BUMI HILLS FOUNDATION Quarterly Report – July/September 2024

Quarterly Operations Report - July/September 2024

It does seem as though the Universe is in double warp speed up mode this year – just the other day we were compiling the newsletter for the quarter ending in June, and now all of a sudden, we are in October! The year is just flying by, and the busier we are, the faster it seems to fly.
Thankfully, and as a direct consequence of the daily patrols our rangers carry out (averaging 60kms per day), we are happy to report that the poachers laying illegal wire snares in our area have found themselves outnumbered, and have largely abandoned their efforts to join the bushmeat trade – from 2269 snares recovered in April, May and June of this year, to 205 for the past 3 months is a huge success – our efforts continue unabated, however, as even that is 205 too many. As you will see from our stats, we lost 8 animals this quarter – all of them impala, all caught in snares and astoundingly, none of the meat was retrieved by the snare layers. Every patrol that returns to Base now, hot and weary, but without a grisly harvest of wire snares, is a jubilant patrol.
And, on the topic of patrols, we were very grateful last month to receive brand new boots, donated by Jim Green footwear, organised by The Tashinga Initiative (Lynne Taylor). Good, sturdy, comfortable boots are, without a doubt, the most important piece of our rangers’ uniform – and, the generosity did not stop with Jim Green, as, quite out of the blue, a wonderful supporter of ours all the way from the UK, Tessa Naran, contacted us, saying the following:
“I recently read about the number of snare traps being found by your rangers and the horrific injuries they are causing the wildlife out in Zimbabwe. Your rangers are doing a terrific and admirable job protecting the wildlife.”
And with that, sent us a brand-new pair of leather Altberg boots – very sturdy and beautifully made, and we are keeping them separate for whoever our Ranger of the Year is for 2024!

Rangers try on their brand-new Jim Green boots

Another very exciting piece of news, which will have far reaching effects on our theatre of influence, is that we have finally signed an MoU with Zimparks, which has been a long time in the concept phase. This is an extremely important agreement, that will allow us, accompanied by Parks rangers, to increase our activities, particularly on the Lake. Also, we will now be an even tougher force to be reckoned with, as our land and lake patrols will also comprise members of the Army, Police Support Unit plus ourselves. An MoU allows us greater coverage into areas which were formerly restricted, especially on the lake, which forms part of the Parks and Wildlife Estate. It also caters for indemnity clauses, which would otherwise prevent non-signatories from operating efficiently. It also clarifies roles and responsibilities, and promotes joint problem-solving and decision making, as well as demonstrates commitment and intention to collaborate on matters of mutual concern.
The old African proverb comes to mind here – “ if you want to go fast, go alone , if you want to go far, go together”

Go far - go together!

Whilst on the subject of exciting news, we were thrilled to be awarded The 2024 Environmental Award by AZTA – the Association of Zimbabwe Travel Agents. This is awarded annually in recognition of work done which helps to promote Zimbabwe as a tourist destination – as beautiful as our area is, foreign guests visit to see the incredible variety of game, not just to gaze at unforgettable sunsets! We see the results of our protection year after year, as previously rare species return, and our existing population expands – the animals know where they are safe.

Moredays, Lovemore and Chris proudly hold their award certificate

On the topic of rare species returning - an extremely interesting sighting, caught on a camera trap sponsored by African Bush Camps Foundation (ABCF), was a serval – a species not having been seen in the Bumi area for over 10 years. We see their cousins – the caracal – more often, so this is really exciting indeed!

Serval, caught on a camera trap sponsored by African Bush Camps Foundation

And finally, the best news of all – ‘Blondie’, the lion who was so desperately ill a couple of months ago, and whom we helped on his way to recovery, is back to full mane-bristling strength – he and his brother ‘Scarface’, continue to cut a swathe through the lionesses of the Matusadona National Park, and return here to Bumi every couple of weeks to treat us to concerts of truly earth-shattering roars – a sound we listen to with unalloyed gratitude.

Waiting for the rains to fall again…

Bumi Hills Anti-poaching Unit Quaterly Round Up January-March 2023

Quarterly Round Up - January/March 2023

Our rangers have been extremely busy patrolling, as ever, as can be seen from the attached stats for January, February and March – 129 patrols over 5552 km, deactivating 101 snares and uplifting over 14 km of illegal monofilament netting from the waters of the Lake. There is literally no respite from patrolling – it has to happen, day after day, both on land and on water, if we have any hope at all of keeping control of our area. Our scouts work for 42 days at a stretch, after which they have two weeks’ time-off, with what we call an ‘Admin
Day’ included whilst on duty over this period, when a wellearned ‘day off’ is awarded. It’s not an easy job and we salute them.

Rangers are taken by boat to their place of work, taking the opportunity to look out for fishermen working with prohibited nets (nets that are too small, non-weatherable material)

Well, that was an action packed couple of months!
From brand new Landcruisers to boats stuck in a flash flood, from a new baby
banded mongoose for rewilding, to lion collaring, the first three months of 2023 have literally rushed past, much like these waves on a stormy day on the Lake.

Surf’s Up! Wavy lake Kariba on an autumn day; in the distance the Matusadona Mountains.

Autumn is creeping stealthily in, after a rather patchy rainy season – we have
reluctantly accepted that the rains have come to an end now, with our final season total a rather sad 646 mm – the lowest for many, many years. Weather patterns are upside down all over the world, and Zimbabwe is no exception – it did become a bit annoying hearing our colleagues (collectively known as the ‘Bamba Zonke’ (to take it all)) on the Highveld complaining about too much rain, though, it must be said! However, for now the grass is still thick and green and the trees still well covered with foliage – but later in the year after winter, we may see some weaker animals battling to maintain condition, as the available food gradually withers under the intense sunshine.

„Hmm…what’s for lunch?!” A couple of young male lions peeping out of the thick summer grass.

In happier news – a year ago, the team from Animal Survival International visited us, and, as they were leaving, they said “What do you need? What can we help you with?” Jokingly, (or so we thought) we said “a new Landcruiser”. Consider it done, they said. And lo and behold, they were true to their word, and in February we took delivery from ASI of a brand new Landcruiser, which replaced our exhausted 35 year old vehicle. This is a huge donation, and we are incredibly grateful to this wonderful team, who continue to support us in any way they can. The new cruiser, named ‘Jeremiah’ sadly received its first scratch on its gleaming paintwork a week or so, resulting in much lamenting…

"‘Jeremiah" takes the place of old "Lionel" who has earned his retirement (BHAPU Newsletter Q1-2022)

We worked on two animals recently – from the very small and helpless to the very large and most definitely not so helpless!
The first one was a young bushbuck, who had a piece of pvc plastic piping tightly caught about his ankle, which must have been extremely painful and would have resulted in the occlusion of blood vessels to his foot if not treated. We were able to remove it and set the little creature free – we like to think that the backwards look he gave us and the flick of his tail as he slipped back into the forested Musango Island was one of thanks.

Mark attending to the immobilised young bushbuck.

And the very large was a fully grown lion! A bit of a back story here – lions have battled to get a foothold in the Bumi Hills area, as we are surrounded by hunting and communal areas – with lion on quota, there is always the
risk of one being hunted – we have lost three male lions over the past ten years in this manner. If they stray into the communal areas, where domestic livestock roam freely, the temptation to hunt these docile animals becomes too much, especially when a lioness is hunting on her own and feeding cubs, as has occurred a couple of years ago. ‘Luyando’, the lioness, was left on her own to bring up cubs after her pride was virtually wiped out by human induced mortality in one form or another. She then turned to domestic 
cattle/goats/donkeys, as it was so much easier for her to hunt these than wild game. Unfortunately, her daughters have been taught to do the same thing, and recently two of her descendants, ‘Rakesh’ and ‘Najaam’, who, once they had become habitual livestock killers, were destroyed by the relevant local authorities. We attach the full report on this terrible loss.

The three magnificent "Bumi Boys".

 

And finally, introducing "Percy"

banded mongooses "Percy"

After our very successful rewilding of ‘Thelma’ and ‘Louise’, the two banded mongooses who have completely integrated with the wild pack, we were presented with another mongoose orphan from Kariba - a baby banded, named ‘Percy’. This will be a harder re-wild than the two girls, being a male and therefore a threat to the existing dominant males of the pack, but we hope to one day see him setting off to join Thelma and Louise. Or ‘stealing’ some younger girls of his own!

In the meantime, he is a very endearing little creature, and we love having him pottering about camp – he has chummed up with a lone young warthog (now called ‘Priscilla’) who regularly visits the green lawn, and watching them play together is a refreshing break from our everyday concerns!

Friends of Hwange – Report July 2024

Friends of Hwange - Report July 2024

Drought Crisis - July 2024 

Testament to catastrophic drought conditions, the bulk of the elephant have already migrated towards the northern areas of the Park and buffalo are congregating into large herds far earlier than usual, the sure sign of a tough season ahead. Most natural pans have dried up while vegetation is generally sparse or non-existent.

Game Water

Game Water

Water provision for wildlife is fundamental to our work and this year will be particularly critical as we strive to alleviate the unfolding crisis.  Elephant pressure during the dry months in Hwange is always extreme, and this year is escalating rapidly with an influx of animals from neighbouring territories pouring into the Park searching for food and water.

To that end we have identified seven key pans for installation of battery systems to augment water supplies, but substantial funding is urgently required to achieve this in time to alleviate the crisis. The opportunity afforded elephants to drink at night when it’s cool is of great benefit to them and relieves pressure on the pans during the day, allowing smaller creatures access to water. Aiding this are the troughs that have been refurbished at many of the pans drawing elephants to the source of the cool, clean water they crave.

A desperate situation is looming as regards animal losses this year. Elephant numbers in Hwange have increased substantially over the last few decades mainly due to the availability of pumped water and adequate vegetation as a result of normal rainfall. However, these numbers are not sustainable under the severe drought conditions we are facing. The lack of adequate fodder coupled with extreme late season heat could herald a disaster of epic proportions. Whilst we can’t do much about the heat, nor can we supply extra food, we can act to supply more water in efforts to mitigate animal suffering. Funding assistance for this is urgently required.

Fireguards

Fireguards

There has been some confusion regarding the burning of fireguards this year. Harrowing the firebreaks was completed months ago, and when we finally received permission from the ZimParks for control burning, the teams were advised to stop before completion in an effort to preserve all available vegetation as a food source for game. Therefore, the fire management program within the Park this year has not been adequately addressed which unfortunately poses some risk. The FOH teams have already been called upon to fight a fire that started outside Dete town earlier this month. With some intervention, and with little vegetation to burn, fortunately the fire died out quite quickly and areas with  decent browse and grazing were not affectend.

Game Counts

Game Counts

Despite numerous delays, the FOH team together with ZimParks and various other stakeholders eventually managed to complete the early dry season road strip counts albeit a month late. The teams started at Main Camp, then proceeded to Sinamatella, Robins, Ngamo and finally the Wilderness area. Good numbers of game were noted, with an influx of animals seen moving up from the south of the Park. Ngamo is a dust bowl, and although there is reasonable cover in some places, it consists mostly of non-palatable grass species. A lot of Elephant and Buffalo were evident.

Anti-Poaching

Anti-Poaching

On the Anti-poaching front, the FOH scouts continue with patrols and investigations both inside and outside the Park. While the illegal grazing of livestock seems to have eased up in some areas, testament to maintaining a presence in the area, some wood poachers were apprehended. The scouts have been fully provisioned to facilitate deployments in the field. Snare patrols are ongoing to remove the heinous devices made of copper wire and steel cable that cause indescribable animal suffering.

Tourism

Tourism

The platform at Guvalala, that was in a sad state of disrepair, has been given a complete facelift. The water tank plumbing has been addressed, ablutions upgraded, the thatched roof replaced, a hot water “donkey boiler” installed, and all brickwork repaired and re-painted. A securely enclosed area has been established beneath the platform to safeguard overnight campers. Grateful thanks to Tony Wharam of Gwanda Service Builders for a job well done, and to WEZ Matabeleland for a contribution towards the costs. Similar repairs and additions to the Makwa platform are planned.

two trusty tractors

Two trusty tractors

After years of loyal service, our original two trusty tractors have undergone major refurbishment and are almost as good as new. These tractors are vital for much of our work to repair roads, pans and dams, and should afford us many more years of service.

Acknowledgments and appreciation

Acknowledgments and appreciation

We are indebted to Jason Friend, Steve Alexander and the FOH work teams for their stalwart efforts always.

In addition, the following organisations and individuals are due special mention for their crucial, unfailing support:  
 

·       The Bright Light Foundation and Hornligrat Stifting facilitated by Frank Zindel

·       The Darcy and Robert Gillespie Charity Foundation

·       Michael Maltas facilitated by Empowers Africa

·       Global Humane facilitated by Taryn Gillson

·       Empowered by Light facilitated by Moira Hanes

·       Animal Survival facilitated by Taryn Slabbert

·       Saving Endangered Wildlife facilitated by Wolfgang Hennig

·       Evereden Foundation facilitated by Duncan Owen

·       Diana Sutter; Prabha Sarangi; Simon Isherwood

·       Biddulphs facilitated by Andrew Gibbons 

·       Sawpower Harare, facilitated by Ralph and Greg Stead

·       Intraf Services (Machinery Exchange) facilitated by Geoff Riley

·       Fuchs Lubricants

·       The Taberer family

·       Wildlife and Environment Zimbabwe (WEZ), Matabeleland Branch

·       Hwange Conservation Society, UK

·       All loyal donors that send regular amounts directly or via PayPal that add up significantly

·       Zimbabwe Parks and Wildlife Management Authority (ZimParks), with whom we work very closely

Our most heartfelt appreciation to you all. 

Visit to Muuyu Island (Rhino Island)

Unfortunately, the name Rhino Island is misleading because 1. it is not an island, but a peninsula on the Kariba Lake and 2. the rhinos were unfortunately wiped out there by poachers over 20 years ago. However, efforts are being made to reintroduce them. But the remaining wildlife is also marvellous, especially the extensive bird watchings.

It is astonishing that the elephants are able to suck in these large quantities of dust ...

... have not developed pneumoconiosis over the years.

The dust serves as a sun and insect screen.

The Lilac-breasted Roller is always beautiful to look at, both sitting ...

... and flying

Cormorant taking off

The saddle-billed stork looks like a German ambassador to Africa with its black, red and gold bill.

The African fish eagle is only halfway through its breakfast and brings the rest to safety.

Evening atmosphere with buffaloes at Lake Kariba

The sunset is marvellous as always.

The hippo enjoys the last rays of sunshine.

Visit to the Bumi Hills Anti-poaching Unit (BHAPU) at Kariba Lake

We have also been supporting the anti-poaching unit in the Bumi Hills at the Kariba Lake for years. It is headed by Mark Brightman and Catherine Norton. In this area, the focus is on cruel poaching with snares and fish poaching with illegal nets (meshes too small, non-decomposable material).

As soon as we arrive at Kariba Lake, we are greeted by our friend Mark Brightman

Mark also receives a valuable instrument for better animal protection as a guest gift.

... then the marvellous sunset

The next day we went on patrol.

Four fish poachers were caught working with very large illegal nets.

The poachers themselves had to burn the nets on the spot.

Of course, there was also time for some great wildlife spotting, such as this one of a giant kingfisher having breakfast.

... or the rare African Hoopoe.

Farewell to Gisela and Wolfgang Hennig (right) by Catherine Norton and Mark Brightman (left)

3 Quarterly Update 2023 Bumi Hills Anti-poaching Unit (BHAPU)

BHAPU Q3 Newsletter

A very Good Day to you all, from our perch overlooking an extremely hazy and hot Lake Kariba!

At this time of the year, it’s a bit like living in a very large bubble – the haze in the atmosphere increases daily, until we reach the stage where can no longer even see the end of our harbour, only a kilometre or twoaway. The haze is largely caused by bushfires, which sweep across the tinder dry bush in every quarter of our country during September and October. Most, thankfully, are small and peter out quite quickly, but we do get the occasional blaze that lights up the night sky, and keeps rangers out at all hours, backburning and beating. It never ceases to amaze that, even before the rains, grass pricks through the ashy black residue from a fire, the luminous green shoots otherworldly in such a barren environment.

Haze envelopes the Bumi peninsula, whilst a fire map of Southern Africa shows where the haze originates.

Enough of the weather report – on to all important updates!

Kutwi, the young elephant with the terrible snare around her ear and tusk, whom we treated in June (see Q2 Newsletter), has made a remarkable recovery. We did not see her, or her family, for quite some time post treatment, and anxiety levels were high, as a wound such as she was carrying held a high risk of severeinfection. Thankfully, after about a month, she and her mother were spotted, but quite far away, soalthough we at least knew that she was still with us, and feeding, we were unable to get a good look at her ear. Fast forward to a week ago, when we had a very clear sighting of her – and were overjoyed to see thatnot only had her wound healed, but that she even had a bit of movement in her ear, something we did not think that she would ever regain. Plus, she has something to take her mind off her floppy ear – a brand newsibling, spotted tucked closely in between Kutwi, and her mother. This last bit of information explains whyher mother was so very protective of Kutwi when we were sedating her – not only was she looking after her 8-year- old, but was in the final stages of a 22-month pregnancy…

Kutwi and her mother – the healed ear can be clearly seen (apologies for the picture quality – they are actually stills from a video clip)

Our other update is on Tariro, the lioness, and her 5 cubs. The cubs are now 5 months old, and, against all odds, are thriving. Tariro remains extremely elusive and hard to spot – most of the sightings of her and herfamily have been after dark, and we try not to disturb her then when she is more than likely hunting – but we can confirm that they are all doing exceptionally well. We continue our efforts to sedate and collar her,but she is a wily and clever lioness, and has so far ignored all our attempts at baiting her, or calling her up(using prerecorded ‘buffalo in distress’ sounds). The best way, we have found in the past, with such cases, is not to force the process – when the right opportunity presents itself, all will go smoothly – rushing and over reacting often creates a far greater problem. So – in your own time, Tariro! Can you spot the cub keeping a close eye on us? (see below)

Tariro with one of her five curious cubs – thank you to Dylan van Deventer for the pictures

As can be seen by our stats for the third quarter of this year, we have seen a tremendous upsurge in illegal wire snaring. Mention the word ‘poaching’ and thoughts of firearms and axes probably spring to mind. Yetthere is another type of poaching, and it’s silent, cruel, cheaper and equally as deadly. We call them our own weapons of mass destruction.

Wire snares are easy to prepare and set and are usually for bushmeat. Any type of wire can be used, fromtelephone and other cables to barbed wire fencing. Once the snare is prepared all the poacher has to do is position his crude, cruel device and wait. Often a poacher will set snares at several sites, returning after a day or more to check his random trap; it’s estimated one poacher can set up to twenty snares a day. Any animal unlucky enough to have been snared may be exhausted and terribly injured from struggling to freeitself… or dead after suffering for hours. Up to ninety percent of snaring victims are left to rot in the bushbecause the poacher will not usually collect every single one of his snares’ victims. Every day rangers spend valuable time searching for, and removing snares. Frequently they will find new snares in place the dayafter a snare sweep. Removing snares before they trap an animal is a constant battle. Wire snares areindiscriminate, killing and maiming from the very small, to the very large. A classic example of snaredamage is Kutwi’s injury – although we completely understand the man who lays his snare and comes backto check it in the evening, hoping for food for his family, we do not understand nor sympathise with thecommercial bush meat poachers, who are responsible for the huge quantities of snares we find and destroy. They are committers of ‘crimes of greed’ as opposed to ‘crimes of need’.

an Impala caught in a snare

Finally, a word from our Conservation Manager, on the recent darting of a bushbuck on nearby Musango Island. Our thanks, as always, to ZimParks (ZPWLMA) and Musango island Safari Camp.

“Bushbuck can be a tricky species to capture, and is usually best done with nets, as they areoften wary of close approach on foot. However, Musango’s bushbuck are very acclimatised to humans, so off we set with all our darting kit and paraphernalia in tow.

Our first attempt (a week or so earlier) was viewed with great suspicion – this was not normal so she (the intended ‘victim’) was ultra-alert. Sure enough, upon approach, she ‘darted’ off, not to be seen again that afternoon.

So, Plan ‘B’ was put into effect when we were told she was back and quite relaxed, amongst the buildings of the staff accommodation at Musango. A revised strategy saw us with fewer people tagging along and a nonchalant, gradual approach, casually whistling to “In the Jungle, the Mighty Jungle, the Lion Sleeps Tonight”, which, despite the reference to an arch predator, seemed to work just fine…

She was successfully darted and after some minutes, she showed signs of the immobilising drug taking effect, by lying down under a shady tree. After another 3 – 4 minutes given forthe drug to take full effect, a careful approach was made. BUT she was having none of it, and as she was about to be restrained by hand, up she leaped and bounced off! A valiantattempt by the Conservation Manager to grab her by the back legs was thwarted when helost his grip and fell headlong into a spiky bush…

As there were ladies present, the language used was fairly restrained and polite, and fortunately the bushbuck tripped over a horizontal branch and was caught fairly shortly thereafter. This allowed her to be restrained properly and a blindfold and ear plugs applied, and after all that excitement, she succumbed quite nicely, allowing the troublesome plastic pipe to be removed from her foot.

 

Fortunately, the injury was not too serious, and after administering an anti-biotic, vitamin ‘B’ and topical dressing, she was reversed successfully, and wandered off, none the worse for wear.”

Robin Edwards, from Musango, keeps an eye on the bushbuck as she comes out of sedation.

That’s about it for this quarter – please have a look at our new and improved website, where you will find all our past newsletters, stats and some wonderful videos. Thank you all so much for your support and encouragement – it means a lot to us.

2 Quarterly Update 2023 Bumi Hills Anti-poaching Unit (BHAPU)

NewsletterQ2_2023

It’s chilly! We are in the middle of the very best part of the year here weather wise – calm, sunny days with anice bite to the breeze, and nights when we can actually get under a blanket or two, and don’t need a fan! That’s us humans. However – it’s not quite so nice for the animals, as the bush dries out and graze and browse become scarcer and scarcer. A great boon here, however, for flora and fauna alike, is the narrow ribbon of grass that lines the shore of the Lake, dominated by Panicum repens, known as Torpedo Grass, which is very high in nutritional value. The lake is continuing to recede as there are no inflows from the rivers at the moment, compounded by the low rainfall received in the catchment areas (courtesy of El Nino), which is not great for the country’s’ hydroelectric power, but is fantastic for providing damp fertile conditions for the grass to thrive! For our elephants, maintaining their strength becomes a full-time job,given that they require between 170 and 230 kgs of food a day – when most of this is obtained from painstakingly scuffed up grass, you can imagine that there is little time left over for rest, or play.

These two little ellies, however, still partly dependent upon their mother’s milk, have lots or energy to expend!

Never ignore a good muddy patch!

And now to our lions – ah, the saga of the Bumi lions. It just seems that these magnificent animals cannot catch a break, and it all boils down to Human Wildlife Conflict. We have sad news, and glad news, so let’sget the sad news out of the way first.

A couple of weeks ago, our oldest lion in the coalition of three, Blackbeard, wandered into the adjacent hunting concession, where he was shot as part of a legal hunt. At almost exactly the same time, Blondie, our collared lion, and one of the remaining two of the coalition of three, was struck down with a devastatingmystery illness, one we feared that he would not recover from.

Blondie, as previously mentioned, has a collar, which we track by satellite. On the morning of the 23rd June, hot on the heels of the news about Blackbeard, we noticed that Blondie had not moved from one spot in over 14 hours. Whilst this is not unusual, and normally means that they are on a kill, we were nevertheless on high alert, quite naturally, regarding all things lions, and this was worrying. Late that afternoon, we wentout to check what was going on. I will let Mark, our Conservation Manager, take up the tale, as he was minutely involved in the process:

“Seeing no movement from Blondie, we had an inkling that something was not quite right. So, we immediately went to go and look for him. Judging by the satellite map, he was very close to a convenient bush track which crossed a dry river bed. Sure enough, we found him there, lying on his side in the sand. Atfirst glance he looked as though he was simply resting.

Blondie – seemingly ‘resting’

However, when we moved closer, we saw Blondie was struggling to rise – he couldn’t even get up on to hishaunches to growl at us. Something was definitely seriously wrong. But there were no signs of any apparent injury visible either.

Realising we had an issue on our hands, we immediately contacted African Parks/Parks and WildlifeAuthority at Tashinga, who in turn arranged permission for Blondie to be darted and his condition assessed.They arrived on site later that afternoon, bringing with them wildlife veterinarian Dr Panashe Mudandishe,from Ume Croc Farm, close to Bumi.

We then immobilised Blondie with capture drugs – he took much more of the normal dose than weanticipated – possibly because, due to his immobile condition, circulation was poor, and therefore the drugs weren’t absorbed as quickly as normal. Eventually however he succumbed and a thorough examination ofhim was carried out. Again, there were no obvious signs as to the cause of his condition. It was a mystery. Possibilities such as poisoning, rabies and or snakebite were considered, but nothing conclusive was forthcoming. So, after rehydrating him as best we could, and administering a big dose of anti-inflammatory drug, multi- vitamins and anti-biotics, we reluctantly left him, after reversing those drugs that could be, andmaking sure he was revived sufficiently enough to fend for himself, as best he could, under his present condition.

First thing the next day we returned, expecting the worse. However, he was awake, but STILL unable to rise – or even move anything except his legs feebly, where he had gouged furrows in the sand.

Furrows gouged in the sand where he tried to rise.

Blondie unable to rise.

He remained in this condition for a full 7 days – an extremely worrying time. At one stage we came close to suggesting that we humanely euthanise him, as by day he was lying in the full sun, and by night, he had to endure the cold winter temperatures, lying as he was in a low-lying riverbed. We alleviated his discomfort as much as we could – providing him with a space blanket (not many lions in Africa get this sort of VIP treatment!). This was not, however, without much snarling and growling, which was not really sporting of him!

Blondie voices his displeasure at our attempts to cover him with a space blanket!

Eventually he accepted that we were not giving up!

Reflective side up – deflecting the hot full sun as much as possible

He initially refused a carefully placed dog’s bowl of water placed nearby. However, knowing it was vital we kept himhydrated, we came up with a plan whereby we filled a 150 litre water drum with water, and carefully manoeuvred it into a position above where he was lying in the riverbed. We then slowly poured the water out, so it filtered down the embankment and into a muddy pool, which filled up nicely, very close to where he was lying, thus giving him a clean supply of water (see photo below).

By the morning day 8, our hopes were rapidly fading, and we were contemplating our next move – Blondie had not shown any marked signs of improvement, nor had he made any attempts to rise fully, so it was a very pleasant andjoyful surprise, when we found him sitting up and looking around at his surroundings with interest!

Blondie sitting up !

As he had not eaten anything for over a week, we were anxious to get some food into him

to keep his strength up. So, the only thing we had immediately available was some choice beef and pork cuts from our base’s kitchen! Our cook’s eyebrows shot up when we told him what we were looking for – but he willingly surrendered these when we told him the reason why! We later managed to secure some impala meat for him which helped enormously.

From then on, Blondie has not looked back. It has been quite amazing – and remarkable – to see how he has pulled back from an almost hopeless condition, to regaining his full mobility – nothing short of remarkable. It is alsofortunate that we don’t have a large hyena population in the area – they would have most certainly made short work of him, had they found him.

We are still no closer to establishing the cause of his affliction, but are most gratified he has pulled through – against all odds it seems. Even more so, after the loss of their colleague ‘Blackbeard’ to hunting. So, the two brothers remain – ‘Blondie’ and ‘Scarface’, and together, we hope they will be able to form the foundation for a new Bumi Pride – as hard as this will be due to the challenges they will face. The trio were well known for their forays into Matusadona National Park – wandering as far away as Fothergill and Spurwing, challenging the resident males thereand no doubt hoping to acquire some lionesses to bring back to their home ground. We hope, now being the twobrothers, that this will still be the case. So we say “Long live Blondie and Scarface!”

‘Blondie’ looking a little bit worse for wear after his ordeal, now recovering

Mark and his team deserve so many plaudits for the care of Blondie, without which he probably would have succumbed to dehydration – we pray that both he and his brother continue to thrive safely here at Bumi.

As you can see from our stats, the snaring scourge continues and we continue to do everything that we can to preventand stop this epidemic – as we have mentioned before, the scale of this snaring means that it is a crime of greed, notneed, and is part of the lucrative bushmeat trade, as opposed to an honest attempt to feed a family.

Our Rangers have been hard at work day in and day out mitigating the growing threat. As the effects of this drought start to take hold, incursions and attempts on our animals are at an all-time high, and the pressure onour bank account mounts – if you are in a position to be able to donate towards our work, we would be incredibly grateful – we can be contacted on cath@bumihillsfoundation.org

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