April was a busy month, but less so than March. Still, there were a number of veterinary cases assisted by the Aerial Unit as well as significant finds of poaching activity within and outside of the parks.

There was a total of four veterinary cases involving the airwing during the month - three elephants and one giraffe. The giraffe, reported near Rombo Ranch with a suspected spear wound, was attended to with help from an SWT helicopter. The young, male, adult giraffe was darted and successfully treated. The remaining cases included two bull elephants with multiple suspected spear wounds, both sighted during fixed wing patrols: the first near the northern extent of Galana Ranch, and the other to the south of Kamboyo HQ in Tsavo West.

The two bull elephants with spear wounds were assumed to be victims of human-elephant conflict, having been found relatively close to pastoralist communities. The two bulls were darted with assistance from SWT helicopters. Fortunately, with timely intervention, they are both expected to make a full recovery.

The last elephant treated was also a bull elephant, this time with a suspected poisoned arrow wound, sighted during a fixed wing aerial patrol. On this occasion, the Tsavo Mobile Vet Unit was not available, and so another aircraft was used to transfer the SWT/KWS vet team from Amboseli to Satao, near where the bull had been sighted. The bull was relocated on the ground, darted and swiftly treated. A second bull had been seen on the same day, but his injuries appeared to be older and healing on their own, with no need of intervention.

The Aerial Unit also spent several hours searching for injured animals in Shimba Hills National Reserve, which had been reported by KWS and our own team on the ground. These included two sable antelopes with injuries on their legs (including a possible snare) and one elephant whose tracks appeared to show him dragging a leg.

Unfortunately, the bull elephant was never sighted and only one sable was seen – a young calf with an injured leg. Our pilot was able to get a closeup picture of the leg and confirmed there was no snare nor open wound. Given these details, the assumption made is the injury must be a natural sprain or strain and the advice given by the vet was to continue monitoring but not to treat.

The Aerial Unit and Veterinary Unit also worked together to remove an old non-functioning collar from an elephant in Tsavo West. It had been noticed that the collar was no longer transmitting fresh positions, and the decision was made to try and locate the bull and remove the collar. He was first sighted by a fixed wing and then darted with helicopter assistance and the collar successfully removed.

A number of poaching incidents were detected by the Aerial Unit in April — most notably two well-established poachers’ harbours containing snares and other equipment stashed for future use, and a motorbike transporting a large amount of bushmeat found on Galana Ranch. The motorbike was first sighted during a routine fixed wing patrol. The pilot immediately scrambled an anti-poaching team and a helicopter to respond but unfortunately, the vegetation was extremely thick and the rider was able to slip away under thick cover and make an escape before the helicopter arrived on the scene.

Other illegal activities observed included livestock (neither in overwhelming numbers or any less than previous months), two marijuana plantations, recent illegal mining and dozens of charcoal kilns, as well as several charcoal camps outside of the park.

There were several human-elephant conflict cases responded to by helicopter in April; however, only two cases concluded with elephants being found and successfully pushed back into the park. On other occasions, elephants were either not found, the bush was too thick to push elephants effectively, or the area was too densely populated to push elephants safely.

Several other callouts were responded to by our aircraft throughout the course of the month, including one occasion involving a family of campers on the Galana River, who had not left the Park when expected, and were not located at their camp where some of their belongings remained. One of our aircraft participated in the search and fortunately the family were found by a Tsavo Trust aircraft alive and well, having become stuck in deep mud in a semi-remote part of the park. They had gone out on a drive and ultimately spent two days stranded.

Highlights during the month included several big cat sightings as well as a healthy number of sable antelope with their young calves in the Shimba Hills, where their numbers have been suffering from rampant poaching in recent years.