National Geographic: African Odyssey Page #4

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Delia and Mark set out

on a five-day journey to

Botswana's neighbor to the north.

Zambia's largest national park,

Kafue, is 170 miles long.

They begin their quest at Ngoma,

a tourist and game-scout camp.

There they will discover wildlife

problems common across Africa.

Delia and mark learn about the park

from chief game warden, Ray Mwenifumbo.

They are looking for a research site

that needs conservation

and where animals are

undisturbed by human contact.

What's the poaching pressure like?

Poaching and the human encroachment

these are the two major problems

I'm having right now.

Of course, these are not very big

problems as far as I'm concerned.

I think I'm handicapped more my being

handicapped without enough transport,

enough funds to operate, you know.

I'm running... this park is

almost the size of Scotland.

And I've got one vehicle myself

and my senior ranger there has

got one vehicle. For me...

You've got two vehicles

for the whole park?

For the whole park.

Now, for me to drive from here to

come and see my other staff here,

it takes more than a month.

Right now I have only about 81

wildlife scouts to mind this area.

That's just peanuts.

You've got how many?

Eighty-one.

Eighty-one.

For the entire park.

Definitely the staff need not

less than 300 scouts to manage,

strictly speaking, this vast area.

Zambia is committed to protecting

its wildlife,

but faces severe economic problems.

The population is doubling

every 20 years.

As land is cleared, wildlife

habitats are wiped out.

Commercial poaching destroys animals

that could be a renewable resource

on a continent starved for protein.

Many conservationists believe that

African wildlife can be saved

only if people who live near the parks

benefit from them in tangible ways.

Ray Mwenifumbo suggests that the

Owenses visit a village nearby

to learn what the villagers think.

Boys watch from a respectful distance

as Delia and Mark meet Chief Shezongo.

At this point we are very naive

about your problems.

How do you think we could help?

We want to see practical things

that people near a park

at least see the need

for these animals

We would like to see that the

local population is taken into account

Yes, we get benefits on national level

but the ordinary person like me

doesn't see what shares we have.

In particular the people

who are next to the wildlife,

the district should benefit much.

Not as it is at the moment.

Have you spoken to the government

about this?

Not at all. At present they are only

interested in looking

after the tourists,

but not the local people.

We are isolated.

We are nothing to them.

The Owenses know that the government

of Zambia is beginning

to share tourist

and hunting revenues with villagers.

But this important reform has

yet to be initiated here.

This is this lion. He's the one

whose leg was broken here.

Yes.

Pictures in their book help Mark

and the villagers establish common

ground and understanding.

You see we could get very close

to them

They would walk up to us.

Is this the same lion?

This is this cub, Bimbo.

He is two years old now.

And he walked up and

nearly smelled my face here.

Were they tame, the lions?

No, no. they were wild lions.

But these lions would come into camp

and they'd sit at the campfire.

Wild lions. Hard to believe.

Maybe the lions of Botswana

are different from ours here?

No, these lions have never been hunted

you see.

That's the difference.

Those lions in Botswana can be

very mean if they're hunted.

Oh, yes.

Yeah.

Delia and Mark are perhaps

the first Americans

ever to visit Shezongo village,

reason enough for a celebration.

The dancing goes on for hours.

For seven years in the Kalahari

Delia and Mark lived isolated lives,

at home with animals

but far from people.

This moving evening is

an exciting first for them.

Deep within the wilderness

on the Kafue River

there is an especially lush area,

unvisited in recent years because

bridges and roads are out.

They make this area their goal.

Along the way they find seas of grass,

but curiously the vegetation seems

untouched by grazing animals.

The few antelope they do see

run as the Land Cruiser approaches.

This is like and Eden with

nothing here. With everything gone.

And You know, I just more or

less have come to the conclusion as

we were driving down this last stretch

here that it's got to be poaching.

Everything we've seen has been wild.

I know. We've only seen a few animals

and they have run away from us.

And there's grass to be eaten and

there are no animals to eat it.

Then, a chance encounter with a

volunteer game scout, Tony Middleton.

But still I kept thinking,

we both kept thinking,

there must be more;

there should be more animals.

There should be more.

Even now there should be more.

And on the elephant I promise you,

here you would drive and you'd see two

or three hundred

in an afternoon elephant.

Three years ago.

Is that right?

Yeah.

Three years ago?

Three years ago.

Three years ago the northern half

of the park was really heavily poached

for ivory and the elephant actually

moved down into this particular area.

Now they're going for the lesser

animals because it's now meat.

We've got the commercial meat,

but poaching's hand

in hand with the ivory poaching.

Are the poachers coming in with trucks

No, it's all by foot. But you see,

you get two or three guys come into

an area like this

and they'll set up a camp,

hide somewhere.

And then they will just shoot,

shoot, shoot, shoot.

And they will cut up the meat

or cut out the ivory.

And then once a week,

once every fortnight,

you will get 10, 12, 15 chaps coming

from the villages on the other side

with bicycles. Quick movement,

load it up, and off they go.

Unless something drastic is done

on a national scale,

we are not going to have any wildlife

left in this country in ten years.

Still hoping to find

an area free of poaching,

Delia and Mark plunge ever deeper

into the wilderness toward the river.

Oh, oh.

Their route is often blocked

by streams.

We shouldn't have to go far west

before we cut north.

But you know I think

what we're going to have to do decide

go maybe a few kilometers

because pretty soon this is not

going to be worth it.

We have to decide...

if we gonna go west

Well, we have to get away from these

rocks and these kopjes our here

before we can do anything

in a straight line, so.

But we can't go back now.

We've got to go on.

Okay.

Mark, I don't think you can get

through that way.

Trust me.

Mark!

Forging on toward their river goal,

Delia and Mark face one difficulty

after the other.

Do you see anything, Mark?

What?

Do you see anything?

No.

So what do you think we did wrong?

Well, the only thing I can think of is

that we stayed left and we should have

I mean we branched right when

we should have stayed left.

Because this track hasn't matched

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