Participants

David Njoroge – team leader Wambua Kikwatha – team leader Abdi Adan Samuel Lolchulaki Julius Mumo Philip Kipkoril Patrick Ekai James Lodungokiyok KWS rangers

During the course of this month the Ithumba team patrolled the following areas: The general area in and around Tharkana, the Tsavo safari camp areas, Along the athi river from corner ya nyati, and the Gazi and Mukuanima areas.

TOTAL SNARES COLLECTED 296

Findings

Due to the shortage of rangers this months operations were carried out together with the Ithumba team, with our efforts being concentrated in the Gazi area. It was noted that due to the drastic drop in the water level of the Athi river poaching in that area was rampant and on the increase which was proved by the number of spoors that the team was able to find considering that the poachers are constantly changing their poaching style. It has been observed that due to the low concentration of animals by the river the poachers have stopped poaching by the banks of the river choosing instead to walk miles into the park up to and beyond the Yatta to carry out their poaching activities. As we now carry out frequent patrols in this area the poachers that can not walk far choose to combine their poaching activities with fishing so that they can keep a close eye on the snares that they have set. Furthermore they are also act as informers alerting the other poachers to our presence. While patrolling in and around the Mwakila area we were able to arrest 3 poachers, on 3 different days in 3 different areas. The poachers called Nzonga Munyoki, Mutua Mutiso and Kivuva Musingila were booked and are awaiting prosection for their poaching activities.

At corner ya nyati we came across a dead buffalo who died near the river. Upon inspection of the corpse we think that the buffalo may have been shot and killed by a poisonous arrow. In and around the Mukuanima area we observed that logging and charcoal burning is on the increase due to the amount of charcoal kilns and wood piles that were found. Very few animals were sighted during our patrols due to the continuous encroachment of humans into the park who continuously move further into the park in search of animals to poach and trees to burn for charcoal. While in this area we were able to arrest two more people, Ndambuki Mutisya and Bernard Masila who were checking on their charcoal kilns. Our operations in the Northern part of Tsavo are backed by our intelligence gathering and informer network. During the month, the northern area team leader received a tip about a gang of poachers who had killed an elephant and a buffalo. The ivory was to be disposed of immediately but the ivory dealer had no cash on hand giving the team leader time to coordinate an operation to trap and catch the culprits and recover the ivory. The operation was successfully organized by the team leader through Robert Carr-Hartley who sent word to our de-snaring team, who were able to arrest 5 poachers, who were on our most wanted list, and recover the elephant tusks. Unfortunately the dealer was able to evade arrest. During the months operations we were able to lift 296 snares most of which targeted small animals which are easier to catch. The team was also able to arrest 10 poachers from both areas of the Northern Park boundary.

Report by Wambua Kikwatha