Participants

Patrick Mutuku Mutua Koti Lemanten Lambarakwe James Lodungokiyok Musau Kitulya Rajab Hamisi

Areas Covered

During the course of this month the areas covered were: Ndia-Ndasa, Kalovoto, Kimweli, along the Tsavo River and the Umbi area.

TOTAL SNARES COLLECTED

Findings

The first two weeks of the month the team took a few days off. Upon our return we embarked on vehicle patrols along the fence-line. The KWS rangers who always accompany us on our patrols were held up on a bandits operation which has been going on for the past 2 months. Sadly a thief came to the Ithumba park base and stole the borehole pump controller. He took advantage of the heavy rains that were falling as his footprints could not be traced.

Due to the fact that it is the rainy season the levels of poaching have decreased as the poachers are busy cultivating their farms. On the 14th of the month the fence attendants reported that, due to a heavy downpour the night before, the fence had been washed away at the Kalovoto stream near the Kimweli gate.

The de-snaring team visited the area and together with Sanyati rectified the situation by fixing the fence. The Tiva River burst its banks, reaching an all time high and sweeping the wire strands across the river.

The Ithumba team kept itself busy laying ambushes along the fence-line to ensure that our presence was felt.

We sustained vehicle patrols wherever the road was passable. We covered the Ndia-Ndasa stretch where we came across two footprints headed towards the Bisadi area. It is worth mentioning that this path is frequently used by poachers moving from Mutha past the Umbi area. It was nice to see that the medium sized game that had left the area due to livestock grazing has returned.

Some of the sections of the road have been blocked by fallen trees. The team worked on removing the trees from sections that were not waterlogged.

On the 28th of November a tree fell onto one of the tents at the Ithumba bandas. Thankfully no damage was caused and the team moved in to cut the tree down. The Ithumba team has taken advantage of the rains by planting grass in the bare patches at the Ithumba bandas, which we hope will prevent soil erosion and also make the area more beautiful. Hopefully by next month the rangers will have finished their bandit operation and will be able to continue assisting us in our de-snaring efforts.

Report by Patrick Mutuku