Tales from An Internship [With The World Wildlife Fund-Namibia, Africa]: Outjo, Namibia [One week of surveys-Recap]

“I should tell you the story about the time when a cobra was this far away from my pecker,” said one commercial game farmer with two skinny fingers spanning only a foot apart before resting in his lap again. “Oh, stop telling stories,” said his wife who was bringing out a warm loaf of bread. This story only increased my fear of all the poisonous snakes in Namibia. From what I gathered about this snake, if I am bitten, it’s best to find a nice peaceful tree to sit under, because I’m gone in two hours. This motivated me to purchase my new handmade seal skin boots that have shin guards from The Etosha Leather company in front of the cafe. The rainy season is coming and so are the snakes.

“This year we have found over 90 snares [used for poaching] on our farm,” said another disgusted farmer. “The communal lands are a success story, but the commercial farms have the worst poaching in Namibia.”

This one blew me away: “Apartheid ended in 1978,” said one black commercial farmer who supported the ruling party at the time. Uapii and I about fell out of our chairs. “Ok, so what happened in 1990” I said. “Nothing!” I guess you win some and loose some in the survey world, but we didn’t trust this guy for one second and proceed to throw out the survey. It smelled like poaching was rampant from this farm when 3 other farms down the road were about ready to pull their hair out recounting the stories of poaching.

“The stiff penalties of cattle poaching make it more likely for one to be murdered if you try to stop people on your farm,” said a neighbor of a farmer who was recently murdered for confronting poachers. “The poachers always are released and back to poaching again. Its just infuriating!” One receives 30 years for cattle rustling and only 5 for murder. $300 rand usually places a poacher on bail and it takes about 4 years to be prosecuted if you’re lucky. A poacher can bank on not being convicted. One farmer this year lost 80 oryx and over 100 wildebeest to poaching and it almost shut him down.

“Do you want to see the skin of a 5 meter python that ate our goat?” Ummm… sure I said. The skin took 5 seconds to unroll across the living room floor, while the jack russle just went nuts barking at it. A fully stuffed cheetah and a dozen other skins and skulls lined the living room and were all shot because they were killing cattle or trophies. I literally walked into a field museum and it’s amazing how much farmers here understand ecology and each animal’s tendencies.

“Take these two snares back with you as souvenirs. We have plenty of them! The small one is for birds and the other killed an oryx” Thanks, I’ll hang them on my office wall,” I said. The small trap must have taken one evening for someone to make. The craftsmanship is superb for just normal wire and leaves a mark on your finger.

“We don’t want to always have handouts and soft loans. We want to begin to stand on our own and use wildlife,” a black commercial farmer told me as we finished the survey. “I know my charcoal workers poach, but I can’t keep the farm if I don’t utilize charcoal. But the commercial hunting is still a white man’s business.”

“The more people you have on the land, the less game you have. Generally, the situation is getting worse for game from the current land reform and from now on it will have a more negative effect on game when 50 million acres will be resettled,” said another ex-ag extension officer of 10 years. “I’m a strict cattle rancher, but I know the wildlife is part of the natural diversity to, so that’s why I joined the conservancy –to protect our resources.”

“I usually estimate $190,000 rand in losses due to wildlife coming from Etosha and poaching damages each year,” said one tanned and winkled lonely Afrikaner farmer who can step out on his front porch and see the Etosha fence. “So how do you survive and continue farming,” I asked. “Its just part of doing business for me. This year alone I shot and skinned 40 lions. For poachers, if the nose is wet it’s gone. I hang reflectors all around the farm to confuse them at night.”

“Hello, how do you do?!” said a farmer who packs a 45 magnum pistol and told me not to touch the dog due to the fact he’ll bite me. Later on he told me, “We take security rather serious around here. Be sure to tell people you’re coming or they’ll most likely shoot at you. Be even more careful at night. The first three bullets in my belt are buck shot for snakes and the other 10 are regulars.” This farmer proudly displays years of metals earned from wining shooting contests in South Africa as a youth. His hearing, not so sharp in the left ear.

“Those skins over there, they were gifts from Etosha when this resettlement farm started,” said our resettlement tour guide. Uapii and I sure didn’t believe him. We both couldn’t understand how 200 families could live on less then 10,000 hectares sustainably.

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These are some of the more memorable quotes off the top of my head from the last week of doing surveys. I’ve learned so much about economics, wildlife, and racism in the last week then I probably have in the last 4 years. Its been a total whirlwind of conversation concerning conservancies, Namibia politics, the best game meat on can hunt, generous offers to come and stay in lodges, and many conversations discussing race issues.

Outjo is one wild place to say the least. I will say the racism is rather difficult to see on a regular basis and how its so absorbed and a “norm” for people living here.
But the stories and openness people have provided me has given me so much insight into the benefits and costs of conservancies and other issues. Luckily, I’m hearing both sides of the story by interviewing conservancy members, non-members, visiting resettlement farms, and talking to emerging black farmers.

I have a stack of 30 plus surveys that is beginning to look like a dissertation book. Each one easily contains a novel just waiting to be told, but I’ll have to first start with helping Peter Lindsey write up the science to be published [my first official published research ever!] and WWF’s case study before I begin telling them.
Its safe to say I’m only half way through the surveying process and still have Loxondonta Conservancy to go. I hear through the grapevine its even more wild and elephants now prevent people from farming so they have to do game ranching now.

The last seven days, I have been based in Outjo, Namibia conducting land use value economic surveys. Its starting to warm up something fierce. Mid to high 90’s is now average and it sucks the energy right out of you. This community is filled with many Afrikans and Damara people, while the black commercial farmers as they’re called are all of Herero decent. Outjo is also a hub for many of the rural farmers and makes conducting economic surveys rather easy, due to the fact many stop in the local café for sweets and coffee.

There can’t be over 3,000 people here in Outjo at any given time. There is one main street with shops that remind me of small town USA. Large carbon footprint tour buses roll on north to Etosha and are usually found early in the morning. Many of these tourists ask questions about WWF’s work in Namibia when they see the truck parked out front. I have a grip of emails and business cards from lawyers, teachers, and even tour guides who want to see the results of the study. So the pressure is now on to deliver.

Uapii and I are now well known in the Outjo Café and our waitress Miriam is a really sweet and puts our orders in first every time.
A make-shift craft center is located on the main drag and one will find Himba women walking around in the OK Grocery Store in traditional dress, while Afrikaner farmers talk about cricket and rugby leaning over their backie hoods before heading home for super.

I’m usually up and going by 6 AM and already hanging out at the Outjo Café eating the best German style food around and mingling with the locals and tourists by 7 and calling farmers up to set interview times. Recently, Uapii and I average 4 surveys a day and nearly half of them have been done in the Outjo Café, so the carbon footprint and price/survey should make the boss happy.

……

Its now late and a nice rain is falling over the veld. Uapii just served up some tasty smelling food from our hostel kitchen. I’m going to continue talking about my lessons learned shortly. I’m still digesting the survey results and can’t wait to begin crunching the results and blogging about everything.
But the blog is already to long with little focus. 8D Its bedtime.

I hope this finds my friends, family, and readers well! I'll post the most recent pictures of the past week soon!

Cheers,

A.E. Price

This is where Outjo is located: