KHOWARIB CAMEL PROJECT
- NAMIBIA
Project Area 26,000 sq kms
To the East of Africa's
Skeleton Coast in the red desert of Demarala there exists one of the
two truly wild populations of Black Rhino in the world. These animals
have, over centuries, adapted themselves to survive and prosper in this
extraordinarily hostile country where about 100 Black Rhino remain.
The protection of the wild
Black Rhino in these desert conditions posed quite a problem. Rhino
Rescue Trust's solution was to introduce Camel Patrols, which are
able to operate in desert conditions better than 4 x 4 vehicles and
need less maintenance! Camels are not indigenous to this part of the
world so a breeding programme for replacements is being undertaken so
that the patrols can continue.
The costs of operation
which have been approved by Rhino Rescue Trust include £3,500($6,376.09)
for the purchase of breeding stock and £1,000 ($1,821.74)per annum
for maintenance.
Blythe and Rudi Lutit of
Save the Rhino Trust with the assistance of Mike Hearn have undertaken
to train these Camel Patrols which include the Game Scouts, Park Rangers
and local villagers. Save the Rhino Trust also carry out vital
research into the wildlife in the desert as well as running a small
tourist operation to fund Save the Rhino Trust.
The local community are
a tremendous support in the fighting against poaching.
2001 Report
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Henry Robinson visited the Khowarib
Camel Project in Namibia. The project is run and administerd by
Save the Rhino Trust.(SRT)and operates in the Kunene and
Palmwag areas of northwestern Namibia close to the Skeleton Coast.
The black rhino in this area of approx 26,000 square kilometres
have adapted to survive in what must be one of the world's most
hostile environments. In 1993 a census established that there
were approx 100 of these desert rhino.
Now those numbers have more than doubled. This success is due
to the efforts of both the Government and Non Governmental Organizationa
(NGO's) in operating overlapping patrols using the camels as transport
to get deep into areas inaccessible to vehicles.
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As
well as acting as anti-poaching patrols the camel teams are also
able to provide up-to-date information of rhino movements, births
and identification of specific animals. They are however woefully
short of reliable equipment, cameras, radios and even cooking pots
and bed rolls, but despite this they still manage to mount patrols
three weeks out of every four.
An important part of the work being done in Namibia is education
and involvement of the local communities in wildlife projects. This
takes several forms, SRT runs educational courses for local school
children involving desert walks and rambles, they also run Bicornis
Safaris to educate tourists. SRT has also helped establish community
camp sites at stratigic points in the rhino range for the accomodation
of tourists.
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The local community derives income
from tourists at those camps through camping fees and the sale of
local souvenirs. This income and employment is sustainable providing
the rhino's attract the tourists. SRT also employs some 30 trackers
from the communities to patrol the rhino range.
The involvement of local communities has led to a dramatic reduction
in poaching and an increase in information reaching the authorities
ahead of potential poaching attempts. |
Namibia
shortly before the rains. There are rhino in this area just south
of the Ugab River in Damaraland. |
Rhino
Rescue is pleased to be able to fund the Khowarib Camel Project
paying £8000($14,573.91) to purchase camels and provide radios
for the camel patrols. These radios will enable the anti-poaching
patrols to improve their reaction time to report incidents and to
call for assistance from the most remote parts of the desert and
thereby enhance further the tremendous conservation effort currently
in place.
Camel Base at Khowarib
Rhino Rescue funds the camel team's base at Khowarib. The base
has been built by local villagers and has brought much needed income
to the rural villagers. The buildings comprise accommodation for
3 staff, a paddock for the camels to overnight, saddlery and equipment
shed, radio room and office, kitchen and accommodation for visitors
who accompany the camel patrols into the mountains. The building
and renovations will be completed by the end of April this year. |
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Lions Attack
a Rhino Cow
Last year a young rhino
cow was very badly mauled by a lion. The badly bleeding rhino
was found in the mountains by tracker Jonas, who immediately radioed
for help and Dr. Axel Hartmann, the SRT Vet on standby, was able
to fly up to the mountains and treat the rhino immediately. He
cleaned the wounds and administered antibiotics, but he said she
was very weak and she died the following day.
Lions have been a problem for the camel team. However, the team
is amazingly optimistic about their presence, and they happily
contend that lions are afraid of camels and will not attack in
the night if they light fires. We really take our hats off to
them being out there for days on end , while lions prowl around.
We hope to be able to give them some protection in the form of
easily transportable tents and roll-up sheeting. We also need
a good first aid kit in an easily transportable form of canvas
packaging.
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Please help this Project by going to
the YOU CAN HELP
page in this site.
Thank you!!
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