History of the Turgwe Hippo Trust
Hippos at the Turgwe Reserve
The Turgwe Hippo Trust The Turgwe Hippo Trust came into being after the horrendous drought of 1991/92, the worst in living memory. At the time I happened to be living within the Save Valley Conservancy and had already become alarmed at the decline of hippos in the Lowveld of Zimbabwe. Before the drought of 1993, over 2,000 hippos lived within the Lowveld; on my return in 1990, I discovered that the numbers had dropped dramatically to about only 600 animals. During the drought, I began an intensive feeding program of the last thirteen hippos in the Turgwe River below my home. All thirteen animals I personally fed during those ten months of the drought survived. In August 1992, the Turgwe River dried up completely, but thanks to the help of Care for the Wild, a British animal charity whom I contacted for help, we managed to build a cement and masonry pan and to lay a pipeline connected to a borehole sixteen kilometers away. The funding for this emergency project was obtained through their members.
The cost of saving these hippos was high, but the results have been worth the effort: five new calves born in 1993, three in 1995, three in 1996, four in 1997, and one so far in 1998. There are now thirty hippos back in the Turgwe River system. Sadly, in the Lowveld not more than 350 hippos have survived. Hippos are faced, like so many animals, with a shrinking habitat problem. Due to their semi aquatic lifestyle, they need large bodies of water in which to live. Africa's rivers are slowly silting up, often due to stream bank cultivation and human populations living too close to the edges of our rivers. Although hippos can, through their movements, move silt to some extent, they still face the problem of their living areas becoming smaller with each year that passes. They need to find grazing in relatively close proximity to water for they eat up to forty-five kg of grass in one night. If cattle live in an area of hippo habitat, they compete with the hippos for grass. The total number of hippos left alive in Africa is a quarter of the entire elephant population. Often hippos are hunted and killed just for their lower canines, which are then carved and sold as trinkets to tourists.
Once I saved their lives in 1992, these hippos became hugely important to me. Not just because of my own commitment but also because I felt responsible to the many complete strangers who had helped me with sponsoring their food. Since December 1992, I have conducted a daily behavioral study of these Turgwe hippos, which has led to the creation of the Turgwe Hippo Trust in October 1994. The Trustees and myself wish to continue to assure a future for these hippos, and at a later stage look at helping hippos throughout Africa.
Initially, we have worked on projects for these Turgwe hippos in case of future reoccurrence of the worst-case scenario: another severe drought. We have built another "emergency pan," some three times larger that the one built in 1992. Thanks to the fantastic donation from Drillwell, a Bulawayo drilling company, we had two boreholes drilled and cased by them for free. Then again, with the help from a young British girl, Anita Bulusu, we managed to buy sixty percent of the necessary piping; with a further donation, the remaining forty percent of piping was laid and now one borehole is connected to both pans. Care for the Wild stepped in again in 1997 to help the hippos, supplying a grant to buy a borehole pump.
We now have sufficient backup water supply for both groups of hippos in the event of another drought striking. We hope to build a couple of new weirs in riverbeds. The erection of a cemented rock wall across a river will create a holding pool of water during our dry season, thus giving new habitat to the hippos. At this moment in time, three weirs already exist: these areas are the only places where, in a normal season, the hippos can live for the river now only flows annually.
When the trust can obtain a four-wheel drive vehicle, we wish to bring local black school children on excursions to meet the hippos and learn about the important ecological role they play in the wild. Their dung scattering in the river provides essential nutrients for some fish species: they keep river channels open by their constant movements through the shallows; their ability to crop grass short with their lips creates natural firebreaks and modifies the vegetation to benefit other species. Like all animals within nature, a hippo is an important part of the whole ecosystem. Unfortunately, without human help, the hippos' future looks rather dismal.
We are, I believe, the first and only non-profit organization dedicated to the conservation and protection of hippos in the world. Initially, we are focusing our attention on these Turgwe hippos. Once the Trust expands, we will be looking at other hippos in the southeast Lowveld; hopefully, at a later stage, we will be active in the whole of Zimbabwe and who knows, perhaps in other African countries as well.
The Trust has a fostering program, which enables us to help the hippos with new projects for their welfare. We also sell merchandise such as hippo t-shirts, ornaments, and batiks. The Trust has already had five television companies film the hippos, as well as numerous articles published in newspapers and magazines both locally and internationally. We need more people to know about us in order to spread the word and therefore help the hippos.
If you wish to become a foster parent or to obtain more information to help us achieve our goals, please contact us.
Karen Paolillo
Turgwe Hippo Trust
Hippo Haven
P.O. Box 322
Chiredzi
Zimbabwe
E-mail: hippohaven@bsatt.com
