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ZCTF update on Hwange crisis
Zimbabwe Conservation Task Force (ZCTF)
September 24, 2005

Following our recent appeal for funds to buy fuel to pump water into the dry pans in Hwange, we would like to thank all the people who very kindly assisted us.

Castrol Zimbabwe donated 25 empty drums to us and we managed to acquire 7 000 litres of diesel which we took up to Hwange. We were donated the use of a 7 ton truck by the Pioneer Corporation which we used to transport the fuel to Hwange. A special thank you to the Save Foundation of Australia, Orsham Services and the Unifreight Group who were our biggest donors but we are also very thankful for the smaller donations received because they all added up and made it possible for us to help the animals.

We delivered the fuel to The Hide in Hwange National Park where Barry Wolhuter very kindly offered to monitor and distribute the fuel to the dry water holes which is a huge undertaking in view of the great distances between pans and we are very grateful to him. Barry has been updating us daily on the distribution of the fuel and he has sent us reports on the reaction of the animals to the sudden appearance of water in the pans. He has taken photos which we will circulate as soon as we receive them.

The water hole at Inyantuie was bone dry and Barry says it was a "sight to be seen" when the pump engine started. The animals literally poured out of the surrounding bush when they heard the sound of the engine. The smaller animals didn't have much chance to drink because the elephants, obviously extremely thirsty, were throwing their weight around.

There are 2 pumps at Inyantuie but Barry and 2 National Parks employees, Mafu and Khanye found that the second one wasn't working. A special thank you to Mafu and Khanye who worked all through the night to repair the pump engine. They finally fired it up at 10 o'clock the next morning.

Barry had problems though when the second pump started working. The water flows into a trough first and then overflows into the pan but it was not able to reach the pan because of the queue of elephants fighting for it there. Barry had to keep driving the elephants away to allow the water to overflow so that the impala, warthogs, kudu, sable and baboons, who were waiting by the pan could have a drink. One kudu cow was so thirsty that she took a chance and went right into the middle of the elephants and managed a few sips before being smacked out of the way.

So far, as of yesterday, water is being pumped into 9 of the dry waterholes and the scene has been much the same at all of the pans as it was at Inyantuie. We would like to thank all the people who responded to our appeal and made this possible. Unfortunately, though, the crisis is not yet over. The diesel we took up to Hwange is only going to last another week or so and then the pans will dry up again so we are now working on taking up a second load of 15 000 litres and we hope this will last until the rains start.

If anyone is able to assist with the second load of fuel, we would be very grateful - our contact details are below.

Johnny Rodrigues
Chairman

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