General
We had some heavy storms in early December, causing more damage to our roads and washing away part of the box culvert at Oloisukut – near Oloololo. A further storm just before Christmas caused further damage. The graph below shows the rainfall throughout the year – a total of 1,903 mm ( 76.12”), this is well above the average of 1,200 mm/year. These past four years of exceptional rainfall have not only caused considerable damage, but have dramatically changed the ecosystem – numerous Balanites and Olive trees have died as a result of waterlogging but the grasses have also changed. The predominant red-oat grass (Themeda) has been overtaken by Sporobolus and Seteria species. Moe alarmingly we have seen a considerable increase in unpalatably species such as Hyparrhenia and Pennisetum.
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The County arranged for a Project Implementation Committee (PIC) visit to the Mara from the 8th. This is a committee set up to assess progress and adherence to the 10 year Management Plan. They visited projects within the Reserve and stayed at Serena. The members were impressed by the development in the Main Reserve and Triangle.
The Governor hosted a Christmas Party for all staff in the Reserve, it was attended by a number of our staff. It is unfortunate that the role we have played in improving the Reserve – almost everything can be attributed to us – is never publicly recognised.
Collaboration Agreement
We had to replace the water tanks at Sand River – the metal one was seriously corroded and the plastic one had burst. The borehole water at Sand River is very saline and we will probably have to filter it.
We resurfaced sections of the road between Sekenani and Keekorok and patched other sections of road to Talek before the road team broke for Christmas.
We installed all 22 uni-huts for the GSU at Angata and concreted the floors before our team broke for Christmas.
We repaired the water supply at Ololomatuia.
Staff
Ms Margaret Mumbi from our Nairobi office has resigned and will be leaving in March, she wishes to concentrate on her own affairs. Ms Mary Wanja, from the Mara office, will replace her and Tabitha Amondi will take Mary’s place in the Mara. Ms Esther Leina takes Tabitha’s place.
Wildlife
Our community scouts reported that nine hyena had been poisoned on the escarpment near the Enkereri village, above Oloololo Gate and Kichwa. This, despite us paying a consolation fee for the killing of any livestock. This community is particularly bad and we believe that they were responsible for wiping out the Oloololo pride – they were chased out of the Reserve by a group of males that came across from Musiara and were systematically killed.
One elephant was found dead at Sankuria in the Triangle on the 13th, it had been dead for several days. The tusks were collected and weight around 6 kg each. Elephant numbers dropped off around Christmas, many of them crossing the river into the Main Reserve.
Tourism
The first half of December was very quiet but then it was busy for Christmas and New Year. Park fees will be reduced from the 1stJanuary to US$ 100 for non-residents, it will be interesting if there is any change in visitor numbers.
Security
A total of 14 poachers were arrested during the month, many of them during a joint rhino monitoring operation.
Our Tanzanian counterparts from Kinyangaga asked the rangers from Ngiro-are to assist them on the 7th. They had received a report of five people entering the Lemai Wedge, near the Ngiro-are swamp to hunt hippo. Our team joined them and managed to arrest all five people, they were each carrying spears.
The Serengeti Rhino Team joined forces with our rhino teams from the Main Reserve and Triangle on the 18th, to assess the rhino population. On the first day they came across signs of poaching and managed to arrest two people. The next night the teams observed seven different groups of poachers – numbering up to 100 people hunting near Na Mailumbwa in the Serengeti. The TANAPA rangers chased them but were unable to arrest anyone – they had killed three buffalo in no time. On the 21st there were more signs of poachers near the river and one person was arrested from a group of six. The six had been camping for some time and had killed a warthog, Our rangers from Iseiya were asked to assist and set up an ambush that evening – they arrested thee people from the same group, one of them had a spear wound on his calf – apparently incurred when they were spearing the warthog. It appears that the same group had killed a hippo a few weeks earlier.
The rangers set an ambush between Masanja and Watu Kumi, in the Lemai Wedge, on the 23rd and managed to arrest three people from a large group hunting Thompson’s gazelle. The rangers reported several gangs operating in the area. The fact that we have not been operating in the Northern Serengeti for much of this year has meant that the poaching is completely out of hand and back to pre-2001 levels.
Revenue and Accounts
The Kenya Revenue Authority (KRA) has raised a number of queries on VAT, PAYE and Withholding Tax. We engaged experts from Deloittes to do an in depth Tax Audit to determine our exposure. Most of the KRA queries can easily be explained and we expect exposure to be minimal.
Report on focus for December
We managed to repair the drift near the Kichwa airstrip, one approach had been completely washed away in a storm. We then worked on some of the other drifts and repaired damaged sections of road where possible.
We graded the road between Oloololo and Serena and patched some of the damaged areas. We than graded as far as Mara Bridge.
We have completed the new toilet and staff block at the Hippo Pool and connected the water – it was opened in time for Christmas.
Focus for January 2025
· Conduct staff transfers;
· Host team to survey site for Visitor Centre;
· Hold Board meeting on 17th;
· Place collar on cheetah;
· Repair damage to roads; and
· Fix hippo viewing point.
Work on Collaboration Agreement
· Continue with Angata;
· Hold quarterly planning meeting;
· Continue road maintenance;
· Return surplus equipment;
· Hold planning meeting for Conservation Centre; and
· Collect remaining Land Cruiser.