After the most conflicting opinions on the Internet regarding the state of the negotiations about the 'Serengeti Highway', and the following clarification from the Federal Minister Niebel:
'In Paris, the Tanzanian Government expressed an openness to be involved in the planning of alternatives (to the ''Serengeti Highway'')'.
It is perhaps the time to contemplate and highlight the facts once again in an unemotional manner.
Introduction
It is only possible to offer an unemotional consideration to whatever has led ultimately to the development of the Serengeti Highway, or which could prevent its construction, when one factors in the economic development of both countries in which the Serengeti is situated: Tanzania and Kenya. The largest part of the Serengeti Mara ecosystem is to be found in Tanzanian territory, but Kenya contains, along with the especially fragile Masai Mara, the most important part of the Serengeti, with its roughly three-month long dry season. The Mara River is in addition the most important reservoir of water in the northern ecosystem.
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Nach den widersprüchlichsten Ansichten im Internet über den Stand der Verhandlungen um die „Serengeti-road“ und der erfolgten Klarstellung von Bundesminister Niebel:
Die tansanische Regierung zeigte sich in Paris offen, Alternativen (zur „Serengeti-road“) in die Planung einzubeziehen.
ist es vielleicht an der Zeit, den Sachverhalt einmal nüchtern zu betrachten und zu Hinterleuchten.
Eine nüchterne Betrachtung, was letztlich zur Planung der Serengeti-road geführt hat oder sie verhindern könnte, ist nur möglich, wenn man die volkswirtschaftliche Entwicklung beider Anrainerstaaten der Serengeti, Tansania und Kenia, mit einbezieht. Der größere Teil des Serengeti-Mara-Ökosystems befi ndet sich zwar auf tansanischem Staatsgebiet, Kenia unterhält aber mit der besonders fragilen Massai-Mara den wichtigsten Teil während der rund dreimonatigen Trockenzeit in der Serengeti. Der Mara-River ist darüber hinaus das wichtigste Wasserreservoir im nördlichen Ökosystem ...
Die tansanische Regierung zeigte sich in Paris offen, Alternativen (zur „Serengeti-road“) in die Planung einzubeziehen.
ist es vielleicht an der Zeit, den Sachverhalt einmal nüchtern zu betrachten und zu Hinterleuchten.
Eine nüchterne Betrachtung, was letztlich zur Planung der Serengeti-road geführt hat oder sie verhindern könnte, ist nur möglich, wenn man die volkswirtschaftliche Entwicklung beider Anrainerstaaten der Serengeti, Tansania und Kenia, mit einbezieht. Der größere Teil des Serengeti-Mara-Ökosystems befi ndet sich zwar auf tansanischem Staatsgebiet, Kenia unterhält aber mit der besonders fragilen Massai-Mara den wichtigsten Teil während der rund dreimonatigen Trockenzeit in der Serengeti. Der Mara-River ist darüber hinaus das wichtigste Wasserreservoir im nördlichen Ökosystem ...
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The Serengeti natural heritage area is in acute danger.
The potential collapse of the region's ecosystem could have even worse consequences than the cattle plague epidemic of the 1890s, which was introduced through domesticated animals and killed off more than 90% of the wildlife population.
During the course of the following 70 years, human interference in the area was kept to a minimum and the wildlife population slowly returned to its previous strength.
Now, in 2010, the threat is not disease, but instead a road-building project that values economic interests above the lives of more than two million animals.
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Das Weltnaturerbe Serengeti ist akut in seiner Existenz bedroht.
Der mögliche Kollaps des Ökosystems könnte schlimmere Folgen haben, wie die Rinderpestepidemie vor rund 120 Jahren. Durch menschliches Nutzvieh eingeschleppt gingen damals in Folge dieser Seuche über 90% der Wildtier-bestände ein. Die Tierpopulationen konnten sich auch nur über einen Zeitraum von rund 70 Jahren erholen, weil die Serengeti nach Eindämmung der Seuche sich selbst überlassen wurde und keinerlei menschlicher Nutzung unterlag.
Die aktuelle Bedrohung der Serengeti wird nicht durch Seuchen, sondern von einem geplanten Straßenbau hervorgerufen. Wirtschaftliche Interessen stehen hier wieder einmal über dem Existenzrecht von 2.000.000 Lebewesen.
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With the exception of a few strips of woodland near river banks and lakes, this is a huge area of almost vegetation-free dry savannah that is only green for a very short period during the rainy season. During this green phase, the area is covered with highly nutritious grass that the gnu mothers eat to help them produce milk for their newborn calves. Such an enormous amount of potential prey naturally attracts hyenas, cheetahs and lions, and makes the area a major draw for wildlife photographers. One of the main migratory paths is near the Ndutu Lodge, where you can follow the herds for miles off-road on their way south and east.
My attempts to photograph this spectacle in the spring of 2006 didn't pan out, and the ten days I had set aside were simply not long enough. Back then, a long drought meant that only a few gnus had reached the area by the time I got there, and the rest of the herds arrived weeks later than usual.
The Ngorongoro Conservation Area in Tanzania is one of the few nature reserves in Africa that still allow visitors to drive off-road and is a paradise for wildlife photographers who are resistant to enormous numbers of mosquitoes, horseflies and tsetse flies. The only things that can really spoil the fun are the mud that follows the rain and the odd broken axle or suspension spring.
The distance that the animals flee to in emergencies are great compared to the short distances they keep when they are at rest, and even ungulates that are not usually timid are especially nervous during the birth period. Flight distances of 100 metres and more are not uncommon, and even the usually indifferent hyenas don't allow vehicles to within less than 30 metres before they take off for safer ground.
Photographically speaking, this is an area that is predestined for the use of the very longest super telephoto lenses.
Photographically speaking, this is an area that is predestined for the use of the very longest super telephoto lenses.
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Im Januar und Februar wollte ich mit meinen Kameras zurück in die Spur der Gnuherden des Serengeti Ökosystems.
Im Jahreszyklus der großen Gnu-Migration ziehen jedes Frühjahr während der kurzen Regenzeit über eine Million dieser Tiere zu den riesigen Plains in den südlichen Teil des Naturreservats. Sie bringen dort über einen Zeitraum von nur wenigen Wochen Hunderttausende von Kälbern zur Welt.
Die Masse der Gnus weidet dann nicht im eigentlichen Serengeti-Nationalpark, sondern in der Ngorongoro Conservation Area, der Region zwischen dem Ngorongoro Krater und der Nationalparkgrenze. Mit Ausnahme von einigen Waldstreifen in der Nähe von Flussläufen und Seen ist dieses Gebiet eine riesige, fast busch- und baumlose Trockensavanne, die nur zu den Regenzeiten für kurze Zeit ergrünt. In den kurzen Grünphasen wächst dort ein sehr nährstoffreiches Gras, das von den Gnus als Futter zur Milchproduktion für die in Massen neugeborenen Kälber benötigt wird. Eine so riesige Frischfleischkarawane zieht natürlich Raubtiere wie Hyänen, Geparde und Löwen nahezu magnetisch an. Für Wildlife-Fotografen ist dort im Februar richtig Aktion angesagt.Ein Hauptdurchzugsgebiet liegt nahe der Ndutu-Lodge. Hier kann man die großen Herden auf ihrem Weg nach Süden und Osten zig Meilen weit offroad verfolgen.
Im Frühjahr 2006 war ich schon einmal dabei gescheitert, dieses Naturspektakel zu fotografieren. Die dafür eingeplanten 10 Tage reichten einfach nicht aus. Wegen einer anhaltenden großen Dürre mit monatelang ausgebliebenem Regen waren damals erst wenige Gnus in dieses Gebiet gezogen und alles hier Beschriebene fand in dem Jahr erst Wochen später statt.
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For most environmentalists and animal rights activists it is an almost blasphemous idea to compare the value of one species with that of another, especially when that value is measured in terms of marketing potential for climate change awareness.
In recent years, broad media coverage has turned the polar bear into a global symbol for the effects of climate change not only in the Arctic, but in the rest of the world too. In Germany particularly, the birth and highly publicized early life of the polar bear "Knut" at the Berlin City Zoo has intensified this symbolic effect.
The fact that the Arctic ice is melting due to global warming is an established fact, and environmentalists the world over are lucky to have the polar bear and its disappearing habitat as a symbol for the global effects of pollution. All this publicity has, however, spread the exaggerated idea that polar bears are already on the verge of extinction.
Between 20,000 and 25,000 polar bears are known to live in the Arctic, and there are almost certainly several thousand more living in more remote areas. Polar bears are, in evolutionary terms, the youngest predators on Earth, and many scientists think that they are not good at adapting to climatic change.
But polar bears have already survived a period of intense global warming in the Middle Ages, when Greenland was partially ice-free and served as Viking farmland. Evolution then helped the polar bear to reduce its body weight by about 20 percent in the course of just a few decades, leading me to doubt the theory that polar bears cannot adapt quickly enough to survive.
Polar bears are without doubt wonderful creatures whose existence is-like most other large animals on our planet-clearly threatened. But what is happening to their greatest rival for public attention and charitable money: the lion - king of the jungle?
We have all seen documentary films with clever edits that turn one lion into a whole pride, and Hollywood likes to show troops of hungry and dangerous-looking lions on the prowl. But in many parts of East Africa even the best movie tricks don't help, as there simply aren't any lions left to film.
Worldwide, there are only about 20,000 lions surviving in the wild.
In spite of conclusive evidence from the well-known lion specialist Craig Packer that shooting young male lions accelerates the demise of the species, many African countries still allow commercial hunting as a way of attracting badly needed hard currency.
Kenya used to have one of the largest wildlife populations in the world but, in spite of a general ban on hunting, the number of animals-including lions-has decreased by as much as 75 percent in recent years.
We have all seen documentary films with clever edits that turn one lion into a whole pride, and Hollywood likes to show troops of hungry and dangerous-looking lions on the prowl. But in many parts of East Africa even the best movie tricks don't help, as there simply aren't any lions left to film.
Worldwide, there are only about 20,000 lions surviving in the wild.
In spite of conclusive evidence from the well-known lion specialist Craig Packer that shooting young male lions accelerates the demise of the species, many African countries still allow commercial hunting as a way of attracting badly needed hard currency.
Kenya used to have one of the largest wildlife populations in the world but, in spite of a general ban on hunting, the number of animals-including lions-has decreased by as much as 75 percent in recent years.
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Let's call him Simba-born in 2005 near the Olare Orok river in the eastern Masai Mara in Kenya. Back then, the area was inhabited by two large prides of lions, and it was impossible to overlook the large numbers of lions in the region, whether to the south across the "Double Crossing" Talek river ford, or to the north-west towards the Musiara Airstrip. = This region has always been known amongst natural history film-makers, wildlife photographers, and nature lovers as quite simply one of the best "lion zones" on the planet. The region was populated by sufficient numbers of antelopes, zebras, warthogs, and other prey to feed the lions all year round, and you could find lion cubs and their older siblings in the area at any time of year. The prides even ganged up to hunt and kill buffalo and other large animals.
If Simba's childhood was a normal one, his mother would have brought him to the Double Crossing at the start of his second year and taught him to hunt. He would have got over his first failed attempts and would have been able to hunt larger prey on his own by the time he was about 1½ years old. But he still would not have been quite big enough to bring down his prey and kill it with a deadly bite to the neck or mouth. His mother would have observed his efforts for a while, and would have intervened to finally kill whichever unfortunate beast Simba had attacked. A few months later, by the time Simba was about 2 years old, he would have become a skilled hunter, hunting and killing large animals on his own. At this time he would have begun to mature, and his characteristic mane would have started to grow in earnest.
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First sightings for over twenty years of African Wild Dogs in the Serengeti!
Wild Dogs have been regarded as being extinct in the Serengeti for over twenty years, so at first we didn't take this information seriously. I pointed out to him that many tourists mix up Spoon Dogs (which are similar to foxes), with these game dogs. Nevertheless we set out immediately, and, after five minutes, the animals were there in front of the camera.
Such a stroke of luck is something a wildlife photographer has perhaps only once in their life.
For me, it was "one moment in time".
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