What happened?
Desertification: The increasing spread of the desert. Niger has a year round very hot dry climate with short rainy periods which results in regular droughts. Very few plants survive the conditions - Acacia the Giraffe's favourite being one. For animals it is hard to find moisture and most like the Giraffe are adapted to living where water is scarce.
Land clearing for Agriculture: Niger's population like most African countries has grown rapidly. Niamey (the capital) has grown from a small town with an estimated population of 50,000 in 1965 to a major city with more than 660,000 inhabitants in the year 2000. The majority of these are very poor with whole families living on an estimated 64p per day. Droughts and shortages of food are regular.
Only 3% of the land is suitablie for growing crops and so demand that the land is huge.
Tiger Bush: Giraffe's favourite habitat especially in the rainy season. What is it? - Open forest containing large bands of bare soil alternating with bands of woody vegetation which from the air look like tiger stripes. The bands enable the plant to collect as much water as possible. Found especially where rainfall is light and irregular. The areas around Niamey supported a healthy cover of the Tiger bush.
By 1992 most within a 15-20km radius had been removed. As well as demand for land there is a strong demand for fuel-wood and charcoal which places considerable pressure on the woody vegetation. Both Giraffes and communities need it for survival - as well as for firewood and cattle grazing the leaves and bark are used in cooking and as a medicine all pushed the Giraffe's to the South of the Country.
The Giraffes of Niger are the last Giraffes in West Africa!
THE PROJECT:
The Purkno Conservation Project was established in 1996. Its purpose was to protect the Giraffes and their habitat whilst developing the economy's area in a sustainable management of Niger's natural resources.
Zoo de Doue-la-Fontaine offered in 2001 to support the project and is now a partner with South Lakes Wild Animal Park taking care of the Giraffes.
PROJECT ACTIVITIES:
Ranger Patrols:
Hunting: Originally hunters tracked Giraffes to provide meat for their villages, European hunters hunted Giraffes for trophies and to supply the skin trade. Today the Giraffe's in Niger have no predator except man and despite being outlawed hunting had reduced the Giraffe population to just 41. Today thanks to the ASGN the latest population estimates put the number of Giraffes at 176. (as of Dec 2003)
Census and Monitoring of giraffes: When you look at Niger's Giraffe's in 1996 you can see they were not only small in number but were old with no newborn or young animals - because of poaching. In 1997/8 just 18 months after the project was established the population had not only grown but contained young new generations.
Reforestation/Food for work: Remember only 3% of Niger is suitable for growing crops and local communities are encouraged to plant trees on useless areas in exchange for seeds. The new trees (Acacia) provide food for the Giraffes.
Ecotourism - Leaflets:
Education/Awareness: Activities ranging from village workshops to football tournaments aim to increase awareness about the effects of poaching and deforestation.
Economic alternatives:
Purchase of seeds: A system where the Nigerian woman is able to borrow money to buy seeds (Tomatoes, Aubergine's - not traditional) and farm them. They can then sell the produce to buy more and so on.
Sandals: The farmers of Djerma, Niger make traditional sandals out of palm tree leaves for when they have to walk for hours in the heat.
During the "soudre" - the pre-harvest lean season when growing is impossible and food is scarce the ASGN finances village banks where the Nigerian women are able to borrow money to but seeds that will grow. (Not traditional but seeds like Tomatoes, Aubergines etc) The women must get up 4 hours earlier in the morning to crush the "chummy" before cultivating their gardens.
The community makes traditional sandals which they sell to tourists - available in our shop priced £2.00. Buying a pair of sandals today means you have helped buy a mill for the "chummy" for one of the towns within the Giraffe zone.
The money will go to safeguarding the last Giraffes in Western Africa.
