The Fuchs Elephant Charge 2020 is an extreme 4×4 event supporting wildlife conservation in Zambia. This year it is due to take place on Saturday 26 September. Due to the pandemic the event is still planned to go ahead, but with fewer teams than normal.
What is the Elephant Charge?
The charge is a fun 4×4 off-road competition, testing driving, navigation and endurance skills through the Zambian bush. Teams, either cars or motorbikes, are challenged to compete a gruelling off-road course, with the team with the shortest distance between checkpoints winning.
It is held every year to raise money for local conservation projects, focusing on conservation through education. In the 12 years since it began, it has raised over US $1,031,000 for different local projects. Last year over a million Kwacha (US $139,193) was raised for projects for 11 conservation organisations. This was raised by the 28 teams that took part even though only 20 completed the course.
Who Benefits?
Over the years, 20 Zambian organisations have received funds for their conservation projects. Some are one off projects, whilst others receive support for their ongoing education programs. Local organisations include:
Chipembele Wildlife Education Trust has used funds to support their Education Centre and outreach programs and scholarships.
Birdwatch Zambia used funds to produce educational materials on the importance and conservation of birdlife for both teachers and children, which were distributed to schools across the county.
Conservation Lower Zambezi has received funds to support their conservation education program, reaching over 2,500 children in 56 schools.
The Kasanka Trust has funded school groups to stay at their Education Centre, upgraded law enforcement equipment and even built a bridge to help protect the delicate Bat Forest at Kasanka National Park.
iLearnabout received funds in 2019 to help them develop and pilot preliminary iLearnabout learning modules with key conservation organisations across Zambia.
Conservation South Luangwa uses funds to support their annual Fun Run Day which promotes conservation in the communities surrounding South Luangwa National Park, in which over 3,000 people attend each year. Funds have also been used to support snare removal and anti-poaching patrols in the nearby national park.
The Wildlife Crime Prevention Project received a grant to build boxes for rescued pangolins used before they are released and for a pangolin expert to visit to help train their teams.
You can find information on all the beneficiaries and their projects on the Elephant Charge website.
2020’s Charge
This year 20 teams have entered so far – in normal years there are around 30 teams, some coming from as far away as Kenya. Each team is currently busily fundraising. You can find out more about how they are getting ready for the event on their individual Facebook pages and at www.elephantcharge.org/2020
How to get involved
The competition is open to anyone with a car or motorbike and who is brave enough to take on the challenge! Car teams consist of a vehicle with between two and six passengers, whilst motorbike teams comprise of three to four bikes and riders. Each team has a designated navigator, driver and runners, who scout through the bush to find the shortest route for their vehicles.
The winning team is the one that completes the course of ten checkpoints in the shortest possible distance, but within an 8 hour time limit. With only a map, skill and determination, teams must work out their own routes between checkpoints – through valleys and up escarpments, over ridges and wading across rivers.
The exact location is kept secret until the day before the competition so that teams can only plan their intended route the evening before. Although each checkpoint can be reached by road, the shortest distance is through the bush, trying to avoid hazards such as chasms, peaks and deep rivers. Three of the checkpoints are designated as ‘the Gauntlet’. Although these are close together they include extreme terrain – allowing teams get to show off their driving abilities to watching spectators.
Show your support by spectating on the day
You can find out lots more information about the Elephant Charge on their website – www.elephantcharge.org. Also keep up to date with events, fundraising, information on how to donate to your favourite team and 0to find out the secret location so that you can go along and support the chargers on the day by following their Facebook Page.
Tomorrow, 20th August, is World Mosquito Day. The day which raises awareness on the importance of mosquito control and the prevention of malaria. On their website, WHO records that there were an estimated 228 million cases of malaria worldwide in 2018, with Africa having a disproportionately high share of global malaria cases at 93%. Their recommendation for prevention is to use insecticide-treated mosquito nets and indoor residual spraying which “are effective in a wide range of circumstances”.
Every year thousands of insecticide-treated mosquito nets are donated to African countries by international charities, foundations and NGOs which have been used to prevent countless cases of malaria, saving lives. However, there is a downside to these donated nets, as not all of them are used to sleep, under but are stitched together and used as fishing nets.
Checking the size of fish trapped in illegal nets
The legal size of fishing nets are between 3.5 and 4 inches. Illegal nets can be smaller than an inch, with mosquito netting being tiny. These homemade fishing nets sweep up all the tiny fish, removing them before they can grow to replenish the fish population in the lakes and rivers, rapidly depleting fish stocks.
A further problem is that donated nets are treated with insecticides which are safe for humans, but harmful to mosquitoes. These insecticides are also extremely toxic to fish and our aquatic environments, as the insecticides leach into the water.
Illegal Nets found on Lake Itezi-Tezi
Illegal nets taken out of Lake Itezi-Tezi
One Hon. Wildlife Police Officer (HWPO) operation at Lake Itezi-Tezi found fishermen crammed onto the islands on the lake. Many were using the wrong sized fishing nets. One of these illegal nets was 100m long – being hand stitched together from shade cloth and mosquito netting. Because the water level in the lake had gone down, nets were also found tangled up in the trees and a dead crocodile was discovered having become tangled up and unable to escape. These abandoned nets pose a huge threat to small animals and roosting birds who become entrapped, then die of starvation. In this two day operation on the lake, 28 illegal nets and 1 tonne of illegal dried tiny fish were confiscated.
Nets tangled up in trees ensnare small birds, reptiles and animals
Illegal Nets found in the Kafue River
Over 2 kilometres of illegal fishing nets found in one river
Another HWPO patrol, this time on the Kafue River, found over 2 km of illegal fishing nets being used. Again these were handmade nets made from mosquito nets. These small meshed nets are often called ‘video’ nets, taking out all the fish from the river. These are not isolated cases, with HWPO patrols finding illegal nets being used every year all over the country.
Give Ethically
Unfortunately fishing using mosquito nets appears to be widely practised. Sadly the donors that hand out these nets, which do save millions of lives across Africa, do not take the misuse of their nets seriously. By ignoring this misuse it could lead to irreversible ecological damage to the delicate biodiversity of our rivers and lakes – smaller birds and animals suffer needless deaths and reduced fish stocks threaten our food security.
So this World Mosquito Day, if you are thinking about making a donation to your preferred medical charity, do check what methods they are using to fight malaria. Otherwise you might find you are unwittingly adding to the long term ecological damage of the countries that you are actually trying to help.
Thank you to the HWPO Unit for their operational information and use of their photographs. For more information on the volunteer work that the HWPO Unit undertakes with the Department of National Parks and Wildlife, then check out their Facebook Page.
Mastercook Zambia is a Zambian television cooking show that hosts different cooking competitions and food preparation shows with exciting tasks in various locations.
The cooking show is running a Chefs competition to give upcoming and established chefs an opportunity to showcase their culinary skills with a wide range of foods. On season 3 episodes 4 and 5, the “This Is Not A Game” bushmeat campaign was invited to take part in the show tagged the “bush challenge”. This challenged each contestant to prepare an exciting dish using locally produced fresh legal game meat from accredited suppliers in Zambia. The chefs out did themselves as they prepared fresh sable steak – from simply braaied meat to making a sable masala to die for.
The illegal game meat trade is one of the biggest threats to our wildlife as it is highly unsustainable for wildlife populations. It is also dangerous for human consumption because it is hunted, harvested and transported in the most unsanitary and unhygienic conditions. Illegal bush meat is obtained from protected areas by poachers – this is unlawful and carries a minimum sentence of seven years imprisonment in Zambia.
There is a healthy and safe alternative – legal game meat. This comes both fresh and dried from legal game meat suppliers. You can find their details at www.thisisnotagame.info.
So next time you come across “nyama yamu sanga” be sure to ask if it is legal and safe before indulging and potentially risking you and your family’s lives. You can also contact the Department of National Parks and Wildlife’s accredited suppliers to enjoy your meals without fear or suspicions.
Updates from the Kasanka Trust’s latest newsletter include Ranger’s Day with interviews from two of the Park’s scouts: Kennedy Kaheha who is the longest serving scout in the park; and, Namunji Monde who followed in her father’s career footsteps and is now one of four female scouts working at Kasanka.
The Trust also reports that:
There have been no recorded incidents of elephant poaching in the park since October 2017, meaning that their elephant population is steadily increasing
The puku population is now bouncing back. Heavy poaching between 2014 and 2017 dramatically reduced puku numbers, but in the last two years an annual growth rate of around 20% has now firmly increased their numbers within the park
During the first half of the year, 19 poachers were apprehended, two firearms were recovered and two were surrendered, 553 snares have been recovered along with 101 illegal fishing nets and 20 canoes confiscated.
Poaching within the park is an ongoing problem and The Trust is addressing this biodiversity threat through dedicated anti-poaching patrols, environmental education which is especially important for the younger generation and through livelihood enhancement programmes.
Due to their dedicated work, mammal populations are significantly recovering – 114 mammal species can now be found, including the ‘Kasanka Big Boys’ – elephant, hippo, buffalo and sable. The park is one of best places to find the shy sitatunga and of course puku! It is also home to two rare primate species – the blue monkey and Kinda baboon.
Kasanka’s main attraction is their amazing Straw-coloured fruit bat migration, when over 10 million of these fascinating fruit bats descend on a few hectares of Mushitu Swamp Forest from mid-October to late December every year. The bats arrive with the first rains and, as with any rich gathering of a prey species, their arrival attracts a myriad of predators and scavengers such as leopard, martial eagles, fish eagles, lesser spotted and African hawk-eagles, kites, vultures and hobby falcons.
In addition to these raptors, 479 bird species have been recorded in Kasanka’s diverse habitats, making it a superb bird watching destination. Rare species seen include Bohm’s bee-eater, wattled crane, Pel’s fishing owl, African crowned eagle, Ross’s turaco, Narina trogon, African broadbill, African blue quail, African pitta, Fuelleborn’s longclaw and the African finfoot.
For monthly updates on what is happening at the park then why not subscribe to their newsletter at Kasanka Trust Subscriptions
Tourism for Conservation
During this pandemic Kasanka is offering residents the opportunity to visit the park at hugely discounted rates from August to mid-October, and during the Bat Season.
The Trust’s motto is Tourism for Conservation. All tourism revenue goes back into their conservation and community outreach programmes. As with many other conservation programmes around the world, the current pandemic means that their revenue has been reduced through the lack of visiting international guests, effecting their conservation programmes. So why not show your support by visiting the park?
You can find more information on Kasanka National Park and the Trust on their website – www.kasanka.com and their latest news on their Facebook Page
Today is World Elephant Day. This dedicated day was launched back in 2012 to bring attention to the plight that African and Asian elephants face both in the wild and in captivity.
Elephants are loved, revered and respected by people around the world, but poaching, habitat loss, human-elephant conflict, as well as mistreatment in captivity in some countries, are their main threats to their survival.
Many worldwide organisations work towards the better protection for wild elephants – improving enforcement policies to prevent poaching and the illegal ivory trade, conserving elephant habitats, better treatment for captive elephants and, when appropriate, the reintroduction of captive elephants into protected sanctuaries.
The best way we here in Zambia can support our elephants and find out more about them is to visit one of National Parks and see them in their natural habitat.
You can see them whilst on safari at South Luangwa, Lower Zambezi, Kasanka, Kafue and Mosi-au-Tunya National Parks.
