Animal Welfare on the East African Savannah.

Voices from the Savannah.

East Africa.
Photography & text by Gary Roberts.

Home to some of the most iconic and biodiverse regions in the world, Sub-Saharan Africa is of global importance. In these conservation efforts the nations of East Africa are particularly rich in their biodiversity and an important area for conservation. Too often the view of conservation work in sub-Saharan Africa is via the restricted perception of a post colonial standpoint that poaching is linked to local subsistence hunting. In reality the multibillion dollar market for wildlife animal products is driven predominantly by the demand from developed countries exterior to the African continent. Likewise multinational wildlife organisations can give the impression that the future of these precious ecosystems is solely in the hands of the economically powerful global north. Little attention is given to the continent’s indigenous individuals, who work tirelessly in wildlife protection and whose conservation work brings them into conflict with those engaged in exploiting the land and its fauna. In the case of the East African country of Tanzania protected areas cover over 38% of the country’s landmass, showing a serious commitment towards conservation efforts. 

This commitment has been apparent since the country’s independence from colonial rule as expressed by its first president, Julius K. Nyerere, in the Arusha Manifesto in 1961; “The survival of our wildlife is a matter of grave concern to all of us in Africa. These wild creatures amid the wild places they inhabit are not only important as a source of wonder and inspiration, but are an integral part of our natural resources and our future livelihood and wellbeing. In accepting the trusteeship of our wildlife, we solemnly declare that we will do everything in our power to make sure that our children's grand-children will be able to enjoy this rich and precious inheritance. The conservation of wildlife and wild places calls for specialist knowledge, trained manpower and money, and we look to other nations to co-operate with us in this important task - the success or failure of which not only affects the continent of Africa but the rest of the world as well.”

I first visited Tanzania in 1989, having two years previously graduated from Leeds University with an honors degree in Zoology. For a 24 year old English man who had only previously experienced African wildlife via a television screen this was a dream come true. Visiting Mikumi National Park in the South of the country for the first time, after a long drive in a battered Land Rover from Dar es Salaam, I became aware of entering a world where wildlife and biodiversity were not an abstract theory but a living reality. For the first time I was a guest in the wildlife’s domain, an observer not part of a human hegemony. Over the following thirty three years I have been fortunate enough to be able to return, many times, working as a photojournalist covering the wildlife and conservation stories of East Africa visiting protected areas and those that work there as their guardians.

These pictures aim to give an ac-count and acknowledgement of the individuals who work in conservation in East Africa. Without their commitment, expertise and resilience the iconic wildlife and ecosystems of this area face an uncertain future. The destruction of the environment and demise of the wildlife will have negative consequences for biodiversity and climate change which will impact far beyond the boundaries of Africa. I have had the pleasure and privilege of meeting dedicated individuals working within the region in conservation, such as William Mwakilema, who I first met whilst he was Chief warden of Mikumi National Park in Tanzania.
We met, by chance, after I had photographed a Lion, which had been caught in a poachers snare. The picture formed part of an article on illegal poaching for the international media. With Williams concerted effort and the persistence of TANAPA’s rangers the animal was tracked, located, darted and finally the cruel wire noose was removed from the Lions neck. William has now risen to be Conservation Commissioner for The Tanzanian National Parks following a position as the Chief Warden of the Serengeti National Park.

As well as government led organisations local NGO’s such as SANA ( Saving Africa’s Nature) in Tanzania support the efforts of Tanzanians to protect areas of biodiversity, including the vital corridors which connect these wildlife areas. SANA, an NGO, is working with local villages to produce agricultural products whilst also collaborating to conserve the Kikwati wildlife corridor that links Saadani National Park with the Wami-Mbiki Wildlife Management Area. Local communities often face increasing pressures to encroach on national park land and its associated wildlife corridors in the search for resources, for example, wood for charcoal and energy production, bringing them into conflict with national park authorities. As well as requiring a high level of skill and knowledge game rangers, such as the Kenyan Wildlife service tasked with protecting the fauna and flora of Kenya, face real and present dangers with poachers. The well-funded perpetrators of this illegal trade are utilising increasingly sophisticated equipment, such as drones, GPS systems and automatic weapons, motivated by large cash reward from the overseas market.

Some estimates put those killed by gangs of poachers as high as two or three game rangers every week in reserves across Africa. It has become a bitter battle against poaching. Of the rangers, surveyed by the WWF, 75% said they had been threatened by community members for the work they do in protecting wildlife and a staggering 54% said they would not want their children to become rangers. A subsequent arms race, of military-style technology, including assault rifles, off-road vehicles and aircraft is likely to result in the expenditure of millions of dollars of national park revenues, diverting funds away from other conservation requirements. Additionally, corruption, unequal distribution of rewards from conservation efforts, elite benefactors and the subsequent grievances against park authorities have become wide spread issues in national parks and conservation areas in Africa. 

It is generally agreed that where a more democratic governance has been introduced, these power-related grievances can be mitigated. For example, local village participation in Wildlife Management Areas in Northern Tanzania has been relatively successful. These community governed WMA’s, being democratically accountable through an elected village representation. The rift between ‘them’ (the ’protectors') and ‘us’, the local community, needs to be resolved in order to mitigate these potential sources of conflict. Collaborative conservation must involve all local stake holder communities and the individuals within those communities who work in conservation as shown in these photographs. To exclude these individuals is to risk the formation of new elites and the potential for grievances between the ‘protectors’ and these communities. I have been lucky enough to witness how these individuals have dedicated their lives and efforts, often at considerable risk and hardship, to protect this wildlife for future generations. As wild animals the fauna is always kept at a distance but from time to time one can attest to the devotion that has been shown by those involved. 

One such occasion, I was lucky enough to witness, was when an orphaned elephant, which had been saved and reared at the Sheldrick Wildlife Trust in Kenya, recognised the man, Joseph Sauni, who had nursed it back to health during its early years. The ele-phant, that had now been returned to the wild, broke free from its adoptive herd and rushed to meet Joseph gently pushing him to the ground then tenderly feeling his head with its’ mouth. The bond that had formed between man and elephant, whilst at the Sheldrick’s nursery in Nairobi, where keepers often stay all night with the traumatised orphans overnight to reassure them, was self-evident. The greeting was all the more remarkable as the elephant had not seen Joseph for over three years and now wandered free on the African savannah some 280 kilometres away in Tsavo national park where Joseph was visiting.

In 2016 I published a photo book “Voices from the Savannah” which contained the words of many leading conservations concerned with East Africa as well as those who lived and worked on a daily basis in both conservation and tourism with the regions concerned. The book was in both English and Kiswahili, widely used as a common language in East Africa, in an attempt to en-gage readers across the region and beyond. The interviews were unedited letting the individuals outline in their own words their hopes and fears for the environment concerned along with illustrating its fauna and flora. In 2020 I returned to academic study at Manchester University for a MSc in International development, at the not so tender age of fifty four, hoping to combine my experiences of visiting Africa with the knowledge gained from my studies.
Together with listening to those that live and work on a daily basis on the savannahs of Africa I hope to add via my photography and writing in some small way to their efforts and convey their message. 

My involvement with SANA ( Saving Africa’s Nature) and its aims in encouraging the world to embrace and support the efforts of Tanzania to protect areas of biodiversity, including the vital corridors which connect these wildlife areas, is now paramount in my professional life going forward. SANA, an NGO, is working with local villages to collaborate to conserve the Kikwati wildlife corridor that links Saadani National Park with the Wami-Mbiki Wildlife Management Area and is vital for maintaining biodiversity. East Africa has a rich wildlife heritage, the world needs to listen and facilitate the individuals illustrated in these photographs who are dedicated to conservation, so that today's and future generations are able to continue to benefit from this iconic natural asset. Conservation can also bring economic benefits to these often economically impoverished nations.

In recent years growth in this sector has continued with for example Tanzania’s tourism market growing by an average rate of 12% per annum, reaching $2.465 billion, approximately 17.2% of the country’s GDP in 2018. With world tourism and travel on hold, during the Covid pandemic, it is admirable that conservation efforts continued in Tanzania, despite the curtailing of tourism income and the ever increasing pressures of climate change driven drought in recent years. Too often the large ecosystems of the world have been diminished and fragmented beyond recognition. In my view there is an opportunity to create an affordable tier of tourism welcoming visitors to such areas to participate in ecotourism and community focused wildlife projects. This would include the national authorities assistance, opening up opportunities for local and foreign NGO’s along with volunteers and visitors on a lower budget to combine with communities together to enhance wildlife areas for the benefit of all stakeholders. This will not only create opportunities for ecotourist organisations, along with the associated mitigating benefits for community involvement, but in turn help alleviate the pressures of heavy visitor numbers on the more high profile parks of the region. 

With increasing demands from expanding population and the development, that the East African people seek and deserve, a failure to protect this region wide lattice of biodiversity will ultimately negatively effect even those ‘jewels’ in the wildlife crown. With the well known protected areas such as the Serengeti of Tanzania and Masai Mara of Kenya suffering through a decreased diversity resilience from a reduction in the flow of wildlife through corridors from less well known conservation areas. In turn if these lesser known wildlife areas are allowed to wither the anticipated increased tourist numbers will place these world renowned iconic destinations, under further ecological pressure due to footfall.

To put it in pragmatic business terms if the number of tourist cliental are to be increased East Africa needs to maintain and increase its wildlife attractions. In addition to increase these visitor numbers the demography of the visitors must also be expanded to include those on varying budgets and the increasing ecotourism demand. This in turn will help mitigate the effects of tourism on local communities with, community benefits and involvement, increasing revenue and opportunity for all East Africans by way of increased revenues and employment.

The involvement of local communities will require careful management, with listening as well as talking, required by all stakeholders. For local communities to be shown the benefits of protecting neighbouring ecosystems, by which they have coexisted for millennia, they must clearly see and experience the benefits to themselves as well as the wider benefits to the nations and concerned and the planet as a whole. The use of agrarian products to supply tourist accommodation, selling of local crafts and opportunities of employment within the sector must be seen to offset the negative effects on local economies of restriction to traditional wildlife resource gathering. This will require careful planning and initial investment. In addition the benefits at a global level to East Africa’s ecology through transnational wildlife corridors plus the increased carbon sink and the associated mitigating effects on climate change can be utilised as a strong case for advocacy for external funding to be sought to help maintain these vital ecosystems.

This is a message I hope that these pictures and the continuing series aims to, in some small way, illustrate. These individuals and the wildlife they aim to protect live in the very region where early humans took their first steps on the earth so are part of the longest story of our species. Often as a photojournalist, documenting such stories, one can be accused of being dispassionate and aloof from your subject but being present at such events, as the elephant orphan greeting Joseph from the Sheldrick Trust, has always, for me, con-firmed the privilege of being able to witness the best of humanity. Likewise when one is present to see the harm that humans can unleash

Likewise when one is present to see the harm that humans can unleash on their fellow occupiers of the earth and the damage we are doing to the planet and its climate it is hard to not to be moved with those that are suffering whilst feeling anger at the circumstances and driving forces that do so much damage. Whether it be a wild animal killed or maimed in the callous pursuit to satisfy the remorseless illegal trade in wild animal parts, be it ivory, horn, skin, claws or teeth, or the sight of a fisherman desperately attempting to halt the relentless encroachment of the climate induced sea level rise on his family home it would have to be a cold heart not to feel some empathy.

The job however, I feel of the photojournalist is to tell the story with honest documentary so that others can witness through your lens the events that shape our world. One can only hope that in some small way the viewer leaves your work emboldened and motivated to help in anyway they can, either by supporting the relevant causes directly or moderating their behaviour to mitigate consumption that damages the fauna and the very planet we are all dependent on. With the emergence of AI imagery and ever decreasing resources being spent by the media, particularly in print, one can only hope that these stories remain being told in an honest and incorruptible format. Long term projects, often vital to comprehensively illustrate our changing world, are expensive and sometimes seem out of sync with the immediacy of the modern interconnected world propelled by social media and the instant fix of twenty four hour breaking news.

Thanks for reading.