Tuesday 8th May 2001
Locating fuel for the trip was very difficult, and we were eventually helped by a kind businessman that sold us sufficient fuel to get there. I had discovered that Charara had some 3000 litres in their underground tanks, but when we asked them for 200 litres to enable us to do the anti poaching patrol it was refused. We did however manage to get fuel by getting various Charara residents on the telephone and get them to collect 25 litres, which is the daily ration, until we had sourced about 250 litres.
It is appreciated that they do have functions coming up but it was very disappointing that this was the second time that they had sufficient reserve, but would not supply ANY fuel for such an effort.
The cooperation from this body (NAUZ) is sorely lacking, seeing as the efforts on fish poaching possibly benefit their members the most.
We were thus quite late in leaving and consequently only arrived late in the evening, and still had to make many preparations for leaving early the following morning for Tashinga.

Wednesday 9th May 2001
We managed to get the last of the fuel required in the morning, and the diesel was delivered to the houseboat, together with all the other items required. We managed to leave the harbour at about 10.30am and made Tashinga at about 4.00 pm.
We left the houseboat prior to it going into the Umi, and went to the Parks Camp where we had a meeting with the warden, to finalise the arrangements for the rangers for the next morning.
We also found out that the previously requested inventory of all equipment and boats had been done on the 1st April and had been sent to National Parks Kariba with instructions for it to be sent on to us, but this was not done, whether the hold up is in Kariba or in Chinhoyi we are not aware but the fact remains that it was six weeks later before we got hold of a copy of this inventory.
It had been previously arranged that we would supply fibre glass resin, cloth etc to enable temporary repairs to be carried out on one or two of their boats and then they could be ferried across to Kariba by some means, and this was supplied to the warden in the hopes that these could be done early in the morning such that we would be able to tow the boats behind the houseboat back to Kariba. This however was not to be, as will be explained later.
After a worthwhile discussions with the warden, and a look around at what motors and boats were in his workshops etc, we returned to the houseboat to prepare for the following morning, having arranged to collect three motors, (100 hp Evinrude and 2 x 25 hp Yamahas) to be sent to Harare for repairs, after the patrol in the morning.

Thursday 10th May 2001
We collected 4 rangers as arranged, at 3.00 am and proceeded down the Umi river past Tiger Bay, where we decided to lay in ambush for the poachers as they were reported to go in and out each night. This turned out to be incorrect and by around 05.30 we had waited in vain and decided to go down the rivers and patrol.
We had gone some two or three kilometres further down river when we saw movement on the side of one of the islands , and we proceeded to go there at full speed in order to try and ensure that they did not get too far, while the second boat proceeded round the other side of the island to stop any retreat with any escape plans they may have had. (Click here for Map)
We were on them fairly quickly but they seemed surprised at the presence of Parks, but they still ran off into the bush on the island. Eventually they all came out of the bush and gave themselves up as they had nowhere to go and could not get off the island.
There were four small boats, (One 10ft Sport, one cooperative type metal boat and two other small metal boats that appeared to be home made).
We had obviously arrived just as they were unloading their nets, as there was quite a lot of freshly caught fish on the bank that they had just started to cut up, and some nets still had fish in them.
Whilst the Rangers were rounding up the poachers, (8 of them) we looked around and found several caches of fish under the trees that were quite large and were pleased that we had found quite a lot of fish. In the end we found fish stacked and packed in many different places, and it ended up being quite a few tonnes.(Estimated between 5 and 6 tonnes of fish).
There was a 6 to 8 cubic foot metal cold box on the bank, with ice that had not melted much, and so it had obviously only been supplied possible the day before. This could not have been transported there on the small boats, as it was simply too big to put in one of the boats and then paddle it some five or six kilometres into the river without being seen, and thus this leads to the conclusion that there is a larger vessel that is collecting the fish and supplying the poachers.
Once the enormity of the fish and goods to be collected was established, it was decided to call for help from National Parks with another boat, and consequently radioed for the second in charge to come with the boat, and see what had been found. They sent out a Sportster but advised that they would need fuel to return, which we agreed to supply them.
We searched the island and found the main camp on the top of the island not far from where the boats were moored, and the trees around the camp were covered in roe, from the Tiger that they had caught. The Tiger were still spawning up the Umi and many were of quite some size (6 to 8.5 kg). The catch was mainly Hunyani Salmon with Bream, Tiger and a few Bottlenose and Cornish Jack. Needless to say there were many squeakers and a few Barbel also.
Whilst the camp was being rounded up and all the goods collected, the second boat went down the river further to see if there were any more poachers around, as the poachers had been heard to say that someone had stolen some of their salt, and this leads to the conclusion that there were others in the river. This however proved to be fruitless as they had more than likely heard the earlier warning shots, and taken note that something was going on and gone into cover.
It was then decided to load as much of the fish onto the first Task Force boat as we could, and start getting it back to the NP camp, and then if necessary return to collect more.
The first boat left with one Parks member aboard, and left the other rangers, and second Task Force Boat, to finish cleaning up and await the Parks Boat arrival.
The Boat returning to NP was so loaded it could not even get on the plane, even with a 115 hp motor, and consequently took a long time to get back to the NP camp. On the way back it met the Parks boat (that had the coxswain in, who was supposed to be doing the fibreglass repairs) and advised them where to find the poachers camp and advised that they would return with fuel for them. The fish was consequently offloaded at the NP camp and loaded into a Truck, and then refuelled and went back to meet the other boats, which by now had just come around the corner by Tiger Bay towing the four boats and with the eight poachers.
Each poacher was fined $1000.00, plus $5 000.00 per boat in order to recover their boats, and it was found that they were commercial fisherman who should be at the fishing camp near Bumi, but find the fishing in Umi more lucrative as they generate around $30 000.00 each per trip, and they had only been there for three days and would have come out the following night.
The fish confiscated would have had a sale value of around $250 000.00, and shows what kind of money that these guys are making tax free.
With their having been no boat patrols down the Umi, on any sort of regular basis, one can imagine how the populations of fish have been decimated in the last season alone, if eight guys in three days can catch five or six tonnes in the end of the breeding season. The figures must be astonishing and shocking.
Having delivered all the items to Parks, the houseboat left whilst Task Force members went to the main Camp and collected the engines and loaded them on to the houseboat and proceeded to the Sanyati Gorge.
In all Tashinga were issued 40 litres of fuel at this time.

Friday 11th May 2001
At 5.00 am 2 National Parks rangers were collected and we proceeded with one ranger in each boat to patrol the Gorge, and we went straight down to the end of the gorge to start with, as this is the most popular area as it is more easily accessible from the bank.
Spoor was found on one of the sandbars right down the bottom, and it could be seen where they had been laying their nets but there was no sign of the poachers themselves.
On the way out one of the Task force boats ran into a net but it was not recovered as it sank after being tangled in the motors propeller.
The second boat had stopped earlier and turned round looking for signs on the bank, and found two boats under the water, which were removed to the deeper water and sank.
A little further on they found the first net tied to a tree under the water, and this is when the first poachers were found. Despite warning shots being fired the poachers still escaped up the mountain into the bush, and despite dogged attempts by the rangers could not be caught, and the bag of fish was eventually recovered. The first net turned out to be several nets (7) connected together criss crossing the gorge, and quite far under the water.
A further boat was found sunk under the water near the camp, and this was also pulled out into deeper water and sunk. The camp was destroyed and everything taken away, leaving the poachers to walk home over the mountains.
It has become apparent that the poachers are now very aware of the patrols and are going back to their old tricks of hiding the nets and boats under the water, and also making their camps much higher on the slopes. Fires are put out early in the morning before daylight, and no smoke can be seen by people looking.
It was obvious that these poachers had seen us go past in the morning, and we had driven straight over their nets, and they had not shown any sign of their presence, and no doubt any others had melted away into the bush and up the mountains.
After trying to drag for nets we then proceeded to the Second crossroads and found an abandoned camp , and spoor that was about two days old. We did find six boats here hidden under the water , and these were removed and sunk in the main Gorge. The previously destroyed camp had not been rebuilt, it appears that they have now moved further up the crossroad. There was nothing left to destroy but a small cache of paddles and bailers etc was found and recovered.
The first crossroads was also checked but no evidence of any poachers was found.
The Task force then called it a day and returned the rangers to their camp with about 25 kgs of the fish recovered from the one camp found.
The gorge has been patrolled in between the last time the Task force did a patrol and consequently the poaching has taken a downturn, and also probably because the main spawning season is over and the returns are not that lucrative at present.
No doubt there will be resurgence once the rains start again in September/October.
The Task Force then proceeded back to Kariba as we had insufficient fuel to do the patrols in the Gache Gache and the Naodza rivers.
Whilst in Charara on Friday evening, 5 Kapenta rigs could be seen dragging their nets around the bush line near Wild Heritage lodges, and in the deeper channels around there. It was found that the rigs were apparently from a company known as Prime Fisheries, and are often in the Charara bay even as far down as Vundu Vay Island and the Banana Farm, with impunity.
It was subsequently learnt that when DNPW were checking and fining these rigs a couple of weeks prior, one had tried to run over the NP boat, and consequently in effort to get the driver to stop his attempt at killing the Parks staff, shots were eventually fired into one of the pontoons of the rig. This did stop the attempted running over, but it appears that the Deputy Warden of Kariba has now been charged with attempted murder, and they are awaiting a response from the Attorney General in regard to these charges. From other information gathered it appears that particular rig had been condemned and was unsafe for use, and should not have been on the water anyway, never mind fishing in a restricted area.
The boat had subsequently arrived in Kariba from Tashinga on Thursday afternoon, and contact was made with Parks to check that it had been loaded onto a this serviceable trailer, and it was found that even by Friday evening nothing had been done and the boat was still sitting in the water at Peters Point. Arrangements were made with Deputy Warden to have this boat taken out and put onto a serviceable trailer to get it back to Harare. We were assured that this would be done by 07.30 the following morning. We were also informed that the coxswain that had brought the boat across from Tashinga was unable to return as he had no fuel to get back. We consequently arranged to take him a further 25 litres of fuel.

Saturday 12th May 2001
First thing in the morning we managed to source 25 litres of fuel for the Tashinga coxswain and then went to attend the Charara Ratepayers Association meeting to keep them in the picture of what the ZCTF was about and what had been achieved thus far. After a very good meeting in which they expressed their concern in regard to the poaching both on land and in the water, we proceeded to go and collect the boat from Peters Point.
We found the Warden present and asked about the boat. We were advised that it was in the DDF Harbour area and on a trailer. The trailer would not have made it up the hill as the wheels were about to fall off, and the trailer did not have a ball hitch, and consequently we had to change and reload it ourselves with the help of the Tashinga Coxswain and one member from Kariba.
The coxswain also required even more fuel as he would not make it back to Tashinga on the 25 litres we had supplied. We arranged that Kariba NP supply him with a further 40 litres to enable him to return to Tashinga and we would arrange the replacement of the fuel during the next week, possibly Tuesday.
We also checked out the first new motor that had been mounted on the Sportster for Tashinga, and noted that no Rev Counters had been supplied with the motors. We advised the Coxswain on the way to run in the motor for the first hour, and cautioned him on the checks etc that should be carried out on the motors at all times, and that the boat should not remain in the water for extended periods and the motor left down in the water.
He had been advised to take this boat back to Tashinga but there were no sources of oil for him to fill up the tanks etc and thus it would only be taken back the following week.
We collected some damaged propellers for repair in Harare, and then left for Harare.