Environmental News
In the face of Kunene’s desert jumbos
ALTHOUGH our guide, Lister Kolokwe of Wilderness Safaris’ Doro !Nawas Camp, had assured us that a group of desert-adapted elephants in the distance were very peaceful – fear was the song in our game drive vehicle when he drove us into the face of the jumbos.
I was even reluctant to take photos of them – thinking that the slight sound of my camera would anger them. Or that it would make them tear us apart as we were very, very close to a herd of about 12 elephants that were traversing the dry Aba Huab River in search of water and vegetation.
But the most terrified of us all was young J’Menno Swartz, sitting alone in the back seat and breathing heavily as one elephant came to his side.
Except for Kolokwe, none of us got too close to the elephants until Saturday morning’s game drive in the Doro !Nawas conservancy in the Kunene Region.
But our fears slowly faded away as the herd of these magnificent animals (consisting mainly of cows with calves), just walked on as if to say “these are just harmless human beings who merely wanted to see how beautiful we are”.
After they passed us by a few metres, Kolokwe mentioned that a rumbling female was telling the others to leave us alone – adding that elephants mostly get disturbed when people get off their vehicles.
At this stage, we could not help but to hungrily admire the fine art of his training on animals’ behaviour.
Elephants in the north-west are amongst a variety of animal species found in the Doro !Nawas conservancy. Community game guards of the conservancy look after their game, including rhinos, oryx, kudus, ostrich, zebras, spotted hyenas and springbok.
“Elephants are mostly found walking in the dry rivers because the sand in the river is nicely soft for their feet,” said Augustinus Bezuidenhout, the Representative of Area 3 of the conservancy.
Leonard Hoaeb, the chairperson of the Doro !Nawas conservancy, explained that the conservancy is divided into different areas – one each for livestock, wild animals and crops. The conservancy has a joint venture agreement with the lodge, whereby the lodge gives a portion of their profit to the conservancy in return for access to the animals.
Last year, the conservancy successfully negotiated with Wilderness Safaris to have a 45 per cent share in the luxury lodge that rests on the slopes of a small hill, overlooking ancient plains with glorious wrap-around views of the rugged Damaraland area.
Communal conservancies are being created through the Community-Based Natural Resources Management (CBNRM) programme of the Ministry of Environment and Tourism which gives rights to rural people to manage and derive benefits from natural resources in their area. There are now a total number of 52 registered conservancies in Namibia.
Hoaeb remarked that although the conservancy policy on benefit sharing was still being drafted, they have had a number of achievements and the financial standing was sound and stable. Apart from the joint venture agreement with the lodge, the conservancy also made income from trophy hunting and shoot-and-sell activities.
He alleged that there are some groups of people who are trying to disturb progress “for their own hidden agendas.” “This is always giving me headaches and these internal conflicts have to be addressed,” said Hoaeb.
So far, the conservancy has three vehicles, a conservancy office, meat holding facilities, does game relocations, maintains its own vehicles and pays all eight members of staff itself.
“I think the conservancy concept has brought unity into communities, as they now sit together to discuss issues of mutual concern,” said Pescolena Flory – the Area Manager of Doro !Nawas and Damaraland Camps. The Damaraland Camp is in the Torra conservancy and also has a profit sharing agreement with it.
Hoaeb said last year that their conservancy provided a monthly allowance for one member who went to Transvaal to do a 12-month training course in tourism.
In addition, another conservancy member got a full financial sponsorship from the conservancy to do a two-year training course in water purification at NamWater. Bezuidenhout said 80 per cent of Doro Nawas Camp staff came from the conservancy.
“Wilderness asked us to identify people for training -which was conducted every three months,” he said. The lodge also assists communities with diesel to run their borehole pumps. Hoaeb said he was pleased with their joint venture with Wilderness Safaris: “It is a new concept to communities. But we are happy with the progress so far.”
On the CBNRM programme, Hoaeb stated that it was an effective tool for reducing rural poverty.
The Doro !Nawas conservancy was registered in December 1999 and Hoaeb said they will hold a 10th anniversary event in October or November.
It has about 500 registered members and covers an area of 399 900 hectares. Doro !Nawas is Damara for ‘A Place Where Rhinos Roam’.
