THE VOICE OF CONSERVATION IN EAST AFRICA 2010: 03 JULY - SEPTEMBER SAVING LAMU DEFENDING RESIDENTS’ RIGHTS ANGOLA’S GIANT SABLE A TRIUMPHANT COMEBACK AMBOSELI DROUGHT TIPPING OR TURNING POINT? PLACE YOUR ORDER FOR 2011 DESK, WALL CALENDARS AND CHRISTMAS CARDS Sign up a new East African Wild Life Society member and get a free Calendar and Christmas card. (See page 7-8) Contact us: Tel: +254 (20) 387 4145 / 387 1253 Mobile: + 254 (0) 722 202 473 / 734 600 632 E-mail: [email protected] FRONTLINES SPOTLIGHT 5 Letter from the Editor 48 ERLANGER’S BOUBOU: A NEW SPECIES FOR 6 Letters to the Editor KENYA AND East AFRICA 11 Chairman’s letter Brian Finch & Nigel Hunter venture to Lamu to 12 Director’s letter clear up a bird msytery and return with a find. 14 Opinion 52 WANTED! ONE OF OUR CHIMPS IS MISSING Diana Hunter introduces an escapologist CONSERVATION chimpanzee determined to cross the wire. 16 THE WORst DROUGHT: TIPPING OR 56 tHE CURIOUS INCIDENT OF THE GIRAFFE tURNING POINT FOR AMBOSELI? David Western asks what is the way forward Zoe Muller watches a grieving giraffe mother in the night-time for this crucial ecosystem. puncture the myth that the species make bad parents. 22 CONTROVERSY at CITES CONFERENCE IN QataR 60 CLImate CHANGE affects TANZANIA BIRD Esmond Bradley Martin and Lucy Vigne DIstRIBUTION attend the talks and report back on the winners So you thought it was the weather that was and losers in the conservation struggle. affected? Colin Beale says climate change is affecting bird movement too. 28 RING NET FISHING: MONEY MAKER OR SCOURGE OF THE Sea? 62 PORTFOLIO Lionel Murage, Halinishi Yusuf, Steve Trott & CAPITAL CLICKS Simon Hemphill weigh the benefits and pitfalls Paolo Torchio captures the wealth of wildlife of this fishing gear on Kenya's coast and people. roaming free not far from Kenya's smoggy, hectic capital. 32 SAVING KENYA’S LAST COASTAL WILDERNESS BY DEFENDING RESIDENTS’ RIGHTS CONSERVATION CHARACTERS Kevin Doyle explains how plans to protect 65 ELINOR OstROM: A NObel PRIZE FOR the rights of Lamu's traditional residents can lOCAL COmmUNITIES support conservation goals. Esther Mwangi pays tribute to a former teacher for a pioneering work on social behaviour. 36 PastORALISM: BReaKING THE OPINION MOULD BOOK REVIEW Curtis Abraham queries popular and official 66 THE JOURNEY WITHIN wisdom that nomads can destroy the habitat. Atticus English admires a beautiful selection of wildlife photos in this heavy, rich volume. 40 SOLIO: THE HeaRtbeat OF RHINO CONSERVatION FOR 40 YeaRS REAR WINDOW Rhino expert Felix Patton hails Kenya's Solio 68 SUNDOWN WITH SPARROWHAWK conservancy for breeding and protecting this Paolo Torchio shares dusk with a bold species. sparrowhawk on his balcony. 44 ANGOLA’S GIANT sable maKes A TRIUMPHANT COmebacK John Frederick Walker brings good news on a species threatened with extinction. 2 | SWARA – 2010:3 EAST AFRICAN WILD LIFE SOCIETY EAST AFRICAN WILD LIFE SOCIETY 2010:3 – SWARA | 3 PICTURE BY PAOLO TORCHIO EAWLS WORLDWIDE JULY - SEPTEMBER THE EAST AFRICAN REPRESENTATIVES VOLUME 34, NUMBER 3 WILD LIFE SOCIETY AUSTRALIA POLAND Trevor Fernandes Grzegorz Kepski PATRONS Wildlife Safari Bialobrzeska 30/39 The President of Ken ya (Australia) 02-341 Warsaw 213 Railway Road Poland The President of Tanza nia Subiaco WA 6008 The President of Ugan da UGANDA BELGIUM Michael Keigwin, John Rowland Uganda Conservation Chairman 11 Rue Faider Foundation, P O Box Fredrick Owino 1050 Brussels 34020, Kampala Robby Bolleyn UNITED KINGDOM Vice-Chairmen Fotografie Prof Bryan Shorrocks Tom Fernandes, John Emily Otekat, Jake Dascottelei 95 Bus 7 Environment Dept. Grieves-Cook 2100 Deurne-Antwerpen University of York Heslington CANADA York Treasurer Dr N J C Mathews YO10 5DD Stanley Ngaine 12-1400 Park Street Pemberton USA Photo: © PAOLO TORCHIO V0N 2L1 Keith Tucker Executive Director Chief American Editor Nigel Hunter GERMANY Representative Andy Hill Klaus Fenger Acacia Travel, 19985 Zugspitzstr. 65 Powers Road, Bend, Editorial Board Trustees 8100 Garmisch- Oregon 97702 USA Nigel Hunter, Michael Gachanja, Frederick IB Kayanja, Albert Mongi, Partenkirchen Mr & Mrs Harry Ewell Esmond Martin, Stephanie Dloniak, Hilary Ng’weno, Mohamed Jan Mohamed Paolo Torchio, Patricia Kameri-Mbote Jutta & Dirk Ohlerich Financial Schutzbaumstrasse 50 Representatives Members of Council D-63073 Offenbach 200 Lyell Avenue Design & Layout Spencerport Mike Norton-Griffiths, Maj. Gen. (Rtd.) P George Okello IRELAND NY 14559-1839 Waweru, Nicholas Ng’ang’a, Tom Mshindi, David Bockett Circulation and Subscriptions Joseph Gilbert Kibe, Virginia Wangui Shaw, 30 Zion Road Wil Smith Rose Chemweno Dublin 6 Karen Zulauf Esmond Bradley Martin Deeper Africa Advertising KENYA 4450 Arapahoe Avenue Roy Kiptanui Programme Areas Mark Easterbrook Suite 100, Boulder P O Box 208 CO 80303 SWARA Offices Conservation Advocacy and Education, Malindi www.deeperafrica.com Riara Road, off Ngong Road, Species Conservation, Forests and Water Kilimani, NAIROBI Catchment, Wetland, Marine and Coastal Suthar Kiran Kurt Leuschner Reserves, Wildlife Conservation in and outside P O Box 1000 70065 Sonora Road SWARA Magazine Meru #267 P O Box 20110-00200 National Parks and protected areas Mountain Centre NaIROBI, Kenya Netherlands CA 92561 Honorary Members Stichting EAWLS Tel: + 254 ( 20 ) 3874145 Ridderhoflaan 37 Lawrence A Wilson Fax: + 254 ( 20 ) 3870335 Chas G Allen Jr, M Bishop, Mr & Mrs H E 2396 C J Koudekerk A/D 3727 Summitridge Drive E-mail: [email protected] Rocoveri, James H Webb RIJN Atlanta GA 30340 SWARA is a quarterly magazine owned SPAIN EAWLS Head Office Lidia Sanchez Rugules Gordon Crombie and pub lished by the East African Wild P O BOX 20110 – 00200, c/o Nutria 26 2725 Park Ave Life So ci e ty, a non-prof it mak ing Riara Road, Kilimani, Nairobi La Moraleja 28109 Franklin Park or gan i sa tion formed in 1961 following IL 60131 the amalgamation of the Wildlife Tel: 254-20-3874145 Fax: 254-20-3870335 SWEDEN So ci e ties of Ken ya and Tan za nia Email: [email protected] Hugo Berch Grant & Barbara Winther (themselves both found ed in 1956). It Össjö Gård 867 Taurnic Pl. NW is the Society’s pol i cy to conserve Munka-Ljungby Bainbridge Island Members are requested to address any wild life and its habitat in all its forms as WA 98110 a regional and in ter na tion al resource. que ries to the Executive Director SWITZERLANDS-266 91 [email protected] Anton-Pieter Duffhuis Wildlife Safari (USA) Copyright © 2010 East African Wild Vollenweld 346 Rheem Boulevard CH – 8915 Hausen Am Moraga Life Society. No part of this publication Letters to the Editor: [email protected] Albis CA 94556 may be reproduced by any means whatsoever without the written Therese & Bernhard Charles Kasinga consent of the editor. Opin ions Sorgen Kenya.com Inc ex pressed by con trib u tors are not Erlenweg 30 16152 Beach Blvd nec es sar i ly the official view of the 8302 Kloten Suite 117 Society. SWARA ac cepts the in for ma tion SWARA appreciates the Huntington Beach given by con trib u tors as correct. CA 92647-3523 continued support it receives from Fauna & Flora The impala is the symbol of the East African International Wild Life Society. ‘SWARA’ is the Swahili word for antelope. 4 | SWARA – 2010:3 EAST AFRICAN WILD LIFE SOCIETY Letter from the Editor FRONTLINES society’s vision of conservation. EAWLS that was once seen as a way of lifting is working and advocating at many artisanal fishermen out of poverty levels and in many areas to get positive but is now attracting critical notices results where humans and habitat are because of its environmental fallout. in conflict. It’s not enough to complain. EAWLS is very much part of the coast Our arguments are strong but could be conservation watch. reinforced further with more members. Finally, to our Eagle-eyed Sign up a friend as a member and get one readers, we will observe the different of our much sought-after calendars and a capitalisation conventions used by box of cards. the birding and wild life communities. Both feature the lensmanship of That means, for instance, we will be Paolo Torchio, who also reminds our writing Peregrine Falcon but Grevy’s readers in Portfolio that Nairobi National zebra. Confusing perhaps, especially if reetings to all our readers Park, one of Kenya’s natural treasures, both conventions appear on the same from wintry Nairobi. We at is just a few minutes' drive from the page. But we respect diversity, both GEAWLS hope this issue of city centre or airport. We continue to in spelling conventions and opinion. SWARA sparks your interest, whether look further afield than East Africa for We will not shy from printing the you read it by the fireside in Africa or features and are delighted to print good provocative, if it adds to informed in warmer overseas climates. David news from Angola about a concerted debate, and we welcome your letters. Western provides our cover story with effort to preserve the Great sable. There The views expressed in articles are the an examination of the withering drought is good news too from Kenya’s coastal authors’. When EAWLS has a point of Amboseli has just suffered and suggests town of Lamu, where the cause of view, it will clearly say so. a way forward for both man and nature conservation is being championed both in this key resource. Proper planning on the legal front and on (and under) Andy Hill to accommodate both is crucial to the the ground. Not so heartwarming is our Editor survival of both and is central to the feature on the ring net, a fishing device CORPORATE