Born Free Foundation - Keep Wildlife in the Wild

Boundary Demarcation (April 22)

The boundary demarcation on Wednesday was a story in itself. I started out at 8am with Tilahun, who we employ to care for the cheetah, Sheba, in the Presidential Palace. Tilahun had whittled a stack of Eucalyptus stakes.

On our way out of Addis we collected the GIS expert from the Regional Government of Oromiya, Land and Environmental Protection Office. Next collection was Bereket the Born Free Construction Supervisor.

For the past two years, until the land title was finally agreed, Born Free Foundation has been renting a car from the Ethiopian Wolf Conservation Programme (EWCP).  Unfortunately, since this had to be returned to the EWCP in early 2009, I have been renting a Toyota Corolla! Today was an example of how I have worked the car. Laden with passengers and a trunk full of stakes, sledge hammer, machete, yellow paint and water bottles the rear shock absorbers barely kept the body of the car off the chassis.

The centre of Addis is always crowded with a mass of traffic (most vehicles spewing out clouds of exhaust fumes) and a multitude of people. However, once through the centre it only takes 25 minutes to drive to the site on a new road constructed with the assistance of the Chinese Government. We drove two kilometres past the site to the small town of Holeta. This is the headquarters for the local administration where we met with the Administrator and discussed the staff he had delegated to help with the demarcation. Since Holeta administration had no vehicle available, for the next two hours I then shuttled back and forward to the site dropping off Holeta representatives from Human Resources, Security, Land Bureau and local guards.

Finally, at 11am our party of 12 was ready and we set off in the blazing sun. To their credit all the Government representatives helped carry the stakes, paint, water and tools.

Each boundary point was identified and a stake driven into the ground or at some points an ‘X’ painted onto an old tree stump or rock. Each marker was then recorded with a GPS waypoint. The site boundary has no path and in places is steep with thick undergrowth that had to be cleared.

One of the main advantages of the selected site is that it has been used by a Government Ministry for many years, so there is no complication for land use rights. During the demarcation process, two of the four farmers who use small areas of land bordering the site for crops or grazing, joined the group and asked the Government staff questions in the local Oromifa dialect. The Government staff explained the Wildlife Centre project and boundary. In two places the local farmers had started to cultivate land within the site boundary. The farmers apologised and were delighted to learn the Centre would not be a flower farm. Flower farming is one of the new agricultural favourites in Ethiopia with rows of polytunnels springing up to the west and south of Addis Ababa to be within easy reach of the airport and the European markets. Although flower farming provides much needed employment, the farmers told us that they take too much water and often bring in labour from outside the community. The farmers were pleased to learn that the Wildlife Centre would look to employ the local community where possible as well as utilising their goods and services. The Centre will have a café that will buy local vegetables and bread.

The site boundary is 5.7 kilometres long (3.5 miles) and the demarcation took 4 ½ hours. I suspect carrying stakes up and down in the midday sun at 2,500 metres (7,500 feet) was rather more exercise than most of the Government representatives had taken in a while!

If you think you can help or would like more information please contact Andrina at andrina@bornfree.org.uk

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