Maasailand Preservation Trust

We wanted to tell you about a baby elephant we rescued during the drought of last year.  We only just got this picture.

The baby elephant was found abondoned and severely dehydrated by our Mbirikani Community Game Scouts (MCGS).  They shared what water they had with him until he was strong enough to walk around.  After monitoring him for 2 days both on foot and by car the mother came for him and it was a happy reunion.

We are optimistic that he survived.  Dealing with such cases is part of our MCGS efforts on top of their other duties dealing with protecting both man and wildlife.  This requires substantial resources to keep us going.  If you can help by donating or sponsoring a Game Scout we would be very thankful.  It cost only USD 200  to keep a Game Scout in the field for a month.

Please give generously,

The MPT Team

As always things have been busy here at MPT. In the week since our last posting lots has happened and we hope that we can share all of this with you over the next few days, when all quietens down! But for now here is a blog about part of our education program.

Improving the quality of education in Maasailand is a major focus of our work. One key part of our Education Support Initiative is the Wildlife Scholarship Program which offers underprivileged students the education they deserve. Through this program we have put hundreds of students through primary, secondary, and tertiary education. We are helping people become, among other things, doctors, nurses, safari guides, teachers, accountants and conservationists. We encourage them to return and use their skills for the benefit of the local community.

This program is funded through individual donors, many of whom are guests of Ol Donyo Wuas Lodge, but we are now appealing through the blog to find more funding needed to sponsor the many students who have come to us for help, unable to continue paying their school fees as a direct repercussion of the drought.

Last week the MPT Wildlife Scholarship Student’s Day was held at the Enkijape School in Mbirikani town. This was a great opportunity for everyone to get together and discuss the last year. Nearly all of our current list of 61 students were in attendance, as well as MPT staff and Mbirikani Group Ranch officials. Below is what happened at the meeting in the words of one of our students, Happiness Ntiati.

“The meeting started with the introductions. I liked this part as we got to introduce the peoples sitting next to us and I said about my friend Faith. After this we were given speeches about the Maasailand Preservation Trust and what they do for us. I found most interesting the speech about the Predator Compensation Fund which pays the people for livestock that is killed by predators in return for us no longer killing the lions and others. I like this because I very much like animals and when I have children I want them to be able to see them too!”

“After we had the speeches from MPT we were invited to come to their offices with stories for the new blog. Then these students were given their chance to talk about their thoughts. Most peoples wanted to just thank but some had questions of their friends who also need a sponsor. Mr. Gwili from MPT said that he will try and find them sponsors through the internet.”

We would like to reiterate this appeal. We have a waiting list of nearly 200 students seeking sponsorship. If you or anyone you know would like to give a bright, young mind the opportunity of a lifetime then please contact us either through this blog or through email: gwilimpt@gmail.com

“After a break and the sodas we were given the time to make our own presentations and win prizes. The students read poems, sang songs and other things.”

This day was a great opportunity for everyone involved in the Wildlife Scholarship Program to get together and have some fun. However, this situation needs your help. We are desperately looking for more funding to sponsor the needy students who’s parents can no longer afford school fees as a direct effect of the drought. If you think you can help us please do not hesitate to donate through this blog (specifying that your donation is for this program) or contact us for more information.

Thank you kindly,

The MPT Team

In the late 80′s there would be a buzz of excitement at Ol Donyo Wuas, the lodge that gave birth to Maasailand Preservation Trust, if we even just saw Elephant tracks, let alone an Elephant in flesh and blood! These infrequent occasions would invariably lead to a follow up, as we tried to find out who was passing through and to build an inventory of who was who.

At the top of our Elephant world ”who’s who” list was a fellow we called BOSS, easy to recognize by a deformed right ear and his assertive character. He was one of the first bulls to realize the area was safe and became a regular visitor. Then sometime in the mid 90′s, he appeared with a radio collar which caused even greater excitement and as there was only one person running around Kenya collaring Elephant, Ian Douglas Hamilton. I contacted Ian, who confirmed he was responsible and that he had named him Discovery, and said please keep an eye on him. So his new name stuck and the story continued.

We did keep an eye on him and he became very much my favorite, then in 2004 I saw him looking rather worn, wizened and old. His skin hanging off him like worn, creased pajamas and I thought he was on his way out. That was the last sighting of him and I wrote him off as dead, then a few days ago when he sauntered nonchalantly into the lodge water hole for a drink, scattering the 4 other bulls already there in all directions it was a happy surprise to see him and to know that he is still very much the boss.

Over the years Discovery bought more bulls into the area, and today the sight of over 20 bulls, 3 of them with ivory over 100 pounds a side, is so common that its no longer a talking point. Its great to have this icon back and I cant help wondering where he has been all this time, probably not Amboseli, as I am sure our friends at the Amboseli Trust for Elephants would have picked him up on their highly efficient radar, so most likely Tsavo?

With the drought its been a tough time for Elephant everywhere and here in the Chyulus there is no exception. The drought has made the unfenced tomato and maize farms, in what used to be swamps, even more tantalizing and irresistible. As a knock-on effect we are seeing more an more elephants appearing with spear wounds caused by irate farmers, but more sinister we are regularly picking up carcasses of Elephant, with tusks removed. These are being directly targeted for their ivory and are not victims of human wildlife conflict. However having said that our Game Scouts, all 67 of them, are doing a great job and not many poachers get away with such attrocities. Their best recovery was 700 kgs of ivory, mostly from Tanzania, that was recovered in a road block in Mbirikani town. The challenge however is to not let the Elephant be killed in the first place, but with the rising price of ivory, changing hands here at up to 600/- a kilo, its almost an impossible task.

Also on this depressing note the bush meat trade seems to be escalating, previously if our scouts made 100 prosecutions a year they were considered to be doing well, but this year as I write we have hit over 700 prosecutions. ……so the war is on, and in the meantime we are doing our best to keep the likes of Discovery roaming free and to see his reappearance is a reward in itself.

Richard Bonham
Chairman

Dear Friends of Maasailand Preservation Trust,

Most of you will have either seen or heard about the terrible drought that much of Kenya has suffered from this year. Well the good news is finally the Chyulu Hills have seen a few inches of rain but the majority of the Amboseli-Tsavo ecosystem has yet to see more than a few drops and the Amboseli Basin is still dry as a bone.

The people of the ecosystem still have to endure this long and painful wait, watching desperate livestock and wildlife succumb. Wildlife has fared badly with elephant, zebra and wildebeest are suffering a huge loss in numbers. However, the cattle herds that are so valuable to the Maasai are the hardest hit. Some estimates go as far as depicting an overall loss of 80%. With the overwhelming majority of the Maasai of Amboseli-Tsavo reliant on their livestock to survive and many have lost all that they owned the social repercussion of are horrifying.

Sadly those worst affected are the Maasai students. We have a steady stream of students from all three tiers of education visiting the Trust office pleading for money for school fees, as their parents have no more cattle to sell. The majority of these students were all set to sit their end of year exams and are no longer allowed to until they clear their outstanding balances. We fear that this will mean, in many cases, that they will fall off the educational ladder.

A contribution of approximately US$ 700 sponsors a high school student for one year. Since inception, over 100 local sponsored students have graduated from primary and secondary schools, colleges and universities. The Trust has done all it can and we are appealing to everybody to help us get these children back into school to avoid loosing the next generation of educated Maasai.

Yours faithfully,

Richard Bonham
Chairman
Maasailand Preservation Trust

It was 7 in the evening when all Mbirikani Community Game Scouts (MCGS) gathered together for the annual party to celebrate what has been achieved for the last one year.

In the presence of the MPT Chairman, Richard Bonham; Mbirikani Group Ranch Chairman, Joshua Kilitia and the senior members of the Group Ranch Commitee and Maasailand Preservation Trust staffs awards were given for achievements in 2009. As well as being a time to award prizes this was also a time for MCGS to interact and relax in a comfortable environment, rather than the bush camps they are used to.

Sergent Sakimba and his team were awarded Best Team for arresting 133 suspect poachers; cattle and property thieves. Beating the second highest team by 28 arrests. The team was presented with the trophy and a cash reward of KES20,000.

Other prizes were awarded to the rest of the teams including Kiteko team, who was awarded a male goat for being the second highest scoring team. Another joint team of MCGS were given a prize for their work in arresting two poachers with 570kg of ivory in the month of May.

After the award Project Manager, Fred Njagi, started the speeches. He made special thanks to the teams for achieving so much in this year, despite facing some many problems and challenges in their opperations. The drought plus not being able to pay for much needed new cars has made their job hard. Concluding his speech he recommended Wilson Manja as team leader for the upcoming transboundary operation. This operation is to work on a very crucial wildlife corridor that connects Amboseli NP in Kenya and Kilimanjaro & Arusha NPs in Tanzania.

If you can help us by sponsoring a MCGS we will be able to continue to do this work. It costs USD150 to keep one member in an operation for one month. Please donate what you can.

Steven Melubo
MPT Staff

De-snaring patrols form a key part of the Mbirikani Community Game Scouts‘ duties and this year efforts have been intensified in response to the marked increase in poaching activity. This added pressure has come about as a direct result of the drought, with crop failures and livestock mortality causing more and more people to turn to the already threatened wildlife for food and income.

The use of wire snares are a relatively recent threat to wildlife, becoming common only 10 to 15 years ago. Traditional snaring had gone on for countless generations but with the advent of common place metal wire the threat reached a new level. Traditional snares were made out of twine and therefore if they were not checked regularly, trapped animals would be able to break free. This is very rarely the case with wire snares and animals caught face a horrible, painful death. Fortunate animals will be snared around the neck and suffocate, those that are less lucky will be caught round a limb, or waist, these animals suffer greatly as they break bones struggling and very slowly die.

Snares are commonly set in thicker bush where they are placed along game trails and are therefore mostly found in the lava flows and forests that border Mbirikani and the Chyulu NP. So far in 2009 our MCGS and the Friends of Chyulu informer’s network (another project managed by MPT) have collected over 1000 snares! . . . a considerable increase on last years numbers. Below is a picture of Edward Paya, officer in charge of the MCGS, with a snare he found on patrol within the Chyulu NP last month.

Edward speaks about what he and the 60-plus men he commands have been experiencing, “2009 has been very busy for the Scouts and very very bad for the animals. We have seen more cases of snaring, spearing and other hunting for game meat than we have ever before.”

Though this is a bad time for the wildlife Edward is confident that the MCGS’s efforts are making a difference. “So far this year we have arrested nearly 240 game-meat poachers, plus over 100 illegal loggers and many more other lawbreakers.” The grand total of those arrested now comes to 460, plus the arrests made by KWS that are based on information given by our informers, The Friends of Chyulu, which adds another 368 to the list.

The amount of confiscated equipment handed over to the state speaks for itself. Currently this stands at 1 truck, 2 motorcars, 6 motorbikes, 14 bicycles, 41 bows, 51 axes, over 100 poisoned arrows and 114 machetes, plus confiscated game meat, wood products, ivory, cannabis and more, in addition to the 1043 snares.

More money is required to continue these vital operations. Please donate generously to the Mbirikani Community Game Scouts program by sponsoring a Game Scout in the monthly donation column or through an open donation — USD150 will pay for the salary and running costs of one scout for one month. Any amount, no matter how small, is welcome.

On behalf of the MCGS and all at MPT, Edward thanks everyone who has read our blog and donated so far and he asks that you keep up the support.

Ache olieng!

The MPT Team

Fred is the Maasailand Preservation Trust administrator and team manager. Born in Nyeri, near the foothills of Mt Kenya, and brought up in Embu and Nairobi, he joined the MPT team as an administrator in 2005, bringing with him over 7 years experience in management positions in the Kenya private sector. He holds a masters degree in Development Studies from the University of KwaZulu Natal in South Africa and an International Diploma in Project Management from University of Cambridge.

This is just a quick blog to thank Brenton H for our first donation! We are all very grateful for this act of generosity and very happy to see that people are hearing and responding our call for help!

There will be more news coming soon but for now here are some pictures we took on a game drive yesterday evening. We were going out to check on the mother Cheetah and six cubs who’s been seen recently. However, it was dark and raining before we found any Cheetah and they turned out to be the three males that live near the lodge! Here is a picture of two of them with one scent marking a tree.

The rain has continued to fall, mostly at night, and we have recieved at least and inch of rain to date. Although this has been enough to trigger the grass to start to grow we need a lot more to bring us out of this drought. So, we are all keep our fingers crossed.

For now all that we can do is look hopefully at the skies and keep up our efforts to help the people and wildlife of the Amboseli-Tsavo ecosystem.

The Maasai are suffering terribly as the social repercussions that the drought has created continue even as the rains come. Livestock losses of 80% and higher have driven many into poverty and left them unable to pay school fees or feed their families. We are already doing what we can to help, but with donations like the one just donated by Brenton H we can do more!

More information will follow but for now, thank you!

The MPT Team

On Sunday afternoon the Chyulu Hills recieved the first rain we’ve had in months. It was only 4.5mm but this afternoon’s rain was more than had fallen in the previous 12 months! Unfortunately it was not nearly enough to undo the damage done by what has been described as the worst drought in living memory but at least it is a start.

We had a beautiful and surreal view of this from the plains whilst we were out filming for a documentary being made on our Bloodhounds. It started as a big Cumulo Nimbus cloud built over the southern end of the Chyulu Range. The cloud started to flow off the hills and down to Oltiasika where we saw rain fall and thunder and lightning. This heavy storm created a massive dust storm as the strong wind blew off it. Below is a picture of the dust rising over 25 kilometers away.

The filming carried on as this dramatic scene escalated and before we knew it a dust cloud rolled across the plains off the hills and towards Amboseli NP moving at over 40 miles an hour.Below is a picture of it as it was about to obscure Kilimanjaro from view.

This was a spectacular sight and everyone was so awestruck watching it that before we knew it the cloud was upon us. Dust storms are a regular occurrence during the rains but this one was much larger than the norm.

Richard Bonham, Chairman and founder of MPT was up in his plane at the time and reported it reaching a high of 10,000 feet! Once the dust storm passed and we were safely back home we were treated to the most spectacular sky and shortly after this the rain started to fall. Let us hope that more rain come soon.

The MPT Team

We will continue to post our introductory blogs over the next few weeks but we also want to keep you updated on the latest news from MPT. Here is a little update for you on how the drought is affecting us here:

As you will have heard from blogs such as the recent one by our neighbours the Lion Guardians, Kenya is currently in the depths of the worst drought it has seen in several decades if not longer. Here in the Amboseli-Tsavo ecosystem the last two rains have completely failed and the pressure this has put on the ecosystem is taking its toll on both wildlife and people. Below is a recent aerial photograph of an elephant herd we were called into check on. A mother an calf were reported in a very poor condition and our Community Game Scouts responded. The calf was so weak that in the end the CGS had to help him to his feet. Thankfully this story ended well with the mother finding water at a near by watercourse and being able to produce enough milk. The next morning we flew in to check that they had made it back to their herd. But for evidence of just how bad this drought is just look how little grass there is!

Normally at this time of year there should be a good few inches of grass when all that is left is the completely dehydrated clumps you find. These unsurprisingly offer practically no sustenance for grazers, wild or domestic. Below is another aerial picture, this time of two Maasai herders and their shoats.

This lack of grazing has put an added pressure on the ecosystem had a marked increase on the mortality rates of many species. Most notable are the large grazers such as bufallo, zebra, eland and wildebeest whose carcassases are so numerous that we fear we are looking at a >50% mortality (death) rate in the hardest his species. Below is a picture of Warthog drinking from one of our waterholes, just look how dry the background is!

The drought has also made other threats such as bush fires a very worrying presense. There have been several of these recently and as part of our CGS duty they have been out fighting them. Below are some pictures of a recent fire fighting excercise.

This time footprints were found at the sight of the start of the fire.