Day: September 5, 2021

At sunset, a buffalo calf’s distressed grunts reverberate through the bush.

But it’s a trick.

The grunts are blaring from a loudspeaker, designed to lure lions to a tree and let a South African wildlife reserve carry out a census of its apex predator.

As an added enticement, the carcasses of two impalas are affixed to a tree. The scent promises a fresh meal.

In the headlights of a 4×4, armed rangers with night binoculars and torches watch over the scene.

“We know our lions, but with this process, we verify them,” says Ian Nowak, head warden at the Balule Nature Reserve.

A wildlife researcher next to him listens intently, her ears tuned to clues from the nocturnal sounds.

That’s how she knows a rumbling is from elephants grazing in the tall grass. And that’s how she knows when to raise her camera to photograph lions, looking for distinctive scars or peculiar ears — anything that identifies them for the count.

This job requires patience. The team once spotted 23 lions ripping into the bait.

“They growl and they fight. Then they lie down and eat,” Nowak whispers. “It can be quite a frenzy on the bait. They smack each other and then settle down.”

Don’t fence them in

At 55,000 hectares (136,000 acres), Balule is huge — yet it connects with an even bigger ecosystem that, all told, is almost the size of Belgium.

Balule and other nearby game farms have transitioned into nature reserves, joining up with the Kruger National Park to create a vast territory without internal fences, covering 2.5 million hectares, that extends to Mozambique.

To create such enormous space for wildlife is a rare success story these days.

Conservationists meeting in Marseille, southern France, are deeply worried for Africa’s “big cats”, facing loss of habitat and human encroachment as well as poaching.

Balule is so big that its census-takers have to criss-cross the terrain to make the count as thorough as possible.

“Sometimes they’ve eaten. If they’re full, they don’t come,” Nowak said. “Especially the males, they’re lazy as hell.”

Twenty years ago, Balule was mostly farmland and lions were few.

Last year, the census found 156 of the lordly beasts.

“Lions are doing incredibly well, mainly because there’s a large enough space to operate,” Nowak says.

Overall, the news is good for lions in South Africa, thanks to government conservation efforts — helped by the inducement of tourists who are willing pay to see the animals. Private investors have also stepped in.

A years-long drought has also been a boost. Antelopes and buffalo did not have enough to eat, making them easier prey for large carnivores.

‘Lions don’t share’

The loudspeaker rumbles again with the recording of the injured buffalo calf. This time, a small jackal appears, hoping for a nibble. At the slightest sound, it dashes away.

The wildlife researcher detects another movement in her thermal binoculars. The headlights flash back on, illuminating the majestic mane of a lion approaching stealthily, careful but calm.

“He’s initially cautious,” says Nick Leuenberger, one of the regional wardens. “He doesn’t know if he’ll be walking in on another pride.”

“Lions defend their food, they don’t share,” he adds.

“Here the lion tolerates the jackal. He knows he’s not a major threat to his food source.”

Suddenly, the lion leaps up to one of the suspended impalas, biting into its belly. After his meal, he lies at the foot of the tree.

Now the team can move on. No other animals will dare approach.

The next night, seven hyenas take turns snipping at the fresh impala, without a lion in sight.

But on the way back, the 4×4 slams the brakes. To the left, a hippo roars furiously, its mouth wide open.

To the right, seven lionesses raise their heads above the grassline. A magical sight, but no danger to the hippo. Nowak says it would take at least twice as many lions to threaten the hippo.

The tension eases. A lion emerges from the brush and walks along the trail. A lioness joins him, and the 4×4 follows them slowly until they disappear into the night.

Source: Voice of America

Sudanese authorities have seized a shipment of weapons at Khartoum airport arriving from neighboring Ethiopia, state media said Sunday.

The shipment, which was confiscated late Saturday, arrived on an Ethiopian Airlines passenger flight, prompting an immediate launch of investigations, the SUNA news agency reported.

Authorities were informed of “the arrival of a weapons shipment from Addis Ababa on an Ethiopian Airlines flight” into Sudan, SUNA said.

“It was immediately confiscated by customs authorities.”

SUNA quoted officials as saying that the weapons had originally been sent from Russia to Ethiopia in May 2019 and were held by authorities there for two years.

“Without prior warning, authorities in Addis Ababa allowed for its shipping into Khartoum on a passenger flight,” the report added.

The shipment of 72 boxes reportedly contained weapons and night-vision binoculars.

“There are suspicions that they were meant to be used in anti-state crime, to impede the democratic transition, and prevent transition to civilian rule,” SUNA reported.

Sudan has been undergoing a rocky transition since the April 2019 ouster of Islamist president Omar al-Bashir following mass protests against his rule.

The country is currently led by a joint civilian-military ruling council.

The development comes at a time of souring relations between Khartoum and Addis Ababa over Ethiopian farmers’ use of a fertile border region claimed by Sudan.

The two countries have also been at odds over the Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam (GERD), in a regional dispute that involves Egypt.

Addis Ababa broke ground on the project in 2011.

Late last month, Ethiopian officials said they had thwarted an attack on the GERD by armed groups “who have been trained and armed by Sudan.”

Sudan flatly denied the allegations, saying they were “baseless”.

Ethiopia has been grappling with a grinding conflict in its northern Tigray region since last November.

The fighting has sent tens of thousands of refugees into Sudan.

Source: Voice of America

Members of the Guinea military staged an apparent coup Sunday, declaring on national television that they had arrested President Alpha Conde, dissolved the country’s constitution, and sealed off land and air borders.

The junta later announced a nationwide curfew, Agence France Press reported.

Conde’s whereabouts Sunday was not immediately clear. AFP reported that it had received a video of Conde, wearing a wrinkled shirt and jeans and sitting on a couch surrounded by soldiers. When asked by a soldier in the video whether he has been harmed in any way, Conde does not respond.

In October, the president won a third term in office after amending the constitution to allow him to run again. The controversial election sparked violent protests throughout the country.

Army Colonel Mamady Doumbouya, a former French legionnaire, appeared on national television Sunday, draped in the Guinea flag.

“We have dissolved government and institutions,” Doumbouya said. “We call our brothers in arms to join the people.”

Doumbouya cited mismanagement of the government as a reason for his actions. He calls his group of soldiers the National Rally and Development Committee (CNRD).

CNRD said on state television later Sunday that all governors had been replaced by military leaders, but that all outgoing ministers were invited to a meeting Monday at parliament.

“Any failure to attend will be considered as a rebellion against the CNRD,” the group said in a statement.

Fighting was reported earlier Sunday in Conakry, but following the announcement on television, many took to the streets to celebrate what they believed to be a successful coup.

International groups were quick to condemn the unrest in Guinea.

“I strongly condemn any takeover of the government by force of the gun and call for the immediate release of President Alpha Conde,” United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres wrote on Twitter.

ECOWAS Chairman and Ghana President Nana Akuffo-Addo condemned what he called an “attempted coup” in a statement released Sunday, calling for the unconditional release of Conde.

France also condemned the “attempted seizure of power by force” and called for Conde’s release, a Foreign Ministry statement said.

African Union leaders called on the body’s Peace and Security Council to meet urgently to discuss the situation.

Source: Voice of America