While we are talking about A ...

My son came in while I was putting up the last blog and saw the big green letter A that I had just written.  "A is for Anti Poaching" he said right away.

He's right!  What could be more about us than ANTI POACHING?

So today I am putting up a second, equally or more apt, representative for A

Anti Poaching is a huge part of what we do everyday.

We have a team of trained game scouts called the Chishakwe Shumba (shumba is the Shona word for Lion).    It is no coincidence that they named themselves after our largest predator ...

The Shumba outside the scout base

The Shumba are what are called Ranch Scouts.  This means that they spend almost all their time on Chishakwe other than when they are called on to assist with special operations or provide tracking skills elsewhere.

They go out on foot everyday and cover kilometers of terrain looking for signs of poaching activity ... and especially looking for and removing snares.

Snares account for more animal deaths than any other form of poaching and are particularly heinous in that the animals they trap often die miserable and desperate deaths.  Not only that, but snares do not discriminate between species and it is not uncommon for endangered or inedible species such as Wild Dog, Cheetah or Leopard to be caught.

A snared leopard

It is not unusual for the Chishakwe Shumba to sleep out on high ground when the moon is full, providing extra surveillance where it counts at the time of month when the poaching risk is highest.

Spending so much time out on the ranch obviously makes the members of Chishakwe Shumba the ideal people to sight and observe animals, birds, plants, spoor and many other bio activities.  Part of their duties is to report back on their observations on a daily basis.  This valuable information is then compiled to use for monitoring and management purposes.

Ranch Scouts such as Chishakwe Shumba and their colleagues on the other ranches in the conservancy provide the first line of anti poaching.  When it comes to specialist anti poaching such as that used in the case of highly organised and heavily armed rhino poachers the ranch scouts provide local terrain and tracking expertise to an operations unit which operates conservancy wide.

This unit is comprised of dedicated men who put their lives on the line to make a difference to the alarming rate of poaching for the lucrative but highly illegal trade in horn and other animal parts.

Whatever the level they are operating at the men involved work daily to put the ANTI into Anti Poaching and we thank them for their commitment.

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Lowveld ABC

We have been working on a set of educational materials called the Lowveld ABC and thought we would share some of our ideas and information on some of the more memorable facets of our environment.  Not all the letters are represented by the biggest or most spectacular creatures or elements around us but this does not make any of them any less significant ... or interesting.

So, without further ado:  Let's kick off with a big fat ......... 

A .... for Ant

Ants at work in the Chishakwe head quarters area.  They were very busy collecting grass seed and sifting soil.

Not always our favourite of creatures ... especially when they decide to set up indoors or join in on a picnic!

Nevertheless, it is always fascinating to find a nest and watch the busy little insects at work.  A few crumbs or grains of sugar are cleaned up in record time and carried down into the earth.

Scientists say that ants are like people in that they are eco-system engineers.  In sufficient numbers they can have a significant effect impact on their environment.

Some Ant Facts

• There are more than 12,000 different ant species in the world.
• Ants are social and live in large colonies of sometimes millions of ants.
• In every colony there are worker ants, soldier ants and one or more queen ant.  The only ant to lay eggs is the queen and once she matures she will spend the rest of her life just laying eggs.
• Foraging ants leave a pheramone trail so they can always find their way back to the nest.
• Ants "hear" by picking up vibrations through their feet.
• Ants are very strong and can carry things that are many times heavier than they are.

Amazing Mega Ants

In 2002 scientists discovered  an ant colony that consisted of billions of ants and reached from Spain to Italy.  The amazing thing was that there were several queens and the ants were working together rather than fighting one another.

Here is a great blog all about ants if you would like to know more http://www.antweb.org

Singing in the Rain!

Rainy days are not everyone's cup of tea but after months of debilitating drought we can absolutely relate to Gene Kelly!

I'm singing in the rain

Just singing in the rain

What a glorious feelin'

I'm happy again

The bush has once again demonstrated its ability to recover against seemingly impossible odds and animals are looking fatter and happier.

Getting stuck in the mud on washed away roads seems a small price to pay ....