SOUTH AFRICA: Photo Of Orphaned Baby Rhino Near Dead Mum Irritates People

In the early hours of Sunday 20th May a gunshot was heard in the Skukuza section of the Kruger National Park, leading to the discovery of an injured White Rhino calf clinging to the slaughtered body of his female White Rhino mum.

Poachers had brutally hacked off both of Mum’s horns and, as the calf’s instinct to protect her and stay as close as possible kicked in, had lashed out with their machetes, seriously injuring the calf’s back and his right foot.

Rhino calves are born without a horn so he wasn’t of interest to the poachers.

Veterinarian Peter Buss stabilised the calf before he was transported to Care for Wild Rhino Sanctuary who were poised to receive the calf.

This brave little fighter was hydrated on arrival, he had drunk from his mother that morning prior to her being killed. He weighed just 80 kilograms – a White Rhino at birth weighs between 40-60 Kilograms, he was not very old at all.

His wounds included a cut to the toe nail, splitting the nail down to the nail bed, and a 4-inch machete gash to his back, slicing through his cartilage, dangerously close to his spine.

His wounds were cleaned and bandaged and his deep back wound stitched up.

This brave little Rhino was given the regal name Arthur, meaning noble and courageous, and fitting for his fighting survivors spirit.

Arthur is on the road to recovery, he has made friends at the sanctuary with fellow Rhino orphan Summer, Looney – trainee puppy with the K9 Unit – and is a firm favourite with his care givers.

In the wild a Rhino calf will stay with his mum for 3 years, learning how to be a Rhino and how to interact with fellow Rhinos.

Arthur’s mother was snatched from him at an early age, Arthur still calls out for his Mum, a sound that breaks the heart of his human caregivers.

A picture of an injured white rhino calf lying next to the slaughtered body of his mum went viral on social media on Friday.

Many heartbroken and speechless Twitter users shared the picture.

The mother was reportedly shot and killed by poachers for her double horns, in the South Africa’s Kruger National Park.

The one-month-old baby rhino was spared because he was too young to have horns. He was, however, attacked with machetes.

According to the South Lakes Safari Zoo’s website: Poachers had brutally hacked off both of mum’s horns and, as the calf’s instinct to protect her and stay as close as possible kicked in, had lashed out with their machetes, seriously injuring the calf’s back and his right foot.

Rhino calves are born without a horn so he wasn’t of interest to the poachers.

The baby rhino refused to leave his mother’s side after she was killed. He was taken to a nearby rhino orphanage called the Care for Wild Rhino Sanctuary and was named Arthur, for his bravery and courage.

Arthur’s story went viral after South Lakes Safari Zoo in Dalton recently pledged their support to raise money for his rehabilitation and care.

The zoo’s website stated: The Rhino’s wounds included a cut to the toe nail, splitting the nail down to the nail bed, and a four-inch machete gash to his back, slicing through his cartilage, dangerously close to his spine.

His wounds were cleaned and bandaged and his deep back wound stitched up.

Online users were furious when the pictures started doing the rounds.

Tweep @adamtafazoli posted: “We have so much to learn when it comes to respecting this planet! How can people still do this? #sad #savetheplanet.”

While Twitter user @StvnNgm reached out to Disney and posted: “There’s need for greater awareness on the barbarism of poaching and its threat to the extinction of so many animal species. Hey @DisneyStudios the Lion King was a classic, but it’d be ingenious if you could create a “G” rated spin-off to highlight the vileness of these ghastly acts.”

@tiachocgirl urged world leaders to “come together” to protect rhinos and elephants from harm. She tweeted: “There needs to be thousands of rangers, to have any chance of protecting rhinos and elephants from being poached. Why can’t the worlds countries come together and do this?”
Many called the attack “shameless” and “inhumane”.

According to the World Wildlife Fund (WWF): “Very few rhinos survive outside national parks due to persistent poaching and habitat loss over many decades.”

In Africa, the southern white rhinos are near threatened.

After more than a century of protection and management, 19,600 – 21,000 animals exist in protected areas and private game reserves. There are only three northern white rhino individuals left on earth - all of them in captivity.

The South Lakes Safari Zoo has a page dedicated to Arthur. According to an article on the page: Arthur still calls out for his Mum, a sound that breaks the heart of his human caregivers.

Arthur will be emotionally scarred for a long time, long after his physical wounds have healed.

He has a long road to full recovery ahead but with your support and help he, and other orphans like him, will get there!


Tourism Observer

TANZANIA: Infant Rats Training To Detect Trafficked Pangolin Parts And Smuggled Hardwood Timber In Morogoro

The pangolin, a scaly anteater coveted by poachers, might have a new champion: rats that will be trained to sniff out trafficked pangolin parts in shipments heading from Africa to Asia.

A pilot project to turn African giant pouched rats into conservationist sleuths is literally in its infancy — the 10 to 15 rodents being reared in Tanzania to detect pungent pangolin remains as well as smuggled hardwood timber are just a few weeks old and most are still with their mothers.

The US Fish and Wildlife Service , however, is on board with the vermin trial, which organisers hope can eventually be used to find hidden elephant ivory and rhino horn. The American agency has provided $100,000 to support what it says could be “an innovative tool in combating illegal wildlife trade.”

The challenge seems overwhelming.

Conservationists describe the pangolin as the world’s most heavily trafficked mammal because its meat is considered a delicacy in Vietnam and some parts of China, and its scales are used in traditional Chinese medicine. Wildlife contraband is concealed among vast numbers of shipping containers that annually leave Dar es Salaam in Tanzania, Mombasa in Kenya and other African ports.

Yet APOPO , a non-profit group based in Tanzania, already harnesses the rats’ keen sense of smell to find mines and other explosive material on old battlefields in Angola, Mozambique and, more recently, Cambodia. The organization also uses rats to detect tuberculosis in sputum samples of patients in Tanzania and Mozambique.

The rats in the conservation project will start “socialisation training,” which means being carried around on people’s shoulders and in their pockets, being driven around and generally getting used to sights and sounds, APOPO spokesman James Pursey said.

Then comes “click and reward” training in which the rats are fed a treat whenever they hear a clicking sound, and they’ll eventually learn to link the gamey smell of pangolin scales with edible rewards.

Later, the intensity of the pangolin smell will be reduced and other smells will be added to confuse the rats. The ultimate aim is to train the rodents to scratch or linger over the pangolin or hardwood aroma for three seconds, tipping handlers to a possible find.

APOPO is confident it can get rats to discriminate between a pangolin scent and other smells, and “the challenge is going to be how the rats actually test the containers,” Pursey said.

The Endangered Wildlife Trust , a South African group leading the project, said the trial “builds on the use of scent detection by dogs, but will take advantage of the rats’ added agility and ability to access the container vents, which would provide the most air from the container, and potentially the most scent. Alternatively, the rats will detect scents sampled onto a filter through the vents.”

Handlers can dispatch rats with leashes and harnesses into hard-to-reach areas, but then “how are they going to tell us that they’ve found something?” said Kirsty Brebner of the Endangered Wildlife Trust.

One option being considered is to install small cameras on the backs of the rats, an idea that has been discussed for the detection of people trapped in collapsed buildings after an earthquake or bombing.

WWF and TRAFFIC have supported “successful” tests using dogs and air-filtering technology to detect wildlife contraband, “but we are still learning the best ways to apply the system for prime time, permanent applications,” said Crawford Allan, a leader of an anti-wildlife crime initiative launched by the two conservation groups.

“Dogs do need a lot of care and we won’t risk them crawling into tight spaces where they could be injured — so bringing in a conservation ‘pied piper’ and a squad of rats could help in those circumstances where they can move freely, with low risk in more cramped conditions inside shipping containers or on the back of trucks etc.,” Allan said in an email. He is not involved in the rat research.

If the training goes well, it could still be another year or so before the rats finally get to work. They’ll stick to cargo perusal rather than, for example, checking out people’s luggage in airports. Travelers, Pursey of APOPO said, wouldn’t be “particularly enamored” to have vermin crawling on their belongings.

Palm Oil Can Be Produced In Environmentally Friendly Ways

The results are in and they are so-so. The World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF) has released its latest Palm Oil Buyers’ Scorecard, on which it has evaluated the performance of numerous companies worldwide based on how well they have done on fulfilling their pledged commitment to buying and using only 100% environmentally sourced palm oil in their products.

The 2016 edition of the scorecard, the non-profit explains, “looks at 137 major retailers, consumer goods manufacturers and food service companies from the US, Canada, Europe, Australia, Japan and India. Evaluated companies include such iconic brands as Carrefour, L’Oreal, McDonald’s, Nestlé, Tesco, and Walmart among others.” As with its previous Scorecards, the latest one, too, has measured “how companies performed on basic steps such as joining the Roundtable on Sustainable Palm Oil (RSPO), committing to and buying sustainable palm oil, and transparency,” it adds.

Half of the companies WWF has surveyed have made progress since last year’s survey. A whole fifth of them, however, have either failed to respond to WWF, have done precious little to improve their performance, or else have dodged the issue altogether. “That is unacceptable behaviour considering the easy availability of certified sustainable palm oil,” WWF observes. “More than half of the companies had promised us and their customers that they would be using only certified palm oil by 2015. While most of them did achieve their targets, it is a disappointment that 21 companies did not.”

Larger companies that have proved themselves to be laggards are of especial concern because they may buy large amounts of palm oil that have been produced with great environmental costs. They should follow the examples of a few leaders in the field which are “showing their peers exactly how they too should be driving industry change by sourcing significant volumes of certified sustainable palm oil from any of the RSPO approved supply chains,” WWF explains. These noteworthy companies include Unilever, Ferrero, Reckitt Benckiser, Colgate-Palmolive and ConAgra Foods. “Medium-sized users of palm oil scoring equally well on buying certified palm oil included Walmart, Mars, Associated British Foods, General Mills, Kellogg’s, and Danone,” the nonprofit notes.

All in all, however, only three companies have proved themselves to be fully committed to going all out to ensure that they use nothing but 100% segregated and certified sustainable palm oil in 2015: Ferrero, Danone and Arnott’s. “Of these companies, only Ferrero uses large volumes of palm oil,” WWF observes. The 2016 Scorecard is the fourth WWF has published since 2009. It scores 94 companies that were also assessed in 2013: 75 of these companies have since made progress, but 11 have not. Another eight have gone backwards.

Palm oil is the world’s most produced, traded and consumed vegetable oil, accounting for all 40% vegetable oil around the world. It is used in a seemingly endless range of products from lipstick to chocolate and from margarine to laundry detergent. It’s also used to fuel vehicles, generate electricity and feed animals.

So far so good. The trouble is that when it’s grown in the wrong place and the wrong way, palm oil can wreak havoc with wildlife, local communities, the environment and even the climate,The “wrong place” is anywhere tropical forests are felled to make way for palm oil plantations. The “wrong way” is environmentally unsustainable manners that deal a blow to local ecosystems and environments. “Palm oil grows best in low-lying, wet, tropical areas – exactly where tropical rainforests grow naturally,” WWF notes. “Clearing for palm oil plantations has led to widespread destruction of rainforests, most significantly in Indonesia and Malaysia. This has damaged the habitats of unique wildlife including elephants, orangutans, rhinos and tigers, alongside a teeming array of other plants and animals.”

Palm oil cultivation has been a very lucrative business to countries like Malaysia and Indonesia. Yet chasing profits at the expense of the environment has helped decimate these countries’ unique ecosystems, at times irreparably. Carrying on in the old ways won’t do. The palm oil industry will need to clean up its act once and for all.

“The industry is at a critical stage on the journey to sustainable palm oil,” stresses Adam Harrison, head of WWF’s Palm Oil project. “More major brands are now using only certified palm oil yet laggard companies continue to drag their feet. That needs to change,” he adds. “WWF urges consumers to visit the Scorecard website and use it to reach out to companies to commend those that are leading the way and to tell the others to do better. We all have a role to play in demanding full participation and transparency of all palm oil buyers across the globe in order to stem the tide of deforestation and affect true sector wide transformation.”

In other words, we can all make a difference as individual consumers by buying products from only those companies that use wholly green palm oil, which has not come any further costs to the environment. “The last thing on your mind as you’re munching away on your buttered toast is a rainforest thousands of kilometres away,” WWF observes. “And yet, it’s quite likely that parts of your breakfast may have imperiled that fragile ecosystem.”

That does not mean, however, that all products with palm oil in them have been produced with terrible costs to those forests. More and more companies are trying to cultivate palm oil in ways that do not harm local ecosystems and human communities. Companies can ensure that that is the case by, among other steps, 1) joining the Roundtable on Sustainable Palm Oil (RSPO); 2) by making it clear to their suppliers that they require all supplied products to contain only certified sustainable palm oil (CSPO); and 3) by moving towards sourcing only segregated CSPO.

The palm oil industry can become sustainable. It’s only a matter of will and dedication.

Close Tiger Farms!

Close tiger farms. That's what the Wide Fund for Nature (WWF) has called on governments in Asia to do. The conservationist group issued its call on occasion of International Tiger Day on July 29.

Closing such farms, where the animals are bred in captivity and routinely exploited for commercial purposes, would assist in the fight against the illegal sale of tigers and their parts across the region, WWF explains. According to the nonprofit, around 200 tiger farms operate in Asia, most of them in China, Thailand, Vietnam and Laos. They are home to around 8,000 tigers.

That's double the number of tigers that are life in the wild in Asia. Many tiger farms have been accused of selling tiger parts clandestinely, thereby fueling the demand for them on the illegal wildlife trade. The farms' "existence undermines efforts of countries to protect cats living in the wild and creates demand for products made of tiger parts," WWF says.

In June, officials in Thailand raided the so-called Tiger Temple, a Buddhist monastery which was popular with tourists who flocked to the site to take pictures with tigers. They discovered a house of horrors at the site with dozens of dead cubs preserved in formaldehyde, as well as scores of tiger teeth, several tiger pelts, and numerous other objects that were destined to be sold on the black market as magical talismans or potions. The temple's 134 tigers were taken away to a government facility.

A good thing too. That said, simply closing down all tiger farms, or many of them, cannot be done without proper forethought and planning. Their tigers, which have been born in captivity, have become used to the presence of people and so they could not survive on their own in the wild. They would have to be relocated to other captive settings. Rather, the farms should be phased out step by step so as to ensure the well-being of tigers kept there.

The farms claim to be sanctuaries for tigers, yet they serve no conservation purpose whatsoever. Often animals from different subspecies are allowed to interbreed, which dilutes the characteristics of each subspecies. Such crossbred tigers could never be used to help replenish wild populations in places like Malaysia or Thailand, where native tigers are on their last legs in the wild. Essentially the farms operate either as petting zoos for visitors or as places where tigers are harvested for their parts with little concern for the well-being of the animals.

“Stopping all trade in tiger parts, and phasing out these tiger farms, is of the utmost urgency if the tiger is to survive in the wild,” Susan Lieberman, director of the Species Programme of WWF International, said. “It is time for the world community to join together, with tiger range state governments, to stop all poaching of tigers for illegal trade."

She said those words back in 2009. Sadly, not much has changed since then.

CAMBODIA: Proposed Border Highway Threatens Wildlife In Protected Cambodian Forest

Silvered langur monkeys climb on a tree along a river in Mondulkiri province in eastern Cambodia

A new border crossing between Vietnam and Cambodia will drive certain endangered animal species closer to extinction if it is built through a protected forest in Cambodia, according to an international environmental group that urges scrapping the highway plan.

The World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF) has called for the 36-kilometer (24-mile) Srea Ampom-Kbal Damrei proposed asphalt road and border crossing project to be cancelled to protect the most endangered species of the Mondulkiri Protected Forest in eastern Cambodia’s Mondulkiri Province, the country’s largest but most sparsely populated province which borders three Vietnamese provinces.

The 4,300-square-kilometer (1,660-square-mile) area is home to 23 mammal, bird, reptile and tree species listed as endangered or critically endangered, WWF said in a news release last month. Many of them have become extinct elsewhere in Southeast Asia because of habitat loss and hunting for illegal wildlife products.

The forest is also the proposed site for the Cambodian government’s plans to reintroduce tiger populations.

“Mondulkiri Protected Forest is a treasure trove of biodiversity and has been identified by the Cambodian government as the site of a planned tiger reintroduction,” said Sam Ath Chhith, country director of WWF-Cambodia. “Unfortunately, both the spectacular biodiversity and the tiger reintroduction are in jeopardy if this border crossing and road are built through the core zone of the protected forest.”

The new border crossing and road will seriously fragment the habitat of the 23 species in Mondulkiri Protected Forest, while providing little economic benefit, WWF said.

Some of the most endangered animal and plant species include the banteng, a species of wild cattle found in Southeast Asia which has declined by more than 80 percent in the past half-century and is now restricted to small populations in Cambodia, Malaysia and Indonesia.

Other endangered species at risk in the Mondulkiri Protected Forest are the giant ibis, Siamese crocodile, slender-billed vulture, Eld’s deer, dipterocarpus alatus tropical hardwood tree, silvered langur (monkey), masked finfoot (water fowl) and elongated tortoise. Many of these species have become endangered because of hunting, deforestation and habitat loss.

The WWF said it is backing the Cambodia’s government efforts to reintroduce tigers to the protected forest, where breeding populations no longer exist because of habitat loss, poaching and loss of their prey base.

“The key to ensuring a successful tiger reintroduction is to keep the landscape as intact and unfragmented as possible, which means no border crossing and road.” Tom Gray, manager of species conservation for WWF Greater Mekong, said in the news release.

Forest is vital for villagers

The WWF also issued a call in late January for the cancellation of the proposed road and border crossing claiming that it would damage the Mondulkiri Protected Forest—a UNESCO World Heritage site candidate.

The organization also said the protected forest is vital for communities that rely on its ecosystem to provide them fresh water, food and livelihoods, but that the road would not improve access to any existing villages.

WWF has said that the reintroduction of tigers could be a potential tourism driver generating long-term revenue for local communities and the provincial government, but warned that the proposed road could derail the tiger restoration program and increase wildlife trafficking between Cambodia and Vietnam.

“There is simply too much to lose and very little to gain if this road is built,” Sam Ath Chhith said in January. “Mondulkiri Protected Forest is without question a world class ecosystem, and it should remain exactly what its name says—‘protected’ for future generations of both people and wildlife.”

Donor countries have contributed $10 million to protect the area since the government designated it a protected forest in July 2002, according to an article in the Khmer Times last month.

The article noted that the proposed road would cut through a 19-kilometer (12-mile) special ecosystem zone designated for the tiger-reintroduction program inside the protected forest.

Moul Path, a WWF manager based in Mondulkiri, told the news organization that he believed the road was being built to facilitate logging because the province already had four existing checkpoints along its 210-kilometer border with Vietnam.

The article went on to say that Interior Minister Sar Kheng and Mondulkiri province authorities had assured donor countries and conservation groups that the road would not be built though the protected forest.

But the Khmer Times cited leaked memos in which Sar Kheng had written to Foreign Minister Hor Namhong last December about the establishment of a border crossing at Kbal Damrei on the forest’s southeastern border to link the checkpoint with Sre Ampom to the south.

A second leaked memo indicated that Sar Kheng ordered the governor of Mondulkiri province to arrange an official inauguration of the Kbal Damrei border checkpoint and provincial authorities to plan for infrastructure development there.

LIBERIA: Sapo National Park

Sapo National Park is a national park in Sinoe County, Liberia. It is the country's largest protected area of rainforest and its only national park,and contains the second-largest area of primary tropical rainforest in West Africa after Taï National Park in neighbouring Côte d'Ivoire. Agriculture, construction, fishing, hunting, human settlement, and logging are prohibited in the park.

Sapo National Park is located in the Upper Guinean forest ecosystem, a biodiversity hotspot that has "the highest mammal species diversity of any region in the world", according to Conservation International,and in the Western Guinean lowland forests ecoregion, according to the World Wide Fund for Nature's ecoregions classification scheme.

Sapo National Park is a national park in Sinoe County, Liberia. It is the country's largest protected area of rainforestand its only national park, and contains the second-largest area of primary tropical rainforest in West Africa after Taï National Park in neighbouring Côte d'Ivoire. Agriculture, construction, fishing, hunting, human settlement, and logging are prohibited in the park.

Sapo National Park is located in the Upper Guinean forest ecosystem, a biodiversity hotspot that has "the highest mammal species diversity of any region in the world", according to Conservation International,and in the Western Guinean lowland forests ecoregion, according to the World Wide Fund for Nature's ecoregions classification scheme.

During the First Liberian Civil War, Sapo National Park fell into the hands of rebel forces, and much of the park's infrastructure and equipment was damaged or destroyed, including a wildlife rehabilitation and orphanage facility constructed in 1989 and supported by Friends of Animals.

Of 33 park employees, at least three were killed and seven became refugees. The extent of illegal resource extraction from inside the park during the period of rebel control is disputed. John Terborgh, a professor of environmental science and biology at Duke University, writes that "logging was rampant during the war". However, Peal reported that logging was limited, and that farming and hunting pressures were minimised, by population displacement — including the exodus of people out of over two dozen villages surrounding the park — and the prevailing climate of insecurity, to the extent that species populations actually increased during the war years. William Powers, a Catholic Relief Services official posted to Liberia from 1999 to 2001, noted that the Park was a war-time haven for small groups of people, who scavenged for food and hunted bushmeat to survive.Logging and poaching became more common after the war's end in 1996.

In 2002, allegations surfaced that President Charles Taylor had sold concessions worth several millions of United States dollars to a Hong Kong-based timber company — the Oriental Timber Company — to conduct logging within the boundaries of the park. The funds were reportedly pocketed by Taylor or used to secure the loyalty of various senior commanders, to arm loyalist forces embroiled in the Second Liberian Civil War (1999–2003), and to acquire mercenary fighters from South Africa. Liberia's Minister of Information, Reginald Goodridge, denied the allegations, noting that no evidence of logging was found during a National Geographic Society team's two-week visit to the park.

Fauna and Flora International and the World Wildlife Fund (WWF) worked with Liberia's Forestry Development Authority and the Society for the Conservation of Nature of Liberia (SCNL) to prepare a two-year initiative to restart management of the park. Mainly funded by the Darwin Initiative of the United Kingdom's Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs and the World Wildlife fund from 2000–2002, the objectives of the initiative were to re-establish the park's management, build support for the park among the local community, and to build Liberia's capacity in conservation management and planning. The SCNL also received a grant from the Whitley Foundation to begin a programme to monitor the park's large mammals.

There has been very slow progress in the establishment of protected areas in Liberia. Sapo National Park, proclaimed in 1983, was the country's first protected area. The approval of the Sapo National Park Act (An Act for the extension of the Sapo National Park) on October 10, 2003 expanded the size of the park to 1,804 km2 (697 sq mi), constituting an increase of more than 37%. The act recognised the park as being "at the core of an immense forests block of the Upper Guinea Forest Ecosystem that is important to the conservation of the biodiversity of Liberia and of West Africa as a whole". The 135 km2 (33,359 acres) Mount Nimba Nature Reserve, covering four percent of Liberia's forest land, was created at the same time to become Liberia's second protected area.

The peace that followed the conclusion of the Second Liberian Civil War gave rise to new threats to the park. Groups of fighters and civilians moved into the park during the final months of the conflict — some to escape the conflict and others to harvest timber or prospect for gold. The influx of people into the park continued after the war's end, eventually growing into a

full-scale gold rush. Accompanying or following the prospectors were hunters, many of them former combatants, who poached the park's animals to sell as meat to the settlers. By March 2005, an estimated 5,000 people lived in the park, according to the United Nations Mission in Liberia.Although efforts were undertaken to remove the illegal squatters, the park was not completely emptied until late August-early September 2005, and then only through the participation of conservationists, the Liberian government, and United Nations peacekeeping forces.

Due to its remote location and the near-complete absence of tangible amenities, such as visitor housing or recreational facilities, there are few visitors to Sapo National Park. Entry into the park is prohibited without approval from the Forestry Development Authority. No roads lead into the park, so it can be reached only on foot. The park also has no trails.

Located in Sinoe County in southwestern Liberia, Sapo National Park covers an area of 1,804 km2 (697 sq mi). The park is bounded to the north by the Putu Mountains and to the west by the Sinoe River.The park's quite homogeneous, flat and marshy topography supports a large area of uninhabited forest. Its southeastern area has lower elevations of approximately 100 m (328 ft) and gentle hills, while there are elevations of about 400 m (1,312 ft) and steep ridges in the north. There are many small streams and rivers between these ridges. Sinoe River is the largest river in the park. Mount Putu's 640 m (2,100 ft) summit is the highest elevation in the park.

The park has a tropical climate, with temperatures ranging between 22–28 °C (72–82 °F). The forest's average relative humidity is 91%. Annual precipitation at Basintown, 4 km (2 mi) south of the park's headquarters, averaged 2,596 mm (100 in) in the 1980s. The park's dry season occurs from November to April and the wet season lasts from May to October. January and December are the driest months in the park, and May and August are the wettest months. There is a mid-dry period of decreased rainfall in July, which occasionally extends into August. During the dry season, many of the smaller streams dry up and their sandy and rocky stream beds are exposed. The dry season also causes the larger rivers shrink in size, exposing waterfalls and sandbars. In the rainy season, river levels can rise by more than 4 m (13 ft) in one night, inundating forests near the rivers.

Liberia has the largest remaining part of the Upper Guinean forest ecosystem, with an estimated 42% of the remaining forest. The rest of the Upper Guinean forest is located in Côte d'Ivoire (28% of the remaining forest), Ghana (16%), Guinea (8%), Sierra Leone (5%), and Togo (1%). Just an estimated 40-45% of Liberia's original forest cover remains, and less than 30% of its area is covered by natural forest. Its tracts of forest were once continuous, but are now fragmented into blocks that are isolated from each other as a result of logging, road-building, cultivation, and human settlements. Before the civil war, the Forestry Development Authority calculated that about 35% of Liberia's original forest was "undisturbed", 45% was "disturbed but productive", and 20% was "disturbed and unproductive." Sapo National Park's forest is one of the country's last remaining blocks of tropical lowland rain forest, and one of West Africa's least disturbed lowland rainforests. It is the second-largest area of primary tropical rainforest in West Africa after Taï National Park in Côte d'Ivoire.

The park has one of the richest amounts of floral species in the country, with many endemic species. A 1983 survey of the park determined it to be composed of 63% primary and mature secondary forest, 13% swamp forest, 13% seasonally inundated forest, and 11% young secondary forest. The forest is luxuriant, with trees that can grow to a height of 70 m (230 ft). The forest canopy's height ranges from 12–32 m (39–105 ft), with an average height of 25 m (82 ft). Plant species found in the park include the legumes Tetraberlinia tubmaniana and Gilbertiodendron splendidum, and the tree Brachystegia leonensis.

Sapo National Park is a "regional centre of endemism" and biodiversity, at one time hosting around 125 mammal species and 590 types of bird, including a number of threatened species, such as the African golden cat, drill, Gola malimbe, Liberian mongoose, white-breasted guineafowl, and white-necked rockfowl. The park is also home to the African civet, African fish eagle, African grey parrot, giant forest hog, great blue turaco, speckle-throated otter, water chevrotain, three species of pangolin, seven species of monkey (including the endangered Diana monkey, crocodiles, leopards, bee-eaters, egrets, hornbills, kingfishers, rollers, and sunbirds.

Prior to the formal designation of Sapo National Park in 1983 there had been "no systematic study of chimpanzee populations in Liberia". Since then, various surveys have confirmed the existence of the common chimpanzee (Pan troglodytes) in Sapo National Park, located primarily in the park's center and western areas, with estimates of the population ranging from 500 to 1,640. The culture of the local Sapo people includes a reverence for the chimpanzee and, therefore, a taboo against their hunting.

Seven species of duiker antelopes are found in Sapo National Park, including the vulnerable Jentink's duiker (Cephalophus jentinki) and zebra duiker (Cephalophus zebra) bay duikers (Cephalophus dorsalis) and Maxwell's duikers (Cephalophus maxwellii) are reported to be locally abundant.

Sapo National Park contains populations of the pygmy hippopotamus (Hexaprotodon liberiensis), an endangered species which has legal protection in Liberia under the Wildlife and National Park Act of 1988. Unique to West Africa, the wild population of pygmy hippopotamuses is thought to number less than 3,000 individuals. According to the World Conservation Union (IUCN), conservation efforts targeted at the species have "historically been most effective in the Sapo National Park ... where protection is good". According to an action plan published by the IUCN Species Survival Commission, Sapo National Park is "the only realistic choice" of a "of suitable conservation area" for the Pygmy Hippopotamus. In February 2008, automatic heat- and motion-sensing cameras set up in Sapo National Park captured the first photographs of the pygmy hippopotamus ever taken in Liberia.The photographs confirmed the continued presence of the species inside the boundaries of the park; previously, scientists did not know whether the pygmy hippopotamus population in the park had survived the civil wars and subsequent poaching and logging.

The endangered African forest elephant (Loxodonta cyclotis) is also present in Sapo National park, with population estimates ranging from "as many as 500" for the early 1980s to between 313 and 430 for the end of the decade; however, the IUCN considers the most recent surveys — both of which relied on dung counts — to be of low quality and reliability.

LIBERIA: Liberia’s Sapo National Park Is Africa’s Most Extreme Adventure Tourism Destination

An incredible rainforest that hardly anybody knows about is not for the faint-hearted traveler

Sapo National Park

Liberia’s Sapo National Park contains some of the largest primary tropical rainforests in West Africa. Few people have ever been there and those who have are probably in the ranks of the most intrepid and extreme tourists in the world. Hardly anyone has ever heard of the place, and travelers who like the comforts and luxuries of modern day travel should write it off their bucket list right now.Liberian history

Liberia started out as a settlement by the American Colonization Society in 1847 and received recognition in 1862. The country became home to many freed and free-born American slaves. To the rest of the world, Liberia is best known for the black diamonds and hardwood timber that funded two serious civil wars and domestic unrest from the 1990’s through to 2005. Following the fairest election ever recorded in the country in 2005, the relative political stability has allowed the country to focus on the restoration of the National Park.

Sapo National Park is an environmental hotspot and, according to the World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF) has one of the biggest diversity of mammalian species in the world. The 1808-sq.-km rain forest is home to the pygmy hippo, endangered forest elephants, chimpanzees, and a diverse range of other monkeys (including the red colobus and the black and white Colobus).

Before you book your trip to Sapo, you need to know that there are almost no visitor facilities. The best route is via the capital city of Monrovia. Mathew Clark of the Christian Science monitor described how the journey from Monrovia involved traveling via the remote coastal town called Greenville. The next part of the journey involved a dreadful drive on rough roads in rain and mud in an all-terrain vehicle. The final step involved a four-hour hike through the jungle, river crossings, and no accommodation at the end of the trek.

Civil war and infrastructure

The civil war caused the nearly total failure of the parks roads and infrastructure, and it will take a long time to put it all back together again. This is not a reserve where tourists can drive up to the main gate, pay their fees, and spend their first night sipping cocktails on the lodge veranda. Nobody can enter the park without the permission of Liberia’s Forestry Development Authority (FDA).

Robert Howard was based at the Sapo National Park in 2007 as a technical advisor for research. His blog explained that the rare pygmy hippos and forest elephants were threatened by hunters and by the illegal miners who poach resources on the forest outskirts. An interesting response to this blog was a number of people asking about visiting the park. His advice to travelers was that the best way to visit was to contact the FDA office to find out the best options.

One Liberian, who had traveled around the world extensively, visited the park and wrote that he had never seen a more beautiful park in the world. “It is nature untouched,” he wrote. Since this comment was written in 2008, there has been some effort made to provide visitor facilities of a sort, but even for the intrepid traveler, going it alone would be a hard call.

A year ago, the Outpost Magazine gave out some updated information on visiting the park. They explain that there are still no formal hotels but there is basic accommodation available at the FDA which has a guesthouse on the park outskirts, but visitors must be self-sufficient. No formal camp sites exist, but camping is allowed.

The FDA has scouts who must accompany hikers. They now provide canoes to cross the river. Even so, the best option for tourists will be to use the services of Liberia’s Barefoot Safaris. Barefoot Safaris appears to be the only Liberian Tour Operator and they operate out of Monrovia. Their Facebook page describes the Liberian wilderness as “Lost to the world” for two decades. The About Page has an email address where visitors can make further inquiries about undertaking an adventure of a lifetime to Africa’s primeval forest.

UGANDA: Visiting Mt Rwenzori

I went to Uganda to go back to magnificent nature. I met gorillas in Bwindi and chimpanzees in Kibale. I was so impressed by the purity of the lakes and savannah in Queen Elizabeth and Mburo. All these places touched me but Rwenzori made me feel special. It divides Africa on the Equator but more than that, if the rivers are the veins of the earth, Rwenzori Mountains are unquestionably, the heart of Africa. This place brings life- pumping water to the two main arteries of the continent, the Nile and the Congo Rivers. It is a unique place and a source of life for so many people and cultures along both rivers.

All natural and serene
In this remote corner of the earth you can hear the heartbeat of Africa and feel how pristine landscapes breathe, exhausted, and fearing the deforestation axe. You can experience the poverty, feeling it tear your soul, seeing the contrasts as you journey deeper and higher in Africa. There is an urgent need to find ways for halting poverty and deforestation. Mount Stanley at the Rwenzori is not only the highest mountain in Uganda it is the highest tropical mountain at the Equator in Africa. For mountaineers who look for purity of travelling, running away from artificially transformed circuits, to those seeking the essence of the explorer, pioneer, traveller and climber, this place makes you feel special. Compared to the overcrowded Kilimajaro, the mystical traveller will find something in Rwenzori. There are friendly people who chat and show you how it is possible to live embedded in a place full of richness such as freshwater, biodiversity, a beautiful landscape, glaciers and sunshine and at the same time struggle against poverty.

Sad side
Agonising reality is the tropical mountain glaciers irreversibly melting. Being on the Equator, this mountain is especially vulnerable to climate change effects. One night while talking to Reuben, one of our guides, he commented about the years when his father was a guide. Then, these glaciers poured from the summits over 5,400 metres to below 4,600 metres, to where Elena’s hut, the last camp is today. Just like Chimborazo, the highest peak in Ecuador, it took us almost two hours to reach the glacier of Mount Stanley.

It is disturbing, hearing the sound of ice just melting and running in dozens of creeks, below the ice under our feet. It is a paradox, that in a country with such evidences of climate change, the government’s priority is oil extraction.
On this steep terrain, in the dry season, farmers slash and burn almost everything. It is only the application of the law that protects the national park, thanks to its status as a conservation area. Because it is a growing source of income for the country and for local communities, the economy has contributed to and ensured the conservation of this wonderful place.

Sustainable approach
Today more than ever, visiting the national park for trekking or climbing is crucial as an alternative to deforestation. It is a source of income for the locals. Dozens of guides, porters, cooks and numerous families get an income, thanks to tourism that focuses on sustainability and attracting responsible visitors to these mountains.

Sustainable tourism is crucial to end poverty around Rwenzori Mountains. I saw Uganda Wildlife Authority (UWA) doing a good job in the national park. I got interesting feedback from Rwenzururu Kingdom on an environmental effort in the region. I discovered several companies and NGOs interested in creating value for visitors. One such NGO is World Wildlife Fund (WWF) currently implementing a project in the region to generate additional income for the Rwenzori Mountains National park by especially boosting tourism. Tourist incomes will help alleviate poverty.

Children will have education and opportunities to learn and develop their awareness and skills to protect nature from destruction to sustainability. In the medium and long term, it is crucial to engage the government and international donors in investing in the restoration of natural vegetation on these steep hillsides to create a buffer zone outside the national park. This will prevent soil erosion, conserve the freshwater below these mountains, and to ensure an additional source of income linked to forestry and agro-forestry.

The future
We cannot think of economic development as depleting mineral deposits or oil reservoirs because in this process of extinguishing non-renewable raw materials we accelerate climate change which is the primary and most urgent threat to the degradation of this unique landscape.

DR Congo: Mountain Gorillas Increase In Number

After a dramatic decline in numbers following their scientific discovery in 1902, dedicated conservation initiatives have ensured that mountain gorilla numbers are now slowly increasing.

Physical description
The mountain gorilla became known to science on 17 October 1902, and is a subspecies of eastern gorilla. It has longer hair, jaws and teeth, but slightly shorter arms, than the other subspecies, the eastern lowland gorilla. Adult males grow a patch of silver hair on their back and hips, giving them the name 'silverback'.

Size: On average, adult males weigh 160 kg, and adult females 98 kg.

Gorillas on volcanoes
Mountain gorillas are found at high altitudes (2,500-4,000 m) in montane forests, as well as bamboo forests.

Social structure
A group of mountain gorillas usually consists of a single dominant silverback male, three adult females, and 4-5 offspring. There is an overlap in group territories and the silverback generally defends his group rather than his territory.

Population & distribution
Mountain gorillas are found in two separate locations: the Virunga range of extinct volcanic mountains on the borders of the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), Rwanda and Uganda, and in the Bwindi Impenetrable National Park in Uganda. Some primatologists believe the Bwindi gorillas may be a separate subspecies.

Previous population
In the 100 years since its discovery, the mountain gorilla has endured uncontrolled hunting, war, disease, destruction of its forest habitat, and capture for the illegal pet trade.

These factors led to a dramatic decline in numbers. Indeed, there were fears that the mountain gorilla would become extinct in the same century it was discovered.

Current population
Thanks to conservation efforts, the population of mountain gorillas has increased from 620 individuals in 1989 to around 880 individuals today. This number is likely to be accurate, as these animals have been intensely monitored since the 1950s.

The Virunga population numbers 480, and lives at altitudes ranging from 2,300-4,500 m. Most of these gorillas range within the southern part of Virunga National Park, DRC, and the Volcanoes National Park (Parc National des Volcans), northern Rwanda, while a few use the Mgahinga National Park, southwestern Uganda.

The Bwindi population lives at elevations of 1,500- 2,300 m. A 2011census recorded 400 individuals. Additionally, four orphaned mountain gorillas currently reside in a sanctuary in Uganda.

What are the main threats?
Habitat loss
More than 100,000 people live in the remote areas where mountain gorillas are found. Their need for land to cultivate has reduced the forest in which the gorillas live to virtual islands in the middle of expanding human settlements.

Between 1990 and 1994, large numbers of Rwandan refugees fled to camps at the edge of the Virunga National Park, leading to uncontrolled firewood harvesting as well as increased poaching (see below).

In 2004, 1,500 hectares of prime mountain gorilla habitat were cleared by illegal settlers in Virunga National Park, Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), according to evidence uncovered by the Congolese Institute for the Conservation of Nature, one of WWF's partners. Convoys of people from Rwanda and DRC destroyed large tracts of the park, home to mountain gorillas and other endangered species, to create agricultural and pastoral land.

Hunting
In addition to being hunted for meat, mountain gorillas are also illegally hunted for trophies and live infants.

As many as 15 of Virunga's mountain gorillas may have been killed since the outbreak of civil war in 1990. Between 1990 and 1994, when large numbers of Rwandan refugees fled to camps at the edge of the Virunga National Park, 4 habituated silverback gorillas were killed, along with some of their group members.

In 2007, a further 7 gorillas were killed.

Oil & gas exploration
European oil and gas companies have been granted exploration consessions in Virunga National Park, home to Democratic Republic of the Congo's mountain gorilla population. While gorilla habitat does not currently fall within an oil concession, development in the park could negatively affect the animals' security.

War & instability
Although the refugees left the camps around Virunga National Park in 1996, continued civil unrest and the presence of armed militias makes survey and conservation work difficult in the DRC's protected areas, which are now in rebel-held territory.

Disease
As more people move into their habitat, and more tourists come to see them, mountain gorillas are becoming increasingly exposed to a variety of human ailments.

What is WWF doing?
Our 40 years of work to save the mountain gorilla and its forest habitat represents one of our longest-running flagship species programmes.

Early gorilla surveys and aid to protected areas in the Albertine Rift ecoregion started in the 1970s.

In 1991, this effort evolved into today's International Gorilla Conservation Programme (IGCP), a joint initiative of the African Wildlife Foundation (AWF), Fauna and Flora International (FFI), and WWF.

IGCP's mission is to empower the people of Rwanda, DRC and Uganda to jointly manage a network of transboundary protected areas that the mountain gorillas depend on.

In Virunga National Park, IGCP and WWF are working in collaboration with the Congolese Institute for Nature Conservation (ICCN), and have supported:

Environmental awareness and education initiatives

Promotion of sustainable livelihoods

Reforestation projects

Equipping and paying salaries for Virunga National Park staff. In 2002, WWF provided additional funding to increase the number, duration, and coverage of anti-poaching patrols in Volcanoes National Park, leading to the arrest of poachers and a drastic reduction in poaching

The 14% in the Virunga population over the last 12 years is thanks largely to this collaborative effort.

WWF is also active in Bwindi Impenetrable National Park, Uganda, the only other habitat harboring mountain gorillas.

How you can help

Visit the gorillas! Money earned through gorilla tourism contributes significantly to the conservation of the species – providing funds for conservation projects and creating jobs and bringing other benefits to local communities living near gorillas.

Priority species
Gorillas and other great apes are a WWF priority species. WWF treats priority species as one of the most ecologically, economically and/or culturally important species on our planet. As such, WWF works to ensure all great apes can live and thrive in their natural habitats.


Key facts

Common names
Mountain gorilla; Gorille de montagne (Fr); (Sp)

Scientific name
Gorilla beringei beringei

Location
Virunga mountains, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Rwanda and Uganda; Bwindi Impenetrable National Park, Uganda

Population
Approximately 880 individuals

Status
Critically Endangered