Cecil the Lion

Similar to a DJ, I love to take requests for blog topics.  And this week I had several messages from loyal blog followers asking that I address “Cecil the Lion.”  Well, first I had to figure out who Cecil the Lion was.

Cecil the Lion did not make the news here in Australia.  However, it was the second most popular Google search topic in the U.S. last week.  I read the newspaper articles, watched the YouTube clips of all the late night hosts, and I have some information you need to know if you are going to speak intelligently about this situation.

The first thing you need to be familiar with is CITES (Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora).  If you want to know whether a fish, bird, animal or plant is in danger and needs protection, you can find out on the CITES website.  CITES categorizes living fauna or flora into one of three “appendices.”

Appendix 1 is for animals needing the most protection because they are in danger of becoming extinct.  There are about 1,200 species in appendix 1, including the mountain gorilla, the Asian elephant, and all rhinos.  In short, it is illegal to trade in Appendix 1 animals without a licensed permit.  According to CITES regulations, Mozambique is permitted to export 60 lions (as wild-taken trophies) annually so long as the required permits are obtained.

Most species (about 21,000) are listed in Appendix 2.  They aren’t necessarily likely to become extinct, but may become so in the future if trade in these animals becomes more popular.  Import permits are not required from CITES for Appendix 2 species, but individual countries may prohibit these items from being permitted.  For instance, Australia prohibits importation of almost any animal product regardless of CITES or anything else because we like to control our borders like Fort Knox.  The great white shark and the American black bear are Appendix 2 species.

There are only about 170 species on Appendix 3.  An animal can be listed on Appendix 3 at the request of any CITES member country because that one country is having trouble controlling the species.  Costa Rica has placed the two-toed sloth on the CITES Appendix 3 list.

Now that you have some background, let’s talk about elephants.

In Botswana, elephants are a CITES Appendix 2 animal.  That means they are NOT in danger of extinction.  This means that Botswana has every right to allow hunting of elephants.  However, because Botswana likes to play Big Brother to Africa, and rightfully so, they’ve earned that honour, Botswana decided to banish elephant hunting 18 months ago.  And Botswana is REALLY regretting that decision right now.  Botswana figured if it got rid of hunting other countries would follow suit.  Other countries have not necessarily followed Botswana’s lead, and there have been some negative repercussions for Botswana because the elephant population is now exceeding carrying capacity.

Botswana has half the elephant population in Africa, and one-third of the entire elephant population in the world.  Previously, when elephant hunting in Botswana was allowed it was strictly limited.  I think they only sold about 100 permits a year.  At $100,000 a piece.  That’s $10 million dollars in permits only.  Then they also had to hire guides, hunters, pay for accommodation, transportation, and plenty of other services while in country.  At a conservative estimate let’s call that $25-30 million in economic impact from hunters ONLY.

Now, here’s the deal.  You can’t just kill one elephant.  Elephants understand when one of their herd dies from natural causes or from an attack by a predator.  They do NOT understand when a family member is killed by a human.  Herds are typically about 30-50 elephants.  When one is killed by a human the rest of the herd goes rogue and can’t deal with the depression.  So, one hunter kills one elephant (for the permit he purchased) and then the village that is responsible for that permit kills the rest of the herd.  This is called culling a herd.  This may sound cruel, but it isn’t.  The elephant which the hunter killed, and the rest of the herd, is used to feed the village for the year.  So, while this is generating a lot of money for the government and the village, it is also a form of subsistence living.

Back to today.  We have over 200,000 elephants in Botswana.  When we used to hunt, we used to eliminate about 5,000 elephants each year, which helped to control the elephant population.  The population continued to grow, but not at the fast rate which it grows today because there is no external method of controlling it.

Adult elephants eat about 300-400 pounds of food a DAY!  And they are herbivores.  That means they eat grass.  What else in Africa eats grass?  Giraffes, zebras, rhinos, impala, and the vast majority of African wildlife.  Elephants also live to be about 70 and they eventually starve to death because their teeth wear out and they can’t actually get enough nutrients to survive.  So, in truth, I think killing a 60 year old elephant is actually very humane.  But, back to the food issue.  As a result of the growing elephant population in Botswana other species have actually decreased in number because they are competing for the same food.

OK, now let’s talk about Cecil.  In truth, I find it rather difficult to talk about the Cecil situation because there has been so much media coverage, and media is there to sell a story.  I’ve read and hear a lot of conflicting reports, so I think it’s a bit difficult to know the truth from the fanaticism about this story.

What I will say is that there is a HUGE difference between poaching and hunting.  I actually just wrote a research article on this topic.  Perhaps I should write a blog post summarising that academic article.  The poaching you hear about is normally of elephants in Kenya and Tanzania.  The poaching that occurs there is truly unfortunate and in most cases the money earned from these illegal activities is used to support extremist, terrorist groups.

Hunting in Africa is closely regulated.  There are permits that must be obtained, particular rules that must be followed, and the legal repercussions are worse than any social ostracism you could possibly experience in the U.S.  The locations which permit hunting are highly dependent on that income and there are strict requirements regarding how the meat must be utilized.

In short, if the hunt was TRULY illegal then I’m against it.  However, Zimbabwe is no saint.  Mugabe’s government has been corrupt from the beginning, he has been guilty of human rights violations for years, and he’s starving his people.  The hunters involved in the Cecil situation were thrown in jail, and Zimbabwe’s call to extradite the dentist is likely an attempt to sensationalize this and drag the U.S. into negotiations for something.  If the U.S. elects to extradite the American dentist to Zimbabwe it will be his death sentence.

If you are unfamiliar with Mugabe, this Nando’s (a popular South African fast food chain) commercial depicts him with Kim Jun Un, Idi Amin, Gaddafi, Saddam Hussain, and all the other 20^th century dictators.  The commercial is pretty accurate as Mugabe IS the last one standing:

My 100th Blog Post from Africa: Happy Thanksgiving!

For those of you out there diligently reading my blog posts every weekday, thank you for being a loyal follower.  Today is Thanksgiving in America and this is the 100^th blog post since I moved to Africa four months ago.  In honor of this occasion, and more importantly, because I took some really cool videos while I was in Uganda, I put together a brief compilation of some of my experiences there.

Not everything I did in Uganda is in the video as I couldn’t record certain things, but I would like to acknowledge the following organizations which made my trip very memorable:

Encounter Africa Safaris which organized my trip, accommodation and travel partner to Bwindi Impenetrable Forest to see the gorillas. http://www.gorilla-tracking-uganda.com/about-uganda-gorilla-safari-company.html

Uganda Wildlife Authority which provided the guide, porters and escorts during our gorilla trek. http://www.ugandawildlife.org

The Department of Tourism at Makerere University where I guest lectured for two days.

Uganda Bicycle which gave me a great workout mountain biking through the muddy streets of Kampala. http://www.ugandabicycle.com

Ricky’s Boda Boda Tours which gave me an excellent tour of Kampala on the back of a very safe boda boda (motorbike). http://www.kombitours.com/kampalabodatours

Ndere Cultural Center where I had dinner on my last night in Kampala and watched an impressive dance troupe representing different ethnic groups from all around Uganda. http://ndere.com

Holland Park in Jinja, the beautiful B&B where I stayed in Jinja, the source of the Nile. http://www.hollandparkuganda.com

***Disclaimer: Please be aware I was in no way compensated by these organizations for mentioning them on my blog.  Also, I found all of them through my own devices and did not receive any discounts or free services.  There is absolutely no ulterior motive in my naming these companies.  They all just made my trip a great experience, and in the event anyone reading this decides to visit Uganda I highly encourage you to consider using any of these businesses.  If I am fortunate to visit Uganda again in the future I expect I will be contacting most, if not all, of these companies again.

And now… for my video.  Enjoy:

Guest Lecturing in the Tourism Department at Makerere University

As you know, I’ve already arrived back in Botswana from my trip to Uganda, but I realized I never actually talked about one of the main motivations for my visit: seeing Makerere University.  Makerere University is considered “The Harvard of Africa,” or at least that’s what I was told by a few locals.  Or maybe they said “Harvard is the Makerere of America.”  I can’t be sure.  But, you get the picture.

In all honesty, I don’t know much about Makerere, but it is the largest public university in the country, and first opened there in 1936.  And I knew they had a tourism program, which was what prompted my visit.  The professor with whom I co-teach here gave me the name of a professor at Makerere who I emailed and asked about visiting campus.  The Makerere professor asked me to guest lecture for two days about career opportunities in the tourism industry, the American perspective of tourism in Africa and Uganda, and how to appropriately market to western tourists.

I really enjoyed my time at Makerere.  I was so impressed with the faculty and the students.  Everyone was very engaged and asked lots of questions, which was great.  One of my occasional frustrations with University of Botswana is that sometimes there is a bit too much arrogance and unwillingness to consider suggestions/ advice/ criticism.  At times it feels that UB has a “We already know everything” attitude, so they rebuff new ideas.  Refreshingly, Makerere was the exact opposite.  When I mentioned that a lot could be done to improve the way Uganda markets to westerners, the crowd was all ears.  They originally asked me to speak on the topic for three hours.  I told them that was too long and suggested an hour.  After two hours the audience was still going strong and we probably could have gone on discussing the entire afternoon, but I had to end it there in order to get to my next appointment.  But I really enjoyed the conversation and their willingness to consider new ideas.

While at Makerere I was also very happy to meet the professor who owned the tour guide company I used for my trip to Bwindi to see the gorillas.  In fact, I used his company as an example, and afterward told him I thought the tour guide I had, Tolbert, was a rock star.

In addition to visiting classes at Makerere, I also stayed at the guest house on campus.  It was convenient because it made getting back and forth to lectures easy, but the campus was huge and very hilly, so I could do my morning and evening “hikes” around the buildings.  Below are a few pictures I took from one of my morning strolls.

Welcome to Makerere University, “The Harvard of Africa”:

 

And the Guest House, complete with contact information if you would like to make a reservation:

Makerere had these giant birds all over campus.  I’m not sure what they are called, but when I say giant, I really mean that.  If I stood next to one it would probably come up to about hip height:

The School of Forestry, Environmental and Geographical Sciences, where the Tourism Department is located.  There were over 1,000 undergrad students enrolled in the Tourism Program:

And some of the students who attended the lecture I gave about career development in the tourism industry.  This was a shot of only half the room; the room was wide, and packed pretty tight, but at least the students look as if they were having fun:

Another building on campus:

There were also at least two churches and a mosque on campus.  The only negative to having a mosque on campus, for me at least, was that it was only about 300 meters from the guest house where I was staying.  And if you haven’t spent much time around mosques, they all have loud speakers attached to the buildings which broadcast a call to prayer five times a day.  The first prayer time is at dawn, so every morning at about 5am I was woken up.  By the end of my stay the sound became incorporated into my dreams.  Here is one of the churches where a wedding was being held:

Overall I had an excellent visit to Makerere and I’m hoping I get the opportunity to go back.  In fact, since my trip to Rwanda was cancelled, I think when I reschedule the trip to Rwanda sometime in the next few months I will add a few days in Uganda so I can spend some more time there and at Makerere.

Gorilla Tracking (Part 2)

I realize yesterday I talked a lot about the experience of tracking gorillas without actually showing a whole lot, so today I would like to remedy that oversight.  After reviewing the more than 600 photos I took during the one hour visit with the gorillas I selected a few of my favorites.  I hope you enjoy:

As I mentioned, we did our trek in Bwindi Impenetrable Forest:

Our lodge was within the Bwindi National Park itself, and as you can see it was very reminiscent of Gorillas in the Mist:

By the time we began our hike though it was bright, sunny and very hot out… and then we had to walk up all these hills.  In the middle (the darker trees vs the lighter hills) you see what is called the Heart of Uganda:

My very first glimpse of a gorilla:

Here is the youngest baby gorilla of the family we visited:

And one of the other babies:

When you complete your gorilla tracking experience successfully you “graduate” with a certificate of completion from the Uganda Wildlife Association (UWA).  I didn’t do this for the extra credential, but I’m definitely hanging this next to my Ducktorate from Disney University and my Bachelors from Hopkins.  However, I haven’t quite figured out what letters I should add to the end of my name.  EGT (Expert Gorilla Tracker) perhaps?:

Penetrating the Impenetrable Forest

Last Christmas when I was back in Baltimore visiting my parents and agonizing over whether or not I would be awarded the Fulbright Fellowship I spent one sleepless night looking at the top tourist destinations and experiences in Africa.  I figured I might as well hope for the best and daydream about some related trips in case I received the Fulbright.  Fortunately the Fulbright came through, and I am now crossing things off that list.

One of the most highly recommended “things to do” in Africa was to take a trip to the Bwindi Impenetrable Forest in Uganda to track mountain gorillas.  This is what I’ve been doing for the last few days. There are several reasons this is such a sought after trip.  First of all, the Bwindi Impenetrable Forest survived the last Ice Age, when practically all of Africa’s other forests disappeared. It is also a rainforest, and because it survived so long the diversity of flora and fauna is greater here than elsewhere, even by normal rainforest standards.  But, while rainforest is great, the primary reason I came here was to track mountain gorillas.

There are fewer than 800 mountain gorillas alive.  Typically when you go to the zoo or see gorillas in captivity they are lowland gorillas.

The mountain gorillas live only in the Democratic Republic of Congo, Rwanda and Uganda; about half the population is in Uganda.  Due to the fact there are so few mountain gorillas there are a lot of measures in place to protect them.  For instance, you can’t just wander into the forest looking for them.  You must apply for a permit through the Ugandan government.  The permit is $500 and that’s just for permission to go into the forest.  It doesn’t include the money you pay for your travel to get there, your accommodations, trackers or guides.  Since the government doesn’t want too many people in the forest, only 24 permits are granted each day.  And there is a long waiting list to get your permit.  I put my name on the waiting list back in January and got the call in late September that there was a spot available.

I know I sometimes talk about seeing monkeys and other animals with such frequency that it seems as if they are just hanging around waiting for people to look at them.  And sometimes they are, especially in the case of the vervet monkeys who aren’t just “hanging around” my neighborhood, but also trying to become my new roommates.  But this is not the case with the mountain gorillas.  You have to work hard to see the gorillas.

On Saturday Catherine (a woman from the UK with whom I booked the trip through the safari company) and I were driven about 12 hours from Kampala (the capital of Uganda) to Bwindi, which is the southwestern most point in the country, right across the border from DRC.  The first 8 hours of the drive weren’t bad, but the last 4 hours was hellacious as it was over rocky, dirt roads, and it is rainy season, so there was lots of mud.

The next morning we assembled at the park headquarters for our briefing and assignment.  We were assigned to the Habinyanta gorilla family which consists of about 19 members, including about 3 babies.   The “trackers,” who work for the park service, had left an hour previously and were searching for the gorillas based upon where they had last been spotted the evening before.  Catherine and I were put into a group with 6 others, which is policy, as they do not allow groups of more than 8 to track for a given family.  We were then driven, along with the rest of the group, about an hour away (also through rocky, muddy, dirt roads) to the area from which we would start our hike.

As we began our hike we were advised to rent walking sticks and hire porters so they could “push you and pull you and carry you if you have a hard time.” I didn’t think I really had any need for a porter, but James was my savior. A lot of the terrain was steep and slippery, so it was good to have someone else to help with balance and climbing over fallen tree trunks, etc.  By the time we finished the two hour hike to the point where the trackers had found the gorillas we were dripping in sweat.

But it was totally worth it, because when we arrived this is what we saw:

The gorillas were relatively comfortable with humans, as you can see here; I was probably about 8-10 feet away:

Once I finish editing the 600+ pictures I took of the gorillas, I will post some more for you to see.  Sadly, the pictures don’t convey the experience at all, but they are a great memory of something very few people ever get to do.

“Welcome to Uganda, everyone is very excited to have you here!”

I arrived in Uganda safe and sound this evening. My flight from Joburg to Entebbe International Airport, the only international airport in the country, was about an hour and a half late, but I made it nonetheless. I started to worry a bit while waiting for my luggage as my bag was the VERY LAST off the plane, but the good thing was by the time I exited the airport the crowd had dispersed.

It is interesting to travel through Africa and see the different airports. Some are practically brand new with all the bells, whistles and technology you can imagine. Others are little more than wooden shacks where everything is done by hand. The Victoria Falls International Airport which hosts the #1 tourist attraction in Sub-Saharan Africa leaves a lot to be desired. There they don’t have carts or baggage carousels, so they use a lot of baggage handlers to move all the luggage manually from the planes to the teeny-tiny arrivals hall (about the size of my parents’ living room) where travelers wait to attack the second they see a bag they think is theirs. I would rate Uganda’s airport as one of the better ones in Africa.

The guide, Tobas (I think ?), who is taking me on my weekend getaway met me at the airport and delivered me to my hotel for the evening. Tomorrow he will be driving me and my new friend, Catherine, whom I have yet to meet face-to-face, 10 hours into the Bwindi Impenetrable Rain Forest to go trekking for gorillas.

On the ride from the airport to my hotel Tobas told me, “Welcome to Uganda, everyone is very excited to have you here!” Everyone? Really? I’m guessing “everyone” is excited to have me here because the small fortune I paid for this excursion is giving a nice boost to the local economy. But, it turns out, his greeting was genuine. He continued on to explain, “I understand when you get back from the gorilla trekking you will be teaching at Makerere University. They are very excited about that.”

Generally when I travel I try to visit other universities with hospitality and tourism programs. I figure it gives me the opportunity to see how other programs work, potentially form relationships for study abroad programs and recruit graduate students who might be looking to come to the U.S. And since I like to reciprocate when someone agrees to host me, I always offer to guest lecture if they are interested. When I was in Kenya in September I spent a day at the University of Nairobi and taught a class there.

But I was surprised Tobas knew about my guest lecturing at Makerere because I hadn’t told anyone at the safari company about it. I was put in touch with someone at Makerere by the professor with whom I co-teach at UB. We emailed back and forth several times and I agreed to do a one hour lecture on the American tourist market in Africa. Shortly after we set a day and time, he emailed me back and told me there was a lot of interest in my visit; he was hoping I could spend a second, full day, doing more lectures to larger groups. I was surprised there was “so much interest” but I enjoy visiting other schools, so I was happy to do it. Upon hearing that Tobas was aware of this arrangement I guess there must be “interest.”

So, how did Tobas learn about my upcoming visit to Makerere? It turns out the owner of the safari company is a tourism professor there. And due to the relationship between the professor, the safari company and the Ugandan Tour Operators Association, my visit it advertised as a public lecture. I certainly don’t mind, but I guess it does put a little pressure on me. Of course, I could look at it from the opposite perspective; I wanted to make sure I had some tourism experiences here in Uganda before I spoke. So if I was the professor/safari company owner I would definitely want to make sure the American visitor had a good experience.

Regardless, Tobas seems to be a good guy; I think I am in good hands. If nothing else “everyone is very excited” that I’m here, so it sounds like this will be a great trip.

Heading to the Pearl of Africa

Tomorrow morning I am going to Uganda.  Uganda is a landlocked country is in East Africa surrounded by South Sudan to the north, the Democratic Republic of Congo to the west, Rwanda and Tanzania to the south and Kenya to the east:

Uganda is a peaceful country, but few people tend to realize that.  I think that is one of the major problems for Africa; the media and the images people have from past struggles are hard to erase.  I remember when I first went to Sierra Leone.  Before I departed everyone asked if I was worried about going to a war-torn country.  Despite the civil war and blood diamond trade having ended more than a decade previously, people were still under the impression it was a dangerous place with no redeeming qualities.  Uganda has a similar reputation.  I told a friend I was going to Uganda to guest speak at a university about tourism.  He asked, “Why would anyone go there for tourism?  All I think of is Idi Amin and the Libyan army killing all those people.”  It’s been 35 years and obviously some people haven’t forgotten.  For anyone unfamiliar with Idi Amin, if you’ve seen the movie The Last King of Scotland you’ve seen Hollywood’s portrayal of his handiwork.

And to be fair, Amin is not the only black mark on Uganda’s historical register.  Uganda has experienced several civil wars, been accused of human rights violations, had problems with child labor and slavery.  Child soldiers were also regularly used as fighters within the Lord’s Resistance Army.

However, from a tourism perspective, Uganda does have a lot to offer.  Winston Churchill travelled there in 1907 when he was a junior member of Parliament, 33 years before becoming Prime Minister.  Reflecting on his visit, he said, “For magnificence, for variety of form and color, for the profusion of brilliant life- bird, insect, reptile, beast- for vast scale- Uganda is truly the Pearl of Africa.” And so, for the last 100+ years Uganda has been referred to as the Pearl of Africa.

I’m looking forward to spending the next 10 days in Uganda.  I plan to go trekking for gorillas in the Bwindi Impenetrable Jungle, journey across the equator, visit the Jane Goodall Institute and learn how to talk to the chimpanzees (I was born in the month of the monkey, so I’m hoping this gives me an edge), see Lake Victoria and the mouth of the Nile River, and I will be spending two days at Makerere University giving several guest lectures to their tourism classes and professors.