Participants

Wambua kikwatha - team leader Munywoki kisangi - tracker Francis Nyangweso - car guard Feisal muteti -de-snares Mwoni Ikuthu - cook

Operation Areas.

This month we patrolled the area adjacent to Ithumba, Kasaala Kimweli boundary along the Tiva River and Tharakana and Macho Kombo

Findings

The February operation took place along the same areas that were patrolled during the last month operation. During the last month snaring was very low apart from the Umbi area whereby 400 snares were recovered. This is because we had not revisited the area for a very long time. This month findings confirm that areas constantly patrolled yield less snares. During this month, only 268 snares were lifted. All the snares except 5 were made for smaller animals. Tracks were found used by 2 or more people the majority of those used were found to be used by honey gatherers. Having followed the tracks we found a large amount of the snares were near to beehives that were used to collect honey. This may be a result of the newly constructed fence, which has minimized the access points into the park. The next operation will be centered along the Umbi area.

Community Work

During the month of February, three schools namely Kasaala primary school, Kasaala secondary school, and Kimweli primary school were visited. Kimweli and Kasaala primary benefited from a wildlife film show. The pupils were very impressed by the shows. On the 18th of February, Kasaala secondary benefited from a donation of sporting equipment worth 25,000. This was a donation from the Kerigan waves trust. The equipment was donated at the right time because the school had nothing in the way of sporting equipment. The students and teachers were very happy indeed and promised to work closely with us to eradicate poaching. At the beginning of the month, the team leader visited Kone community. This was an awareness visit. Kone community is known to be very close to the KWS and always informs the KWS if there are any suspicious people in the area. According to the community they feel neglected by the KWS and requested assistance with the uplifting of the education level.

Report compiled by Wambua Kikwatha.