08/06/2020
KAZUMA PAN NATIONAL PARK
I took a trip out to Kazuma ( thanks to the assistance of Nigel Thiesen here) to meet the new ecologist, a young and keen Mukulul Ndlovu, We went around Kazuma together, which gave us the opportunity to look at all aspects from game water, roads, fire program, to hides, etc.
On the pumps, Eland Pan and Corner Pan were doing well, but Roan Pan had a broken pipe.
Craig Gobey, of Kalahari Sand Drilling, very kindly offered to blow out the second borehole at the Corner Pan, which we drilled in 2019 but which had the top broken by elephants and then filled with sand so we could not get a pump down when we tried to install one. Craig has a unique rig which is tractor mounted. We thus went out to Kazuma and blew all the sand out the hole. A big thanks to Craig for this very generous effort - much appreciated.
After cleaning the hole, my team installed a pump and connect all the wiring and piping, and we now have a second pump supplying water to the pan. The team also cleared under the other pumps for fire protection, secured the solar panels and well heads, and generally tidied up.
The unique tractor mounted rig blowing out the hole at Corner Pan No 2
