General
We had a few days of low cloud and drizzle from the 8th, the remainder of the month was dry but cool.
We received another donation of US$ 100,000 from Wildlife Protection Solutions. They have now given us US$ 640,000 an amazing gesture and one that certainly saved us during the past year. We cannot thank them enough. Ms Janyne Preston kindly replaced the donation of US$ 25,000 that did not go through in June.
Strathmore University are working on a strategy for Tourism Sustainability and Recovery as a result of Covid-19 and spent two days at Mara Serena from the 15th. They interviewed stakeholders from conservation, tourism and the community and should have a paper out within a couple of months.
Research
A paper entitled:
Cross-boundary human impacts compromise the Serengeti-Mara ecosystem (2019).
M P Veldhuis, M E Ritchie, J O Ogutu, T A Morrison, C M Beale, A B Estes, W Mwakilema, G O Ojwang, C L Parr, J Probert, P W Wargute, J G C Hopcraft, H Olff. Science 363, 1424–1428.
Looks at how unsustainable human activity outside Protected areas is compressing wildlife and conclude that “evidence from 40 years of research in the Serengeti-Mara ecosystem, we find that such edge degradation has effectively “squeezed” wildlife into the core protected area and has altered the ecosystem’s dynamics even within this 40,000-square-kilometer ecosystem. This spatial cascade reduced resilience in the core and was mediated by the movement of grazers, which reduced grass fuel and fires, weakened the capacity of soils to sequester nutrients and carbon, and decreased the responsiveness of primary production to rainfall. Similar effects in other protected ecosystems worldwide may require rethinking of natural resource management outside protected areas.”
We are witnessing first-hand the increased “hard” edges between the Protected area and community/private land on the boundaries. We have seen the proliferation of fences, camps, settlements, villages and agriculture - all squeezing wildlife into an ever decreasing area. One might say that the conservancies surrounding the Mara are a solution but even they are being cut off from the Reserve by development and we have already seen the disastrous effect of fencing on mobile species such as zebra and wildebeest.
Collaboration Agreement
We received a few funds from the Main Reserve and managed to patch and grade small road sections ( Keekorok to Ololamutia and Talek to to Ol Kiombo) and repair two airstrips (Keekorok and Ol Kiombo). We also purchased spares for the Musiara windmill.
COVID-19
We are communicating with Nairobi West Hospital on the establishment of a testing unit in the Triangle for Covid-19 and hope to have a unit operational in early August. Clients will then be able to be tested in the Mara and have their results within 6-8 hours. This will greatly ease the burden of testing for non-resident visitors and will cost in the region of US$ 110 per test.
We seem to be seeing a fourth wave, with positivity rates increasing again to well above 10%. But we are still far better off than most countries. A total of 203,213 people have tested positive from 2,132,355 tests; 3,931 people have died. Vaccines are beginning to arrive again and we can expect a major campaign in August; to date 1,723,727 people have been vaccinated once and 661,314 people have received their second vaccine.
Tourism
Tourism is beginning to recover, mainly with visitors from the United States. However, we are still a long way from the numbers we were receiving prior to Covid-19. There are still major concerns, most of the travelers to Kenya have received two vaccinations, but the Delta variant is sweeping many countries throughout the World, including the US and there may be a need for further lockdowns and/or a third vaccination. What this will do to tourism remains to be seen.
Although the high season has been slow to start, we are already seeing all the issues that plague us each migration season; misbehavior at crossings, over-speeding, littering and driving after dark. Every year we have issues at crossing points – too many vehicles, many of them speeding; cutting off the entry and exit points; people running along the river bank. Every year we talk about measures to manage and control these issues and some of the things discussed include a surcharge to watch an crossing, restricting the number of vehicles, better policing. Nothing ever happens and the moment the migration ends these issues are forgotten. We need to find a long-term solution or face the consequences (see the wildlife section).
Dogs
We have started the selection process on seven puppies fathered by Morani but born to a bitch belonging to Finlays in Kericho – Kenya’s major tea growing area. We will select the most promising puppies, train them and then retain one for ourselves, to replace Sero.
Shakaria, one of our tracker dogs fell sick and was taken to Nairobi for treatment on the 28th, she had Trypanosomiasis. This disease is a challenge for us, it can be contained by quarterly injections of Trypacide but long-term usage causes liver damage so we have to try and balance prophylaxis with exposure to tryps.
Staff
We reinstated salaries to the full amount, from the 30% cut that everyone took in early 2020. I would like to thank all our staff for their understanding and patience over the past 15 months and hope that we are over the worst.
The County Government undertook a review of Scheme of Service and Promotions from the 21st to the 23rd.
Wildlife
One person was killed by an elephant in the Nyakweri forest on the 5th, he was part of a group of people burning charcoal in the forest.
The migration started moving in around the 20th. A little later than expected, but by the end of the month we had 200-300,000 animals – primarily along the border and as far as Kampi ya Mungu along the escarpment. The majority of these animals would have crossed the Mara River in Tanzania, a spectacle for those visitors to the Northern Serengeti. There is no doubt that we are seeing fewer and fewer animals cross the river in Kenya. How much of this can be attributed to vehicle pressure and bad behavior in the Mara is difficult to determine. We believe that years of pressure at crossings has forced the wildebeest to look elsewhere and the Tanzanians have far better control at crossings than we do.
Security
Nineteen people were arrested for poaching during July, one other was caught for cutting logs and another was an escapee. The rangers collected 850 wire snares and rescued seven wildebeest. They also found where numerous animals had been killed and these included: 22 wildebeest, 4 zebra, 2 buffalo, 2 hippo, 2 bushbuck, 1 impala, 1 ostrich and one giraffe. One large male elephant was found dead with a snare.
The rangers came across a young hippo that had been killed three days previously when patrolling the river in the Lemai Wedge on the 1st. The next day the Nigro-are rangers found and collected 37 wire snares near Kasarani, again in the Lemai Wedge.
Both our ranger teams joined forces to patrol the Northern Serengeti for a three day/two night patrol from the 4th. On the first full day they managed to arrest two people from a group of six near the Bologonja river. One of the two was caught as a result of our dogs tracking and locating him. The poachers had already killed a wildebeest and an impala, 32 wire snares were recovered. The following day, the 6th, our rangers saw lots of sign and came across a buffalo that had been killed and butchered. Again the dogs were deployed and managed to assist in the arrest of two more people. Eight snares were recovered.
Our rangers are beginning to find and collect snares in fairly large numbers and managed to collect a total of 99 on the 7th and 8th. All the snares were in the Lemai Wedge and concentrated around Kasarani and Nyakita Tone. Two wildebeest and one zebra had been butchered.
A further 114 snares were collected by our teams on the 9th, two zebra and one wildebeest were found dead in the snares. The following day our rangers started a three day patrol across the river and managed to arrest four people and recover 50 snares near Binamu in the Northern Serengeti. The poachers had killed two bushbuck.
A routine patrol in the Lemai Wedge on the 14th recovered 157 wire snares. The rangers found where three wildebeest, one zebra, one hippo and one ostrich had been butchered around Nyakita Tone.
Our Nigro-are rangers apprehended one person along the escarpment on the 15th – he had escaped Police custody two days earlier and was trying to remove his handcuffs when caught.
A total of 34 snares were retrieved on the 16th and 17th and one person was arrested for cutting logs along the escarpment. One person was arrested at Nyakita Tone on the 18th by the Iseiya rangers, 38 snares were recovered.
A large male elephant was found dead at Nyakita Tone on the 19th by a joint patrol with TANAPA, it had a wire snare that had cut through to the bone on one leg. This bull was most likely one of seven that were routinely seen in that area. 34 snares were recovered in that area on that day.
Our patrols were routinely collecting snares in the Lemai Wedge and on the 20th they recovered 47 and rescued two wildebeest. Then on the 21st a patrol arrested three, of six poachers, collected 57 snares and found where one giraffe and one wildebeest had been killed.
Fifty two more snares were recovered in the Lemai Wedge between the 22nd and 26th . Four wildebeest were rescued, two had been butchered, as was one buffalo caught in a snare near the Nigro-are swamp.
The rangers went on a two day patrol across the river from the 27th and managed to arrest seven people for poaching. They arrested four, of ten, on the 27th near Binamu. This group had been driving wildebeest into steep watercourses and then hamstringing them – they had killed 11 wildebeest. The following day the patrol continued towards the Kibo camp and Ngira and arrested three more people, they recovered 46 snares.
A routine patrol recovered 45 snares in the Lemai Wedge on the 30th, one wildebeest was rescued and one other had been butchered.
Revenue and Accounts
We are beginning to see a significant improvement in revenue from last year – Ksh 6,990,315 against Ksh 304,639 in June 2020 (our share after removing the KAPS commission). However, we are still only at 34.4% of the revenue collected in June 2019.
The Table below is a draft breakdown of our income and expenditure for the financial year ending 30th June. The Annual Audit will be done by Deloittes in August and we will have a definitive set of accounts by mid September. The key points of interest in the accounts are:
· Total income declined by Ksh173m – from Ksh 286m-2019/20 to Ksh 112m-2020/21;
· Park Fees declined from Ksh 197m in 2019/20 to Ksh 51m this year;
· We managed to reduce our Operational Expenditure by Ksh 52m – from Ksh 216m in 2019/20 to Ksh164m in 2020/21, primarily as a result of the 30% salary cut and savings in allowances, road works, vehicle and machine running;
· We should thank all our staff for the sacrifices they made and for managing to keep expenditure down as well as we did – the variance against a very tough budget was less than 3%.
We cannot thank our donors, in particular WPS, enough for their contributions. Donor contributions amounted to Ksh 55m, more than our Park fees. These donations saved us – Thank you.
Table 2: Income and expenditure statement for the FY 20/21
Repairs and maintenance
We resurfaced and graded some key roads on Oloololo Game ranch, we also cut game-viewing tracks.
We made a new concrete drift into the Kishanga camp site, removing the need to drive through a heavily waterlogged area. We have cleared two potential camp sites at Kishanga, giving visitors an option to face the escarpment if they like. Only one site will be uused at any one time.
We repaired another drift on the same watercourse, one close to the Kijito camp site;
We installed five small culverts on the road to Nigro-are and concreted Seur’s drift on the same road.
We graded the river road to Oloololo, the road to the border and one to Mlima Mbili before also grading the road down the escarpment from Angama.
We continued to patch sections of our major roads and focused on the escarpment road to Nigro-are.
We replaced roofing on one house at Nigro-are, built a simple kitchen for an open fire, fitted a door on the kitchen and built a stand for solar panels. We have also removed the thatch from two uni-huts and straightened the roofing.
The rangers have moved into their new housing at Partikilat, after we installed solar power. The new kitchen and bathroom are virtually complete.
Collaboration Agreement
We received Ksh 2m from Narok County for work in the Main Reserve and managed to assist in:
· Staff transfers;
· Fixing grader and patching sections of the road to Ol Kiombo;
· Repairing sections of the road between Keekorok and Ololamutia;
· Resurfacing and grading the Keekorok and Ol Kiombo airstrips;
· Purchasing spares for the Musiara windmill and also purchasing a new water tank and piping for Musiara;
Report on focus for July
Focus for August 2021
Start Annual Audit;
Work with Nairobi West Hospital in establishing a Covid testing facility in the Triangle;
Make a new road down the escarpment from Partikilat.
Continue with minor road repairs.
Cover two uni-huts at Nigro-are.
Start building store at Iseiya.
Work on Collaboration Agreement – funds permitting;
o Sign new agreement;
o Repair water supply to Musiara;
o Grade roads as required; and
o Renovate one house at Musiara;