Participants

Wambua Kikwatha – Team leader Henry Lekochere John Mungai Adan Abdi Gerald Maghanga 2 KWS rangers

Area Covered

During the course of the month we carried out patrols at, Ziwani, Lumo/Maktau, and the Kishushe Park boundary.

TOTAL SNARES COLLECTED 51

Findings

Kishushe Park Boundary and along the Tsavo River

Our de-snaring efforts in this area took place over a period of four days. The vegetation in the area is very thick making it difficult to locate footprints, which hindered our operations as our tracking relies heavily on finding footprints to follow. Nevertheless we did not observe any evidence of poaching. Due to the heavy rains, the road has been washed away making accessibility to the area difficult. 7 snares targeting large game were lifted as well as 8 snares targeting medium sized game and 18 snares targeting small game.

Maktau and Lumo Community Sanctuary

This area has had very few snares over the past few months as most of the poachers have been engaged in night poaching. However, despite this, we have found that there has been a decline in the rate of poaching taking place. An indication of this is the fact that the butchers in the area are doing better due to the decrease in the bushmeat supply.

9 snares, made from cable wire, were removed along the railway line.

Ziwani / Mhoho farm

Our operations in this area took place over a four day period. During last months operation we had concentrated our efforts on the Ziwani Farms. This month we concentrated our efforts along the park boundary. Previously, due to livestock intrusion, there has not been a lot of poaching taking place in the area as the herdsmen remove the snares which are also a threat to their livestock.

10 snares targeting large game were lifted as well as 3 snares targeting medium sized game.

Report by Wambua Kikwatha