486 Briefly AFRICA


Promoting community vulture conservation efforts in southern Africa Vulture populations in Africa have declined drastically in recent years because of poison- ing, use of vulture parts for traditional medi- cine, and electrocutions on power lines. To halt this decline, BirdLife partners in Zim- babwe, Zambia and Botswana are working with local communities to protect vultures. For example, in 2019, BirdLife Zimbabwe es- tablished the 12,000 ha Gwayi Vulture Safe Zone, comprising private and communal game farms, adjacent to Hwange National Park. Three Vulture Support Groups were formed in 2020 in the area and participants trained in vulture identification, monitoring and rapid response to poisoning incidences. Themandate of these self-governing volunteer groups is to raise awareness, champion vulture conservation, partake in vulture monitoring, liaise with landowners, report mortalities and help rescue injured birds. Based on the success and lessons learnt from Gwayi, two more Vulture Support Groups are in the pro- cess of being formed in Zimbabwe, and an- other two are being trialled in Zambia and Botswana. Source: Surfbirds (2022) surfbirds.com/ community-blogs/blog/2022/05/01/ promoting-community-vulture-conservation- efforts-in-southern-africa


Forests emptied of wildlife as appetite for wild meat in city restaurants soars... An estimated 10,000 wild meat dishes are sold in restaurants every day in just two central African cities, researchers say. Monkeys and porcupines areamong themost popular spe- cies consumed in Brazzaville, the capital of theRepublicofthe Congo, andKinshasa, the capital of the Democratic Republic of the Congo. A new study shows the level of wildlife poaching to supply urban centres has significant ecological consequences, with extinctions now widespread across the Congo Basin’s forests. The scientists surveyed 326 restaurants in Brazzaville and Kinshasa, the adjoining capital cities sepa- rated only by the Congo River, which make up an urban agglomeration now considered to be the largest in Africa. They warn that the wild meat trade poses a zoonotic disease risk as pathogens are transported into popu- lous cities. Sources: African Journal of Ecology (2022) doi.org/10.1111/aje.12993 & Independent (2022) independent.co.uk/news/world/ africa/wild-meat-africa-congo-hunting- restaurant-wildlife-b2048575.html


.. . but wildlife is flourishing again in Rwanda’s Akagera Park.. . Just over a decade ago, many of the animals that once lived in Akagera Park in eastern Rwanda had disappeared. After the 1994 genocide ended, many refugees returned from neighbouring Tanzania, and the Rwandan government gave away more than half the National Park so people could raise their livestock. Predator attacks on cattle led to retaliatory poisonings, and by 2001, all of Akagera’s lions and many other animals had been killed. But in 2010, the Rwanda Development Board partnered with conservation NGO African Parks, building an electric fence to protect the Park and introducing effective law enforce- ment alongside community engagement projects. Since then, lions and black rhi- noceroses have been reintroduced from South Africa and from European zoos. Last year, African Parks flew 30 white rhi- noceroses from South Africa to Rwanda. Thanks to such conservation efforts, Central Africa’s largest protected wetland is now once again home to iconic species such as elephants, hippopotamuses, giraffes and zebras, as well as crocodiles and 480 species of birds. Source: iNews (2022) inews.co.uk/inews- lifestyle/travel/how-wildlife-flourishing- rwanda-akagera-park-africa-wetland- 1599615


.. . and rhinoceroses return to Zinave National Park after 40 years The governments of Mozambique and South Africa have announced plans to re- introduce rhinoceroses to Zinave Nation- al Park in southern Mozambique, where the animals were extirpated 40 years ago. The reintroduction will see .40 rhi- noceroses transferred into a high-security sanctuary within the 4,000 km2 Park. The rhinoceroses will be translocated from South Africa over a period of 1–2 years. The project is being spearheaded by the South African NGO Peace Parks Foundation and the Exxaro Resources company, a coal and mining firm. Since 2016, a rewilding programme has reintro- duced . 2,300 animals from 14 species, including buffalos, elephants and leo- pards, into the Park. In 2002,Mozambique, South Africa and Zimbabwe entered into a treaty to establish the Great Limpopo Transfrontier Conservation Area, spanning over 100,000 km2 and incorporating five national parks, including the iconic Kruger National Park. Source: Africa News (2022) africanews. com/2022/04/25/historic-return-of-rhinos- at-zinave-national-park-after-40-years


Côte d’Ivoire’s chimpanzee habitats are shrinking, but there is hope Conservationists feared that chimpanzees in Comoé National Park might have been wiped out during a decade of civil conflict in Côte d’Ivoire. But camera-trap footage found a healthy population and has since documented unique behaviours not ob- served in other chimpanzee populations in West Africa. The western chimpanzees of this Park have a unique way of drinking water during the dry season: they chew the ends of sticks to make a brush and then dip the end into tree cavities where water has accumulated, then pull the stick out and suck on the end of the brush. This type of behaviour had been observed occa- sionally in other populations before, but re- searchers were surprised by how common it was among Comoé chimpanzees. Recent studies suggest the environment plays a role in the behaviours displayed by certain groups. One study of 144 groups and found that chimpanzees in variable environments tend to develop a wider range of behaviours. Source: Mongabay (2022) news.mongabay. com/2022/04/cote-divoires-chimp- habitats-are-shrinking-but-theres- hope-in-their-numbers


Tanzania’s Maasai appeal to stop eviction for conservation plans Thousands of Maasai pastoralists in nor- thern Tanzania have written to the UK and USA governments and the EU, appeal- ing for help to stop plans to evict them from their ancestral land. More than 150,000 Maasai people face eviction by the Tanzanian government because of moves by UNESCO and a safari company to use the land for conservation and commercial hunting. The Maasai say their lives are at stake, as they will not be able to keep live- stock and provide food for their commu- nities if they are evicted. The government plans to evict Maasai in the Ngorongoro Conservation Area, a designated World Heritage Site, and Loliondo, near the Serengeti National Park. Both are famous for luxury safari tourism. The Tanzanian government and UNESCO believe Ngo- rongoro is overpopulated to the detriment of wildlife. The Maasai, who have led a semi-nomadic, pastoralist lifestyle for cen- turies, have for years been subjected to vio- lent campaigns to clear areas for tourism. Eviction notices were issued in 2021 but were halted when allegations of intimida- tion of Maasai emerged. Source: The Guardian (2022) theguardian. com/global-development/2022/apr/22/ tanzania-maasai-appeal-to-west-stop- evictions-due-to-conservation-plans


Oryx, 2022, 56(4), 483–488 © The Author(s), 2022. Published by Cambridge University Press on behalf of Fauna & Flora International doi:10.1017/S0030605322000606


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