November rains arrived mid-month ending a hot dry period of six months. By the end of November Tsavo was transformed into a blanket of green. The Aerial Unit continued to overfly the expanse of Tsavo, watching the transformation from red to green.  In the lead up to the rains the annual gatherings of elephants began with herds of 500 coming together for a few days before dispersing into their family groups.  Last year this congregation happened in October - this year a little later, all guided by the rain.

During the month one fresh elephant carcass was sighted from the air whilst two other sets of ivory were also sighted and recovered by KWS ground teams.  Although the rains arrived this month the number of cattle inside the Parks has remained very high due to the extremely wet and muddy conditions causing the ground teams problems in traversing the area.  Regular patrols of the northern most boundary of Tsavo East NP have reported no further charcoal burning operations inside the Park which is great progress, although South Kitui National Reserve continues to be charcoaled at commercial levels, with camps and trucks permanently based just outside the Park boundary.

Other key events during the month included aerial patrolling with the  Senior KWS Warden of Tsavo East NP, Mr. Dominic Wambua, whilst facilitating the movement of elephants caught in community land and pushing them with the use of the helicopter towards the protection of the Chyulu Hills.  The Famous Amboseli tusker Tim was also treated during November with the support of the helicopter, whilst three other emergency elephant treatments were conducted in Amboseli and in Tsavo. 

You can read the report here: