Apr 07 2008
Maasai Elders, Reuters, and no stick waving.
Kimojino has gone to Kisii Town today, and so I thought it probably best if I updated you all on the meeting with the Maasai elders last Thursday, when we went up with the guys from Reuters.
Beginning of meeting.
I’m afraid I don’t speak any Maa, but it seemed to me that this meeting went a lot better than the one on Tuesday. There have been less cattle killed here than where we were before, and also the Reuters crew may have helped, but the meeting to me seemed far more calmer and I didn’t have a stick waved at me this time, not even once.
Kimojino translated most of the meeting for me and for Reuters; the elders said that they did understand that there was no money right now to compensate for cattle killed by lions and leopards, but that they were still suffering losses in cattle which they could not afford.
Kimojino talks to elders after the meeting.
Although they may have lost less cattle than the other village we met with, this particular village used to be frequently visited by tourists who would come for a cultural visit, and so they have also seen great losses of income in this way since the collapse of tourism in January.
After the meeting we took the team from Reuters to the village we visited on Tuesday, to interview the Mzee who had lost the most cattle.
Ben Nechalla translates interview between Mzee and Reuters
The elders seemed a lot happier to see us this time, especially as we had come with Reuters. They said that they now see that the Mara Conservancy are doing what they can to help, and are grateful for the interest shown by outsiders.
Reuters film elders.
The following day, on Friday, I took Reuters to visit the rangers at Ngiro-are outpost, where we went with rangers on patrol; this is the patrol post that is on the border of Tanzania and is where there is a high concentration of poachers, it is also where cattle rustlers pass on the way to and from Tanzania, and you can see bullet holes in the main gate where once rustlers tried to stop rangers from leaving the compound.
Sargent Olarikoni being interviewed
The story will cover all angles of our plight and the wide reaching affects of the post-election violence in Kenya, which we have experienced here and around Mara Triangle. Tourists are not expected to come back for at least two months and, as you all know, we are dependent on a percentage of park entrance fees to manage the Triangle, and are using this blog as a way to raise funds for critical park operations.
This month we are also looking for the money to pay the salaries of rangers, and so we hope that very soon more people from around the world will be able to offer their support - Reuters have said that the piece, both in television and in print, should be out some time this week.
I would like to take this opportunity to say a huge thank you from all of us here, to Dan, Radu and Robert for taking the time to come and cover the story, it was truly a pleasure to have you here.
Thank you also to all our supporters, we wouldn’t have made it this far without you.
8 responses so far
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That’s a great photo of the masai interviewing each other for the reuters. I hope, for all of you, that the story does well.
Good luck.
Great work WILL with good pics. You’re a heros guy.
Diddy
Hi Will and Kimojino. It is really unfortunate that the people around the Mara are suffering because of problems they didn’t cause (Kenya elections debacle). I have just attended a conference about payment for ecosystem services and biodiversity banking, and I wonder if it’s not worth while for the Mara Conservancy to work with the community to develop a system valuing the wildlife outside of the Mara not just for tourists but for water, carbon, soil, wildlife and other non use values. There are some interesting schemes you might want to look at http://www.foresttrends.org and katoombagroup dot org for innovations that could be very useful for this area.
job well done! wish the tourists would return to the wildlife in Kenya sooner if not now. I didn’t know much poaching is from Tanzania. What did the kenya government do with this problem with the poachers from Tanzania? Wonder is there a bad feeling towards those who sneak in and out of Kenya from Tanzania? These poachers or cattle thievs are worse than the predators who kill the villagers’ cattle since lions/leopards are only animals that do not know any better. And afterall, they do it to survive and feed their families unlike humans who kill for trophies.
Merci beaucoup Diddy. J’espère que tu vas bien, et a mon avis c’est vous qui est l’hero, pas moi! Hope to see you all soon. Salutations a vous, la famille, et les bandits!
Paula, thank you so much for the links, those schemes look very interesting indeed - I will look into them. When are you back in Kenya?
Hello Sauwah, poachers coming in from Tanzania is a big problem, however it is for bush meat and not trophy hunting. There is quite a lot of tension between the communities up on the escarpment and those on the Tanzanian side, because of the rustling.
Thank you so much Paula for this links.They are so intereting, and the government need to do something to enhance the rehabilitation of the Mau forest the source of the Mara river which passes through this great ecosystem.
Sauwah-We also have some poachers from within kenya, but the major threat is coming across the common boundary.It is a shared calamity both in kenya and Tanzania.Both Tanapa and Mara Conservancy has come together inorder to combat this common problem, which is threatening the existence of Mara and Serengeti.
Now that we`re experiencing financial hardships, the fight is not so effective, therefore poachers and cattle rustlers are now becoming an issue.
Thank you everyone for your generous donations, for without your assistance we could not make.
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