General
Heavy rain at the beginning of the month resulted in the Mara River flooding – a fuel tanker went over the Bridge near Mara Rianta on the 6th – one person was rescued but two people were washed away. We spent the next week searching the river for bodies and on the 10th our rangers saw a crocodile carrying a human torso – they managed to frighten off the crocodile and recover the mutilated remains of one person. On the 6th we were also asked to help search for a lost child. The two year old was found two days later 15 kms (10 miles) away – in good health.
The World Wildlife Fund (WWF) held a meeting at Mara Serena between the 8th and 12th.
A Mara wide rhino survey was started on the 8th and continued for two weeks, until the 23rd.
There was a three-day meeting at Sarova supported by the Masai Mara Wildlife Conservancies Association (MMWCA) to promote marketing the Masai Mara as One Brand Masai Mara, a single destination. There were discussions about negative reporting, especially of overcrowding at sightings and cattle incursions into the Reserve but little support from tourism operators in opening up the Conservancies to more visitors.
We were visited by a Task Force from Samburu County on the 23rd, followed by one from the Governor of Samburu on the 25th. They were particularly interested in the Management Agreement and revenue collection.
The Safari Collection is sponsoring the development of Earth Ranger as a monitoring tool for the Mara and brought in 51o, a private company largely working in Northern Kenya, to help set up and develop Earth Ranger in the Mara. The team conducted a preliminary visit from the 29th and spent the first two days going around the Mara to see what is here and what needs to be done.
Collaboration Agreement
The road team took two weeks off and reported back on the 14th. During that time we sent a team from the Conservancy to install culverts and managed to put in 20 – around Look Out Hill and on the road between Talek and Mara Simba. Unfortunately heavy lorries carrying stone to a new camp being built along the river severely damaged a section of one new road. This will have to be rebuilt.
We completed surfacing the “Balloon Road” from Talek to the Ashnil road with murram, we now need to install one concrete drift and several culverts. We have also completed a concrete drift over the Olkeijo Rongai lugga and have started surfacing this road to Talek, weather permitting it should be complete before the end of June.
We assisted in repairing the road from Sekenani to Oloolaimutia, this was in a terrible state.
The repaired the drift at Double Crossing, part of the approach had been washed away.
We completed work at Mara Simba and the team left on the 28th. We will start planning on work at the ranger station at Olare Orok.
A hydrologist has located three potential borehole sites, one near Mara Simba, one at Olare Orok and one on the slopes of Look Out hill. Our priority will be to drill on Look Out, so that we can construct toilets for the hundreds of visitors that pass by there on a daily basis.
Dogs
We are looking for a home for Rufus, our Malanois sniffer dog, although excellent this dog is too aggressive to be near visitors. Fortunately we have two young Springer spaniels that are in training to replace him.
Tourism
May was busy and became even busier towards the end of the month. All the indications are that the high season will start early and that it will be extremely busy. We are already seeing some of the worst aspects of over-tourism – speeding vehicles, crowding around sightings, numerous off-road tracks. It can only get worse as the season progresses.
Staff
We have started staff appraisals and it should be completed before the end of June.
Wildlife
Dr Takita removed a wire snare from a hyena on the 7th, the snare had cut through the trachea.
The Masai on Mbirikani Group Ranch in Kajiado speared six lions in retaliation for 11 goats being killed on the 11th. The Big Life Foundation has been paying compensation for several year with great success but on this occasion the locals were demanding for double the amount.
A few days later, on the 14th, 12 birds of prey and vultures (4 tawny eagles, 2 bateleur eagles, 3 lappet faced vultures, 1 Ruppell’s vulture and 2 white backed vultures) were poisoned on Mara Ripoi conservancy in the Mara.
The above are only two well publicized incidents and represent the tip of the iceberg in terms of human/wildlife conflict and the frustration that people have with wildlife. There is a very urgent need for the Government to find ways for people who co-exist with wild animals to derive real benefit.
May has been much drier than normal and this means that the migration could well arrive early this year. I would not be surprised to see the first animals before the end of June. The weather pattern seems to have changed with traditionally wet months being much drier than normal and then the dry months are much wetter. We hope that this isn’t the case this year, we don’t need a wet high season.
Security
We did not make any arrests in May, one of the very few months when we don’t find poachers. Part of the reason is that we were constrained by a lack of access to the Northern Serengeti – our normal routes across Sand River and the Mara were uncrossable. This meant that we limited our patrols to the Reserve and Lemai Wedge and there were no signs of poaching.
Revenue and Accounts
As expected, our April revenue was well below March, even though we had slightly more visitors. There were 1,200 fewer non-residents but many more locals – this is because there were a number of public holidays and more Kenyans visiting over the holidays. Another factor was that the Mara Rianta bridge was flooded for part of the month, meaning that vehicles had to transit through the Reserve. Up until April we are still not quite matching the peak in 2019 – April non-resident numbers were 82% of 2019. However, May appears to have been unusually busy and we can expect visitor numbers and hence revenue to exceed 2019.
We are also being helped by the devaluation in the Kenya Shilling, in 2019 it was trading at Ksh 101: 1 US$ , it is now Ksh 135: 1 US$. Who knows how much further the shilling will devalue, there is talk of it settling at around 150.
Repairs and Maintenance
Our road team installed 19 new culverts in the main Reserve before returning to the Triangle, where they continued with patching the main roads and installing six new culverts on the road to Nigro-are.
We graded the lower road between Mara Serena and Mara Bridge before grading the main road.
We re-roofed the equipment shed and have started constructing an additional store underneath.
We have started painting our buildings and have completed the ones at Iseiya.
Report on focus for April
Focus for June 2023
· Hold Board meeting on 9th;
· Grade all the main roads;
· Cut grass tracks;
· Murram the tracks in the rhino area;
· Complete building stores; and
· Order new vehicles (subject to Board approval).
Work on Collaboration Agreement
· Complete Phase 1 of our road project;
· Grade main roads;
· Start work at Olaro Orok;
· Drill borehole at Look Out;
· Start building toilets at Look Out;
· Continue purchasing rations;
· Build staff toilet at Talek;
· Construct turning area at Ol Kiombo;
· Purchase new road signs;
· Provide three Anti-harassment vehicles.