General
The first part of April was relatively dry, enabling us to do a lot of work on the new roads in the Main Reserve and also within the Triangle. However, the second half was very different with around 140 mm, in some quite heavy storms. The whole Triangle is now waterlogged, and we still have another month of rain.
I was asked to attend a Senate Committee Hearing on the 13th and to provide several documents such as Bank Details and Statements for 8 years, Management Contracts, details of our employees and a list of Board Members. The Hearing was postponed at the last minute, in order to give us more time to present the required documents. The current Governor and our revenue collection agents were also asked to appear before the same committee.
A local politician, Mr Johanna Ngeno (commonly known as Kamilan), appears to be building a lodge on the escarpment. We sent a team to investigate on the 24th and they have confirmed that it is encroaching on the Reserve, apparently 74 acres (30 hectares) is within the Triangle. The matter is being taken up by the Sub-County Administrator and the Government Administration.
We held the next quarter’s planning meeting for the Main Reserve at Sarova on the 26th , we will focus on completing Phase 1 of the new road network, providing water and building toilet facilities at Look Out Hill.
Collaboration Agreement
M/s Compact Hydro test pumped the new borehole at Keekorok and found that it can easily produce 2.53 m (2,500 litres) per hour, more than enough to service the staff houses and airstrip. We are receiving quotations and hope to have it functioning in May.
We would like to explore the possibility of drilling a borehole at Look Out hill. This area is very heavily used and would benefit from a toilet block to cater for the hundreds of visitors each day.
The work at Mara Simba is virtually complete – this includes:
· A new KAPS office;
· Re-aligning 17 uni-huts and putting a roof over them;
· Collecting water off the roofs,
· Installing solar power in all the rooms;
· Building a new toilet/shower block;
· Building a kitchen and mess area.
We shaped 100 km of new road and surfaced over 40 with murram. Grade A have completed three drifts, installing culverts and gabions and we have received twelve new plastic culverts for installation in key areas.
We provided fuel for a machine to work on the road between Sekenani and Oloolaimutia, this machine keeps breaking down.
We have maintained vehicles and equipment and will replace tyres and service the road equipment at the beginning of May.
We continue to provide rations for 370 staff.
Dogs
Our tracker dog Shakaria has been mated.
We are preparing for rabies vaccination campaign for local dogs in May.
Tourism
April was a quiet month, with Easter and Labor Day holidays busy, and the remainder of the month relatively quiet.
Staff
The staff held their Annual General Meeting for the Welfare Committee on the 29th.
We have reviewed the Staff Appraisal forms and will start appraisals in May.
Wildlife
One male elephant was found dead downstream from Little Governors on 8th, it appears to have died of natural causes. The tusks were recovered.
Risasi, the cheetah female, returned with her two cubs on the 13th, she had spent the past three months in the Wemai Wedge. The cubs are now over 11 months old and are being taught to hunt.
One lion cub from the Maji Machafu lions died on the 14th, the other two cubs are also emaciated and weak; surprising, as these lions have perfected the art of killing hippo and have killed three in the past month.
Dr Takita removed a wire snare from a buffalo near Oloololo on the 15th. The snare was deeply embedded and made of fencing wire from the escarpment.
One young elephant darted on the 17th, It had a broken femur and that is unlikely to heal.
Security
A total of nine poachers were arrested during the month, but for the most part there was little, or no, sign of poaching in the normal areas. One hippo and a warthog are known to have been poached, giraffe meat was also taken from a lion kill.
The rangers set out on an early morning patrol on the 1st and managed to arrest two people at Konyoike, on the boundary with Tanzania at 8.00 am. The two were carrying food and were intending to hunt warthog in the Triangle, they had four dogs with them.
Fifteen of our rangers went to Ol Pejeta Conservancy in Laikipia for a three day exchange visit.
Another of our remote cameras was stolen on the stream below the Nigro-are swamp and we decided to place a group of rangers in the thicket along the stream for an extended period of time, to try and catch the perpetrators. We set up a camp on the 10th and also had an Observation Post (OP) on one of the hills overlooking the stream. It worked, and on the 15th evening the OP reported seeing three people entering the stream and searching every tree for cameras. One of the three was in constant contact with someone on his phone. The three were so engrossed in searching for cameras that they virtually stumbled on the camp hidden in the stream. Two of them were arrested, the one with the phone escaped. Each of the poachers was carrying two heavy spears – obviously aimed at hippo or buffalo. It transpired that the poacher with the phone was communicating with someone with binoculars on the escarpment, they were being directed on where to go and also informed of any vehicle or ranger movement. Our Tanzanian counterparts managed to arrest the person with binoculars.
The rangers crossed the River, into the Northern Serengeti on the 16th, returning late on the 17th. They managed to arrest two people near Zonzo during the first afternoon, one escaped. The two would not have been found were it not for Morani he followed the track for over 20 kilometers. That night they decided to ambush the same area and saw torch activity but did not find anyone. On the 17th they patrolled the same area and managed to arrest three more people, from a group of eight. They had arrived the night before and had already taken meat off a lion kill - a young giraffe and killed a warthog. Again, one of the dogs – Shakaria - was responsible for the arrest of one person.
Poachers killed a hippo and stole another remote camera at Daraja Mbili on the 17th, it would appear that the new cameras are too visible and the new sim cards transmit too infrequently – they transmit about once a minute.
Revenue and Accounts
March revenue was better than expected but April and May are traditionally the height of the low season and expenditure usually exceeds income.
Our third quarter management accounts indicate a 67% increase in revenue over budget, no doubt partly helped by the devaluation in the Kenya Shilling – currently trading at over Ksh 130 : 1 US$. The indications are that the shilling will stabilize at around this rate. We have managed to keep expenditure at 10% above budget – on a par with inflation. A detailed account is shown in the Table below.
Repairs and Maintenance
We managed to burn more of the area between the Serena airstrip and Benjamin’s lugga and also a small area between Mlima Mbili and the Salt Lick.
Our maintenance team is working at the Purungat ranger station, moving a uni-hut and tidying up the toilet block.
We are re-roofing the shelter for the heavy equipment, the trusses were rotten and the roof in danger of collapsing.
We installed more culverts and managed to murram a section of one of our new roads near Little Governors before the rains disrupted work.
Safaricom have been working on the new mast at Purungat, the system is now on line.
We patched and then graded the road to Kilo 2.
Report on focus for April
Focus for May 2023
· Prepare Annual Work Plan and Budget;
· Conduct rhino survey;
· Work on operationalising the Management Plan;
· Start staff appraisals;
· Receive speed camera donated by WPS; and
· Patch roads as necessary.
Work on Collaboration Agreement
· Send road team off for two weeks;
· Continue surfacing new roads with murram;
· Construct turning area at Ol Kiombo airstrip;
· Construct toilet block for Talek staff;
· Install 12 new culverts;
· Grade A to work on drifts;
· Complete work at Mara Simba;
· Determine new road signs;
· Survey three potential borehole sites;
· Get designs for toilet block at Look Out.