THE ARC NEWSLETTER OF THE AFRICAN-ARABIAN WILDLIFE RESEARCH CENTRE (INCORPORATING: AFRICAN CARNIVORE RESEARCH)

1995

Of course , the biggest change of the year was the move into the central Karoo. We have always liked the small village of Loxton and the vast plains on which it is situated. Fortunately we found the right house, with plenty of out-buildings, and we were able to pack, move and settle in by January. Although it is a fairly large house, later in the year we realized that we needed expansion space, hence the second house.
Only six weeks after the move we started a three month sojourn in the United Arab Emirates undertaking a vertebrate survey of the montane areas at the request of the Arabian Leopard Trust (ALT). We recorded Blanford’s fox (Vulpes cana) for the first time in this part of Arabia, obtained photographic evidence that the Arabian tahr (Hemitragus jayakari) still survives in the UAE, collected the first voucher specimens of the Egyptian spiny mouse (Acomys cahirinus) from the UAE and much more. In our report we made recommendations for the establishment of a network of conservation areas in that country and we are getting positive feedback in that regard. Whilst in Arabia we did manage brief trips into Oman and Qatar. Our report and recommendations make up the bulk of the publication Minute to Midnight printed and distributed by the Arabian Leopard Trust (obtainable from the ALT, POBox 24444, Sharjah, UAE).

Bookmarket

Our fifth and sixth books appeared in the bookshops during the course of the year, Great Game Parks of Africa: Ngorongoro Conservation Area (Struik) and Africa: A Natural History (Southern), and we have three manuscripts with the publishers that will appear during the course of 1996. They are The Vanishing Wildlife of Africa (Southern), Fieldguide to the Larger Mammals of Africa (Struik) and a Guide to the National Parks and Reserves of East Africa (Struik), we will keep you posted.

Projects

We have initiated a basic field biology course, with our first student, Moaz Sawaf from Abu Dhabi (UAE), having completed his six weeks of training. This will be followed up in Arabia in 1996.
Vincent Pereboom , from the University of Amsterdam, who worked with us for 9 months last year, is involved in several low-key projects in the vicinity of Loxton, including a herpetological survey and an ecological study of the red rock rabbit (Pronolagus rupestris). Sophie Boegli will be looking at the ecology of the two tortoises, Homopus boulengeri and Psammobates tentorius. They also assist us with our laboratory and administrative work, and keep an eye on things when Tilde and I are in the field.

Lions

Apart from the general vertebrate surveys, we are currently undertaking a Pan-African lion survey, as we are very concerned about population declines. We are in the process of sending out questionnaires in English and French and this will be followed up with field work by the AWRC. We hope to initiate some carnivore research in western Uganda and we intend to look at specific conservation problems in several regions.

What does 1996 hold?

We will be in Zimbabwe until mid-January, then in early February we fly back to the UAE, where we will be surveying additional areas, including part of the sand desert and Sir Bani Yas Island in the Arabian Gulf. There will be a two week foray into Yemen to investigate the feasibility of undertaking a three month initial vertebrate survey in that country.
Early May will see us back in Loxton, and then during the first week in July we hope to leave for Munich and then drive to the Atlas Mountains in Morocco. The main purpose will be to establish whether the Barbary leopard still survives there, but also to suvey other biota. Several shorter trips are planned but more of those in later newsletters.

Information Services

We are developing an information service that will provide data on the vertebrates in all African and Arabian conservation areas. In order to recoup our costs we will initially be printing comprehensive checklists (with additional information) of birds occurring in some 600 reserves. Later we intend to expand the service to include mammals, reptiles, amphibians and possibly butterflies.
Obtaining good maps for many reserves is very difficult and this is another aspect that we are investigating. More of this in a later newsletter.

It’s last but not least:
Donations

Compaq Computer Corporation of Johannesburg , South Africa, donated a Contura Aero 4/33C Notebook computer for our field research programmes. A special word of thanks to Marius Fürst (MD).A thank you also to Rob Schneider for his assistance.

Nelson Bryden of Gibca in Dubai (United Arab Emirates) provided a Megellan GPS Satellite Navigator : Trailblazer XL at cost to the research centre.

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