bwanamich, i agree to all your thoughts.....

B U T

"Animals don't know boundaries and those that venture across it the wrong way are at greater risk."
and we know so we should respect it! we are intruding all the time but shouldn't risk to be attacked because we are trampeling through their little left habitat ending up to be forced to shoot an animals just because it attacked us in its very own land!

when i was reading your statement and thinking of it i gladly realised we are pretty much getting civilised

Pippa:

I was just looking at Talking Travel.com today and there was a picture from The Hide in it. Check it out at:

http://www.talkingtravel.co.za/favourite.html - then scroll down to The Hide and see their picture. Anyone walking on foot that close to wild elephants is asking for it. Now I can see why tourists get the idea that it is safe to do so.

Pippa,
For those of us who have some knowledge about the wildlife dilemma, yes we should respect their movements and know how to behave amongst them. A dead poor peasant that was born next to a reserve,etc who has to struggle daily to survive, who depends on the same land as the animals for his and his family´s subsistence and has never left the boundaries of his immeadiate vicinity, who has no clue that certain species are vulnerable to extinction by man, who has no clue that human population in 3rd world Africa is doubling every 20 years or so, who has no idea about the meaning of the word "encroachment", co-existance and so on, what of him? Is he wrong to be there and to protect his security by killing an animal that threatens his living? That is the big dilemma. A large proportion of humans living amongst wildlife fall in the above category. One can´t just tell them "this is the law" without first educating them to the concept. It can´t be done overnight either.

jan,
thanks for the link!
i met with the owner last december in cannes. he asked me to come and stay there so that i can experience it myself. but refused because of the circumstances in zim and furthermore because none of my clients want's to go to zim until the government has changed..................
the pic at the website is absolutely frightening! not more than 30 mtrs...suizidal

bwanamich,
thanks for the explanation. i know all of what you say and of course i also know of the difficulties etc. etc. and your last sentence is essential: " without first education..................
it comes always down to education!!!!!!

"A dead poor peasant that was born next to a reserve,etc who has to struggle daily to survive, who depends on the same land as the animals for his and his family´s subsistence and has never left the boundaries of his immeadiate vicinity, who has no clue that certain species are vulnerable to extinction by man, who has no clue that human population in 3rd world Africa is doubling every 20 years or so, who has no idea about the meaning of the word "encroachment", co-existance and so on, what of him? Is he wrong to be there and to protect his security by killing an animal that threatens his living? "

bwanamich:

I have no problem with the above poor peasant if he has lived in the area for years - then I do feel sorry for him.
What I have absolutely no patience with is those thousands of people who are moving into this territory on or abutting wildlife territory and then wanting to kill every animal trying to eat their gardens! It just isn't fair to wildlife.

As you well know, there is plenty of territory in Kenya where people could settle were the land managed better.
Every time I fly from Nairobi - Ambo and Ambo - Tsavo much of the land is empty. Who owns all this land? Government, individuals, who? Why can't parcels be alloted for shambas so people are away from the parks? Please help me to understand better.

Jan, much of the land seems empty or unused but in fact you will find people there unless there is a good reason not to. I do not have any details for the area, but maybe Nico can fill us in with some numbers for the Kimara area when he finds the time to do so.