Participants

Wambua kikwatha Munywoki kisangi Wekesa Nyangweso Feisal muteti Mwoni Ikuthu 6 KWS rangers

Area of operation

During this month patrols were done along the Tiva river stretch, Umbi and the area around Ithumba including Kasaala Kimweli boundary.

Findings

With this period being the peak of the dry season we are not at all surprised to have collected 828 snares. Thirty-five of which were designed to catch large game.

There are various reasons that make this particular period high in snare counts. Lack of enough water in the park which makes wildlife move to the rivers and water holes and they tend to stay there for a few weeks. This means that snarers do not have to travel very far to set snares. It does however make our job easier in that we concentrate mainly on these water areas. Due to the lack of vegetation being scarce they move to areas where there is still adequate food, along riverbanks. As it is too dry to farm there are many people who have nothing else to do or any way to earn money, bush meat is a quick and easy revenue earner. People in the areas have nothing to eat and so bush meat is an inexpensive way to feed a family.

The bush meat trade is growing larger each year. Although this is the dry season and poaching activities are high, this is still the highest snare count that we have had for this season. Although poachers are snaring at water points they tend to snare a bit further away from watering points in order to confuse us.

Community Work

We visited three communities this month, Kimweli, Kasaala, Simisi and Ilamba where we showed videos to the people.

Report by Wambua Kikwatha