General
We had an unexpected shower of rain on the 2nd, followed by four weeks of hot sunny weather, before we had rain on the 29th, making July one of the driest months in years.
Eric Schmidt and Corey Lockman from Wildlife Protection Solutions (WPS) spent four days visiting the Triangle. They managed to see some of our activities and have pledged considerable support in upgrading our remote and thermal cameras.
We held an excellent meeting with the General Manager of Kichwa Tembo camp on the 14th, to discuss a number of issues regarding driver/guide behaviour and our management of their concession area.
We received our signed, bound and sealed copy of our Management Agreement for the next 15 years, valid until June 2037.
Collaboration Agreement
We met with the County Director of Tourism and Senior Warden to determine a new site for the ranger post at Zacharia on the 4th.
We started auditing camps and lodges within the Reserve on the 5th and completed the process on the 8th. The audit was spearheaded by the Directors of Tourism and Environment in the County Government and included Wardens and the Mara Triangle Administrator. They were accompanied by our GIS team, who then compiled the report. There are now 45 camps and lodges in the Reserve, up from 31 in 2016. The number of beds has increased from 1,384 to 2,075, and we haven’t even started on the camps outside the Reserve. Part of the audit included checking on leases and licences – not surprisingly only six of the lodges were able to produce the requisite paper work at the time and only 30% had a lease filed with the County.
There is a real need to Audit all camps within the ecosystem, no one actually knows how many camps there are, or the number of beds. The majority of these camps rely purely on the Reserve for their game drives and are a major contributor to the over-tourism that is plaguing the Mara.
We graded the road between Sekenani and Keekorok but with the dry conditions and extremely heavy traffic the road was almost immediately corrugated again – there is nothing we can do with this wash-board effect before the rains. We also upgraded the track to Elewana, along the Sand River.
We deployed an anti-harassment vehicle at Ashnil to help control vehicles at the crossings and have just deployed a second vehicle at Musiara to control illegal entry into the Reserve. These vehicles belong to Seiya, are driven by Seiya drivers but are manned by County Rangers.
We started work on the new ranger post at Mara Bridge on the 7th and work was virtually complete by the end of the month. County staff have already moved in as we finalize roofing, water, lighting, kitchen and the mess area.
We have built a shelter for rangers manning the Hippo Pool and will upgrade the toilet facilities there.
We also improved the toilets at the Keekorok airstrip and constructed a barrier between the parking/waiting area and the apron.
We had to resurface a short section on the western threshold of the Ol Kiombo airstrip. This airstrip is exceptionally busy, certainly the busiest in the Mara, many of the aircraft are 30-50 seater Dash aircraft and they do considerable damage to gravel runways.
Dogs
Asha, one of our sniffer dogs died on the 17th, straight after being injected with Tryquin, a prophylactic against Trypanosomiasis.
COVID-19
The positivity rate has dropped from above 10% in June to less than 5% for most of July and Covid does not seem to be impacting international travel.
Tourism
June was very busy and overseas visitor numbers matched those in 2018, but still less than the peak in 2019. The recent burn was a major attraction and we had daily visits from camps in the Main Reserve, in particular Elewana and Sala’s but we were also getting people from as far as Sarova and the Conservancies. Neptune seem to be doing all their game drives in the Triangle, although they are based on Mara North Conservancy. July was also extremely busy and our anti-harassment teams worked overtime trying to control visitors and manage off-road driving.
The audit of camps and lodges in the Reserve brought to light a number of very important issues regarding legality and compliance, but also how there is absolutely no control on the construction of camps within the Reserve. The situation outside is far worse. We have managed to control development within the Triangle and no permanent camps have been built in over 30 years. However, we struggle with new camps being built outside – that has gone up from three in 2001 to ten in 2022, with more being built. We have now reached saturation point without allowing visitors from the Greater Mara and it is time serious consideration was made to making the Triangle a premium destination and charging extra to visit, US$ 120 per person per day is not unreasonable; any visitor from the Main Reserve would pay the difference between the fee payable on the other side of the river and that charged in the Triangle.
There is ample research on the negative impacts of over tourism, one paper that is eight years old, highlighted these issues even then (Is Tourism Always Beneficial? A Case Study from Masai Mara National Reserve, Narok, Kenya. Medani Bhandari. The Pacific Journal of Science and Technology –458–Volume 15. Number 1 May 2014. http://www.akamaiuniversity.us/PJST.htm), the situation is far worse now than it was when the paper was written but even then the author was raising alarm bells about the proliferation of camps and the damage caused by off-road driving. When will we start putting in some controls on the number of visitors allowed in the Reserve?
Staff
It seems that the staff promotions for County staff that were due at the end of last month will not happen before the elections. Politics interfered, with numerous claims that certain people were being overlooked – the list went from 210 to 300 people as leaders lobbied for their people to be promoted – sometimes from ranger to an officer. It is unfortunate. The process had taken two years and undergone a thorough and professional evaluation.
The staff held an Occupation, Safety and Health (OSH) meeting on the 5th and have come up with a list of requirements to ensure adequate safety in all stations.
We were given 24 hours to organize for 26 rangers to undertake a five-day firearms training course with the paramilitary police in Gilgil, it was then postponed at the last minute. The training then started a week later, on the 18th, and was reduced from five days to one day for each team of 26.
One of the rangers stole a Conservancy phone, used by the rhino team, on the 26th. He was traced to a bar in Mara Rianta and found with the phone, wiped clean of all data. He was immediately removed from the Triangle with a strong recommendation that he be dismissed from the County. His companion, a driver in the security team, was also removed.
Wildlife
The wildebeest started crossing into the Main Reserve from Sand River on the 8th, when one or two of them started coming into the Triangle. At about the same time herds of zebra crossed from Mara North at the Main Crossing above Serena. By month’s end we had half a million wildebeest in the Triangle, mainly concentrated in the western sector, along the escarpment. There were numerous crossings below Look Out Hill and for once we were able to manage and control vehicles on both sides of the river.
One zebra was treated for an arrow wound on the 10th, another one was treated with a tail injury. Later in the month a buffalo was treated with an arrow wound on the escarpment.
Split Lip, one of the pride males from the Egyptian Goose pride was killed in a fight on the 26th. He had dislocated his left hind leg a few months ago and we were surprised that he had survived so long.
Our Cheetah with cubs was finally seen with four cubs two months after giving birth, she is still being very careful and keeping the cubs well concealed. This is the first time that a cheetah has successfully raised cubs to this stage in the Triangle for several years.
Security
A total of 24 people were arrested for poaching, all but one of them South of the Mara River in the Northern Serengeti. Thirty five wildebeest were known to have been killed by poachers, as were six zebra – nearly all of them slashed across the spine with machetes. The rangers only recovered 37 snares, all of them in the Lemai Wedge.
The Iseiya team crossed Sand River on the 2nd for a 36 hour patrol in the Northern Serengeti. They began to see wildebeest near the Bologonja River and saw several signs of poaching, including a number of old camps. They then set an ambush and managed to arrest three people after midnight as they were hunting wildebeest with machetes, one wildebeest had been killed. The following morning they arrested a fourth person, he was from the same group and had eluded arrest at night.
The rangers crossed Sand River again on the 8th and patrolled towards Binamu and Mama Kent in the Northern Serengeti. They saw several old poachers’ camps and then at 11.00 am they came across one with three people in it. All three were arrested, they had been there for several days and had killed at seven wildebeest with machetes. The following day the Nigro-are rangers arrested one person along the escarpment.
The Nigro-are rangers recovered eight wire snares on the 13th and another 16 two days later.
The Iseiya rangers crossed the river on the 15th for a two day patrol, they saw nothing that day but saw some poachers that night. The poachers disappeared before the rangers could get into position. The following day tracks were followed but our people were seen early and the poachers escaped. That night an ambush was set near Zonzo in the Northern Serengeti, a lot of torch activity was seen and two people were arrested from a group of six.
Thirteen wire snares were recovered at Limana, in the Lemai Wedge on the 19th and then the following day the rangers crossed the river and managed to arrest one person from a group of four. They had killed seven wildebeest.
Our rangers continued to patrol South of the Mara River in the Northern Serengeti and made several arrests. On the night of the 20th all three people were arrested in a group while they were hunting, they had killed four wildebeest. Four more people were arrested from a group of seven on the night of the 22nd, they had already killed two wildebeest and three zebra when apprehended.
We continued our patrols South of the river and managed to arrest two more people on the night of the 25th as they hunted zebra – three had already been killed.
There was very little activity in the Lemai Wedge but on the 26th our Nigro-are rangers managed to arrest one person on the Kigonga route as he returned with a wildebeest he had killed.
Both ranger teams went on a 48 hour patrol to the Northern Serengeti on the 27th, they were unable to see any poacher activity the first day and night near Bush Tops and then moved towards an area called Mbali Mbali, there they began to see a lot of poacher activity soon after dark on the 28th. At least two groups of poachers were seen but did not approach the ambush teams. The rangers waited and managed to arrest two people as they returned home at 4.00 am. Later that morning they caught a third person. At least fourteen wildebeest had been killed – all of them by slashing the spines with machetes.
Revenue and Accounts
Our total revenue in June was nearly four times the amount collected in the same month in 2021 (Ksh 73 million against Ksh 19 million), almost bringing us back to the peak in 2019.
A summary of our Cash Flow statement from the Management Accounts for the year ending June 30th is presented below (Table 2). This is a very true reflection of the account as will be presented for Audit at the beginning of August. The Audit requires that we show deferred revenue – payments made in the form of floats but not yet redeemed. This amounted to Ksh 11.9 million (US$ 101,000) and has been deducted from our Income statement in the accounts.
We cannot thank Wildlife Protection Solutions (WPS) and their owners, Dave Weidner and Sue Thompson enough for their incredible support; they helped us transform a deficit of nearly Ksh 68 million into a positive of Ksh 27 million. A year ago the Auditors were concerned about us continuing as a going concern. We managed, and barring any unforeseen issues we will be able to build up our reserves and manage the Triangle as it should be. Thank you Dave and Sue. I would also like to thank Dr George Powell for putting us in touch with WPS and for his support, and the staff for bearing with us through a very difficult two years.
Table 2: Cash flow statement for the year ending 30th June 2022
Repairs and maintenance
We completed grading the roads to Nigro-are and Little Governors and then touched up the main road to Mara Bridge after the first rain at the end of the month.
We patched the entrance roads to the camp sites.
Report on focus for July
Focus for August 2022
· Hold Annual Audit;
· Receive new firearms;
· Replace water tank at Oloololo; and
· Maintain buildings at Nigro-are.
Work on Collaboration Agreement
· Work on the toilets at Ol Kiombo;
· Create a barrier between the parking area and Apron at Ol Kiombo;
· Complete ranger post at Mara Bridge by providing water from the borehole at Purungat, installing solar and completing the kitchen/mess area;
· We will pipe water to the hippo pool and upgrade the toilets;
· Continue with deploying anti-harassment and monitoring vehicles in the Greater Mara;
· Road works;
§ Touch up the road between Sekenani and Talek.