Africa Geographic posted a very intersting update on the hunting concessions ban in Zambia. Please read more here
Hier ein Update zum Thema “Aussetzen der Trophäenjagd” auf Löwen und Leoparden in Sambia.
Elephants in Seronera Valley, Serengeti, Tanzania
The African Nation of Zambia is smart. They simply calculated, and came to the result, that photo and safari tourists coming to Zambia to watch lions brings more money into the country than hunters paying to kill lions for fun.
Quote from the BBC/Reuters:
“Zambia’s tourism minister said there was more value in game-viewing tourism than blood sport, which brought in just $3m (£1.9m) last year.
Sylvia Masebo said the country did not have enough cats for hunting purposes.
“Tourists come to Zambia to see the lion and if we lose the lion we will be killing our tourism industry,” she told Reuters.”
So Zambia decided to give out no more hunting licenses and concessions for the hunt on big cats. What a smart and lovely move! Thumbs up, Zambia! After Botswana decided to ban trophy hunting with the end of 2013 in their country, Zambia is the second country in southern Africa to do the same.
If I would be mean, I could say that the trophy hunting market for fat-bellied, white old men with no penis is now reduced to the following countries: Namibia, Tanzania, Mozambique, Zimbabwe and South Africa. But as these African nations are at least as smart as the Zambians, they will start calculating, too.
Photo by DC Loew
From a conservationist point of view, I am not against hunting at all – I am against this silly and stupid and embarrassing so called sport- or trophy hunting. What is the kick of driving into the bush on a pick-up (like seen in this documentary by BBC´s Louis Theroux) and killing all sort of animals from the very distance, from the back of the car? What is the kick in killing a dikdik? Or a wonderful animal like a lion?
And afterwards, have a trophy picture, with the heroic hunter behind the dead animal? This has nothing to do with hunting, and this has nothing to do with conservation whatsoever. This is purely pathetic.
There is a lot of people making a living in the trophy hunting business, but as usual: The wrong sorts of people is making the big money, with the local people working for peanuts as trackers, drivers and so on.
As Zambia just proofed: the calculation to convert trophy hunting business into real conservation- and eco tourism – business can be made by other countries, too, and it will work for them as well as it worked for Zambia and Botswana.
I admit: I never heard of this specific antelope. It lives in Kenya and looks a bit like a mixture between a hartebeest and an impala, with a white mask over the eyes. The Hirola is endangered due to poaching, carnivore pressure and loss of habitat. A community based protection program just started in Kenya, with help of Nature Conservancy. They build a protected area with a carnivore-proof fence arount ot, so the surviving Hirolas are safe. As the area, where the Hirola uses to roam is in a remote corner between the boarders of Kenya and Somalia, this region is truly off the beaten track. Tourists and safaris, who would support the project with their entry fees, are not coming to this area. Check out for more information on the links provided, this project is really worth to be supported.
Ich muss zugeben, von der Hirola Antilope habe ich zuvor noch nichts gehört, bis ich jetzt in einem Artikel in “Africa Geographic” auf das sehr beachtenswerte und unterstützungsbedürftige Projekt gestossen bin. Die Hirola Antilope sieht aus wie eine Mischung aus Hartebeest und Impala, und lebt in einem Gebiet im Grenzland zwischen Kenia und Somalia. In Somalia gilt die Hirola bereits als ausgestorben. Zusammen mit Gemeinden und Kommunen in der Gegend, wurde nun ein eingezäuntes Schutzgebiet für die letzten Hirolas errichtet, mit einem raubtiersicheren Zaun. Denn es ist nicht nur die Wilderei und der Verlust von Lebensraum, auch die Raubtiere setzen dem kleiner werdenden Bestand stark zu.
Ich halte dieses Projekt für sehr unterstützenswert, Nature Conservancy aus den Vereinigten Staaten ist die NGO vor Ort, welche Know-How und Geld für die lokalen Kommunen beisteuert.
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Namibia still supports the yearly complete senseless slaughter of the seals on their skeleton coast. The only NGO acting in this matter seems to be Sea Shepherd – please donate and spread the word about this truly ashaming incident.
You could, for instance, write the Namibia embassy in your country:
In Namibia werden Jahr für Jahr ca. 90.000 Seelöwen in den eigentlich geschützen Kolonien an der Skelett-Küste abgeschlachtet, für eine lachhafte Lizenzgebühr. Touristen würden mehr Geld bringen, aber offenbar gibt es hier noch einige andere alberne Interessen des namibischen Staates, der eigentlich mehr Geld mit Tourismus an den Seelöwenkolonien verdienen würde als mit dem Abschlachten.
Wer schreibt dem Namibischen Botschafter in Deutschland eine Protestnote? Link ist hier.
It is shocking and very sad, what Karl Ammann reveals regarding trade and consumption of bushmeat, rhino horn, ivory, wild animals. He is a photographer, but foremost a conservationist. He is not a radical, only truth, as he finds and documents it in his pictures, is radical and very, very saddening.
Please support Karl Ammann in his fight against poaching and trading of animals.
Find out yourself: English website of Karl Ammann
Karl Amman ist ein Fotograf und Naturschützer. Er dokumentiert mit sehr verstörenden Fotos und Filmen (u.a. auf Spiegel Online) den Handel und den Konsum von Tieren, Elfenbein, Nashorn, und sog. “bushmeat”. Es sind Fotos, die so verstörend sind, weil sie ungeschminkt zeigen, wie der Mensch nachhaltig seine Umwelt vernichtet.
Karl Ammanns Blick ist nicht der eines radikalen, weltfremden Tierschützers. Nüchtern dokumentiert er, wie Gier, Gewinnstreben und zutiefst alberner Aberglauben, aber auch grosse Not und Armut, die Tierwelt dieses Planeten ausrottet. Seine Fotos und Filme verstören auch, weil die mit lebenden und toten Tieren handelnden Händler nicht einen Funken von Schuld zeigen, weil Polizei und Zollbehörden gleichgültig bis korrupt sind, und jeder mitverdient.
Mehr zu Karl Ammann auf seiner deutschsprachigen Website.
There are new, exciting opportunities for the intrepid traveller and photographer. For instance, why not plan to travel to the Republic of the Congo and the odzala National Park. The capital of Brazzaville can quite easily be reached from Europe or the US by plane, or by ferry from neighboring Kinshasa. You can fly from Europe directly to Brazzaville with Air France via Paris. Or you fly from Brussels with Brussels Airlines to Kinshasa. Other quite good services are via Casablanca with Royal Air Maroc or via Addis Abeba with Ethiopian Airlines. KLM also flies from Amsterdam directly to Kinshasa. And Kenya Airways both connects Kinshasa as Brazzaville alike from their hub in Nairobi, Kenya. Coming from the US this means your connecting destinations are Paris, Brussels and Amsterdam. Coming from Asia or Australia or South Africa, it might be Addis and Nairobi.
From Brazzaville take a domestic chartered flight to the National Park of Odzala. Here you find two quite new camps by Wilderness Safaris, Ngaga Camp and Lango Camp. Wilderness Safaris is an eco friendly company from South Africa, and they especially care about conservation and local communities, they call this the four c`s, here is how they put it:
“Wilderness is a conservation organisation and ecotourism company that specialises in memorable wildlife experiences in some of the most remote and pristine areas in Africa, at the same time remaining fiercely committed to protecting the continent’s precious natural resources. Their sustainability strategy is encapsulated by “the 4Cs”
“Conservation, Community, Culture or Commerce. Make your selection above.
Wilderness views responsible, nature-based tourism as the most effective and practical vehicle to ensure the sustainability of African conservation in the modern era. We are serious about what we do and believe fully in our vision of contributing meaningfully to conservation.”
In the two lodges they set up in the jungle of the Republic of the Congo, the main activity for a wildlife photographer, is of course, tracking the local western lowland gorilla population.
Photographic activities range from gorilla tracking (habituated groups), pirogue rides along lush river systems, game drives in the savannah, night drives, walks along lush forest streams and salines, and of course time spent at the productive forest bais.
Wildlife in the jungle exists of around 400 species of mammals and uncounted species of birds. Walking and boat safaris are offered, season is all year. Electrical power is available in the two camps, so photographers do not need to rely on their batteries, as battery charging facilities are available in the camps.
Colobus monkey in Arusha National Park, Tanzania.
As what photography concerns in the jungle, that is a different thing: light conditions are pretty complicated, you have a lot of light, but also a lot of shadows, and this is changing constantly. Focusing is difficult, because there is a lot of leaves and branches between you and the animal up in the trees. I suggest to only use a single focusing point, and I also suggest to increase or adapt your ISO settings. To be sure, photograph in RAW and always expect light to be lesser than your camera suggests, so better tend to over exposure your images.
Auf der touristischen Landkarte Afrikas gibt es zwei neue Lodges in der Republik Kongo, auch bekannt als Kongo Brazzaville. Wilderness Safaris bietet diese zwei Ökolodges an, man erreicht sie von Brazzaville mit einem Charterflieger in den Odzala Nationalpark. Von Mitteleuropa, Deutschland, Österreich oder der Schweiz bieten sich Flugverbindungen über Brüssel oder Nairobi an, von Frankfurt attraktiv ist auch die Verbindung über Addis oder Paris/Amsterdam. Genauere Beschreibungen der Flugoptionen seht ihr im oberen Bereich des Textes in Englisch.
Der Odzala Nationalpark beherbergt eine der grossen Populationen Afrikas des westlichen Flachland-Gorillas, als auch Waldelefanten, Colobusaffen und Schimpansen, insgesamt über 400 Säugetierarten. Fotografieren im Dschungel ist dann noch einmal eine der grossen Herausforderungen für jeden Fotografen: Schwierigste Licht- und Sichtverhältnisse, Schwüle, Feuchtigkeit, hier ist technisch-fotografisches Know-how und Schutz für das Equipment gefragt. ISO Werte sind hochzusetzen, und ich würde die Fokussierung auf einen Single-Point begrenzen, da Äste und Blätter die Fokussierung/Scharfstellung sehr schwierig machen. Im Montanwald des Arusha Nationalparks in Tansania habe ich einschlägige Erfahrungen gemacht, und die nicht sehr scheuen Colobusaffen waren wirklich sehr schwer fotografisch einzufangen.
Well, actually I came upon Markus Mauthe because I wanted to link from my blog to his very detailed and inspring report about being in the Serengeti. Then I found out that this guy is a great wildlife photographer as well, with a very interesting upcoming project with foto sessions in Patagonia, Tasmania, Nepal, Palau and the Arctic, among other beautiful places of our little blue planet.
And yes, this planet of us is in danger, and that is why Markus is working together with Greenpeace, to act against the destruction of nature, wildlife, and the oceans. Photographing the beauty of planet earth is one way to make people think and feel, and this you can see in Markus`photography, his workshops and lectures.
Markus Mauthe uses Nikon camera gear and lenses, this is his equipment:
Nikon D3x + D4
21 mm Zeiss
35-70 mm Nikon
200-400 mm Nikon
600 mm Nikon
Gitzo Carbon tripod – ballhead: Really Right Stuff
beanbag
When in the Serengeti lately, most of the pictures he took he used the Nikon 600mm lens, which is a bit of his favorite lens. When on location, Markus tries to capture the specific character and beauty of the landscape in a typical, unspoiled manner. He wants to document it, and show in his images the true character of the region.
I always ask photographers , if they are fans of other photographers or if they have an idol. Markus told me, he does actually not. Well, maybe with one exception, which is Ingo Arndt, one of the best know German masters of wildlife photography.
His project together with Greenpeace “Naturwunder Erde” (“earths natural wonders”) is about showing the beauty and vulnerability of our planet, and will lead him quite a bit around to some stunning places, like described above. You can follow this project on Markus´blog wildview.de (and on this blog, too), and on Facebook.
In loser aber regelmässiger Folge wird safari-photographer.com über ausgesuchte Natur – und Tierfotografen berichten. Den Anfang macht Markus Mauthe, den ich eigentlich wegen seines hervorragende Serengeti Berichts angeschrieben hatte. Aber dann sah ich, dass er ein Klasse-Fotograf ist, und das war die Idee für den Beginn der Reihe “wildlife photographers”. Seine Nikon Kameraausrüstung ist oben beschrieben, sein grosses Projekt “Naturwunder”, zusammen mit Greenpeace” könnt ihr auf seinem Blog verfolgen. Die Links zum Blog als auch zu Facebook kommen im Anschluss. Für die deutschen Leser interessant sind sicherlich auch die Vortragsreihen und Workshops, welche Markus veranstaltet, mehr dazu auf seiner Homepage.
There is, again, a new threat to one of the most amazing national parks in Africa: Mana Pools NP in Zimbabwe is threatened by obscure mining activities. You can read everything about this danger to Mana Pools in the newly opened Facebook page, which is dedicated to ine simple goal: Save Mana Pools! Please share and spread the word!
Leider ist einer der schönsten und tierreichsten Nationalparks von Bergbau bedroht: Mana Pools NP in Zimbabwe, an den Ufern des Zambezi. Es gibt eine neue Facebook Infoseite, die über das Thema informiert – seid bitte mit dabei, teilt den Link mit euren Freunden, und verfolgt das Thema. Ähnlich wie die Serengeti wird Mana Pools von umgezügeltem Abbau von Bodenschätzen, als auch einem unkontrolliertem Wachstum der touristischen Infrastruktur bedroht.
I came upon this very interesting project and wonderful website: The desert lions project from Dr. Philip Stander, in northwestern Namibia. The project is wonderfully documented on its website, and there is a lot to discover about it, everything very accurately described and with images, maps etc: The area where the project is located, the areas where each lion pride is located, a mass of photos, and a very interesting table of budgets and needs. And yes, they need donors and sponsors!
The desert lion conservation is a very transparent project and shows convincingly, how science works, what the obstacles and problems are, and how to deal with them AND deliver results. I am deeply impressed by this project, the website, and what you can learn about lions behaviour just following their news. Interesting as well, as you can study the impact of tourism on nature, animals, and scientific projects. The desert lions project is aware of the negative impact of an increasing numbers of tourists in the projects region, but tries nevertheless, to integrate these tourists, the camps the tourists stay, and the camps crews in their work and studies.
