November was a relatively quiet month for the Aerial Unit, with one exception. Two of our aircraft participated in the largest rhino notching and tagging operation in Kenya's history. One of our fixed-wing aircraft and one helicopter dedicated ten days and 14 days respectively to searching for and darting a total of 90 black rhinos in Tsavo West's Ngulia Rhino Sanctuary.

The purpose of the exercise was to cut identification notches on the ears of previously unnotched individuals and to install trackers on all individuals in order to strengthen KWS's monitoring ability. The team completed this work in preparation for the removal of the sanctuary fence, which His Excellency President William Ruto will launch.

In total, the teams flew 137.1 hours — 67.5 by the helicopter and 69.6 by the fixed-wing aircraft — covering a distance of 10,360 kilometres. Other than this operation, the Aerial Unit performed routine aerial patrols and responded to a variety of the usual callouts throughout the month.

The helicopters responded to a total of six human-elephant conflict cases, pushing groups of elephants out of community land and back into the Park. The largest number of elephants moved in a single operation was 38 bull elephants, which the team moved back into the Park near Gazi, in northern Tsavo East.

The Aerial Unit helped facilitate the rescue of two animals in November: an orphaned elephant in Amboseli, which a helicopter collected and flew to Kaluku, as well as an abandoned giraffe calf in the Mara, which the team collected with our Caravan. Unfortunately, the giraffe was compromised from the beginning and died on the first night. It appeared to have some damage to its nasal passages, which might explain why its mother abandoned it.

The team also used our helicopter to fly a team down to Shumbaland to help rescue a bull elephant from a muddy dam. During the time he was stuck, hyenas had also attacked it, and so a KWS veterinarian flew to the site to provide treatment and assess his prognosis.

The Aerial Unit also assisted in the search for several injured animals, including two unsuccessful searches for a giraffe reported with a spear wound in Selengei (near Amboseli), and a bull elephant with an arrow wound near Gazi. The team successfully located a snared zebra in southern Tsavo East; unfortunately, however, the vet team was unable to sight it on the ground. The team made several more attempts to find it, but lost it amongst hundreds of other zebras in the area. Much further south, in Shimba Hills National Reserve, the team located a buffalo with a missing leg from a snare injury from the air. Sadly, there was nothing that could be done in this case.

The Aerial Unit assisted in treating only one elephant—a bull elephant sighted in southern Tsavo East with a suspected arrow wound. The bull was in a relatively open area and the KWS/SWT Tsavo Mobile Veterinary Unit later darted it from the ground.

The team observed various other illegal activities in November, including illegal livestock incursions, charcoal burning and wood carving outside the Park, and logging within Shimba Hills National Reserve.