Chad '22: Return to the Wild

[Kitsafari]

that's an awesome bird list garnered for a non-birding trip @inyathi. 

 

Thanks so much @inyathi @gatoratlarge @Zarek Cockar for a fabulous triple-voice TR and a comprehensive informative report especially on OROA and Ennedi. I thoroughly enjoyed going on the rides with you three, and very jealous of the antelopes seen at OROA. 

[Atravelynn]

page 1--the colors, the rock formations, those paintings, wow!  Plus tanks and snakes.  What a place.

Page 2--colors, rocks and paintings continue and a cheetah (rock painting).  Cute little Lesser Egyptian Jerbo.  I saw the rock hyrax!  Having sunny days was important to fully enjoy Ennedi.

page 3--there is no such thing as getting too carried away with photos, @inyathi.   OROA and Zakuma produced a cornucopia. 

Page 4--Impressive bird list!  Thank goodness the Ipad was not lost.  Close call.  Very easy to have happen when charging.  Should I be lucky enough to follow in your collective footsteps, I'll remember that okra can be slimy and avoid it.

 

I like those skinny strip-like photos for shots like an expansive herd!

 

One amazing trip and a fantastic shared adventure!  This report is very informative and will undoubtedly send many visitors to these remarkable destinations that you have illustrated so well for us in both photos and words.  I am sure saying goodbyes was a bit sad.

 

If you had not gotten to go to Rigueik floodplains, do you think you would have seen quelas or other big flocks?

Edited April 18, 2022 by Atravelynn

[gatoratlarge]

21 hours ago, Atravelynn said:

If you had not gotten to go to Rigueik floodplains, do you think you would have seen quelas or other big flocks?

@AtravelynnI'll let @inyathiand @Zarek Cockarweigh in but on my first visit to Zakouma we passed an oxbow lagoon just loaded with thousands? of white pelicans, morose marabou storks and other water birds...other spots, thousands of whistling ducks and knob billed geese....and quelia were almost inescapable near little pools of water scattered all around the park, but to see the thousands of black crowned cranes and the murmurations of quelia I would say Rigueik is by far the place to see them best...what say ye?   Interesting, as you might expect, it changes slightly from visit to visit...I suppose because of how dry or wet it's been.  This time we didn't get the view of thousands or hundreds and hundreds of pelicans in the same way as the first visit but for me, seeing the quelia coming in to roost and for a last drink at dusk was pure magic.   @inyathitold me his stay at Camp Nomade was the penultimate for the quelia murmurations.  Had the timing been perfect, we would have seen that as well as we had full access to Rigueik during our visit.

Edited April 19, 2022 by gatoratlarge

[inyathi]

 

 

I said in my posts about Ennedi, that I only knew the names of a very few of the places that we visited, however, since saying that I realised that in fact I did know the name of one of the major rock art sites that we visited, Manda Guéli Cave, because I posted a photo of the rock art there, taken from Wikipedia, back when we were advertising for an extra participant to join us, and the photo was labelled. In fact, the photo was taken by someone I follow on Flickr, a Canadian named David Stanley who is a former guidebook writer for Lonely Planet amongst others, and has visited almost every country in the world, he has an album on Flickr containing a handful of photos taken in Ennedi, a few of these are on Wikipedia. @gatoratlarge After you posted those Google Map links, I thought perhaps I should make more of an effort to and try and find out the names and locations of other places in the RNCE that we visited, helpfully the photos on Wikipedia have the place name and also coordinates, if you copy the coordinates and paste them into Google Earth it will take you straight there. Google Earth also has a photo layer, they got rid of the original photo layer that they used to have, but now have a new one, if you tick photos from the Layers menu and then zoom in on Ennedi, quite a few photos appear. Looking at these photos and also searching for photos of Ennedi on Flickr and there are quite a lot, and then looking at them on the Flickr map, I’ve managed to establish the names and locations of a few more of the places we visited, but I’ve not yet found all of them or established all of the names. You have to be a little careful looking at photos on Google Earth or the Flickr map, because they may not be in exactly the right place, some photos I found of the Labyrinthe d’Oyo on Google Earth are certainly in the wrong place, when I zoomed in really close, I thought that can’t be the right place, but when I found David Stanley’s photo of the Labyrinth on Wikipedia and pasted the coordinates into Google Earth, when I zoomed in, I thought yes this definitely looks like the right place and there were a good few other photos of the Labyrithe d’Oyo indicating that it had to be the Labyrinth. It’s taken me a long time to find the name and location of the place that we visited on our final morning, but I have come up with a name, Pináculos de Wimini, clearly the photographer who marked it on Google Earth is Spanish, assuming that name is correct, I am calling it the Pinnacles of Wimini, there are still a few other places that I’ve not found at all or not located precisely on the map, such as the Bottle of Bamena, that we referred to as the Champagne Bottle, I can find Bamena I’m just not certain where the Bottle is, but otherwise I’ve created a map on Google Earth with the various places marked on it, including Bamena just to indicate where that area is. Having done this I’ve edited my Ennedi posts to add in these names.

 

 

 

 

The very first rock art site we visited, is I think called Dibirké Shelter, but the little isolated mountain where it is, is called Degedey

 

We visited two different places with champignons - mushroom rocks, I’ve marked these as Champinons 1^st and Champignons 2^nd to indicate which ones we visited first, we visited a site at the back of the Terkei Massif which I’ve just marked Terkei, here’s a photo from there, that I didn’t put in

 

 

Terkei

 

Then a few days later after we visited the Guelta’ d’Archei, we visited Terkei Cave to look at the rock art, where we saw the galloping or “flying” horses, this is located at what I would call the front of Terkei, being the side closest to our camp. Having created that map, I can now add more of my Ennedi photos to the Flickr map, not all of my Flickr photos are on the map, but a large percentage are including most of my Zakouma photos from 2014 and 15, I've only added a few Zakouma shots from this trip, but I will add more if I can figure out where to put them, often I am happy just to put them in what I think is approximately the right place, if someone looking at one of my Zakouma photos and clicks on the map it will take them to the park, it doesn't really matter if I placed a photo on the wrong bend of the river.  

 

@AtravelynnThanks,

 

In my experience you really have to be at Rigueik to see the most impressive quelea murmurations, to see great clouds of them swirling around, dipping down to the ground to drink and back up again, in flocks numbering in the many thousands. You can see them drinking at other places, but not in such numbers, you may as we did this time, see them streaming overhead in their multitudes as they return to their roost, and that is still very impressive, but it’s not quite the same. The flocks in this video are even more impressive than what I saw on my 2015 trip, or at least the video is more impressive than anything that I filmed.

 

 

 

At Machtour and some other places you will see small groups of Black Crowned Cranes, and sometimes see them flying, much as you might see small groups of Grey Crowned in Eastern or Southern Africa, but you will only see them in their thousands on the plains at Rigueik. The cranes at Rigueik are a uniquely Zakouma spectacle, I’m not aware of anywhere where you will see big concentrations of Grey Crowned Cranes or anywhere else where you will see Black Crowned in such numbers as you see at Rigueik, other than down in the south at Mare Am Douloulou and Mare Sourane, where there can be large numbers, but I don’t think in quite the numbers you see at Rigueik. If you go to YouTube or Vimeo and look up videos of Zakouma, you will see scenes of antelope herds, big buffalo herds and giraffes all mixed in amongst the cranes and the masses of other water birds at Rigueik. You won’t really see this elsewhere in Zakouma, except again perhaps right down in the south, where you can also find big concentrations of birds.and decent sized herds of antelopes, Tiang, hartebeest and roan, but Rigueik is the jewel in Zakouma’s crown.

 

The following video is by @Michael Lorentzhe did ask me if I wanted to come on this trip, perhaps foolishly I said no, I didn't want to return quite so soon, I said I'd rather wait and go back once they introduced the rhinos, I suppose that is what I ended up doing, by going on this trip, at the time I just felt that it was a lot of money and it would be hard to top my 2015 trip, then I saw this video and though darn maybe I should have gone especially when I saw the elephant part. 

 

The video gives a very good indication of how amazing Rigueik can be, but of course, it is not always like that, and it does depend on when you are there, on this trip we didn't see a big herd of buffalo right out in the open as they did, nor giraffes, we saw some in the distance in the trees but not out in the open. 

 

Unfortunately, besides being prohibitively expensive at around £1,590 person/night Camp Nomade is now as I sort of knew, invitation only, it is no longer operated as a commercial camp, you have to be invited by African Parks, I guess this means you have to be a big donor in order to secure an invitation, I’m not sure how you get invited otherwise. I just know that I was very lucky to stay there when I did, as I won’t be staying there again, if I ever go back to Chad. Curiously looking up Camp Nomade, of the few travel agents I looked at, only Timbuktu Travel mentioned it being by invitation only, they say

 

Quote

This camp can only be booked by invitation from African Parks and is no longer operating as a commercial camp.

 

Timbuktu Travel

 

I don’t know exactly why AP took this decision, and whether it was the right one, but it must make sense to them.

 

If no one is staying at Camp Nomade, then you will have full access to Rigueik, if there are guests there, then you won’t be able to go there, at least whilst they are in residence, at some point they should go off fly camping and may even move down to the far south for a couple of nights, then guests at Tinga would have access to Rigueik during that time. I don’t know if Nomade is normally occupied throughout the season, since AP made it invitation only, but I would assume that during a stay at Tinga, you should typically get a chance to visit Rigueik, at least once, but I wouldn't want to say that that is definitely always the case, I think if you are seriously thinking of going, it would be worth getting confirmation from the travel agent or AP. 

 

Otherwise, there are always concentrations of Spur-winged Geese at Machtour, often with African Comb Ducks and perhaps whistling ducks mixed in, and on my first visit, we would see quite large concentrations of ducks and geese at various points on the river, and there are places away from Rigueik where you may see large numbers of storks and pelicans. It does obviously all depend on how much water there is, if you were to go later in March or at the beginning of April, when it is of course getting really hot, then the birds should be more concentrated as they hunt for fish in the last pools. On my 2015 safari we saw a huge flock of Great White Pelicans at an old oxbow called Medjalam someway down the Salamat, we didn't go there on this trip. 

 

As I said in a previous post, I wouldn't not have wanted to just go back Zakouma, if I had only been visiting Zakouma, I think I would have been quite worried that I would be disappointed compared to my previous visits, if you are going for the first time, I think as a regular safari goer you shouldn't be disappointed, provided you have realistic expectations as to what you should see and perhaps more importantly what you won't see. If you read some of the reviews of Zakouma on Tripadvisor many say this was one of their best ever safari experiences, but a couple say they were disappointed, because the park lacks the variety of animals that you find in Eastern or Southern Africa and in one case they didn't see a single elephant. If you know the history of Zakouma's elephants, and know that this means that you are not guaranteed great views or to even see them at all, then you'd be a bit disappointed if you didn't see a single one, but not too disappointed, if you went expecting to see lots of them, then you might be very disappointed. With the addition of Ennedi and OROA, I wasn't too worried that Zakouma might not deliver quite such amazing sights as I had seen in 2015.    

 

I was interested to read the following about Siniaka-Minia on Facebook

 

Quote

The first-ever camera trap study was conducted in Siniaka-Minia Wildlife Reserve in 2021! Twenty camera traps were deployed in the field for two months and detected 28 different wildlife species, including leopard, giraffe, Greater kudu, and serval.

 

Good to see that they recorded Greater Kudu, I think Siniaka should be a stronghold for the Western Greater Kudu (Tragelaphus strepsiceros cottoni) and AP have chosen a kudu for the new park logo, judging by some images I found online from a competition to design the new logo. I’d be very interested to know what the other 24 species they recorded were, maybe this information is online, but I’ve not found anything else on their camera trap study, but I’ve not looked that hard.

Edited April 21, 2022 by inyathi

[Atravelynn]

Very helpful reply, @inyathi, along with the video illustration.  Thank you.

[Photo-Kiboko]

Thank you for sharing this great trip report.

I have enjoyed it.

It has remembered me on my great time in Zakouma in April 2019.

 

Thank you for all the great pictures and information about Ennedi and OROA.

I hope, I have a chance to visit these places, too.

 

Best regards

Bernd

[Galago]

Thank you for such an interesting report with such wonderful photos.  Ennedi is beyond stunning and oh how I'd love to visit.

@inyathiI'm another Brit who's visited Zakouma twice, influenced by your TR and also by @Kitsafari  First was Feb 2018 at Nomade (before AP introduced the new pricing structure) and then March 2020 at Tinga. I stayed in the same building as you and I did suggest they put a few hooks in the wall for hanging stuff up, but that fell on deaf ears it seems!

Yes, Nomade is the place for quelea murmurations and I saw them in the millions there.  You did well with the eles. Ooh they made us work for it and, in the end, just a brief sighting as the light faded.  I understand the herd has split now.  We were allowed to water the bull eles at HQ but I think it was a favour to our guide (Doug McD) because were were instructed not to breathe a word about it back at Tinga! 

Reading all this TR makes me want to go back again.  Thank you!

[Jakob]

On 4/12/2022 at 4:44 PM, gatoratlarge said:

For those into maps (I love them!) One of our party used Google Maps to drop pins at all the below locations  hopefully the links work:

 

Dropped pin Ennedi Camp

 

https://maps.google.com?q=16.7721125,21.7925768&hl=en-US&gl=us&entry=gps&lucs=s2se,a2

 

Dropped pin Oroa Camp

 

https://maps.google.com?q=14.8838570,20.0767710&hl=en-US&gl=us&entry=gps&lucs=s2se,a2

 

Dropped pin Oroa airport

 

https://maps.google.com?q=14.8069513,20.0830581&hl=en-US&gl=us&entry=gps&lucs=s2se,a2

 

Dropped pin Zakouma airport

 

https://maps.google.com?q=10.8882155,19.8165481&hl=en-US&gl=us&entry=gps&lucs=s2se,a2

 

Dropped pin Tinga Camp

 

https://maps.google.com?q=10.8374614,19.7799859&hl=en-US&gl=us&entry=gps&lucs=s2se,a2

 

Dropped pin Salamat camp

 

https://maps.google.com?q=10.7953411,19.7709405&hl=en-US&gl=us&entry=gps&lucs=s2se,a2

 

I obviously need to learn how to "drop pins"  as this is what I have always missed, without knowing how to achieve it! I think it adds a whole lot to the experience to be able to look at maps to see exactly where the giant Fig with all the Barbets was located.

[Jakob]

Thanks for a great report on a fruitful trip! It makes me think of going back to Tchad some time, when the stars are aligned.

[gatoratlarge]

@JakobI think you flew in on the plane as we departed Zakouma on my first visit to Tchad.  A second trip with Ennedi and OROA on the itinerary is definitely worth consideration!  So many wonderful places to go in Africa but I would definitely consider a third visit once the rhino population gets bolstered!

 

[Jakob]

@gatoratlargeThat's right. You were enjoying the lounge when my company got to the arrival hall.

 

The thing is that there is just too much to consider

[inyathi]

@GalagoI am so glad that you went twice, it's good to know that I didn't oversell it, I wouldn't want people going somewhere on my recommendation only to think, I don't get it, what's so amazing about this place, why did we waste all this money coming here, it also goes to show that I am not completely mad, that Zakouma is somewhere worth visiting more than once or even that just going to Chad is not daft. As an indication of how amazing this trip was, my album on Flickr now has 987 photos and 13 videos in it, I thought 1,000 was a nice round number, thanks to uploading all those photos, I think I've sold the idea of visiting Chad to at least one of my Flickr followers and maybe another one. 

 

@JakobDefinitely worth considering a future visit,  as far as I know the next batch of rhinos will arrive in Zakouma in December and it looks like the reintroduction of Addax and Scimitar-horned Oryx to Ennedi should start quite soon, AP's Annual Report from 2021 said that having surveyed Ennedi for suitable release sites, reintroductions should begin this year, I've not seen any updates on this, it maybe that they are planning to do it later this year, I don't know, but I would imagine that certainly within a few years, both large antelope species will be back in Ennedi, that would be one more reason to visit Ennedi and a good reason to return to Chad.

 

I've just been going back through my bird list for this trip, after submitting our records to WABDaB the West African Bird Database, I realised that I needed to go back and correct a couple of mistakes, I decided at the same time, that I should add on the birds that Zarek  @Zarek Cockarsaw, but I did not, since he'd sent me his bird lists, so I have gone back and edited my earlier post, in which I'd posted my bird list, that then puts the total number of birds seen by the two of us up to 187 I think, which is pretty respectable, that's another 30 species on top of my total, I think there must have been a few moments when I was asleep,  I'm not sure how I missed all of these additional birds otherwise.   

[Hads]

Well done on a splendid trip report @gatoratlarge, thanks for sharing.

[jeremie]

On 7/11/2022 at 4:23 PM, inyathi said:

@GalagoI am so glad that you went twice, it's good to know that I didn't oversell it, I wouldn't want people going somewhere on my recommendation only to think, I don't get it, what's so amazing about this place, why did we waste all this money coming here, it also goes to show that I am not completely mad, that Zakouma is somewhere worth visiting more than once or even that just going to Chad is not daft. As an indication of how amazing this trip was, my album on Flickr now has 987 photos and 13 videos in it, I thought 1,000 was a nice round number, thanks to uploading all those photos, I think I've sold the idea of visiting Chad to at least one of my Flickr followers and maybe another one. 

 

@JakobDefinitely worth considering a future visit,  as far as I know the next batch of rhinos will arrive in Zakouma in December and it looks like the reintroduction of Addax and Scimitar-horned Oryx to Ennedi should start quite soon, AP's Annual Report from 2021 said that having surveyed Ennedi for suitable release sites, reintroductions should begin this year, I've not seen any updates on this, it maybe that they are planning to do it later this year, I don't know, but I would imagine that certainly within a few years, both large antelope species will be back in Ennedi, that would be one more reason to visit Ennedi and a good reason to return to Chad.

 

I've just been going back through my bird list for this trip, after submitting our records to WABDaB the West African Bird Database, I realised that I needed to go back and correct a couple of mistakes, I decided at the same time, that I should add on the birds that Zarek  @Zarek Cockarsaw, but I did not, since he'd sent me his bird lists, so I have gone back and edited my earlier post, in which I'd posted my bird list, that then puts the total number of birds seen by the two of us up to 187 I think, which is pretty respectable, that's another 30 species on top of my total, I think there must have been a few moments when I was asleep,  I'm not sure how I missed all of these additional birds otherwise.   

 

Actually the first batch of addax arrived at Terkei in November 2023. This is the beginning for a new era in Ennedi

[inyathi]

@jeremieThanks, it is funny, because I have been regularly checking AP's main Facebook page so as not to miss any updates especially from Chad, a while ago I saw a response to a comment about reintroductions, saying watch this space, suggesting to me that AP were going to soon be posting news of what I suspected would be the reintroduction of Addax to Ennedi, I'd hope that they will also reintroduce SHO eventually, I suspected, I think from something @Pictus Safarismay have said in his report, that they would bring back Addax first. Just this morning I checked AP's Facebook and saw an update on the Red-necked Ostriches and how well they are doing, with a link to an article on AP's website, this mentioned how Addax was another species missing from Ennedi and I thought that's interesting, perhaps, they will say something about reintroducing Addax and was then very surprised to read the following at the bottom. 

 

Quote

November 2023 also saw ten addax antelope joining the birds in being reintroduced to the reserve. Live ostriches and antelope that now dance and plod across the plateau echo the painted forms that illuminate the rock formations, reconnecting Ennedi’s people with their identity and culture, their past and present.  

 

Ennedi’s Red-Necked Ostriches: Dancers of the Desert

 

This is fantastic news, what surprises me, is that seems to be the only mention of the reintroduction of the Addax to the RNCE on their website and I've not seen anything on Facebook, but I am not a member of Facebook, I just check AP's main page now and again, obviously at some point they will post an article on the Addax, it just seems a bit surprising that they haven't given that they carried out the move in November, I presume they took them from OROA and will move a few more from there, if OROA can spare them, I would think that some of the habitat in the RNCE might be better for Addax, than the habitat is where they are currently located in OROA, but OROA is vast, so I'm sure it also has better Addax habitat, particularly in the north of the reserve. I had contemplating posting something about the Addax, but there wasn't much to post except for that quote and then you got in ahead of me. I hope that AP will have an article on the Addax soon, that one of us can post, depending on who sees it first , besides that and hoping that they will be reintroducing SHO, I am still waiting for an update on the Black Rhinos for Zakouma, as I am sure I read somewhere that they had already captured the animals in South Africa and were holding them until it was time to take them to Chad, I understood that that was going to be this December, but I have not seen any news on this yet. I guess, they might not say anything until after the rhinos have been moved and are in Chad, I don't know, even allowing for the pandemic, I hadn't expected that it would be taking so long to move more rhinos to Zakouma. 

Edited December 15, 2023 by inyathi

[inyathi]

@jeremie

@Pictus Safaris

@gatoratlarge

@Zarek Cockar

 

It seems maybe, I have just found an update regarding the rhinos, the photos in the ostrich article were taken by Marcus Westburg and from the Facebook post, I followed the link to his Facebook page and somewhat surprisingly reading his post on a trip to Bhutan, I read this 

 

Quote

it’s been a busy few months, to say the least, and towards the end, while covering the rhino translocation in Chad for African Parks

 

Marcus Westberg Photography 

 

That rather seems to suggest that the rhino translocation has already gone ahead as I suspected could well be the case, I did think that perhaps they would not be in a hurry to shout about it, after the last reintroduction went so disastrously wrong, but I really hope, this does mean that there are now more rhinos in Zakouma, if true, news of the Addax and then this has made my day,  I shall be very keenly looking out for updates in the coming days, to see if any news appears on either species.

 

I just hope that the arrival of new rhinos has not come too late for the two existing cows Goose and Bopa and that they are still able to breed, when they get to meet the new arrivals.  

Edited December 15, 2023 by inyathi

[inyathi]

Just done what I should have done earlier and searched Google , it seems that they have indeed delivered five rhinos to Zakouma, having just found the following article in the Guardian, from the 6th of December, 

 

VIP passengers: the five black rhinos flown 2,700 miles on a mission to repopulate Chad

 

I'm surprised having found this that there is not more news on the story. I knew from what I had read previously that they thought that they should bring the next rhinos in at a different time of year, the last ones were delivered in May so that there would be plenty of wet season vegetation, they now think that was a mistake and that the start of the dry season will be better. 

 

Quote

 “The animals were released at the end of the wet season, with the rationale that everything was green so the habitat was good,” says Rickelton. “But as it dried out, there were changes in that habitat, so the animals were unable to find the areas within the park that would maintain them. They were browsing but not getting the right nutrition to sustain them.”

 Fingers crossed all goes well this time as the plan is to bring in another 13 by 2025, that would mean a population of 20 the ideal number for a founder population and if this move proves successful I hope that they can then at least start to plan the reintroduction of Black Rhinos to nearby Siniaka Minia as that reserve was originally set up specifically to save the now extinct Western Black Rhino

 

I was interested to read this 

 

Quote

They comprise a mix of black rhino subspecies for genetic diversity. Six black rhinos were originally set to be moved but one of the bulls had a history of depression and was eventually excluded.

 

That might suggest that perhaps the rhinos are a mix of South Central Black Rhinos (Diceros bicornis minor) which Goose and Bopa are, and Eastern Black Rhinos (D. b. michaeli), it has certainly occurred to me before, that as Zakouma is such a long way away from any other Black Rhino populations and the Western Black Rhino (D. b. longipes) is considered to be completely extinct, why not create a hybrid population in Chad, even if it does technically go against IUCN guidelines, I don't see any real harm, the rhinos could form a new population restricted to Chad and possibly perhaps CAR if AP are planning on reintroducing rhinos to Chinko and even Pendjari although I am very sceptical about that idea, then they would some time in future, be able to take the odd rhino bull from their parks in both Malawi and Rwanda to inject new blood,  if they really are mixing up subspecies and they can find unrelated animals or at least ones that are not closely related. Hopefully when there is more information online, I will be able to find out what they really have done. I did think that the plan was to bring in six so I was surprised at first when I read that it was only five, obviously rejecting one was a good idea and is why the next move/s will bring in 13, rather than 12 which would presumably have been the plan. All very exciting.    

 

Searching for  Google, the Guardian article seems to be almost the only article on this latest move, the only other one I see is curiously on a news site from the Maldives, otherwise there are just lots of old articles on the last move back in 2018.

Edited December 15, 2023 by inyathi

[jeremie]

1 hour ago, inyathi said:

Just done what I should have done earlier and searched Google , it seems that they have indeed delivered five rhinos to Zakouma, having just found the following article in the Guardian, from the 6th of December, 

 

VIP passengers: the five black rhinos flown 2,700 miles on a mission to repopulate Chad

 

I'm surprised having found this that there is not more news on the story. I knew from what I had read previously that they thought that they should bring the next rhinos in at a different time of year, the last ones were delivered in May so that there would be plenty of wet season vegetation, they now think that was a mistake and that the start of the dry season will be better. 

 

 Fingers crossed all goes well this time as the plan is to bring in another 13 by 2025, that would mean a population of 20 the ideal number for a founder population and if this move proves successful I hope that they can then at least start to plan the reintroduction of Black Rhinos to nearby Siniaka Minia as that reserve was originally set up specifically to save the now extinct Western Black Rhino

 

I was interested to read this 

 

 

That might suggest that perhaps the rhinos are a mix of South Central Black Rhinos (Diceros bicornis minor) which Goose and Bopa are, and Eastern Black Rhinos (D. b. michaeli), it has certainly occurred to me before, that as Zakouma is such a long way away from any other Black Rhino populations and the Western Black Rhino (D. b. longipes) is considered to be completely extinct, why not create a hybrid population in Chad, even if it does technically go against IUCN guidelines, I don't see any real harm, the rhinos could form a new population restricted to Chad and possibly perhaps CAR if AP are planning on reintroducing rhinos to Chinko and even Pendjari although I am very sceptical about that idea, then they would some time in future, be able to take the odd rhino bull from their parks in both Malawi and Rwanda to inject new blood,  if they really are mixing up subspecies and they can find unrelated animals or at least ones that are not closely related. Hopefully when there is more information online, I will be able to find out what they really have done. I did think that the plan was to bring in six so I was surprised at first when I read that it was only five, obviously rejecting one was a good idea and is why the next move/s will bring in 13, rather than 12 which would presumably have been the plan. All very exciting.    

 

Searching for  Google, the Guardian article seems to be almost the only article on this latest move, the only other one I see is curiously on a news site from the Maldives, otherwise there are just lots of old articles on the last move back in 2018.

 

Oh yes, contrary to the RNCE addax that are currently held at Terkei site in Western Ennedi, APN have masively communicated on social medias about the Zakouma journey marking a new beginning. Many people covered the event, for instance it seems that Michael Lorentz travelled all around South Africa to Chad with the rhinos.

[Pictus Safaris]

18 hours ago, inyathi said:

 

 

 

That might suggest that perhaps the rhinos are a mix of South Central Black Rhinos (Diceros bicornis minor) which Goose and Bopa are, and Eastern Black Rhinos (D. b. michaeli),

 

The initial noises after the first translocation went wrong was that it was felt that south-western black rhinos (D. b. occidentalis) would be most at home in Zakouma. I've got no intel to suggest that any of the rhinos moved this year are indeed SW BRs, but will be in interested to find out in February on my next visit.

[inyathi]

@jeremie

As I am not on any, what I would call proper social media, I am not surprised that I hadn’t caught up with the news on the rhinos, but I am surprised that there isn’t a post on AP’s main Facebook page, they haven’t updated their Zakouma Facebook page since last year, I seldom bother to check for news there and usually only look at news on their website having seen it first on their main Facebook page, I learned a while ago that their website is not that great for finding the most up to date news. I think I probably did find something on Instagram, but you can’t read anything there without an account, whereas you can usually read just enough on Facebook without an account, I don’t know if I can be bothered to join Instagram just to check to see if there’s anything interesting, but it is annoying when you click a photo and it tells you to sign in. As I already share my photos on Flickr I don’t really need to join another photo sharing site, and I think I can read just enough on Facebook without joining.

 

@Pictus Safaris

I should have learned by now not to make assumptions, as I am sure to be wrong, I’ve said on a few occasions that I thought that the rhinos taken to Zakouma were D. b. minor, the most numerous of the remaining subspecies, since I knew that they were not Easterns D .b. michaeli as had been the plan and since they were coming from South Africa, D. b. minor seemed most likely to me, however, South Africa has ended up with populations of all 3 remaining subspecies. Somehow, I seemed to have missed the fact that the 6 rhinos were captured in Addo National Park, even though the article Rhinos Return to Chad on the AP website states this, I must have read the article a few times, so unless that information was added more recently. I don’t know why I hadn’t taken it in before

 

Quote

Earlier in 2018, South African National Parks (SANParks) had sourced six rhino in Addo National Park in South Africa’s Eastern Cape province, which were darted and transferred to purpose-built bomas (holding pens) to allow for a sufficient period of adjustment and monitoring before their final move to Chad.

 

If those rhinos came from Addo that would then make Goose and Bopa Southwestern Black Rhinos D. b. bicornis, this was the subspecies reintroduced to Addo NP, after it was decided to remove the extralimital population of D. b. michaeli rhinos, they went to the Thaba Tholo Ranch in Limpopo, animals from there have gone to Tanzania and Rwanda. There should not be to my knowledge any D. b. minor rhinos in Addo. These latest rhinos have come from Limpopo, I guess that could mean that they could be either D. b. minor or D. b. michaeli or even both for all I know or of course they could have moved a few Southwestern Black Rhinos to somewhere in Limpopo just to hold them until they were ready to move them to Chad.  

 

The one condition attached to Thaba Tholo’s Eastern Black Rhinos, was that they could not be used for reintroductions to anywhere in South Africa or outside the original range of D. b. michaeli, they should therefore only ever be sent to East Africa, but I’d have thought that they could waive this rule in relation to Chad, with the Western Black being extinct, but I don’t know. These Easterns were removed from Addo, because it was thought that Southwestern Black Rhinos would be more appropriate for the park, the original rhinos having been extirpated in I guess the late 19^th century.

 

I suppose the answer now, is I’m really not sure, which subspecies of rhinos are in Zakouma, I don’t see too much wrong with the idea of mixing the subspecies and creating hybrids, perhaps of all three as long as, they are then confined to protected areas within the former range of the Western Black Rhino and so would not be mixed with non-hybridised rhinos in Eastern and Southern Africa, it would be a way of ensuring that some of the animals are entirely unrelated, so it might improve genetic diversity and reduce the risk of inbreeding, however, I am not a geneticist, just as animals can suffer from inbreeding depression, they can also suffer from outbreeding depression, the latter I think might be problem, if you are mixing subspecies that have perhaps been separated for a very long time. I would assume that in the past, when there were hundreds of thousands of rhinos, before great white hunters and then poachers arrived, there must have been hybrid zones, Tanzania has both D. b. michaeli and D. b. minor, there must surely have been a hybrid zone in the middle of the country somewhere. What I would perhaps advocate, is the animals brought in, being mostly of the same subspecies, but with the odd one from another subspecies mixed in, rather than them say being half and half, or even a third of each. A mix of say mostly D. b. bicornis with a few D. b. minor thrown in might not cause any significant risk of outbreeding depression.

 

The recent IUCN assessment for the Black Rhino from Jan 2020, doesn’t indicate that rhinos have been reintroduced to Chad despite the first translocation being in 2018, I was interested to see that it says.

 

Quote

 

Native, Extant (resident): Angola; Kenya; Mozambique; Namibia; South Africa; Tanzania, United

Republic of; Zimbabwe

 

Native, Extinct: Benin; Burkina Faso; Cameroon; Central African Republic; Chad; Congo, The Democratic

Republic of the; Eritrea; Ethiopia; Niger; Nigeria; Somalia; South Sudan; Sudan; Togo; Uganda

Extant & Reintroduced (resident): Botswana; Eswatini; Malawi; Rwanda; Zambia

 

 

 

Perhaps they decided that it was too early to include Chad under Extant and Reintroduced with only two animals there. I’m sure it is the fact that Black Rhinos are listed by the IUCN as extinct in Benin, that has led AP to propose reintroducing them to Pendjari NP, but I’m not certain, if it has been definitely confirmed that the Western Black Rhino really did range as far west as Benin. Either way the security situation there likely makes any reintroduction unrealistic at present, but if that just delays the project for a good while, that could be a good thing, as they will certainly have learned a lot from the Zakouma experience, that could help ensure that there are less likely to be problems when they can finally take rhinos to Benin.

 

I am interested that they are still stating that Black Rhinos are extant in Angola, because one or two individuals have been spotted there, but I would be very surprised if these animals are still alive and likewise for Mozambique as their map doesn’t indicate that rhinos have been reintroduced there, reintroductions to Zinave only started in 2022.

Edited December 16, 2023 by inyathi

[Pictus Safaris]

1 hour ago, inyathi said:

I am interested that they are still stating that Black Rhinos are extant in Angola, because one or two individuals have been spotted there, but I would be very surprised if these animals are still alive and likewise for Mozambique as their map doesn’t indicate that rhinos have been reintroduced there, reintroductions to Zinave only started in 2022.

 

I believe this was an assumption that a small population was still crossing into Iona occasionally - I would agree that this population is no longer extant. Although I am sure AP will be putting rhinos there soon.

[gatoratlarge]

@inyathiim late to the conversation but was thrilled to see on Instagram about a week ago that they finally translocated more rhinos 🦏 to Zakouma:

 

https://www.instagram.com/p/C0rM5JPqPo-/?igshid=MzRlODBiNWFlZA==

 

They look feisty and fit!  Here’s hoping all of them make it this time around!  In a few years I’d love to go back and see the progress. Those ladies have to excited to have a couple males around finally 😆

[inyathi]

@gatoratlargeThanks for that, maybe I don't need to be on Instagram, because I seemed to be able look at all three parts of Michael Lorentz's posts without any trouble, I'm not surprised to see that Kester Vickery of Conservation Solutions was in charge of the move, I imagine he has likely handled all of AP's elephant and rhino relocations and those for Peace Parks Foundation as well, I just recognise him from all the PPF videos I've watched and uploaded here. I am also glad to learn that the vet Pete Morkel was there to look after the rhinos, as he has had a serious battle with cancer, very good to know that he is well enough to still get involved in this kind of thing, as he has done such a huge amount for African wildlife. I'm interested that they brought 3 bulls, I would have assumed as they were only bringing 5 rhinos, that it would have been only two, I guess now we just have to keep our fingers crossed, that they all do well and thrive and are going strong, when they are ready to catch the next group next year. I said that they will bring in another 13 by 2025, but I don't know for sure if that means by 2025 or by the end of 2025, and therefore whether they would bring them all in, in one year or 7 one year and 6 the next.

 

The other interesting news, that I have just caught up with, is that around a week or so ago, the IUCN published their latest reassessment of the Scimitar-horned Oryx, changing their classification of Extinct in the Wild to Endangered, I am sure everyone involved in the oryx project will be very pleased about that, it is a huge achievement, given that they have gone with Endangered not Critically Endangered. In their information on the Red List website they say 

 

Quote

A feasibility study has been conducted on the reintroduction of Scimitar-horned Oryx to Gadabédji Biosphere Reserve, Niger (Lamarque et al. 2009) and implementation is currently under discussion.

 

I knew that reintroduction there was on the cards, but I hope this means it will happen soon, no mention of reintroducing SHO to Ennedi, but I am sure that will happen, establishing at least 3 separate wild populations would be fantastic. 

 

Red List Scimitar-horned Oryx

 

It is kind of silly, but when media articles on this say that the IUCN has downgraded the SHO from Extinct in the Wild to Endangered, I think surely that should be upgraded, whatever the case the project should offer hope to other endangered species, that could be bred in captivity and returned to the wild.

 

 

Edited December 23, 2023 by inyathi

[jeremie]

https://www.africanparks.org/addax-antelope-released-now-roaming-free-ennedi-natural-and-cultural-reserve

 

Here it is!

[jeremie]

and here!

 

https://www.africanparks.org/african-parks-year-review-2023