BLOG – 17TH JULY 2012

By: Liz Winterton

NETBALL MATCH: CONSERVATION CLUB V’S KAFINDA: FRIDAY 1ST JUNE
On Friday 1st June the Girls’ Conservation Club travelled to Kafinda Basic School for a friendly Netball Match (or so I thought!)…

After introducing the two teams; us being an un-practiced group with myself masquerading as a relatively good netball player when in fact I hadn’t played for 8 years, and the Kafinda Girl’s 1st team made up of girls from Grades 8 and 9, play got underway. I had vaguely remembered the rules before the first whistle went, but it soon became apparent the way we were taught and played netball in England was not quite the same as in Zambia. After 5 minutes of frantically running up and down court wondering how they can run so fast I swiftly resigned myself to the sub’s bench and let the girls show me how it’s done; Zambia competitive style.

The level of competition was extremely fierce, quickly diminishing my idea of a nice relaxed friendly game, and after a few initial disputes of the 1m rule and a time-out to discuss and clarify the rules, the game once again picked up the pace. After 1hr of rigorous play and lots of the crazy Muzungu (myself) roaring ‘Come on, you can do it!!’ the final score was 20-14 to Kafinda.

The game was clearly enjoyed by all, particularly the 100-strong crowd we managed to create, and will definitely be repeated in the near future. Besides, we need to show Kafinda we can beat them!

The crowd gathering

Fierce competition

The Teams

SPECIAL VISITORS

On Wednesday 11th July, a few days after arriving back in Kasanka from holiday, I was treated to my first elephant herd sighting of the year. Bastiaan had spotted the elephants coming our way across the plain so we cycled down to watch the crossing from the safety of the bat hide. It was one of the most amazing things I’ve ever seen with the 19 strong herd coming within 40m of us crouched silently on the platform before heading into the Mushitu and the woodland beyond. With a mixture of fear and awe I snapped away with my camera thinking I would not get the opportunity to be so close to a wild elephant for a long time to come; I was wrong….

The matriarch leading the way

Calfs being herded away

Some of the herd followed by the HUGE bull

Shortly after getting back to camp I jumped in the shower, and to my surprise, when I got out there was a bull elephant feeding in the forest 30m from my tent! A short while later he made his way back to the rest of the herd, casually by-passing where I sit to eat lunch. 

Passing by Kinda Camp

R.I.P. JOJO?
Whilst I was on holiday, Anna informed me that one of our adult males, Jojo, had disappeared from the group. Although he was one of the oldest males in the troop he was still high-ranking and had a variety of mating partners. He was also suspected to be the father of Rhianna, Roseanne’s infant born back in April, so it seemed strange that he appeared to have emigrated from the troop, and questions were raised as to whether he had been killed by poachers.

Now the grass is burnt, the preferred method of poaching baboons is to use dogs, and despite the hard work of KTL scouts we still hear dogs barking relatively frequently within the home range covered by our study troop. 

Unfortunately, a few days ago whilst walking in the forest our study troop frequents every few weeks, we came across a skeleton of an adult male baboon. The skeleton appeared to be 2-3 weeks old, and whilst not wanting to jump to conclusions, the age of the skeleton fits with around the time Jojo disappeared. Fortunately we have managed to collect hair samples for genetic analysis so we will be able to confirm whether or not the baboon was Jojo. 

Although we frequently hear of poaching incidents, it was still a shock to have one of our study males killed. It is a sad reminder that despite the huge efforts by KTL to control poaching within Kasanka it still continues, and until funds are raised to provide more patrol groups, and villagers are educated on the cumulative effects of poaching, it will continue. 

Jojo

Adult male baboon skeleton

MORE BABIES: TOTAL NOW 7!

Over the last few weeks we’ve had 2 more babies born. Whitney has given birth to a white/grey infant, and Godiva has had a little girl with a black head and grey body. We were even fortunate enough to witness Godiva eating the umbilical cord of her newborn! At a few weeks old now, Whitney’s infant is becoming more mobile and starting to interact with the other infants and juveniles. At just over a week old, Godiva’s infant is still clinging to mum, but is becoming more aware of her surroundings and getting more tactile with the inquisitive infants and adult females. 

Godiva and Grace with Roseanne and Rhianna

Whitney and her new female infant (name undecided)

BLOG – 29th MAY 2012

By: Liz Winterton

ANOTHER NEW BABY!
In the early hours of May 24th, a black baby was born to …. This brings our grand total to 5 so far this year, with 3 white, 1 grey and 1 black. Although yet to all be named, all the babies seem to be healthy and are getting more adventurous every day, with some even starting to try and climb the smaller trees. The slightly older babies are now starting to ride on their mum’s backs, and Cash is even going for a ride with Mr Wizard.

Cash, Clover's Infant

Hope with her 1 day old infant Helen

Roseanne's baby Rhianna

Norah with her VERY white infant Nalu

CHANGING LANDSCAPES

As we are now well into the dry season poachers are starting to burn the forests to make poaching easier. In an effort to combat this, and minimise the devastating effects an out of control fire could have on the flora and fauna of Kasanka, we are currently undergoing a period termed ‘early burning’ whereby fire breaks are slashed and controlled fires started. 

Surprisingly, the baboons seem to be in their element, congregating along the freshly burnt patches scavenging for insects, and using the open view to socialise and relax. 

BIKE RACE

On Saturday 26th May Kasanka held their Annual MTB Challenge. This year we had over 80 entrants competing in 3 races; 3km, 22km and 53km. Rather foolishly I decided I should compete in the 53km race, so early on Saturday morning I was standing in the cold at the Conservation Centre ready to set off. 

After nearly 5 hours of cycling (I’m very slow!), walking through a swamp, crossing a tree bridge and walking to the top of ‘tough guy’s hill’, I finally finished, predictably, in last place! Although absolutely exhausting, it was a fantastic event and I definitely recommend it for all you budding cyclists next year. A big congratulations to the winner, Stephen Wells, who completed the course in an incredible 2 hours 10 minutes. 

A hello from the Kasanka baboon Projects Girls Math and Science Club

A New Baby:

On the 11th May we observed that Norah had given birth to a healthy white infant. This is her third known infant and will join her other offspring; Natalie and Nina. Norah appears to be very protective of the new addition to her family, running away from the other inquisitive baboons, and even spending very little time with Natalie and Nina. Let’s hope as her baby becomes older Norah starts to interact with the group once again, in particular, with the other females with new-born’s. 

Norah with Natalie and Nina before the birth

All-male foraging unit:

On the 12th May I noticed some really interesting behaviour between 3 of the males in our troop. They appeared to form their own social unit and go off foraging together, leaving the rest of the group some 50+ metres behind. This type of behaviour is often observed in other baboon species, particularly those living in savannah habitats where food is scarcer, but to my knowledge this is the first time we have observed it in our troop of kindas. What was even more surprising was the group consisted of the dominant male, Muma, and 2 immigrant males, Garcia and Otis. I observed them happily foraging together in a Brachystegia tree, eating pods for just under 30 minutes. The group only disbanded when other members of the troop advanced towards them, with Muma exerting his dominance and displacing Otis. 

Muma, Garcia and Otis

Community Development:

As well as continuing the baboon research, it has also been a busy week with the community side of the project. I attended a seminar by Open Africa, a South-African based non-profit organisation, which combines tourism with community development and wildlife conservation. They’re doing some great work in Zambia, so please have a look at their website; www.openafrica.org.

After teaching Grade 8 at Kafinda

I also spent 2 days teaching at the Conservation Club, and a morning teaching English at Kafinda Basic School. As mentioned in my previous blog, as part of community development, I wanted to involve some of my students and colleagues in writing the blog. This week, it was the turn of the girls from the Conservation Club.... 

GIRL’S CONSERVATION CLUB: 

As part of their English lessons and skill development I decided to start teaching them how to use the computer. I asked them all to write a small introduction about themselves, and collectively write about some of their favourite moments of being in the club…

Charity Kapambwe: My name is Charity Kapambwe and I am aged 19 years oid. I stay at Mulembo village. In our family there are 9; two sisters and six brothers. I do not have any children. Currently, I do not have a job, but in the future I want to be a teacher. I joined the Conservation Club to improve my English, Biology and Science.

Victoria Mwamba:

My name is Victoria Mwamba. I am 20 years old. I live in Malatas village. I have 4 sisters and 2 brothers. I have 1 child; a baby boy who is two years and five months old. I am doing nothing at the moment, but in the future I want to become a nurse. The reason why I joined the conservation club is that I need to improve my English and knowledge, and to learn further education in Biology and Science.

Selina Mwamba:

My name is Selina Mwamba. I am 22 years of age. I live in Malatas village in Mpulumba. I have one child who is two years and nine months old. I am doing nothing at the moment, but in the future I want to become a secretary/chief accountant. I joined the conservation club because I want to learn more about how to conserve nature and improve my knowledge in English and Biology.

Leah Mwamba:

My name is Leah Mwamba. I am 15 years old. I live in Mpulumba section at Malatas village. I have 4 sisters and 2 brothers. I don’t have any children. In the future I want 2 become a maths teacher. I joined the conservation club for further education and to improve my English speaking.

Betty Nkandu:

My name is Betty Nkandu and I am 39 years old. I live in Kafinda. I have three brothers and four sisters. I don’t have children but I am supporting 2 children which my elder sister left; she passed away. I am a general worker here at Mulaushi Conservation Centre. In the future I want to become a lodge manager. I joined the conservation club to improve my English.

Abia Mulombe:

My name is Abia Mulombe and I am 26 years old. I live in Chalilo village. I have 5 brothers and 4 sisters. I have one child aged one year and eight months. I am an up and coming chef working at mulaushi for international clients and non-international clients. I also cook for pre-school children in the Kasanka community school. I joined the conservation club for further education and to improve my English for when clients come to visit Kasanka Conservation Centre. 

OUR FIRST BLOG:

Last year, in October, we went on a visit to Kinda Camp. In the game drive we saw a big crocodile and two hippos. We also saw sitatunga, warthogs, baboons and water bucks. We stayed overnight and we had a nice dinner. 

This year in January we had a new teacher called Liz Winterton. We come to school twice in a week and learn about Science, English and Conservation. In March, we went to Kafinda Basic School to teach Grades 8 and 9 about food chains and biodiversity. It was very fun and interesting because the pupils were participating. 

Before we went to Kafinda, we also received some t-shirts from the Baboon Project. In May, we had a First Aid Course which was a lot of fun. We learnt how to put a casualty in the recovery position and perform CPR. We also learnt how to bandage. Today we are learning how to use a computer. It is our first time using one. It is a useful skill so we hope to receive more computers so we can practice. 

We hope you have enjoyed reading our first blog, and we hope to write more in the future. 

 

A very overdue update!!!

Introductions


Before I launch into giving you lots of information about the goings on at Kinda camp, I thought I should introduce myself. My name is Liz, and I am currently volunteering for the Kasanka Baboon Project as camp manager. I have been here since January, and will remain until December 2012, continuing the work of the project whilst Anna is writing up her PhD.

I’m hoping to keep the blog regularly updated and provide you with news on all the exciting things happening at Kinda. I’m also hoping to give you a bit of an insight into the work of the Kinda team by asking them to regularly contribute to the blog themselves.

So, it’s been a busy few months for myself and the project, with firstly getting to know the baboons and the research methodology, and secondly implementing a regular presence within the local community through the initiation and continuation of various projects.

As I arrived in January we also welcomed 2 new scouts; Marley and Kennedy. They both work for the Kasanka Trust and have been on the anti-poaching patrol teams for many years so have excellent tracking skills and knowledge of the forest. As well as continuing with their important anti-poaching patrols, they are now part of the research team, and accompany me in the field 20 days per month.

We also saw another new arrival in January in the form of an adult male, now named Garcia. He integrated into the group with ease with no aggressive interactions being observed. He seems to have quickly established himself as a trustworthy male and is often seen interacting with Floyd, Frieda’s 9 month old son. He has also managed to maintain a courtship with the youngest adult female, Indigo, during her periods of estrous. He has however not yet tried to contest Muma for alpha status.

     
Garcia and Floyd

Kennedy and Me

Muma

Births and Migrations


The last month has been a busy time for the kinda group. As well as having to travel further to find enough suitable food, we have welcomed the arrival of 4 babies, and said goodbye to 3 males. Two babies, one white and one grey,  were first observed on the 13th April. Due to the forest habitat, it is nearly impossible to see the majority of the group all at once, and it’s very easy for individual’s to hide away and rarely get seen, so when I first saw Clover’s infant, now named Cash, I was surprised to see him moving (if somewhat unsteadily) around on the forest floor and starting to gingerly interact with some of the more inquisitive juveniles and infants. Due to this relative independence from his mother, it appears Cash was already at least 1 month old! The grey infant on the other hand still appeared to be only a few weeks old and readily clung to her mother.

The next 2 new arrivals, both of which are white, were observed on 25th April and were approximately 1 week old. Unfortunately since the first glimpse, we have only seen one of the females and her infant again, so the other female seems to have disappeared. This unfortunately coincides with the disappearance of one of our regularly viewed females, Beth, so it is possible that she was the 4th female with an infant.
Rather surprisingly, it seems to be the females who are most interested in the new arrivals, with the exception of Mr Wizard who has now ditched his long-term ‘partner’ MJ for Clover and Cash. However, it will be interesting to see whether the males become more interested as the females get less protective and the infants start to become more independent.

We have also had 3 migrations, with males Cat, Leon and JK all leaving the group within a few weeks of each other. Hopefully it is not the last we see of them, and we will keep an eye out to see if they have joined the neighbouring baboon troop. The shift in dominance hierarchy the emigrations have produced seems to have spurred one of our adolescent males into the equivalent of his stroppy teenage years, seeing him pick fights with anyone and everyone, and even redirecting some aggressive interactions towards us! Hopefully he will grow out of this quickly!
         

       
Godiva and Jojo

Aretha and Indigo coming to inspect the new arrival

Clover and Cash

Mr Wizard keeping a close eye on Clover and Cash

Floyd and Frieda with Beth and her unnamed infant

Cat, JK, Leon

New male?
As well as having to adjust to 3 new babies in the group, the males in particular are also possibly having to adjust to an even bigger arrival; a new adult male. Once reaching adult hood, between 8 and 10 years of age, the majority of males will migrate from their natal troop and enter a new group in the prospect of finding new females to mate with, and in some cases, attempt to attain alpha status. Our new male, yet to be named, has only been observed once so far, early in the morning at one of the regularly visited sleeping sites near to camp. Seemingly unimposing he was calmly sitting near to some juveniles; however he did not try to interact with any of the group members. Maybe he was just observing the troop and deciding whether this was the group for him. We will keep a close eye out over the next few weeks to see if he returns.

The New Male

Community project updates.
The girl’s Science Club is still continuing, and proving to be a great success. With the help of the community relations team at Mulaushi, we are continuing to teach English, Science and Maths as well as life skills. This week the girls attended a First Aid course run by myself and Mary, a Peace Corps volunteer working at Mulaushi. The course covered basic first aid and the girl’s all got stuck in practicing their recovery positions, CPR and bandaging.

As a qualified TEFL teacher, I am also attending Kafinda Basic School once per month and giving English lessons to students in grades 8 and 9. My first lessons were rather daunting for myself, as well as for the students; I was not used to teaching 50 students at once with no resources except chalk and a blackboard, and the students had never been taught by a British person before! Although understandably shy at first, the students are now starting to interact more in lessons and improve their English speaking skills in particular which is great.

Kafinda is also continuing with their Conservation (Chongololo) Club, and last month the girls from the Science Club at Mulaushi travelled to Kafinda to teach their very first lesson on food chains and biodiversity! This proved to be a great success, with the usual class of 20 students escalating to around 40 students by the end of the lesson.

Abia the ever smiling patient; 

       

Abia, Victoria, Antoinette, Mary, Selena and Enalah after completion of the course

Bandage practice

Demonstrating how to bandage

practicing CPR

practicing the recovery position

Girls in their new t-shirts

girls teaching at Kafinda

the crowds gathering

The Chongololo club

After my first Grade 9 English lesson at Kafinda