General
The month began with a hot, dry, spell in almost every part of the Park. Large concentrations of wildebeest appeared in the south and south-eastern portions of the Triangle for a short period, from the 15th. Then scattered rainstorms in the northern Serengeti and western Corridor sent the wildebeest back into the Serengeti and between 6,000 to 10,000 wildebeest died when crossing the Mara River, near Purungat.
Mr Allan Twala, Executive Committee member for Tourism in Narok County, visited with two other Executive members – for roads and agriculture - on the 6th.
The Chief Executive Officer took one month’s leave from 10th.
For three consecutive days on the 24th- 27th a helicopter was seen in the triangle, we did not know whether it was filming or it had any other business but mostly it went along the Mara River.
A sombre mood engulfed the nation after the terror attack in Nairobi’s Westgate shopping mall, which claimed at least 68 lives and resulted in nearly 200 injuries. Special units from military fought with the terrorists for four days and managed to kill six of them according to the Government report and twelve others held in custody. The President announced three days mourning country wide, in honour of our beloved brothers and sisters who passed on in the attack.
The Warden Operations, Mr J Kimojino and Mark Goss, from the Mara Elephant Project, held a meeting with KWS at Olmotonyi regarding a spate of elephants killings in the Nyakweri Forest. A joint force, comprising officers from the Mara Conservancy, MEP and KWS was established to try and arrest some of the known poachers.
Administration
On the 1st we sent our staff (dog handlers, drivers, civilians) for a paramilitary course in Londiani, with the Kenya Forest Service. The training will take at least three months. The short fall from Alfa Scouts and road team were replaced by casuals.
On 1st W/O Kimojino took some of the rifles to Nakuru for repair
On the 8th we received back tractor KTCB 848G in good condition.
On the 16th we sent KBQ 638P to Kisii for inspection oblique staff shopping.
On the 18th we sent KBK 098Q to Nairobi CMC after it developed problem with its gearbox, the problem was fixed and is now in good condition.
The road team concentrated on the 50km road to Ngiro-are, and Olare, after completion they will move to Kishanga for one week or more depending on the work.
We completed construction of waste disposal and charcoal store at Iseiya.
Construction for dog kennel is ongoing at Oloololo and is expected to be complete by early October.
We had called for a technician to repair our fuel pump, which had a mismatch on its two sides litres reading. He is yet to come.
We received monthly supply on the 28th.
Staff
Administrative Assistant (J. Cherop) reported back to work on 12th after nine days off.
We reported an indiscipline behaviour among one of our staff (Moses Olpurkoi) whereby in the evening of 11th September 2013, hewas issued with a car key (KAV 098Z) from the office to fetch water for kitchen staff, he then drove the vehicle out of the park without permission from the office. According to Jamaal and the information gathered, Olpurkoi delivered water to the kitchen but instead of parking the vehicle he proceeded to an unknown destination, he drove through Oloololo gate at around 7pm and when asked by the security guard on duty (Jackson Singai) of his destination he said that he was sent from the office to collect something urgently (which was false). He has subsequently been dismissed.
We completed the payroll for September on the 24th and soft copies sent to Charles.
On the 24th we received a transfer letter for Joseph Konchella to the county, from Kilgoris sub county which was with immediate effect, Kimojino dealt with the matter but we later realised that he refused to go, that he preferred to wait for the CEO's approval.
On the 26th Warden Kimojino got a call from Cllr. Ole Sepe that he invites Mara conservancy for his home coming party which will be held at his home on 28th . Some few staff attended the party.
We received fuel on the 28th.
Margaret Mumbi came down with salaries on 30th.
Stores
Jamaal Gary updated the pastel system and is currently streamlining the stores i.e. spare parts labelling, include some spare parts in the system, schedule for vehicles servicing/inspection.
We did stock take on the 30th, no irregularities found however the person in charge is required to be extra careful.
Security - general
The poaching activities in the Triangle went down this month probably because the poachers had come up with new tricks of poaching compared to some years back, there before the poachers could set up traps during the day and later comes back at night to check their traps. Nowadays the poachers monitor rangers movement and tricks, which enables them to do vice versa.
On the night of 15th there were robbery that occurred in Mara river camp formally known as Mara Shika. We deployed our security team from Serena and Ngiro-are, in conjunction with Sekenani Administration police they managed to arrest two people from the camp (Staff) main suspects, the thugs stole money and valuables from a guest.
Anti-poaching
The security team continued with normal operation in the park and were able to arrest a total number of 28 poachers and collected 1,353 snares, rescued 45 wildebeest alive, 2 zebras alive and one warthog, 13 wildebeest, one elephant calf and a zebra were dead in the snares, at least another fifteen wildebeest had been butchered, as had a buffalo.
The Iseiya rangers recovered 26 wire snares around Miungu, in the Lemai Wedge, on the 1st. They found eight dead wildebeest in the snares and rescued another five.
Two people were arrested on the 2nd near Kichwa ya Ndovu, in the Lemai Wedge and 183 wire snares recovered. The following day a further 98 snares were recovered in the in the Maji ya Bett – Ngiro-are swamp area. One elephant calf had been killed in a snare; as had seven wildebeest and one zebra. Five animals were rescued and another five had been butchered.
Four people were arrested as they slept in the Limana Ndogo thicket on the 5th. They had set 40 snares and had killed one wildebeest. That night the rangers set an ambush – five people walked into the ambush but all managed to escape. Seven more snares were found and two more wildebeest had been killed in them.
Sixty-five snares were recovered on the 6th. Two wildebeest were found dead in the snares and another ten had been butchered.
One elephant was shot and killed near Kawai on the evening of the 7th. Shots were reported at 5.00 pm – we immediately mobilised the rangers, but they were unable to located the carcass until the following morning – it was a small female, shot at least 13 times. Seven G3 cartridge cases were recovered and taken to the police.
On the 3rd the team patrolled Miungu whereby 40 snares collected, later laid an ambush and managed to arrest 4 of six poachers.
On the 7th joint with Iseya patrolled at Kasarani, Vichwa tatu and collected 41 wire snares.
On the 8th the team patrolled at Maji ya Bett , Miungu 29 snares collected and rescued 4 wildebeest alive. On the 9th they patrolled at Maji ya Bett and collected 202 wire snares
On the 12th the teams patrolled along the escarpment and Limana areas and collected 18 snares. The Ngiro-are team later laid an ambush and managed to arrest 4 poachers, 1 escaped arrest. The following day the Ol Kurruk rangers patrolled Kisumu Ndogo, along the Mara River, and collected 5 wire snares.
On the 14th the teams patrolled Miungu and Maji ya Bett area and collected 61 wire snares, no rescues/arrest were made. On the 16th the team patrolled Nyarukunkuri to Maji ya Bett collected 34 snares and rescued 2 zebras alive.
On the 15th the team ambushed Kichwa ya Ndovu and arrested 2 poachers. They later went to Mara River Camp following the attack and arrested 2 suspects.
On the 16th they patrolled at Kokamange area 1 wildebeest was rescued alive. Two, of five, poachers were arrested.
On the 17th patrolled at Vichwa Mitatu rescued 1 wildebeest and collected three wire snares. The Ol Kurruk rangers patrolled around Maji ya Bett and recovered 56 snares; one wildebeest was rescued.
On the 18th the rangers patrolled Maji ya Bett collected 8 snares. They later joint with Iseiya to ambushed the Masanga route and managed to arrest 4, of 15, poachers.
On the 19th our rangers joined KWS, Oloololo, and MEP patrolled in Nyakweri forest following a report of another elephant killed no arrest were made for the culprits but arrested two with Impala meat.
On the 20th the Ngiro are team patrolled along the escarpment towards Kegonga collected 15 snare and rescued 1 wildebeest. The Iseiya and Ol Kurruk, Anne Kent Taylor teams collected 54 snares in and around the Nyakunguri thicket in the Triangle and rescued 5 wildebeest.
On the 21st the teams patrolled along the Ngiro-are swamp and escarpment towards Kinyangaga and collected 210 wire snares; two wildebeest were rescued. The following day, the Iseiya team patrolled around Miungu and collected 32 snares, rescued 3 wildebeest alive, found 3 dead wildebeest and one buffalo slaughtered.
On the 23rd the teams patrolled along the border, Kichwa ya Ndovu and Kasarani areas in the Lemai Wedge collected 39 wire snares. The Olkurruk team patrolled Nyarukunkuri and Oldonyo- Olpaek 13 wire snares were collected.
On the 24th they patrolled at Kasarani 59 snares collected, later in the afternoon between Kenyangaga and Ngiro-are impounded one herd of cattle the owners escaped and cattle taken to Ngiro-are. The Ol Kurruk team collected 33 snares near Konyoike and rescued one warthog.
On the 25th they patrolled at Saina area, 2 wire snares collected.
On the 26th the team patrolled Limana Kubwaalong the river and collected 24 snares. They later joined forces with Care for Wild and TANAPA, laid an ambush at Kichwa ya Ndovu and managed to arrest 1 of three poachers.
On the 27th the Ngiro-are team patrolled at Olare-onyokie, Kasarani and collected 29 wire snares.
On the 30th they patrolled Saina area and managed to arrest 3 poachers one escaped arrest
Wildlife in general
We have received several complains of predation by lions on domestic animals, they've so far killed 1 cow and 4 goats
We have received several complains from the tour drivers and guest on fine charged against them on the violation of park rules whereby some claimed to be unfairly charged.
Since the beginning of the year 2013, a total number of fourteen (14) elephants have been killed in Trans Mara. This brings to a total number of twenty eight (28) tusks taken. The number is suspected to be more because some of the carcases found were not fresh and in a scattered pattern in the well known forest of Nyakweri like Olodombor, Kilutori, Ilgila and to the northern part of the forest towards Mogor.