General
The heavy rain continued throughout February (nearly 200 mm or 8” this month alone) and the prognosis is for heavier than average rainfall for the next three months. We have already had to deal with extensive damage to our roads and can expect a lot more.
The Board approved and signed the Collaboration Agreement on the 11th and it was signed on the 25th by the County Secretary. Mr Mark Jenkins has been invited to join the Board and will hopefully attend the next meeting, scheduled for 3rd June.
The was three day workshop funded by GIZ, the German Development Agency, between the 15th and 17th. The workshop dealt with wildlife crime and involved people from the Judiciary, Prosecutors, the Probation Department, ourselves and the Kenya Wildlife Service (KWS).
Two roan antelope made it from Tanzania to Ruma National Park, they have settled well. We are not sure if and when more will be delivered.
Collaboration Agreement
We now have a five year agreement to collaborate with the County in the Main Reserve. This essentially means that we can:
§ Assist in joint patrols;
§ Support and train Park administration;
§ Set up a system for ordering fuel and spares and recording vehicle usage;
§ Assist in maintaining roads and advising on opening and closing of game viewing tracks;
§ Assist in the establishment of a tourism unit, with emphasis on driver discipline;
§ Assist in monitoring tickets and ensuring all visitors have a valid ticket;
§ Lease radios; and
§ Assist in establishing a database on all camps and lodges in the Mara eco-system.
COVID-19
Sixteen million people have now been vaccinated in Kenya, half of them have received the second dose; 250,000 people have received their booster doses. The positivity rate has remained at less than 1% for most of the month and we have recorded 322,906 cases in total from 3.4 million tests, 5,638 people have died. It would appear that Covid is no longer a threat in Kenya, though the Government maintains compulsory wearing of masks in public places.
Tourism
We have had a steady stream of international visitors throughout the month, still nowhere near the pre 2020 levels but people seem to be travelling again. We have no idea of the consequences of the war in Ukraine - it is bound to have an impact on international travel, especially if it escalates.
We had one incident when four overseas visitors from POA Safaris tried to pass themselves off as locals by using other people’s Identity Cards. This has been a common scam in the past.
Staff
Mr Lema Lankas accepted a letter transferring him as Sub-County Administrator in Lolgorien on the eve of going to Manyani. He had been under pressure from family and local leaders to take the position but the transfer was done in a very underhanded way and neither Lankas nor the leaders had the courage to inform us in advance. Lankas is a young man that we had mentored and supported throughout his time with us, we had just paid for him to undergo a Masters Course and he was earmarked for a great career in the Mara.
We sent 24 rangers to Manyani on the 5th, 12 of them on a Junior Commanders Course for two months and the remainder for a three-month basic training course. One of the rangers, Masai Mbirika, failed to make the grade and was removed on the 21st, he returned home.
All our rangers started the vetting process on the 25th, this is part of the process for them being grated Kenya Police Reserve (KPR) status before being given modern weapons.
Wildlife
A six month old lion cub was seen alone on the 5th, we never saw it again. The collared female lost her cubs at about a month old – they were killed by male lions that had come across the river from Musiara, probably to escape the illegal grazers in the Reserve. Her pride is now spending time on Oloisukut where they are in real danger of being poisoned for killing cattle.
Security
Eleven poachers were arrested during the month, five of them as a result of our remote cameras donated by Wildlife Protection Solutions (WPS). Fourteen snares were recovered and we noted that three impala, a hippo and a zebra had been killed by poachers.
Five wire snares were collected on the 3rd and on the 4th three people were arrested as they set snares during a late patrol near Lempise. Four snares were recovered.
The remote camera at Daraja la Mzee recorded poachers on the night of the 6th. Our rangers were on an ambush near Lemai and managed to relocate to near the site – a distance of several kilometers in pitch darkness . They managed to arrest three people who had been hunting and were on their way back, they had killed three impala. These people would never have been caught without the new thermal imaging cameras we have. The Ngiro-are rangers collected five snares on the same day.
One poacher was killed by a hippo on the night of the 15th, his companions reported the incident to their chief the following morning. Our rangers were then informed and found the mutilated remains on the same day near Daraja Mbili in the Lemai Wedge. The Nigro-are rangers found another hippo that had been killed by poachers on the same day and the Oloololo team joined up with the Anne Kent-Taylor and World Wildlife Fund (WWF) scouts to arrest a poacher who had killed a zebra near Ngos-Nanyuki on the escarpment.
The dogs were requested to track assailants to had beaten up someone in Lolgorien on the 17th, at 1.00 am. Morani followed the tracks to where the thugs had ridden away on motor cycles.
Two people were arrested on the 20th, they were posing as cattle herders in the Lemai Wedge but were wearing typical, blood-stained poachers’ clothing.
Two people were captured by a remote camera at Elengata ol Tarboi on the 24th afternoon at 3.00 pm. The rangers were deployed and managed to arrest both men – one of them was tracked by Shakaria and found hidden in a pool of water. The same camera had recorded people a few days previously, but the vehicles got stuck when responding.
Revenue and Accounts
We received another donation of US$ 50,000 from WPS, we nan never thank them enough for their incredible support.
Our Management Accounts for January continue to show an overspend on budget, amounting to Ksh 16,997,767.All the additional expenses were staff related, they amounted to Ksh 19 million and accounted for Ksh 78,402,436 of our total expenditure of Ksh 119,902,798 (65.4 of our total expenditure).
Repairs and maintenance
We completed refurbishing our vehicles and managed to complete three Suzukis, two Land Rovers and two Land Cruisers.
We contracted Digital Radio Limited (DRL) to review and overhaul our radio network and Mr Phil King came down on the 26thand will spend up to a week.
We have tidied up the staff camp by moving the uni-huts into two straight lines and putting a roof over them. We have started working on the roof.
We refurbished the trailer.
Wildeye installed a network booster at Mara Bridge, significantly improving the phone connectivity near the Bridge. We would like to do the same at Nigro-are.
The Sabaringo Bridge near the Kichwa airstrip was nearly washed away in a series of storms, the concrete slab was washed away and we will have to replace it. The approach road is also about to be cut off and we will have to re-align it.
The Sankuria bridge was also nearly washed away and we had to place gabions to shore it up.
Our roads have been extensively damaged by heavy rain, especially the road to Nigro-are and the main road to Oloololo. We will have to use every opportunity to repair what we can.
Collaboration agreement
We repaired the water supply to Musiara Gate.
Sand River flooded and was blocked by debris, we sent a JCB to clear the bridge on the 24th, we then opened up a number of drainage ditches to get water off the roads.
Report on focus for February
Focus for March 2022
· Repair damaged roads;
· Fix Sabaringo drift near the Kichwa airstrip;
· Complete overhaul of radio system;
· Complete roofing uni-huts at Iseiya;
· Paint Oloololo Housing;
· Start implementing Collaboration Agreement; and
· Attend Greater Serengeti Society meeting.
Work on Collaboration Agreement
We will meet with the Main Reserve administration to inform them of relevant clauses in the Collaboration Agreement and develop a three month workplan. This may include
o Road works;
§ Sekenani to Keekorok;
§ Sekenani to Talek;
§ The water supply to Ololamutia;
§ Renovating some housing;
§ Keekorok to Sand River; and
§ The road to Ashnil.