News

Wild dogs We are now awaiting to see if the alpha female wild dogs start to breed again.  They normally give birth in April or May.  Once the next litters of pups are born, then the process of reintroducing the previous litters of pups (now sub-adults) can begin [link]

Rhinos All the rhinos are in good shape.  The three Czech rhino have adjusted well.  We are re-spraying the tsetse targets to keep numbers of tsetse down to allow them a gradual adjustment.  We supplemented their food for eight months during the dry season but they now only browse on the Mkomazi vegetation. [link]

Community works The Environmental Education programme is starting up again this week or next week, now that the main access roads have dried out. Elisaria did an official hand over of building materials to two secondary schools, Buiku Secondary School in Korogwe District and Mnazi Secondary School in Lushoto District.   The Mnazi school board of governors were delighted to now have the opportunity to build a science lab to house all the science equipment they have been donated. [link]

Infrastructure The rains have nearly come to an end.  The road networks are being cut and maintained by GAWPT's plant machinery.  Some vehicles (we don't know who) drove over the black cotton road networks just as the rains started to come to an end.  They have done quite considerable damage to some of the key access roads, which will now need serious repair. Our guys are working on clearing and repairing the old colonial dam wall, built in the 1960s.  The pipeline that they installed then is still in very good working order.  We are digging trenches to bury more pipeline to stop the elephants from ripping it up if there is another extended dry season. The grader is now working on 'cleaning' the Rhino Sanctuary fence-line extension as the soil is now soft and no longer water logged. [link]

Supporters and infrastructure

Mkomazi camp headquarters

The past year has seen many fundraising trips abroad, Trust board meetings internationally and visits to the project by trustees and treasurers. Events have been held in the UK, Holland and the USA to raise the critical funds to keep the whole project in operation and we are grateful to everyone who has given their time to this massive undertaking.

In Tanzania, we were honored to welcome Rose Lugembe as a board member. A new Memorandum of Understanding was signed between the Trust, the Ministry of Natural Resources & Tourism and the Ministry of Finance. The Chairman, Trustees and Tony held meetings with the Director of Wildlife, Wildlife Division personnel and the Director General of National Parks to begin to establish the Trust’s position under the new bureaucracy.

Tony was awarded an OBE in the Queen’s Birthday Honours for services to wildlife in East Africa and we attended the investiture by HRH Prince Charles with Brigadier General Hashim Mbita, Bob Marshall Andrews and Andrew Mortimer. HRH Princess Michael of Kent, as Patron of GAWPT, kindly continues to give her support.

Representatives from the Board of Tanapa visited the project, as did the Regional Commissioner Kilimanjaro, Mohamedi Babu, and the District Commissioner Same, Ibrahimu Marwa.

Through TUSK, we were visited by the keepers from Longleat Safari Park and a film crew for the series Animal Park.

As always we would like to thank Mazao / Neumanns Coffee Group and Indigo Telecoms for sponsoring communications, as well as Bill Savoy, Ed and Liberty Zwick, Moritz and Hilla Borman, Mark Shanker, Pete Wakeham and Tim Peet for general funding.

None of our work would be possible without the extraordinary commitment and loyalty of our Tanzanian staff, under Elisaria Nnko. Their reputation as one of the most hard-working and professional teams in wildlife conservation is fully deserved. They carry the mantle and responsibility of this project with integrity and determination and we are privileged to work alongside them:

• Elisaria Nnko – Operations Manager
• Wilfred Ayo – Workshop / Technical Manager
• Semu Pallangyo – Rhino Sanctuary Manager
• Philbert Shindano – i/c Rhino Sanctuary Security
• Simeon Tumbo – Rhino Sanctuary Fence Maintenance Manager
• Penieli Elia and Evans Goodlack – Rhino Sanctuary Tracking Team Managers
• Sangito Lema – Wild Dog Head Keeper

The next few years will bring with them serious challenges. The Trust has a wide range of disciplines to carry out encompassing habitat restoration, infrastructural development, the expansion of the rhino sanctuary both in terms of rhino numbers and area, breeding and reintroduction of wild dogs and the continuation of outreach work.

Needless to say, the project will always need increasing financial support so we look forward to maintaining close contacts with all those individuals and organizations who believe in the project as well as developing new funding sources.