There was a sharp uptick in veterinary cases in March with two main hotspots: Southeastern Tsavo East and Northern Tsavo West, caused by suspected ivory poaching and human-elephant conflict. A total of six elephants were treated with suspected or confirmed poisoned arrow wounds. Three were found during just one day by a fixed-wing pilot and later treated by the SWT/KWS Voi Mobile Vet team, one with helicopter assistance. All elephants have been given a good prognosis.

Two other elephants with suspected spear wounds were also treated with helicopter assistance after first being sighted during routine fixed-wing patrols. In both cases, an aerial transfer was facilitated by fixed-wing to get the mobile vet team to the site in time. Once again, a good prognosis was given to both elephants. Note that additional suspected arrow and spear victims were also sighted in the same areas, however it was determined they would likely heal without intervention.

In addition to the above cases, the Aerial Unit was also instrumental in the treatment of a bull elephant and a bull buffalo, both with snares – the elephant on its trunk and the buffalo on a leg. The elephant, which had been sighted on a human-elephant conflict callout, was later darted from a helicopter so that the vet could remove the snare and treat the wound on its trunk.

The buffalo’s story was a remarkable one. One of our ground teams first sighted drag marks on the ground and suspected it to be a buffalo dragging a log on a snare. Our pilots spent several hours over two days tracking the drag marks from the air before finally spotting the distressed buffalo many kilometres away. Once sighted, the buffalo was darted 2 hours later, and the vicious snare was removed before the wound was treated.

The Trust's caravan and pilot was also active in rescuing a zebra calf, which was found abandoned with a wound on its back. The calf was taken to the Trust's stockade for veterinary treatment and further care.

The Aerial Unit also sighted two elephant carcasses in March, the first was a fresh carcass of an adult female elephant with tusks intact - assumed to have died of natural causes. The second was an adult bull elephant dead from a poisoned arrow - tusks already removed.

Two other poaching incidents were observed in March including a large poachers’ harbour on the edge of the Yatta Plateau with snares as well as motorbike tracks outside of the park, which a ground team later followed to another poachers’ harbour, which had been recently active.

Other illegal activities sighted in March by the Aerial Unit included largescale charcoal production (outside the Parks on ranches), logging inside the park and on KARI ranch, and 10 small marijuana plantations in the Chyulu Hills National Park. Coordinates for charcoal and logging were passed on to ground teams for action and marijuana plantations were all later uprooted by ground teams.

Other assistance offered by the Trust’s helicopters included aiding KWS in the capture of 140 zebra and other wildlife to be translocated from Tsavo Wrest National Park to Shimba Hills National Park. The helicopter was also used to sight and dart a black rhino that had escaped Nairobi National Park and walked into a densely populated area. Once darted, the rhino was successfully translocated to Tsavo West where he has adapted well. Fortunately, the helicopters were only called out for two human-wildlife conflict cases, including an incident that resulted in an elephant being treated due to a snared trunk.

Our Cessna Caravan also flew to Meru to collect a newborn buffalo calf that had lost its mother. The calf was rescued and flown back to Kaluku to be hand-reared and one day in the future returned to the wild.

Increased livestock incursions were noted in both Tsavo East and Tsavo West but were dealt with rapidly by KWS and SWT ground teams. Additionally, higher-than-usual rains have assisted in transforming many areas into swathes of green, particularly in Tsavo West, which was previously severely degraded by livestock. Large numbers of wildlife are moving back into these areas, which have been dominated by livestock in recent years. This has been emphasised by increased sightings of predators (lions and cheetahs) in the same areas.

Our pilots were also afforded some very special wildlife sightings in March, including multiple prides of lions as well as a beautiful leopard perched on a rocky outcrop and multiple sightings of the critically endangered hirola.