November & December 2016

The onset of the rains truncated the flying season with a further 13 hrs flown over the final 2 months of the year with operations focused in the Tashinga area of the Zambezi Valley.

 

October 2016

FFW flew some 14hrs in support of anti-poaching and carcase counting in Dande, Chewore and Tashinga areas of the Zambezi Valley.

 

September 2016

FFW flew over 14hrs in the role of anti-poaching and game counting in the Dande and Chewore areas of the Zambezi Valley.

 

August 2016

FFW in support of Rhino conservation operations with over 20hrs flown assisting in locating Rhino to be darted for de-horning along with implantation of tracking devices.

In addition FFW flew over 23hrs in support of conservation and anti-poaching in the Mana Pools, Chewore and Dande areas of the Zambezi Valley.

 

July 2016

FFW flew over 14hrs in support of conservation and anti-poaching in the Tashing, Kariba & Gache-Gache areas of the Zambezi valley.

 

28th June 2016

FFW flew with ZPWMA in support of Kariba Animal Welfare Fund trust (KWAFT) looking for a reported injured Elephant and to look for evidence of any poaching activity in the Kariba Area.

 

16th June 2016

Transfered via Mana Pools to the Matusadonna Area where flights were conducted with ZPWMA over the Matusadonna and Bumi Hills areas.

 

15th June 2016

FFW flew etensively over the Chewore / Sapi / Dande wildlife areas with ZPWMA officers in support of anti-poaching and intelligence gathering activities.

 

18th May 2016

FFW flew 7 hours in total which included 386km flown in the morning covering the entire Matusadona Flood Plain in transects with 2km spacing.  A further 193km was flown over the Matusadonna National Park in the afternoon.  No fresh carcases were seen.  Comprehensive large mamal counting was conducted by the Area Manager during the transect flights.

Flights over a subsitence fishing camp evealed the presence of twine nets which the Area Manager noted.  No presence of illegal mining was observed during the flights up the Sanyati Gorge although the presence of a small (2 to 4) number of presumed fish poachers was observed

 

19th May 2016

FFW flew over 5 hrs in total which included 267km flown in the morning covering the majority of the Kariba National Park area.   No fresh carcases were seen.  Comprehensive large mamal counting was conducted by the Area Manager during the flights.

 

26-27 November 2015

FFW flew a total of four hours covering some 322 miles over the Mana Pools UNESCO World Heritage National Park. This included transects and surveillance over the area of a recent poacher contact where National Parks recovered some ivory. Flights also included looking for a wounded elephant on the islands of the Zambezi, checking surface water pans after recent rains and transects locating and recording any carcasses and other points of interest. Flights were restricted to early mornings only due to the excessive mid November heat.

 

18-21 November 2015

FFW flew some 520 miles and 15 hours of surveillance flying for National Parks in Mana Pools. The acting area manager produced comprehensive flight paths noting GPS co-ordinates of points of interest. Eg: surface water sources. At this dry time of the year animals congregate in large numbers around the water holes and springs making easy targets for poachers. Anti-poaching patrols are planned according to these potential hot spots. We would like to extend our grateful thanks to Mwililunga Safaris for their assistance in ground logistical support and legendary hospitality.

 

4 November 2015

FFW flew over 14 hours with Dande Anti Poaching Unit (DAPU) along with National Parks Officers on anti-poaching patrols. DAPU works closely with the community using the CAMPFIRE model. The efforts of DAPU epitomise the effectivelness of working with the local community and through their efforts poaching has decreased dramatically in the four years of operations. The FFW pilot reported: ‘we are pleased to advise that, in more than 11hrs of flying covering approximately 1,500km of transects and flight lines we did not observe a single elephant carcase within areas covered by DAPU”. We wish to specifically thank DAPU and CM Safaris for donating fuel and accommodation so enabling FFW to take National Parks Officers up over the Chewore areas for almost 5 hours of flying time covering some 340 miles.

 

11-14 October

FFW flew almost 21 hours with ALERT over Chirisa and Chizarira on a game counting exercise, covering some 1,780km of transects. Dr. Norman Monks was impressed with the suitability and cost effectiveness of the Savannah S for his research work.

 

30 July 2015

Anti-poaching units flew on various exercises with the pilots including National Parks Officers, along with anti-poaching personnel from MAPP, BHAPU and researchers from ALERT, Saving The Wild and Parks Ecologists. Flights included patrols along the Kariba shoreline, the Matusadona flood plain and the escarpment. Multiple herds of elephant, buffalo along with numerous hippo and crocodiles were recorded.