Endangered Species Protection
Large carnivore populations in Africa have decreased substantially in the past five decades. This has been attributed largely to increased conflict with human development resulting in contraction of the ranges of most species to their confinement to marginal habitats and within protected areas.
Unless sound conservation practices that include effective conflict resolution and sustainable utilization based on ecological data are implemented soon, along with education of people about the importance of conserving such species, then the survival prospects of these and other keystone wildlife species are dismal.
WildiZe provides funds for the collaring and Global Positioning System for tracking brown hyenas in Caprivi Strip area of Namibia. Our funds serve to advance the education and public knowledge of this endangered species.
We sponsor research that helps promote conservation and the development of quantifiable research that is publishable.
Project web Site: www.predatorconservation.com
Caprivi Strip, Namibia
Caprivi, sometimes called the Caprivi Strip (in German: Caprivizipfel) or the Okavango Strip and formally known as Itenge, is a narrow protrusion of Namibia eastwards about 450 km (280 miles), between Botswana on the south, Angola and Zambia to the north, and Okavango Region to the west. Caprivi is bordered by the Okavango, Kwando, Chobe and Zambezi rivers. Its largest settlement is the town of Katima Mulilo.
History
The Caprivi Region has a unique history. Until the end of the 19th Century it was known as Itenge and it was under the rule of the Lozi Kings. In the late 1800's the strip of land was administered as part of the British protectorate of Bechuanaland (Botswana). Then in 1890 Germany laid claim to the British administered island of Zanzibar to which Britain objected. The dispute was settled by the Berlin Conference in 1890 when Queen Victoria acquired Zanzibar and Germany acquired the territory which became known as the Caprivi Strip, named after German Chancellor General Count Georg Leo von Caprivi di Caprara di Montecuccoli. The German motivation behind the swap was to acquire a strip of land linking German south west Africa with the Zambezi River thus providing easy access to Tanganyika (Tanzania) and ultimately the Indian Ocean.
Unfortunately for the Germans, the British colonisation of Rhodesia (Zimbabwe and Zambia) stopped them well upstream of Victoria Falls, which proved a considerable barrier to navigation on the Zambezi. Then during W.W.I the Caprivi Strip again came under British rule and was governed as part of Bechuanaland but it received little attention and became known as a lawless frontier. Nowadays approximately 66,000 people live in the Caprivi, mostly as subsistence farmers who make their living on the banks of the Zambezi, Kwando, Linyati and Chobe Rivers.
