General
The County Government has approved the construction of a new road down the escarpment. This will be gazetted as an official road into the Triangle and may lead to the closure of other roads.
KAPS gave a presentation on their upgraded ticketing system on the 8th to ourselves, senior County staff and Nicholas & Co. This addresses most of the issues raised in the Systems Audit by Nicholas & Co last year and will make reporting much easier and more informative. KAPS are currently upgrading the system and will start implementation on the 1st October.
Mr Victor Tuya also presented a draft of the proposed amendments to the County Finance Bill and the new Park Rules to ourselves and County staff. It was very comprehensive and we now hope to finalize the revisions by the end of this year.
The County held a stakeholders meeting with local airlines operating in the Mara to discuss issues and a small committee was formed to take things forward, especially on things like the payment of landing fees and maintenance of airstrips.
The auditors visited the Mara from the 11th for two days.
The Mara Elephant Project (MEP) celebrated 15 years of operations on the 12th. I am most impressed to see how MEP has grown from a small organization established to combat poaching in 2011 to a large and successful organization dealing in multiple sectors and areas of operation to help protect and conserve the Mara ecosystem. Congratulations to Marc Goss ad his team.
There was considerable pressure to allow grazing in the Park because of the ongoing drought and we gave a concession along the escarpment. Our normal rules applied: only open between 10 am and 4,00 pm; a well defined boundary along the escarpment; no dogs; and cattle must be herded by responsible adults.
Collaboration Agreement
We have informally been told that we have been given a one-year extension to the Collaboration Agreement. However, this has not been formally conveyed to us.
We graded the roads from Mara Bridge to Keekorok and from Mara Bridge to Talek via Look Out using a Mara Conservancy grader.
We built a toilet/shower block for the road staff at Keekorok and also built them a temporary kitchen.
We repaired staff housing at Enombuai and Ol Kiombo and also completed the drift at Musiara.
We have started on building a toilet block for students at Look Out, this can also serve as an overflow for tourists in the height of the tourist season.
Our road machinery in the Main Reserve has been giving us constant problems. We sent the road team home for two weeks and are using this time to repair all the equipment.
Wildlife
Dr Ashif removed a snare from a young elephant that had just crossed the river into the Main Reserve on the 4th.
Naishuru, our matriarch rhino, was treated for a large filarial sore on her flank. The wound seems to healing well.
The cheetah cubs were moved into a larger enclosure, two were injured in the process but one died on the 29th with a brain injury.
Tourism
We hope that the Audit report on camps and lodges in the Mara ecosystem will be completed in the near future. The map below shows the camps and lodges within the Reserve. Note, nearly all of them are along the rivers.
The preliminary report on infrastructure within the Reserve indicates that there are now 55 camps/lodges in the Reserve, up from 31 in 2016 and 45 in 2022. The total bed capacity is 1,701 beds, slightly lower than recorded in the 2022, because Keekorok is currently closed. Interestingly, the Triangle has 196 beds in the Reserve whilst the Main Reserve has 1,505 – nearly eight (7.7) times the number of beds that we have.
We saw a 14% drop in overseas tourists this August (14,411 compared with 16,718 last year). Of the 14,411 non-resident visitors, 8,633 were classified as non-paying and only 5,778 were paying, by far the majority of non-paying visitors (5,233) were from the Main Reserve. This is a problem for us, imagine a situation where 50% of your visitors pay elsewhere, but are happy to use your facilities, crowd around sightings and crossings and generally reduce the visitor experience for those that pay us.
Security
This month we broke all records: we arrested 108 people; recovered 2,321 snares; rescued 184 wildebeest, plus two zebra and two topi; found 18 dead in snares and where 67 wildebeest and a buffalo had been butchered. The very high level of poaching is probably because of the current drought, and local people turning to hunting in order to supplement their diets and income. The main wildebeest concentration is along the Western Serengeti boundary, making it very east to hunt.
One poacher was arrested on the 31st near Tabora B and the rangers found where at least 10 wildebeest had been butchered. On the same day the Ngiro-are rangers recovered six snares, rescued two wildebeest and found two dead in snares.
Twenty three snares were recovered on the 4th. The following day both teams managed to collect 326 snares, rescue 14 wildebeest, find where three had been butchered and three dead in snares. One person was arrested.
The Ngiro-are team crossed the river for a four day patrol on the 6th and managed to arrest 13 people. All were arrested before that could kill any animals. During this period the Iseiya team concentrated in the Lemai Wedge and collected 630 snares and arrested six people. A total of 58 wildebeest, one topi and a zebra were rescued; 16 animals had been butchered and four were dead in snares.
A total of 202 snares were collected on the 11th and four wildebeest were rescued. The Iseiya team crossed the river on the 12th and arrested five people near Tabora B, two during the day and three more that night, two wildebeest had been killed. The Ngiro-are team also arrested two people on the same day at Serengeti Ndogo. The patrols continued and three more people were arrested by the Iseiya team on the 13th, whilst the Ngiro-are rangers recovered 116 snares – they rescued 35 wildebeest, found eight dead in snares and where 14 had been butchered. Another 12 people were arrested on the 14th by both teams, five during the day and seven at night.
On the final day of their extended patrol into the Northern Serengeti the Iseiya team managed to arrest eight more people, two during the day and six at night. They recovered 10 snares and found four wildebeest that had been butchered.
The rangers continued making arrests and collecting snares and two people were arrested in the Lemai Wedge on the 16th as the came to set snares. The following day 229 snares were collected around Miungu and along the escarpment in the Lemai Wedge ; 24 wildebeest were rescued and three had been butchered.
Out teams joined forces on the 18th and managed to arrest four people, three at night and one during the day. They collected 116 snares, rescued 6 wildebeest and found where four had been butchered. The Iseiya team then crossed the river into the Northern Serengeti on the 19th and managed to arrest one person from a group of three, they were carrying meat when he was arrested. That night five more people were arrested near Machechwe. The Ngiro team patrolled the Lemai Wedge and managed to collect 59 snares, 11 wildebeest and one zebra were rescued but four had been butchered. Further patrols in the Lemai Wedge between the 20th and 22nd resulted in the collection of 409 snares; 14 wildebeest were rescued and one person was arrested. During this time the Ngiro-are team crossed into the Northern Serengeti and managed to arrest seven people.
Only three snares were recovered on the 23rd, each was holding a wildebeest. One person was arrested. Then on the 24th the Iseiya team crossed the river for a three day patrol and managed to 11 more people, four during the day and seven at night. A total of 116 snares were collected in the Lemai Wedge by the Ngiro-are rangers. Eight wildebeest and a topi were rescued, three had been butchered and one was found dead in a snare.
Twelve more people were arrested by both ranger teams on the 26th. The Iseiya team remained across the river and managed to arrest six people and the other team operated in the Lemai Wedge and also arrested six people, three during the day and three at night. The first group had killed a zebra and the second a wildebeest.
Three wildebeest and a buffalo were found butchered on the 27th, a total of 17 snares were recovered. Then, on the 28th one person was arrested as he set snares, a total of 21 snares were collected. On the same day the Ngiro-are team crossed the river and patrolled around Tabora B in the Northern Serengeti. They arrested a total of six people, two that day, two that night and two the following morning. The following day they arrested six more, two during the day and four at night.
The Iseiya team arrested one person at 2 pm on the 29th, as he and two companions were hunting with dogs. 38 snares were collected, five animals rescued and two had been butchered.
Revenue and Accounts
Our August revenue dropped by 17.4% from last year, to Ksh 292,271,403 (roughly US$ 2,264,000), of which our share is 45% or US$ 1,018,000. Once we remove the KAPS commission we are left with US$ 849,000.
The Auditors, M/s Deloitte & Touche LLP, completed their annual audit and have submitted a draft set of accounts. These will be reviewed by the Board at the next Board meeting on the 2nd October. Revenue and expenditure were down by 6.7% and 3.1% respectively on the previous year.
Report on focus for September.
We spent much on the month grading roads, opening cut off drains and culverts in anticipation of the El Niño rains.
We constructed a drift at the Nyumba Nane/BBC crossing.
We completed renovations and the construction of a new kitchen/mess at Oloololo and the team then moved to Iseiya to start on the staff quarters in the main camp.
We completed a new drift over the Sabaringo lugga between Oloololo and the Kichwa airstrip. The concrete is curing and the drift will be open in early October.
Focus for October 2026
Hold Board meeting on 2nd;
Roll out new ticketing system;
Continue with Visitor Centre;
Continue with road works;
Open a channel for water at Mara Bridge;
Open Sabaringo drift;
Continue renovating staff quarters at Iseiya;
Construct one drift on road to Mara Bridge; and
Buy furniture for the mess at Oloololo.
Work on Collaboration Agreement
Sign Collaboration Agreement;
Plan for next quarter;
Complete Audit report on camps;
Complete machine repair;
Continue with road repairs;
Continue with student toilets at Look Out;
Improve solar at Look Out; and
Start renovating housing at Sekenani.