General
July was dry for the most part, with only the occasional shower in the evenings. This meant that the Mara dried out exceptionally quickly and triggered the migration after the 15th.
The Chief Executive and Finance Manager met with the Chairman of KAPS on the 16th to discuss management issues and to agree on a schedule to reconcile our account.
We held a Board meeting on the 17th in Nairobi to Approve the Annual Work Plan and discuss fund-raising options.
We have been in contact with Conservation International (CI) with a proposal for a soft loan for the Conservancy. This is part of a larger package being prepared by Justin Heath for conservation in the Mara ecosystem.
Collaboration Agreement
We serviced all the equipment at the beginning of the month so that it was ready for work on the 6th. The equipment was all in poor condition and within days we were having problems:
· We had to replace tyres on the tipper day 2;
· The clutch on the tipper burnt out after two weeks;
· A grader pipe broke after four days;
· The grader has a starting problem and the fuel cuts off several times a day;
· The excavator had a damaged roller and a key pin holding the boom also requires repair.
We also repaired the Land Cruiser that had driven into a flooded river and returned it to Sekenani on the 6th.
However, despite these problems we have managed to make good progress. The workshop is now functioning and has been tidied up. We have:
· Graded a bad section between Sekenani and Keekorok;
· We are fixing the perimeter fence around the workshops;
· We repaired two vehicles that had been grounded for months and rehabilitated one that had been off the road for at least five years;
· We replaced the clutch on the tipper and repaired the grader fuel system;
· Graded the road to Ashnil and repaired bad sections;
· Put murram on eroded sections of the road between Mara Bridge and Ololamutia;
· Cleaned out and repaired the dam at Keekorok;
· Opened as many culverts as we could find between Mara Bridge and Keekorok;
· Fixed eroded sections of the road to Sand River;
· Repaired the bridge at Sand River;
· Repaired a drift between Mara Bridge and Look Out hill;
· Fitted radios in four ranger vehicles and provided eight hand sets;
COVID-19
The Government relaxed the lock-down at the beginning of July and this immediately opened the floodgates – a massive exodus to the rural areas from Nairobi. It also enabled some of the camps and lodges in the Mara to open and for commercial local flights to start operating. Unfortunately it coincided with a significant increase in Covid-19 cases throughout Kenya and the potential for the virus to get out of control. We now have 20,636 confirmed cases – currently averaging around 700 new cases daily, and 341 deaths. The projections are for it to peak in September.
Trying to manage the virus in the Mara poses a logistical nightmare to the camps and lodges, all staff have been tested but they are in constant contact with visitors – who have not.
Tourism
We had an influx of local tourists as soon as the lock-down was lifted, especially on the weekends.
The Government will allow flights from countries with reducing Covid-19 cases but we don’t expects any significant numbers of foreign tourists for at least a year.
Staff
We held a Warden’s meeting on the 5th to discuss the Covid situation and the implications for our work and security.
Janet Cherop resigned and left on the 22nd. Janet was the Administrative assistant, had been with us for over 10 years and we will miss her.
Dogs
We sadly had to euthanize Gage – the sniffer dog based at Purungat. He had heart failure and was not responding to any treatment. Gage was eight years old and would have retired at the end of this year.
We are looking at training two new sniffer dogs, they cost US$ 1,000 each and we have funding for one of them.
Wildlife
We started seeing the first few herds of zebra crossing the river from the North at the beginning of the month. One or two very small groups of wildebeest started appearing early in the month but there were no significant numbers before the 16th – when they started crossing Sand River in very large numbers. So far most of the wildebeest have remained in the Main Reserve, with very few crossing into the Triangle, no doubt this will change in August.
Dr Limo from the Sheldrick/KWS veterinary team removed a spear from a young bull elephant on the 22nd. The spear had gone through the ear and caused no damage to the animal.
Security
We arrested a total of 30 people for poaching during July, 15 of them in the Northern Serengeti South of the Mara River, nine were caught for fishing and the remaining six were caught in the Lemai Wedge. We collected a total of 278 wire snares; found where 30 wildebeest had been butchered, as were one topi and one zebra. One zebra and one eland were found dead in snares and one zebra was rescued. We also arrested four people for attacking the manager of one of the camps along the escarpment.
The Nigro-are team arrested two people on the 2nd, one person was arrested along the escarpment in the afternoon, as he and four others came down the escarpment with five snares. That night they arrested one more person near Lugga ya Ngiri with two snares.
The Nigro-are rangers arrested one person on the 7th and two more on the 8th. In the first incident one person was reported in the Lemai Wedge in the evening – he was arrested and was carrying three wire snares and topi meat. The next day two people were arrested carrying nine snares near Kokamange, the patrol then found a further 17 snares – making 26. Nine more snares were collected on the 10th, a further five on the 13th – one zebra was dead in a snare, and two more were collected at Nyakita Pembe on the 14th – one eland was dead in one of the snares.
We arrested four people for fishing in the Triangle on the 18th – they had caught 21 catfish and were going to sell them.
Our rangers then went on a three day patrol on the other side of the river, starting after dark on the 16th. They picked up one TANAPA ranger at Lemai before heading towards Kibaso – where they made their first arrest towards midnight. They proceeded to Machechwe. The next morning they patrolled towards Kichwa Tembo in the Northern Serengeti, where they began to see signs of poaching before they found a camp. The poachers saw the rangers and seven managed to escape, but two were arrested. They had killed at least six wildebeest. That night the rangers set up an ambush near Itaro and managed to arrest five people, one of the five would not have been caught without our dogs. They continued that night and managed to catch three more people near Nzonzo. One more person was arrested on the 18th and all the of the poachers were taken by TANAPA rangers from Tabora B. The patrol continued and three more were arrested near Binamu later the same day - the 18th . In all, 15 people were arrested and 25 wildebeest had been killed and butchered. The poachers across the river hardly ever use wire snares. Here the method is to drive herds of wildebeest into gullies and slash them across the spine with machetes – immobilizing them before they return to kill and butcher them.
One of the camps along the escarpment had an incident on. The 25th, a group of young men broke into the manager’s house and hit him over the head – injuring him. We used the dogs and managed to track the assailants to their homesteads, four people were arrested. They were handed over to the Administration and Police.
The Ngiro-are rangers collected 27 snares along the escarpment on the 25th and then another 12 the following day. One person was caught fishing in the Lemai Wedge on the 26th and taken to the TANAPA ranger camp at Kinyangaga.
The rangers arrested four people who were fishing in the Lemai Wedge on the 28th, they had caught a sack-full of smallish catfish and were taken to Lemai.
We started seeing a lot more snares once the migration moved in, albeit in a small way. We recovered 182 snares in the last four days of July, all along the escarpment in the Lemai Wedge. We also found where five wildebeest and one zebra had been butchered; one other zebra was rescued.
Revenue and Accounts
Our draft accounts for the financial year ending June 30th indicate a slight profit, remarkable given that we had no income for the last three months. Our total operating expenditure for the year was Ksh 215,875,882 (Approximately US$ 2,150,000) or US$ 179,000 per month. We are now trying to manage the Triangle on approximately US$ 100,000 per month – it has been very difficult, given the immense damage caused by the recent rains.
Table 1: Cash flow statement for the year ending June 30th 2020
Our share of the June revenue was approximately Ksh 271,000, insufficient to pay for a week’s fuel, let alone any other expenses. We can expect an improvement in July and August but it will be a very small fraction of our normal high season revenue – possibly 1-2%.
We have reconciled our account with KAPS and have agreed to a payment schedule over three months for the outstanding amount of approximately Ksh 13 million. We are grateful to senior KAPS management for their cooperation in resolving this issue.
We have spent the month preparing for the Annual Audit and the date has now been set for August 17th.
Repairs and maintenance
We have concentrated on our collaboration agreement with Narok County and have managed to achieve a great deal in one month.
We completed repair work, including installing five culverts, on the road to Ngiro-are and then graded it, the road is not perfect but much better than before.
We also repaired all the luggas on the lower road to Mara Bridge, graded the road and repaired damaged patches.
We cut a few grass game-viewing tracks and fixed a number of drifts that had been washed away in the flooding.
We have laid the foundation and floor for four new staff rooms at Iseiya. We will be using our new interlocking blocks and it will be very interesting to see how quickly and efficiently we can build.
Report on focus for July
Focus for August 2020
· Start Annual Audit;
· Collaboration Agreement;
o Complete grading road to Ololamutia;
o Clean culverts and improve drainage;
o Open Bridge at Sand River;
o Start on causeways at Double Crossing;
o Complete fence around workshop Compound at Sekenani;
o Start on road between Talek and Musiara Gate;
o Complete rehabilitation of one Land Rover and one Maruti;
o Maintain vehicles; and
o Start on Solar system for Chief Park Warden;
· Continue constructing staff quarters; and
· Grade road between Cobra Corner and Nigro-are