell you it’s pretty daunting writing all those zeros on a cheque! My next challenge is to try and find some cash to pay our scouts with: there is a major shortage of cash here… However, things are looking up a bit - until last week the highest denomination note was a 500,000,000 dollar note (worth about 50 US cents), but there are now 5 billion, 25 billion and 50 billion dollar notes out. Not that I’m likely to see any of those! Other than these everyday challenges, life goes on, and we are all just keeping our heads down in the run-up to the run-off elections on 27th. I’ll be back in touch in a few days when I’m back in the field. Bye for now, Rosemary |
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