In the Field

The main work we're doing at the moment is surveying a large area (500 hectares) belonging to 14 villages, that they're trying to turn in to a wildlife management area (WMA).  The survey is to look at the state of the habitat and wildlife for possible hunting, fishing, tourism opportunities.

We head off down routes, rather than roads, taking water, food and camping gear for 2-3 days. At times we have to clear the way or make a new route if that's not possible. Once there we carry out all manner of surveys.

Clearing a new route:

Bird surveys happen early in the morning, when the birds are most active. We walk out and find a position to look, listen and record the species and numbers.  I can do spotting and counting but, fortunately, we have experts who know the bird calls! We do this from 3 locations at least half a kilometre from each other,  to avoid double counting. Then it's back to camp for a hunk of bread and sweet black tea (that's every day breakfast actually).

Forest campsite:

Mornings and afternoons we carry out large mammal transects (LMTs). We run a measuring tape over a 500m distance, in a straight line, and then walk the line inspecting a metre on each side.  We look for and record all mammal ativity; spoor, droppings, digging, burrows etc. We saw hippo prints one day which was fun but mostly antelope, zebra, buffalo, bush pig and elephant. Also lots of elephant shrew burrows. They're not the weeny shrews we're used to, more the size of a small adult rabbit. This could account for the name but much more likely to be because of their long, trunk like noses!  I've seen a few but they're pretty shy.

LMT with tracker Kimboga:

Bush buck prints and droppings:

While one of us records the mammal data the other records the state of the forest over the same area, primarily looking for signs of human disturbance. This is repeated in different, dispersed areas, about 6 each day.

I'm in charge of tree data here but have to meddle in the mammal signs too, dik dik droppings in this case:

We also set up camera traps to see if we can capture the nocturnal & shy creatures and any carnivores. We've heard lion and hyena from our bush camp and seen leopard droppings but no sightings. That might not be such a bad thing as an old rifle and panga may not be the best defence against a hungary pride of lions!

The area borders the Selous national park,  a big park in the SE of Tanzania. When the villages first started defining the WMA, 5 years ago, there was more game around than now as there's been hugh pressure on the land in this area due to incoming pastoralists who decimate the forest and badly overgraze. I've been lucky in that the areas I've surveyed have been pretty pristine but, due to the time of year, not a great many sightings of animals (the wet season, March & April, will bring more game).

Illegal grazing by a migrant Sukuma pastoralist:

Another part of the work is to carry out surveys with the people in the area. There are quite a few illegal settlements in the WMA and we spent a rather depressing and sweaty couple of days walking between them and asking our questions. Not that surprisinglyly some of the people had 'paid' village officials to be allowed to stay in the area. There are also some permitted fishing villages who were interesting to talk to.

Survey at the fishing village:

Along with the illegal settlements there are other illegal activities: cutting timber and making charcoal; cutting and planking timber; farming; fishing; mammal poaching; honey poaching which generally entails chopping down the whole tree and grazing of domestic animals.  When we go out we usually take a Village Game Scout (VGS) with us and they're empowered to tackle and detain any offenders. We've had a couple of run ins but nothing too worrisome. The first thing the VGS does is to remove their knives and spears!

Our VGSS challenging some Sukuma moving cattle through:

Our VGS challenging settlers. This one was a bit heated as we found bush meat bones:

The illegal human disturbance seems to be more serious than anyone thinks so I've been writing a report and PowerPoint presentation with lots of pictorial evidence. The report has been delivered and put the cat among the pigeons apparently as a recent trend report said there was no encroachment!  We are waiting for a meeting with the combined village council and the District Council but have now had 2 meetings cancelled! Monday is the new date.... we shall see....

The office: