Farewell to an African conservation visionary

May 8, 2020 | News, Newsletter, RSS Feed

Garth Owen-Smith lost his battle with cancer on 21 April 2020, and so ended the life of an extraordinary man who has left an indelible mark on the practice of wildlife conservation in Africa. For 53 years, from his first visit to Namibia in 1967, Garth devoted his life to changing the way in which wildlife policies and attitudes to rural communities were implemented.

Colonial attitudes and philosophies brought to Africa saw rural Africans as ‘poachers’, to be pursued and punished by the equivalent of the European ‘gamekeepers’, whose job was to protect the ‘Royal Game’ within the areas designated for their protection. In this way most rural Africans were alienated from wildlife and denied access to the wild resources that they had traditionally utilised for centuries.

Garth Owen-Smith’s story was published in African Hunting Gazette 23.2 in 2017. His early years in Namibia (then ‘South West Africa’, administered by South Africa since 1921 after World War I) were characterised by ongoing friction with government officials who regarded rural communities as incompatible with wildlife conservation goals. Garth’s view was that unless these same communities were treated as legal custodians of the wildlife they lived alongside, there was no hope for nature conservation in Africa. His philosophy was articulated in a seminal article entitled Wildlife conservation in Africa: There is another way!, published in Quagga # 17 (1987), the journal of the Endangered Wildlife Trust.

r the years, Garth suffered considerable deprivation and hardship, but stuck firmly to his convictions. With his anthropologist partner, Dr Margaret Jacobsohn, steady headway was made, which escalated rapidly after Namibia’s independence in 1990. The new regime was very supportive of the notion of communities having ownership and responsibility for the wildlife on their land, and the concept of ‘conservancies’ was widely implemented.

By 2017 there were 83 registered conservancies in Namibia, covering 163,000 square kilometres of land, over which wildlife was now managed as a valuable and sustainable resource through tourism, live game capture and sales, subsistence hunting and trophy hunting. Today Namibia leads the African continent in its enlightened wildlife conservation policies, which have ensured the increase in numbers of rhinos, elephants and a myriad other species that have benefitted from the conservancy concept.

It is not often that individuals can play a major role in shaping far-reaching national policies, but Garth-Owen Smith was one of them, and we salute his legacy and his memory with gratitude and appreciation for a life truly well-lived.

Dr John Ledger is a past Director of the Endangered Wildlife Trust, a consultant and academic on energy and the environment, and a columnist for the African Hunting Gazette. John.Ledger@wol.co.za

The Covid Pandemic – the impact on rural Africans

Apr 3, 2020 | News, Newsletter, RSS Feed

While the world goes into “lockdown” in an attempt to slow the spread of the virus, international travel, tourism and hunting activities have ground to a halt. The flow of money that used to reach rural African communities in the form of hunting income has dried up. What are these custodians of African wildlife resources going to do?

The tourism and hunting industries are generally not sufficiently organised to have reserve funds to pay workers in their industries at such unexpected times of stress. Large numbers of employees in safari and bush camps all across Africa have lost their jobs.

It is to be hoped that those operators that have made good profits during the good years will support their loyal employees during this stressful time. The NGOs that work with rural communities also have a vital supporting role to play. Nobody knows how long it will take for international travel to resume, and for visitors to return to Africa. But it will happen, sooner or later, and the challenge is to weather the storm until it is spent.

Until then, it is important that the valuable wildlife resources of Africa be protected against exploitation by the criminals who are already advantaged by the CITES bans on trade in ivory and rhino horn. Because no legal trade is allowed, only the illegal trade is allowed to flourish, thanks to the lunacy of CITES and the animal rights activists that seem to determine policy there.

Government conservation agencies are under extreme pressure to maintain their presence and uphold law enforcement among rural communities that have lost their incomes from tourism and hunting. What they can do is ensure that such communities have access to protein from controlled and sustainable subsistence hunting of non-threatened species. In this way the wildlife of Africa can at least support the lives of their custodians until such time as the currency-based economy returns to rural regions.

Those rural communities that have nurtured their wildlife populations over the years for the benefits of ecotourism and hunting, can now turn to their valuable assets as a sustainable source of food in times of need. They deserve nothing less.

Dr John Ledger is a past Director of the Endangered Wildlife Trust, a consultant and academic on energy and the environment, and a columnist for the African Hunting Gazette. John.Ledger@wol.co.za

Tintswalo Safari Lodge launches free virtual safaris

Apr 3, 2020 | News, Newsletter, RSS Feed

Tintswalo Safari Lodge has launched free virtual safaris that are available on its social media channels to all its followers. Says Lisa Goosen, CEO of Tintswalo: “The national lock-down in South Africa has been very challenging for humans, but in the bush, nature continues undisturbed as it has since the beginning of time. The conservation of our nature reserves and protection of our precious wildlife remain a priority for the Tintswalo family. Within the greater Kruger region, the Tintswalo wildlife management team in the Manyeleti Nature Reserve is ‘on the beat’ in the bush throughout lockdown and continues to monitor and safeguard our vulnerable fauna and flora.”

Tintswalo’s conservation patrols have presented the unique opportunity to bring virtual safaris to viewers at home. “We invite you to enjoy the freedom to escape for a while, focus on positivity and take delight in the wonders of the African bush as inspiration for planning your next Tintswalo safari,” says Goosen.

The game-rich Manyeleti Game Reserve is known world-wide for its Big 5 sightings, but also for its birdlife and many smaller species and other interesting creatures.

Tintswalo’s ‘On the Beat’ virtual safaris include video footage of actual sightings, as well as some of the exhilarating encounters experienced by its game rangers on patrol. Videos are uploaded daily on all Tintswalo’s social media channels.

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