NAMPLACE

Cheetah Conservation Fund (CCF) is one of the steering committee members of the Greater Waterberg Complex (GWC) and was selected at the end of 2012 by the Namibia Protected Landscape Conservation Areas Initiative (NAMPLACE) steering committee to implement a needs assessment survey for several conservancies and commercial farms within the Greater Waterberg Complex.  The GWC and NamPlace is being implemented by the Ministry of Environment and Tourism (MET) through a United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) and the Global Environment Facility (GEF) project.

The goal of NAMPLACE is to implement projects with neighbouring communities to National Parks that will benefit the community and  the environment and assist in the sustainable progression of the region. The purpose of the needs assessment survey within the GWC was to collect baseline information that will be used to make informed decisions about how to efficiently utilise the NAMPLACE funds. The survey will serve as a tool to evaluate community needs and determine what development initiatives are most imperative. The survey will also function as a benchmark to measure developmental progress within the GWC.

Under the leadership of Dr. Laurie Marker and CCF Chief Ecologist, Matti Nghikembua, a team of eight people spent 10 days in the conservancies interviewing nearly 300 community members within the four communal conservancies.  The interviewers, all members of the various conservancies, spent three days in each conservancy.  The conservancy members were very happy to share the needs of their communities.

One of the communities surveyed by Matti and his team

After completing the surveying, CCF staff and interns spent the next three weeks entering the data and analyzing the results, and subsequently created a needs assessment report summarizing their findings. The primary needs of the conservancies as related to the survey teams, were more education particularly with respect to livestock and wildlife management, electricity and accessibility to healthcare, including the needs for better transport and better roads.  The Namplace funding will be used for laying solid foundations for this subsistence community so that an integrated system of wildlife will be intertwined with their livestock so that livelihoods can be diversified and include wildlife viewing and tourism ventures that complement their rich cultural heritage.  Due to CCF’s efforts, a solid plan is coming together and will help the communities within the conservancies over the next four years.

Left, Adam Pearlman is a Peace Corps volunteer working on developing business plans is based at CCF , Matti Nghikembua (middle), CCF Master’s Degree Intern , Sanju conducted surveys and helped analysis the data and write up the report. 

Counting on the "Little Serengetti"

The Cheetah Conservation Fund owns a vast area of land of about 46,000 ha, which is a part of the Waterberg Conservancy in north-central Namibia. This area consists of a number of  farms and a very important segment of land (1,492 ha) that is the largest open, uncultivated area in the north central farmlands and is home to many free-ranging game species such as Oryx, Eland, Red Hartebeest, Springbok, Steenbok, Duiker and more. This area is known as “Little Serengeti” for its visual similarity to the open savannahs of the Serengeti National Park.  It is a breathtaking splendor that has the Waterberg Plateau splashing pink, purple and red hues in the background.

The “Little Serengeti” has a huge potential for eco-tourism and therefore, in order to monitor the ecological succession trends and to keep track of the game populations in the area, CCF has been conducting monthly game counts on various animal species since 2004. The monthly game counts provide population and density estimates of various game species as well as estimates on group sizes and population demographics, all of which are vital to a long-term monitoring program. The high prey density provides a support system to various carnivores on CCF’s land, such as Cheetah, Leopard, and Brown Hyena, which helps maintain overall ecosystem health.

While conducting the game counts, information on the kind of species, their numbers, age class and gender are recorded while driving on three different transect routes, known as Chewbaaka, Mid-Field and Osonanga roads of distances 6.34, 5.38 and 4.76 kilometers, respectively. Once the species are identified, their perpendicular distance from the transect road is measured using BMO Range Finders and the distance travelled by the observers is also recorded. All the collected data is then analyzed for calculating the abundance of the species in the area using a software program called DISTANCE.  This practice, when conducted repeatedly over months and years in a given area, gives population trends of the species over time and helps prioritize the management initiatives for effective conservation and decision making.

Best wishes,

Sanju,

Intern | Dept. of Ecology | Cheetah Conservation Fund