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We are talking about an average family income of a hundred and twenty dollars a year, ten dollars a month. They ca
One would think that living so close to nature they would have an instinctive feeling for it, Daniel persisted. Yes, of course, but it is totally pragmatic. For mille
The old colonial system preserved the wild game. So how did it survive for a million years before the white man arrived in Africa?
No, the colonial system of game management was protectionist, not conservationist. Aren't they the same thing, protection and conservation? They are diametrically opposed. The protectionist denies man's right to exploit and harvest nature's bounty. He would deny that man has a right to kill a living animal, even if that threatens the survival of the species as a whole. If he were here today, the protectionist would prohibit us from this cull, and he would not want to look to the final consequence of that prohibition which, as we have seen, would be the eventual extinction of the entire elephant population and the destruction of this forest. However, the most damaging mistake that the old colonial protectionists made was to alienate the black tribesman from , the benefits of controlled conservation. They denied him his share of the spoils, and built up in him a resentment towards the wild game. They broke down his natural instinct for management of his resources. They took away his control of nature and placed him in competition with the animals. The end result is that the average black peasant is hostile towards the game.
The elephants raid his gardens and destroy the trees he uses for firewood. The buffalo and antelope eat the grass on which he feeds his cattle. The crocodile ate his grandmother, and the lion killed his father. . . Of course, he has come to resent the game herds. The solution, Warden? Is there one? Since independence from the colonial system we have been trying to change the attitude of our people, Joh
However, if the protectionist do-gooders of Europe and America were to force a ban on safari-hunting or the sale of ivory, it would set back all our efforts. It would probably be the death knell of the African elephant and eventually the end of all the game. So in the end it is all a matter of economics? Daniel asked. Like everything else in this world, it is a matter of money, Joh
They must exploit them and conserve them. If you prevent us doing that, then you will be guilty of contributing to the extinction of African wildlife. Joh
He prodded Daniel's midriff. And puff and pant when I run a hundred yards? No thank you, Da
Joh
Suicide weather, Daniel wiped his forehead on the sleeve. of his bush shirt. Even though it was almost midnight, the heat and the humidity were enervating. Rains will break soon. Good thing you're getting out of the valley, " Joh
When are you coming back to Chiwewe? I don't know, Joh
Daniel's mood matched that sombre dawn, for although he had captured some wonderful material during his stay, he had also rediscovered his friendship and affection for Joh
Joh
Daniel paused below the verandah and glanced around the garden. It was still the way that Vicky had pla
Vicky had been the twenty-year-old bride that Daniel had brought to Chiwewe all those years ago a slim cheerful lass with long blonde hair and smiling green eyes, only a few years younger than Daniel at the time.
She had died in the front bedroom overlooking the garden that she had cherished. An ordinary bout of malaria had turned without warning to the pernicious cerebral strain. It had been all over very swiftly, even before the flying doctor could reach the Park.
The eerie sequel to her death was that the elephants, who had never entered the fenced garden before, despite its laden citrus trees and rich vegetable plot, came that very night. They came at the exact hour of Vicky's death and completely laid waste the garden. They even ripped out the ornamental shrubs and rose bushes. Elephant seem to have a psychic sensitivity to death. It was almost as if they had sensed her passing, and Daniel's grief.