AllWays Traveller Features
Conservation efforts in Africa
Expert Africa specialises in tailor-made and sustainable safaris to Southern and East Africa.
Kafue wildlife sanctuary, Zambia
Kafue is Zambia's largest wildlife sanctuary, covering 22,400km2.
It is a landscape of undulating miombo woodland, shallow wetlands known as 'dambos', riparian forest, permanent swampland, sweeping plains and a network of water channels dominated by the broad Kafue River and its rapids.
This makes Kafue rich in mammals and provides niches for 515 species of birds. There are grazers and browsers aplenty, from secretive sitatunga to sable, diminutive oribi and large herds of red lechwe, as well as elephants and hippos.
Predators include widespread lions, relatively relaxed leopards and considerable numbers of crocodiles.
Because of its vast size Kafue's has been one of Zambia's harder parks to protect.
The Dutch NGO African Parks and the Zambian government are now working to further protect and develop the park.
African Parks is a conservation non-profit that manages national parks and protected areas across Africa.
By injecting an initial sum of US$3 million, while a long-term partnership is agreed, African Parks plans to realise the potential of Kafue as a prime tourist destination and raise its profile as an internationally renowned wildlife sanctuary.
www.zambiatourism.com/destinations/national-parks/kafue-national-park
Raptors Botswana
Soaring and circling on thermals, vultures are a useful indicator of a recent kill, but they also play a critical role in cleaning up the bush and maintaining balance in the ecosystem.
Devouring the last scraps of a kill at speed, vultures are highly effective at preventing the spread of bacteria and serious diseases, like rabies, anthrax and cholera, thanks to their thorough carcass-cleaning and destructive gastric juices.
Vulture numbers are plummeting globally, however, and there is concern that in Africa their numbers are dropping to unsustainable levels.
In Botswana, which has some of Africa's largest contiguous wildlife conservation areas, all five vulture species are officially listed as either Critically Endangered or Endangered on the IUCN Red List.
The threat of extinction has dire implications for the ecosystems they help manage.
Raptors Botswana are researching and protecting these remarkable birds and, in partnership with the Endangered Wildlife Trust and Wilderness Safaris.
They have fitted satellite tracking devices to six vultures of three species to better understand their use of space.
With ever-decreasing ranges from which to forage, fully understanding their movements may prove critical to their survival.
This video captures the tagged bird's release :
https://www.facebook.com/watch/?v=2810779905852074
Expert Africa
Expert Africa specialises in tailor-made and sustainable safaris to Southern and East Africa.
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