General
We received over 110 mm of rain this month, bringing the total to our yearly average, with two months of the short rains to go.
The Director of Education for Trans Mara visited and requested assistance with a vehicle for examinations, wee agreed to supply one vehicle.
The Governor of Samburu County made a private visit on the 10th and spent the night at Serena, he was shown around by the Senior Warden.
The Governor held a meeting with senior County officials on the 21ˢᵗ at Mara Serena.
M/s Nicholas have conducted a systems audit of KAPS as per the Auditors’ recommendation. One of our concerns is about late departure, with the 12 hour ticketing system in place visitors have until 11.00 am to be out of the Park, that means that those going through Mara Bridge have to be out of the Triangle by 9.30 and out through Sekenani by 11.00. It would appear that this creates a loophole. Nicholas is also looking at our assets register with a view to advising us on depreciation.
Collaboration Agreement
We have virtually completed rehabilitating the staff housing at Talek. We have built a kitchen/store/mess for staff and have realigned all the uni-huts and put a roof over them, installed solar power to all housing and improved the water supply.
We have constructed uni-huts for workshop staff at Sekenani, put a roof over them and provided solar power.
We are looking at renovating the Chief Park Warden’s office and senior staff housing at Sekenani, the provisional quotations seem too high and we will review them before proceeding.
We have resurfaced sections of the major roads, graded them and are now working on the road from Talek to Look Out, this is one of the busiest roads in the Mara.
The ranger uniforms are finally ready and will be delivered at the beginning of November.
We are planning on rehabilitating the toilets at Musiara and Talek gates, this should be done in November.
Staff
We held a staff party on the 30ᵗʰ to recognise all the hard work and achievements over the past year. It was well attended, with over 200 people, including community and our TANAPA friends from Tanzania.
We are planning two training events for November, one will be a session on snakes and the second will be with The Federation of Kenya Employers (FKE) in labours laws and the updating of our staff manual.
Our community scouts are undergoing basic training at Nashulai and will graduate on the 13tᵗʰ November.
Wildlife
The three young lionesses we rescued after being poisoned all recovered, one was fitted with a collar on the 10th and all three were released on the 15ᵗʰ. Niels Morgensen from the Predator Conservation Project was very critical of our releasing the lionesses in the Triangle stating that they would be unable to fend for themselves and saying that they should have been darted and released on Oloisukut. These animals had already been severely traumatized and we were certain that they would be better off finding their own way back. We had a team monitoring them on a daily basis. I feel we were vindicated. They slowly found their way back to Oloisukut and on the 29th it was reported that they had joined up with their pride
The wildebeest returned in reasonable numbers at the beginning on October and we had concentrations of both wildebeest and zebra along the border and up through the middle of the Triangle. There were still a few thousand wildebeest in the Triangle until the 30ᵗʰ.
Tourism
The number of non-resident visitors in September dropped significantly from August – we had 9,786 non-resident adults in September compared with 16,718 in August. However, the numbers were almost identical to last year September (9,786 vs 9,760 in 2024), but well down on 2023.
October has been relatively busy and we expect it to be fairly similar to last year.
Security
A total of 54 poachers were arrested in October, all of them in Tanzania. This was slightly fewer that September but still a record breaking month (112 poachers in two months). 191 snares were recovered, 16 wildebeest had been butchered, as had 10 zebra, two buffalo and a giraffe. One wildebeest and one zebra were also found dead in snares.
Eight snares were collected on the 30ᵗʰ September and the Ngiro-are team managed to arrest one person. That afternoon our Tanzanian counterparts reported that some people had been seen entering the Lemai Wedge. Our rangers responded, set an ambush and managed to arrest three people who had killed two wildebeest.
On the 2nd eight more snares were recovered and the Ngiro-are rangers managed to arrest two more people. We continued to recover more snares – six on the third. The next day a patrol across the river, near Machechwe, managed to arrest all three people in a group that had killed a wildebeest and caught a number of fish.
Two snares were recovered at Miungu on the 5ᵗʰ, one wildebeest had been butchered and on the 6ᵗʰ19 snares were found along the Ngiro-are swamp – two wildebeest had been caught and butchered.
The Iseiya team crossed the river into the Northern Serengeti on the 7ᵗʰ for a three day patrol. They managed to arrest 16 people: four on the first day/night; nine people on the 8th; and a further three on the 9ᵗʰ; one was an old man who liked hunting alone. He had killed a zebra and was drying the meat at Binamu. In the last incident ranger/driver James Sonkoyo was attacked by a poacher and slashed behind the ear and on the neck. Very fortunately, he managed to block the machete and the cuts were not very serious. This incident goes to show the danger that our rangers put themselves through in trying to protect our wildlife. The man who cut Sonkoyo was arrested and taken to the Tanzanian authorities – as were all the others.
While the Iseiya team were across the river the Ngiro-are rangers managed to arrest two more people near Ngira.
Sixteen wire snares were recovered on the 11ᵗʰ, one wildebeest was dead in a snare. The following day 11 more snares were recovered. Then, on the 13ᵗʰ our TANAPA counterparts called and said that five people were seen entering the Lamai Wedge – both our teams went and managed to arrest four of the five near Kokamange. The poachers had already killed a zebra and 36 snares were recovered. That night the Iseiya team set an ambush at Ngira – across the river and managed to arrest three more people at 8.00 pm.
One more person was arrested on the Wogga Kuria hills, his companion escaped but the rangers recovered 12 snares and found one dead zebra.
The Iseiya team went on a two day patrol on the 17/18ᵗʰ and managed to arrest 12 people in three different incidents. In the first they came across a large poachers’ camp and arrested one person, the others had gone to get donkeys to carry the meat. Four more people were arrested, with their donkeys when they came into camp much later. They had killed 11 wildebeest, four zebra, two buffalo and a giraffe. The the rangers managed to arrest three more people and the next day another four. In total 31 snares were recovered.
Twenty eight more snares were collected on the 21st and 23rd and then the Iseiya team crossed the river and patrolled near Ngira, they saw herds of wildebeest and managed to arrest three more people from a group of eight. They had already killed two zebra. The Ngiro-are rangers went on an extended, four day, patrol in the Northern Serengeti on the 21ˢᵗand managed to arrest three people. They were hunting with torches and no animals had been killed.
Seventeen more snares on the 26ᵗʰ and then on the 28ᵗʰ a routine patrol along the Mara River in Tanzania where they found 5 snares, one with a dead zebra. The rangers set an ambush on the snares and managed to arrest one person.
Revenue and Accounts
Our management accounts for the first quarter of the financial year were better than expected, we had prepared a fairly conservative budget in the anticipation of fewer tourists and a stronger Kenya Shilling. In fact we exceeded income by 26% end expenditure by 13% on budget. Our major development projects for the year are almost complete and we can expect a reduction in monthly expenditure from January.
Report on focus for October
The new toilet block at the Oloololo Public campsite is virtually complete and will be opened in November.
We completed murraming, installing culverts and constructing a drift on the new road along the BBC lugga and also graded a new road through Mlima Mbili to the Salt Lick – this will be murramed when we have time and the weather permits.
Focus for November 2025
Hold training courses;
Complete toilets at Oloololo campsite;
Start levelling for Visitor Centre;
Complete housing at Little Governors.
Work on Collaboration Agreement
Renovate toilets at Musiara and Talek;
Renovate Chief Park Warden’s offices;
Start on Administrator’s house at Sekenani;
Complete renovations at Talek;
Start on uni-huts at Ngama Hills;
Connect water from new borehole to Keekorok airstrip;
Start on new toilets at Keekorok airstrip.