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AFRICA GEOGRAPHIC NAMIBIA’S WILD CATS LIVE ON Dark, heavy clouds gather ominously in the east. Surrounding hilltops disappear. The deluge begins. In a few hours the ephemeral rivers will start to run, the roads will become impassable and the African bush will smile once again. It is the rainy season, the middle of summer; we are in the heart of Namibia on the guest farm Okonjima, the home of the Africat Foundation.
Okonjima, the Herero for “place of the baboon”, is an extensive tract of land nestling amongst the Omboroko mountains some seventy kilometres south of the small town of Otjiwarongo. Historically the surrounding land would have been home to some of Africa’s finest wildlife, today it is farmland. Cattle farmland to be precise, part of Namibia’s agriculture industry, providing work and a livelihood for many of the country’s local inhabitants. For the last 35 years Okonjima has been in the hands of the Hanssen family. Danish and British by extraction, the family today is one of only a handful of first language English-speaking Namibians. Wayne Hanssen taking over the reins of the homestead from his father in 1991 had a dream to turn the land back to its former splendour. Today, 15 years later, the achievements of the Hanssen family together with staff, friends and investors, are significant. The original farm has grown in size to 56 000 acres, the cattle have disappeared, grasslands are returning. Best of all, wherever you roam on the land one will, with a little patience, be rewarded with sightings of Africa’s glorious fauna and flora all returning to this Garden of Eden. To make this happen the Hanssens have created an impressive tourist operation. Offering accommodation styles which vary from camping, through simple luxury to sumptuous extravagance, Okonjima is not so much a holiday as an experience. The key to the experience is the Africat Foundation, a non-profit organisation primarily dedicated to the conservation of Namibia’s large carnivores. The cheetah as the flagship species is closely followed by the leopard, lion, wild dog and brown and spotted hyaenas. At first glance the coexistence of predators and livestock farming may appear to be an enigma. But it is the belief of the Africat Foundation, together with other like-minded organisations and individuals in Namibia, that it can be achieved. The foundation has thus far consisted of three wings: education, research and welfare. A fourth is soon to be integrated: sustainable living.
The youth education programme has over the years reached a large number of people. Concentrating initially on the environment as a whole, school children from all over the country have been able to expand their understanding of conservation by visiting AfriCat’s on-site education centre or through an extensive outreach programme. Future plans include training courses on predator-friendly farming techniques, conservation issues and sustainable living. The conflict between farmers and predators naturally results in a number of cheetahs and leopards that have to be removed from their home ranges. Africat attempts to keep this number to a minimum, wherever possible working with the farmer by explaining management techniques which can minimise losses. Those that have to be removed and can be released are relocated to less antagonistic areas. In the last 12 years AfriCat has dealt with over 850 cheetahs and leopards - 85% have been returned to the wild. Animals that are sick, injured or too young or old to be released, are taken under the welfare wing of the foundation. The increasing number of orphaned cheetahs in their care initiated the formation of a 10 000-acre rehabilitation area. Cheetahs released into the area are given the opportunity to hunt and fend for themselves while being closely monitored. When they are considered to be “bush-wise” they are able to be returned to their natural habitat. The programme has been successful and shows considerable promise as a means to giving some of these cheetahs their freedom. To extend this opportunity to a greater number of cats, there are plans to enlarge the rehabilitation area in the near future.
Cheetah, the fastest land mammal on the planet, has always fascinated scientists. Questions surrounding their demography, behaviour and physiological adaptations are at the forefront of ongoing research throughout the world. Some of this is in captive populations, but much still needs to be understood about what is happening in the wild. Africat has been involved in research covering health issues such as ocular, dental and gastric disease, reproductive physiology and anthrax. The University of the Witwatersrand’s physiology department are currently at AfriCat conducting a study on thermoregulation in the cheetah. Factors which limit the period the cheetah can maintain its incredibly high sprint speeds may become clearer through the use of small thermosensors mounted in the abdomen coupled to activity monitors located under the skin of a hindleg. The foundation sees itself as carrying out both its own research as well as supporting other large carnivore work in Namibia.
At the end of the day there can be no
long-term conservation without the involvement and commitment
of people. For the greater part it is the human race which
limits and pressurises environments; it is man who will be
responsible for the success or failure of any endeavour to
keep alive wild spaces and their inhabitants. To this end Africat
is in the process of developing a “sustainable
living” wing to its organisation. This will aim to bring
together all those who make a living from the land, all those
who care about and are responsible for the future of Namibia’s
environment: the farmers, the conservationists, the educators
and the children. A section of the Okonjima land will be available
for a group of rural local Namibians to develop a community in
which they will be able to live side by side with nature while
at the same time earning a living from agriculture and wildlife
in a diverse number of ways. Schooling and health facilities
will be available on site. Training courses will be run for others
interested in working along similar lines. It is hoped that eventually
this model can be spread to other parts of the country. The lot
of the “man on the land” will be improved helping
him to combat the scourges of poverty, HIV/AIDS, ignorance and
desperation. 2005 to 2014 is the United Nations decade of sustainable
development. Those living and working at the Africat Foundation
on the farm Okonjima will be doing their small part to try to
make this dream come true.
AFRICA GEOGRAPHIC For more information, contact: AfriCat Foundation: Carla Conradie, Tel: ++264 (0)67 304566,
e-mail: africat@mweb.com.na |
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