Mara Triangle

Yesterday there was a meeting held at Oloololo between the local community and the Conservancy. Sarisa our Administrator was present and reports on the meeting:

Community Members at Oloololo

There were two meetings, the first involving a meeting with the local women, and then a second which was with the men only.

The meeting was opened in attendence with the community and the CEO of Mara Conservancy, the Warden of Oloololo, the Sergeant of Community and the Administrator.

The women lead the meeting , and first gave thanks:

1. They wanted to thank and show their appreciation of the work of the CEO in conjunction with Dr Cheryl with the issue of the cultural bomas.
2. They also appreciated the good working relationship between the Conservancy and the Community.
3. They also appreciated our assistance and us allowing them to collect water from Oloololo Gate.

They then made the following requests:

1. To be given the chance to sell curios and souvenirs at Oloololo Gate.
2. To be helped in the marketing of their items.
3. A request was made to continue with the collection of water from Oloololo, especially now during this dry period.
4. They also wanted the Conservancy to support them in approaching the lodges and camps in and around the Triangle, to see if they could sell their curios and souvenirs in the camp/lodge shops.

The CEO made the following replies:

1. He agreed for William to meet and help the women in terms of marketing and also the building of a website for the Cultural Villages.
2. He also agree that whenever possible, for example when the Conservancy vehicle goes to the community to collect milk for the eland, that it will also carry jerry cans of water for the community.
3. Pertaining the use of Oloololo Gate to sell souvenirs, the CEO said that instead the Conservancy will help the community to better promote the Cultural Village Visit to visitors of the Mara Triangle.
4. The CEO agreed that the Conservancy would help the community approach lodges and camps to sell their curios.

The women were then given transport back to the manyattas and then began the meeting with the men.

Chief Kipas stands to talk. 

It was a very long meeting, with almost 20 men. The men started the meeting and began by thanking the Conservancy:

1. They thanked the Conservancy for the improved security of the area, mostly on curbing Cattle Rustling along the escarpment.
2. They also thanked the conservancy for the close collaboration we’ve had with the community.
3. On cattle compensation they really recognise that it was the Conservancy that first came up with the idea after seeing that it was a real problem. They wanted to express how much they understood the situation after the meetings held with Kimojino and William, and would continue to support us through these difficult times.
4. They also recognised the employment of the community scouts within their areas, and the importance of their radios in terms of communication, in particular with poaching and cattle rustling.

The men then made the following requests:

1. They requested for cattle to graze along the bottom of the escarpment, inside the park, and use the streams available at the bottom of the escarpment. There are no water points up on the escarpment, especially now in the dry season.
2. They requested for payment of the outstanding balances for the cattle compensation scheme which still exist when the scheme was stopped in January.
3. They requested an additional community scout to help Charlie 1 (Tarakwa based at Partakila) because there is a large area between charlie 1 and charlie 2, and so no communication (radio).
4. They also requested a review of prices for cattle compensation - they say that the price of cattle is going up and so they asked that the amount compensated also goes up.
5. They also mention that since we are working in collaboration with the community they request that a holding cell is set up at Oloololo for community members that break park rules (eg. cattle grazing inside the park). They also said that they agreed to the Conservancy’s request to form a committee for the Community to work with the Conservancy.  They also requested that they consult their fellow community members and come up with a standard fine for defaulters of the park laws, and that they all agree on a fine which will be paid by the defaulter and then he can be releaed from the cell.

Answers given by the CEO:

1. The CEO thanked the community for listening to them when they were informed that the compensation scheme was no longer able to continue due to the collapse in tourism during the month of January.
2. The CEO also recognised the importance of the community and was thankful for the close collaboration, and indeed the committee as one of the ways of working with the community - having people who link the community and the conservancy.
3. He also agreed on the request for an extra community scout to be deployed with a radio to help Charlie 1 and Charlie 2. He asked for three men to be suggested by the community for this position, and then the conservancy would decide on one of the candidates.
4. The CEO told the community that unless the county council change the rules, he could not let livestock graze inside the park. The Mara Conservancy is managing the area on behalf of the council as a custodian to implement the rules set by them, we do not have the authority to change park rules.
5. The CEO also informed the community that there will be a seminar of selected community members who will be taken to pilot areas in Amboseli and Laikipia, to see other cattle compensation schemes in place and to learn how to construct better protected bomas. The responses were well received by the community.
6. The CEO also informed them that as soon as funds are available the cattle compensation scheme will recommence. Pertaining the prices, it will be agreed on when the scheme is able to recommence, but he insisted that prices should be according to the local market.

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Click here for eye feast.

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Kortom tells me that another poacher was caught yesterday by our rangers at Kokakuria in Serengeti. Rangers found two new snares, made the arrest, and then found a further five - collecting seven snares in total. The man was also carrying a sword and a spear.

Please consider making a monthly donation to the Conservancy so that our work can continue for the rest of the year.

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Late Friday afternoon rangers from Ngiro-are outpost reported that they had seen a young, bull elephant with a snare caught around his right, hind leg. KWS were called on Saturday morning and were fortunately in the area and so were able to come to the Triangle immediately.

Dominic from KWS treats elephant.

It was also fortunate that the wire snare had not yet cut through to the bone, just the outside tissue.

Wire Snare caught around hind leg. 

The elephant was darted at 10:30 am and fell down at 10:34. The procedure was started at 10:35 and then by 10:40 the snare was removed. The elephant was given an injection to wake up and was standing by 10:45.

10:45. Elephant wakes after procedure.

A very impressive operation carried out by KWS, and we commend them for such an excellent job. Once the elephant woke he was even walking without a limp.

Ngiro-are rangers yesterday reported seeing the bull elephant at 4pm and said that his condition was good and he was still walking fine. They will continue to check on his progress.

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The six poachers and Warden Kortom

Warden Kortom is next to me. He and his men have just come back from patrol with six poachers. Here is his report on the happenings:

Early in the morning, at around 6:30am rangers from Serena, Ngiro-are and Mara Bridge went to patrol Balangoga near Sunni Lugga where the many wildebeest have been passing and not far from where rangers caught the three poachers yesterday.

Rangers patrolled the area for two and a half hours, and came across three wire snares, one wildebeest, still alive, caught by a snare, and one already dead, and the third around the tree, without an animal. We also came across a huge male elephant, that we think died 3-4 days ago but it looks like natural causes. We called the Tanzanian rangers to come and remove the ivory tusks. 

We then caught six poachers near Balangoga river with 15 wire snares. They had arrived in the morning today, after travelling the whole night, and so it is fortunate we caught them early as not one animal had yet been snared by the men.  The men were carrying bhangi, one spear, one sword, three bows with three poisoned arrows, and cooking utensils. The men will shortly be taken to Tanzania for prosecution by the courts there.

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Questionnaire #2

Village:

Level of Education: Not educated

Marital Status: Married

Tribe:                                     Age: 49

1. What wildlife species do you mostly hunt?

Wildebeest and Thomson Gazelles

2. How often do you hunt?

Weekly

3. What are the reasons for you to hunt?

Protein source, income, and lack of food at home.

4. Who are your main customers?

People in the village.

5. What is your mode of selling bushmeat?

House to house.

6.  Which specific areas do you sell bush meat?

7. Which season do you mostly prefer to hunt?

Dry Season (June - November)

8. What time do you prefer to hunt?

Night.

9. How has the hunt and success rate change over the past five years.

Difficult, and less successful.

10. What happens when you’re caught?

Taken to court.

11. What tools do you commonly use for hunting?

Bow & Arrow, Dogs, Snares and Spears.

12. How do you transport bushmeat from hunting site to the village?

Using head.

13. How much do you sell a kilogram of bushmeat?

200 Kenyan Shillings (US $3.30)

14. Please name the places that illegal hunting for bushmeat occurs?

15. What health implications have you known related to bushmeat consumption?

Stomach complications and Malaria complications.

16. Are there any wildlife conservation awareness programs in your area?

Yes.

17. If yes, how often.

Quarterly

18. Have you ever been arrested?

No.

19. If yes, how many times?

N/a

20.  Do you have other sources of income?

No.

21. If yes, what is your major source of income?

22. What do you think are the alternatives to the hunting for bushmeat?

Doing business at home, looking for employment, doing farming at home. 

Questionnaire #3
Village:

Level of Education: Class 1 (up to 4 yrs old)

Marital Status: Married

Tribe:                                     Age: 35

1. What wildlife species do you mostly hunt?

Wildebeest

2. How often do you hunt?

Not often.

3. What are the reasons for you to hunt?

Income.

4. Who are your main customers?

People in the village.

5. What is your mode of selling bushmeat?

House to house.

6.  Which specific areas do you sell bush meat?

7. Which season do you mostly prefer to hunt?

Migration period of the wildebeest.

8. What time do you prefer to hunt?

Day and Night.

9. How has the hunt and success rate change over the past five years.

Difficult, and less successful.

10. What happens when you’re caught?

Taken to court.

11. What tools do you commonly use for hunting?

Snares and Spears.

12. How do you transport bushmeat from hunting site to the village?

By use of pundas (donkey).

13. How much do you sell a kilogram of bushmeat?

500 Kenyan Shillings (US $8)

14. Please name the places that illegal hunting for bushmeat occurs?

15. What health implications have you known related to bushmeat consumption?

Doesn’t provide good health, not good for stomach.

16. Are there any wildlife conservation awareness programs in your area?

No.

17. If yes, how often.

N/a

18. Have you ever been arrested?

No.

19. If yes, how many times?

N/a

20.  Do you have other sources of income?

Yes.

21. If yes, what is your major source of income?

Mineral mining and crop (maize) farming.

22. What do you think are the alternatives to the hunting for bushmeat?

Crop Farming.

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The three poachers arrested this afternoon.

As those who have been following the twitter updates know, rangers this morning arrested three poachers near Sand River. The poachers had killed a total of six wildebeest.

In our office we have some questionnaires that were left for us by a student at the college of African Wildlife Management in Mweka, Tanzania, which were to be filled in by poachers arrested by our rangers.

Some of you on twitter showed interest in the answers and so we have published the questionnaires so you can find out more. For confidentiality purposes we have left out some of the answers.

Village:

Level of Education: Standard 7 (up to age 16)

Marital Status: Single

Tribe:                                     Age: 16

1. What wildlife species do you mostly hunt?

Wildebeests

2. How often do you hunt?

One time hunter.

3. What are the reasons for you to hunt?

Income.

4. Who are your main customers?

People in the village.

5. What is your mode of selling bushmeat?

House to house. Buyers also come for the meat in our house.

6.  Which specific areas do you sell bush meat?

Sometimes when the meat supply is sufficien, middle men.

7. Which season do you mostly prefer to hunt?

Dry Season (June - November)

8. What time do you prefer to hunt?

Day and night.

9. How has the hunt and success rate change over the past five years.

No answer.

10. What happens when you’re caught?

Sometimes depending on an individual, fines are imposed by the police.

11. What tools do you commonly use for hunting?

Snares.

12. How do you transport bushmeat from hunting site to the village?

Carry by ourselves.

13. How much do you sell a kilogram of bushmeat?

Sell by piece as dried, eg. a piece cost KSh 500 (US $8)

14. Please name the places that illegal hunting for bushmeat occurs?

15. What health implications have you known related to bushmeat consumption?

No answer.

16. Are there any wildlife conservation awareness programs in your area?

No.

17. If yes, how often.

N/a

18. Have you ever been arrested?

No.

19. If yes, how many times?

N/a

20.  Do you have other sources of income?

Yes.

21. If yes, what is your major source of income?

Agricultural activities.

22. What do you think are the alternatives to the hunting for bushmeat?

Agriculture, Bussiness (Hawking of clothes, maize), and cattle rearing or keeping.

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Thank you everyone for your donations last month. As you can see from yesterday’s post we’re not yet out of the crisis and so still need your support.

Please, if you can, consider a monthly donation to the Mara Triangle so that we can plan better for the following months.

Rangers just brought these poachers in about half an hour ago. They were three in total and had killed six wildebeest. During these next few months we need your support to continue with anti-poaching and de-snaring patrols. 

1 - 7th June

Open Donations:

Amy - $40; Brian - $100; Flora - $200; Jawrence - $10; Stephen S. - $100

Monthly Donations:

Kumiko - $20; Maria - $10; Mark - $10; Miho - $100; Pruet - $30; Robin - $15; Theresa - $25; Toshie - $20

Total for 1 - 7th June: $680

8 - 14th June

Open Donations:

Alicja - $40; Anon - $100; Calixto - $10; Colleen - $100; Craig - $1,000; Debbie - $30; Hirofumi - $100; Igmar - $20; Jacquelin - $50; Jeremy - $100; Joshua - $20; Jun - $200; Mda - $100; Pirjo - $100

Monthly Donations:

Alan - $20;  Eric - $15; Deborah - $50; Gay - $20; Gloria - $20; Michelle - $20;

Total for 8 - 14th June: $2,115

15 - 21st June

Open Donations:

Beth - $50; Josh - $50; Michael - $20; Richard - $25; Vincent - $100; Wanda - $20

Monthly Donations:

Alexandra - $10; Dr. D. - $30; Kathleen - $20; Julia - $25;

Total for 15 - 21st June: $350

22nd - 30th June

Open Donation:

Darya - $100; John - $20; Kari - $100; John - $100; Oliver - $25; Rosalind - $50;

Monthly Donation:

Dave - $20; Jo - $25; John - $10; Julia - $10; Laura - $10; Liana - $25; Shirley - $100; Sixten - $5;

Total for 22 - 30: $600

Grand Total for June: $3,745

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Wildebeest on the opposite hill in Serengeti.

Tourist projection for the month of July and August is 50% occupancy.  For the rest of the year it is expected to fall back to 20% like it has been up until now. This means that our situation will remain dire until 2009, however this is not an appeal for money (although if you have some it will help a lot) but instead we need ideas on how to fundraise for the long term. We thought that things would improve, which they have slightly, but unfortunately not as much as we had hoped.

I went out with Kimojino this morning to see the wildebeest massing on the Serengeti side. I have yet to see the great migration and only saw the ends of it when I was here setting up the Mara Triangle blog in November last year. There were just a few hundred of the wildebeest left in the Triangle, leaving in long lines like trails of smoke from an extinguished fire.

Today we left before dawn and carried out an anti-animal harassment patrol from Serena to Mara Bridge. Naitoi and Kimojino have handed out a few fines these past couple of weeks and it was impressive to see the drivers now behaving. In fact they were polite and courteous, which unfortunately was not often the case. We will continue to build on our relationship with the drivers, and we are pleased that the Travel Foundation have started a Most Responsible Safari Guide 2008 Award.

Kimojino and I will be putting up the posters at park gates and also in the staff canteens of the surrounding lodges.

This morning as we approached Mara Bridge we could see large amounts of wildebeest massing in the Serengeti (see photo above), and crossed over into Narok side to where they were also gathering at the Sand River.

Wildebeest and Zebra taking water at Sand River.

We were quite far away so these pictures are at the end of a zoom, but we also managed to take a video - click here to see it.

It’s quite an incredible sight; the whole hill opposite was covered in wildebeest and the noise was, well, much more melodic than the zebras who were coming in from the North the other week.

So it looks like the Song of the Wildebeest will be crossing into the Mara soon. When it does, we’ll be sure to let you all know.

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This morning at 1:30am we received a phone call by one of the men who works for Earthview, John Saaya, to inform the security team that cattle rustling is taking place on the escarpment, and that they suspected the cattle to be driven across the park to Tanzania.

We coordinated with the Ngiro-are team and laid an ambush on both sides of Ngiro-are Stream. By then there was sporadic gunfire at the top of the escarpment near Kerinkani area, and we knew that these people were armed with automatic weapons. We suspect AK47s. We orientated ourselves to where the rustlers would pass and waited for almost one and a half hours.

After this time, the Ngiro-are team heard some movement about 100 metres away from them, just along the edge of the riverine forest. Immediately they tried to ascertain what was causing the movement and concluded there was cattle in the vicinity.

They started opening fire, but there was no fire returned by the rustlers. Instead they fled from the area leaving behind the cattle. It was impossible to follow the men because the land was covered by total darkness.

We retrieved 15 cattle, and the Maasai on the escarpment also recovered 6 cattle when exchanging fire. There are 5 very large oxens which are still missing. But we don’t think that they came down the escarpment, we believe the group was divided.

Rangers, and community with retrieved cattle this morning.

In this case the rustlers removed 50 cows, and split the cows into two groups. One of the groups had the 5 oxen, which are extremely valuable at about 18,000 Shillings. Then all of the other cows would be taken on another route to cause a diversion and eventually leave behind without a fight because they know they still have the most valuable of the cattle. 

Rangers from Ngiro-are are still working with the community to track the missing oxen.

Rangers and community. 

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