General
There were some heavy storms throughout January, making road repairs very difficult. This was definitely some of the heaviest and most sustained rainfall in many years. Several vehicles drove into flooded watercourses and one gas transporter fell of the small causeway on the way to Little Governors. Several people were drowned when trying to cross the rivers and at one stage, on the 30th, the Mara River actually flowed over the main bridge at Purungat and flooded the gate house there. We had a total of 920 mm in the three months October through December, of which 674 mm fell in December alone, we probably had as much again in January. It looks like the rains will continue through February and now the experts are predicting higher than average rains for the long-rains – March through May.
We had the most ever visitors to the Triangle in 2019 - 157,591 up from 145,238 in 2018. Fifty percent of our visitors are classified as non-paying – this year it was 79,508. The number of non-resident visitors was up on last year by 10%, reaching 77,904 adults and 6,684 children. We had 15,955 school children visit, again the most ever. Figures 1 & 2 below show trends and numbers since 2012.
Figures 1 & 2: Visitor numbers since 2019
We held a meeting with management of Kichwa Tembo on the 21st to plot a way forward on the new contract.
We held a Board meeting on the 24th and then the Chief Executive and Chairman met with Governor Tunai on the 30th , to discuss the way forward.
Tourism
An interesting document by the Tourism Research Institute entitled:
Kenya Tourism Sector Performance Report 2019
Analyses the performance for last year but also looks at trends, not only in numbers but in the way food and activities are becoming important considerations. It also looks at the way people book their travel and how they access information. It is an interesting document for anyone involved in tourism and the management of tourist destinations.
Two things have happened already this year that could have a major impact on tourism.
· Firstly, the unprecedented rains – extremely destructive and there seems to be no end in sight. The rains have already caused considerable damage, not only to our infrastructure and roads but to camps and lodges along the Talek River. At least 10 camps had severe damage and some had to evacuate their clients at night. We are already seeing the impact, cancellations and a drop in expected revenue.
· Secondly, the Coronavirus that originated in Wuhan, China is already causing concern worldwide, with travel to and from China being curtailed. This has the potential of severely reducing tourism, not only from China - an increasingly important market - but will probably affect worldwide travel.
Staff
We conducted our staff transfers on the 15th.
Mr Steve Mwiti conducted a three day training course on Labour Laws (2013) for our staff from the 28th . The key issues that were addressed included:
· Recruitment and termination;
· Working hours and overtime;
· Leave, time off and absenteeism;
· Injuries and sick leave;
· Workman’s compensation insurance;
· Taxation, especially for those with two sources of income, such as the rangers;
· Female workers’ rights, including maternity leave, rest periods and privacy during breastfeeding;
The meeting was attended by 60 members of staff and those that had. Issues were particularly invited to attend and air them. The Conservancy now need to set up an Occupational Health and Safety Committee and Mr Mwiti will return in March to establish this committee it and train the members on their rights and responsibilities.
Research
Mr Stratton Hatfield has produced his Annual Report on the work he has been doing on raptors, in particular Martial eagles. You can find out more about the work he and the people he works with do on their website:
www.mararaptorproject.org
This is very important work – raptors on the whole are declining rapidly and three of the seven vulture species found in the Mara ecosystem and now listed as critically endangered. Stratton and his co-workers have found 22 Martial eagle pairs in the Mara ecosystem, of which seven are in the Triangle. They have tracked 25 adult, territorial adults with transmitters and found that the approximate home range is 180 sq km. Two pairs in the Triangle successfully fledged chicks last year, only one other pair was successful in the ecosystem. The most common prey species included hares, young impala and guineafowl but at least 26 species were killed.
Wildlife
One large crocodile with a broken lower jaw took up residence near Mara Bridge at the beginning g of the month. The Kenya Wildlife Service (KWS) would not let us shoot it and it died on the 15th.
One Hippo was found dead on the 10th and another died in the murram pit near Serena on the 16th, it provided food for four big lions and up to 50 hyena for several days.
One elephant was found dead in the river near Governors camp, the tusks were taken by the Kenya Wildlife Service. The rangers found a mutilated body when going in to recover the ivory, initially we thought it may have been one of two people who had been washed off the bridge at Mara Rianta, it was actually someone last seen well upstream in Mulot. Another dead elephant was found near Nyumba ya Faru on the 28th.
An elephant killed a person as he tried to protect his crops at Olopikidongoe, between Kawai and Lolgorien on the 30th.
Security
Ten people were arrested in the Lemai Wedge in January, and four wire snares recovered. At least one hippo was speared, one waterbuck, four impala, four Thompson’s gazelle and a bustard were also poached.
Our TANAPA counterparts informed us of a threat on three big bull elephant in the Lemai Wedge on the 5th by four people armed with guns – two from Kigonga and two from Karatonga. Our rangers joined forces but never caught up with the poachers, though they did hear that one buffalo had been shot and the meat taken. On the same day a hippo was speared near Daraja Mbili.
Four people were arrested in the Lemai Wedge on the 18th. Three of nine people were arrested during the day by a joint patrol with TANAPA, they had killed a waterbuck. That night the same team managed to arrest one more person, as he and two others came into the Park.
The Iseiya team set an ambush near Watu Kumi in the Lemai Wedge and managed to arrest two people at 3.00 am. They first saw the poachers approaching at around 11.00 pm and monitored them as they hunted and got closer. One of the poachers was found by using our dogs, Morani. The poachers had killed four impala and one immature white bellied bustard by the time they were arrested, four people escaped. The following morning the four were spotted trying to get home and three of them were arrested. They had become slightly disorientated after being chased the previous night, had seen a TANAPA vehicle driving around and had hidden until mid-morning. They were carrying one impala carcass and four wire snares.
The Ngiro-are rangers arrested one person at 4.00 am on the 28th, near Konyioke he was part of as group who had been hunting Thompson’s gazelle with dogs and torches, they had killed four gazelle.
Revenue and Accounts
As expected, our revenue for December was well down on December 2018 – by 10.5%. Total visitor numbers were up on November, fewer non-residents but more residents – taking advantage of the offers over Christmas and New Year.
Our six-month management accounts (Table below) showed that we were above budget on our income by 9% - mainly as a result of increased balloon cess and a donation of US$ 16,000 from the Angama Foundation’s photographic competition. However, we were also above budget on expenditure – mainly as a result of increased repairs to infrastructure, depreciation and insurance.
It is unlikely that we will be able to sustain projected income and expenditure for the remainder of the financial year, not only do we expect the rains and the Coronavirus to negatively impact our income, but we can anticipate huge additional expenses in repairing all the damage – bridges and culverts have been severely damaged, but so have the roads and airstrip.
Table 1: Profit statement for the first six months
Repairs and maintenance
We incurred considerable costs in trying to maintain our roads in a passable state – extremely difficult with some storms in excess of 100mm washing away part of the causeway on the Sabaringo, washing away most of the road between Sankuria and Little Governors, and damaging all the other roads. We hired the Seiya back-hoe loader and tractor/trailer to try and keep on top of things. We also used out old grader until a key part broke and had to be sent to Nairobi for repair.
It became impossible for us to bring in building materials such as ballast and sand and we were unable to construct the culverts that are needed so badly.
We managed to continue with the new staff housing at Iseiya, we were held up by a delay in accessing timber but it finally arrived and the houses should be complete in early February.
We continued working at Oloololo and converted a container from a honey store to housing, we also built a toilet and shower for staff.
We put up two tents and one uni-hut for staff in the Kichwa Tembo compound and allocated a vehicle to the team.
We employed two people to uproot Parthenium, an invasive weed that is taking over very large areas in Kajiado, Nairobi and Narok. It has invaded areas near Purungat and despite trying to control it for several year it is beginning to get out of hand. We are then burning and burying the plants.
We repaired the gate housed at Kilo 2, it had been damaged by a vehicle that lost it’s brakes and ran downhill.
Report on focus for January
Focus for February 2020
· Continue with road repairs when possible;
· Host engineer to look at damaged road;`
· Work on wash away Naisukut;
· Check main bridge at Purungat for structural damage
· Construct culverts;
· Complete staff housing;
· Complete contract with County;
· Continue removing Parthenium; and
· Remove Lantana, another invasive;