World Wildlife Fund

Robin Naidoo
© Greg Stuart-Hill, WWF-LIFE

Robin Naidoo, a conservation scientist in WWF's Conservation Science program, returned from two weeks in the wilderness of Namibia's Caprivi Strip - a long, narrow band of Namibia that runs east-west between Botswana, Angola and Zambia. Get a first-person account of what it takes to capture, collar and release large African mammals - including buffalo, sable and impala. Read about his near-misses, helicopter chases and other adventures in conservation science.

Part 4: LIFE in Namibia

Johannes Kapner, seen holding a tranquilized buffalo, is a senior scout at the Etosha Ecological Institute.
© WWF / Robin Naidoo

We rose early today and went to look for buffalo north of Susuwe, finding them moving out from grasslands into the woodland. Later we drove about 90 minutes to Mamili National Park - located on the border with Botswana.

Along the way I noticed the poverty of the region. WWF's coordination of the Living in a Finite Environment (LIFE) program in Namibia is part of a larger community based natural resources management program which promotes and assists rural communities in directly managing and benefiting from wildlife on their lands. Now WWF is scaling up this work to cover entire landscapes - including managing for connectivity between community-run conservancies and the national parks that have traditionally been the core protected habitat for wildlife.

Part of sustainable land management is understanding the natural role fire plays in these ecosystems.
© WWF / Robin Naidoo

As we were driving along, I thought to myself that it does seem a little odd to be putting a $3,600 GPS collar on an animal when there aren't even proper bridges, binoculars, trucks and other basics. But despite these conditions the rangers, park guards and other Namibians manage to achieve impressive results with few resources. Their partnership has been a key part of the LIFE project's success.