Elephants, Elephants, Elephants

Gonerazou National Park, November 7, 2012

Given the history of uncontrolled elephant hunting and poaching in Africa (the population has shrunk from 5 million in the 1930s to 500,000 today), it is amazing to find pockets where the animals are thriving. Do you see all the babies and youngsters in the picture below? Due to the lack of predators, the elephant population is exploding in some of Zimbabwe's national parks, and that is presenting a challenge.

Gonerazou National Park is home to 9000 elephants. The territory can support less than half that many. That means hungry elephants and other animals are deprived of their sustenance.

Not only do elephants eat a prodigous amount of food (they can clear an acre of small trees in two hours by knocking them over), but young males tend to take out their sexual frustration on trees, thrashing them with impunity. As Peter Allison says in his charming book, Whatever You Do, Don't Run: True Tales of a Botswana Safari Guide, if human male teenagers acted like adolescent elephants, global deforestation would be complete. 

The owner of Chilo Gorge Safari Camp tells us that controlling the population is a challenge. Culling herds is a logistics nightmare. They have found that the best way to cull is to take out an entire family. Hunters first shoot the matriarch. The other elephants gather around to protect her, making easy targets. Afterwards, there is the challenge of disposing of dozens of carcasses...and the emotional toil it takes on the hunters. Culling is an awful task and hunters hate it.

An alternative may be on the horizon. When we returned home, in my pile of mail was the On Wisconsin alumni magazine. In it was an article on birth control for elephants, An Elephant Never Begets.

A UW veterinary school graduate, Jeff Zuba of the San Diego Zoo Safari Park, has founded the Elephant Population Management Project. It seems impossible, but Zuba and his team perform vasectomies in the wild. What????

It turns out that only the alpha bull needs the knife. He is the only one who gets access to the females...so if his sperm is curtailed, the population should decline. A vasectomy doesn't change behavior or social status, so the bull will continue to dominate and prevent fertile males from mating with females. As Zuma says, "the big guy's back to normal, but shooting blanks."

We hope Zuba and his team will reach Gonerazou National Park soon.

 

In the Remote Bush

Chilo Gorge Camp, Gonerazou National Park, Zimbabwe, November 7, 2012

Gonerazou National Park is second only to Hwange National Park in size. It is tucked in the southeastern corner of Zimbabwe and is part of the Great Limpopo Transfrontier Park that encompasses Kruger National Park in South Africa and Limpopo National Park in Mozambique. This vast territory allows animals free range across the borders of all three countries.

Nancy on the veranda of our room at Chilo Gorge Camp overlooking the river

Gonerazou ("elephant tusk" in Shona) is off the beaten track so it doesn't get nearly as many visitors as Hwange. An  hour's hot, dusty ride on a pot-holed dirt road through the bush brought us to Chilo Gorge Camp. It is a gorgeous lodge perched above the Save River, where hippos loll the day away in the water...and snort and heave and make a racket during the night.



View of Save River and Gonarezhou National Park from our room at Chilo Gorge Camp

Chilo Gorge Camp is the most difficult to reach of the places we have stayed, but the pain is worth it. The accomodations and meals are exquisite. We would like to stay a whole week instead of just two nights. (Well, that goes for every place we have stayed!)


Hippos surfacing

The game drives feel different. When a Cape buffalo charges our Land Rover, it is clear that we are part of the food chain. The animals aren't used to vehicles or people, and they often bolt in fright. We feel uncomfortable at the disruption we are causing in their lives. They need their energy to run from real predators.


Warthogs scampering from our Land Rover

The birding here is supurb. There are 900 species of birds in Zimbabwe and 448 of them are found in the Southeast Lowlands. Pinched for time, we take a guided 45-minute 5:30 a.m. bird walk before we depart. We spot 18 birds, 11 new to us. Zimbabwe, like Costa Rica, is a birder's paradise!



A tree of bee-eaters

Broad-billed rollers in front of our balcony at Chilo Gorge Camp, Zimbabwe