Pre-Game Count

Sunday, June 14, 2009 [Darmaland: Aaron’s first week experience in Wild Africa]
So my boss Chris called me around 5 PM today and said, “Hey Aaron, want to go to Daramaland with me tomorrow?” I said, “Sure, why not!?” This was obviously not planned.
I just came back home from a wonderful afternoon with Uapii and finally received my official Windhoek tour. Uapii even took me to a fairly dangerous and poor area of Windhoek called Katatura to visit his sister and extended family for a short time, but I felt safe with him and fortunate to travel to this part of Windhoek and see the other side of the city too.
Shortly after the phone call, I ran to my room to grab my maps and tour guide to read about the region. I’m in for a real treat. This area has many communal conservancies that have produced some of the best increases in wildlife populations in Namibia and is the least populated region in Namibia.
My backpack is all geared up and I’m ready to leave for the Darmaland region tomorrow morning at 5 AM. I believe we’re doing wildlife counts and exploring economic survey potentials regarding my research. Much of my research will be in and around this area of Namibia. I’m so excited! My new friend Uapii, who is from this region, showed me many photographs of his home and the landscape today and I just could barely contain myself seeing his pictures and receiving this phone call from my boss. I have much anticipation for this whole week.
The plan is for Chris and I to be in Darma for 4 days, and I’ll meet up with Larkin and Uapii from Thursday till Sunday. Uapii is Herero and Himba and is going to take me to places few people like myself RARELY can interact with these traditional tribes along with Larkin who has already been through this tour and said it was nothing short of life changing.
Overall, I’m looking at one full week in the bush! My camera memory card is cleared and all ready to go! We’ll see how far two batteries and an 8 GB memory card can go. I know I’ve been lagging on pictures to show everyone on Facebook and Flickr, but when I can find a free moment, they’ll be up soon. Plus, fast internet connections that can handle huge camera files is a tough find around here at the moment. I’m hoping the work network will allow me to upload some too after we work out the quirks from the new move.
On Sunday, June 21, my neighbors, the Switzers, who own and operate an ecotourism lodge in Loup County, Nebraska, and border our ranch will be arriving. Its going to be a crazy week, and when they arrive I’ll be traveling to various parks and the Cheetah Conservancy with the head of the WWF Great Plains US program, and about 5 other people including the famous author Dan O’ Brien. The Switzers and my ranch, Gracie Creek Ranch, are exploring the “freehold conservancy” idea where private land owners come together to manage for larger ecosystem service goals previously agreed upon. Rubber has already hit the road with our two ranches working together and implementing progressive management strategies for ecotourism, but I have a feeling this tour will pour on the fuel.
So much has happened in the last week I can’t begin to blog about an 1/8th of it, but I’m hoping this blog can be posted either on the road with a WWF computer or possibly at the office before we leave.
I’ll be gone for a week… so no news is good news. What follows is my blog for the previous week.
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Saturday, June 13th, 2009
Conservancies in Namibia [Linking Conservation with Tourism: A brief background]

One of the main reasons I’m traveling to Namibia, is to study the conservancy system, while collecting data I can run statistics on for graduate school. Namibia’s conservancy system is a worldwide massive success for proper resource management with development components. The sustainable use of resource management worldwide helps generate revenues from resources and one often finds poverty alleviation programs tied to this practice –if communities have access to these items. Luckily, many Namibians do since independence in 1990. The numbers are outstanding for a new sector entering Namibia’s economy dominated by agriculture and mining: $39.1 million Nam [4.8 million USD] was generated in 2007 alone from the conservancies. Conservancy partnerships are spreading like wildfire too. Almost 40% of Namibia is now in a conservancy since 1998!
Some recent trends concerning the development of conservancies: In 1998, only 4 communal areas were conservancies and covered 16,821 km2 helping around 14,500 Namibians and in 2007/2008 55 conservancies are operating on 118,704 km2 helping 220,600 Namibians. In 1998, nearly $N 600,000 found its way into the communities and in 2007, it jumped to $N 39,000,000 or $4.8 million USD. Somewhere around 20 other conservancies are looking to form this year alone. One in eight Namibians are somehow involved in a conservancy and at least 70,000 people will become involved in the next 3-5 years WWF estimates.
Of course there are downfalls with anything, but for the most part the benefits are pretty big. Both conservation [seen has a hindrance to development or agriculture] and rural development have occurred in parallel patterns -increasing together. More importantly though, the communities are able to decide for themselves what to do with the wildlife and their own resources and self govern. The establishment of representative groups operating as a conservancy committee help create transparency and local confidence in the leadership, increase local participation in the system, and improves collective decision making within the conservancy. The government’s main role today is usually just a supporting one, even when creating hunting quotas.
My first week has been a freefall in learning more about this system. The buzzword for this approach [local control] is usually referred to as Community Based Natural Resource Management [CBNRM]. This process is based on government policy and law that helps develop local authority and ownership to the local residents.
In Namibia, CBNRM is based on: 1) enabling local residents in the communal areas [just like US reservations] to make management decisions for THEMSELVES about how their natural resources should be managed, 2) create mechanisms that allow residents to receive income and benefits from the use of resources, and finally 3) allowing communities to manage resources in integrated processes. This process allows for long-term investment needed to help develop and become a stable investment while creating long-term planning about how the resources should be managed.
People in conservancies have the right to own the wildlife on the land, rights to the revenues created from selling the meat, and rights of tourism income [this is such an interesting aspect to me, but ethical questions can arise]. But if one is selling the meat, a special permit is needed to create a checks and balances system to prevent rampant bush meat poaching. The main sources of income on conservancies can be categorized as: premium hunting, craft sales, live game sales [usually selling wildlife to move to other conservancies], shoot and sell, veld products, own-use game, game meat distribution, trophy hunting, and joint venture tourism.
Many competitive advantages also give Namibia a natural advantage in the large scale conservation world including: lots of interesting biodiversity of plants, animals [large mega fauna], fish, and birds, many high quality fish and meat products [that are natural and usually marketed to Europe], 13 different local tribal groups, and effective service systems like roads, hospitals, telecommunications suitable for high tourist populations. This conservancy process is not for everyone, but it sure is helping Namibia.
Namibia has limited good agricultural production land. There seems to be a huge conflict between the Ministry of Tourism and Ministry of Agriculture about what types of development to promote. The trends show ecotourism can be providing other values when tourism can is linked with conservation and possibly a hybrid conservation/agricultural combination. With a growing population, climate change impacts, and a small ag land base to begin with, it seems tough to keep promoting food production as a development tool in this country [when communities can benefit from the harvested game meat]. Namibia and other Africa countries have significant poverty problems, and its natural to promote agriculture production in rural areas to make people self-sufficient, but most of these areas are not suitable for the type of agriculture the MoA promotes.
Quick side note, ALL of the meat products in Namibia are “natural” and growth hormones are prohibited. As a rancher from the Sand Hills, one hear’s about corn fed beef being superior to others, yet I’m finding the natural stuff to be on par or have its own unique taste I don’t mind at all. Uapii lent me a few university DVD’s talking about the beef system in this state. And its amazing to see the animal tracking system taking place here. From fork to farm Namibia can track the source of every cow and small livestock. Along with the German meat influence, I’m in meat heaven in Namibia! Anyhoo, back to conservancy talk.
And to take full advantage of landowners switching to more conservation alternatives, its important to build partnerships between conservation areas in all the communal, government, and freehold [private] systems AKA put all the cards on the table. Each of these systems will be explained later [probably in another blog with interviews from the managers]. The Ministry of Environment and Tourism [Namibia’s environment section of the government] has taken more of a partnership position in establishing quotas for hunting and ect. vs. having a direct authority role. WWF, is also taking similar steps by acting as a partner who helps communities reach their development goals in Namibia as explained earlier. But its amazing to see so many different interest holders work together here, while in the states all the NGO’s, ag, and wildlife groups have some burned bridges and huge walls. For example, private farms around Etosha Park [government operated] are letting down their fences and letting wildlife roam freely, thus creating a larger scale to increase wildlife benefits and the value of the hunts.
I’ll be able to witness the election process here in Namibia in November, and I asked one of my colleagues about any environmental platforms the candidates might run on and apparently its never talked about during the debates. This is incredible to me, especially how much growth has been occurring in the conservancy system without hardly any government platforms supporting their development in large ways. Land reform is an issue and indirectly might touch on the conservancy issues in this country, but it’s hardly a direct issue. The country’s constitution does help with this process though and gives many rights of wildlife, tourism revenue, and allows willing people to form partnerships when creating a conservancy. I’ll find the text for this in a future blog.
So in economic terms, when one owns the resource and has well defined property rights and laws supporting your ownership, more incentive usually exists to manage the resource to the best of your ability, while trying to maximize your economic gain. With that said, it will be important to look at species of high economic value and create incentive to manage for their needs, while looking for a balance between livestock and wildlife interests, and finding a tradeoff between animal conflict [ie Elephants hogging the watering tank from cattle at times] vs. benefits. Part of my work will be looking for this balance. Stay tuned! 8D
There are some challenges for the conservancy programs in Namibia including: finding common ground to bridge cultural diversities, low literacy rates in communal areas, improving local governess with more checks and balances, poor understandings of business ethics and functions, possibly overstretch capacity, and agricultural subsidies that government and international donors give with restrictions that wildlife and animals cannot comingle if meat will be sold internationally.
That’s all for conservancy talk for now. I’ll go into further details in the future.
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Joe’s Beer House was my first dining out experience here in Windhoek and one I won’t forget with my two flat mates. Everything in the restaurant is worn in from the tables and chairs to the old palm trees surrounding the place. You find tons of mounted wildlife and old camp gear hung everywhere. Fires warm the outside and inside seating areas under black skies with the stars completely visible. Many of the dishes are wild game meats and mine had crocodile, oryx, chicken, and spring bok. SOO GOOD!
While at Joe’s,I was able to finally try a real Guinness. Many of you in the states may not be aware of this situation, but our Guinness is brewed in Canada and not Ireland. My hopes upon arriving to Namibia was to seek out a real Guinness along with the local African favorites. I asked the waitress where Namibia’s Guinness was brewed [and as you’d expect I received a weird look] and we looked over a bottle and found it to be brewed in Ireland. A huge smile said, “I’ll take it.” And there is a difference! I found this Guinness to be much smoother and less bitter.
I am so blessed to be working with such wonderful people. On Saturday mid afternoon, I was invited with all my colleagues to Richard’s house to enjoy great food, conversation, and of course –play cricket. Cricket and soccer are huge here in Namibia and Africa in general. I did manage to bat one ball pretty far into the trees, and I would like to imagine it would have been a full 6 points if we were on a regular field. The conversation I’m able to take part in is a goldmine in the areas of conservation worldwide. I’m learning so much from people who’ve been in the field for nearly 20 years each and who are not bashful about sharing their knowledge and experiences. One colleague I swear has probably done some major research project in nearly half the countries worldwide! Richard also supplied me and Erica with the essential Africa history books, which you cannot find in the states.
Downtown Namibia photo tour with Uappi was amazing. Hopefully, the photos will be posted soon. I finally bought a South African soccer jersey and just love it. Its red and white like the Cornhuskers and even makes people think I’m from South Africa. LOL. I ran into a security guard who must have a girlfriend in the museum. He was all decked out with an AK 7.62x39 rifle and ready to roll. This officer is part of the army unit who protects Namibia’s president. I just had to take a picture with him.
Obama made history being our first African American elected president, but its jaw dropping to see how much of an impact he’s made here in Namibia and South Africa for these countries current and future leaders. I went to the mall on Thursday to purchase a rechargeable cell phone plan, and one can see many cars driving around with Obama stickers and his books are still number 1 and 2 in Namibia’s bestseller’s list. Michelle Obama’s book, ranked number 3. There is overwhelming support for Obama and many people sight his willingness to work with other countries as the main reason for their support, especially the recent Cairo speech.
The Namibian Professional Hunters Association hosted a group think tank discussion about hunter rankings in Namibia. Many of the hunting guides in Namibia fall into a ranking system. Each level has tested out of certain field abilities and increases the value of hunts on conservancies. At certain levels, guides can even tell if poachers or tribal people are walking around the area, and can put together a disassembled fire arm, sight it, and hunt down a given animal while ID’ing the tracks. I want to meet these individuals. They’re bound to have good stories.
They’re essential to the healthy functioning of the conservancy and ecosystem by culling off overpopulated species. Sadly, many of the elders who have passed on these hunting skills are old, but only in their 50’s, so not old in US terms. The average life span of a male in Namibia is only in the 50-60 range. Also, the youth are buying food, thus not hunting as much or not at all and are becoming more assimilated into the city cultures locally and internationally. So there will be a large challenge for Namibians to preserve this tradition and knowledge, while creating a system that can set standards and evaluate guides nationally.
Also, in the standards building process, its tough to take local knowledge that works in one area and teach another from a completely different area and expect good results. This meeting reminded me of the tribes in the United States and how much they’ve resisted colonization in all its cultural and religious forms to maintain their traditions. The same struggle is happening here. Hopefully, some type of system will come out that will create economic incentive to provide jobs at home, so children can come back to their homes and not search out business degrees and other jobs, thus, help carry on the hunting culture.
Cab drivers here in Windhoek are interesting. They’re a safety threat yet your lifeline to getting around various areas. The cars are small, cramped with friends, and often a wild ride. One thing I’ve always noticed about every cab, the gas stick is always on E. And I’ve been in about 12 cabs so far! Many have good stories and are easy to talk to. I was able to capture some great photos in a cab with Uapii with my nice camera in Katatura that would otherwise not happened.
AE Price