General
Rains started in earnest on the 2nd, stopped for a while and then resumed towards month’s end. There was one exceptionally heavy storm near Oloololo on the 30th.
We have been working with the A&K Foundation to design a proposed Visitor Centre at Oloololo Gate. The Foundation has negotiated the rate with Royal Institute of British Architects and raised the necessary funds to proceed. This is a very exciting project and the timetable is as follows..
The Board met with Governor P Ntutu on the 10th to discuss our relationship with the County and a way forward with retention of revenue. We agreed to meet with our respective Banks on the 29th. We met with the Managing Director of the Kenya Commercial Bank (KCB) and discussed ways and means of receiving the Conservancy Share once all revenue is remitted into the County account. There a number of details to be ironed out prior to implementing any changes to revenue distribution.
Collaboration Agreement
We completed resurfacing the Musiara airstrip.
We graded the roads from Sekenani to Keekorok and then Mara Bridge and repaired a number of culverts and drifts that were damaged by heavy rain.
We have started a major project to resurface the road from Sekenani to Keekorok, whatever we do can only be seen as a temporary measure, the volume and speed of traffic on this road is too great.
We completed the toilets and staff housing at Look Out, and they are now operational, with cleaners already working there. We will connect solar power to the toilets and housing in early December.
We have started on a fence around the new repeater site near Keekorok and should be able to move the repeater in early December.
We had to repair approaches to some of the new drifts and culverts after heavy rain and plan on installing more in December.
We received one Suzuki Jimny for the County, there are two more to be delivered.
We have drilled a new borehole at Mpuai, the yield was very low from the first hole, this new one is producing 43m/hour, more than enough.
We have received new uni-huts for the Paramilitary police station at Ngararu in Trans Mara.
The new road from Talek to Sekenani is virtually complete, the bridge over the Talek should be completed in December, this road is already taking much of the traffic that used to pass though the Reserve.
Staff
Thirty people graduated from the KWS Training College at Manyani on the 2nd.
We had one or two disciplinary issues during the month and three people were issued with warning letters, a fourth was suspended for careless driving and damaging one of our new Land Cruisers.
Some of our staff underwent Earth Ranger training in preparation for the roll-out in December.
Tourism
Tourist numbers have dropped considerably but we can expect an upturn in December.
Wildlife and Veterinary
The map below shows the extent of our rabies campaign, 5,000 dogs were vaccinated.
We are seeing an increase in the number of animals wounded on the escarpment and along the Tanzanian border, in all six zebra were had snares or arrows removed and one eland was treated for a injured hind leg. All were treated by Dr Asuka Takita.
Leopard sightings have been excellent throughout the month and they are seen almost every day.
One elephant was found dead in Hornbill campsite on the 30th, it had been dead for several days and was being fed on by lions and crocodiles.
Security
A total of 16 poachers were arrested during the month, 53 snares were recovered and the patrols found where three zebra, a buffalo and a Thompson’s gazelle had been killed.
One person was arrested on the night of the 31st at Limana, in the Lemai Wedge by the Nigro-are rangers and then the Iseiya team crossed the rover on the 3rd and started to see signs of poaching near Ngira, first a zebra that had been slashed across the back with a machete and then a poachers’ camp. They were unable to catch the poachers in daylight and decided to set an ambush – they managed to arrest two people. They had been in the camp three days, had killed two zebra and were carrying three snares.
One buffalo was speared on the 5th near Konyoike, right on the Kenya/Tanzania border, a spear was recovered. The following day the Ngiro-are rangers arrested one person who was hunting alone at 9.00 am. He had two snares, later the rangers recovered another six snares.
We set up an observation post at Konyoike and on the first day three people were spotted entering the Lemai Wedge, a patrol team was called in but the poachers mist have been alerted by someone on the escarpment, they suddenly turned and went back.
The Iseiya rangers managed to arrest one, of two people hunting with torches and dogs in the Lemai Wedge on the 11th, they had killed one Thompson’s gazelle.
Ten snares were recovered on the 18th and on the same day the Ngiro-are team arrested two people near Machechwe as they hunted with torches and dogs. The rangers continued their patrol and managed to arrest two more people near Serengeti Ndogo the following morning. One more person was arrested by the same team on the 20th near Lempise. That same day there was a robbery at Sun Lodge on the escarpment – our team arrives as members of the community caught the culprit, he was a resident of Kigonga and had stolen a pair of powerful binoculars and a television set. The binoculars would almost certainly have been used to check on our movements.
The Ngiro-are team continued to arrest poachers and managed two more on the night of the 21st and again four more on the 22nd. Three of them at Nyamburi and the fourth at Serengeti Ndogo.
The Iseiya team recovered 32 snares at Zonzo in the Northern Serengeti on the 25th, one zebra was found dead in a snare. The poachers obviously saw the patrol and managed to escape.
Revenue and Accounts
Our October revenue was better than expected and we should be on course to collect a billion Kenya Shillings for the first time ever. This is obviously helped by the upturn in tourism (We have already had more visitors this year than for any year except 2019 – 150,018, against a total of 157,591 in 2019) but it also helped also by the devaluation in the Kenya Shilling, currently trading at Ksh 153 to the US$.
Repairs and Maintenance
The borehole at Oloololo has an excellent yield of fresh water. We repaired the water tower and installed a solar pump, this should solve the perennial water problem there.
With the drill rig at Oloololo we used the opportunity to drill a borehole at the Little Governors ranger post, this has now been equipped with a solar pump and a water tank.
We renovated the buildings at Kilo 2 and Ngiro-are. The buildings were all repainted, we put roofs over the uni-huts and renovated the toilets.
We have started on a complete refurbishment of the toilets at Oloololo, this should be complete in time for Christmas.
The new staff houses at Iseiya are complete.
We resurfaced and graded the Serena airstrip.
Report on focus for November
Focus for December 2023
1. Hold Board meeting on 8th;
2. Resolve issue of retention of revenue;
3. Complete toilet renovations at Oloololo;
4. Receive quotation for re-roofing the Oloololo Gate; and
5. Continue with road repairs.
Work on Collaboration Agreement
1. Complete repeater installation;
2. Complete re-surfacing Keekorok to Sekenani;
3. Install culverts as necessary;
4. Conduct rhino ear notching;
5. Maintain roads;
6. Install new signs;
7. Start on uni-huts at Ngararu;
8. Hold planning meeting for next quarter; and
9. Hand over new Suzuki Jimny.