General
We had a number of heavy, sustained rainstorms throughout the month, causing some damage to the roads and confusion in the wildebeest herds. At times we had half a million wildebeest in the Triangle, two days later virtually none. They would then come back for a few days before the next rainstorms sent them off again.
Dr R Malpas made a presentation on the revised Ten-year Management Plan to the Governor on the 1st. It was well received, with a suggestion that it become a 20 year Plan and that the prescriptions in the Plan be maintained for the whole 20 years.
An article on the BBC highlighted the immense damage to the planet’s environment and wildlife over the past 50 years. Anyone interested can see it on the link below.
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-54091048
We celebrated Mara Day next to Serena’s breakfast site on the 15th. Mara Day focuses on the Mara River from the source to Lake Victoria and brings together all the stakeholders in managing and protecting the river and it’s ecosystem. It was attended by the Governor and leaders from Bomet County, the Principal Secretary from the Ministry of Environment, leaders from Narok County, senior Administrators, NGOs and a zoom call from the Regional Commissioner for the Mara Region in Tanzania.
We held a Board Meeting in Nairobi on the 18th and discussed, amongst other things, a possible loan from Conservation International, the Management Plan and the Audited accounts.
Mr Paul Kirui, one of Kenya’s most experienced and best guides donated food to the Conservancy worth Ksh 79,000 – a very generous gesture.
Collaboration Agreement
We held a meeting to discuss the next three month workplan with Ms Christine Koshal, the Administrator and have developed a summary plan and budget for the period October to end of December. In this period we will be focusing on:
· We aim to rehabilitate three windmills and link them to Musiara, Sekenani and Sand River gates. Neither Musiara or Sand River have any running water;
· Renovate housing at Musiara;
· Build new toilet facilities at Ol Kiombo, Keekorok and Musiara airstrips;
· Complete the road from Talek to Musiara;
· Complete the second causeway at Double Crossing;
· Rehabilitate a road from Talek to Sekenani outside the Reserve;
· Provide solar power at Sand River.
Much of this will depend on funding
COVID-19.
An interesting paper submitted for publication entitled:
Revealing the extent of the COVID-19 pandemic in Kenya based on serological and PCR-test data (2020) Ojal J, Brand S P C, Were V, Okiro E A, Kombe I K, Mburu C, Aziza R, Ogero M, Agweyu A, Warime G M, Ugoya S, Adetifa, M O, Scott J A G, Otieno E, Ochola-Oyier L J, Agoti C N, Kasera K, Amoth P, Mwangangi M, Aman R, Ng’ang’a W, Tsofa B, Bejon P, Barasa E, Keeling M J, Nokes J D. MedRxiv. https://doi.org/10.101/2020.09.02.20186817
The authors estimate that the pandemic peaked before the end of July in major urban counties with 34-41% of the residents infected and that it will peak elsewhere in the country by November. They reported that despite the level of infection the disease burden may be far less than initially feared (Compare 23,873 positive cases and 391 deaths at the time of writing with 200-250,000 cases and 30-40,000 deaths in similar sized countries in Europe at equivalent months into their pandemics) and postulate that there might be some form of population immunity.
Kenya has begun to relax restrictions on movement, the curfew is now between 11.00 pm and 4.00 am, bars and restaurants are now open and there will be a ruling on the reopening of schools on October. To date, 38,529 people have tested positive and 711 people have died.
Tourism
The number of visitors dropped off dramatically from around the 15th, with only the weekends being busy. We are beginning to see very few non-resident visitors but don’t expect any real increase before July next year, even then numbers will be low.
Staff
Two of our staff members, Mr P Lekoko and F Koiyaki, both office bearers on the Staff Welfare committee appear to have stolen at least Ksh 700,000 from the fund – Both were arrested by the Police in Lolgorien. The families have since promised to payback the full amount and they were released from custody on the 27th.
There was an Annual General Meeting (AGM) for the Staff Welfare on the 27th. New office bearers were elected and rules set for the handling and disbursement of funds.
Wildlife
The Kenya Wildlife Service (KWS) released a lioness into the Triangle near Maji Machafu on the 2nd. This lioness was trapped for persistent stock killing in the Bardamats, near Aitong.
A young female elephant was found dead near the Saltlick on the 5th, there were no visible injuries. The tusks were recovered.
A hippo was shot dead by a police officer at Mara Bridge on the 3rd. The hippo was well known to our staff, it was blind in one eye and used to cross over the river by using the bridge. On this occasion the officer was accompanying some guests on a walk when they happened upon the hippo, it was startled, the guests ran and the hippo was short dead. Very unnecessary.
Dr Limo treated a young elephant on the 8th, with what appeared to be a spear wound on a front leg, the hippo had also been attacked by hyena and part of it’s hind leg eaten.
Dr Limo collared a lioness from the Oloololo pride on the 17th. This was done in a somewhat underhand way by KWS, Angama – whose Trust funded the collar - and Mr Niels Morgens the lion researcher. There was inadequate consultation and no prior warning – despite the fact the we had discussed Angama Trust issues two days before – it was never raised. The purpose for collaring this lioness is ostensibly for us to monitor the pride’s movement up the escarpment and provide an early warning in case of predation on livestock. However, we don’t have the means to monitor the lioness’ movements so it seems to have been a waste of time and more of a publicity stunt.
Dr Limo treated a giraffe on the escarpment with a throwing iron embedded in it on the 25th – these are short pieces of round iron approximately 45 cm (18”) long that have very sharp points at either end. They are often carried by young men whilst herding livestock and used to practice their throwing skills – in this case on a giraffe.
Security
A total of 12 people were arrested for poaching – two of them along the escarpment in Kenya and five others for digging inside the Reserve. We recovered 991 wire snares, 70 wildebeest and one zebra were rescued, 14 were found dead in snares and a further 20 wildebeest and one topi had been butchered.
Few people can grasp the idea of our collaboration with the Serengeti and the importance of our patrolling, either alone, or jointly, with rangers from TANAPA. The two maps show show our operations in August and highlight the areas of greatest poacher activity. The Lemai Wedge – an area between the Mara River and the Kenya/Tanzania border is most intensively patrolled and nearly all the poacher activity is along the western border – this coincides with the snaring. The other poacher hotspot can be seen further South, here the method of hunting is very different – animals are chased into small gulleys and immobilized with a sharp cut to the spine.
We recovered 53 snares on the first and found where one topi had been butchered. The following day a further 65 snares were recovered and two wildebeest rescued. All the snares were along the escarpment in the Lemai Wedge.
Forty-four snares were recovered on the 3rd, three wildebeest were rescued and one poacher apprehended when he came to set his snares at 7.30 pm.
Two of our staff were injured whilst trying to apprehend a poacher on the night of the 4th, when the Nigro-are rangers joined forces with their Tanzanian counterparts at Serengeti Ndogo – across the river. Warden Kintai received a spear wound in the leg and Ranger Kilolong was seriously slashed across the head with a machete. The poacher was apprehended. That day 21 snares were recovered and five wildebeest rescued. The following day three snares were recovered and two wildebeest were found dead in the snares.
The rangers recovered 23 snares and rescued two wildebeest on the 6th. The following they recovered a further 22 snares, rescued two wildebeest and found two more dead in snares. That evening they set an ambush and managed to arrest two, of four, people who were on their way to check their snares. The rangers found a total of 52 snares on the 8th, forty-eight of them belonging to the group arrested the previous night.
We. continued to recover snares on a daily basis and fifteen more were found on the 9th, three wildebeest were dead and one was rescued. The rangers from Nigro-are crossed the river and set an ambush at Serengeti Ndogo on the 10th. They managed to arrest one person from a group of four – they had already killed four wildebeest with machetes when he was caught.
The Nigro-are team crossed the river on the 12th and managed to arrest one person who was hunting with two dogs near Miti Moja.
The Iseiya rangers joined forces with a team from the Main Mara and our Tanzanian counterparts from Lobo and conducted a three day patrol in the Northern Serengeti from the 11th. The first night a herd of elephant scattered the poachers as our rangers were about to spring an ambush and everyone escaped. The following day numerous signs of fairly recent poacher activity were seen, but nothing fresh. One person was arrested near Nzonzo on the 13th with wildebeest meat, two snares were recovered. The following day eight more snares were recovered near Tabora B, two wildebeest were dead in the snares. The Nigro-are rangers recovered 19 snares on the 14th and rescued four wildebeest along the escarpment in the Lemai Wedge.
A total of 80 wires snares were recovered on the 16th, by both our teams. The Iseiya team recovered 51 snares between Nyakita Pembe and Limana Ndogo, found where 10 wildebeest had been butchered, rescued three and found one other dead in a snare. The Nigro-are team found 29 snares and rescued two wildebeest.
The Iseiya rangers went on a two-day patrol in the Lemai Wedge on the 17th, on one occasion they saw ten people all carrying meat but were unable to get to them before they left the Serengeti. That night, at 3.00 am, they managed to arrest one person who was carrying wildebeest meat.
The Nigro-are rangers recovered 99 snares around Sampura and Nyakita Pembe in the Lemai Wedge. The following day they managed to arrest two people across the River between Ngira and Miti Moja. A Tanzanian vehicle assisting TANAPA in de-snaring fell off the Kogatende causeway. A Total of 80 snares were recovered on the 20th and nine wildebeest rescued.
Twenty seven snares were recovered on the 21st and a further 74 on the 22nd , eleven wildebeest were rescued and four were found dead in the snares. Our rangers at Kilo 2 received a report of people digging for treasure along the escarpment on the 22nd, they investigated and arrested five people that night. The five were taken to the Lolgorien Police Station. This story of hidden treasure has been circulating for many years and every year we find people who insist that they know where it is.
Thirty-eight wire snares were recovered on the 23rd, and a further 57 on the 24th, 14 wildebeest were rescued but three had been butchered. The Iseiya rangers went on a late patrol on the 24th and saw four people enter the Lemai Wedge at around 9.00 pm – they managed to arrest one person.
The rangers recovered 46 snares on the 25th and rescued two wildebeest. A further 90 snares were collected between the 26th and 28th, six of them belonging to two people arrested at Osero Sambu on the escarpment by the Oloololo/Anne Kent-Taylor rangers.
Seventy three more snares were collected on the 29th and 30th, 10 wildebeest were rescued, as was one zebra. One wildebeest had been butchered.
Revenue and Accounts
Our Audited accounts for the year ending 30th June were presented to the Board by Deloittes on the 18th. The accounts were unqualified but there were concerns about the effect of Covid-19 on our ability to continue.
“Without qualifying our opinion, we draw attention to note 3 to the financial statements, which indicates that there exists a material uncertainty that may cast significant doubt about the Company’s ability to continue as a going concern due to the Covid -19 pandemic challenges. The entity being in the tourism sector has been negatively affected by Covid-19. The directors have made an assessment and have sourced for donor funding to support the operations as they wait for the economy to fully recover.”
We believe that, with the steps we have taken to reduce expenditure and seek for support, we will remain a going concern. Some of the steps we have taken to get fu8nding include:
· Working with Conservation International for a loan of US$ 500,000 for the period January to June 2021;
· Working with KfW for a grant – probably not before the second quarter of 2021;
· Working with donors – here we have to acknowledge the tremendous support from Wildlife Protection Systems (WPS) who have donated US$ 200,000 and from other supporters such as Wildeye and Wild Earth.
The Table below gives a summary of our income and expenditure from the Audit report. Income for the year was down as a result of negligible revenue from Mid-March. We managed to make some savings on expenditure and ended the year with a profit of Ksh 20,425,353 – down on 2019 at Ksh 29,427,783 – but an excellent result, given the very tough conditions.
Our total revenue in August was Ksh 13,401,320 – compared to Ksh 132,545,950 in the same month last year – as anticipated, we only collected 10% of last year’s revenue in August – despite the Reserve being full. We retained Ksh 5,025,495 as our share – insufficient to run the Conservancy for two weeks.
STATEMENT OF PROFIT OR LOSS AND OTHER COMPREHENSIVE INCOME
FOR THE YEAR ENDED 30 JUNE 2020
The Warden at Purungat reported that one of the revenue clerks there had been paid Park fees for the Main Reserve on his personal mpesa account. The matter was investigated, he tried to escape but was arrested – when he told a local taxi driver that his life was in danger and the driver took him to the local Police Station to report the matter. It appears that he had taken Park Fees amounting to Ksh 525,000 (approximately US$ 5,000) on his personal account. It was all for the Main Reserve and there is no indication that it affected the Triangle.
Repairs and maintenance
We concentrated on resurfacing sections of the road to Nigro-are, taking most of the month to do so.
We have started opening drains in anticipation of the short rains.
Our JCB Back-hoe and trailer both have problems, these will be repaired in early October.
We continued to focus on the Collaboration Agreement and managed to:
· Repair and grade the Ol Kiombo Airstrip;
· Resurface long sections of the road from Musiara to Talek. The County grader continues to give constant problems and hardly worked. The heavy rains also hampered work on the road;
· We installed solar power in the Chief Park Warden’s house;
· We managed to repair two windmills and will connect them to the Sekenani supply and to Sand River gate in early October. We will then start working on the Musiara windmill;
· One causeway has been completed at Double crossing, the second one will be complete in early October.
Report on focus for August
Focus for September 2020
1. Open drains where possible;
2. Repair JCB and trailer;
3. Work on Collaboration Agreement;
o Complete work on water supplies to Sekenani, Sand River and Musiara;
o Complete road from Talek to Musiara;
o Complete second causeway at Double Crossing;
o Repair two damaged vehicles;
o Receive one more rehabilitated vehicle; and
o Start on programme for next quarter – contingent upon funding;