The Foreign Service Journal, September 2003

representative who had devel- oped the system’s technical specifications had departed Chad and was not available to oversee radio installation at the Zakouma Park. With no firm date of arrival for his replacement, I, as the embassy’s Information Program Officer, volunteered to install the radio system and connect the solar panels. In February 2001, another embassy officer, Carl Paschall, and I traveled through the desert for two days, sleeping under the stars. After arriving in Zakouma, we set up a solar power system to power the network. Then we installed the base station, repeater and antenna. We demonstrated to park personnel how to mount the mobile radios into vehicles and how to convert a mobile unit into a base station in the field. Once the system was operational, I gave an introductory course to a handful of park guards on the correct use of the hand- held units, and a more detailed explanation on base sta- tion operations to local park personnel. The new radio system provides two-way communica- tion across a distance of 130 kilometers, and allows the park’s 81 guards assigned to Zakouma and five other sites to communicate with each other as they move around in the reserve. Now, when the park’s roving trackers, who go out on horseback for weeks at a time, sight poachers, they can call in to have an armed team sent to the spot via the park’s only jeep. Two days prior to installation of the radios, a giraffe had been killed by poachers less than 10 kilometers (six miles) from Zakouma. The incident was typical of the sporadic poaching that occurs on the game reserve. Giraffes and antelope are killed for their meat, and ele- phants are poached for their ivory. Following success- ful activation of the radio system, however, not one incident of poaching has been reported. It Made a Difference The Zakouma Park personnel were pleased with the performance of the radios and delighted by the dissuasive effect the system had on potential poachers. They point- ed out that use of the radios became a well-known fact among the surrounding villages as soon as they were put into operation, and that the absence of poaching inci- dents, which followed installation of the radio system, was no coincidence. Indeed, months later, when the radio system stopped functioning due to a technical problem, poaching resumed within days. Over the next several months seven elephants and as many giraffes were killed before the sys- tem was repaired and operating again. Despite recurrent problems with poachers, Zakouma National Park has been able to gradually replenish previously declining wildlife populations, including that of the African elephant. The elephant population is currently estimated at between 1,500 to 2,000 individuals. ■ F O C U S 54 F O R E I G N S E R V I C E J O U R N A L / S E P T E M B E R 2 0 0 3 Joe Cole is an Information Programs Officer at the Consulate General in Istanbul. He was previously posted to N’Djamena, where he was involved in the Zakouma National Park project. Right: A Zakouma Guard captain talking to a village elder 70 kilo- meters away on the new radio system. Left: Carl Paschall and Joe Cole installing the cabling for the radio system antenna.