The Eye of the Elephant Read online

Reedbuck Redunca arundinum

  Roan antelope Hippotragus equinus

  Sable antelope Hippotragus niger

  Warthog Phacochoerus aethiopicus

  Waterbuck Kobus ellipsiprymnus

  Wild dog Lycaon pictus

  Wildebeest, Cookson Connochaetes taurinus cooksoni

  Zebra Equus burchelli

  Notes

  CHAPTER 9

  1. Cynthia Moss, Elephant Memories (New York: Random House, Fawcett Columbine, 1988).

  2. Ibid.

  3. Ibid.

  APPENDIX A

  1. R. S. Hedger, Foot and mouth disease, in Infectious Diseases of Wild Mammals, ed. John Davis et al. (Ames: Iowa State University Press, 1981).

  2. Ibid.

  3. J. B. Condy and R. S. Hedger, The survival of foot and mouth disease virus in African buffalo with nontransference of infection to domestic cattle, Research in Veterinary Science 39(3):181-84.

  APPENDIX B

  1. Comments of the Humane Society of the United States Regarding Proposals by Zimbabwe, Botswana, South Africa, Namibia, Malawi, and Zambia to Transfer Populations of the African Elephant from CITES Appendix I to II (Humane Society of the United States, January 30, 1992).

  2. Ibid.

  3. African Wildlife Foundation, personal communication.

  4. Comments of the Humane Society.

  5. The Ivory Trade in Southern Africa, CITES Document 7.22, Annex 2, 1990.

  6. United Nations Environmental Panel of Experts Report, August 16, 1991.

  7. Craig van Note, Earth Island Journal, 1988.

  8. Johannesburg Star, November 19, 1989.

  9. Under Fire: Elephants in the Front Line (London: Environmental Investigation Agency, 1992).

  10. New African, June 1991.

  11. Comments of the Humane Society.

  Acknowledgments

  We are extremely grateful for the conservation initiatives taken by Zambia's new government, and especially for the vision of Frederick Chiluba, its new, democratically elected president. For the first time, we dare to hope that solutions to wildlife and human development problems may be complementary and lasting. Our thanks to the government of Zambia and the Mpika District Council for allowing us to conduct the North Luangwa Conservation Project; to former U.S. ambassador to Zambia Paul Hare and U.S. Information Services officer Jan Zehner for their roles in securing this permission; and to their wives for opening their homes to us on many occasions. We are indebted to the current ambassador, Gordon Streeb, for adding his prestige and influence to the politics of conservation in Zambia, and we appreciate the hospitality he and Junie, his wife, have shown us.

  To Andy and Caroline Anderson and Dick Houston in Lusaka, thanks for understanding what it means to come in from the bush. Also for their friendship and hospitality in Lusaka, we thank Julie and Alan van Edg-mond, Mary Ann Epily, Marilyn Santin, and Mary, Ralph, and Astrid Krag-Olsen.

  We owe special thanks to Luke Daka, permanent secretary to the minister of tourism; to Akim Mwenya, director of National Parks and Wildlife Services of Zambia; to Gilson Kaweche, also of NPWS; to Paul Russell, operations head of the Anticorruption Commission; and to Norbert Mumba, Clement Mwale, and Charles Lengalenga, chief investigative officers of the Species Protection Division for their help in breaking up organized poaching in the Mpika area. Our sincere appreciation to the government of Canada for donating a truck to our community service program.

  Our heartfelt thanks to President George Bush, and First Lady Barbara Bush, for their time and consideration in listening to our message and acting decisively to ensure continuation of the CITES international ban on trading elephant parts. We are grateful also to Senator Bob Kasten, to Eva, his wife, and to Alex Echols, the senator's senior staffer; and to Congressman Mel Levine and staffer Jennifer Savage for their actions to guarantee that subsidies from the World Bank do not continue to destroy Kalahari wilderness, and again to ensure that the U.S. delegation to CITES voted to continue the ivory ban. Our sincere appreciation also to Marguerite Williams for her assistance in this regard, and for all the other ways she has helped us.

  We are very grateful to the Friends of the Animals of the Frankfurt Zoological Society, and especially to Richard Faust, its president, and Ingrid Koberstein, his assistant, who since 1978 have been the major supporters of our projects and have provided everything from paperclips to airplanes. Frankfurt is a strong force for conservation in Africa, Asia, and South America.

  We are equally indebted to the members of our own Owens Foundation for Wildlife Conservation, who have supported us financially, morally, and spiritually, especially in the expansion of our North Luangwa Conservation Project's law enforcement, village outreach/community service, and conservation education programs.

  To Helen Cooper, Delia's sister and our foundation's executive director, and to Fred, her husband—thanks for being there with everything from direct contact with presidents to deft leadership, sage advice, fund raising, and the organization of our speaking tours. Nephew Jay Cooper is our computer consultant and all-around hack; thanks, Jaybird. Thanks also to Jay's brother, Derick, for letting us store our lion range plots on his bed and on the walls of his bedroom. Our warmest thanks to Bobby Dykes, Delia's twin brother, for managing our photographic library. Mary, his wife, is the assistant director of our foundation and acquires items as diverse as airplane engines and crayons. One way or another, she gets them to one of the most remote corners of Africa; even more miraculously, she accounts for their purchase and shipment in as many as five different currencies. At the same time, she heads our program of sister schools. Additional thanks go to Mark's brother, Mike, and Jan, his wife, for their care of photographic materials.

  Leslie Keller-Howington donated the beautiful artwork for our foundation's logo and lecture brochures. We are also very grateful to Rick Richey for video editing and reproduction and to Channing Huser for her illustrations for the North Luangwa Conservation Project.

  For months volunteer Marie Hill worked in Mpika and more remote villages to develop our conservation education program. Harvey Hill pro vided fresh ideas and material support. We are indebted to all of them. When our programs were fast growing into a regional development project, Tom and Wanda Canon, our volunteer project coordinators in Mpika, came along to add order, calm reassurance, and confidence to the entire effort. Even though the sun dims and the thatch on their roundhouse smolders whenever they switch on their mega-appliances, they have helped the project tremendously and we could not do without them. To Max Saili, our fine community service officer, and Evans Mukuka, our education officer, we extend deep gratitude for helping take the message of conservation to the people of Mpika District.

  Ian Spincer and Edward North, who joined the project as young graduates from the University of Reading in England, have literally waded flood-swollen, croc-infested rivers to get reliable firsthand information on poaching and game-guard field performance. No risk has been too daunting, no challenge too great, no task too menial for them to tackle. And through it all they have helped restore our sense of humor.

  Our thanks also to Christopher, Mark's son, who for three months in 1991 helped build tracks, drove trucks, and named Bouncer, the lion.

  Very special thanks to Mick Slater, David and Jane Warwick, Dutch Gibson, Barbara Collinson, and to Glen Allison, Charlotte Harmon, Gracious Siyanga, Grace, Exilda Mungulbe, Patrick Enyus, Carl Berry-man and all the staff of the District Development Services Project (Mas-dar; British Overseas Development Agency) in Mpika who have sheltered us in their homes, allowed us to use their communications equipment and post office space, and encouraged and supported us in ways too numerous to mention.

  We are grateful to officers Isaac Longwe, Martin Mwanza, and Mukendwa Kotela for bringing diligence and integrity to the Mano game guard unit.

  Steve Hall, of Wings of Eagles, Tampa, Florida, a renowned ferry pilot, flew our plane all the way from Atlanta to Marula-Puku camp. He often flies to Africa, and whenever he
comes within a few hundred miles of Zambia, Steve soars in, his plane engorged with supplies for the North Luangwa Conservation Project. To a great guy in the sky, thanks, Steve—and fly safely.

  Students, teachers, and parents from more than thirty American schools support conservation in Zambia by sending letters, art work, stories, and reports and by donating books and school supplies to their friends in the sister schools.

  We applaud Judith Hawke, our Lusaka coordinator, for her efficiency and diligence in expediting the flow of permits and other bureaucratic paperwork as well as personnel, information, equipment, and supplies for the project.

  We are grateful for donations of video equipment from the Sony Corporation, and from Bubba, the Zenith dealer in Portland; for computer equipment from Hewlett Packard South Africa and Kaypro of California; and especially to our close friend Jose Jardim for years of computer support and for helping us clean up our camp in Deception Valley. We are also indebted to Richard Ferris of Kodak South Africa for stocks of film, and for hospitality and friendship.

  For their helpful comments on the manuscript we thank Bob Ivey, Dick Houston, Lee and Maureen Ewell, Jon Fisher, Barbara Frybarger, Barbara Brookes, and Helen Cooper. To dear friends Bob Ivey and Jill Bowman, thanks once again for allowing us to rattle around your home spoiling your cats while putting the finishing touches to the manuscript.

  Special thanks to Harry Foster, our friend and editor at Houghton Mifflin, for his enthusiasm, encouragement, and tireless editing of countless drafts of the manuscript; to Vivian Wheeler for her assistance; and to Suzanne Gluck, our literary agent, for her interest and support.

  Dave Erskine and Gordon Bennet of Johannesburg evacuated our camp after we were deported from Botswana. In Johannesburg, George and Penny Poole, and Nick and Sally, kindly allowed us to stay in their family's A-frame cottage for three months after our deportation, and to recuperate at their cottage on the South Coast. Our old friend Kevin Gill offered us his home, companionship, and invaluable assistance in identifying the trees of North Luangwa. Everard and Patsy Reed of Johannesburg invited us to share their beautiful farm near Mulders Drift during our initial writing of the manuscript.

  Hank and Margaret McCamish, we thank you for that very special place in the valley of the deer, and for your faith and trust in us and our philosophy of helping the people and animals of wild Africa.

  We feel a special sense of comradeship with our "guys" at Marula-Puku: Mutale Kasokola, Mumanga Kasokola, Chanda Mwamba, Chomba Simbeye, Evans Mulenga, Timothy Nsingo, and other members of the A-team who have labored hard and risked much to save North Luangwa. Without them the park surely would have been lost by now.

  To Bill Campbell and Maryanne Vollers, thanks for all the memories under the African stars and for your never-ending efforts for conservation. Bill and Marion Hamilton, Joel Berger, and Carol Cunningham were always there when we needed them. We are grateful to Jim and John Lipscomb, producers of "African Odyssey," for following us around the continent on a seemingly endless journey of abandoned campsites, which ended with the beginning of a new dream.

  Thank you to Randy Jones and Jim Cole for creating our brochure and to Joe and Geri Naylor for their help in producing it.

  To all of our friends and family mentioned above, and to any we may have omitted, thanks for being a special part of our lives—and for helping to save the elephants of North Luangwa.

  Index

  Acacia trees, [>]; albedo, [>]; mellifera, [>]; tortillas, [>], [>], [>]

  Acacia Point (Botswana), [>], [>], [>]

  Adamson, George, [>]–[>]

  Agricultural projects, [>]–[>], [>]. See also Cattle-raising

  Air patrols, [>]–[>], [>], [>]–[>], [>]–[>], [>], [>], [>]; effectiveness of, [>], [>]–[>], [>]–[>], [>]–[>], [>], [>]; poacher camps blasted, [>]–[>], [>]–[>], [>], [>]

  Airstrip One (Zambia), [>], [>]–[>] passim, [>]

  ANC (African National Congress), bombing, [>], [>], [>]

  Angola, [>], [>]; ivory trade, [>], [>], [>]

  Antelope, [>]; die-off of, [>], [>], [>], [>]–[>], [>]; eland, [>], [>], [>], [>]; hartebeest, [>], [>], [>]; kudu, [>], [>], [>]; roan, [>]; sable, [>], [>], [>]; steenbok, [>]; See also Puku; Waterbuck

  Anticorruption Commission. See Zambia

  Arius (Zambian tribesman), [>]

  Baboons, [>], [>], [>]

  Badgers, [>]

  Banda, Mr. (officer from Zambia Division of Civil Aviation), [>]–[>]

  Bell, Alexander Graham, quoted, [>]

  Bemba tribe, [>], [>], [>], [>], [>], [>], [>]; benefits to, and conservation, [>], [>], [>] (see also Conservation projects); as camp helpers, [>], [>], [>], [>], [>], [>], [>], [>]; Chibemba language, [>], [>], [>], [>], [>]–[>] passim, [>], [>], [>]; origin of tribe, [>]

  Berghoffer, "Bergie," [>], [>]

  Birds, [>]–[>], [>], [>], [>]–[>], [>], [>]; at waterholes, [>], [>]; See also individual varieties

  Bisa tribe and language, [>], [>], [>], [>], [>], [>]

  Black market, [>], [>], [>], [>], [>]

  "Blue" (lion), [>], [>]

  Blue Lagoon National Park (Zambia), [>]

  Blue Pride. See Lions

  "Bones" (lion), [>]

  Botetle River, [>], [>]

  Botswana, [>], [>], [>], [>], [>]; air attacks on> [>], [>], [>]; catde-raising in, [>]–[>], [>]–[>]; deportation of authors by, [>]–[>], [>]–[>], [>], [>]; deportation reversed, [>]–[>], [>]; fences in, [>]–[>]; Immigration Department, [>], [>]–[>]; ivory trade of, [>], [>], [>]–[>] passim; National Parks Department, [>], [>]; See also Kalahari Desert

  Botswana Development Corporation, [>]

  "Bouncer" (lion), [>], [>], [>]–[>], [>]

  Brachystegia. See Miombo trees

  Britain: colonial government, [>], [>]; and ivory trade, [>], [>]

  Buffalo, [>], [>], [>], [>], [>], [>], [>]; Cape, [>], [>]; confrontations with, [>]–[>], [>], [>]–[>], [>]–[>]; lions prey on, [>]; poaching of, [>], [>], [>], [>], [>], [>]; at water holes, [>], [>], [>], [>]–[>]

  Bush, George, [>], [>]

  Bushbuck, [>], [>], [>], [>]

  Bushmen, [>], [>], [>]

  Bwalya (poacher and informant). See Muchisa, Bwalya

  Campbell, Larry, [>]

  Canada, banning of ivory trade in, [>]

  Canadian Wheat Project, [>]

  Canon, Tom and Wanda (volunteers), [>], [>], [>], [>], [>]

  Caprivi Strip (South Africa), [>]

  Carr, Norman, [>], [>], [>]

  Carter, Jimmy, [>]

  Carver, Sue, [>]

  Cattle-raising, [>], [>], [>], [>], [>], [>], [>]–[>]

  Census. See Wildlife censuses

  Central Kalahari Game Reserve. See Kalahari Desert

  Chad, ivory trade in, [>]

  Chanda, Davies (assistant cook), [>], [>], [>], [>]–[>], [>]

  Chanda Seven (poacher), [>], [>], [>], [>], [>], [>]; shoots elephants, [>], [>], [>]; surrenders, [>]–[>], [>], [>]

  "Cheers" (male elephant), [>], [>], [>]

  Cheetah Hill (Botswana), [>]

  Chende Ende, Patrick, [>]

  Chende Ende family, [>], [>], [>]

  Chibansa, Zambia, [>]

  Chibemba language. See Bemba tribe

  Chikilinti (poacher), [>]–[>], [>], [>], [>], [>], [>]–[>] passim; air searches for, attacks on, [>], [>]–[>], [>], [>], [>], [>]–[>], [>]; and attack on authors, [>], [>], [>]–[>]; escapes, [>]–[>]; "juju" of, [>], [>]

  Chikwanda, Chief, [>]

  Chilanga Luswa Game Guard Camp (Zambia), [>]

  Chile, David, [>]

  Chiluba, Frederick, [>], [>]

  China, ivory trade with, [>], [>], [>]

  Chinchendu Hill (Zambia), [>], [>], [>], [>]

  Chinsali, Zambia, [>], [>]

  Chipata, Zambia, [>], [>]

  Chishala village (Zambia), [>], [>], [>], [>], [>], [>], [>]

  Chisombe, Mr. (fish fanner), [>]

  Chiti-Mukulu (Bemba chief), [>]<
br />
  Chobe Game Reserve (Botswana), [>]

  Chungwe, Banda (senior ranger), [>], [>]–[>]

  CITES (United Nations Convention for International Trade in Endangered Species), [>], [>], [>]–[>] passim

  Colophospemum mopane. See Mopane trees

  Combretum fragrans, [>], [>]

  Combretum obwatum, [>], [>], [>], [>], [>], [>], [>], [>], [>]; elephants feed on, [>], [>], [>], [>]

  Community Service and Conservation Education Programs, [>]

  Congo, decrease of poaching in, [>]

  Conservation projects, [>], [>], [>]; vs. poaching, [>]–[>], [>], [>], [>]–[>]

  Cottage industry, [>], [>]–[>], [>], [>]–[>], [>], [>]

  Cranes, crowned, [>]

  Crocodiles, [>], [>], [>], [>], [>]; lions vs., [>]–[>], [>], [>]–[>]

  Croton trees, [>]

  Daka, Luke (Ministry of Tourism, Zambia), [>]–[>], [>]–[>], [>]–[>]

  Dallas (Texas) Zoo, [>]

  Darting. See

  Lions David Shepard Foundation, [>]

  DeBeers diamond mine, [>]

  Deception Valley, [>]–[>], [>]–[>], [>], [>], [>], [>], [>]–[>], [>]

  Delia Camp, [>]–[>], [>]–[>], [>], [>], [>]–[>]

  Diseases, human, [>], [>]–[>]; and Flying Doctor, [>]

  Dogs, wild, [>], [>]

  Drought: effect of, on lions, [>], [>], [>], [>], [>], [>], [>]; in Kalahari Desert, [>], [>], [>]–[>] passim, [>]–[>] passim, [>], [>]–[>], [>]; recovery from, [>], [>]; in Zambia, [>], [>], [>]

  Ducks, knob-billed, [>]

  Durban, South Africa, [>], [>]

  "Dusty" (brown hyena), [>]

  Eagle Island (Botswana), [>]

  East Africa, elephant losses in, [>], [>]

  East Dune, [>], [>], [>], [>], [>], [>]

  Echinodoa (wild rice), [>]

  Egrets: white, [>]; yellow-billed, [>]

  Eland. See antelope

  Elephants, [>], [>], [>]; Camp Group, [>]–[>], no, [>]–[>], [>], [>]; children's ignorance of, [>], [>]; as endangered species, [>], [>], [>]; food for, [>], [>]–[>] passim, [>]–[>], [>], [>]–[>]; migration of, [>]–[>], [>], [>]; paths worn by, [>], [>], [>], [>]; population, [>]–[>