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Today, the Tsavo National Park, encompassing an area os 8,000 square miles (the size of Michigan State, Israel or Wales) is cut by the main Nairobi - Mombasa road, which links the hinterland of Kenya to the Coast. But, there was a time when this giant Park belonged only to the elephants and other wild animals that inhabited this vast tract of semi-desert. Only the traditional elephant hunters of the Waliangulu tribe ventured into what is now known as the Tsavo National Park, the area being too arid for cultivation, and unsuitable for livestock due to the presence of the tsetse fly which carries trypanosomiasis, deadly to cattle, but to which wild animals are immune. Traditional elephant migration routes between Tsavo West National Park (lying west of the Nairobi/Mombasa railway) and Tsavo East (east of the railway) today are hazardous passages for Tsavo's elephant herds, since they have to pass through settlement and run the gauntlet of snaring and the hostility of agricultural small holdings of the Taita people. Our "Emily" became an orphan when she fell into a disused pit latrine near the Manyani Prison Camp, built by the British in the 1950's to house the then "terrorists" of the Mau Mau rebellion.<<613200554245-pic1.jpg>> At the time, her herd was "streaking", a term that is used today when elephants move rapidly through dangerous areas of human habitation in order to be able to link up with family and friends further afield, bearing in mind that an elephant shares the same span of life as a human (three score years and ten) and that they keep in touch with loved ones through "infrasound" throughout life. Infrasound is low frequency communication beyond the hearing range of the human ear, so, to us, the elephants speak to one another silently and mysteriously. | More about Tsavo National Park | EMILY's detail profile | Foster EMILY Now | |
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The Imenti forest is another small remnant patch of forest East of Mount Kenya between Embu and Meru, harbouring a diminishing number of elephants, whose migration route to the Mount Kenya population has been interrupted by dense human settlement and cultivation. Plans are afoot to try and fence this small forest to protect the smallholdings abutting the forest, preserve the forest itself from illegal logging activities and save the few remaining elephants that still exist there, whose numbers are now few. Orphans "Ndume" and "Malaiaka" (who died in childbirth aged 11 at the end of 2000) and also"Imenti" and most recently "Wendi" are lucky survivors of the ongoing human/elephant conflict that exists in this area. |
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The Masai Mara and adjoining Loita plains form the northernmost part of the Serengeti-Mara ecosystem, a l0,000 sq. mile area encompassing the annual movements of its migratory wildebeest. The Serengeti is in Tanzania and the Mara in Kenya. The Mara receives the highest annual rainfall (some 53 inches) with rain falling throughout the year peaking in December, January and April and today provides the dry season refuge for the great Serengeti grazing hordes since the grass here is still plentiful when the Serengeti plains have dried out. Prior to the 1960's only some Serengeti wildebeest spilled over into the Masai Mara in very dry years and most wildebeest found in the Mara belonged to the separate Loita population seasonally moving between the Loita plains in wet months and the lusher Mara during the dry months. The Serengeti wildebeest population peaked at about 1.3 million in the 1960's and 1970's and then began to utilise the Masai Mara as their dry season range. However, the commercial trade in "bushmeat" and an expanding human population is currently taking a very heavy toll of numbers, although the still vast assemblage of ungulates annually moving through the ecosystem remains the greatest wildlife spectacle on earth and is known as "the migration", attracting tourists from all over the world being the last remaining migration of large mammals on earth. When it is wet in the Serengeti the wildebeest herds congregate on the short grass plains of the South- eastern part of the ecosystem to give birth en masse with 80% of the females calving within a few weeks. Early in the dry season, they stream en masse through the longer grass plains and on to the Western Corridor and as their food supply diminishes, they move into the northern Serengeti woodlands spreading out but moving North in response to rainfall and forage, eventually arriving in the Mara in June or July. The "crossings" on the Mara river afford a thrilling spectacle as thousands of animals jump into the water which takes a heavy toll. The great herds remain in the Mara until late October or early November when rain is again falling and then slowly at first but with increasing momentum they leave the Mara by various routes following the rains back south. The Mara's abundant herbivores make it a paradise for predators both large and small. When the first Europeans came to the Mara in the late 1800's, it had been inhabited by the Masai people (who came down from the North) for about 300 years. The Masai lived in harmony with the wildlife, for they do not, except in times of famine, hunt wild game for food. In the Maa language, the word "Mara" means "light and shade" referring to the patchy mosaic of tree lined luggas interspersing the vast open plains. Following the first great rinderpest outbreaks at the end of the 1800's, which decimated the herbivores, woody vegetation began to take hold dominating the terrain and at the turn of the century the Mara was known by the Masai people as "Osere" meaning "thick bush". However, the incursion of Elephants driven out by human occupation of their former vast ranges and now confined in this relatively small protected area, coupled with man induced fires and grazing by both wild and domestic herbivores has wrought a transformation from heavily wooded savannah and bushland to more open grasslands, benefiting the grazers above the browsing species. Our orphan "Aitong" is from the Mara population of elephants, found near a place of that name, with head injuries that left her walking in circles, unable to keep up with the herd. |
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Orphan Mweiga was amongst a small herd of elephants desperately trying to find their way back into the Aberdare National Park from a small privately owned elephant friendly Ranch near Mweiga which is now encircled by small-holding farmland . The Aberdare National Park, now barrier fenced, was established in 1950 and encompasses an area of 228 sq. miles. This Park includes moorlands and part of the forest of the Aberdare Mountains, and is, for the most part, above l0,000 ft. in altitude. The famous Treetops Hotel, situated in a salient of the Park which extends down the eastern edge to the beginning of the forest was originally erected as a game viewing platform by David Sheldrick's father and was situated within the boundaries of his farm, known as Mweiga Estate. The Treetops Platform was upgraded to accommodate a few guests from the nearby Outspan Hotel in Nyeri, owned by a friend, and today is a large hotel on stilts accommodating over 150 guests and a popular tourist destination. It was at Treetops that Princess Elizabeth became Queen upon the death of her father, King George VI in the early fifties. The Aberdare mountains are part of the central highlands of Kenya, running roughly north-south between Nairobi and Thomson's Falls. In altitude the range rises to some 12,900 ft, its eastern and western flanks covered in heavy montane forest in places giving way to bamboo and hargenia zones at higher levels. Deep ravines cut through the forested inclines, through which hidden trout streams flow and waterfalls cascade down hundreds of feet of rock face. Above the forest stretch miles of open moorland broken by lichen covered rocky outcrops, hills and crags, and thickets of giant heath and tussock grass bogs. In addition to a resident population of elephants, the Park harbours Black Rhino, giant forest hogs, and the rare bongo but the introduction of lions from Solio Ranch and illegal snaring has decimated the forest dwellers who are not used to coping with lion predation. Attempts are currently being made to rid the Park of its lions to allow the forest dwelling species a chance to recover, but illegal logging and poaching remain a serious threat. |
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Says the Manager of Nairobi's recently established Conservation Service Centre - "Wild animals need more room to roam that Parks can ever provide, and the only way they'll get it is if people get some economic reward from sharing their land with them and moving from a cattle-based economy to a wildlife-based economy, illustrating that the people can actually earn more money from tourism and other businesses while allowing the land to regenerate". This is a noble ideal within the grasp of pastoral tribes who are not partial to eating game meat, and who are not involved in the lucrative bush-meat business, but not for the majority of Kenya's population. One of the Conservation Service Centre's more progressive clients is The Wilderness Guardian Company, a community-centred initiative based at the Loisaba Ranch in northern Laikipia. Loisaba, once known as Colcheccio Ranch owned by an Italian Count, has long been a successful cattle ranch with a luxury Lodge, but today, through the vision of a dynamic group of young White Kenyans who have leased it from the Count, the ranch is at the centre of a promising new partnership involving its tribal neighbours and an emerging mix of land uses, including high quality cattle, wildlife, tourism and local industry, operating and cooperating on the same land. The Wilderness Guardian Company's latest innovation is a series of "Star Beds" which are luxury open-air sleeping platforms scattered across the open bush of the Laikipia Plateau on the edge of the Great Rift Valley. Together with several complementary spin-offs such as handicrafts and mat-making, the project will give the community a new incentive to conserve the big game on land where such animals have never been considered anything other than a costly danger, a concept that has been difficult to change, and which yielded three of our orphans - Uaso, Loisaba and Laikipia. |
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The Tsavo National Park takes its name from the river Tsavo, which rises in the foothills of Kilimanjaro, flows through Tsavo West National Park, its flow boosted by the discharge from the famous Mzima Springs, is bridged by the main Nairobi Mombasa road where it flows into the Eastern Section of the Park and there joins up with the river Athi (which rises in Nairobi) to become the Galana river. As such it flows through Tsavo East National Park, becoming the Sabaki when it leaves the Park to enter Giriama country and spill into the sea North of the coastal town of Malindi. The railway from Mombasa inland was under construction in the late 1800's, overseen by a man called Patterson, using labour imported from what was then British India. It was the famous lions of Tsavo that challenged the progress of the railway at Tsavo Station, perpetrating a reign of terror that held up work for several months as they dragged the hapless Asian workmen from their bush barricades and tents, devouring them within hearing of their terrified comrades. They even feasted on some Europeans, snatching one from a rail trolley and another from a coach. Colonel Patterson hunted the Tsavo maneating lions for some three months before he managed to shoot them, by which time they had accounted for over 50 Asian workers. His exploits, and those of the lions are graphically recorded in his book "The Maneaters of Tsavo". The lions of Tsavo still display the aggressive characteristics of their forbears and are very different to the lethargic Big Cats of the savannahs. In the tangle of thorny scrub vegetation that characterised Tsavo at this point in time, they have to be tough to survive and even today cope with much larger prey than their savannah cousins. It was at this famous place on the main Nairobi - Mombasa road, within sight of the railway bridge, that our orphan "Tsavo" was found, wandering alone, his mother dead nearby. | More about Tsavo National Park | TSAVO's detail profile | Foster TSAVO Now | |
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Says the Manager of Nairobi's recently established Conservation Service Centre - "Wild animals need more room to roam that Parks can ever provide, and the only way they'll get it is if people get some economic reward from sharing their land with them and moving from a cattle-based economy to a wildlife-based economy, illustrating that the people can actually earn more money from tourism and other businesses while allowing the land to regenerate". This is a noble ideal within the grasp of pastoral tribes who are not partial to eating game meat, and who are not involved in the lucrative bush-meat business, but not for the majority of Kenya's population. One of the Conservation Service Centre's more progressive clients is The Wilderness Guardian Company, a community-centred initiative based at the Loisaba Ranch in northern Laikipia. Loisaba, once known as Colcheccio Ranch owned by an Italian Count, has long been a successful cattle ranch with a luxury Lodge, but today, through the vision of a dynamic group of young White Kenyans who have leased it from the Count, the ranch is at the centre of a promising new partnership involving its tribal neighbours and an emerging mix of land uses, including high quality cattle, wildlife, tourism and local industry, operating and cooperating on the same land. The Wilderness Guardian Company's latest innovation is a series of "Star Beds" which are luxury open-air sleeping platforms scattered across the open bush of the Laikipia Plateau on the edge of the Great Rift Valley. Together with several complementary spin-offs such as handicrafts and mat-making, the project will give the community a new incentive to conserve the big game on land where such animals have never been considered anything other than a costly danger, a concept that has been difficult to change, and which yielded three of our orphans - Uaso, Loisaba and Laikipia. |
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The Sweetwaters Sanctuary, 24,000 acres in extent, is a ring fenced tourist preserve at the eastern section of Ol Pejeta Ranch near Nanyuki which is now owned by Corporate Lonrho, but was once owned by the Bastard family who were connected by marriage to that of Daphne. Situated within the productive plains beneath Mount Kenya this area once teemed with an abundance of wildlife that rivalled the gazing hordes of the Masai Mara in numbers and although what remains today is a mere shadow of that previous abundance, the sanctuary still supports a good variety of species in low numbers, offering visiting tourists magnificent views across the plains to the snow-capped peaks of Mt. Kenya, the Aberdare range and the Loldaiga Hills to the north east. It also boasts a small refuge for rescued chimpanzees established along the banks of part of the Uaso Nyiro river which snakes its way through the ranch, Being privately owned, the Sanctuary has the advantage of being able to offer special activities not permitted in the Kenyan National Parks and Reserves and is also home to some 28 Black Rhino and a small elephant population which prior to the recent relocation numbered some 100. Elephants need s p a c e and confined within the small area of the Sanctuary in numbers the area could not sustain, they habitually broke through the Electric Barrier Fence in an attempt to migrate beyond, only to find themselves in dense human settlement and trouble. Orphan "Natumi" is a victim of this when her herd went to drink on a neighbouring farm owned by Kenya's President, and her mother and three others were killed by the Presidential Guard. Recently, the Kenya Wildlife Service, with N.G.O. funding, successfully managed to move 52 of Sweetwater's elephants to Meru National Park an exercise aimed at relieving the pressure. "Sweet Sally", along with her mother, were amongst those moved and sadly, upon arrival at the other end, the mother was so traumatised that she simply fled when the travelling crate was opened, leaving her baby behind, who, unbeknownst to her, was in a separate crate. After a two day aerial search failed to locate the mother, Sweet Sally became an orphan of the Trust. The name "Sweetwaters" arose when the first owner of the Ranch, Daphne's relative, drilled a borehole on the western side of the Uaso Nyiro river only to find the water saline. He then drilled another on the eastern bank, and was elated to find that the water was "sweet". |
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In Laikipia, the wild semi-arid land North of Mount Kenya, the community conservation projects of Il Ngwezi and Namunyak, initiated by the Craig family of Lewa Downs Private Ranch as a buffer to protect the boundaries of their land, has, for the past four years, quietly revolutionised attitudes in these drought-prone rangelands inhabited by the nomadic Samburu people, who are an off-shoot of the Masai tribe. The group ranch of Il Ngwezi encompasses an area of l6,500 acres. A small, but beautiful 12 bed Lodge situated on the side of a hill, comprised of simple but tasteful tree-houses overlooking a waterhole and valley and run entirely by the local community, has not only captured the hearts of hundreds of tourists, but has helped to prove that wildlife conservation can be more profitable to local people than cattle herding. Opened in December 1996, and built with funding from USAID, the Il Ngwezi Group Ranch Lodge has been the model that has been followed by other conservation movements desperately searching for alternatives to livestock. Today, the lodge and security operations employ many local tribesmen, who have also established a cultural village where local crafts are on offer to the tourists. Such has been the success of the project that from a livestock ravaged over grazed rangeland, the Il Ngwezi Group ranch is now being marketed as an attractive wildlife destination, where the elephant herds are protected and welcome and where close wildlife encounters are available through activities not normally permitted in the National Parks. And here, the local tribesmen rescued our orphan "Ilingwezi" who fell into, and became trapped in a deep wash-away. These same tribesmen have taken a keen interest in her welfare and life since, visiting her in our Nairobi Nursery, and later flown to Tsavo to see "their" elephant again in Tsavo East National Park where "Ilingwezi" is one of 20 other young orphans currently in their second weaning year of life, and beginning the reintegration back where she rightly belongs - within the wild herds of elephant in an area that offers an elephant quality of life in terms of space and protection. In an area where poaching and snaring has always been rife, Il Ngwezi has not experienced the mass killing of elephants of yore for four years. Grazing by cattle has been drastically reduced within the conservation area, prohibited for l Km. around the Lodge itself where the ranch's last intact grasslands attract an increasing number of wild animals. The Il Ngwezi community has also launched a project to reseed local areas that have historically been overgrazed and this is another ground-breaking initiative with sweeping benefits. |
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The influence of the Il Ngwezi Group Ranch has stretched further north and resulted in a remarkable partnership between the local Namunuyak Group Ranch Samburu tribesmen and a local Safari Operator, Acacia Trails. With assistance from Ian Craig's Lewa Conservancy and the Kenya Wildlife Service, the Namunyak Wildlife Conservation Trust has been formed to nurture a 75,000 acre conservation area of arid country overseen by a trained team of local Scouts. A network of tracks. radio communication coverage and a beautiful five tented Camp has sprung up, with a host of school and water projects initiated to serve the local town of Wamba. Today, two and a half years after its inception, Acacia Trails is in the process of handing the management of their Sarara Camp over to 16 young Samburu tribesmen who have won high praise for their swift conversion from herding to hosting and it is thanks to this new conservation awareness that two of our orphaned elephants, "Edie"(whose name means "far away") and "Lolokwe" (who takes his name from the sacred Sugar Loaf mountain of the Samburu tribe) were saved from certain death and granted a second chance of life in Tsavo. A fundamental attitude change has also accompanied the wildlife resurgence in the wake of initial political difficulties between the local Ndorobo and Samburu communities. The management of the reserve has settled down under the watchful eye of a board of local Trustees with several new projects on the drawing board, including a, (hopefully, sustainable) wooden furniture business, bee-keeping and a Cycad Nursery and slowly, it looks hopeful that the oldest battle of all will be won - the local herdsmen are giving the camp an increasingly wide berth with their cattle. |
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The foothills of the Northern Aberdare range of hills gently slope down to fertile farming country where small patches of remnant forest remain, and where a narrow 300 ft waterfall named Thompson's Falls by the British for the Explorer Joseph Thompson, and now known as Nyahururu, is still a popular tourist destination. This country, once blessed with teeming millions of wild animals, was the setting for the infamous shenanigans of the minority Happy Valley set of British Settlers, which not only provided a talking point in their day, the subject of several books and films, but who also decimated the grazing hordes seen as competition for grazing. Further north west the Laikipia Plateau becomes drier and more suited to cattle ranching, but isolated patches of once beautiful and extensive forests still remain, one of which is that of Rumuruti, now encircled by dense human habitation. Here those elephants that still survive are virtual prisoners in their isolated forest strongholds, and every time they step out, they find their ancient migration routes cut and occupied by an expanding human population trying to eke out subsistence living on smallholdings. These elephants have been forced through harassment to reverse their normal behaviour, seeking refuge deep within the remaining forest patches during the hours of daylight and intense human activity, and venturing out only after dark, often to snatch a meal from what humans have planted. They are the "problem elephants" that are constantly in trouble, continually in conflict with human interests, and they face death on a daily basis; doomed refugees to be pitied, with no long-term hope of survival. Our orphan "Thoma", left behind when her herd was driven out of cultivation is lucky indeed to have been spared, although she arrived badly battered and severely traumatised whilst "Salama" has the distinction of being the only elephant to have been officially "arrested" when as a tiny calf he was separated from his fleeing herd, and frog-marched to a Police Station. |
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An area of 800 sq. miles in Kenya's Northern Region, Marsabit National Reserve consists of a forested mountain massif which rises like an oasis in the midst of a desert wilderness encompassing a spectacular group of volcanic craters of which Gof Bongoli is the largest and most dramatic. Within the forest zone are other craters, and one, which fills with water during seasons of favourable rains, is aptly named Lake Paradise, made famous by the early films and writings of Martin and Osa Johnson and Vivien de Wattville. Marsabit Mountain was once famous for its Big Tuskers, one of which was named "Ahmed", whose body is immortalised at the Nairobi National Museum and who, during the latter part of his life, was awarded Presidential Protection. Today, human encroachment, armed Somali "Shifta" banditry and general lawlessness has made Marsabit unsuitable as a general tourist destination, and its wildlife resource is being systematically eroded. Immediately north of Marsabit lie the black lava wastes of the great Dida Galgalla desert with a buffer zone of sandy soil supporting acacia trees and bush between it and the mountain. Our orphan "Icholta" was rescued in a pitiful condition near a place of that name. |
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The influence of the Il Ngwezi Group Ranch has stretched further north and resulted in a remarkable partnership between the local Namunuyak Group Ranch Samburu tribesmen and a local Safari Operator, Acacia Trails. With assistance from Ian Craig's Lewa Conservancy and the Kenya Wildlife Service, the Namunyak Wildlife Conservation Trust has been formed to nurture a 75,000 acre conservation area of arid country overseen by a trained team of local Scouts. A network of tracks. radio communication coverage and a beautiful five tented Camp has sprung up, with a host of school and water projects initiated to serve the local town of Wamba. Today, two and a half years after its inception, Acacia Trails is in the process of handing the management of their Sarara Camp over to 16 young Samburu tribesmen who have won high praise for their swift conversion from herding to hosting and it is thanks to this new conservation awareness that two of our orphaned elephants, "Edie"(whose name means "far away") and "Lolokwe" (who takes his name from the sacred Sugar Loaf mountain of the Samburu tribe) were saved from certain death and granted a second chance of life in Tsavo. A fundamental attitude change has also accompanied the wildlife resurgence in the wake of initial political difficulties between the local Ndorobo and Samburu communities. The management of the reserve has settled down under the watchful eye of a board of local Trustees with several new projects on the drawing board, including a, (hopefully, sustainable) wooden furniture business, bee-keeping and a Cycad Nursery and slowly, it looks hopeful that the oldest battle of all will be won - the local herdsmen are giving the camp an increasingly wide berth with their cattle. |
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South of Lake Turkana, beyond the Ndoto mountains northwest of Laikipia, South Horr and the El barta Plains, overlooking a lava desert resembling a moonscape stands Ol Donyo Nyiro (the Black Mountain) 2,752 ft. high. In his early explorations Count Teleki skirted the western foothills of Mount Nyiro from where he caught a glimpse of the Suguta Valley "which gave us the impression of the bed of an old lake". This was an accurate observation, for in the Upper Pliocene period before the period of major faulting and folding, the low-lying valley was once part of Lake Turkana (formerly known as Lake Rudolf) but then became separated by an extensive volcanic barrier. Teleki's expedition describes this desolate and forbidding land, riven by great gorges and yawning chasms, which still maintains its savage splendour of the past and has a wild grandeur of its very own. In his words, "the barren ground was strewn with gleaming, chiefly red and green volcanic debris, pumice-stone, huge blocks of blistered lava and here and there pieces of petrified wood". Our orphan Nyiro is a product of the remote region around Mount Nyiro and, amongst all the orphans, is the one that comes from furthest afield, indeed a lucky elephant to find himself now living in safer and more hospitable surroundings. |
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Our orphan "Mukwaju" takes his name from the Swahili word for the "Sausage Tree" (Kigelia africana), since he was orphaned at "Satao Camp", which today is a tented lodge shaded by a grove of these beautiful trees growing within the flood plain of the seasonal Voi river. This seasonal stream rises in the Taita Hills and flows only during the rains, flowing into and through the man-made lake known as Aruba, which today is so silted that it barely exists. There were occasions in the past when the Voi river actually reached the sea near Kilifi, but today it seldom even reaches the Park boundary, disappearing as a soggy marshy plain below Satao Lodge which dries out in the dry season. Elephant "Mukwaju", as a newborn, got bogged in the mud of the waterhole in front of the tented lodge. His desperate mother tried to pull him free, inflicting a deep tusk wound in his neck behind the ear in an attempt to get some purchase on his slippery body. However, when other thirsty elephant herds congregated, desperate to drink, and the camp's human activity arrived with the dawn, she left. Apparently, she returned the next night to try and recover her baby, but by that time he had been flown to the Trust's Nairobi Nursery. As things turned out, this was just as well, because the tusk wound in Mukwaju's neck needed a lot of veterinary intervention before it healed. In a wild state, it is doubtful whether he would have survived such a serious infection. | More about Tsavo National Park | MUKWAJU's detail profile | Foster MUKWAJU Now | |
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A lava ridge, which rises near Nairobi and runs the entire length of the Tsavo East National Park, known as "The Yatta Plateau", is the longest lava flow in the world, covering a distance of some 170 miles before disappearing beyond the Eastern boundary of the Park at a place called Lali. Even today, theories as to its origin conflict. Some Geologists believe that the Plateau was the result of the welling up of lava from a long crack in the earth's surface, others that the surrounding country has eroded away, and others that the lava spewed out from its source and simply travelled a very long way. It is just below the Yatta Plateau in what is known as The Triangle of Tsavo National Park, an area isolated by the Tsavo river on one side, the Mtito Andei watercourse and the Athi river on the other, that our orphan "Yatta" was found alone, gunshots having been heard by our de-snaring team operating just beyond the boundary. Although the body of her mother was not found, undoubtedly poachers operating in the area were responsible for this calf becoming separated from her mother and herd. | More about Tsavo National Park | YATTA's detail profile | Foster YATTA Now | |
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The Meru National Park, an area of some 700 sq. miles, lies to the north-east of Mount Kenya, famous as the home of Elsa the lioness, whose association with Adamsons and her life in this wild and beautiful country is well documented through the best selling book, "Born Free". The Park ranges in altitude from 3,400 ft. at the foothills of the Nyambeni range on the north-eastern boundary to just 1,000 ft. at the Tana river in the south-eastern sector. It can be likened to a microcosm of "Tsavo", but is much better watered, with numerous rivers and luggas bordered by riverine forest, and impressive stands of doum and raphia palms. The rest of the Park is covered by bush of varying densities, with Combretum dominating in the northern section giving way to Commiphora scrubland in the south. The north eastern quadrant is open doum palm country, with swampland, grassy plains, and acacia woods and in the extreme north there is a small patch of rain forest which is an outlier of the Ngaia forest. This beautiful little Park, once a Meru County Council Reserve, but which was handed over to the National Parks authority by the Meru people in the early sixties, has, like Tsavo, been bedevilled by heavy Somali bandit poaching as well as poisoned arrow poaching ever since the National Parks Board of Trustees were abolished and all National Parks came under direct Government control at a time when influential people were involved in the illegal ivory trade. Only when Dr. Leakey was installed as Director of the newly named Kenya Wildlife Service in the early nineties was some semblance of control restored, but subsequent to that under another director, the Park suffered from lack of funding and official neglect, and then the bush-meat trade almost wiped out the smaller "meat" animals. Once home to some 3,000 migratory elephants, currently the Park holds fewer than 200 elephant. Very recently it has been restocked with giraffe and zebra moved from the privately owned Lewa Ranch. Orphans Mulika and Kinna are from the Meru National Park population of elephants. |
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West of the lush agricultural farmlands of Kitale, a tarred road drops down through the Marich Pass and the missionary station of Ortum heading towards Lodwar and eventually Lake Turkana. Beside this flows the Turkwell river fed from the well watered highlands and the Cherangani hills. It passes through a narrow gorge which, in recent times, has been dammed for hydro-electrical purposes and east of the resulting manmade Turkwell Gorge Dam is the Nasalot National Reserve, a small patch set aside to provide dubious refuge for the last of the once great elephant herds that roamed this arid region inhabited by the Turkana people where survival, even for humans, is a major challenge. Bringing relief to the otherwise desolate landscape of thorny acacia scrub are occasional wide sandy luggas that become raging torrents during brief periods of rain and which are bordered by large shady trees. It was in one of these luggas that Ajok, (whose name means "hello"in Turkana), was found, mysteriously alone when only 1 week old in May 1990, but otherwise unharmed. It is here too that Nasalot became an orphan when her mother was gunned down and her ivory tusks hacked from her face. Like the others from beleaguered elephant populations with little longterm hope of survival, these two desert orphans are, indeed, fortunate to have been rescued and to now find themselves in a place that offers more protection and more hope. |
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The Meru National Park, an area of some 700 sq. miles, lies to the north-east of Mount Kenya, famous as the home of Elsa the lioness, whose association with Adamsons and her life in this wild and beautiful country is well documented through the best selling book, "Born Free". The Park ranges in altitude from 3,400 ft. at the foothills of the Nyambeni range on the north-eastern boundary to just 1,000 ft. at the Tana river in the south-eastern sector. It can be likened to a microcosm of "Tsavo", but is much better watered, with numerous rivers and luggas bordered by riverine forest, and impressive stands of doum and raphia palms. The rest of the Park is covered by bush of varying densities, with Combretum dominating in the northern section giving way to Commiphora scrubland in the south. The north eastern quadrant is open doum palm country, with swampland, grassy plains, and acacia woods and in the extreme north there is a small patch of rain forest which is an outlier of the Ngaia forest. This beautiful little Park, once a Meru County Council Reserve, but which was handed over to the National Parks authority by the Meru people in the early sixties, has, like Tsavo, been bedevilled by heavy Somali bandit poaching as well as poisoned arrow poaching ever since the National Parks Board of Trustees were abolished and all National Parks came under direct Government control at a time when influential people were involved in the illegal ivory trade. Only when Dr. Leakey was installed as Director of the newly named Kenya Wildlife Service in the early nineties was some semblance of control restored, but subsequent to that under another director, the Park suffered from lack of funding and official neglect, and then the bush-meat trade almost wiped out the smaller "meat" animals. Once home to some 3,000 migratory elephants, currently the Park holds fewer than 200 elephant. Very recently it has been restocked with giraffe and zebra moved from the privately owned Lewa Ranch. Orphans Mulika and Kinna are from the Meru National Park population of elephants. |
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Originally established in April 1952, the Queen Elizabeth National Park borders on the Semliki River, Lake Edward, the Kazinga Channel and Lake George. The latter is a small and shallow lake which at one time was one of the most productive in the world, its soupy waters rich in microscopic plant life supporting an abundance of fish whose growth was stimulated by the continual application of organic manure from literally thousands of hippos which used to inhabit these waters. However, under Dictator Idi Amin, most of Uganda's wildlife, including the hippo, were decimated to provide food for the Uganda army, and later to feed the Tanzanian contingent that went in to overthrow Amin and instal another Dictator, Milton Obote. Years of political upheaval, neglect and in-house poaching took a devastating toll of all Uganda's wild fauna, and almost wiped out both the hippos and the elephants. Only recently, under President Yoweri Museveni, has order been restored in Uganda, and some semblance of control re- established within the National Parks. Our orphaned elephant, "Mweya" was named by the Ugandans for the Mweya Safari Lodge which commands wonderful views over Lake Edward, where elephant "Mweya" simply wandered into a fishing village as a newborn, and obviously orphaned elephant. Now known as the Ruwenzori National Park, the Queen Elizabeth National Park was at one time probably one of the most spectacular Parks on the African continent, and scenically it still is with its lush green vegetation, rolling grassy plains, great lakes and swamps and patches of imposing tropical forests, outliers of the great forests of the Congo. It includes the Kazinga Channel joining Lake Edward to Lake George where launch trips are once again becoming popular. To the North there is an extensive zone of volcanic craters and crater lakes, with superb scenic views of the Ruwenzori Mountains. From the Mweya Safari Lodge, in one direction, deep blue Lake Edward stretches away towards the purple 8,000 ft. ridges of the Congo mountains; in another direction tawny plains dotted with patches of bottle-green jungle merge into the forested foothills of the ancient 17,000 ft. Ruwenzori Range with its knife like ridges and great rock buttresses, where the highest snow-capped peaks seemingly float remote and unassailable under the vast vault of the African sky. To be able to gaze at distant snowfields while listening to the bellow of a nearby Hippo is a striking illustration of the fantastic potential and variety of the Uganda scene. |
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The elephants of the mainly arid Northern frontier districts of Kenya, like those of Tsavo, are anchored during the long dry season to the few sources of permanent water and it is then that the poachers are most active, bringing havoc and suffering to the herds. This has been exacerbated by the rapidly expanding human population which has encroached on previously wild lands, cut ancient migration routes genetically embedded in elephant memories and over-run fragile springs and watering systems with increasing numbers of livestock. Somewhere in the Samburu National Reserve in October 1961, an arrow fired from a poacher's bow changed the course of the life of an 18 month old baby elephant that was to become the most famous elephant of her time. She was named "Eleanor" and she was to become the very first self appointed elephant "Matriarch" to many other elephant orphans of misfortune that followed as a result of three decades of rampant slaughter for ivory beginning in the late sixties. This was exacerbated by the elephant die-off caused by the Great Drought of 1970 when 10,000 elephants died from malnutrition as a result of immigration resulting in overpopulation of what the elephants considered one of their last remaining safe havens - Tsavo National Park. The elephant population of the Tsavo Park's ecosystem, (an area twice the size of the Park itself, 16,000 square miles in extent) used to harbour, in happier times, some 45,000 animals. The Great Drought of 1970 accounted for some l0,000 mainly female and young elephants, and it was the poachers that accounted for the rest. By 1990 when the poaching was brought under control, only a mere 6,000 elephants were left within the entire 16,000 ecosystem. The elephants' safe haven had turned into an Elephants' Graveyard and what had happened to the population was to have a long-term negative impact, affecting their social fabric and causing another set of problems that became known as elephant/human conflict. | Read More About Eleanor's Story | ELEANOR's detail profile | Foster ELEANOR Now | |
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There is a place on the infamous Nairobi - Mombasa road, not far from the Buchuma waterholes of Slave Caravan fame in Tsavo East National Park, which is known as "Mackinnon Road", "Mackinnon" being the name of the man who laid the first strip of tar on what was then just a dusty, rutted track linking the capital city of Nairobi with the Coastal Port of Mombasa. This road marked the venue for a British Army Staging Camp during the Second World War, remembered by old-timers because a naïve soldier offered a passing wild elephant a bun, and got killed for his pains" Today, this point on the main highway is marked by a small roadside settlement sporting a mosque and some shops. Our orphan "Lissa" was rescued in the Park not far from Mackinnon Road, found wandering alone, with a back leg that was malformed having healed from an earlier break. She was obviously a poaching victim, and was close to death when rescued, emaciated and starved, yet of the age when she could be given directly to the then Matriarch, "Eleanor" her feeding supplemented with milk. | More about Tsavo National Park | LISSA's detail profile | Foster LISSA Now | |
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Before what was known as "The Taru Desert" became the Tsavo National Park in 1949, the only people that habitually moved through this area were a small tribe of traditional elephant hunters known as the Waliangulu, whose lifestyle and culture was interwoven with elephants. They were few in number, who in early days attached themselves to the pastoral Orma people for protection against marauding bands of Masai bent on acquiring any cattle that happened to be held by others. (Masai believe that all cattle belong to them, and any other tribe that had cattle, held them illegally since they were the property of the Masai decreed so by God.) The Orma people, who were also dependent upon their cattle, occupied more open country towards the Tana river and were constantly warding off Masai incursions into their tribal land. The then Taru Desert was unsuitable for livestock due to the presence of the tsetse fly carrying trypanosomiasis deadly to cattle, yet to which the wild game had become immune. The Waliangulu Elephant hunters, in exchange for protection, provided their Orma benefactors with meat as well as ivory which could be sold to passing Arab Slave Traders. Subsisting on the meat of elephants hunted by the Waliangulu meant that the Orma did not have to resort to killing their precious livestock, something both they and the Masai are always loathe to do, since cattle represent wealth, used as payment for marriage dowries and eaten only at important festive functions. The name "Chuma" means "iron" in Swahili, and our orphan "Chuma" lived up to his name, being hardy and tough, although just a year old when orphaned. Like Lissa, he could be given directly into the custody of "Eleanor" , a victim of poaching during a particularly dark period in the history of the Tsavo National Park when both Somali and in-house poaching was rife and uncontrolled for three decades following the death of David Sheldrick, Tsavo's famous first Warden. | More about Tsavo National Park | CHUMA's detail profile | Foster CHUMA Now | |
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"Olmeg" fell into a trench near a place called Maralal, which is the official administrative Headquarters of Samburuland and lies at the base of the forested Karisia Hills. These rise up from the Larogi Plateau northwest of the Samburu National Reserve, overlooking open plains and scattered bush country which becomes persistently more arid as one heads North to Baragoi and South Horr into the arid lava desert wastes of Lake Turkana itself. Classified as the Gateway to the inhospitable north, elephant herds still migrate between the Karisia Hills and the Mathews Range. Our orphan "Olmeg" was left behind when, as a tiny calf, he fell into a trench when his herd which was probably fleeing poachers. He was rescued by Samburu tribesmen and kept at the Maralal Safari Lodge for several days before being flown to us, severely sun damaged and very unwell having been fed on carrots and cows' milk. |
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The wise old leaders of the great elephant herds must have watched with interest, and no doubt mounting alarm, the changes wrought so rapidly within their vast domain by man. During the 1800's Slave Caravans traversed what was then only known as "The Taru Desert" from the Coast to the hinterland and back with their cargoes of chained slaves, ivory and skins, halting at the famous Buchuma waterholes, (now within Tsavo East National Park) where deep fissures in an out-cropping of bedrock traps and holds water well into the dry season. It was not far from here that our orphan "Taru" was found in November 1987 as a tiny three month old calf, whose mother had been killed by poachers for her ivory. | More about Tsavo National Park | TARU's detail profile | Foster TARU Now | |
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This orphan's herd was gunned down by Somali Ivory Poachers at a place within the Tsavo National Park where two German Missionaries named Krapf and Rebmann were the first Europeans to sight the snows of Kilimanjaro, the highest mountain on the African Continent. Believing that it was impossible to find snow on the Equator, they surmised that Kilimanjaro's white summit must be limestone rock. Later, the British early Explorers traversed what is now known as The Tsavo National Park, people like Lord Lugard who walked from the Coast up the Galana river, after whom the famous "Lugards Falls" on the Galana river are named. Here, his party took a rest, and Lord Lugard got his finger bitten by a crocodile when he washed his hands in the river. | More about Tsavo National Park | DIKA's detail profile | Foster DIKA Now | |
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The Imenti forest is another small remnant patch of forest East of Mount Kenya between Embu and Meru, harbouring a diminishing number of elephants, whose migration route to the Mount Kenya population has been interrupted by dense human settlement and cultivation. Plans are afoot to try and fence this small forest to protect the smallholdings abutting the forest, preserve the forest itself from illegal logging activities and save the few remaining elephants that still exist there, whose numbers are now few. Orphans "Ndume" and "Malaiaka" (who died in childbirth aged 11 at the end of 2000) and also"Imenti" and more recently "Wendi" are lucky survivors of the ongoing human/elephant conflict that exists in this area. |
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Amboseli National Park is world famous for its scenic beauty with towering Mount Kilimanjaro as a backdrop, but also for its largely undisturbed elephant population, the only elephant population on the entire African continent that has not suffered massive ivory poaching, and whose family structure is still largely intact. Numbering just over 1,000, this population has provided the baseline for elephant research for the past 28 years, in a detailed study where every individual is known and its life documented by resident Scientists who monitor their lives on a daily basis. Cynthia Moss has studied the female units and Dr. Joyce Poole the bulls and elephant communication and much of what is known about the nature of elephants today is a result of this research. The National Park and abutting Game Reserve embody five main wildlife habitats, plus a generally dry lake bed known as Amboseli from which the Park takes its name. There are open plains; stands of yellow-barked acacia woodland and doum palm groves, swamps and marshes fed from the melting snows of Kilimanjaro, rocky lava strewn thornbush country, and at the western end of the Reserve, the massif Oldoinyo Orok rising to over 8,300 ft which is still for the most part zoologically largely unexplored. Everywhere, the landscape is dominated by snow-capped Kilimanjaro immediately to the south which at 19,340 ft is Africa's highest mountain and a fitting backdrop to this important wild region where the pastoral Masai people and their cattle have coexisted in harmony with most wild creatures for many a century, killing only the lions in cultural rituals, but more recently the rhinos for the price of the horn. Protest spearing of some elephants has also occurred in recent times due to revenue sharing disputes. Our orphan "Edo"was the son of a famous Amboseli elephant Matriarch known as Emily, part of the "E" family, who died as a result of garbage at one of the Lodge rubbish pits. As the only Amboseli calf not to simply provide another statistic for the Scientific study, he is indeed fortunate and ironically he owes his life to a Japanese Film Unit who was filming his family at the time, and who could not bear to see the endearing little star of their film simply wither away and die. When his mother perished Edo was just 6 months old, and as such still milk dependent, and although he had a lactating sister, she would not allow him to suckle. |
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West of the lush agricultural farmlands of Kitale, a tarred road drops down through the Marich Pass and the missionary station of Ortum heading towards Lodwar and eventually Lake Turkana. Beside this flows the Turkwell river fed from the well watered highlands and the Cherangani hills. It passes through a narrow gorge which, in recent times, has been dammed for hydro-electrical purposes and east of the resulting manmade Turkwell Gorge Dam is the Nasalot National Reserve, a small patch set aside to provide dubious refuge for the last of the once great elephant herds that roamed this arid region inhabited by the Turkana people where survival, even for humans, is a major challenge. Bringing relief to the otherwise desolate landscape of thorny acacia scrub are occasional wide sandy luggas that become raging torrents during brief periods of rain and which are bordered by large shady trees. It was in one of these luggas that Ajok, (whose name means "hello"in Turkana), was found, mysteriously alone when only 1 week old in May 1990, but otherwise unharmed. It is here too that Nasalot became an orphan when her mother was gunned down and her ivory tusks hacked from her face. Like the others from beleaguered elephant populations with little longterm hope of survival, these two desert orphans are, indeed, fortunate to have been rescued and to now find themselves in a place that offers more protection and more hope. |
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213 miles from Nairobi and 33 miles north of Isiolo town, the Samburu National Reserve, as the most accessible of the Northern Frontier faunal Sanctuaries, is an extremely popular tourist destination. The Samburu side of the Reserve covers an area of 40 square miles on the northern bank of the Uaso Nyiro river with l0 miles of river frontage. Opposite on the southern Bank, is the Buffalo Springs National Reserve which falls beneath the auspices of the Isiolo County Council and which also has 10 miles of river frontage with a bridge across the river connecting the two. Since all water dependent species in this arid thirstland have to come down to the river to drink, game viewing is easy and tourist clientele easily satisfied without travelling great distances. Beyond and even within these small Sanctuaries, however, the elephants are very vulnerable to poaching, and when the mother of Lominyek died of gunshot wounds, , also suffering from a gunshot in the leg, became an orphan of the Trust. "Lominyek" means "the lucky one" in the Samburu dialect, and this elephant, over a year old when he was brought in, is, indeed, lucky to have been saved and transported to the larger and much safer haven of Tsavo. He only spent a few months with us until he identified another wild foster Matriarch and slotted comfortably into her family, so Lominyek is a success story of which the Trust is justifiably proud. |
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The Lewa Downs Conservancy is managed and owned by the Craig family and consists of scenically beautiful low lying arid ranchland below the fertile agricultural wheat and horticultural farms of the upper regions around Mount Kenya. Some 40,000 acres in extent, the Conservancy practices limited traditional beef and dairy farming, benefiting from irrigation from the Ngare Ndare river, a tributary of the Uaso Nyiro flowing through to the Samburu National Reserve, but it is now mainly going over to a wildlife based economy with tourist facilities for game viewing and camping safaris. In addition, it practices consumptive commercial utilisation of wildlife with a "culling quota" issued by the Kenya Wildlife Service. As a member of the Laikipia Wildlife Forum its views on consumptive wildlife utilisation and hunting mirror policies practiced further south in Zimbabwe and South Africa, and are at variance with Kenya's more compassionate conservation ethics. Hunting in particular is viewed by indigenous Africans as an out-moded Colonial relic and as such does not enjoy public endorsement despite being aggressively lobbied by the white dominated Laikipia Wildlife Forum. The Ranch is ring fenced, with gaps to allow the migratory elephant herds to pass through to the Shaba and Samburu National Reserves, and is home to some 28 Black Rhino, introduced in the early eighties, and over 30 White Rhinos introduced from animals originally imported from South Africa. (White Rhino are not indigenous to Kenya in living memory, but the fossils of the Northern White race, which differs slightly from the Southern Whites, have been found.) It holds most of the remaining Grevy Zebra in the country plus a healthy population of common zebra, reticulated giraffe, gerenuk, buffalo and other grazing and browsing species including a few Sitatunga brought in from the small surviving Siaya Swamp population of Western Kenya. Recently it has supplied excess giraffe and zebra to restock Meru National Park, where wildlife has been ravaged by years of neglect, and corruption involving the commercial "bushmeat" trade, but where control has now been restored. Our orphan "Lewa" was rescued from this Ranch, after becoming too weak to keep up with the herd. He was just l year old at the time and as such still milk dependent, so his lactating mother must have perished. No calf orphaned under the age of two can survive without milk, and few between the ages of two and five can make it without nutritional supplementation in the form of coconut, which contains the correct fat essential for the health of a growing elephant baby. |
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The Sweetwaters Sanctuary, 24,000 acres in extent, is a ring fenced tourist preserve at the eastern section of Ol Pejeta Ranch near Nanyuki which is now owned by Corporate Lonrho, but was once owned by the Bastard family who were connected by marriage to that of Daphne. Situated within the productive plains beneath Mount Kenya this area once teemed with an abundance of wildlife that rivalled the gazing hordes of the Masai Mara in numbers and although what remains today is a mere shadow of that previous abundance, the sanctuary still supports a good variety of species in low numbers, offering visiting tourists magnificent views across the plains to the snow-capped peaks of Mt. Kenya, the Aberdare range and the Loldaiga Hills to the north east. It also boasts a small refuge for rescued chimpanzees established along the banks of part of the Uaso Nyiro river which snakes its way through the ranch, Being privately owned, the Sanctuary has the advantage of being able to offer special activities not permitted in the Kenyan National Parks and Reserves and is also home to some 28 Black Rhino and a small elephant population which prior to the recent relocation numbered some 100. Elephants need s p a c e and confined within the small area of the Sanctuary in numbers the area could not sustain, they habitually broke through the Electric Barrier Fence in an attempt to migrate beyond, only to find themselves in dense human settlement and trouble. Orphan "Natumi" is a victim of this when her herd went to drink on a neighbouring farm owned by Kenya's President, and her mother and three others were killed by the Presidential Guard. Recently, the Kenya Wildlife Service, with N.G.O. funding, successfully managed to move 52 of Sweetwater's elephants to Meru National Park an exercise aimed at relieving the pressure. "Sweet Sally", along with her mother, were amongst those moved and sadly, upon arrival at the other end, the mother was so traumatised that she simply fled when the travelling crate was opened, leaving her baby behind, who, unbeknownst to her, was in a separate crate. After a two day aerial search failed to locate the mother, Sweet Sally became an orphan of the Trust. The name "Sweetwaters" arose when the first owner of the Ranch, Daphne's relative, drilled a borehole on the western side of the Uaso Nyiro river only to find the water saline. He then drilled another on the eastern bank, and was elated to find that the water was "sweet". |
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The foothills of the Northern Aberdare range of hills gently slope down to fertile farming country where small patches of remnant forest remain, and where a narrow 300 ft waterfall named Thompson's Falls by the British for the Explorer Joseph Thompson, and now known as Nyahururu, is still a popular tourist destination. This country, once blessed with teeming millions of wild animals, was the setting for the infamous shenanigans of the minority Happy Valley set of British Settlers, which not only provided a talking point in their day, the subject of several books and films, but who also decimated the grazing hordes seen as competition for grazing. Further north west the Laikipia Plateau becomes drier and more suited to cattle ranching, but isolated patches of once beautiful and extensive forests still remain, one of which is that of Rumuruti, now encircled by dense human habitation. Here those elephants that still survive are virtual prisoners in their isolated forest strongholds, and every time they step out, they find their ancient migration routes cut and occupied by an expanding human population trying to eke out subsistence living on smallholdings. These elephants have been forced through harassment to reverse their normal behaviour, seeking refuge deep within the remaining forest patches during the hours of daylight and intense human activity, and venturing out only after dark, often to snatch a meal from what humans have planted. They are the "problem elephants" that are constantly in trouble, continually in conflict with human interests, and they face death on a daily basis; doomed refugees to be pitied, with no long-term hope of survival. Our orphan "Thoma", left behind when her herd was driven out of cultivation is lucky indeed to have been spared, although she arrived badly battered and severely traumatised whilst "Salama" has the distinction of being the only elephant to have been officially "arrested" when as a tiny calf he was separated from his fleeing herd, and frog-marched to a Police Station. |
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Says the Manager of Nairobi's recently established Conservation Service Centre - "Wild animals need more room to roam that Parks can ever provide, and the only way they'll get it is if people get some economic reward from sharing their land with them and moving from a cattle-based economy to a wildlife-based economy, illustrating that the people can actually earn more money from tourism and other businesses while allowing the land to regenerate". This is a noble ideal within the grasp of pastoral tribes who are not partial to eating game meat, and who are not involved in the lucrative bush-meat business, but not for the majority of Kenya's population. One of the Conservation Service Centre's more progressive clients is The Wilderness Guardian Company, a community-centred initiative based at the Loisaba Ranch in northern Laikipia. Loisaba, once known as Colcheccio Ranch owned by an Italian Count, has long been a successful cattle ranch with a luxury Lodge, but today, through the vision of a dynamic group of young White Kenyans who have leased it from the Count, the ranch is at the centre of a promising new partnership involving its tribal neighbours and an emerging mix of land uses, including high quality cattle, wildlife, tourism and local industry, operating and cooperating on the same land. The Wilderness Guardian Company's latest innovation is a series of "Star Beds" which are luxury open-air sleeping platforms scattered across the open bush of the Laikipia Plateau on the edge of the Great Rift Valley. Together with several complementary spin-offs such as handicrafts and mat-making, the project will give the community a new incentive to conserve the big game on land where such animals have never been considered anything other than a costly danger, a concept that has been difficult to change, and which yielded three of our orphans - Uaso, Loisaba and Laikipia. |
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On the 64,000 acre Rukinga Ranch, Savannah Camps under Steve Turner has helped to construct the Taita Discovery Centre - a 40 bed Study Centre where foreign and local students undertake a variety of wildlife and conservation based studies in exchange for a fee, as well as examining alternative uses for this semi arid land abutting the giant Tsavo National Park. Running alongside the main Nairobi - Mombasa road which passes through this Ranch is the Mombasa pipeline, whose source is 60 miles distant, at Mzima Springs in Tsavo West National Park. This pipeline was constructed during the Colonial era in the early fifties, the contract given to a French firm assisted by Italian engineers. Crystal clear water is taken from beneath the lava to serve the city of Mombasa and its environs, but today, fifty years later, many parts of the pipeline has fallen into disrepair, leaking at many places along its length. Two of our orphaned elephants, "Maungu" and "Ndara" are victims of such places, both having fallen into one of the deep leaking manholes on this decaying pipeline where it passes through Rukinga Ranch. |
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These two tiny orphans, who were both only 6 weeks and 4 weeks old respectively when they were deposited on our doorstep by Helicopter, having been rescued by Ian Craig of Lewa Downs. Both are victims of the same natural fissure, one of many rock catchment "wells" known as "Kasima Hamisi" situated 20 miles Northeast of Shaba National Reserve. Negotiations are currently in progress with the people of this area to try and develop eco-tourism as an alternative means of revenue earning to their nomadic pastoral existence wherein livestock are totally dependent upon the vagaries of the weather and this is, in iself, uncertain in this arid semi desert country. The elephant herds that exist in this area are very vulnerable to poaching by Somali bandits, and have to compete with large numbers of cattle etc., for water at the few watering points, one of which is Kasima Hamisi. The herds are always in a hurry when they come to drink at such places, due to the pervading human scent, added to which they are thirsty and hot. Water drips from desperate trunks, making the rock slippery and dangerous for the small calves beneath their mothers, and in the ensuing chaos, they slip in, doomed to die a miserable death exposed to the sun for as long as they can keep afloat. |
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These two tiny orphans, who were both only 6 weeks and 4 weeks old respectively when they were deposited on our doorstep by Helicopter, having been rescued by Ian Craig of Lewa Downs. Both are victims of the same natural fissure, one of many rock catchment "wells" known as "Kasima Hamisi" situated 20 miles Northeast of Shaba National Reserve. Negotiations are currently in progress with the people of this area to try and develop eco-tourism as an alternative means of revenue earning to their nomadic pastoral existence wherein livestock are totally dependent upon the vagaries of the weather and this is, in iself, uncertain in this arid semi desert country. The elephant herds that exist in this area are very vulnerable to poaching by Somali bandits, and have to compete with large numbers of cattle etc., for water at the few watering points, one of which is Kasima Hamisi. The herds are always in a hurry when they come to drink at such places, due to the pervading human scent, added to which they are thirsty and hot. Water drips from desperate trunks, making the rock slippery and dangerous for the small calves beneath their mothers, and in the ensuing chaos, they slip in, doomed to die a miserable death exposed to the sun for as long as they can keep afloat. |