The Turgwe Hippos' Future, an Update
It is nearly the end of September.The 18 Turgwe Hippos are, thankfully,
all still in good health and living in their pool at the Chichindwi weir
of the Turgwe River. The pool has shrunk a little from when
Jean-Roger, my husband, finished off the work with the sand pump. Now 11
crocodiles live alongside the hippos. Each morning the five calves, four
born in 2000 and one-darling little Kuchek born in March of this year-
frolic and play, enjoying having a source of water to live in again. The
mothers and Bob the bull mainly lie around all day just letting the cool
water wash over their huge bodies. The scene appears so peaceful, so full
of promise. Kudu and bushbuck antelopes feed from the surrounding
bushes, various water birds like woolly necked storks and hammerkops, fish
eagles and kingfishers enjoy the benefits of the pool. Fish feed from
the hippos dung, while this researcher has a small respite with the
hippos- before the reality of life around us demands my presence in yet
another snare patrol.On August 27th, things here worsened. The land next to us, which consists
of a small title deed for this conservancy of only 1000 acres, was
invaded by so-called war veterans. A year previously, that land had been
pegged by the official government office. But they made a mistake and used
an outdated map. On that map, the land was part of our neighbors' land
which has been invaded due to having been designated for the last year or
so. Now, in August, the war veteran who has claimed Chabata land returned.
He is a man in his mid-forties, so possibly did fight in the liberation
war, but he has just retired from being a customs official.Robert Mamungerere has claimed the Chabata land as his own.
He tells us he will be the chief of that area. We know from his nephew who
works for us that Robert is a wealthy man. In his own lands in the
neighboring Matsai Reserve he owns over 50 cattle, some bought with monies
he earned last year when he invaded this area. He has told us that he is bringing 12 of
his cattle into the conservancy here, so that he can clear the trees his workers have
cut. This he tells us will happen on the 1st of October. This area has
buffalo which were reintroduced into this wildlife area with the
permission of the veterinary department. Due to the conservancy's wildlife
agenda, government were happy for the buffalo to be returned here as long
as the area was maintained with the correct fencing standards. On some of
the boundaries, the conservancy has had war veterans cut huge areas of the
fence in order to come in to the area and occupy land. They now want to
bring their cattle.If one brings cattle here, more foot and mouth disease can occur with outbreaks
throughout the area. Robert has paid between 7 and 10 black young men from 18
years to 24 years to come here and clear the land. In one week, they had already
cut out huge old mopane trees and large acacia trees in about a twenty acre area.
Next came the fires-supposedly not started by them- but if not them by other tree
cutters about five kms. up the road. A huge fire swept towards our
home, and the grazing ground for the animals, threatening to destroy all the
hippos food. Thankfully, we managed to get the assistance of our one
neighbor who brought along fifty workers. From 2pm until 8pm they all
helped us fight the fire.The result was that we managed to save the grass
on one side of the dirt road and back burnt on the other side. As I type,
we have approximately a quarter of the grass for the hippos left whilst
three quarters of the area was burnt out.Next, the biggest problem commenced: snaring. Wire snares are placed
next to the trees the people had felled. In one weekend, we
found 16 snares and one butchered female impala as well as the remains of
another. Since that day, we find evidence every day of new wires, either a
dead animal, or- if we are lucky- a set wire with no dead animal, or even
like yesterday- a live female impala wearing a collar of wire. She
hopefully should survive, since she managed to break the wire attached to the
tree leaving only a collar low down on her neck. When I saw her she was
drinking in the river and the collar does not impede her movements. She is
one of the lucky ones.Another neighbor, the man who has had his property invaded now for over a
year, kindly sent his game scouts into this area. The 1000 acres used to
belong to him so he knows the land. His scouts found meat, obviously taken
by the workers of the war vet, and took it back to where they
were camping, intending for the police to see it and apprehend the
perpetrators. What happened was 10 of these guys went in the middle of
the night and threatened the scouts and took the meat back-kudu and
impala that but a day before been live animals, now sold to the highest
bidder. The guys around us make out like it could not possibly be them
killing all these animals, that it is other bad people. It's funny how
it never happened until they moved in and cut trees and how funny it is
that each wire is near to where they work! Do they take us for fools?In the meantime, we are told by the media that the UK is sorting out the
land issue problem and that monies are being paid to the farmers as
compensation and all will be well. We who live here believe this is just a
smokescreen, conscience money. The reality is that, since the talks, the
problems on the ground have gotten worse. This conservancy is not a farm; it
has hardly any arable land. The members of the conservancy have been told
by central government that the area will remain for wildlife utilization
and not for land resettlement, that agreements have been made for the
future of this area to benefit the wildlife, the owners, and the people
adjacent to this area.Yet the war vets and the squatters have their own
agenda.We are told that our president is behind the area remaining as a
wildlife land, but is this true? We know that he has categorically stated
that any whites will be out of this country by 2002 and he will leave a
token gesture of 20,000 whites to live here. We know that racism is
working in the reverse these days: the white is the one victimized
alongside any black people who do not agree with the policies of the
Zimbabwean govnernment. I am apolitical, have never voted anywhere. My way
of life is devoted to animals and their welfare. I do not classify myself as a
racist, and have talked to our new "neighbors". My husband has explained
our work for the hippos to them. Yet, due to a total breakdown in law and
order, nothing is done on the ground to stop this country's slide into the
mud.The economy is ruined, inflation of ordinary household goods is as much
as 100% per month. People are not yet starving but soon will be.Animals are being slaughtered daily at an unprecedented rate.
Now, here at home, killers are literally on our doorstep.
I look at these Turgwe Hippos and I want to cry. Doesn't anybody out there care?
We get promises of help, but the games being played by politicians of both colors,
the attitude of die hard hardliners, and the police not acting out their official roles
make the life around us so unstable. Did these wild animals ask for man to fight
amongst himself...can we not learn from other African countries' mistakes?
They lost most, if not all, of their wild animals.Animals alive can make more money for people than dead ones. This is the
point that needs to be made. This land is big enough for wild animals and
man, but not for man alone. If people take it for land, their crops will
not grow and they will need aid. If they are allowed to live here as
they are doing at this moment, there will be no animals left. If the
continual killing goes on, the animals will all be gone-apart from the
tree cutting and the damage this is doing to the overall environment.America has just suffered the worst catastrophe in its history. Zimbabwe has
been facing man against man fights for the last eighteen months. Less
people have been killed than in America, but daily we are intimidated or
persecuted. Some people are injured or even killed. Many are maimed
mentally and some physically. We who work for the animals wonder where
end of all this pain will be. Will there be land left for the wild and free
to live on or will stupidity, greed, and politics destroy it all? Only
time will tell. In the meantime, we continue to work for the hippos.We are both very tired and age each day quicker than in normal times, but we
refuse to lose hope that one day, somehow, the goodness of all Zimbabweans
will beat the evil of a few.
Karen Paolillo, Turgwe Hippo Trust, Save
Valley Conservancy, Zimbabwe. September 2001.