Tigerfish predating on swallows in mid-flight

African tigerfish have been filmed by scientists catching swallows in flight.

Some species of fish are known to feed on stationary birds but experts say this is the first evidence of one catching birds on the wing.

Tigerfish are a predatory freshwater species that are best known for their large, razor-sharp teeth.

The behaviour was filmed at Schroda Dam, a man-made lake in Limpopo Province, South Africa.

Researchers from the Water Research Group of North West University, South Africa, described their findings in the Journal of Fish Biology.

"The African tigerfish is one of the most amazing freshwater species in the world," said Prof Nico Smit, co-author of the study.

"It is a striking fish with beautiful markings on the body, bright red fins and vicious teeth."

The fish, Hydrocynus vittatus, is known as a voracious predator and according to Prof Smit, its characteristic jump makes it a favourite species for freshwater anglers.

It is a protected species in South Africa and Prof Smit and colleagues were conducting a study into how it uses different habitats in Schroda Dam.

Using radio tags to monitor the movements of individual fish, researchers found that they primarily fed on other fishes at dawn and dusk and withdrew to rest in deep, sheltered areas during the day.

But during a summer survey, the team recorded some unusual activity. The tigerfish swam out to open water in the mid-morning and were seen preying on swallows as they skimmed over the lake's surface.

Prof Smit said the team were "extremely surprised" by the behaviour which they were able to capture on film.

In the past, anecdotal evidence of birds disappearing as they flew over African lakes and pools has suggested that fish could be catching them for food but nothing conclusive had been recorded.

Bass, eels, piranhas and pike have all been acknowledged as freshwater species that prey on birds floating on the surface of the water or by the water's edge, but Prof Smit says this is the first record of freshwater fish catching birds in flight.

He suggested that the findings will change how scientists think about how energy transfers in freshwater eco-systems - and may also have implications for swallow conservation in the country.

Source: African tigerfish catch swallows in flight (BBC Nature, 13 Jan 2014)

Vic Falls rainforest draws 17,000 visitors over festive period

VICTORIA FALLS, January 10 (The Source) – Parks and Wildlife Management Authority says nearly 17,000 tourists, a third of them international visitors visited the famed  Victoria Falls Rainforest during the festive season, earning $270 000 in fees.

Statistics from the authority showed that of the 16,573 tourists who paid to explore the rainforest in the 10 days to January 2 this year, just over 5,000 were from outside Africa.

In terms of earnings, the international visitors spent $147,510 at the rainforest while tourists from regional countries paid $75,410 while earnings from locals, who pay less than their foreign counterparts, stood at $49,709.

There were no comparative figures available, but tourism executives told The Source that the just ended festive season was among the best for the industry.

The rainforest had an average 542 daily visitors in 2012, according to Zimbabwe Tourism Authority statistics, compared to nearly 1,700 daily visitors over the peak 2013 Christmas season. A total of 198,000 toured the rainforest in 2012, according to the ZTA.

“The festive season was made of two halves- the Christmas period had more locals while the New Year period had more of regional and international tourists. All these helped in raising arrivals into this destination,” said Hospitality Association of Zimbabwe official, Jonathan Hudson.

Tourism executive Clement Mukwasi said the rise in tourists could be attributed to the global exposure generated by Zimbabwe’s co-hosting of the 20th United Nations World Tourism Organisation (UNWTO) general assembly with Zambia.

“I think we are seeing some rebound as a result from the (hosting). This can help the sector recover in 2014,” Mukwasi said.

Tourism expanded by 3.4 last year, but is seen by growing by 15 percent by 2015. Zimbabwe earned $749 million from tourism in 2012, a 13 percent increase on the 2011 figure of $664 million.

Source: Vic Falls rainforest draws 17,000 visitors over festive period (10/01/14)

Update on the Shearwater elephants captured from Hwange

ZNSPCA - A SUMMARY OF WILD ELEPHANTS CAPTURED FOR COMMERCIAL USE

In November 2006, Shearwater Adventures located in Victoria Falls, Zimbabwe, captured twelve wild juvenile elephants from Hwange National Park for the purpose of training the animals for use in the elephant back riding industry. Once ZNSPCA heard about this capture, Inspectors visited the premises where the elephants were being held. One elephant had died a day after it had been captured while another female elephant had escaped from her enclosure. The remaining ten elephants were in a state of shock and showed clear symptoms of stress. After vet reports on the elephants were obtained and photographic evidence taken, the ZNSPCA appealed to National Parks and Wildlife Management Authority (NPWMA) for permission to stop the training of these wild elephants and release the animals. NPWMA granted ZNSPCA permission to release the elephants.

On the day the elephants were scheduled for release, however, ZNSPCA Inspectors were told by a deputy Minister of Parliament to leave the elephants alone. Inspectors subsequently filed twelve counts of animal cruelty charges against Shearwater Adventures at the local Police station and submitted photographic evidence to prove the cruelty. Shearwater Adventures subsequently banned Inspectors from entering their property in order to examine the elephants. Two obstruction charges were filed against Shearwater Adventures with the Police. During the next few weeks, the docket for animal cruelty against Shearwater Adventures was "lost", ZNSPCA replaced it, the docket was moved to another police station, and finally all charges including the obstruction charges against Shearwater Adventures were dropped by the Police due to "lack of evidence".

ZNSPCA fought to gain access to the elephan/ts in the High Court for over a year. During time another two elephants died. Inspectors approached elephant specialist, Dr. Joyce Poole, for assistance. Dr. Poole submitted an affidavit regarding the cruelty involved in capturing and training wild elephants. Furthermore, she wrote a motivated request to the Attorney General requesting the ban on future capture of wild elephants (note that these documents were used by ZNSPCA in the subsequent Sondelani case as well). During this period the story was widely publicised in the press and on the Internet, causing the near collapse of Shearwater Adventures' business. Shearwater Adventure was, thus, forced to stop the High Court battle and asked ZNSPCA Inspectors to visit the elephants. Unfortunately, by this time, the intense and highly abusive training was over and Inspectors were unable to prove beyond reasonable doubt, that cruelty was continuing to take place.

NPWMA would not fully commit themselves to banning future captures of wild elephants, but shortly after issuing the release permit to ZNSPCA, verbally communicated that they would not be issuing further permits without ZNSPCA's knowledge.

Source: ZNSPCA - A SUMMARY OF WILD ELEPHANTS CAPTURED FOR COMMERCIAL USE (21/11/13)

More:  SPCA battles Shearwater over elephants (19/04/07)
Statement on the wild elephant capture by Shearwater (24/01/2007)
Shearwater statement on Hwange elephant capture (24/11/2006)
Outcry over capture of wild elephants (12/11/06)
Elephants sent into Safari Slavery from Zimbabwe’s World Famous Hwange National Park (08/11/06)

Further Reading:  Captive Animal encounters: are they ethical? 

More from this blog: elephant-back safaris 

Govt avails more land for Victoria Falls expansion

THE Government has availed more land to the Victoria Falls municipality to help ease accommodation shortages in the resort town, an official has said.About 5,000 people are on the council’s housing waiting list in the town.

Patrick Chitumba Victoria Falls Reporter

Victoria Falls Mayor Councillor Sifiso Mpofu told Chronicle yesterday that plans were under way to avail more land for expansion purposes.

He said the new land would be given to residents on the housing waiting list to build their houses.

“We are happy to note that our boundary is now reaching the grid, about 10km from the town along the Victoria Falls-Bulawayo Road,” Clr Mpofu said.

“The department of physical planning is still to give us the actual size but that is a positive sign towards addressing housing shortages in the resort town.

“The town has limited space or land since we are in a parks area and therefore we welcome this development.”

Clr Mpofu said the local authority was also working with different partners on a combined Victoria Falls master plan to come up with a satellite township on the periphery on the town.

This, he said, was meant to ease congestion in the town and help address accommodation shortage. Clr Mpofu also said council business was lagging behind because there was no a substantive Town Clerk.

“The thing that is making our job difficult in the council right now is the unavailability of a substantive Town Clerk. We are failing to make proper decisions for the benefit of the town,” he said.

Source: Govt avails more land for Victoria Falls expansion (17/12/13)

Victoria Falls no more?

Date: 18 December 2013

The recently announced ZANU-PF proposal to rename Victoria Falls has attracted mixed reactions from tourism players with some raising fears that a name change could make the resort town unpopular and affect tourism.

Zanu-PF resolved at its annual national conference in Chinhoyi that Victoria Falls and several other institutions must be renamed. The Zanu-PF committee on sports, culture, religion and liberation heritage chairperson Ignatius Chombo said it did not make any sense for colonial names to remain in place in an independent Zimbabwe.

Chief Mvutu, whose jurisdiction covers Victoria Falls, yesterday said he had no problem with the renaming of the resort town, but expressed scepticism at officially marketing one of nature's grandstands as Mosi Oa Tunya (the smoke that thunders) as it was originally called by the local Tonga-speaking people.

He said marketing the name Mosi Oa Tunya would be tantamount to handing over all the Victoria Falls tourism business to neighbouring Zambia since that name was widely used in that country. "It has been long since the place was known as Victoria Falls and a name change is not bad," Chief Mvutu said. "I will suggest that they call it Mapopoma Falls. I am running away from using the name Mosi Oa Tunya because in Livingstone (Zambia) the name is widely used for lodges, parks and other institutions which will definitely take business away."

The national parks at the premier tourist resort are Mosi Oa Tunya National Park on the Zambian side and Victoria Falls National Park on the Zimbabwean side. On the southern banks of the Zambezi River is the Zambezi National Park extending 40km west along the river.

However, Chief Mvutu warned the authorities against rushing to change the name saying they should first market the new name vigorously before officially renaming the resort town. "There is a danger that we are going to lose a number of tourists as they would not know about the new name. It's highly unlikely that our Zambian counterparts will change from using the name Victoria Falls, which will give them an advantage of tapping in on the influx of tourists," Mvutu said.

The Employers' Association of Tourism Operators (Eato) president and Shearwater Adventures public relations manager Clement Mukwasi said the government should engage a professional co-ordinator to manage the transition period as there was a risk of making Victoria Falls an unpopular destination thereby grossly affecting tourist arrivals which have been increasing tremendously in the past few months.

"The place is known as Victoria Falls in all international bodies such as the Unesco (United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation) and international marketing agencies, so an abrupt name change will make the destination unpopular," Mukwasi said.

"The transition should be professionally managed so that people know of the new destination. Otherwise Zanu-PF as the ruling party is free to have a name change of the resort area."

Hospitality Association of Zimbabwe (HAZ) Victoria Falls Chapter president Jonathan Hudson said millions of dollars would be needed to market the place and that would be costly to the country to re-establish Victoria Falls as a popular international destination.

"There is nothing wrong with changing the name, but it would be costly to tourism," Hudson said.

"We would have to spend millions of dollars to market the place to put it back on the international market. We need a vigorous marketing drive," he said.

Source: Zanu-PF warned over Victoria Falls renaming (18/12/13) 

More on this story: Zimbabwe to rename Victoria Falls in anti-colonial name bid (18/12/13)

Botswana minister in canned lion controversy

Source: Africa Geographic Blog
Date: 12 Dec 2013

Botswana’s Minister of Agriculture, Christian de Graaff, is under fire after he exported a large shipment of lions to a canned hunting outfit in South Africa last month.

De Graaff sent 22 lions to the Makhulu Game Farm near Boshof in the Free State (South Africa). Employees at the facility, owned by Henk Vorster, openly discuss how the lions are hunted and their skeletons sold to Asian buyers. Some are bred for sale to international zoos.

At the game farm, a popular local tourist venue about 80km from Kimberley, 18 young lions were crammed together in a small quarantine enclosure of about 30m by 30m this week. With no shade and only a tiny corrugated iron-roofed hut to protect them, they were panting furiously in the blazing heat.

According to Werner Böing, the Environmental Management Inspector at the Free State Department of Economic Development, Tourism and Environmental Affairs, Vorster is an “approved predator breeder in our province and his facility is up to standard”. Permits have been issued to move the 22 lions from Botswana to the Free State, he said.

De Graaff’s involvement in the breeding and hunting of lions was exposed by Botswana’s Mmegi newspaper in September. An investigation revealed that in 2005, the Botswana Department of Wildlife and National Parks captured and donated two “problem” Kalahari lions, a male and a female, to De Graaff’s company, Phologolo Botswana Safaris.

The lions were kept at his Tautona Lodge in Ghanzi and had multiplied to 32 by the time he sent his shipment to the Free State in November. According to Mmegi, a dispute has arisen between De Graaff and Botswana’s Minister of Wildlife and Tourism, Tshekedi Khama, over whether the lions belong to him or the Botswana government, which has banned trophy hunting.

This is not the first deal De Graaff has done with commercial game farmers in the Free State. In 2011, he was given permits to export 26 lions to a farm called Smal Deel Unissen.

Zimbabwe to rename Victoria Falls in anti-colonial name bid

 At its conference last week, President Robert Mugabe’s party said it did not make sense to continue having colonial names and instead these should be replaced by local ones.

David Livingstone was not the first person to see the Victoria Falls, they (the falls) must be rebranded Mosi-Oa-Tunya

“Institutions bearing colonial names must be changed and be given indigenous names . . . School syllabuses must also change,” the party resolved.

“We should teach our children about Mbuya Nehanda, Sekuru Kaguvi, General (Josiah Magama) Tongogara and other gallant fighters of our liberation struggle.”

Victoria Falls was named after the British monarch, Queen Victoria by a missionary, David Livingstone, the first white person to set sight on one of the world’s seven natural wonders.

At independence in 1980, Mugabe’s government set out to rename most major towns and landmarks, although a number were left untouched.

A leader of an association of ex fighters for Zimbabwe’s independence, Jabulani Sibanda was on Tuesday quoted saying there was no going back on the resolution.

“We still have institutions like Allan Wilson School, what an insult, considering what that man did to our country.

“David Livingstone was not the first person to see the Victoria Falls, they (the falls) must be rebranded Mosi-Oa-Tunya. We have soldiers living at KG (King George) VI (Barracks),” he thundered.

“How can we have our barracks continue to be named after a foreign king?”

But there are fears this could have a negative effect on tourism, at a time the country is desperate for foreign earnings.

But a belligerent Sibanda maintained that if European tourists want to see the legacy of Queen Victoria “her grave is there in England and they are free to do so. Very soon they would be landing at Robert Mugabe International Airport”.

Some in Mugabe’s party have for long called for radical action to rid the country of its colonial past, but have surprisingly been stopped by the country’s 89 year old leader.

A lobby group within Zanu PF once wanted to have the remains of Cecil John Rhodes exhumed from the Matopos Hills and thrown into a river.

Before independence from Britain in 1980, Zimbabwe was called Rhodesia, after Rhodes.

Another group wanted the removal of David Livingstone’s statue from the Victoria Falls, but again their efforts came to nothing.

More recently, the government tried to rename all schools with colonial names after what it terms liberation war heroes, but this failed spectacularly and it was forced to abandon the plan.

Source: Zimbabwe to rename Victoria Falls in anti-colonial name bid (17/12/13)