It is now the hot, dry season and temperatures are soaring, man and animal struggling to get through the day. The research team continues doing field, lab and data entry work in temperatures that exceed 104F-freezers and lab equipment in danger of over heating. Wildlife also take refuge from the heat, where refuge presents. The project provides many benefits including shade for hangers on under the project car! 

NSF Educational Program- The Chobe River- Our River, Our Future

This week the CARACAL Conservation Club started our NSF program curriculum "Chobe River: Our River, Our Future". Over the next few weeks we will be looking at the environmental problems of the Chobe River and learning how to best combat the issues facing one of our most valuable resources. During our lessons this week we investigated how water moves in our Chobe ecosystem as well as around the world. Ms Moore (shown above), a wetlands ecologist, is leading this important program.

(left) Large scale export of dried and salted fish from the Chobe river- Increasingly large commercial exports of fish are being taken from the Chobe river on the Namibian side. These exports are being directed to central Africa. It unlikely that such off take is sustainable in the long-term and presents a threat to local communities dependent on fish for local market income and household food security. Improved management of water resources is essential to rural livelihoods.

Th African Skimmer  (Rynchops flavirostris) is listed as near threatened. Important populations occur in the Chobe Area on our study river where this species is largely confined when breeding to large, dry sandbars.