Which airlines offer flights to Zimbabwe? There are regional airlines who still fly to Zimbabwe. These include Air Malawi, Kenyan Airways and South African Airways.
According to iol Travel, Emirates Airline will offer flights five days a week between Zimbabwe, Zambia and Dubai in 2012.
An Emirates plane parked at King Shaka airport. Picture: Zanele Zulu
“In February 2012, Emirates will commence services five days a week from Harare and Lusaka to Dubai,” said an advert placed by Emirates Group looking for staff to run the new flight operations.
Air Zimbabwe cut down their services because of employees constantly striking. Huge debts are also a cause of the cut back in flight numbers as the company tries to maintain their ageing fleet.
Pilots of Air Zimbabwe went on strike for over five months in 2011 in protest of unpaid salaries and allowances. The airline currently holds debt of about $100 million.
A handful of international airlines, including EgyptAir, Air France, KLM, Lufthansa and Quantas have put an end to flights to Zimbabwe because of dwindling passenger numbers.
“This massive Black Mamba was spotted close to some graves near a sugarcane plantation in Richards Bay in South Africa. Its estimated to be about 6 and half meters long and 45 years old, born around 1960! This snake has enough venom to kill 400 men!” – Facebook User
*Gulp*
Thanks go to Mark E Willis for sharing this photo on Facebook.
*Post Update*
Seeing as this photo and information is sourced by content shared on Facebook, additional facts and verification that this Black Mamba exists would be much appreciated. Below are a few more pictures of Black Mambas big enough to make your skin crawl.
There are only 7 northern white rhino left in the world and conservationists are worried about the future reproduction of the world’s rarest large mammal.
Decline in the Northern White Rhino Population
The reason for the decline in the population is attributed to hunting, poaching, and loss of habitat.
Graph Above: In 1960 the northern rhino population was over 2000. In the 1970s and 1980s the population dropped from 500 to 15 because of poaching. Managing to recover slightly, the population climbed to 25 in 1997 and went on to reach a peak of 32 in 2003. After 2003, poaching shot up and in 2009 the population dwindled to 8 northern white rhinos left in the world. 2011 has seen the population reach an all-time low when one of the 8 last northern white rhino’s left, died of old age.
Northern White Rhino Moved From Czech to Kenya
Until 2009, the last eight northern white rhinos lived in two zoos in Europe and the USA. On December 20, 2009, four of the last eight were moved from Dvur Králové Zoo in the Czech Republic to Ol Pejeta Conservancy in Laikipia, Kenya.
“They are listed as critically endangered on the IUCN Red List of Threatened Species and are thought to be extinct in the wild. Moving them now is a last bid effort to save them and their gene pool from total extinction.” Said Dr Rob Brett, Africa Regional Director at Fauna & Flora International, and member of the IUCN African Rhino Specialist group.
Above: The northern white rhino is categorised as ‘critically endangered’ by IUCN Red List.
Reproduction of Northern White Rhino
While in captivity, the survival rate of northern white rhinos are good, but reproduction rates are extremely low. The four rhinos were relocated back into the wild in hope of bringing about successful mating. Many said that the operation would put the animals at risk because they had spent so long in protected conditions and they would not be used to the harsh African environment.
Members of the European Association of Zoos and Aquaria stated that they didn’t think that “any significant conservation benefits will happen,” from the placement of the rhino back in the wild and in March 2011, they were almost correct. Just over 15 months of being released into the central Kenyan highlands and the northern white rhino’s began ‘mating’ activities. This behavioral change served to confirm that the four rhino had shed their non-procreational coexistence that they adopted while living in captivity and had now returned to the way nature intended it. Although the rhinos have been mating since in Africa, there have not been any offspring which have resulted from intercourse.
With reproduction of northern white rhinos coming to a halt, inter-crossing of the northern and southern species is planned by conservationists in order to ensure that the genes of the northern white rhino do not die with the last of their species.
Northern White Rhino Stem Cell Development
However, with recent technology, it seems that all hope is not dead in losing the rare strain of the rhino’s gene. With the use of stem cell development it may be possible to produce the northern white rhino from a test tube.
Director of Genetics at San Diego Zoo’s Institute for Conservation Research, Dr. Oliver Ryder says: “The greatest contribution this technology might make is to prevent extinction by using stem cells to assist with rescuing the genetic variation in increasing the reproduction of a critically endangered species.”
The video below outlines the possibility of using science effectively to save the northern white rhino:
The following organisations have invested time, money, effort and have proved highly dedicated to restoring the northern white rhino:
It seems that a combination of conservation effort, anti-poaching legislation and scientific brilliance, the world will never have to lose one of its precious species’ again. Quagga, we miss you.
Be one of the few to see the the remaining seven northern white rhino, with a trip to Kenya.
We received this story via email and thought it was too brilliant not to share with you. Taking place in Kenya’s Masai Mara Game Reserve and photographed by Jean-Francois Largot, this dramatic story once again displays the strong bond that lionesses and their cubs share.
Clinging on for dear life to the side of a vertical cliff, the tiny lion cub cries out pitifully for help.
His mother arrives at the edge of the precipice with three other lionesses and a male. The females start to clamber down together but turn back daunted by the sheer drop. Eventually one single factor determines which of them will risk her life to save the youngster – motherly love.
The drama begins: The mother arrives at the edge of the cliff as her son cries out for rescue after being trapped when he slipped.
On the brink: Four lionesses look over the edge before aborting their rescue mission because of the sheer drop.
Slowly, agonisingly, the big cat edges her way down towards her terrified son, using her powerful claws to grip the crumbling cliff side. One slip from her and both animals could end up dead at the bottom of the ravine.
Just as the exhausted cub seems about to fall, his mother circles beneath him and he is snatched up in her jaws.
She then begins the equally perilous journey back to the top. Minutes later, they arrive and she gives the frightened creature a consoling lick on the head.
Despite the presence of wardens to deter poachers, day-to-day life for the lions is not without its dangers… as the cub learned the hard way.
9 South Africans are on a mission to conquer one of the top destinations in Africa, Kilimanjaro, by foot and by flight. Champion paraglider Pierre Carter, and world-class climber Schwan-khart will lead a team, joined by an American and a Namibian paraglider, on their journey to the 3rd peak in their ‘Seven Summits, Seven Flights’ adventure.
It has taken 10 years to acquire the required permit to paraglide off Kilimanjaro’s summit, but at long last the wait is over and 11 paragliders will jump off of 5895m of mountain.
Excited about the experience, Carter said: “Paragliding off Kilimanjaro will be different to the other flights because we will have 11 paragliders in the air simultaneously – it will be fantastic. This is a once-off.”
Seeing as paragliding off Kilimanjaro has been off the menu until now, I’m keen to see which leading travel company offers trips for Joe Soap to do the same…
To celebrate South African National Parks (SANParks) Week, from Monday, 12 September until Friday, 16 September 2011 all locals with a valid identity document are invited to spend a day at a national park of their choice free of charge! Free entry into all South African National Parks (except Boulders Beach) sounds like a great reason to embark on one of the best African safaris, as many of the national parks offer sightings of the Big Five.
The point of the week is to create a feeling of pride in all South Africans in their relation to the country’s natural, cultural and historical heritage, under the SANParks theme of “Know Your National Parks”.
SANParks Week was created in 2006 when the organisation realized that the majority of South Africans were not accessing the national park. According to SANParks General Manager: Media Relations, Reynold Thakhuli, “SANParks then embarked upon this campaign to encourage all South Africans, especially those from the communities around the parks, to share in what SANParks envisions to be “the pride and joy of all South Africans and the world”.
“We especially want our young people to take advantage of this opportunity because this heritage will be under their protection in the near future,” Thakhuli added.
South African educators and school groups are urged to take advantage of SANParks Week’s offer for free entry into the parks and plan a visit to a national park nearby.
Planning a road trip to one of your national parks and need to hire a car?
According to a report by Reuters, a 2 million-year-old fossil of a part-human, part-ape species, was found. The being had hands and ankles much like that of a human, however its brain was small but advanced.
Found in a cave north of Johannesburg, the fossils may serve to change views on the origins of humans. The fossil displays a list of anatomical features which have never been seen before, but which show how close this species links to human beings. Could this point to the evolution of early man?
“The many very advanced features found in the brain and body, and the earlier date make it possibly the best candidate ancestor for our genus, the genus Homo, more so than previous discoveries,” said Lee Berger, at the Institute for Human Evolution at the University of the Witwatersrand in Johannesburg.
Berger and a team of experts examined the site where the fossils were found. The hand, hip bone and ankle bones have been well preserved and are paving the way for further research and discovery. “This is giving us insight, that isn’t guesswork into an area of anatomy that is crucial and critical in how human walking evolved,” Berger said of the foot and ankle bones.
The hand discovered can be describes as human-like, attached to an ape-like arm. The fossil indicates that the hand had a precision grip which would have come in handy for making tools, said Tracy Kivell, a researcher at Germany’s Max Planck Institute, and a member of the team.
The brain of the being was the size of a grapefruit and now opens the door to re-discover theories about brain enlargement in human development.
The site was discovered in August 2008 and since then 220 bones have been found of these early hominids.
According to News24, Environmental protection organisations are unsure about whether the treatment of rhino horn with toxic substances is a safe, effective way to combat rhino poaching in South Africa.
Endangered Wildlife Trust (EWT) are concerned that if the concoction makes humans sick, then surely it will make animals sick.
“If they say it won’t hurt the environment, they must be using a synthetic compound that hasn’t been proven to be toxic to humans,” said the Centre for Veterinary Wildlife Studies at the University of Pretoria, Onderstepoort.
The Rhino Rescue Project (RRP) recently treated animals at the Rhino and Lion Reserve in Kromdraai, north-west of Johannesburg, more than a year ago with the substance, and say that there appear to have been no negative behavioural or environmental effects.
The treatment is administered by injecting the solution into the horns, and is described as a cost-effective, long-lasting and immediate solution for private rhino owners who don’t have the protection of government assigned security forces to combat rhino poaching in South Africa.
“What if the rhinos use their horns to scratch themselves? The toxins may enter the bloodstream and have an effect. Every rhino is an individual with unique behaviour. Our main concern is that this treatment is not damaging rhino or other wildlife.” Says EWT’s compliance and enforcement spokesperson Rynette Coetzee
Lorinda Hern from RRP said that the project made an effort to use a combination of legal chemicals in order to create the treatment.
Richard Burroughs, director of the Centre for Veterinary Wildlife Studies says, “It might be worthwhile, from a public relations point of view, to those who are reasonably informed. However, poachers are not informed and will still shoot rhinos.”
Richard went on to say that the way he sees it, it is the right of private owners to treat their animals for protection against rhino poaching in South Africa, but he doesn’t see it becoming national policy.
According to News24, in hope of reducing rhino poaching numbers, rhino horn is now being treated with a special mixture that is harmless to the animal, but poisonous to humans.
After a rhino was poached in the Rhino and Lion Reserve in Kromdraai, north-west of Johannesburg, the reserve decided to take the rhino by the horns and do something about it.
The reserve has created a special mixture to treat their rhino’s horns with. The solution is a combination of drugs which kill parasites living on the surface of the horn and which actively protects for about three to four years. If a human consumes a horn which has been treated with the potion, it can cause severe headaches and convulsions, however, the mixture isn’t poisonous enough to prove lethal.
“Add to that mixture a neon pink indelible dye and you have a horn visible on an X-ray scanner at airports. It shows up pink even when finely ground” Rhino and Lion Reserve spokesperson Lorinda Hern, told reporters. If used, this will put a stop to poachers who travel to Africa specifically to rob us of our already dwindling natural resource.
Since January 1,2011, poachers have killed more than 280 rhinos in South Africa. It’s great to see that possible solutions to combatting this terrible crime, are rearing their head so that when tourists travel to Africa to see our continent’s Big 5, they actually get to see them.
Air Botswana no longer offers flights between Kasane and Lusaka.
As of August 3, 2011, Air Botswana is suspending their twice-weekly flights between Kasane and Lusaka indefinitely. The airline still offers flights between Gaborone and Lusaka though, which continue to operate on Fridays and Sundays.
The solution: Don’t panic. Calm down and put the Valium away. You could always just drive.
If you decide to hire a car and drive, it’ll take you a breezy 4.6 hours to get from Kasane to Lusaka, if travelling at 96 km per hour. 4.6 hours is nothing. It takes my granny longer than that to get in or out of a car.
With 38 countries, 307 destinations and all sorts of adventure activities to choose from, our handy destination guides give you the information and inspiration you need for your travels in Africa.
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