SCI Ozark - Zambia Rangers

Just got back from my survey in the game management area adjacent to Kafue National parks. The security side of it is straightforward but the wildlife authority side is a disaster !

I had two meetings with the scouts that operate in this area and they are one seriously disillusioned bunch. They control an area of 25,000 sq. kms and have no transport, no radio communications, no rations, no incentive bonuses, tattered kit, no stationery, no office furniture – nothing. Any money that was due to come their way is siphoned off somewhere else but they persevere.

There are 46 of them controlling this area and they do what they can but they are seriously hampered by the lack of any support systems. The game in here is unbelievable though. Elephant, Lion, Leopard, Buffalo, Eland, Sable, Roan, Hartebeest, Kudu, Impala, Warthog, Sitatunga, Lechwe, Puku – you name it. But, the poachers are everywhere.

I’m going to assist where I can and I’ve asked the mining company to do so as well but these guys are in poor shape in terms of kit and equipment. If we were to adopt a group to look after this would be it. I took some photos which I attach. I bumped into the Baboon Monitoring Unit whose photos I include. They also do anti-poaching as you will see from the cable snares recovered. These are intended for Buffalo, Eland and other big plains game animals.

If you think they’re a worthy cause I can get more details about them as my guys will be working with them if my proposals are accepted. Even if they aren’t this is the group I would want to help, they’ve got nothing but still give it their all. I should have some statistics from them tomorrow to pass on to give you some idea of what they have achieved with absolutely nothing.

3:10 AM 9/09/10 Left for the Lunga-Kasonso Game Management Areas on Monday. 9/06/10 Stopped in at Kasempa and saw Francis Sakala the senior wildlife officer there with a team of his scouts and admin staff. Took photos and discussed their logistical problems operationally. They recently, (a few weeks ago,) got 15 poachers with one and a half tons of Puku meat which was destined for sale in the Copperbelt mining area. (Ndola, Kitwe, Chingola, Kabwe and even through to Lusaka. Because the area is game-rich some of these poaching groups walk up to 5 days to get into the area, kill and dry the meat then carry it out again for sale. This is not subsistence poaching but commercial poaching on a large scale. The main concern obviously is transport, currently they have one motor-cycle to operate with and that’s it ! To cover 25,000sq kms..... Radio communications are a problem, their repeater station went down January last year and parts were sent off for repair – never to return so they have no form of communication whatsoever whilst in the field and rely on safari operators in the area for assistance. With the rainy season about to commence these operators will be pulling out and lodges closing for the wet. (You can’t get into the area during the rains by vehicle, not even 4x4 – only the main roads.) This leads on to a dire need for wet weather gear for use in the field, they don’t have raincoats or ponchos. The normal operational gear is also lacking sadly. Camo uniforms, bergans, webbing, water-bottles, ponchos, pouches, mess kits, knives, sleeping bags – you name it. They were in plain clothes as their uniforms are either so badly worn they’re an embarrassment or they keep them for special occasions. When operational they don whatever they can scratch together, quite often cast-offs from clients or safari operators. They have little field rations and what they do have are supplied in the main by safari operators. Things like GPS and cameras are beyond their ken so no photographic evidence is produced in court and no statistical records are kept on computer of arrests made and problem areas identified via GPS co-ordinates. I picked up a scout and we proceeded to Kafue River Camp on the edge of the game management area, (G.M.A.) which we were using as a base. This is a typical lodge in the G.M.A. and is based on the banks of the Kafue River catering for tourists who either come in for the fishing or game viewing. (They do drives for clients but no hunting.) We saw prolific numbers of Puku, Impala and Warthog. Also some Kudu, Sable, Waterbuck and Red Hartebeest. The animals were very tame indicating that the presence of the safari operator in the area, (who has a ZAWA scout based with him permanently,) is a deterrent to poaching. The next day we patrolled the Lubungu area. Some areas adjacent to, or within game hunting concession areas had plentiful wildlife but the further you got away from them and the closer to human habitation the thinner the animals on the ground. Poaching is bad. On return to camp that afternoon we had a bull Elephant in the staff quarters area. Not in the least bit concerned with us, very placid. That night, (and every night,) the hippo were very vocal below the chalets and little sleep was to be had ! This second night a Lion serenaded us all night as well just across the Kafue River. The next day I did a boat patrol with the safari lodge manager up the Kafue but we encountered no nets along this stretch. Wherever safari operators are present netting and poaching is minimal. A Leopard paid a visit during the night along with two Hyenas who walked through the camp. The Leopard gave a bunch of Vervet Monkeys a sleepless night and added to the din from the Hippo. It didn’t bother me, it’s the sound of Africa along with the resident Fish Eagles during the day. You just tune in and tune out. We pulled out the next day and returned back to Lumwana. The G.M.A.’s are approaching a difficult time now. There was early seasonal burning and, although there is an immediate green flush now, unless there is rain this will dry out and the animals condition will slump with mortalities being inevitable, especially amongst the Impala. Browse is still poor and the grazing will be virtually non-existent. The Warthog will also suffer as I noticed a number of young piglets already. This is unseasonably early for them and the drier the soil the harder the grubbing for roots, bulbs and rhizomes. As soon as the rains start this area will start blooming again and the dambos, (wetlands,) will hold water. Animals will flock in and the poaching will double. The next 3 months are going to be tough there. I came away with the conclusion that although these guys are trying hard they are naturally being hampered by the lack of kit and equipment. This is affecting morale a bit but they still keep at it which is commendable. Anything that can be passed on their way will boost spirits and enthusiasm. On the way back I stopped in at the Lunga base which has a new boss – Kashimoto. I noticed a hippo skull drying out which had been poached and checked their armoury and found cable snares and confiscated firearms so the scouts are obviously working as best they can. Thought this might be of interest to you. The camera is terrific – thank you all again.. A. Groenewald

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Photos of the firearms confiscated. A pretty motley mix of anything and everything. Some of these are real collector's items but are still in use despite being over 100 years old. Others are home manufactured by Congolese in the community using piping and local materials. There are 15 still outstanding plus one AK. We will follow up in due course on these.

This was a combined operation with Zambia Police and Zambian Wildlife Authority staff.

A.

Andy Groenewald

ZAMBIA WILDLIFE AUTHORITY LAW ENFORCEMENT STATISTICAL REPORT FOR LUNGA LUSWISHI AND KASONSO BUSANGA GAME MANAGEMENT AREAS FROM JANUARY TO JULY 2010 PREPARED BY FRANCIS SAKALA EXTENSION OFFICER/UNIT LEADER-LUNGA LUSWISHI AND KASONSO BUSANGA GMAS 1. Introduction Lunga Luswishi GMA covers the area of 13,340 Square Kilometres and Kasonso Busanga covers the area of 7,780 Square Kilometres. Both GMAs are infested with a good number of animal species found in all wildlife estates in Zambia and Africa at large. The two GMAs are managed by 2 sub-sector Wildlife camps; Lunga Wildlife Camp in Lunga Luswishi and Shongwa Wildlife Camp in Kasonso Busanga and 3 outpost Wildlife camps, Masozhi and Kabanga in Eastern part of Kasonso Busanga and Jitumba or Lalafuta to west part of Kasonso Busanga GMA. Both Game Management Areas are administered by the Sector Head Quarters, which is Kasempa. These GMAs are managed by both ZAWA and Communities (Community Resources Boards) living in or adjacent to the GMAs through Village Scouts who are the employees of the Community Resources Boards (CRBs). So far we are working with the two CRBs namely Kasempa in Lunga Luswishi and the east part of Kasonso Busanga GMA to the East and Mubambe in Kasonso Busanga to west part. Presently, we have 11 ZAWA field officers in Lunga Sub-Sector and 4 ZAWA field officers at Shongwa Sub-Sector and 8 ZAWA field officers based at Kasempa Sector HQ. We are also working with 44 Village Scouts in Lunga Luswishi and part of Kasonso Busanga GMAs employed by Kasempa Community Resources Board and 34 Village Scouts in the Western part of Kasonso Busanga GMA who are employed by Mubambe CRB. 2. Patrol Groups Following the number of Field officers in the three sub-sectors (Lunga, Shongwa and Kasempa HQ), below are the number of patrol groups according to camps: NO. CAMP NO OF PATROL GROUPS GMA 1 Lunga 8 Lunga Luswishi 2 Shongwa 6 Kasonso Busanga 3 Kasempa 1 Both in Lung and Kasonso Busanga 3. Areas most affected by poaching The areas which are most affected by poaching are as follows: • Lunga Lower • Lunga Upper • Areas along Lunga and Kafue Rivers Animal species which are most poached are as follows • Elephants • Sable • Puku • Sitatunga • Eland • Impala • Hippos • Common Duiker 3. Number of Poachers Encountered per Group and Market availability for Game Meat. Most times during patrols 7 to 15 poachers are encountered per group and they always found with dangerous weapons like Assorted Rifles like AK47, G.3, M.59 and sport Rifles like ,.300, .3006, .375, .458 just mention but a few. They also use wire snares which very dangerous because it does not select which animal to kill. On average, 10 animals are killed every day and this due to ready market in the Copper belt, Solwezi, Lumwana , DRC and locally, within the district; Kasempa due to mining activities in the area. 4. Types of Patrols Conducted • Long Patrols ( 7 to 30 days) • Short Patrols (3 to 6 days • Days Patrols (1 to 2 days) • Night Patrols (1 to 2 nights) • Road Blocks (1 to 5 days) • Village Search • Investigations Patrols 5. An Example of Field Patrols and Man-days 5.1. ZAWA Scout (Lunga) Generally, each field officer is supposed to achieve a minimum of 15 man-days per month. For an example in Lunga we have 11 ZAWA field officers and they are supposed to achieve 165 man-days per month. For the last Seven (7) months (up to July 2010) ZAWA officers have achieved 387 man days out of the planned 1155 man-days in Seven months with variance of 708 to the negative side. In short, each ZAWA field officer achieved 35 man-days in the last seven months. 5.2. Village Scout (Community Scouts in Lunga) As said earlier on, we have 39 Village Scouts in Lunga and each of them is supposed to achieve a minimum of 15 man-days per month and all of them are supposed to achieve 585 man-days per month. For last seven months, Village Scouts have achieved 2078 man-days out of the planned 4,092 man-days in seven months with 2,014 to the negative side. This means that each Village Scout achieved a minimum of 49 man-days in the last seven months. This clearly shows that there is less effort on the resource protection due to limited operational resources. 6. Law enforcement Statistical data for the whole Sector (Lunga, Shongwa and Kasempa) according to months starting from January 2010 to July 2010 6.1. January 2010 No. Activity Statistics/Results 1 Planned Man days 855 2 Achieved by ZAWA Officers (WPOs) 180 3 Achieved by Village Scouts (CRB Scouts) 327 4 Achieved by both 507 5 Variance 348 6 ZAWA Officers involved 15 7 Village Scouts involved 38 8 Long Patrols 7 9 Short Patrols 3 10 Day Patrols 1 11 Investigations 5 12 Night Patrols 0 13 Road Blocks 6 14 Arrests 4 Confiscations No Item Quantity 1 Muzzle Loading Gun 1 2 Homemade Shotgun 2 3 Gun Powder 500gs 4 Wire Snares 98 7 Assorted fresh and dry Game meat 120Kgs 8 Bicycles 6 9 Knives 3 10 Pellets 22 Prosecutions Brought forward Arrests Convictions Fined Total fines Imprisonment Pending 10 4 6 2 1,500,000 1 8 Communal Work 01 Forfeitures 1 Bicycle 6.2. February 2010 No. Activity Statistics/Results 1 Planned Man days 835 2 Achieved by ZAWA Officers (WPOs) 133 3 Achieved by Village Scouts (CRB Scouts) 532 4 Achieved by both 705 5 Variance 130 6 ZAWA Officers involved 14 7 Village Scouts involved 46 8 Long Patrols 8 9 Short Patrols 1 10 Day Patrols 1 11 Investigations 0 12 Night Patrols 4 13 Road Blocks 5 14 Arrests 2 Confiscations No Item Quantity 1 Muzzle Loading Gun 2 2 Home made Shotgun 1 3 Spear 1 4 Wire Snares 87 5 Bicycles 2 6 Knives 1 7 Axes 2 Prosecutions Brought forward Arrests Convictions Fined Total fines (ZMK) Imprisonment Pending 8 2 2 1 1,000,000 1 8 Suspended Sentence 01 6.3. March 2010 No. Activity Statistics/Results 1 Planned Man days 990 2 Achieved by ZAWA Officers (WPOs) 207 3 Achieved by Village Scouts (CRB Scouts) 347 4 Achieved by both 554 5 Variance 526 6 ZAWA Officers involved 19 7 Village Scouts involved 41 8 Long Patrols 8 9 Short Patrols 2 10 Day Patrols 3 11 Investigations 9 12 Night Patrols 1 13 Control Duties 3 13 Road Blocks 3 14 Arrests 6 Confiscations No Item Quantity 1 Muzzle Loading Gun 8 2 Wire Snares 138 3 Bicycles 14 4 Knives 5 5 Axes 6 6 Gun Powder 25gs 7 Bush Buck Skin 1 8 Modified Shotgun 1 9 Assorted Game meat 78Kgs Prosecutions Brought forward Arrests Convictions Fined Total fines (ZMK) Communal Work Pending 8 6 5 4 4,500,000 1 9 6.4. April 2010 No. Activity Statistics/Results 1 Planned Man days 975 2 Achieved by ZAWA Officers (WPOs) 151 3 Achieved by Village Scouts (CRB Scouts) 320 4 Achieved by both 471 5 Variance 501 6 ZAWA Officers involved 14 7 Village Scouts involved 32 8 Long Patrols 7 9 Short Patrols 4 10 Day Patrols 0 11 Investigations 0 12 Night Patrols 5 13 Road Blocks 2 14 Arrests 5 Confiscations No Item Quantity 1 Home made Shotgun 1 2 7.62mm Ammunitions 2 3 Wire Snares 151 4 Bicycles 5 5 30.06 Ammunitions 5 Prosecutions Brought forward Arrests Convictions Fined Total fines (ZMK) Imprisonment Pending 9 5 4 2 3,000,000 2 9 Withdraw 06 6.5. May 2010 No. Activity Statistics/Results 1 Planned Man days 935 2 Achieved by ZAWA Officers (WPOs) 113 3 Achieved by Village Scouts (CRB Scouts) 382 4 Achieved by both 495 5 Variance 440 6 ZAWA Officers involved 16 7 Village Scouts involved 43 8 Long Patrols 7 9 Short Patrols 3 10 Day Patrols 8 11 Investigations 8 12 Night Patrols 0 13 Road Blocks 2 14 Crop Damage assessment patrol 1 15 Escort Duties 1 16 Arrests 1 Confiscations No Item Quantity 1 Home made Shotgun 2 2 Wire Snares 106 Prosecutions Brought forward Arrests Convictions Fined Total fines (ZMK) Imprisonment Pending 4 1 2 2 3,000,000 0 3 6.6. June 2010 No. Activity Statistics/Results 1 Planned Man days 945 2 Achieved by ZAWA Officers (WPOs) 123 3 Achieved by Village Scouts (CRB Scouts) 563 4 Achieved by both 686 5 Variance 259 6 ZAWA Officers involved 13 7 Village Scouts involved 40 8 Long Patrols 11 9 Short Patrols 1 10 Day Patrols 4 11 Investigations 6 12 Night Patrols 0 13 Road Blocks 3 14 Crop Damage assessment patrol 0 15 Escort Duties 0 16 Arrests 3 Confistiscations No Item Quantity 1 Bicycles 5 2 Wire Snares 180 3 Axes 1 4 Fishing nets 3 5 Assorted pieces of game meat 15kgs Prosecutions Brought forward Arrests Convictions Fined Total fines (ZMK) Imprisonment Pending 03 04 Nil Nil Nil Nil 07 6.7. July 2010 No. Activity Statistics/Results 1 Planned Man days 975 2 Achieved by ZAWA Officers (WPOs) 128 3 Achieved by Village Scouts (CRB Scouts) 538 4 Achieved by both 666 5 Variance 309 6 ZAWA Officers involved 13 7 Village Scouts involved 31 8 Long Patrols 07 9 Short Patrols 02 10 Day Patrols 04 11 Investigations 01 12 Night Patrols 0 13 Road Blocks 01 14 Crop Damage assessment patrol 04 15 Escort Duties 01 16 Apprehensions 07 17 Arrests 07 Confistiscations No Item Quantity 1 Homemade Shotgun 01 2 Wire Snares 265 3 Assorted game pieces of game meat 22 pieces 4 Axes 01 5 Knives 01 6 Suit case 01 6 Bicycles 06 Prosecutions Brought forward Arrests Convictions Fined Total fines (ZMK) Imprisonment Pending 07 06 08 05 5,000,000 02 04 Discharged 01 Withdrawals 01 7. Equipment Required to Boost Anti-Poaching Activities in the Area Currently, we are finding a lot of difficulties in managing the two vast GMAs due to limited operational resources like: 1. Field Patrol Equipment • Camping Tents • Camp Beds • Sleeping Bags • Havre Sacks • Hand Cuffs • Water Bottles • Boots • Uniforms • Rain Coats • Mosquito Nets • Ground Mats • Waikie talkies • GPS 2. Radio Communication • VHF • HF • Waikie Talkies • Solar Panels • Solar Batteries 3. Rations (for a 10 days Patrol group comprise of 6 officers ) • 2 x 25Kgs bag Mealie-meal • Cooking oil 4 x 750ml • Sugar 6 x 2kgs • 10kgs Rice • 10kgs Flour • 2 Packets Baking Powder • 12 Tinned Fish • 12 Tinned Beef • 12 Baked Beans • 25kgs Dried Kapenta • 25kgs Dried Beans • 25 Packets Soya Pieces 4. Transport A short story on Poacher Encounter in Lunga Luswishi GMA. One day a team of 4 officers were deployed to conduct a short normal patrol in the in the upper part of Lunga Luswishi GMA, as usual poorly equipped, with less food rations and other operational necessities. On the second day of their operation, whilst patrolling in the area, the officers noticed some fresh foot prints of suspected poachers. For easy trace up of the suspected poachers, the officers decided to temporally camp in the area and left one officer to be on guide at the camp. Just after a short time the other officers left he heard some people talking and he went to investigate what was happening. At about 200 metres, he saw a person, immediately he thought of confronting him. As the officer started walking towards the direction where he saw a person, to his surprise he found three more people laying hiding in grasses resting. Luck enough, he was not noticed and he managed to challenge four them. But unfortunately he did not notice that there was the fifth one who was not among the group. As the officer was struggling with the four, the fifth one came behind him and hit the officer with a small pole in head; the officer lost control and fell down then one of the suspects grabbed the gun and they all run away. Realising that the gun is gone, he quickly wake up and started chasing the poachers, he managed to catch the one who had the gun and they started fighting, the fought and fought, luck enough, the poacher was challenged and the gun was retrieved. The officer went back to the camp and found that all things at camp were collected including the bicycles the Scouts used for patrolling. This is how the poachers escape. This is a real story and they are many more where our Scouts almost lost their lives.

A short story on Poacher Encounter in Lunga Luswishi GMA
One day a team of 4 officers were deployed to conduct a short normal patrol in the in the upper part of Lunga Luswishi GMA, as usual poorly equipped, with less food rations and other operational necessities. On the second day of their operation, whilst patrolling in the area, the officers noticed some fresh foot prints of suspected poachers. For easy trace up of the suspected poachers, the officers decided to temporally camp in the area and left one officer to be on guide at the camp. Just after a short time the other officers left he heard some people talking and he went to investigate what was happening. At about 200 metres, he saw a person, immediately he thought of confronting him. As the officer started walking towards the direction where he saw a person, to his surprise he found three more people laying hiding in grasses resting. Luck enough, he was not noticed and he managed to challenge four them. But unfortunately he did not notice that there was the fifth one who was not among the group. As the officer was struggling with the four, the fifth one came behind him and hit the officer with a small pole in head; the officer lost control and fell down then one of the suspects grabbed the gun and they all run away. Realising that the gun is gone, he quickly wake up and started chasing the poachers, he managed to catch the one who had the gun and they started fighting, the fought and fought, luck enough, the poacher was challenged and the gun was retrieved. The officer went back to the camp and found that all things at camp were collected including the bicycles the Scouts used for patrolling. This is how the poachers escape.
This is a real story and they are many more where our Scouts almost lost their lives.

09/09/10 Field Report The situation here is that groups of ZAWA scouts go into the game management areas covered by us here in the project on a weekly basis. They are supported by scouts from the Communal Resources Board. (i.e. The local villagers.) With an area of 25,000sq km to cover you can imagine that they are thin on the ground ! (There’s only 46 ZAWA scouts and admin staff to do this.) Apart from a motor cycle they have no transport and cadge lifts wherever they can to get into the operational areas. You will notice the majority are in plain clothes ? This is due to a lack of uniforms. When they go into the field they put on a rag-tag assortment of whatever clothing they can find. The scout who accompanied me on this trip had his very best – and only, uniform on ! They have no camo clothing, boots, bergans, water-bottles, mess-kits, pouches, sleeping bags, ponchos – zip, zilch – nothing. Their biggest concern now is the rainy season coming on. They have no wet-weather gear at all. Andy Groenewald

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E.

Photos of the firearms confiscated. A pretty motley mix of anything and everything. Some of these are real collector's items but are still in use despite being over 100 years old. Others are home manufactured by Congolese in the community using piping and local materials. There are 15 still outstanding plus one AK. We will follow up in due course on these.

This was a combined operation with Zambia Police and Zambian Wildlife Authority staff.

A.

Andy Groenewald