Zimbabwe Wild Dogs

Category: Uncategorized | Date: Jun 27 2008 | By: zimbabwewilddogs

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