| | MEGAFLYOVER REPORT BACK |
 Start: Pemba, Mozambique
Stop: Nosy Be, Madagascar
Flight Time: 4 hours 37 minutes
Flight Distance: 540 nautical miles
After cruising for three hours out over the Mozambique Channel in the open Indian Ocean we came abeam Dzaoudzi, the capital of Mayotte, a small island that is part of France. Directly below the plane and clouds 7000 feet down was the most beautiful sight you could ever imagine after nothing but black blue ocean all morning. It was the barrier reef that creates a protected calm for this emerald green jewel. The sea was running maybe 10 knots fast in a sheet of current over a front of at least 50 miles. It was like the greatest river on earth with enormous white water rapids that slipped water back into the blue depths.
J. Michael Fay
With this beautiful description (written on 29 September 2004) we come to an end - and what a good end - of The Bateleurs’ responsibilities to Africa MegaFlyover in Southern Africa. Not an end to our involvement though, as we will continue to provide as much support as we can further north in Africa without jeopardizing our integrity or their mission.
Mike acknowledges our support:
Hi Nora,
I have never worked this hard in my life no doubt about that. We are eastern Zambia now and will be traveling north in a few days and then out to Mozambique. All is well.
You [The Bateleurs] were with us through 4 countries which made things possible for this flight, otherwise we were sunk in my opinion ...
Only now it is 5 countries and I believe we have succeeded and delivered beyond anything that Mike Fay and Peter Ragg ever dreamt off. But as successfully as we have managed their logistics in Southern Africa, we realise that we could not carry on bearing responsibility for fuel and assistance and ground knowledge and accommodation and so on, knowing neither the terrain nor language, and not having the network of pilots and environmental friends that we have here whose contribution was critical to our success.
I have to admit it is not without a sigh of relief that those of us deeply involved with their logistical requirements sign over to them. We have seen them through not only South Africa and Namibia, but now also Zambia and Mozambique. In Botswana, although we did a lot of research and preparation, they pretty much did their own thing, Peter dealing with bad flu and a serious engine problem on G NYZS (read more about this below).
By ‘peppering’ this report to you (Mike’s emails in blue and Peter’s in red), I hope to give you a more intimate view of this grand voyage, which, if Mike succeeds, will see a change in Africa’s conservation policies. Right now we are witnessing the beginning of world leaders’ recognition that the environment is the biggest challenge to global stability – recent statements by Tony Blair about how he intends to make climate change top priority when he takes over the Presidency of the G8 and Vladimir Putin’s decision to sign the Tokyo Protocol – so there is a chance that Africa will be ripe for Fay’s findings and suggestions.
In response to an email warning of the dangers of low flying in some countries where conservation is taking a beating and why a reconnaissance flight couldn’t be done, Mike wrote:
Thats why we are doing this flight and not them, got to have your ducks in a row baby. You really made this thing [MegaFlyover] happen and for that I will be ever grateful. And I will continue to call upon you way too much to help. As we travel north of course that is our territory so I am now dealing with writing proposals in French etc. but we are making it happen ... Looks like Madagascar and Tchad are starting to shape up. Man all this logistical stuff is a pain ...
But to be fair he and Peter have carried most of the burden of overfly authorities themselves, as for example:
We have authorization from ZAWA to follow the flight that we requested which includes low level overflights of North Luangwa National Park. We have flight clearance from ZAF. I don't know if we pay landing and park fees to ZAWA but it does not specifically say in our authorization that we don't, but it also doesn't say we do.
As Africa MegaFlyover left Southern African shores, so too did we end our term with Pete Morrison who came in as a consultant to become our “ops manager” for the 6-month period that Vance Martin of WILD, together with the Sierra Club and the Sierra Foundation, had agreed to fund. Pete’s has been the unenviable task of having to cope with all the changes and blupses and tearing his hair out as the whereabouts of our intrepid explorers remained unknown, as the in-box continued to carry no messages from them. We thank him for his constant good humour, his ability to remain focused and un-fazed (despite his loss of hair) and for always being available for MegaFlyover during those 6 months.
Not everyone concerned always remained cool though. A ruffled Peter Ragg emailed us:
Lost contact to Mike and Mario
Any chance to know where the hell they are
Getting a bit ..., no contact on agreed time to switch on the phone. Please let me know
Thanks a lot for all
Peter
Let’s admit it’s understandable when you need to get messages as important as:
Please note that the flightclearence for ZAMBIA is only valid for 7 days. From 12 to 18th of August therafter to re-apply via AIrforce or Openworld in the UK
CLEARANCE NUMBER YD / 158/04
VALID from the 12. of AUGUST till 18. AUGUST
Don't try to go earlier than that - ist a violation. It came from the Air force!!!!! Please stick to that as the authority is very strict in this country!!!!!!!!!
Looks as though Peter is now taking Air Forces as seriously as he should!
These guys have had their fair share of problems in Southern Africa! Mike dropped (I am told) not one but two cameras out of the plane – splat – left tripods behind, upset his computer into a campfire, had a dose of malaria (or bad flu) and so on.
And as to Peter. While Mike was flying around the Delta with Mario looking for Mike Chase’s collared elephants and helping Dr. Tico McNutt with his Wild Dog programme, he, poor man, fought through the worst bout of flu with no one to mop his brow, no medication and a 182 sicker than he was. The subject of his email to us was “plane illness”:
... decision was either to continue and risk the engine to be seized and have almost no suitable place to land on the way to Maun or return and hope the engine will last to go back - slightly higher blood pressure then normal ...
Click here for his full story.
Mike alerted us to it by writing:
Sorry I have been off the grid but I have been flying a lot and not in camp [and] without access to my email.
**News flash also is that G-NYZS (the plane) has an engine problem. We will know in a few hours if we are going to have to replace G-NYZS with G-OWCS for the first leg of the trip [in Zambia] ...
But don’t think any of these disasters affect Mike Fay’s concentration on what he set out to do. His brilliant, focused mind and his total dedication and determination are, with the help of technology in documentation, busy noting and interpreting everything he sees.
He was the first person to answer my request for info on pelicans for a mission The Bateleurs will be involved with. His email came not more than an hour after receiving mine:
Pelicans, I thought you were into Bateleurs.
So far on the trip we have seen only great white pelicans. Locations:
| Chobe River |
25 Sept 04 a few hundred in thermals over river. |
| Lake Ngami |
2 Aug 04 a few tens of pelicans seen flying around the lake. |
| Chobe River |
9 Aug 04 hundreds in thermals flying over river and group fishing in pans in river. |
South Luangwa National Park
on Luangwa River |
30 Aug 04 tens group fishing in river.
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That is all so far, on bottom of Lake Tanganyika right now and none here so far just white faced ducks. I will keep you posted.
Another example is the Maputo Elephant Park which we specifically asked Mike to fly over in order to substantiate the problems the park is facing – click here for Joe Holmes’ report on the Elephant census by microlight he and 9 other Bateleur pilots undertook at the end of July 2004.
Mike wrote:
We certainly flew over the Maputo Elephant Reserve and it is truly one of the most beautiful places on the coast of Africa. We have plenty of images and impressions so I can speak to it now, but obviously we are no experts. I think that we can set you up if you wanted to make a flight there that would be more of an enviro flight.
But not all was work – they spent the last couple of weeks in Niassa where Hannelore Ragg (also a pilot and who had joined her husband Peter in Botswana while waiting for his plane to be fixed) had some interesting encounters with leopard and elephant; while Mike himself had a close shave (literally and figuratively):
We are in Niassa now for two weeks so I plan on completely catching up with everything. I got my head shaved too so happy to be hairless. Zambezi Delta is magic.
And a couple of days later -
Just about got smashed by a mama elephant today. She was pissed off and charged very close head down, deja vu. I hate it when they do that.
And in response to an email back to him from me in which I tell him of my meeting with a huge and placid elephant bull, he writes:
Sounds like the kind of elephant I like to see. Seems like I have had a bad run with pissy females (just elephants). All is well here in Mozambique. I would love to have the results of the survey in the Maputo Elephant Reserve. I would be surprised if they saw many elephants. Saw two gorgeous klipspringer on the granite cliffs yesterday, man are they beautiful animals.
We are learning so much on this trip it is mind boggling. Counted 400 hippos on the Luchenda all together, about 1/20 what is on the Luangwa.
Thanks for your continued support. This has been a tough trip for me and your help is much appreciated, please believe that.
Love
Mike
We have actually made the National Geographic web site. On their news page they run a story on Mike and mention The Bateleurs – a little out of sync – but they do, at the end of the article, have a link to our site which is great.
As said, we will remain involved, but playing a far lesser role, with Africa MegaFlyover. We will try to source help for Mike wherever he needs it. Right now it is Tchad and Angola where he is needing assistance. So please, if anyone has good contacts or knowledge pertaining to those countries, send us an email at info@bateleurs.org and we will pass it straight over to Mike and Peter.
Any help with Tchad that we can get would be most appreciated. Anyway below what I have sent you, based on the information that one and all have given me is a flight path that we would like to take through Chad …
The general objective for our flight in the Saharan countries is to do a systematic grid survey over the areas that are likely to contain relatively large populations of oryx? (probably extinct but I still have high hopes that there are Oryx somewhere in Chad, seems very plausible to me), addax, barbary sheep, dama gazelle, and dorcus gazelle. We will present a complete report to the appropriate ministry post survey along with all of the data including photographs etc. We would be more than happy to make a presentation in Ndjamena before or after the survey or both....
..... the nut I still haven't cracked that I really need to crack is Angola.
David Moyer of WCS will be taking over from us in Tanzania, organising another ‘launch’ and seeing to all logistics. David will also be juggling with the Sudan together with some very knowledgeable Bateleur members who live in Kenya but have worked in the Sudan. So, again, any input on those countries, send to David Moyer dmoyer@wcs.org but please also copy us for our records.
In our last report on MegaFlyover we mentioned and listed all the night stops and names of people who had provided help in South Africa and Namibia. This time we include the schedule of night stops for Zambia and Mozambique. In many cases these wonderful people also specially trucked fuel in for us. |
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| | | BOTSWANA
23 July – Maun
25 July – Okavango, Nxabega – Conservation Corporation Africa & Valeri Senekal
26 July – Maun
ZAMBIA
12 August – Lusaka
14 August – Livingstone
15 August - Liuwa Plains, Kalabo – Wendy & Greg Trollip
18 August – Kafue, McBride’s Camp – Charlotte McBride
20 August – Lusaka
21 August – South Luangwe, Tafika – John Coppinger
22 August – Community Areas, Lundazi – Dale Lewis
25 August – South Luangwe, Lion Camp – Anthony Grohovaz
27 August – North Luangwe, Marula-Puku - Elsabe & Hugo Van der Westhuizen
29 August – Chimbwi, Shoebill Island – Edmund Farmer
31 August – Nsumbu National Park, Kasaba Bay Lodge – Viv & Barbara Raubenheimer
02 September – Makuta Mountain, East Five
03 September – Lukusuzi, Tafika, John Coppinger
MOZAMBIQUE
04 September – Tete
05 September – Beira
06 September – Maputo
07 September – Bazaruto, Benguerra Lodge – Mark Adcock & Margie MacDuff
08 September – Marromeu Delta – Mark Haldain
09 September – Niassa, Mbatamila – Anabela Rodriquez
27 September – Pemba
28 September – Ibo, Wildlife Adventures CC South Africa, Ibo Island Safaris Lda (Northern Mozambique) – Kevin Record & Beverley Weber.
Hope you enjoy this peek into the lives of Mike Fay and Peter Ragg and The Bateleurs. Once again, thank you to everyone who has helped with this enormous undertaking.
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| | MAPUTO ELEPHANT RESERVE UPDATE |
 Closer to home, but still in Mozambique, Bateleur director Joe Holmes led another spectacular mission to The Maputo Elephant Park to fulfil a mission request by Prof. Rudi van Aarde of the Conservation Ecology Research Unit, University of Pretoria, to fly a repeat of the 2002 elephant census we did for them. (See Africa Geographic Feb. 2003).
According to all our pilots, and I did speak to all of them on their return, it was an amazing experience and they worked together as a team almost as if they had trained for it. They had great fun too and really appreciated the privilege of flying over such spectacular scenery. But their joy was tempered by the sombre findings that all was not well in the Maputo Elephant Reserve. Only 70 elephant were counted compared to the 150 on the previous count and the human ‘invasion’ is more than worrying. Read Joe Holmes’ report on the mission and the serious threats facing the reserve. It really is worth reading and action needs to be taken.
There are photo's of the trip on the website. |
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| | BAVIAANSKLOOF UPDATE | Baviaanskloof has recently been given World Heritage Status. I asked Andrew Muir of the Wilderness Foundation whether he thought our Mission had helped: “Without a doubt” he replied “all the coverage and techniques we used to give BK exposure has helped towards the WHT announcement" and "The Bateleurs played an important role in that”.
Well done and thanks again to the Satellite Applications Centre (SAC), JARRIC and Bateleur pilots, Chris Booysens, Etienne Le Roux and Steve Mandel. See our January 2004 Newsletter.
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| IN THIS NEWSLETTER WE FEATURE MISSIONS FLOWN BY:
- Air Namibia
- Avroy Shlain
- Billy Greig
- Boshoff Steenekamp
- Brendan Tindall
- Donovan Barton-Hobbs
- Eddie Keizan
- Eugene Du Preez
- Joe Holmes
- Keith Kirby
- Mark Andrews
- Michael Beukman
- Mike French
- Noel McCullough
- Paul Dutton
- Peter Berning
- Peter Vosloo
- Rodger Pottie
| MEGAFLYOVER MOZAMBIQUE ROUTE
CLICK HERE | MEGAFLYOVER ZAMBIA ROUTE
CLICK HERE | MAPUTO ELEPHANT RESERVE RE-COUNT - by Joe Holmes
 The Maputo Elephant Reserve in southern Mozambique once again fell under the wings of The Bateleurs Microlight Squadron, who did a follow-up census to complement the original undertaken in 2002 for CERU.
It seems that the shadows cast by the microlight wings in their census-flying were not the only ones darkening the Reserve. Drought has allowed freer access by humans seeking to harvest natural resources in once "elephants-only" areas, creating a scenario fraught with potential problems for the unwitting elephants, whose future now is under increased threat. Official apathy to the problem is heightening tensions between peasants and pachyderms, with no resolution in sight.
See photographs of the mission here.
CLICK HERE | PARTICIPANTS - MAPUTO ELEPHANT RESERVE:
Pilots
- Joe Holmes
- Peter Vosloo
- Rodger Pottie
- Noel Mc Culloch
- Mike Beukman (flew fm Jhb)
- Eugčne Du Preez(flew fm Jhb)
- Boshoff Steenekamp
- Keith Kirby
- Donovan Barton Hobbs
- Mike French
Ground Crew
- Ruth Holmes
- Cathy Vosloo
- Anita Pottie, son Eldon and friend Pierre
- Wayne Du Preez
- Ali Shahrdar and Vincenzo
- Poens Jacobs
- Richard Grantham
- Dave Taylor
CERU Scientists (University of Pretoria)
- Dr Tim Jackson
- Robert Guldenmond
- Kim Smith
Mozambique Representatives
- Cornelio Ntumi - Dept Biological Sciences, University Eduardo Mondlane, Maputo
- Eunice - Sociological Impact Study, Human/Elephant Interaction
| BRITS GRANITE MINING
Andrie Loubser reported as follows: “The development so far. The department of Minerals and Energy have still not responded to the questions of 50/50. The program or parts thereof are going to be used on "Kyknet" (I do not know where that program is) Any publicity is good publicity. Officials from the department came to see me, this coming Friday, 2 weeks ago and next week officials from head office are coming to see me. They are doing, as far as I am concerned, damage control and rightly so. After 8 years of uncontrolled environmental devastation someone has to wake up and do their job.
The pictures taken from the air with the aid of The Bateleurs, was the right thing to do. Thank you once again. Andrie.“
50/50 has been following this catastrophe up and it seems they have been fairly successful in reaching the Department of Mineral and Energy and have been reporting regularly on their progress since Bateleur pilot Mark Moses flew them in James Hersov’s plane, for the very impressive programme they produced. | EIGHT CAPE GRIFFON VULTURES TO NAMIBIA
Corporate Members, Air Namibia, Jonen Freight and Airline Cargo Resources once again flew the eight Cape Griffon Vultures from De Wildt to Windhoek in Namibia on Saturday 07 August 2004. The vultures arrived in good health and were taken up to REST. This now puts the number of Cape Griffon Vultures we have helped relocate to sixteen. A big thank you to our corporate sponsors on behalf of REST and The Bateleurs. | GARDEN ROUTE
We once again received a request from David Rogers of Africa Geographic to fly over the Garden Route with the objective to view the threats posed to it by development.
David wrote, “On behalf of Africa Geographic magazine, I would like to say thanks for arranging my flight above the Garden Route.
A brief account ...
On Saturday 7 August pilot Dr Brendan Tindall, working as a pilot for African Rambles, flew me for two hours and about 30 minutes between Tsitsikamma and George. Not only was it an extraordinary flight from a photographic point of view (I shot nine rolls!) but it also gave me an awesome perspective of the nature of the threats such as golf courses, urban developments, etc. which will be most useful in my editorial.
Mark Andrews, who is the owner of African Rambles, was unfortunately unavailable to fly me that weekend, but I am very grateful that he was able to put me in touch with Brendan Tindall and also provide use of his Cessna 6. Brendan is a highly experienced vet with years of experience working in Etosha. He is now doing a lot of game capture work in the Eastern Cape, has his own aircraft and with his flying and other skills would certainly also be a credit to your organisation. “
We have in the meantime recruited Brendan Tindall as well as Mark Andrews!
Also see Africa Geographic October 2004 for David Rogers’ article on the Cape Floristic Region in which The Bateleurs are credited. | MAGQUBU NTOMBELA
 The Bateleurs flew to enable a film to document the acceptance of the Shembe Church by the local communities as part of the on-going support provided by Magqubu Ntombela Foundation and also to get footage ...
CLICK HERE | MICROLIGHT GAME CENSUSES FOR THE EASTERN SHORES
We attach a short report from Ricky Taylor, Ecologist for the coastal sections of the Greater St Lucia Wetland Park, on the game census mission. A more detailed report will follow in our next newsletter. We thank Bateleur pilot Donovan Barton-Hobbs for flying the three different flight issues. Microlight game censuses for the Eastern Shores Progress report.
We have now done two days of counting (6 and 10 June 2004) where Donovan Barton-Hobbs has been the pilot and the observers have been Ricky Taylor and Chantal Dickson.
The weather on the first day was not particularly good as it was gusty. On the second day it was perfect – calm and clear.
The counting is going well – and large numbers of game animals have been seen. The data are being recorded as numbers of animals per counting block – so that densities of animals in different habitats and different areas can be obtained.
We now will have a short break before finishing this mission. We still need another day of counting (one aircraft). This will cover the wilderness area north of where we have been counting to date. This we plan to do near the end of the month.
We acknowledge The Bateleurs for making this count possible, and especially Donovan’s competent flying. | RELOCATION OF TWO CHINESE TIGERS
 The South China Tiger or Chinese tiger (Panthera tigris amoyensis) is recognised as a highly endangered subspecies, and the most endangered of the remaining five living subspecies of tigers. Only 60 ...
CLICK HERE | SOUTHERN CAPE COAST INTRUSIONS
Pilot Peter Berning flew his first Bateleur mission on 20 July 2004.
He flew John Yeld, environmental journalist at the Argus, over various, existing, developing and proposed golf courses and polo fields ...
CLICK HERE | WORKING FOR WATER - CROCODILE RIVER MISSION
 Mariam Dickinson of the Department of Water Affairs and Forestry, Working For Water Programme requested a flight over the Crocodile River from Muldersdrift area up to the Botswana Border, the Roodeplaat ...
CLICK HERE | WORKING FOR WETLANDS - MOLOPO MISSION
Piet Louis Grundling of Working for Wetlands reported on the mission flown on 15 August 2004:The flight was very successful and adventurous! We had a meeting with North West Park a week after the flight ...
CLICK HERE | |
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