Annual medical & sanitary report for the year ended.

  • Nyasaland. Medical and Sanitary Services
Date:
[1938]
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Annual medical & sanitary report for the year ended. Source: Wellcome Collection.

    44/74 page 42
    17. The improvement in the situation is therefore very definite and is confirmed by the re-introduction of stock that is now taking place, having been impossible owing to fly for many years. According to figures supplied by the District Commissioner there were over 200 head in Makanjilas area in 1934 when the last census was taken and according to my own rough estimate there must now be at least 500 head between Kajuru and Makanjila in small herds of ten to fifteen. There seemed to be very little game remaining in the area: what there was being che dambo- frequenting species reedbuck and oribi. 18. The only recommendation I have now made, apart from stressing the need for continued development, particularly in the neighbourhood of Patsanjoka, is that the elimination of the game might be speeded up by the suspension of the operation of the Game Laws, from the Lintipe south to the Nkhumbeleza “the limit of good soil” as defined by the Manager of the Empire Cotton Growing Corporation, north of which is the recently constituted Kota-Kota Game Reserve. B. Survey in Kasungu District. 19. The second survey, that in the Kasungu District, was undertaken for the purpose of ascertaining what is the real position as regards fly on the Kasungu Plain, for, according to the report of the District Commissioner for 1937, “ there seems reason to believe that forest preservation and protection is resulting in the spread of tsetse-fly in the district. Residents who have been in the district for a considerable number of years have observed the gradual disappearance of cattle from the area round Kasungu. Long ago this area was very bare and supported a number of cattle, but in recent years there has been considerable forest regene¬ ration and presumably as the result the fly has gradually advanced nearer Kasungu.” 20. Before proceeding on my survey I took occasion to see the Native Authority, Mwase, who spoke of the gradual reversion of the pasturage to bush and expressed the opinion, which he said vTas shared by his people, that of recent years tsetses had spread across the plain from the reserve in consequence of the movement of the game out of it, buffalo in particular and that there had been very serious losses in cattle, 500 in the course of the last three years and many more previously, leaving a present total of about 500 head only. 21. According to figures supplied by the Chief Veterinary Officer, the cattle in the Kasungu District (most of which are on the plain,) had dwindled from 3,635 in 1927 to 1,687 in 1936; the outcome, presumably of trypanosomiasis, since a recent report by his department refers to the widespread incidence of trypanosomiasis among the survivors. 22. The Kasungu Plain borders the Forest Reserve which is also a Game Reserve that was constituted in 1922 not only for the purpose of affording sanctuary to the game but as a region in which, for the time being at all events, fly would be secure from the disturbing influences that may have had some effect, in accelerating the widespread movement southwards that had been taking place over a considerable number of years. There then seemed to be little likelihood of the insects spreading on to the plain, for it was for the most part destitute of trees of any size and there seemed to be cattle enough to maintain the pasturage, though even then some reafforestation was taking place, particularly to the northwest from which the population had been withdrawn in 1923. 23. In the course of the survey I found fly, in accordance with expectation, in considerable numbers within the game reserve. I took them, furthermore, outlying from the reserve, though in no great numbers, in several localities on the plain as far distant from the reserve as six or seven miles. There was abundant evidence, also, of the existence of game, buffalo in particular, at a still greater distance from it, elephant having indeed crossed the mainroad twelve miles distant while I was in the vicinity. 24 The factors that have conduced to the presence of fly on the plain would seem to be:— 1. The gradual reversion of the open country to bush sufficient to provide shade conditions for the flies. The fundamental cause for this has been in all probability the gradual depopulation of the plain that has taken place since the advent of British rule, prior to which a large community of Achewa now scattered were banded together on the plain for the purpose of defence. The process of afforestation is necessarily being a very slow one from the poor quality of the soil. 2. The existence of the larger wild mammalia.
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