Tsavo West National Park

02/11/2010

Lion update
The young male lion trapped on the 18th of September for having killed goats, has by now been named Kimba and is doing very well.
He was moved out of the small trap into a larger wooden holding crate and since then has recovered well from his malnourished state due to a daily diet of 3 kg of meat.
After a week of practising his vocal cords every night, Kimba finally managed to call properly and since then performs the famous lion roar regularly, particularly during moon-lit nights.
In the meantime KWS HQ has approved the go-ahead for a lion rescue centre within Tsavo West National Park and the construction of an all-enclosed holding pen is under way and coming up to completion. The pen consists of two sections of each 10x10 metres joined by a corridor with sliding doors and is surrounded by an electric fence to secure the lion(s) inside the enclosure against attacks from outsiders. This rescue centre is hidden in a little valley inside the park and will be Kimba’s new home as soon as it is completed.
Since Kimba is still too young to survive and hunt on his own, he will stay there for a few more months during which he can gain more strength and practice to hunt and kill on live bait. If he is lucky, he will be joined by other lions his age to make up a pride, which would increase his chances of survival in the wild.

02/11/2010

Leopard as victim to speeding
Speed kills - outside of national parks and particularly inside. On the 10th of October a tour operator called on the phone as he had come across a leopard on one of the roads inside Tsavo West National Park. The leopard was lying in the middle of the road unable to move. It was decided to alert the vet and at the same time get the leopard into a safe enclosure within headquarters for a medical check up.
It was a young male between two and three years old, just coming into his prime, but taken out the gene pool before he even had the chance to reproduce. As it transpired, the leopard had a broken back, actually showed a hole in his spine, an injury that could only have been inflicted by a speeding car ramming its bumper up the leopard’s back as he was trying to get away from the vehicle. An endangered species being a victim to a hit and run incident within a protected area created for the conservation of this very animal.
When the leopard started to pass blood instead of urine and after consulting with the KWS vet, the Senior Warden of Tsavo West National Park put the cat out of its misery with a brain shot. The post mortem revealed an actually severed spinal column and fatal internal bleeding – there was nothing that could have saved this leopard, except for that particular car to stick to the park rules in the first place of a speed limit of 40 kph.
It does not require much imagination to envisage the toll on the wildlife side claimed by the construction of a highway within a protected area, such as Tsavo West National Park or the Serengeti in Tanzania – a development that is to be avoided by all means.

02/11/2010

Another lion rescue
At midnight of the 7th of October a second lion was brought into Kamboyo headquarters - a big maned male of about seven years old from the Kuku Group Ranch in the Chyulu Hills region.
He had been trapped by the KWS vet as he was found next to an elephant carcass with a severe wound on his neck and his front legs collapsed. As it transpired this lion must have had a fight with another male lion he was known to hang out with – probably over the carcass.
The vet found a collar on this lion’s neck that was far too tight and was actually choking the animal, so he promptly removed the collar and brought the lion to Kamboyo Hq for observation. Placed in his trap the lion was positioned alongside the other younger lion, but was not able to get up and generally appeared far too mellow for a wild big cat his age and seemed in very low spirit.
Another wooden holding crate was built in Nairobi and upon its arrival, the big lion was transferred from the old trap into the much bigger crate. Within days of good feeding and rest he was able to sit up again, regained full use of his front legs and shoulders, but then his hind quarters gave in. It also appeared as if the collar had been so tight that it had indeed strangled his voice box as the lion was not able to hold a low growl without choking, let alone roar which he often attempted but could not follow through. The collaring of this lion was not done by KWS and investigations into this matter are under way.
Two weeks after his capture, just before full moon, the lion finally roared at night with such strength that it echoed back from all sides and promptly called in a wild pride to investigate the newcomer. The pride then gradually came closer in the course of the night, until they were nose to nose with the big lion through his crate door, totally ignoring the younger lion, who kept rather quiet during the entire occasion.
The encounter with the wild pride seemed to have shaken the big lion back to his senses and he changed overnight. By the next morning he was standing up in his crate, pacing up and down and keenly watching everything that moved outside, including birds settling in the tree above his crate. It became almost impossible to approach his holding crate to feed and water him without him performing a serious charge – finally his spirit was back and he was behaving like a true wild lion. Whatever it was that had immobilised his back legs, had subsided, he had pulled through it to full recovery.
Therefore, after another couple of days, he was successfully released back into the wild on the 22nd of October. Reaching the release site and once the crate door had been opened, the “big lion”, as he was named by then, leapt out of his holding crate, galloped a few paces, then stopped, looked back at us and walked off calmly in peace and fully restored pride.

15/10/2010

Amiran Greenhouse update

IFAW funded two greenhouses to be erected in the communities neighbouring Tsavo West National Park with the view to alleviate the community’s reliance of illegal extraction of natural resources from the park.
Both green houses were put up and the construction was done by Amiran technicians, which took two days for each unit – despite the initial promise that the assembly would only take a few hours.
One is set up at an orphanage run by Sikizana Trust, where the kids tend to the planting and caring of the seedlings. Here they have opted to plant water melons inside the green house and aubergines on the exterior drip irrigation system. The seedlings were planted – each seed into its own compartment in the seedling tray- and a week later, as promised by Amiran, they sprouted. In another two weeks they can be planted into the soil inside the greenhouse and the first crop will only take two and a half months and will be continuous from then on for one year. The crop will be used to feed the kids from the orphanage, as well as selling the melons on the local market to make money to cloth the kids and pay their school fees.
The second green house was erected at the Mwitasyano Primary School where parents of school kids are in charge of the planting and harvesting. Here they opted to grow tomatoes inside the green house – to feed the kids and to sell any surplus on the local markets – and the little red hot chilli peppers on the outside, which are supposed to be a good deterrent against elephants, as researchers claim. The tomato seedlings have all sprouted according to schedule, whilst the chillies are keeping everyone in suspense.
Tsavo West is planning to set up 22 of these green houses along the park’s neighbouring communities so as to help people finding an alternative and continuous income, as well as a food source without relying on the park.

15/10/2010

Ostrich rescue
Normally ostrich chicks appear during the rainy season – when it is lush and green everywhere with plenty of food available for the chicks. However, this year the ostriches seem to be early, as there are plenty of chicks throughout the park, but no food around as it is the height of the dry season with at least another month to go before the rains, if they will come at all!
Ostriches are large flightless birds indigenous to Africa, in fact the largest living species of bird and can run up to 70 km an hour, the top land speed of any bird.
On Thursday, the 23rd of September a flock of ostrich chicks was seen around Kilaguni Lodge without adult male or female. The next day the KWS water-bowser driver came across the same flock, now only counting seven heads - so he caught every single one and brought them to Kamboyo headquarters.
The chicks were housed in an all-round enclosed pen and are doing well, eating freshly cut-up cabbage and sukuma, as well as soil and little stones to aid their digestion. Once they have grown to a bigger size to be able to defend themselves better against predators such as jackals, hyenas and larger birds of prey, they will move to the Kamboyo airstrip and venture into freedom from there.

15/10/2010

Fence update

The first ten km of the planned 20 km of electric fencing the Tsavo West boundary are up and completed.
The initial reaction from the neighbouring communities was one of jubilation and exhilaration with people from the community calling KWS to say how grateful they were for this development. One farmer said due to the working fence for the first time in long he had the wonderful experience of spending an entire night asleep in his bed. He has also had the first harvest of tomatoes for as long as he can remember without the crop getting trampled or damaged in any other way. Buffalo hoof prints and elephant tracks could be clearly seen on the other side of the fence, though for a change nothing on the fields with crops.
The energiser providing the electricity for the fence had to be exchanged for a bigger one as the initial one failed, but now the fence is working 24 hours around the clock. The fence is maintained every day to cut grass and check for shorts, cuts or tampering whether by human or animal. This work is done by three to four community members, rotating on regular schedules to ensure the continuation of the community benefitting from the fence in monetary terms.
With the fence blocking ten kilometres of old access ways to fresh crops, the elephants and buffalos have altered their ways. Where there is an action – there is always a reaction, and the jubilation of the community has recently changed into complaints. Farmers who did not use to have a problem with their crops being raided in the past, now bitterly protest as the elephants and buffalos have changed their routes and walk around the end of the fence line on the Chyulu side and raid the farms there. Therefore the planned extension of a further ten km of the fence needs to go ahead as soon as possible and as fast as the funds can be raised to do so.

15/10/2010

Lion rescue
On the 18th of September a young lion was caught in a trap by KWS on the Tsavo West neighbouring Kuku Group Ranch. It had killed 14 goats and in order to stop the Maasai from spearing or poisoning it in retalliation, KWS put a trap out.
The lion was brought to Kamboyo HQ, where it was darted, examined and treated by the KWS vet stationed in Tsavo East. Whilst asleep, the vet checked the lion’s general health and made sure all claws and canines were present and declared it to be a young male under two years of age, severely malnourished. The lion was treated with a broad spectrum antibiotic, was de-wormed, and was given some multi vitamins to boost his generally poor condition.
It is unusual for a young lion of this age to be on his own and with all the poisoning and spearing of big cats going on, it seems likely that this young male has lost his pride due to lion-livestock conflict. A male lion at this age is not an experienced hunter at all and with the loss of his pride, would have faced starvation if not reverting to killing goats.
However he has been declared healthy and is awaiting news on his future.

29/08/2010

Green houses as alternative to poaching

As an alternative to illegal natural resource extraction from Tsavo West National Park for the neighbouring communities, IFAW has donated two green houses made by the Israeli firm Amiran.
These green houses produce vegetables and fruit due to a drip irrigation system, which supplies water directly to the seedlings’ roots, thereby being very water efficient. A first harvest is to be expected after only two and a half months, and from then on continually for one year. Sweet melon, red peppers, tomatoes, baby marrow, cucumbers, cabbage and onions are only some of the many supplied high breed seeds from Israel along with the complete component.
The setting up of the green house itself will only take few hours and will be done by an Amiran technician, whilst the farmers will get training from Amiran consultants, how to use the various appliances supplied with the kit. For the first year, Amiran will also provide supervision and support to the farmers by visiting the green house at least once a month.
Tsavo West National Park is aiming to install a total of 22 of these green houses along the park boundary to offer the neighbouring communities a realistic alternative from illegal natural resource extraction from inside the park. These will be set up in the local schools with parents of students doing the planting and harvesting work. The Education Officer from Tsavo West National Park is also planning to conduct a market survey in order to establish, which seeds or rather which vegetables are in highest demand.
The training was accomplished and carried out by Duncan Mwaniki and Oscar Walumbe, leaving the green houses to be erected.
Not only will this supply the otherwise very arid area with fresh and affordable vegetables, but it will also earn the communities a continued livelihood without having to rely on illegal activities inside the park. It might just revolutionise the area.

29/08/2010

Update on the baboon Kadogo

The young male baboon Kadogo that was rescued by Helen Mwololo last year, was slowly coming of age and worries arose about what to do with him. It was not a question of if he ever would bite or harm someone once he becomes an adult, rather when this would happen. After many phone calls to various people, institutions and wildlife outfits, we finally found a promising solution for him. The Colobus Trust at Kenya’s South coast, Diani, agreed to not only take him on, but also to rehabilitate him back to the wild.
After a last breakfast together with the traditional sweet tea for the young baboon, a very tearful farewell on Mama Kadogo’s side ensued and with the aid of the Land Cruiser donated by Ifaw to KWS Tsavo West, Kadogo was transported to the coast to start his new life.
Locked up in a safe travel crate, Kadogo coped well with the five hour drive down to Diani. Arriving at the Colobus Trust, he was transferred out of his travelling crate into a cage that had been built especially for him. The Trust normally does not deal with baboons, but instead with smaller monkeys like colobus and sykes and therefore had to make preparations to accommodate the young male baboon from Mtito Andei.
Kadogo will be kept in quarantine for a while to make sure he does not bring in any diseases to the other resident monkeys, then he will have to get used to a changed diet – from boiled vegetables and sugar tea to normal fruit and raw vegetables. And last but not least he will have to learn how to be a monkey again instead of a human being. Once he has shown good progress with all these changes, his rehabilitation back into the wild will be the next and final step.

29/08/2010

Crocodile rescue
With the dry season beginning to bite now in Tsavo, more and more waterholes and dams dry out, inside and outside the park, as well as on community land.
In one of the villages neighbouring Tsavo West National Park, in the Nthongoni/Makutano area, the surprise was not small when one of the dams started to dry up and the lower the water level sank, the more a crocodile became visible. Instead of setting upon killing the reptile, the chief of the community was alerted who then called Tsavo West to come and take the crocodile away.
KWS Sergeant Mutiso arrived by means of the Land Cruiser donated by IFAW and single-handedly caught the crocodile. He tied it up for safe transport and about an hour and a half later it was released back into freedom at Mzima Springs inside Tsavo West National park. Mzima is a natural spring holding fresh water all year round and is home to several other crocodiles. Being a young female, the crocodile has a good chance of settling here and living the life of plenty.

11/07/2010

copyright KWS Tsavo West

Tree planting

The Education officer from Tsavo West National Park organised a massive tree planting exercise in one of the park’s neighbouring communities.
Organising and finding the funding for 2000 seedlings was the easy part – it was more difficult to find a suitable place where to plant them, so as to guarantee the future care of the trees. A place was needed with water availability and easy access for people to look after the seedlings on a daily basis. After some research, the Vigoni market and school were chosen due to their near proximity to the park and the school’s own borehole with piped water.
Parents of the Vigoni school kids were asked to dig 2000 holes around the direct vicinity of the school and market place. Each seedling was then assigned to a particular parent and respective child for assurance of the future care of each tree from the planting onwards.
The exercise itself was combined with a “baraaza” (meeting) of all different departments and offices involved in this area, and was well attended by the village members and local political figure heads such as the District Officer and Mayor. School kids performed role plays of rangers rescuing animals and going after poachers, whilst many speeches included the subjects of the importance of conservation, the value of replanting trees versus the bad long term effects of charcoal burning and felling trees for wood carvings, a public health officer gave a long lecture on dangers for humans by consuming poached bush meat.
It was not only a day to plant 2000 indigenous trees, but also a day for the community to be given the chance to understand conservation issues better, to learn about the necessity to look after the environment instead of just looting it.

11/07/2010

copyright KWS Tsavo West

First Fire of the Season
The dreaded fire season has commenced with a first and raging fire along the foot of the Chyulu Hills. With a team from Tsavo West National Park on site to put out the blaze, the reason for this inferno was quickly established.
Amongst others of the park’s neighbouring communities there are two groups which both make a living from illegal activities inside the park and they do not get along too well anymore since the KWS community outreach and education programs have showed some effect.
For one there are the “carvers”, the group that goes in to cut trees for wood carvings and then there are the “grazers” taking their livestock illegally into the park for grazing. Last month’s arrest of 14 wood carvers inside Tsavo West National Park was due to information given to KWS by the “grazers”.
This fire – as it transpired – was not started by natural causes, neither was it an accidental one, it was started by the “carvers” as a direct retaliation against the “grazers”. If the “carvers” could no longer access the park to make a living off wood carvings, then they wanted to make sure that the “grazers” could not benefit – even if illegally in the first place – from the park anymore either by destroying the pasture with a blazing fire.
Putting out the fire was a joint effort of the neighbouring communities and Tsavo West staff, but it still took two long days to put it out and about 8 square km were burnt.