Rehabilitation of the Kalfou Reserve
Above, video of the project presentation (in french)
Below, video of the detailed project (in french)
The Kalfou forest Reserve (Mayo-Danay, Extreme-North, Cameroon), not considered as a wildlife reserve when it was created in 1933, now houses the great iconic mammals such as elephants, giraffes, lions, hyenas, wild dogs, warthogs and many antelope and bird species.
Unfortunately, no facilities has been designed to accommodate such animal species (eg regular cleaning of water points).
Therefore, animals living on the reserve represent a threat to crops and livestock, as they move without regard to official borders of the protected area in search of water as the dry season sets in. The elephant threatens cropland during his passage, while carnivores prey on livestock ...
Neighboring populations, already poor and facing starvation, complain of the damage caused by elephants in their fields. However, the state that can not repair the economic damage caused by these protected species, was forced to allow the slaughter of some animals to calm tensions... But people feel aggrieved and pretext that conservation objectives prevail those to their well-being. They are not satisfied with the action taken and the damage back every year... like administrative beaten...
In an already threatened by poaching country, slaughter of additional elephants and lions could have dramatic consequences on the presence of these species, and those who depend on it. It was therefore important to act quickly to rehabilitate the reservation.
Our structure has been recognized by the City of Kalfou, the MINFOF and by the GIZ (German cooperation) to legally carry out the work in the reserve and help to manage it. Here is what the management plan approved by all parties contains :
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the cleaning out of the 4 main ponds of the reserve and the installation of 4 boreholes (2 already created thanks to the German Cooperation) to power these water points : as explained above, the main problem is the availability of water in the reserve. Indeed, ponds, not cleaned out, do not retain water accumulated during the rainy season during the dry season (October to May). Thus, in November 2013 and 2014, most of the ponds were already dried up, leaving no choice to animals that come out of the reserve during the next 6 months... We are looking for cleaning out the four main pools of the reserve and the installation of drilling to allow automatic filling during the dry season, thanks to a pump powered by solar panels to prevent them drying up.
We opt for a cleaning ponds using the village workforce. Two reasons: first, the fact of getting a backhoe in the reserve would destroy a large part of the vegetation in the path, and second, the villagers are very happy to earn money while investing in the project. They feel pointless to appeal to a company for work they are able to achieve. It also allows us to gain the trust of the villagers and their full support!
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Inventory of fauna and flora : to better understand the reserve, it is essential to conduct inventories (flora and fauna) for estimation of both the number of species than the number of individuals of each of of them. In this way, we can better assess the strengths and limitations of the area, predicting the movement of animals through the food resources available, the areas to be reforested and with what plant species, the ratio prey/predator... These indications we will make viable the sustainability of the reserve.
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Crop protection face the elephants and herds face carnivores : to ensure the future of the reserve in long-term, we need the acceptance of it and its animals by villagers. And this can not be done until we have taken into account their needs and the challenges they face. Elephants are their main problem : the already poor population depends on its crops to live all year, so when everything is destroyed and that the state does nothing, what is left ? We believe that the presence of water in the reserve limit the movement of elephants, but we also want to protect crops within their corridor. For this, we apply the method of Lucy King made beehives (as elephants flee the buzzing of the insects they fear https://www.facebook.com/desabeillesetdeselephants/posts/541941889248379). As well hives are placed every 6m and interconnected by a barbed wire ; when an elephant will touch the cable, all hives will be activated, creating a buzz as elephants flee. Then, though again we hope that the protection against bushfires prevent leakage antelopes off reserve and therefore the output of carnivores, we will build appropriate enclosures, according to the methods proposed in the "human-lion conflict tool kit "of" Wildlife Conservation Network "(WCN) on transhumance corridors and nearby villages to protect livestock at night and avoid any attack. In the same way, we try to create artificial ponds near villages to deter shepherds to enter the reserve to water livestock. We hope that all these measures will help to calm tensions in the villages ...
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creation of a monitoring and anti-poaching forest committee (created but not implemented) in each of the seven villages surrounding the reserve, a committee of 10 people has been created and eco-guards trained by the Chief of post of MINFOF to monitor activities in the reserve and notify the authorities in case of problems. A network has been installed to generate a continuous monitoring of the reserve.
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protection of the reserve of bushfires : even if we can not prevent people from smoking and throwing their butts on the floor in this arid bush, or avoid the production of charcoal kilns or campfires, we can clear brush of corridors that will limit the spread of fire in the reserve.
And what we expect more :
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mark animals with GPS chips : to better assess the factors of animal movement, we plan to mark a two per group with a GPS chip to track their movements and study favored locations as well as the travel factors. We would like to make it the subject of a doctoral thesis in itself.
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reforest the reserve : the western area of the reserve has been severely degraded by overgrazing and requires a defense development and intensive reforestation to hope to see the return of animals...