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Evidence of a decline in the range of elephants is provided by the survey carried out by Viljoen in 1982. The map in fig. 31 is somewhat misleading as all survey blocks in which elephants were seen are shaded even though elephants were unlikely to have been spread throughout the blocks. However, the occurrence of carcasses (cross-hatched areas) in areas where elephants are no longer found indicates a decrease in the range. Since the 1980s, the elephant counts have shown a consistent increase in the population (Fig. 32).

The study sites are covered systematically, by tracking their spoor and setting out bait, to capture and mark all individual leopards and lions. Study animals are immobilised following standard procedures described by our earlier studies and conform to international veterinary standards. All leopards and 80% of lions are radio collared and lions are marked with permanent hot brands. The age of lions and leopards are determined from tooth wear. Radio-collared animals are located with the use of a fixed-wing aircraft.

Etosha National Park has a long history of aerial game counts, the first experimental counts being conducted in the late 1960's. Only in the late 1980's were systematic sample counts introduced. A big advance in the actual procedure and analysis was made with the introduction of GPS and GIS software used since 1995. The 2000 census is the third census flown based on GPS transects and were GPS waypoints were recorded for sightings made.

Protected and proclaimed areas in the Caprivi, Namibia, hold most of the economically valuable wildlife species in that region. This wildlife is presently being viewed as a potential resource base to support the many community-based conservation and development programmes in the Caprivi.

Aerial census of west Etosha May 1986.

2nd total aerial census of Etosha National Park using a helicopter and fixed wing aircraft.

Modern faunal communities in South West Africa/Namibia - A census of mammals in 16 districts in South West Africa/Namibia was undertaken by Joubert and Mostert. These were distributed in northern, central, and southern S.W.A., and varied in area from approximately 20 000 to 60 000 km². Despite the uncertainties and limitations of this census, the data provide useful information on distribution patterns, relative abundances and species diversity.

Aerial Survey of Bushmanland 9-17 June 1980.

March 1979 aerial census in the Etosha National Park.

Altogether 240 563 tourists visited the Administration's game reserves and resorts during 1979, in comparison to 319 785 during 1978, which was a record year. The decrease of 79 222 visitors (24, 7%) can be attributed to the political and fuel situation. These factors especially affected visitors from the R. S. Ambers decreased from 112 110 in 1978 to 55 479 in 1979, which represents a decrease of 51%. There was a decrease of 12% in visitors from S. W. A. and 6% in visitors from overseas.

September 1978 aerial census in the Etosha National Park with the aid of a helicopter and fixed wing aircraft.

The 319 510 tourists who visited the administration's game reserves and resorts during the year made 1978 a record year. The highest previous figure was in 1975, namely 314 218 tourists. In comparison with 1977 the number of tourists from Southwest Africa decreased by 2 208, while the number of tourists from the Republic and overseas increased by 25 389 and 9 639 respectively. Day visitors decreased by 13 966, whereas overnight visitors increased by 46 776.

Nature conservation and Tourism: Introduction - Despite the many factors which are restricting tourism world-wide 286 700 tourists visited the Administration game reserves and resorts in the course of 1977 as compared to 265 633 during 1976. Structurally, tourist and spending patterns have changed and the number of visitors to South West Africa from outside the Territory increased by approximately 8 909 as compared to the number of visitors for 1976. In the nature conservation field there has been marked progress.