Hwange N.P.

Hallo,

obwohl ja wohl niemand von uns im Moment in den Hwange reisen wird, interessiert es vielleicht doch den einen oder anderen, wie die Lage aktuell vor Ort ist.

Godfrey, der Camp-Aufseher, den wir vor Jahren in Sinamatella getroffen haben berichtet folgendes:

Masuma
The dam is 1/2 full and still pumped by solar during the day.water levels are droping very much as Elephants are now drinking all day and night and evaporation is also playing its part as it is now very hot during the day ,getting cooler at night and very cold in the mornings.
Game activity is very good with the big herd of buffalo coming nearly everyday ,lmpala ,kudu,water bucks ,warthog and zebras are now only drinking from morning upto to around 4pm ,after that its difficult for them to drink as elephants ussualy cover the whole dam and will be chasing other animals away.
Lions are still around and this other day they killed a buffalo near the attendants house and nowdays at night they like to be walking on the back road ,which goes around the camp ,between the attendants house and the picnic site.and sometimes l see them lying in front of the dam waiting for animals to come to drink.
The cheetah is now coming often and this other day it caught an lmpala near the dam and lions showed up from nowhere and chased it away from its kill.There are now 2 Ostriches which are now coming quite often and move between Masuma and Kapula .
In the morning and evenings crocodiles and raptors will be busy catching doves which are coming in very big flocks .

Shumba
The dam is 1/2 full and still pumped by solar during the day .game activity is very good with lots of elephant coming all day ,Big herds of sable and roan are also now coming

Mandavu
The dam is 3/4 full and game activity is very good with lots of animals coming to drink .the biggest herd of buffalo is seen quite often and the herd goes between Mandavu and Sinamatella.

Roads
So far no grading has been happening but most of the roads are better and accesible.

Tourists
The park is open but still very quite as there a few people going to the private camps and sometimes its goes for more than 3days without any single car driving around.
Best Regards,
Godfrey

Wie gerne wäre ich jetzt da....

"Wie gerne wäre ich jetzt da...."


....ICH AUCH...

Danke Jambotessy für den Bericht. Der Attendant ist mir in guter Erinnerung geblieben.
Giselbert

Wir wären jetzt gerade da gewesen... 🙁 🙁 🙁

"Wir wären jetzt gerade da gewesen... 🙁 🙁 :("

....Und warum dann die traurigen Gesichter?
Giselbert

"Wir wären jetzt gerade da gewesen... 🙁 🙁 :("

....Und warum dann die traurigen Gesichter?
Giselbert"

Ach so....jetzt habe ich das wäre gelesen. Und wir im Oktober.
Giselbert

Giselbert schrieb:"Wir wären jetzt gerade da gewesen... 🙁 🙁 :("

....Und warum dann die traurigen Gesichter?
Giselbert"

Ach so....jetzt habe ich das wäre gelesen. Und wir im Oktober.
Giselbert

Genau! Natürlich darum traurig, weil diese Reise nie stattfand...

Kohleabbau im Hwange NP

https://africageographic.com/stories/coal-mining-in-hwange-national-park/?fbclid=IwAR2usd_e-pvirHCaEFsqtYoSVYOA39McsrRRmENXunyUvX34C-Z1hfYYun0

Gruß Gina

immer Chinesen... tja, wer von China mitfinanziert wird, hat auch dafür zu zahlen. Die ganze Welt kann das bestätigen und insbesondere Afrika. Das ist wirklich traurig, dass wieder ein Stück Wildnis verschwinden wird.

"Court battle looms over coal mining at Hwange National Park"
https://www.dispatchlive.co.za/africa/2020-09-07-court-battle-looms-over-coal-mining-at-hwange-national-park/

Zimbabwe says it won’t allow mining in national parks. Conservationists want it in writing

https://qz.com/africa/1902064/zimbabwe-bans-mining-in-safari-parks-activists-want-new-law/amp/

Neues update von Godfrey:

The dam is almost empty and is pumped by solar during the day and diesel at night ,and most of the time the water does not even flow as elephants will be drinking it all as there are now at the waterhole day and night but coming more from midday to mornings.
Game activity is very good with lots of animals coming to drink in the mornings before too many elephants
come.The big herd of buffalo still comes bt is nolonger coming frequent and this other day there were about 1000 and they took the whole water hole and elephants had to also stand aside whilst they drank.
Lions are still around and come nearly everyday and have been making a lot of kills near the waterhole.Kudu,lmpala and waterbucks are also coming in bigger herds.
Wilddogs are still around bt hd been coming less this time .
There is only one Hippo left and can be easily mistaken for a big rock in the mud and crocodiles are also coming out covered in mud and look like logs on the dam edge.
Birdlife is also very good with large flocks of guinea fowls and doves in the mornings and evenings and raptors will be catching them and now there are some Jackals which will be trying to catch them as they drink ,at dusk there are lots of sand grouses.

Shumba
The dam is almost empty and still pumped by solar and diesel by night .Game activity is very good with lots of elephants coming all day.Zebra,Sable and Roan are coming in larger herds.
There is also a pride of Lions seen quite often ,there are Cheetahs which are also seen quite often near rhe waterhole.bird life is also very good .
Mandavu
The dam is 3/4 full and game activity is very good with the biggest herd of buffalo always around.Elephants are also coming in larger herds.Wild dogs have been seen quite often recently and there are even denning in the hills on the Eastern side of Mandavu.
Bird life is also very good.

Roads are still in a better and there has been tire grading going on from Masuma to Shumba.

Tourists
The park is now fully open but there are still very few people coming and mostly who come go to the private camps ,there are hardly any campers at all.

Mining

There were 2 Chinese companies who were given mining rights in the park but l heard they have also left ,as the government has now also cancelled all mining rights given to anyone in National parks after the whole world cried in one voice and saved Hwange and hopefully it will be for good.

Best Regards,
Godfrey.

Neuigkeiten vom Hwange N.P. 11.01.2021

Mandavu
The dam is full and if it continues raining it will spill soon.
Game activity is still good with lots of lmpala,kudu and waterbuck around with many of them having young ones.

Wild dogs are coming often and most of the times they catch lmpala lambs and sometimes chasing them right through the camp .
Lions are also around and they riar every night.This other day l woke up in the morning only to find them feeding on a water buck near the toilets and l think they might have killed it in the early morning hours as they had not eaten much and there were 9 of them and they fed for about 2 hours and when there were finished they left through the gate and went to sleep at the dam wall and there were there all day .
There is also a leopard which sometimes come inside the camp at night.
Bird life is very good with lots of waterbirds around and many nesting on trees on the dam edges.

Masuma
The dam is full and still pumped by solar during the day .
Game activity is good with lits of lmpala,kudu waterbuck and warthogs around.Wild dogs have been seen quite often and most of the time have been seen hunting lmpalas around .and also moving between Masuma and kapula areas.

Shumba
The pan is full and still pumped by silar dueing the day .
Game activity is low at the moment as there is water nearly everywhere and the vleis have water making it difficult for animals to move around.there are a few lmpala,warthog and kudu coming to the waterhole.

Rains
The rains are very patchy with some areas getting more than others and in many areas the grass is growing tall and hopefully they will continue raining so that we do not have another drought.

Roads are still accessible even though there are some places which have been damaged by the rains but the road works equipment is still on site where there were repaing the detour near Robins turn off and they will be coming to continue where they left and hopefully they will do all the major roads.

Tourists,
There was not a single campwr ar Mandavu through the festive season and the park was also very quite with only a few vehicles driving around and sometime it went for days without any ine driving around.Also now the countey is now back on lock down for 30 days as covid cases had been rising everyday .

Best Regards,

Godfr

Neues von Godfrey/ 08-02-2021

:
The dam is full and is now overspilling ,it even burst out last week but was quickly rebuilt and the river just behind the dam is flowing most of the times.Solar panels have been switched off.

Game activity is good there are a few elephant bulls around and lots of lmpalas and water bucks ,Lions and wild dogs have been coming quite often .The resident leopard is also still around and comes nearly everynight around the camp.
There are now more than 30 hippos in the pond.
Bird life is also very good .

Shumba

The pan is also full and solar panels have also been switched off.
Game activity is very low as there is water in all the vleis.
Bird life is very good .

Mandavu
The dam is full and has also been overspilling.
Game activity is good with lots of lmpala ,waterbuck ,warthog and Girraffe around .Lions and wild dogs have been seen quite often.
Bird life is very good .

Rains

It has been raining heavily almost everyday for the past week and this time it has been raining nearly every where.and sometimes raining all day and night.


Tourists
There was not a single vehicle in the park .as this pandemic seems not to be slowing down and during the end of January our cases were rising everyday and our lockdown has been extended upto rhe 15'th of feb.

Roads
Rains have done a lot of damage on the roads and the road maintaince team will come after the rains

Warm Regards,

Godfrey.