Time Flies By
It is over six months since I last wrote about the Turgwe Hippos and our lives here at Hippo Haven. The previous newsletter “Out on a Limb” was a pretty horrendous report; fortunately, since then, things have improved a little and we have not had to endure such stressful events again.
Jean-Roger is still on the alleged murder charge but that is something with which we have had to learn to live. We now have two permanent game scouts staying with us, and they deal with the main areas of poaching that we have covered over the previous four years. They found a tremendous amount of snares in the first five months, averaging fifty a month, and arrested a few groups of poachers during that period. Some of these poachers were part of the mob that came to our home and threatened us. True to form, they told the scouts that they intend on coming back to sort us out. Fortunately that has not happened yet.
Lately, one never knows what to expect from one day to the next living in Zimbabwe. But we have to carry on with the hippos and our lives, try to remain positive, and look for the good things that still surround us. Nature, as always, is a very calming balm for the spirit. It is man that can upset the apple cart!
In April we managed to find enough diesel to work for one week on the Owl Tree pool, enlarging it with the trust’s sand pump. Jean-Roger could only work in it for one week, since fuel is so hard to find and the pump uses five liters an hour. He did manage to add an extra fifty feet in length and about three feet in depth, which has kept it open to the family of hippos. When all the family is in one group there are 19 hippos using that pool, which is a lot of animals for such a small area.
This year is the first time, since my behaviour study began back in 1993, that the hippos have not been sleeping on the sandbanks next to the pools during winter months. Instead they moved into the thick vegetation of the island adjoining their pools. This made it impossible for me to record their growth by photographing them, and also to have a good look at their bodies. Once the heat returns in September, they remain in the pool all day long and normally only come out at dusk. Those winter months from April through September are the times when I usually see them all on land each morning.
Only once in the entire year did a few of them come along to Bob’s old weir pool and lie on the sand for a few hours. Otherwise I had to be content with catching them coming back into the pool after sleeping on the island, or leaving in the morning to go out to the island. I eventually managed to see that the last two calves- “Five” born in December 2004 to Blackface, and “Relief” born in January 2005 to Cheeky-are both little females. So out of the six babies, three are male and three female.
I believe that one of the reasons the hippos changed their behaviour this year is due to all the disturbances we had back in February and March. That mob of men and then all the people who pitched up here later upset the hippos dramatically. During that period, the people went into the hippos’ island and the animals were all covered with the pink/red secretion.
Over the years I have learnt that hippos secrete this fluid during periods of stress. It happens when new bulls come into an area and compete with each other for the females, when fights occur involving males against young males, or in situations like the poaching incident- when the hippos supposedly killed a poacher. During that period, Cheeky was more of a red-looking hippo than her normal pinkish color, as were Abe and Mystery. I believe the secretion is produced through stress and has nothing to do with being a kind of sunscreen. These hippos never secrete when they lie in the sun, only when they are stressed.
These days Tembia, the younger bull, has managed to find a decent pool with clear running water only about half a mile away from Robin's two pools. During most of the month Tembia has at least two females- Abe and her eldest daughter Surprise, and their calves-living with him. Tsakus, Abe’s baby who is Tembia’s daughter, looks very much like him. She is the first calf that he has fathered. Considering I have known Tembia since the day he was born, back in June 1993, it is fantastic for me to follow his life and see him now with his own territory and family. He is growing to look and behave more and more like his father Bob. He even gapes just like his dad used to do. He does not open his mouth too often, but when he does it is unbelievable how closely he resembles Bob in the way he shows off to me.
At one point this year, he took to chasing the game scouts when he was sleeping on land under bushes near to the river. On several occasions they bumped into him when patrolling and Tembia chased them, so they had to climb trees. He was just showing off his dominance. I think he has also had quite a few incidents where he has bumped into poachers. So he has learnt to defend himself. I told the game scouts to avoid the areas he was using at that time, and Jean-Roger and I patrolled there instead. Once we met Tembia, and by talking to him he calmed down, just sauntering off; he knows my voice and has no fear of me.
I believe he may be the father of Cheeky’s calf, Relief, who also looks a lot like Tembia. Cheeky only joins him every now and then though, as she appears to prefer the company of Robin, the older bull. Robin seems to father mainly male calves and most of his calves have his dark skin colour. The more I study the hippos, the easier it becomes to recognize family likeness in calves. The calf either bears a strong resemblance to its mother- like all of Surprise's calves, or to the father- like young Bobin and Chubby who both look like Robin.
People often ask me how I can tell the hippos apart, or for that matter how we can see the difference amongst the fifty-odd Vervet monkeys that visit Hippo Haven, our home. The more time you spend with a group of animals, the easier it becomes to see different looks by their expressions, or the way they behave, and many tell-tale things. I am sure that it is the same for people who have several cats of the same colour, or dogs, or horses. They too can easily recognize who is who.
Through all of our problems here of late, it is the hippos that keep me focused. This year I have produced another hippo calendar for 2006, using my own photos, showing some of the Turgwe Hippos. All profits from the calendar help us to carry out projects for the Turgwe Hippos.
The Turgwe Hippo Trust calendar costs: GBP 20, US$35 or Euro 30. It is sent by DHL courier post, so I need a phone or e-mail address for the courier service.
In November I shall be returning to England, the land of my birth, for the first time since 1989. I have been given a free flight to the UK by a wonderful British organization called the Hwange Conservation Society and their main organizer Mr. John Gillon from Edinburgh. The flight is offered to them by British Airways. The Hwange society supports conservation in the Hwange National Park in the western part of Zimbabwe. Over the years they have helped these Turgwe Hippos by fostering Tembia, thanks to Anne and Ian Wilkinson, and by making donations to the trust.
I will be giving a series of presentations about the Turgwe Hippos at various venues for the Hwange Conservation Society, and also doing one talk kindly organized by a girl named Julia Robinson, who used to work for Care for the Wild International when Bill Jordan was the chairman.
I do not yet have the exact times for each talk but do know that all will take place in the evening. The dates and venues are as follows:.
November 7th : Glasgow University, Veterinary department
November 8th : Edinburgh Zoo, Education center
November 10th : possibly Edinburgh University, Veterinary department
November 11th : Whorlton Village Hall, near Darlington, Durham
November 15th : Bristol University, Veterinary department
November 17th : Slinfold Village Hall, West Sussex.
This talk organized by Julia will have free wine tasting and for any wine ordered on that night, 10% of the profit will go to the Turgwe Hippo Trust.At each talk I will show a series of slides and I will have Turgwe Hippo Merchandise for sale. This will include the 2006 calendar, DVD and video of “A Hippo Haven”, hippo artifacts and merchandise, as well as local African jewelry.
Jean-Roger will remain at home to keep an eye on the hippos and all the other animals. It will be my first time away from these hippos for more than a couple of days since 1999. It will be rather strange to speak to people about the hippos without them present, as I am used to taking people to meet the Turgwe Hippos here at Hippo Haven.
I just hope that everybody will enjoy hearing about these wonderful animals and perhaps will help them, by either fostering a hippo, or purchasing the merchandise that I will have there. Keep a look out on this web site for the exact time of each talk, which should be up by the end of October.
At this moment, in late September, we are having incredibly hot weather for this time of the year. It feels more like November than September; this could mean that we will have early rains. It would be most appreciated as this year there has not been a lot of grazing for the hippos and other animals. Although we had average rains last year, they stopped early and the animals have eaten most of the grass already. We are nonetheless better off than other parts of Zimbabwe where there is a very short supply of grazing. Hopefully this extreme heat does mean early rain.
Fortunately the hippos have enough water in their pools and I keep a careful watch on their condition. I do not believe in supplementary feeding for the hippos unless there are dire circumstances, like back in 1992 during that horrendous drought. I did also feed them for one month when the people who invaded this wildlife conservancy set fire to the bush and burnt most of their grazing. This is the first time since 2001, when those people moved into our area, that they have not set fire to the bush around our home and the hippos’ grazing areas. Perhaps it is because there is so little grass to burn and they have thought about their own cattle and livestock, so they are not deliberately burning us out like in previous years. Hopefully this will remain the case until the new rains begin.
We keep being told by all the members of this conservancy that the government of Zimbabwe has said they will be removing these people from this wildlife conservancy this year. The government realizes that the people living here do not sustain the wildlife, and that they are very quickly killing off all the animals and destroying the natural habitat. The land is supposedly for wildlife use and that is why the government says they will remove these people. Since not one of the people who has moved here is landless, (they all have homes and land in the nearby communal areas) they could easily return home. Actually, most of the men still live in their original areas, just keep one of their wives here and pop back themselves for poaching purposes.
A lot of the men have taken work in South Africa and are border jumpers. Here in the Lowveld there are regular routes that the men use to cross the Limpopo River to go into South Africa and work illegally. I am sure that some of the men take animal products with them across the border to make extra money as well.
Unfortunately, it is hard to believe that these people will really be removed, when one daily witnesses the devastation that has occurred in the south of this conservancy. On the drive from our home to Chiredzi, a distance of 70 kilometers within the conservancy, there are now hardly any animals to be seen in the areas these people have taken over. They have killed thousands upon thousands of animals, burnt the trees, and cleared the area for crops that cannot grow because this is a drought prone area.
These days they are bringing in packs of hunting dogs. They purchase the dogs as far afield as Mozambique and then use them to hunt the wild animals. We are finding fewer snares but the scouts and ourselves constantly find the tracks of poachers with dogs. They use bows and arrows to kill the animal once the dogs have tired it out and it is standing exhausted, thus allowing the poacher an easy kill.
Just this morning, the two scouts who stay here now saw the tracks of two men and eight dogs walking in the thickets about two kilometers away from our home. Last week, three men with seven dogs passed through the back of our camp and Silas, who works for us, killed one of their hunting dogs. The rest got away with the men, but one poacher dropped his bow and arrows. The dogs are so thin they are just walking skeletons and the policy within the conservancy is to shoot any dog used for hunting purposes by the poachers. This is very stressful for me to live with, as I love dogs and all animals. Yet I know that the dogs are only here hunting because of these people who moved in to destroy this wildlife environment. I just pray that sooner rather than later the people will leave and the animals will be allowed to get on with their lives without being killed daily by these poachers.
I have 21 hippos in the immediate vicinity of our home. Pavodok, a six-year-old male, lives just close by, in the river below our house. He has remained in the area ever since his mother Wish died. This year he tried to join the hippos in the pool but Storm and Robin chased him away, although he was very brave and gaped and stood up to them. He is too young to fight either though so wisely he remains on his own during the day.
I am sure that at night he meets up with some of the others as on one occasion I found him in a tiny pool with Mystery and her two younger sons, Kuchek and Zen. Kuchek had always been a friend of Pavodok when he was with the family, so I think this continues even now. I would not be surprised if he doesn't eat alongside them at night.
No females left the area this year and I hope that both Climber and Tacha may be pregnant and have their first calves either later this year or early next year. Turgwe Hippos give birth at a very early age compared to what the reference material I have about hippos states. Here they can get pregnant at four years, giving birth eight months later. All the females I have known since they were born, and who are now mature, have given birth at five years of age. Tembia is the first male to fully mature and he took over his first family at the age of 11. The longer I stay with the hippos the more I learn about their lives, being able to follow each calf through to maturity and knowing who is its mother and who she was mated by. The knowledge I gain about them is very rewarding and makes up for all the sadness of what has happened to Zimbabwe and its environment.
One other sad event occurred in the last couple of months. Sadly, two of my pet cats have died. Peach, who was only a seven-year-old male and half African wild cat, died suddenly. He has always roamed. During the time when we had to evacuate our home due to the mob, he was out somewhere in the bush. Once we returned home so did he, but only a few weeks later I lost him. He was full of worms picked up, we believe, from the areas where these people invaded. These worms probably killed him, although he had not lost condition and it was such a sudden death.
The other cat who left us was my old lady Kitsy. Kitsy was well over twenty years of age so she had had a very long and good life. She used to belong to a black man who worked for our neighbours and when he left this area he asked me to take her on. He had her from birth and she was very attached to him, returning to the house he used to live in for several months until she realized he had gone for good. She settled in with us eventually and became one of my special cats, often walking with me in the bush like a dog. In fact, she and I met a leopard once. I was totally fascinated, looking at this most beautiful animal, but poor Kitsy was terrified and ran all the way home. Leopards eat pussycats!
Kitsy died in bed with me, peacefully, in her sleep, and now has joined many of my other animals that have lived with me over the years, as well as the incredible Bob hippo.The loss of a pet is always very harsh to endure but I know that one day I will meet up with all of my animal friends, and that life has to go on for these animals that are left in our care. I still cannot help but miss them all.
On a happier note, six elephant bulls have moved into our area and I often practically bump into them on my way to see the hippos. Well, an elephant has got the right of way so if they are with the hippos I have to make another plan!
Also I was very privileged to see a Cheetah for a short few moments. I heard the Vervet monkeys giving their alarm calls, but a call I did not recognize. They have specific calls for say a raptor or a dog, but this cry was new to me. Sitting below one of the trees full of Vervet monkeys was a magnificent cheetah. For a second or two I stood in awe and then he or she was gone.
The animals around our home make up for all the sorrows and the sadness of the last few years. Nature is resilient, so let us hope that in the next newsletter I will be able to write about good events and that those people who stay here at this moment and poach the animals will all be gone.
The Turgwe Hippos and I thank you most sincerely for caring about their lives.
Karen Paolillo, Hippo Haven, Save Valley Conservancy, Zimbabwe. 27.9.2005
