Magnificent tusker Duke’s tusk: lost and found

Raymond Travers, media liaison spokesperson in the Kruger National Park wrote this story for the paper ….
The photo of is Duke with his tusks still intact and was taken by Johan Marais who has written a magnificent book on the Big Tuskers in the Park. The other photos are of Neels van Wyk, Kruger National Park section ranger at Crocodile Bridge and, field rangers, William Nkuna and Bigboy Sibuyi.

It seems sadness has crept into the thoughts of everyone around.
It is as if a good friend has lost something very dear.
Duke, the elephant with the largest set of ivory on any elephant presently living in the Kruger National Park (KNP) has broken his left tusk.
But, like many tragedies, an amazing story of good fortune, effective use of technology, enthusiasm from the Sanparks Website Forum members and good co-operation has surfaced with the recovery of the piece of ivory that used to grace Duke.
To make this even more incredible is that it is the first time on record that a broken piece of ivory has been recovered that can be positively linked to one of the KNP’s legendary tuskers.
With reasonably accurate information, Crocodile Bridge section ranger Neels van Wyk searched the supposed area where the tusk was last seen on foot without success on Tuesday August 21, 2007.
On deciding that it was a bit like searching for a needle in a haystack, Van Wyk decided to recruit the help of Kruger’s air patrol Bantam ultralight aircraft and its pilot, Tshokwane section ranger Steven Whitfield. Unfortunately, the aircraft was scheduled to fly in the Phalaborwa region on Wednesday August 22, 2007 and thus was only available on the morning of Thursday August 23, 2007.
Supplied with information from Sanparks Website Forum members Dirk Human, Jonathan Heger and Matthew Harding, which included vital GPS co-ordinates, Whitfield and Van Wyk took off with trepidation because it was still very difficult to find something like a piece of ivory.
“We flew along the Mbyandzwuspruit and made one turn and Neels saw the ivory lying under a leadwood bush,” said an excited Steven, “we marked the spot and flew back to Crocodile Bridge and our vehicles immediately.”
A 600-metre walk from the S28 to the scene enabled the rangers, a delegation from the Honorary Rangers and an exited Jonathan straight to the bush and the ivory.
After the obligatory photograph session, the ivory has been returned to Crocodile Bridge ranger post for the KNP’s Cites (Convention on the International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Flora and Fauna) approved process which has to be followed strictly whenever ivory is found in the bush.
The story of the breaking of Duke’s tusk has spread like wildfire among Duke aficionados both within Sanparks and outside the organisation.
Those that have studied elephants say:
“I suppose we half expected it,” or “well he is nearing the end of his life so his tusks are probably quite brittle.”
But we really don’t want to face the possibility that Duke might be coming to the end of his time with us.
“It has happened in the past that elephants with large tusks have broken parts off their tusks just a few months before we have discovered their carcasses. I truly hope this is not the signal for this great elephant’s demise,” said Johan Marais, the author of the coffee table book The Great Tuskers of Africa.
Not only is Duke the Kruger tusker that has been spotted most often by tourists and Sanparks officials alike, he is also the tusker that has been photographed the most of all.
The Sanparks Forum members’ role in not only the discovery that Duke had indeed lost a tusk but also the eventual recovery of the ivory should also be noted.
The three friends– part of the original Duke Quest – were enjoying a return visit to the Lower Sabie area and a chance decision saw two of them, Dirk and Matthew, turning onto the S28 on Monday August 20, 2007.
As fortune would have it, the two dapper Duke Quest veterans spotted Duke a few minutes later and enjoyed at least a 30-minute sighting of the tusker. They then managed to get hold of Jonathan – who had just arrived in Lower Sabie after the long journey south from where he had been staying at Balule – and after unhooking his caravan, he made his way to the sighting as quickly as possible, enabling him to see Duke.
The three then returned to Lower Sabie at around 16h00 to pitch their tents and set up their camp and, after this was done, they drove out to the site again to spend one last moment with the legendary Duke.
They found Duke in exactly the same position at around 17h30 but, after carefully scanning the graceful old bull, they discovered that something was desperately wrong. There was a tusk missing.
Like true Kruger enthusiasts, these three Duke Quest members ensured that they had plenty of photographic evidence and the photographs taken by Jonathan at around 16h00 and 17h30 are probably the last photograph of Duke with his full ivory and the first photograph with him showing a broken tusk.
Although this is a great moment for the forum, particularly the Duke Quest members, it is also a sad moment because the great tusker Duke will no longer be the same again.
But Duke is still very much alive and, at the time of writing, he has been seen - sans-most of his left tusk – snooping around the Ntandanyathi Hide (between Lower Sabie and Crocodile Bridge rest camps) with his askari bulls in tow behaving like his good old self.
Duke is reported to have a “very relaxed disposition” and there is only one incident known when he did lose his cool with a human. It seems he has an intense dislike for motorbikes and once gave patrolling Crocodile Bridge section ranger Neels van Wyk this message with a charge and a horizontal tail (“elephantese” for “I’m-cross-with-you”).
But, the writer has personally seen Duke harmlessly ambling past Dr Ian Whyte and a film crew with only a rather mischievous sideways glance. There are plenty of other similar stories from Sanparks officials and visitors of how they saw Duke calmly munching away, not bothered about anything, including the antics of these “crazy humanoids in their smelly boxes”.

Battle at Kruger on YOUTUBE: viewed more than 15 million times

On August 1, 2007 an eight minute amateur recording of a face-off between a herd of buffalo, lions and a crocodile or two in the Kruger National Park had been viewed more than seven million times on the internet, according to an article posted on ABC News. According to the latest figure, the clip has been watched well over 15 million times. That is phenomenal!
Drew Millhon reports how an American, David Budzinski, had been showing the footage to friends and family at home for the last two years until another man who had also been on the safari asked for a copy and “posted it on YouTube so that friends could see it.”
According to Millhon, one of the founders of YouTube has called it his favourite video on the site. In the article, Budzinski is quoted as saying, “I was so lucky to be there with the camera, much luckier to be able to take some of the footage. I truly was blessed at the time to hold it steady and catch what I did, because very easily, I could have missed so much.” To see this amazing clip, search for “Battle at Kruger” on www.youtube.com.

Ethanol vs resettlement

Since President Armando Guebuza of Mozambique inaugurated the recently completed Massingir Dam in the Olifants River on June 4 this year, it seems to be storing more than just the water it was built for. A storm could be brewing over land use south of the 2.8 billion cubic metre dam where a newly proposed biofuel project and a long-running resettlement programme are vying for the same land.
While every attempt was made to ask for comment on this story, Izak Holtzhausen of Procana (Camec) declined to answer any of the Kruger Park Times’ questions unless a joint interview with all the parties could be arranged at the same venue. As this was not possible, he then opted to “respond if we feel it necessary.”
About three years ago the Mozambican government earmarked about 70 000 hectares of land south of the Olifants River, outside the Limpopo National Park (LNP) in Mozambique, for the resettlement of the approximately 11 000 families that are resident in about eight villages in the LNP, which is part of the Great Limpopo Transfrontier Park (GLTP).
The German development bank KfW will fund the pilot resettlement programme, which included several feasibility, economic and public participation processes.
“Everything was done, two model houses had been built, a compensation framework had been approved by the donors, the budget was approved for the pilot project and the contractor had been appointed to build 144 houses,” says Arrie van Wyk, project manager of the LNP.
Two villages, Macavene, 128 families, and Nangueni, 16 families, agreed to take part in the project that entailed moving to the proposed resettlement site outside the park where dwellings, similar to the model houses, will be built for them in host villages. They will also receive agricultural fields similar in size and quality what they currently have and grazing land will be made available for their cattle.
The host villages and Mozambican government were amenable to the concept and the use of the land had been approved for resettlement on provincial and district level.
It is this land that has become the bone of contention with a new player on the block, Procana.
While LNP was finalising the pilot project according to the donors’ and World Bank standards, Procana applied to utilise a portion of the same land for an ethanol project, claiming that it was the only soils suitable for the production of sugarcane.
As far as can be ascertained, Procana applied to use 30 000 ha of which 22 000 hectares will be planted with sugarcane the remainder of the land is ‘unsuitable’ for sugarcane production and will be used for the construction of the ethanol plant and other infrastructure. Some of this land could also still be available for grazing.
According to Arrie, there is still enough land available in the strip between the Olifants river and the proposed Procana project to develop the residential sites and agricultural fields for the communities to be resettled, but not enough grazing land as the proposed grazing area will be taken up by the Procana project.
Apparently the governor of the Gaza province, even though he was fully aware of the LNP resettlement programme, believes the ethanol project could be beneficial to the local economy - Procana claims to be able to create about 7 000 job opportunities - and would like all stakeholders to reach a mutually beneficial agreement.
He proposed some 20 000 hectares south of the proposed sugarcane plantations to be allocated for grazing land.
“We, the LNP and Procana, are now in the process of appointing a consultant to determine the carrying capacity of the proposed land and to investigate the potential of cultivated fodder,” says Arrie.
However, any land granted larger than 10 000 hectares has to be approved by the ministers’ council in Mozambique and it appears this has not happened.
As for the 22 000 hectares proposed for the ethanol project, not much information is available about the project. The land is mostly mopane veld that will have to be debushed.
On July 24, the newspaper Beeld reported that the Procana-scheme is linked to Camec, the Aim-listed Central African Mining and Exploration (Camec) company with Billy Rautenbach as a major shareholder. Rautenbach faces charges of fraud and corruption in South Africa and was deported from the Democratic Republic of Congo as persona non grata on July 17.
According to Beeld, Camec needs about $280 million (R1,9 milliard) for the first phase of the ethanol project at Massingir, which it hopes to attract from investments from former sugar farmers who have sold their farms because of land claims in KwaZulu-Natal and Mpumalanga.
The article states that Charles Senekal, former sugarcane farmer from Mkuze, has been appointed as executive manager, and the company hopes to be noted on the London AIM. It states Camec has a 60 percent share in Procana.
According to Beeld, the Independence Magazine, a Mozambican weekly newspaper, was to reveal how the proposed Procana project will be the end for the irrigation farmers and projects in the Chokue- and Chibuto area on the Limpopo rivers. These areas make up the backbone of Mozambique’s agricultural sector.
In dry seasons, the Massingir dam feeds water from the Olifants River to the Limpopo to sustain these areas.
The article commented on the implications of the ethanol project’s water extraction on the Chokue and Chibuto areas.
Beeld states that the editor of the Independent, Salamao Moyana, said the minister of agriculture requested that Moyana postpone publication until he could comment on the article.
However, on the Sunday before publication, six armed men robbed the newspaper of 12 computers and other documents. According to Beeld, Moyana did not want to speculate on the motive for the burglary.

Radar station in Kruger National Park completed

“With this in operation, we will be able to get data about rainfall in an area of 1x1km anywhere at any time in the park up to as far as 20 kilometres south of Shingwedzi,” says Nick Zambatis, vegetation ecologist in the Kruger National Park (KNP), who is also responsible for the KNP’s climate monitoring program.
Nick says the new facility in Kruger’s research toolkit will have a huge impact on many of the research projects in Kruger, as “rain is the main driver of the Lowveld ecosystem,” and to date, Kruger has had to rely on data gathered from about 30 rainfall stations across the Park. “Trying to map the extent and amount of rainfall over a major part of the Park’s surface using the data from these gauges is something which has had many technical problems, with generally unsatisfactory results. The data which will be provided by the radar and which will enable this to be done reliably is a dream come true”.
He adds that the SA Weather Service will also make other related weather data available to scientific services in Kruger. This includes data from the Lightning Detection Network, which has an accuracy of 200 metres and will assist with capturing data about the occurrence of lightning in the park. Does lightning occur randomly or is it concentrated in certain areas, and at certain times? These are only some of the factors that can be assessed, which could in turn be applied in Kruger’s fire management programme.
This was, however, not the main reason why the radar station was constructed. The South African Weather Services needed to erect another radar station to fill a gap in their existing network that provides weather data in terms of rainfall and thunderstorm activity for agriculture, disaster mitigation, aviation safety, and especially as an early warning system for floods such as those that occurred in 2000.
The radar station can monitor cloud activity within a radius of 220km and will link up with a radar station in Xai-Xai in Mozambique, as well as other stations in Ermelo and Polokwane.
The second-hand system was shipped from the United States of America, and once it arrived was totally revamped and upgraded with unique South African technology. The radar housing and antenna tower have been painted in a colour which blends in best with the environment during winter and summer. The coating of the antenna radome, which does not contain any metal, and thus does not affect the radar signals, was specially sourced from Norway.
According to Nick, the Weather Services decided on Skukuza as the best location as the other options were either too close to high mountains or located in uneven terrain, obstructing the ‘visibility’ of the radar.
The heart of the radar station is located in a custom-built container at the foot of the steel antenna tower. The 4.2 metre diameter parabolic antenna is contained within a glass-fibre radome on top of the tower. Data from the radar will be transmitted to the SA Weather Service in Pretoria, and from there to forecasting offices countrywide. Jan Blackie of the SA Weather Service says they are just waiting for the Telkom data line to be installed before final operational tests are carried out, and that the radar station should be fully operational by September this year.

Annual mass capture completed

The annual mass capture of plains game for release into the Great Limpopo Transfrontier Park (GLTP) was finalised between June 8 and 21 this year.
The Sanparks veterinary wildlife services section, with the assistance of the Kruger central regional rangers, captured most game from Kruger’s Satara area.
According to Marius Kruger, operations coordinator, the team captured 258 zebra, 105 blue wildebeest, 64 impala, 11 waterbuck and 21 giraffe.
Due to mechanical problems with equipment, the impala capture could not be completed and has been postponed pending a suitable time later in the year.
Markus Hofmeyr, head of the veterinary wildlife services section, says the annual mass capture programme began in 2001 with the capture of 25 elephant that were released in the Limpopo National Park (LNP), of which most returned to South Africa.
One of those was fitted with a collar and has returned to Mozambique where she is still roaming the LNP.
“This is exactly what we had hoped for,” says Markus. At first elephants were released into the fenced sanctuary inside the LNP. In 2002, Sanparks initiated the mass capture of plains game and released the animals in the sanctuary as well.
After the official opening of the Giriyondo tourism access facility, sections of the fence between Kruger and the LNP have been taken down, a plan which authorities hoped would encourage the natural movement of animals between the two national parks.
To date Sanparks has relocated more than 4000 animals.
“All indicators show that the animals have adapted to the new distribution patterns and populations in LNP are looking healthy,” says Markus.
“The fact that the animals are able to move within a bigger reserve and become part of a bigger system, the better their resilience,” he adds.
(photo: Markus Hofmeyr)

Mass bat die off baffles boffins

It is estimated that more than a 1000 Angolan free-tailed bats (Mops condylurus) died over the third week of July at Letaba Camp in the Kruger National Park (KNP).
Sharp-eyed visitors alerted section ranger Joe Nkuna and Amy Pollard, assistant interpretive officer about bats found dead near one of the eight bat houses at the camp on Saturday, July 14.
Joe Nkuna decided to call in disease experts after staff collected another 40 carcasses on Monday and he also found about 150 carcases at the bat house at the ranger station. Dr Dewald Keet, KNP State veterinarian, called in the assistance of the Special Pathogens Unit at the National Institute for Communicable Disease.
While they were on their way, Dewald and researchers, Dr Janusz Paweska, Prof Bob Swanepoel, and Alan Kemp, asked Amy and Liezel van Lingen, a conservation student at Letaba, to collect a few samples which led to the discovery of another 134 carcasses. The linen room staff then showed them their collection of about 500 carcasses they collected earlier that day.
Dr Paweska and his team arrived on Thursday. “We looked for the Angolan free-tailed bats in three places – one of the occupied staff houses, two empty houses (in one of which we stayed) and the bat houses,” says Prof Swanepoel.
They found many ‘very white skeletons’ in the ceiling of the house in which they stayed, which implies that there had been deaths in the staff houses prior to the deaths in the bat houses.
Prof Swanepoel says it is not possible at this stage to say what caused the deaths. “The possibilities included poisoning, sudden unusual cold weather or infectious agents: blood parasites, bacteria or viruses.”
According to Prof Swanepoel the Letaba staff indicated that there was no recent change or large-scale use of insecticide or other chemicals at the camp. Cold weather has also been ruled out.
The team dissected a few bats on site to preserve frozen organ samples for laboratory tests, but could not reach any immediate conclusions.
They returned to the Institute with the samples where tests are in progress. ‘This could possibly be a new thing and tests could take some time, but we never discard any material so we could always resume tests later if necessary.” says Prof Swanepoel.
According to Liezel, who has been regularly checking the bat houses for more carcasses, there have been no more bat deaths recorded at Letaba.
(photos: liezl van Lingen)