Ivory glitters like gold against the rain

After a lull in my will to BLOG - like a log that gets lodged in the stream, there has been a slow build up of momentum and now a dam of information has formed.  Here an overview...

Dominik returned nearly 2 months ago to Mareja to discover all sorts of inexplicable happenings.  As he put it, the community were in a state of 'confusion'.  Confusion no doubt fuelled by poachers hovering around and lodging in the neighbouring communities offering ready cash for ivory.  It is hard to imagine the power for confusion this generates....particularly in the rainy season when there are no tourists, little activity on the reserve and so the benefits of these large land mammals with glittering gold tusks alive wanes, and dead they assume a whole new meaning.

So I have received a rash of reports from Dominik via text (always confusing, wrongly spelt and requiring much interpretation!)  Within the wider, surrounding national park he estimates from reports that 40-50 elephants were killed last year and about 15 so far in 2012.  The poachers have been kept at bay within Mareja until now - he has sent me 4 different alarm texts of shots heard at some of our most precious and remote watering holes.  But only yesterday Dominik found a young male elephant dead near our beautiful Mareja mountain. 

The chilling part of this new episode is that all reports have been received when Dominik is OFF the reserve, momentarily in Pemba to refuel...so the inevitable question arises.  Are members of the Mareja community informants, who give the poachers access and information when the coast is clear? 

It seemed that the Head Ranger tried hard to prevent Dominik tracking the young dead male, taking him around the site...so operating in such climes the answer to this question is probably YES.  That is the hardest part - who can you trust?  But you cannot estimate the value of money in such areas - indeed it readily corrupts world over.  And of course the hardest part of all...can you blame them?

The blame really lies at the feet of those that trade and buy ivory - the power of their actions leaves ripples so deep and devastating. 


My first elephant encounter at Mareja.  A young shy male as you can see hiding from us!
This was the animal found dead this week.

On a personal level Dominik described this recent killing like 'someone coming into my house and killing my dogs'.  On a global scale the conservation impact is immense, by removing elephants, a conservation flagship species, you upset the whole ecosystem leading to the erosion of the few wild and biodiverse areas left on our planet.  In this case coastal forest arguably one of the rarest of global biodiversity hotspots.


Dominik is now wracked with anxiety - does he take the hard line, fire those implicated or somehow buy their allegiance...but in reality how do you monitor and implement this? The Head Ranger has worked at Mareja for nearly 10 years, helping to develop the community project, he is a resident and knows the ins and outs of its bush and project better than anyone.  What to do?