Dear all

I will be away for the next week and the computer monitor in the Control Room just yesterday decided to give up the ghost.

Sadly this means that you won't be hearing much from the Mara Triangle over these next few days. I will occasionally be on email, so will be able to reply to messages sent directly to us through the Contact Form.

If anyone in Nairobi, or even Kenya, has an old computer monitor lying around, please let us know. 

All the best.

We're very pleased to announce that US Fish & Wildlife Service have given us a grant of $50,000 to help contribute towards our rangers' salaries and day and night patrols. The grant is for a six month period, and gives us an extra $8,300 for each month. This is going to be a great help, especially as the tourist industry reports low occupancy rates for the rest of 2008.

A great big thank you to Michelle from USFWS who has helped us through the application, and also to WildlifeDirect who have also been instrumental in making this happen. Thank you.

Elias W Kamande, Field Coordinator for the Care for the Wild and Ann Kent Taylor Fund, went last week with community scouts and rangers from Oloololo Gate to meet with the Dupoto Forest & Wildlife Association.

William Narike crouching down on left, Elias Kamande with binoculars and Mamaiyo in uniform.

Community Scouts used to patrol the area some time back, and joined up with the Association to patrol the areas where they used to witness high poaching activities. Kamande tells me that this time they saw no evidence of poachers and are really impressed with the work of the Association.

Community Scouts, Rangers and Dupoto Association, patrol Nyakwere Forest.

One day patrol was not enough to cover the whole of the forest, and so rangers and community scouts will return for another two to three day patrol some time next week.

Kamande is also a very keen birder and is going to help the Association compile a list of the bird species to be found in the forest. He reports that although the patrol was carried out in midday, they were able to spot Schalow's Turaco and Ross's Turaco. Sometimes we only hear Schalow's here in the Mara, but Kamande says that it is very easy to take a photo of this bird in the forest. He also saw Luehder's Bushshrike, a lot of Greenbulls, and Nightjars.

Eventually we will be compiling a list to go on a website for the Association, but for now you can find out more about how to visit by either clicking on the Dupoto Forest photo on our home page, or by clicking here.

Apologies for the map for the Mara Triangle that wouldn't fully open yesterday - this problem has now been fixed.

...and instead is replaced by Iseyia Station.

It seemed a bit strange to be named after the nextdoor lodge, and so the move has been made to rename the Mara Conservancy headquarters. Iseyia is Maa for the long grass which can be found in the marshes, and is also the name we have given to the public campsite that is closeby. 

We have also given a Maa name to our Outpost at Mara Bridge, which is now called Purungat.

Rangers at Purunagat Bridge, which is the Maa name for the plains across from the bridge. 

There have also been some other small changes:

Serena Camp is now Iseyia Camp

The BBC Camp is now Nolmaiman Camp - which means area of the Monitor Lizards.

Nyati Camp is now Olarro Camp - named after the time when rangers found poachers in the area with buffalo meat. 

GSU Camp is now Eluai Camp - named after the plain that runs from the escarpment to the hills; Eluai is Maa for something that stretches across.

It will take a while before the names become permanent, but you can already see the changes here on our new map. On the map you will see the inclusion of all campsites, as well as Ngiro-are and areas like Salt Lick, which was where poachers snared the lion on Sunday. 

For those of you who have been reading our blog through a feed reader, you may not have noticed that we now have a new website with extra photo and video galleries, a forum, plus extra information for those who want to visit the area. Click here to take a look for yourself.

Four days ago, four poachers came into the Mara Triangle and set up a camp at Salt Lick. It has been very dry recently and so many of the animals in the Triangle have been visiting that area as there is always water, and they also like to lick the salt that naturally occurs in the soil. 

During the migration the Salt Lick is often full of animals, and so the lions also like to stay there and take their pick from the animals that come down to water. A couple of years ago one of the lionesses even gave birth in the long reeds and was able to sustain her litter by hunting right next to the Lick. This year a pride of two males, five females, and six cubs all decided to reside in the area.

Four days ago the poachers set up their camp and put out their snares, intending to catch wildebeest or zebra, or any type of antelope, but instead this Sunday evening one of their snares caught one of our large male lions. 

Rangers, poachers, and the skin of the male lion.

The poachers' camp is on a hill which gives them a vantage point over the Salt Lick and up towards where our rangers approach. Today our rangers approached from behind and caught all four poachers still sat in their camp. They had already skinned the lion, which was laying out to dry.

The skinned lion.

Rangers found a total of fifteen snares, and as well as the lion the poachers managed to snare and kill one wildebeest. Simon Trevor, who is here filming a four part film on the Mara Conservancy, was also there, and you can see him in the video filming and asking questions to the rangers at the camp.

Even though the poachers were from Tanzania, because they were arrested here in Kenya we have taken them to Kilgoris police station.

It has been a very long and sad day for all of us here.