Participants:

Isaac Maina David Njoroge Alex Macharia John Malonza Samuel Adero Peter Wambua Mwoni Ikuthu Rangers– Rashid, Steve, Kimshas, Maraba, Timulte, Okoth, Timothy

Area of operation:

The areas patrolled this month included Birikani, Lion Hill, Irima, Ndii, Kajire, as well as the Kulalu and Ngutuni Ranches.

183 SNARES RECOVERED

FINDINGS.

A total of 183 snares were recovered this month; composing of 8 large snares, 63 medium sized snares, and 11 bird snares, the rest of the snares were small in size. In Ngutuni ranch we were able to lift 55 snares, 30 of which targeted Impala and 8 targeting Giraffes. An Impala which had been trapped in a snare, which had caught it around its girth, was rescued and set free.

We also noticed a track from a tree branch that had been dragged along the ground, when we followed the track it led us to 8 snares that had been set for buffalo. The ninth snare had caught a giraffe which, in its efforts to get loose, broke the branch that held the snare dragging the branch behind it as it ran away. For more than thirty kilometers we tracked the marks made by the dragged branch, but were unable to find the giraffe which was headed in the direction of Satao.

The Birikani area yielded a further 23 snares all of which targeted Impalas. A snared Impala in its struggles to free itself managed to break the wire that held the snare and run off. The Impala was spotted by the de-snaring team and the snare was successfully removed by the mobile vet unit. The Kajire area yielded 24 snares 11 of which targeted guinea fowls with the remaining 13 targeting Dikdiks. During our patrols in the Ndii area we were able to lift 71 snares all but 4 of the snares targeted Dikdiks. We were able to arrest a poacher who was checking on his snares and was preparing to remove two dead Dikdiks which had been caught in them.

We were able to recover the 25 snares that he had set. Upon interrogation we learned that the poacher, from his vantage point, had on a daily basis been monitoring our movements in the area.

Six more snares were recovered in the area between Lion Hill and the Voi River. These snares targeted Impalas. Four small snares were lifted in the Ndara area. In the Sala area and along the Kulalu Ranch boundary a stretch of barrier line was demolished, which was unfortunately too long to enable us to demolish it all in one go. Thankfully none of the barrier line had any snares on it. However unfortunately we did find the carcasses of Impalas, Buffaloes, and Giraffes along the line.

On the 14th of August we went to Mwatate as we were informed that an elephant was stuck in the mud at Gulu Dam, which is a farming area.

The community had feasted on the meat and by the time we arrived half of the carcass had already been removed. We were however able to recover the tusks.

On the 29th of August we were informed of yet another elephant calf that had become stuck in the mud, this time at the Rockland Mining Company which is located near Kasigau at Tsavo West.

Upon our arrival we found that the four year old male calf had already died. We learned that the calf had gotten stuck the previous day and sadly by the time the report reached us it was too late.

COMMUNITY OUTREACH AND EDUCATION

A major football and volleyball tournament took place which we had organized in conjunction with the Voi youth forum.

Sixteen matches were played in each event with eight teams participating. The tournaments finals were held on Sunday the 14th of August. A ball was given to ach of the three best teams. The two top teams received a trophy and a game drive in Tsavo East National Park. After the game drive the teams were shown an educational video at the Voi Education Center. The tournament had been organized to coincide with the world youth week thus reaching the youth through conservation. A series of activities had been organized which included meetings with the youths and representatives of different government departments, Community Based Organizations and NGO’s. The purpose of this was to bring people together in order to exchange ideas and find out what each group was doing, with videos being screened in various villages. In addition a number of clean ups were carried out in different parts of Voi town. Finally a youth talent show took place on Saturday the 13th of August.

Report by Isaac Maina and David Njoroge