Participants:

James Mbuthia – team leader Julius Kyalo David Wambua Isaiah Ndei

Area of operation:

During the month of December the Chyulu team patrolled the following areas: Kaunguni, Satellite, Kibwezi forest, Mukurulo, Boma 8 and the Kari pump.

ARRESTS 6 SNARES 25

FINDINGS

The team was based at Kaunguni for the early part of the moth and later moved its operations to Mukurolo. The month was very wet which inhibited our operations.

There continues to be a problem at Kaunguni where the elephants are invading the community lands neighboring the park. We responded to each report and worked at getting the elephants to re-enter the park. Our efforts and quick response during this period was very important as some people have been killed by the elephants. It is therefore imperative to maintain goodwill with the communities in this area and are hoping to begin continue with our community awareness initiatives by showing videos and talking to the communities about the need to conserve their heritage and protect the wildlife in the area. We were able to arrest 2 miraa harvesters while patrolling the Kaunguni area.

Only 25 snares were lifted during the course of the month as most people are busy working their farms. The animals have moved out of the park and into the surrounding ranches. Lamping was reported around Boma 8 with people poaching at night. Night poaching is very effective with the poachers killing a number of animals in one go. The team also carried out patrols in the lower part of Mukurulo but no arrests were made. The use of bows and arrows is also common in this area.

Charcoal burning is still taking place on Kari land which is a ranging area for different kinds of animals including rhinos.

It is very important to continuously patrol these areas to keep illegal activities at a minimum. 4 people were arrested for charcoal burning and logging near the springs. Both of these offences threaten the only source of water for Makindu town and its environs.

ROADS The road work has been completed with 25km of road having been repaired. This will be of great help to us during our patrols.

Report by James Mbuthia