Participants

Isaac Maina John Malonza Samuel Adero Peter Wambua Titus Mulei Ibrahim Ali Guyo Samuel Simel

Area Covered

This month we patrolled Irima, Maungu, Bachuma, Dokta and Kulalu ranch

104 SNARES RECOVERED

Findings

The month started off slowly due the fact that we didn’t have any rangers with us as they had been called away to take part in another operation. As a result of this we worked with rangers from the community wildlife section for the better part of the month. There were no signs of any new activity in the Irima area during our patrols there. We did however recover eight large snares in the inner section of the area and sixteen small snares between the park fence and the railway line. The patrols in Manga Hill, Ndii, Ngutuni and Ndara yielded a total of eighteen snares, fifteen of which were lifted from Ngutuni, with the remaining three being found in Manga Hill. A joint operation was carried out on Sagalla ranch. Together with individuals from Rukinga ranch and 20 people from Westermann scouts we patrolled from Westermann Camp up to the Maungu area. We recovered twenty two snares, nineteen of which were small in size. Two small ranches LMD and Bachuma were patrolled with four snares being recovered. A few days before our arrival three poachers had been arrested in the area by Rukinga scouts. The poachers, who were on their way to the market, were in possession of an assortment of game meat. The arrested poachers came from the Taru area where they operated at night, in order to fill orders that had been placed for bush meat in Taru and Mariakani. More than four hundred cattle, in the region between Maungu and Bachuma, were driven out of the park. The cattle owners upon seeing us ran away, leaving all their livestock behind. We found that the cattle were being herded deep inside the park as when they are that far in they can not be seen from the cut line by anyone. No snares were found or lifted when we patrolled Dakota ranch. We were however, able to identify several major routes used by poachers. The poachers enter the park, by bicycle, during the night and leave before day light. On two occasions we saw night lamping taking place but were unable to apprehend any of the perpetrators. At the Kulalu ranch, we found an elephant carcass.

The elephant was estimated to have died six to eight months ago and was a victim of poaching. The tusks had been removed and the carcass covered with tree branches in an effort to conceal it so that it couldn’t be seen from the air. A few kilometers from the Sala gate and three hundred meters from the Sala-Malindi road a giraffe, in the process of being slaughtered by poachers, was sighted by the KWS air patrol. The poachers ran away before we arrived. The giraffe carcass was still caught in the snare. Upon looking around we found a snare line which ran for about four kilometers from which we found and retrieved eighteen snares all of which targeted giraffe and had been made from winch wire. We also found a poachers hideout containing one waterbuck skin. A total of 104 snares were recovered, 70 of which were for small game. A giraffe carcass and the skin from a lesser kudu were also found.

COMMUNITY OUTREACH A series of video shows and talks were made to various communities, schools and colleges including Ikanga primary school, Mwambiti secondary school, the Coast institute of technology, Miasenyi community, and the Tsavo park institute.

These videos helped to sensitize everyone about the game meat trade problem as well as the need to conserve wildlife and their natural heritage.

Report by Isaac Maina