Yesterday there was a meeting held at Oloololo between the local community and the Conservancy. Sarisa our Administrator was present and reports on the meeting:

Community Members at Oloololo

There were two meetings, the first involving a meeting with the local women, and then a second which was with the men only.

The meeting was opened in attendence with the community and the CEO of Mara Conservancy, the Warden of Oloololo, the Sergeant of Community and the Administrator.

The women lead the meeting , and first gave thanks:

1. They wanted to thank and show their appreciation of the work of the CEO in conjunction with Dr Cheryl with the issue of the cultural bomas.
2. They also appreciated the good working relationship between the Conservancy and the Community.
3. They also appreciated our assistance and us allowing them to collect water from Oloololo Gate.

They then made the following requests:

1. To be given the chance to sell curios and souvenirs at Oloololo Gate.
2. To be helped in the marketing of their items.
3. A request was made to continue with the collection of water from Oloololo, especially now during this dry period.
4. They also wanted the Conservancy to support them in approaching the lodges and camps in and around the Triangle, to see if they could sell their curios and souvenirs in the camp/lodge shops.

The CEO made the following replies:

1. He agreed for William to meet and help the women in terms of marketing and also the building of a website for the Cultural Villages.
2. He also agree that whenever possible, for example when the Conservancy vehicle goes to the community to collect milk for the eland, that it will also carry jerry cans of water for the community.
3. Pertaining the use of Oloololo Gate to sell souvenirs, the CEO said that instead the Conservancy will help the community to better promote the Cultural Village Visit to visitors of the Mara Triangle.
4. The CEO agreed that the Conservancy would help the community approach lodges and camps to sell their curios.

The women were then given transport back to the manyattas and then began the meeting with the men.

Chief Kipas stands to talk. 

It was a very long meeting, with almost 20 men. The men started the meeting and began by thanking the Conservancy:

1. They thanked the Conservancy for the improved security of the area, mostly on curbing Cattle Rustling along the escarpment.
2. They also thanked the conservancy for the close collaboration we’ve had with the community.
3. On cattle compensation they really recognise that it was the Conservancy that first came up with the idea after seeing that it was a real problem. They wanted to express how much they understood the situation after the meetings held with Kimojino and William, and would continue to support us through these difficult times.
4. They also recognised the employment of the community scouts within their areas, and the importance of their radios in terms of communication, in particular with poaching and cattle rustling.

The men then made the following requests:

1. They requested for cattle to graze along the bottom of the escarpment, inside the park, and use the streams available at the bottom of the escarpment. There are no water points up on the escarpment, especially now in the dry season.
2. They requested for payment of the outstanding balances for the cattle compensation scheme which still exist when the scheme was stopped in January.
3. They requested an additional community scout to help Charlie 1 (Tarakwa based at Partakila) because there is a large area between charlie 1 and charlie 2, and so no communication (radio).
4. They also requested a review of prices for cattle compensation - they say that the price of cattle is going up and so they asked that the amount compensated also goes up.
5. They also mention that since we are working in collaboration with the community they request that a holding cell is set up at Oloololo for community members that break park rules (eg. cattle grazing inside the park). They also said that they agreed to the Conservancy’s request to form a committee for the Community to work with the Conservancy.  They also requested that they consult their fellow community members and come up with a standard fine for defaulters of the park laws, and that they all agree on a fine which will be paid by the defaulter and then he can be releaed from the cell.

Answers given by the CEO:

1. The CEO thanked the community for listening to them when they were informed that the compensation scheme was no longer able to continue due to the collapse in tourism during the month of January.
2. The CEO also recognised the importance of the community and was thankful for the close collaboration, and indeed the committee as one of the ways of working with the community - having people who link the community and the conservancy.
3. He also agreed on the request for an extra community scout to be deployed with a radio to help Charlie 1 and Charlie 2. He asked for three men to be suggested by the community for this position, and then the conservancy would decide on one of the candidates.
4. The CEO told the community that unless the county council change the rules, he could not let livestock graze inside the park. The Mara Conservancy is managing the area on behalf of the council as a custodian to implement the rules set by them, we do not have the authority to change park rules.
5. The CEO also informed the community that there will be a seminar of selected community members who will be taken to pilot areas in Amboseli and Laikipia, to see other cattle compensation schemes in place and to learn how to construct better protected bomas. The responses were well received by the community.
6. The CEO also informed them that as soon as funds are available the cattle compensation scheme will recommence. Pertaining the prices, it will be agreed on when the scheme is able to recommence, but he insisted that prices should be according to the local market.

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Ranger Wilson Naitoi is here at Serena Station this morning, and informs us that the resident leopard near Kipas Village (Enkereri), has been creating a lot of problems. On the 3rd June, the leopard attacked a mother goat at Olkurruk, and you can see in the picture below the injury sustained to the neck. The bones were broken, and the wind pipe was also torn so that she could only breathe through her neck. Eventually she died by herself, once she was dead the Maasai found that she had twins inside.

Goat with puncture wound in neck.

On the same day the leopard killed two more goats at Kipas Village. It was in the daytime when the boys were grazing the goats. The leopard first killed one and then another, after which the boys tried to scare him away but he did not want to go. The boys wanted to keep the goats as evidence so that we could take the photographs, but the leopard himself wanted to fight the boys for one of the goats. The boys kept up their shouting and screaming and so the other boys from the village came and helped chase the leopard away.

Two goats dead at Kipas Village

It would have been very easy for this group of boys to kill the leopard, but thankfully they did not. They are however extremely agitated as the cases of goats killed is increasing. One of these goats killed at Kipas village had a young kid of only 1 week old. There is no chance that this young one will survive.

We are still as of yet unable to recommence the cattle compensation scheme as we have very little money ourselves. We hope that tourism will return in these coming weeks, but in the time being we still have to do what we can to fund raise to continue with our basic park operations, such as the anti-poaching and de-snaring patrols.

On Tuesday I reported that we had found a hyaena with a snare around his neck, well I am sad to say that yesterday we found that the hyaena had died. We know that now the poachers are still buying their time for when the migration returns in full force, and so we must be ready and have the resources to prevent the incredible damage that they are able to cause.

Hyaena dead from snare.

One final interesting thing that I would like to share with you all is the video of the two male lions fighting yesterday near Egyptian Goose. I first saw a mating pair of lions just a short distance away from the road, and drove up to take a closer look. When I arrived the female left the male, and it looked like she wanted to hunt. A short time later the male also arose but left in the opposite direction, roaring as he walked.

I continued on my journey to Serena Station, and just a couple of minutes away I saw another mating pair of lions next to the road. When I stopped the car to take a photo I could hear the lone male now making his way towards where we all were. I waited for about twenty minutes and then he arrived. Click here to watch what happened next.

Male Lions Fighting

As you all know, the connection here isn’t always good and we don’t always have electricity and so it is sometimes easier for me to update via twitter. Add me as a friend to stay up to date on all the happenings here. Please also feel free to subscribe to the latest blog posts by email, click here - it takes just two seconds to sign up.

And finally, please also see if you are able to make a donation today. We hope that these are the last few weeks that we have to ask for money as the tourists should hopefully soon arrive. But right now, today, I have just visited the lodge nextdoor and they had only one tourist arrival.

So you can see we still need to raise all that we can, and we are incredibly thankful for all your support so far. It is only by your support we have managed to make it through these difficult months.

Thank you so much to everyone, from everybody here at the Mara Conservancy

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I spent the beginning of this week at Saruni’s home, a hand charge here at the Conservancy. His home is up on the escarpment about 6km from Oloololo Gate, and the border of the park.

The Escarpment in the background.

The escarpment makes up the third border of the park, running along the west, with the other two borders being the Mara River and the Kenya/Tanzania border.

I stayed two nights at Saruni’s and both nights there were attempts from a leopard to break into his boma.

Saruni in front of his cows and his home.

The first alarm you hear is the growl of the dog, followed by the rumbling of 50 cattle running from one side of the boma to the other, the bells around the necks now swinging madly. Before the dog was fully barking, Saruni was out of the house and chasing the leopard away, armed only with a torch and a stick.

There is a constant need to be alert, not only against lions and leopards, but on the first night six hyenas also tried to break into the boma where the goats are kept.

Putting the animals to bed.

Unlike many Maasai on the escarpment, Saruni has another income to his household coming from the work he does for the Conservancy. However, since January he has had five sheep killed - 4 by a leopard and 1 by hyenas - along with 3 cows killed - 2 heifers by leopards, and a pregnant cow was killed by a lion. In terms of money this is more than 40,000 Kenyan Shillings (US $645), but to give you a better idea of the value of this loss, for Saruni this is the equivalent to 7 months salary.

On Tuesday I stopped by at Enkereri to give them a print out of the article by Reuters, and despite all the improvements we had seen them make to their bomas on Saturday, a leopard had broken in on Monday evening and killed a goat.

Reuters at Enkereri.

I saw Ranger Kimanjoi on the Wednesday, who had been at home for 10 days. He also lives on the escarpment, about 10km away from Saruni’s home, and he also related a story how only two nights previously, two lionesses had come to his village and killed a cow.

The first reaction from the men was to hunt the lions with their bows and arrows, but Kimanjoi convinced them that the best thing to do would be to just chase them away from the village, which they did for two hours by following the lionesses and shouting.

Lions yesterday in the park, with a warthog kill.

Here are three stories collected in just a couple of days, but the escarpment runs along the park for a good 31 kilometres and is home to hundreds of small villages, each with another story to tell. I’ve only been here a short time, and have only met a few people, but the attachment I’ve seen between the Maasai I’ve met and their cows is so strong that it would be difficult to say that they are not doing their best to defend their cattle against these attacks.

Saruni and one of his cows.

As we’ve already said, at this time of year the conflict between wildlife and the human populations is at its highest, but before, rather than being a major financial loss, the local people were compensated from revenue brought in by tourist visits to the park.

As we are now experiencing, it is not always good to be dependent on tourism, but for so many years the visitors to the Mara had become an incredibly important part of keeping the balance between the wildlife and the human populations.

Since January that balance has gone, and so far the wildlife has survived and it has been the local communities, which includes those who work here at Mara Conservancy, who have had to suffer the consequences.

Saruni’s Grandfather.

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On Saturday we took the journalist, Emily, to Enkereri Cultural Manyatta up on the escarpment to talk to the local Maasai living there. Over the years, these people have become very dependent on the tourists who visit, while at the same time maintaining their cultural customs.

A traditionally built house in Enkereri

Most of the tourists who visit this manyatta are from different camps and lodges which are situated within and around the Mara Triangle. Since the beginning of the year, with the country in turmoil after the elections, the number of tourists have dramatically declined to the lowest we have see since I started working in the Mara 20 years ago.

The Maasai are also much affected like us and have always appreciated the efforts Mara Conservancy are making to protect wildlife and their cattle from poachers and rustlers respectively. Since we depend very much on gate entry fees from visitors as our only source of revenue to finance all our operations, most of our operations are currently halted, including the cattle compensation scheme.

During this time of the year, we have long rains in this part of the country, and most of the park is too wet for most of the herbivores to live in. This means they have migrated to the Maasai grazing lands where the grass is shorter and palatable. This also means that the lions have followed and are now also living among the local communities.

Since we don’t have the money to compensate for cattle losses, which is happening most days, the men are now strengthening their enclosures.

Maasai men strengthening the village enclosure.

They cut strong branches from the Camphor Bush (Tarchonanthus camphoratus), which dominates the escarpment, in order to stop the lions from entering the manyatta. And also to make it stronger and difficult for cattle rustlers to easily enter.

Entrance into the manyatta.

They make sure that all entrances into the manyatta are narrow and reinforced with extra branches. When it is complete, during the night they will close this gap with an old oil drum, chained to the poles on either side, and then more branches on the inside. If rustlers try to enter by forcing their way through the entrance, the drum will bang against the chains and act as an alarm, warning the villagers of intruders.

The lions also, if they fail to see another point to enter through the enclosure, will try to push their way through this entrance and raise the alarm.

Inside the Manyatta, there are other small enclosures to protect sheep and goats overnight.

The outside of the sheep and goat pens.

They use strong poles arranged in a line, two feet deep into the ground. At the top they fill all the gaps with Acacia branches, which have strong spikes that will act as a deterrent for lions or leopards.

Acacia branches as strong as barbed wire.

They should over these next few days and weeks see a reduction in the number of cattle, goats and sheep, lost to lions or leopards.

We hope that we shall receive donations to compensate for the cattle that has been lost over these past few months since the cattle compensation scheme was stopped in January. Combined, we are seeing cattle losses amounting to $5,000 each month.

Thank you everyone for your kind donations so far.

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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.

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