World Elephant Day

Today is World Elephant Day. As Camp Kuzuma is situated in the elephant abundant region and one of the busiest elephant corridors, we like to celebrate and promote the sustainability of these majestic animals. It is a great tragedy that these wild animals faces great danger as a result of the acts of humans. Illegal ivory trade poses a great threat for elephants. World Elephant Day, established on 12 August 2012, is all about “bringing the world together to help elephants.”

Read more about World Elephant Day on their website.

World Lion Day 2016

Today, 10 August 2016, we celebrate World Lion Day. The king of the jungle is disappearing at an alarming rate and it is up to us to perserve this majestic creature. Read more about World Lion Day on the official website or Facebook page.

Saving the Elephant

Camp Kuzuma is situated in one of the busiest elephant corridors in the world. This means that elephants are regularly encountered at our luxury lodge. We love this and we love to share this magical experience with our guests.

However, it is a great tragedy that the lives of elephants are threatened by humans. Illegal ivory trade is as bad as ever, if not worse and it appears that not everyone is behind the plan to put a stop to it. According to an article on Avaaz the European Commission has disapproved African governments’ call to a global ban on ivory trade. Many believe that this is a death sentence for elephants and that if things continue this way that our future generations will one day only know elephants from story and picture books.

On Avaaz the public can sign a petition to support the global banning of ivory trade and protect the elephants. With a key global summit on its way they are more desperate than ever to get the support from the public and strong countries like France and Germany to get the ban on ivory trade.

To read more about elephant conservation in Botswana go to elephantswithoutborders.com

Elephant Research

Elephants Without Borders is a non-profit organisation, supported by Camp Kuzuma. Elephants Without Borders’ elephant research has provided the organisation with a lot of information regarding various aspects of the African elephant. Aspects that are researched include the elephant’s home range, population dynamics, habitat use and more.

Research is conducted via collar tracking, aerial surveys, REPA (Rapid Elephant Population Assessment) and other research methods.

Read more about EWB’s elephant research, how it works and what they have learnt here.

Tracking Wildlife in Botswana

The non-profit organisation from Botswana, Elephants Without Borders (EWB), discuss on their website why collar tracking wildlife is vital to the conservation of Botswana’s wild animals.

According to EWB tracking is a vital part to understanding the spatial ecology of wildlife and accordingly, to find better solutions to protect wildlife. EWB has been tracking animals with tracking collars in order to learn more about these wild animals. With these tracking collars EWB could hope to find better answers to the protection of Botswana’s wildlife.

Read more about EWB’s wildlife tracking and collars here.

Urban Wildlife Corridors

In a previous article we discussed the large population of Botswana’s elephants. An article by Paul Steyn on National Geographic provides insight on one of the possible reasons for Botswana’s large elephant population. Steyn discusses Botswana’s urban wildlife corridors and how these types of corridors could be used as a means to “save Africa’s free-roaming elephants.”

Wildlife corridors are basically a link between two areas that share the same habitat, which wildlife (such as elephants) could use to migrate through safely from one to the other. According to National Geographic’s article “the team at Elephants Without Borders are researching the use of wildlife corridors to reduce human/wildlife conflict in Northern Botswana” and has set up urban corridors as a possible solution.

Read the whole article here.

Kazuma Pan National Park

On the border between Zimbabwe and Botswana in Africa lies the Kazuma Pan National Park. An unspoilt wilderness known for its large numbers of buffalo (as many as 2 000) and elephant. The pure bushveld resembles the open savannah of East Africa in appearance and in the mass migrations of game from September to November.

The park was developed to be a refuge for the animals in the area during hunting season and stretches to 31 too hectares. The beautiful landscapes of open grassland, natural pans and small Mopane tree forests are home to a wide variety of game. You are likely to see lion, leopard, giraffe, zebra, antelope and more. The Kazuma Pans attract many birds making it a dream for any birdwatcher.

In order to protect the wildlife at Kazuma, there are visitor restrictions and the park is closed for the public during the wet seasons in January and February. After being proclaimed a National Park in 1949, Kazuma lost its status in 1964 after a lack of development, however, it was proclaimed again in 1975.

Read more about the Kazuma Pan National Park here.

Global march for elephants, rhinos and lions

On the 3rd and 4th of October, people in cities throughout the world will march as one voice to speak out for Elephants, Rhinos and Lions. Botswana has long been hailed as a haven for Elephants and considered the mecca Elephant capitol.

Join Elephants Without Borders in the Global march for elephants, rhinos and lions, to show your support for the conservation of these animals. Registration begins at 8am (venues and route to be announced), where activities will follow with entertainment, refreshments and a raffle for prizes to local community participants.