Vulture Crisis in Africa and the World

White backed Vulture in Flight, Masai Mara Kenya

Lets face it Vultures are not really on peoples favorite animal or bird list, but primarily because they are very miss-understood birds, who play a very important and vital role in our environment and not just here in Africa but also in the rest of the world. 

The Pan-African Ornithological Congress was recently held in Arusha from the 14th-21st October 2012,  http://www.paoc-africa.org/about-us/  it is held in different parts of Africa every 4 years. One of the days was mainly dedicated to raptors and Vultures in general. It was fascinating but also utterly scary to listen about Vultures and in how much trouble they are in and that their numbers have plummeted dramatically, it is also here were one realizes how important Vultures are to have around.

Two of the speakers Darcy Ogada and Munir Virani spoke about serious declines in Vulture numbers in Africa and in South Asia, both are involved in Vulture/Raptor research and conservation together with, The Peregrine Fund, you can check out the website here. You can also read Darcy's article Dropping Dead: causes and consequences of vulture population declines worldwide here as well as some other articles. You can also read some notes from the field by Munir Virani here.

Scenes like these, might become a thing of the past.

I'm sure we all heard at some point that Vultures are seriously threatened, but we never realized how serious it actually is where now almost 14 of 23 vulture species worlwide are threatened with extinction that's 61% of our vulture species. Asia, a vulture rich area has experienced an almost 96% decline in their vulture numbers. The decline of vultures in Asia has many reasons but  the main reasons are deliberate persecution, shooting and harassment but the main one is poisoning, through eating contaminated carcases. Cattle in South Asia are injected with the anti-inflammatory drug called Diclofenac, cattle in the Hindu culture are sacred and there for not slaughtered but left outside to dye, vultures feed on these contaminated carcasses, causing renal (kidney) failure, killing the vultures in the end. The lack of vultures at carcasses have also lead to carcasses taking much longer to decompose and the number of mammalian carnivores at feeding sites have increased. Because there are now so many mammalian scavengers at a carcass the spread of disease like Rabies and K9 distemper between mammals are high resulting in enormous health care costs in humans, treating rabies.

Decrease in vultures could lead to more mammalian scavengers, making it easy to spread disease.

        

The situation in Africa is just as critical, but unlike Asia gets very little attention from authorities, government and the media. The vultures in Africa face many threats, habitat loss, killings for witchcraft, lack of food, high voltage/power lines, wind farms and harassment but the two main reasons are poisoning and human persecution.

In North Africa vultures are pretty much non existent, in West Africa the problem is killings for the use of vulture parts in witchcraft and they have experienced a 95% decline in large vulture numbers, and Uganda has experienced a 65% decline. In East Africa the killings of vultures are due to the poisoning of carcasses with the pesticide poison called Furadan. Carcasses are poisoned with the intention to kill and get rid of cattle killing predators like Hyenas and Lions, but vultures feed on these carcasses as well and they can kill hundreds of vultures in one sitting, In September this year a report came out of Zimbabwe, where an Elephant carcass was poisoned and lead to the single killing of 183 vultures. The direct poisoning and killing of vultures will also have a huge affect on the success of future breeding of vultures as they have some of the lowest reproduction rates among birds and so their populations are extremely vulnerable to high mortality rates. 

           Large vultures in the family gyps has experienced huge declines in Asia and Africa

What we all learned that day is that something serious needs to be done to conserve vultures in Africa and the rest of the world, according to researchers, the following needs to happen in Africa to secure the future of our vultures. (a) There needs to be more serious penalties for offenders (b) There needs to be better control and bans on certain poisons and pesticides (c) There needs to be more public awareness of the situation of our vultures (d) the local governments need to get more involved and show support (e) Better and well trained staff in the field.

A very rare sight in the Serengeti last week, Egyptian Vulture!

So the next time you follow vultures to a lion kill, or see them feeding in the Serengeti on dead Wildebeest, take some time to explain to your guests the situation Vultures are in and how important it is to make sure that they are still around for a long long time !!

Wild Flowers of Kogatende

Kogatende in the Northern Serengeti has some beautiful wild flowers, especially in November when the grass is super short and green from the rains and the Wildebeest Migration has already left the area.

Many of the beautiful flowers however is very hard to identify and partly because it is very difficult to get a well illustrated field guide to help. Guests also always notice them because they are so pretty, normally very brightly colored and you cant miss them, so naturally they want to know what they are called.

A few months back we started making a photo library of all the wild flowers we could see (thanks Nathoo) and in May this year we had a great opportunity to identify some of these flowers.  Annie Powys a tree and plant fundi from Kenya joined us in the May guide training in Kogatende as one of the trainers and she helped Id some of the flowers for us, have a look below.

Kalanchoe sp.

Orthosiphon sp.

Ruellia patula

Thunbergia alata

Jasminum aethiopica

Commelina sp.

Hibiscus aethiopica

Kleinia abyssinica

Crossandra subacaulis

Cycnium tubulosum

Ipomea cairicia

Stathmostelma racoides

Hypoxis obtusa

Blepheris sp.

Hibiscus lunarifolius 

Striga asiatica 

Scadoxus multiflorus

Ammocharis tinneana

Gloriosa superba

Hibiscus lunarifolius

Solanum incanum

Lantana trifolia



So these are some of the beautiful flowers we managed to photograph and identify, however please note, some of these names might have changed and might even have been missed identified, so please in our quest as guides to learn as much as we can, if anyone has other suggestions on the above or think it is something else, please do let us know by leaving a comment!

Exceptional Birding Sayari Camp!!

Hi All

In May this year we did some great guide training in the Northern Serengeti at Sayari Camp with 29 Asilia Guides. Four topics were covered, namely Geology with Dr Abigail Church, Botany and Id of plants with Annie Powys, insects with Dino Martins and finally birding with Clint Shipper. These were the trainers for the 2 weeks of training and the guides divided into four groups and had three days with each trainer.

I wanted to share the amazing bird list that we got in the two weeks at Sayari Camp a whopping 215 species. See below for the finished and completed list.

Species	Locality	Square	Day	Month	Year
African Black Swift	Kogatende, Serengeti		14	5	2012
African Black-headed Oriole	Kogatende, Serengeti		14	5	2012
African Crake	Kogatende, Serengeti		14	5	2012
African Cuckoo	Kogatende, Serengeti		14	5	2012
African Golden-breasted Bunting	Kogatende, Serengeti		14	5	2012
African Green Pigeon	Kogatende, Serengeti		14	5	2012
African Grey Flycatcher	Kogatende, Serengeti		14	5	2012
African Hoopoe	Kogatende, Serengeti		14	5	2012
African Moustached Warbler	Kogatende, Serengeti		14	5	2012
African Paradise Flycatcher	Kogatende, Serengeti		14	5	2012
African Pied Wagtail	Kogatende, Serengeti		14	5	2012
African Quailfinch	Kogatende, Serengeti		14	5	2012
African Wattled Lapwing	Kogatende, Serengeti		14	5	2012
Arrow-marked Babbler	Kogatende, Serengeti		14	5	2012
Ashy Flycatcher	Kogatende, Serengeti		14	5	2012
Banded Martin	Kogatende, Serengeti		14	5	2012
Banded Parisoma	Kogatende, Serengeti		14	5	2012
Bare-faced Go-away Bird	Kogatende, Serengeti		14	5	2012
Barn Swallow	Kogatende, Serengeti		14	5	2012
Bateleur	Kogatende, Serengeti		14	5	2012
Bearded Woodpecker	Kogatende, Serengeti		14	5	2012
Black and White Cuckoo	Kogatende, Serengeti		14	5	2012
Black Coucal	Kogatende, Serengeti		14	5	2012
Black Crake	Kogatende, Serengeti		14	5	2012
Black Cuckoo-shrike	Kogatende, Serengeti		14	5	2012
Black Saw-wing	Kogatende, Serengeti		14	5	2012
Black-backed Puffback	Kogatende, Serengeti		14	5	2012
Black-bellied Bustard	Kogatende, Serengeti		14	5	2012
Black-chested Snake Eagle	Kogatende, Serengeti		14	5	2012
Black-crowned Tchagra	Kogatende, Serengeti		14	5	2012
Black-headed Heron	Kogatende, Serengeti		14	5	2012
Black-headed Weaver	Kogatende, Serengeti		14	5	2012
Black-lored Babbler	Kogatende, Serengeti		14	5	2012
Black-shouldered Kite	Kogatende, Serengeti		14	5	2012
Blue-naped Mousebird	Kogatende, Serengeti		14	5	2012
Bronze Maniken	Kogatende, Serengeti		14	5	2012
Brown Parrot	Kogatende, Serengeti		14	5	2012
Brown Snake-eagle	Kogatende, Serengeti		14	5	2012
Brown-crowned Tchagra	Kogatende, Serengeti		14	5	2012
Brubru	Kogatende, Serengeti		14	5	2012
Buff-bellied Warbler	Kogatende, Serengeti		14	5	2012
Cardinal Quelea	Kogatende, Serengeti		14	5	2012
Cardinal Woodpecker	Kogatende, Serengeti		14	5	2012
Cattle Egret	Kogatende, Serengeti		14	5	2012
Chin-spot Batis	Kogatende, Serengeti		14	5	2012
Cinnamon-breasted Rock Bunting	Kogatende, Serengeti		14	5	2012
Common Bulbul	Kogatende, Serengeti		14	5	2012
Common Button Quail	Kogatende, Serengeti		14	5	2012
Common Fiscal	Kogatende, Serengeti		14	5	2012
Common Scimitarbill	Kogatende, Serengeti		14	5	2012
Common Waxbill	Kogatende, Serengeti		14	5	2012
Coqui Francolin	Kogatende, Serengeti		14	5	2012
Crested Francolin	Kogatende, Serengeti		14	5	2012
Croaking Cisticola	Kogatende, Serengeti		14	5	2012
Crowned Lapwing	Kogatende, Serengeti		14	5	2012
Dark Chanting Goshawk	Kogatende, Serengeti		14	5	2012
Diederic Cuckoo	Kogatende, Serengeti		14	5	2012
Dwarf Bittern	Kogatende, Serengeti		14	5	2012
Egyptian Goose	Kogatende, Serengeti		14	5	2012
Emerald-spotted Wood Dove	Kogatende, Serengeti		14	5	2012
European Bee-eater	Kogatende, Serengeti		14	5	2012
European Honey Buzzard	Kogatende, Serengeti		14	5	2012
Fan-tailed Widowbird	Kogatende, Serengeti		14	5	2012
Fish Eagle	Kogatende, Serengeti		14	5	2012
Flappet Lark	Kogatende, Serengeti		14	5	2012
Fork-tailed Drongo	Kogatende, Serengeti		14	5	2012
Freckled Nightjar	Kogatende, Serengeti		14	5	2012
Gabar Goshawk	Kogatende, Serengeti		14	5	2012
Goliath Heron	Kogatende, Serengeti		14	5	2012
Grassland Pipit	Kogatende, Serengeti		14	5	2012
Great Spotted Cuckoo	Kogatende, Serengeti		14	5	2012
Greater Blue-eared Starling	Kogatende, Serengeti		14	5	2012
Greater Honeyguide	Kogatende, Serengeti		14	5	2012
Green Wood-hoopoe	Kogatende, Serengeti		14	5	2012
Green-capped Eromela	Kogatende, Serengeti		14	5	2012
Grey Crowned Crane	Kogatende, Serengeti		14	5	2012
Grey Cuckooshrike	Kogatende, Serengeti		14	5	2012
Grey Heron	Kogatende, Serengeti		14	5	2012
Grey Hornbill	Kogatende, Serengeti		14	5	2012
Grey Kestrel	Kogatende, Serengeti		14	5	2012
Grey Wren-Warbler	Kogatende, Serengeti		14	5	2012
Grey-backed Camaroptera	Kogatende, Serengeti		14	5	2012
Grey-backed Fiscal	Kogatende, Serengeti		14	5	2012
Grey-capped Social Weaver	Kogatende, Serengeti		14	5	2012
Grey-capped Warbler	Kogatende, Serengeti		14	5	2012
Grey-headed Bush-shrike	Kogatende, Serengeti		14	5	2012
Grey-headed Kingfisher	Kogatende, Serengeti		14	5	2012
Grey-headed Sparrow	Kogatende, Serengeti		14	5	2012
Gymnogene	Kogatende, Serengeti		14	5	2012
Hamerkop	Kogatende, Serengeti		14	5	2012
Harlequin Quail	Kogatende, Serengeti		14	5	2012
Helmeted Guineafowl	Kogatende, Serengeti		14	5	2012
Heuglin's Courser	Kogatende, Serengeti		14	5	2012
Hildebrandt's Starling	Kogatende, Serengeti		14	5	2012
Holub's Golden Weaver	Kogatende, Serengeti		14	5	2012
Hooded Vulture	Kogatende, Serengeti		14	5	2012
Horus Swift	Kogatende, Serengeti		14	5	2012
House Sparrow	Kogatende, Serengeti		14	5	2012
Klaas Cuckoo	Kogatende, Serengeti		14	5	2012
Knob-billed Duck	Kogatende, Serengeti		14	5	2012
Lappet-faced Vulture	Kogatende, Serengeti		14	5	2012
Laughing Dove	Kogatende, Serengeti		14	5	2012
Lesser Honeyguide	Kogatende, Serengeti		14	5	2012
Lesser Masked Weaver	Kogatende, Serengeti		14	5	2012
Lesser Spotted Eagle	Kogatende, Serengeti		14	5	2012
Lesser Striped Swallow	Kogatende, Serengeti		14	5	2012
Lilac-breasted Roller	Kogatende, Serengeti		14	5	2012
Little Bee-eater	Kogatende, Serengeti		14	5	2012
Little Rush Warbler	Kogatende, Serengeti		14	5	2012
Little Stint	Kogatende, Serengeti		14	5	2012
Little Swift	Kogatende, Serengeti		14	5	2012
Little Weaver	Kogatende, Serengeti		14	5	2012
Long-crested Eagle	Kogatende, Serengeti		14	5	2012
Long-tailed Cisticola	Kogatende, Serengeti		14	5	2012
Madagascar Bee-eater	Kogatende, Serengeti		14	5	2012
Magpie Shrike	Kogatende, Serengeti		14	5	2012
Malachite Kingfisher	Kogatende, Serengeti		14	5	2012
Marabou Stork	Kogatende, Serengeti		14	5	2012
Martial Eagle	Kogatende, Serengeti		14	5	2012
Meyer's Parrot	Kogatende, Serengeti		14	5	2012
Mosque Swallow	Kogatende, Serengeti		14	5	2012
Northern Black Flycatcher	Kogatende, Serengeti		14	5	2012
Northern White-crowned Shrike	Kogatende, Serengeti		14	5	2012
Nubian Woodpecker	Kogatende, Serengeti		14	5	2012
Ostrich	Kogatende, Serengeti		14	5	2012
Parasitic Weaver	Kogatende, Serengeti		14	5	2012
Pearl-spotted Owlet	Kogatende, Serengeti		14	5	2012
Pectoral-patch Cisticola	Kogatende, Serengeti		14	5	2012
Pin-tailed Whydah	Kogatende, Serengeti		14	5	2012
Plain Martin	Kogatende, Serengeti		14	5	2012
Plain-backed Pipit	Kogatende, Serengeti		14	5	2012
Purple Grenadier	Kogatende, Serengeti		14	5	2012
Purple-banded Sunbird	Kogatende, Serengeti		14	5	2012
Pygmy Falcon	Kogatende, Serengeti		14	5	2012
Rattling Cisticola	Kogatende, Serengeti		14	5	2012
Red-billed Buffalo Weaver	Kogatende, Serengeti		14	5	2012
Red-billed Firefinch	Kogatende, Serengeti		14	5	2012
Red-billed Oxpecker	Kogatende, Serengeti		14	5	2012
Red-billed Quelea	Kogatende, Serengeti		14	5	2012
Red-billed Teal	Kogatende, Serengeti		14	5	2012
Red-cheeked Cordonbleu	Kogatende, Serengeti		14	5	2012
Red-chested Cuckoo	Kogatende, Serengeti		14	5	2012
Red-eyed Dove	Kogatende, Serengeti		14	5	2012
Red-faced Crombec	Kogatende, Serengeti		14	5	2012
Red-fronted Barbet	Kogatende, Serengeti		14	5	2012
Red-headed Weaver	Kogatende, Serengeti		14	5	2012
Red-necked Spurfowl	Kogatende, Serengeti		14	5	2012
Red-throated Tit	Kogatende, Serengeti		14	5	2012
Ring-necked Dove	Kogatende, Serengeti		14	5	2012
Rock Martin	Kogatende, Serengeti		14	5	2012
Rock-loving Cisticola	Kogatende, Serengeti		14	5	2012
Rosy-breasted Longclaw	Kogatende, Serengeti		14	5	2012
Rufous-naped Lark	Kogatende, Serengeti		14	5	2012
Rufous-tailed Weaver	Kogatende, Serengeti		14	5	2012
Ruppell's Griffon Vulture	Kogatende, Serengeti		14	5	2012
Ruppell's Long-tailed Starling	Kogatende, Serengeti		14	5	2012
Sacred Ibis	Kogatende, Serengeti		14	5	2012
Sand Martin	Kogatende, Serengeti		14	5	2012
Scarlet-chested Sunbird	Kogatende, Serengeti		14	5	2012
Schalow's Turaco	Kogatende, Serengeti		14	5	2012
Secretary Bird	Kogatende, Serengeti		14	5	2012
Silverbird	Kogatende, Serengeti		14	5	2012
Slate-coloured Boubou	Kogatende, Serengeti		14	5	2012
Sooty Chat	Kogatende, Serengeti		14	5	2012
Speckle-fronted Weaver	Kogatende, Serengeti		14	5	2012
Speckled Mousebird	Kogatende, Serengeti		14	5	2012
Spekes Weaver	Kogatende, Serengeti		14	5	2012
Spotted Eagle Owl	Kogatende, Serengeti		14	5	2012
Spotted Thicknee	Kogatende, Serengeti		14	5	2012
Spur-winged Lapwing	Kogatende, Serengeti		14	5	2012
Stout Cisticola	Kogatende, Serengeti		14	5	2012
Straited Heron	Kogatende, Serengeti		14	5	2012
Striped Kingfisher	Kogatende, Serengeti		14	5	2012
Superb Starling	Kogatende, Serengeti		14	5	2012
Tawny Eagle	Kogatende, Serengeti		14	5	2012
Tawny-flanked Prinia	Kogatende, Serengeti		14	5	2012
Temminck's Courser	Kogatende, Serengeti		14	5	2012
Three-banded Plover	Kogatende, Serengeti		14	5	2012
Trilling Cisticola	Kogatende, Serengeti		14	5	2012
Tropical Boubou	Kogatende, Serengeti		14	5	2012
Usambiro Barbet	Kogatende, Serengeti		14	5	2012
Verreaux's Eagle-owl	Kogatende, Serengeti		14	5	2012
Village Indigobird	Kogatende, Serengeti		14	5	2012
Violet-backed Starling	Kogatende, Serengeti		14	5	2012
Wahlberg's Eagle	Kogatende, Serengeti		14	5	2012
Water Thick-knee	Kogatende, Serengeti		14	5	2012
Western Banded Snake-eagle	Kogatende, Serengeti		14	5	2012
White Stork	Kogatende, Serengeti		14	5	2012
White-backed Vulture	Kogatende, Serengeti		14	5	2012
White-bellied Bustard	Kogatende, Serengeti		14	5	2012
White-bellied Tit	Kogatende, Serengeti		14	5	2012
White-browed Coucal	Kogatende, Serengeti		14	5	2012
White-browed Robin-chat	Kogatende, Serengeti		14	5	2012
White-browed Scrub Robin	Kogatende, Serengeti		14	5	2012
White-faced Whistling-Duck	Kogatende, Serengeti		14	5	2012
White-headed Barbet	Kogatende, Serengeti		14	5	2012
White-headed Buffalo Weaver	Kogatende, Serengeti		14	5	2012
White-headed Sawing	Kogatende, Serengeti		14	5	2012
White-headed Vulture	Kogatende, Serengeti		14	5	2012
White-rumped Swift	Kogatende, Serengeti		14	5	2012
White-tailed Lark	Kogatende, Serengeti		14	5	2012
White-winged Widowbird	Kogatende, Serengeti		14	5	2012
Winding Cisticola	Kogatende, Serengeti		14	5	2012
Wire-tailed Swallow	Kogatende, Serengeti		14	5	2012
Woodland Kingfisher	Kogatende, Serengeti		14	5	2012
Yellow Bishop	Kogatende, Serengeti		14	5	2012
Yellow-billed Oxpecker	Kogatende, Serengeti		14	5	2012
Yellow-billed Stork	Kogatende, Serengeti		14	5	2012
Yellow-breasted Apalis	Kogatende, Serengeti		14	5	2012
Yellow-fronted Canary	Kogatende, Serengeti		14	5	2012
Yellow-mantled Widowbird	Kogatende, Serengeti		14	5	2012
Yellow-spotted Petronia	Kogatende, Serengeti		14	5	2012
Yellow-throated Longclaw	Kogatende, Serengeti		14	5	2012
Yellow-vented Bulbul	Kogatende, Serengeti		14	5	2012
Zitting Cisticola	Kogatende, Serengeti		14	5	2012

Guide Selection Course

So the 2011/12 season has come to an end and what a season it has been. Busy camps, safaris, happy guests and many wonderful wildlife sightings. This is the time of the year when everybody takes a well deserved break until the next season starts again in early June. This is also the time of the year when we do allot of staff training. 

In the next two months there will be some very good guide training taking place and we have just finished selecting 10 new trainee guides to send on such a course and hopefully one day become one of our resident camp safari guides. The selection process started some three weeks ago with Myself and Emannuel Chagamba (one of our Olakira Camp guides) interviewing round about 150 people. Cv's where collected and personal interviews where done with each applicant, together with a driving test.

From all the almost 150 plus interviews we selected 30 people to come back and do a three day selection course at Asilia base office out of which we would choose the final 10. It was a fun filled three days getting to know everyone better and playing some really fun team building games with them, teaching them some valuable skills. 

Blindfolded, make a even sided triangle and point it to Mt Meru

Crossing a "river" and having to build a perfect tower of tins on a float!

Pure Concentration!!

Leeding your blinded partner through a mine field

At the end of day three 10 people where chosen (a very tough decision) to join Ethan Kinsey on a 6 week guide training course in the bush, followed by written and practical guiding exams and future employment. A big congratulations goes to Calson, Oredi, Erasto, Elia, Benson, Leonard, John Elias, Nathan, Samwel and Makubi for making the final ten and best of luck to all of you!!

The final ten, In the back L-R, Oredi, Erasto, Nathan, Leonard and Benson
In the front, L-R, Elia, John, Makubi and Calson, absent Samwel.

Thanks to everyone who came to the interviews and also those who joined us on the selection course, for those who did not make it this time, keep believing in yourself and you are all very welcome again to come and try next season, Karibu Sana !!

Battle In Zambia

Hi All

I thought I would share the following series of photographs that show a battle that took place in Zambia's Luangwa River in Luangwa National Park. This was send to me via email and by now has been send all over the world I'm sure, but for those who have not seen it yet, pretty amazing !!

These dramatic pictures show a clash of the titans as a protective elephant mum and a ferocious crocodile get in an epic tug of war in Zambia. The female elephant and her baby were drinking from the Luangwa River in the South Luangwa National Park when they were attacked. Leaping out of the murky waters a vicious crocodile bit down on the female's trunk.

Attack: The crocodile sprung from the water as a baby elephant and its mum were having a drink from the river

The baby elephant went to hide behind mum as the croc attacked

The elephant was brought to her knees as the crocodile thrashed around

Brought down on her hind legs, the elephant didn't give up and turned away from the water, despite the predator clamped down on her trunk.

Using incredible strength the female managed to shake off the croc after walking away from the water.

She survived the attack along with her baby, despite a second scare when the baby tripped as the pair ran away.

The elephant managed to turn away from the water even the croc was trying to pull her in

With her baby safely on the far side, the mum stepped away from the water with the croc still clamped on

The mighty elephant dragged the crocodile all the way out of the water as she walked away

They were seen feeding from the river later in the day.

South Luangwa National Park is well-known for its mighty elephant herds of up to 70 individuals.

Measuring 9000 square kilometers, the park has 60 animal species including baboons, buffalo, zebra, giraffe, leopards, lions and hippopotamus.

Despite the unwanted appendage, she and her baby broke into a run

FREE: Water gushes from the mum's trunk as she finally shakes the croc, with her baby momentarily tripping over the predator before the pair made off safely.