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Stargazing from Game Reserves in Southern Africa, , by Anthony Fairall
In the Lilliputian world of shrews, size is everything. And though they took different evolutionary paths millions of years ago this tiny creature is more closely related to the earth's largest land creature - the elephant - than to ordinary shrews. Which is possibly why this newly-discovered species - the first for more than a century - has been recognised as the Goliath of elephant shrews. Even though it weighs just 1.5lbs - compared to an African elephant which can weight 15,000lbs - it is still 25 per cent bigger than any of the previously known 15 species. It was first captured on film in a camera trap set up by an Italian team who were surveying mammals in the remote Ndundulu Forest in Tanzania's Udzungwa Mountains. Because it was unfamiliar the pictures were sent to Galen Rathbun of the California Academy of Sciences, who has studied elephant shrews for more than 30 years.
Botswana has raised a loan with the Arab Bank for Economic Development in Africa (BADEA) for the upgrading and expansion of the terminal building at Sir Seretse Khama International Airport. The capital amount of the loan is US$10 million, or approximately P62 million. This is in addition to funding amounting to US$20, 590,000, approximately P1,125,702 076, already received from the OPEC Fund for International Development. The balance, which amounts to P166 223 005, will be raised from domestic sources. A statement released by Serwalo Tumelo, Permanent Secretary at the Ministry of Finance and Development Planning, says the Botswana High Commissioner to Kenya, Charles Mogotsi, and the Chairman of BADEA, Ahmed Al-Akeil, signed the agreement on January 24 in Khartoum, Sudan. The project comprises the upgrading and expansion of the terminal building, provision of equipment, extension of the runway and the provision of a parallel taxiway at SSKIA. The total cost of the project is estimated at P526, 883,100.Once it is completed, Botswana's sole international airport will accommodate wide-bodied aircraft. Construction is expected to commence in April and to be completed by the end of 2009. The airport is being expanded to meet the growing needs of the economy such as the tourism sector
Maseru, Lesotho (CNS) - Elton John donates 120 motorcycles to the South African country Lesotho. The Grammy award-winning singer / songwriter gives the land-locked country the bikes to provide doctors and nurses easier travel to the mountains for their emergency medical treatments. John had traveled to Lesotho with partner David Furnish to the country and decided to donate the bikes. The gift is a part of the Riders for Health Program that the English singer sponsors through his own organization, Elton John Aids Foundation. "We want to improve the transport system by bringing health care to millions of people living in the most rural areas and thus making a difference in their lives," John says. Health Ministry representative Turnisang Mokoai expresses the country's gratitude of the generous donation, "The nurses and doctors will have transport to follow up patients in the villages to support community health workers. The motorcycles will be distributed to all health centers in Lesotho."
Maputo, Mozambique - New accommodations in Mozambique's Gorongosa National Park are being prepared to turn it into a prime tourist destination. The plan is to renew infrastructure, destroyed in the country's civil war, which raged in the 1980s. The renewal works are being supported by an agreement between the southern African country and the Gregory C. Carr Foundation in the United States, Sapa news agency reported. The foundation will pay 1.2 million dollars annually for 20 years to build new facilities and train park personnel. 
Namibia's state-owned wildlife resorts were an endangered species, but a recent makeover has reintroduced affordable luxury to the wild. Representatives of the state-owned Namibian Wildlife Resorts who I'd met in London before I flew out had plied me with lyrical tales of the country's natural beauty, the abundance of its wildlife and the friendliness of its people. NWR's main point of pride, though, is the renovation of the accommodation and service facilities at various state lodges and camps scattered across the country. While private Namibian luxury safari pads can cost £400pp a night, the NWR's charge a quarter of that and not, now, at the expense of style. Tobie Aupindi, the managing director, explained that the company was dead when he took it over: "It's just that people hadn't put the soil on top of it." There was no consideration of environmental issues, no sense of sustainable tourism, no support of local crafts and industries. Etosha national park was due to celebrate its centenary in 2006 but Tobie's desire "was not just to celebrate it but to make sure it lasted for another century". He saw national monuments collapsing as well as the huge potential in tourism, so he set about re-building the entire infrastructure. Not a small achievement. I was intrigued, and I flew from Windhoek in a tiny Cessna - basically a Mini with wings - to Sossusvlei, over a landscape of astonishing desolation, breathtaking in its brutal beauty, parched and red and flat with saw-toothed ridges of faraway hills rising out of blue mist
Following an international competitive tender, the Swaziland Government has commissioned Vector Management International Limited in January this year to act as its overall project manager for the development of Sikhuphe Airport, on the Millennium projects. Vector will manage the development of the new airport and will co-ordinate an umbrella marketing campaign to strengthen Swaziland's appeal as a tourism destination and will bring together a route development programme to attract airlines. Vector will work with a number of ministries to identify and synchronise the principal components for economic growth reconciling demand and capacity, and draw up plans for tourism master plan. Vector will give guidance in the formation of a new Civil Aviation Authority and finally co-ordinate a massive training programme to enable adequate numbers of local people to run all this. Swaziland's National Development Strategy, Vision 2022, published on 27th August 1999, is a vision for a vibrant economy and developed infrastructure for the country. Swaziland's Millennium Programme is an effort to accelerate economic growth through strategic projects involving the development of infrastructure and tourism
Three-quarters of the world population of Lesser Flamingos live and breed in East Africa. Many depend on Tanzania's Lake Natron as a breeding site. Food is plentiful, nesting sites abound - and above all, the lake is isolated and undisturbed. But in recent months, the Tanzanian Government and the Indian company Tata Chemicals have put forward proposals to build a large-scale industrial plant to extract soda ash from Lake Natron's water, via a network of pipes across the surface of the lake. A new road and rail infrastructure would be built to serve the soda ash plant. Wildlife experts from Africa and other parts of the world believe the development and associated infrastructure will displace and scatter the 500,000 pairs of Lesser Flamingos which nest at Lake Natron. It takes very little disturbance to cause an entire breeding colony to abandon its nests. Local people from Lake Natron voiced their concerns at a public hearing held recently to the proposed soda ash plant there. There is no need to accept a project that will later destroy us", said the traditional chief from Pinyinyi, one of the villages adjacent to Lake Natron. About 80-100 people, including representatives from communities from around the lake, attended the meeting in Dar-es-Salaam, Tanzania, which was convened by the National Environment Management Council of Tanzania (NEMC). There was strong opposition to the proposed development. People, representing local communities from around the lake, lamented the lack of consultation in the Environmental and Social Impact Assessment. They think that the proposed factory would not deliver jobs for them, as the plant would need educated and skilled workers. They fear that instead it would endanger employment gained from tourism, which benefits many locals, including women who make and sell beadwork
ZAMBIA remains a land of great natural beauty and much of it still unknown to visitors and Zambians alike. Zambia is privileged to have several wonders like lakes, rivers, forests, waterfalls, mountains and others too numerous to mention. But some of this country's amazing natural treasures (waterfalls) still remain untapped. Despite Zambia being close to the famous Kalahari and the Namib deserts, it has a lot of unexploited treasures in terms of water falls in almost every province that have never been marketed, and time to market them is now. The Victoria Falls deserves its reputation as one of the wonders of the world. But many lesser-known falls on Zambia's numerous large rivers are also breathtakingly beautiful. These waterfalls are isolated and unspoiled. Despite them varying in size, they are not tiny at all. Northern Province is one such gifted province in Zambia with nine waterfalls that to date still remain unknown to millions of people including indigenous Zambians who are residents of this gifted country. Waterfalls in Zambia are numerous and besides the Northern Province, one other province that is blessed with abundant beauty that has not been exploited is North Western, which houses the source of Zambezi River. Besides the Victoria Falls which is rated as one of the natural wonders of the world, Zambia has numerous water falls that once marketed could earn this country huge foreign exchange. The amazing Kalungwishi River in Northern Province has a lot to offer. It houses four beautiful waterfalls that have not been exploited much as compared to the Victoria Falls. A lot has been said and done about the famous mighty Victoria Falls and it is now time to market and maintain the Lumangwe, Chipempe, Kabwelume and Kundabwika falls all on the same Kalungwishi River
In presenting his Mid-term Monetary Policy statement to the media late last week, The Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe (RBZ) governor, Gideon Gono indicated the tourism sub-sector has, however been on the mend since 2006. "Tourist arrival statistics up to the third quarter of 2007depicted a 25 percent growth, compared to the same period in 2006," hints Gono. In January this year, Zimbabwe Tourism Authority (ZTA) board chairman, Shingi Munyeza indicated the country requires nearly US$1 billion to increase accommodation in the tourism sector within the next five years. In a report - Visitor Arrivals by Source Market- 2007, tourist traffic from Europe had plunged to 76 435 last year from 96 849 registered in 2006 while traffic from the US had fallen from 44 746 to 33 897 visitors. In the past years that have seen Zimbabwe go through an economic recession, to a larger extent there has been no development in the local tourism industry especially considering the infrastructure. A number of lodges and hotels around the country are being turned into other businesses. In terms of hotel utilisation, bed and room occupancy for the third quarter of 2007 increased from 23 percent to 30 percent and 33 percent to 41 percent, respectively, compared to the same period in 2006. Gono says the increase in tourist arrivals and ultimately the tourism sector is attributable to aggressive country image building programmes by the whole tourism fraternity since the year before last year, supported by the general peace and stability prevailing in the country
The Tourism and hospitality industry in KwaZulu-Natal is losing millions as a result of the ongoing Eskom power shedding. Experts have warned that the industry was hardest hit when compared to other businesses. The impact has been felt by small resorts especially bed and breakfast operators. Warren Ozard, operations manager for Federated Hospitality Association of South Africa (FEDHASA) said their members had lost a lot of business last month. "The hospitality industry is dying and the situation is worrying for all of us. Some resorts received calls from clients for accommodation but would only confirm bookings if they have the back up systems. Small resorts, bed and breakfast in the province are losing out on their daily business," he said. Ozard said restaurants have suffered tremendously since the power cuts started. "A three hour-cut in the hospitality industry is huge. Some of the businesses have no generators and gas stoves and to introduce these systems is very expensive. No generators mean no business for many. Most resorts are flooded with questions of back-up systems even before bookings are made for conferences and events."
One of the world's great golf meccas is rising in the Limpopo highveld. Ian Fife reports, SA is soon to boast one of the world's most stupendous golf experiences - on the doorstep of Gauteng. An 18-hole course stretching 8 km in the middle of a Big Five game park, each hole designed by a famous golfer from a different country, is just the beginning. What is really getting even those who couldn't give a fig for golf talking is its "extreme 19th" hole, for which the green fee is R2 500. To reach it, players have to take a helicopter to the top of Hanglip Mountain. They then tee off to a green that is shaped like Africa, 880 m and a ball hang-time of 25 seconds below - the longest par three in the world. They take the helicopter down again to putt, and they can win US$1m if they get a hole in one. To make the experience more memorable, the resort and the course are integrated into the 22 000 ha Entabeni Big Five game reserve. There are many reasons Legend Golf & Safari Resort in the Waterberg is about to become one of three golf estates in the world to earn a perfect score of 10 from chartered surveyor and golf estate rating expert Richard Wax. The other two are Kingsbarns link in Scotland and Vidauban near St Tropez in the south of France.
In intro this month I would like to thank all those people who commented on my message last month. It was like receiving confirmation that I have maintained my individuality of sorts
and that I am still true to my core thoughts and beliefs i.e. Conservation must pay for itself but if you can give extra to preserve it, what an investment! Comments I received ranged from "what a fantastic idea" to "very noble of you" - the fundraising is well under way and progressing. Please remember if you have not yet made a contribution, please give your support
that slush fund of coins in the jar above the kitchen counter could add up to something spectacular.
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