Category: An Urgent Appeal, Cattle Compensation | Date: Apr 01 2008 | By: Kimojino

On Saturday William reported on the lion which had killed three cows in Kawai village. The incident happened during the day, when two young boys were herding on the escarpment near their village. Two lions stalked the herd, and were noticed by the boys who made attempts to chase them away. Their efforts were in vain, and the lions managed to kill three cows.

When you go up on the escarpment, it is truly an amazing place of community, cattle and wild animals living together. Contrary to the park where at the moment you don’t see many animals, many of the herbivores have gone up the escarpment and are grazing next to the cattle. Unfortunately this means that the lions also follow, and when given the choice between a watchful zebra or a lazy cow, they often go for the latter.

This is one of the worse times of the year for predators killing cattle outside the park, and this has now fallen at the same time we lack funds to pay for the cattle compensation scheme.

This has prompted us to go and meet with the elders from the villages affected, as the situation has become quite heated with cattle now going missing most days.

Kimojino initiates the talks.

The meeting started today at 11am, and went on till 3pm. The elders were so angry and desperate about the situation now with the lions. They said that almost each day they lost cattle and in two weeks they have lost almost 10 cows and 2 sheep.

For about two hours they were so angry that they did not want to listen to us. They also could not understand why they were the ones who had to suffer the most with the collapse of tourism, they said that they could see rangers still working and vehicles still running. And yet they were losing cattle every day to lions and not being compensated, and they said as a consequence they feel neglected by the Mara Conservancy.

A village elder very angry with the situation.

We sincerely tried to explain the situation that Mara Conservancy is facing at the moment, and to explain that it was only because of donations that we were able to continue, not money from tourists. We said that we would try to help them find money for their cattle from donations, but they would have to be patient with us and understand that we are doing our best.

Towards the end of the meeting the elders said that they have seen real benefits since the Conservancy started, and they thanked us for all the work we have done to retrieve stolen cattle over the years. They said that they greatly valued our efforts, but right now at this time they are suffering.

They reminded us that they could easily make their situation better for themselves by slaying the lions that had been killing their cattle, but they did not want to do this as they have seen over the years the benefits of community conservation, and the tourists that this brings.

Kimojino and William near the end of the meeting.

In the end they said that they would be patient while we did our best to find them the funds. We will have another meeting with village elders this Thursday, and we will also be taking a film crew with us from Reuters, who we hope will highlight the plight of the Conservancy and the local communities, to potential supporters around the world.

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Category: Cattle Compensation, Friends of MT | Date: Mar 31 2008 | By: Kimojino

I, on behalf of my entire family would like to thank you all for sending your messages of condolences following the death of my brother. Thank you so much for sharing the pain with us, by doing so you make us feel strong.

I had resumed my duties on the 30.3.2008 and was very happy to see many activities on our blog. The Ranger Sponsor campaign has been introduced and your response has been tremendous. Today many rangers visited me while I was working in the office, just to find their pictures on my computer, with the word ’sponsored’ written in red across the bottom of the photographs.

They were so happy to hear that people from around the world do care about us and the conservation work we are engaged in, within the Mara Triangle. Truly speaking, our men are willing and ready to ensure that Mara Triangle does not fall into the hands of poachers. They vowed not to relax their efforts even if salaries are not paid, in order to secure the Triangle from poachers. They believe that the Mara Triangle and its beautiful wildlife is their inheritance which they must pass on to their children.

On behalf of all my comrades, I greatly wish to thank William Deed for working tirelessly in my absence and bringing this campaign into action. Also we thank every individual or organisation for sponsoring our Rangers. Your support will absolutely see us through this critical moment.

Tomorrow will be a busy day for me at Kawai village, as we are meeting the community elders over the cattle compensation issue. The situation is tense and we have been hearing of more threats from them to take the matter into their own hands. Our intention is to make sure the community understands the real situation as far as this issue is concerned. It is so important for them to know the efforts we are making to get funding from donors, and our concern for the loss of their livestocks to our lions.

We thank everyone who have donated towards this cause. We are appealing for more donations to avert this already boiling situation.

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Category: An Urgent Appeal, Cattle Compensation, Friends of MT | Date: Mar 29 2008 | By: William

We would like to say an enormous thank you to the Kenyan organisations who have stepped forward and are willing to support the Mara Conservancy.

Two weeks ago we were approached by the lovely Louise Wood from Dormans, the coffee experts of Kenya. Not only is she a demon scrabble player (although I am winning), Louise suggested that Dormans bring out a line of coffee with the profits going to the Mara Triangle.

We’re currently working on the packaging and so soon you will see ‘Conservation Coffee’ sold in supermarkets, lodges and Dormans coffee shops across Kenya. When you come visit make sure you buy some; it’ll be the best damn coffee you’ve ever tasted.

Also a huge thank you to Sunworld Safaris, who were very quick to respond to our email asking them to sponsor a ranger, and have agreed to sponsor Simon Kimanjoi. Their banner will stay here on the homepage as well as on Friends of MT.

Paws Africa were also very quick to respond, and will be sending their banners next week to put up on the site. They also deserve a great big thank you for sponsoring ranger Jackson Singai.

It’s incredible really as, with the collapse in tourism, both these companies will be suffering incredibly, and yet straight away they were willing to help out. When you come to visit Kenya, please consider using their services.

Rangers Simon Kimanjoi and Jackson Singai are now both sponsored.

Also, thank you to the Daily Telegraph who continue to host a weekly diary from the Mara Triangle on their Earth site. Mike Pflanz was incredibly quick to cover our story as soon as he found out about the crisis we were facing, and continues to be very supportive. Cheers Mike!

We also cannot forget Asuka who has raised over $50,000 from supporters in Japan! It is only because of Asuka that the Mara Conservancy has been able to make it through March. You are amazing Asuka. Asante sana!

Asuka at the beginning of this month in Lolgorian.

And last but not least, a great big thank you to all you readers. You have been incredibly generous and not just with your donations - thank you for all your comments and emails with suggestions and ideas, we would have been lost without them. Also, thank you to those who decided to sponsor a ranger without even giving it a second thought. Truly outstanding generosity, and I know Kimojino will be overwhelmed when he gets back.

As you can see, the support is incredible, but this is only the beginning. We have another 40 rangers to sponsor and we need to do this as soon as possible. Keep it coming with the donations, comments and the emails, together we are making incredible progress and we need to keep this momentum going until the tourists come back.

Thank you so much to you all.

Other news: Rangers from Oloololo reported this morning that yesterday a lion had killed three cows in Kawai village. Dana, I saw your recent comment on this post with regards to the cattle compensation scheme and I will post about this shortly.

Our thoughts are also with those in Zimbabwe, who are out today voting in the general election. We hope that the results bring the change that you are looking for, and with as little violence as possible.

For real updates on what is happening in Zimbabwe, please visit the Sokwanele blog: This is Zimbabwe.

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Category: Cattle Compensation, Leopards | Date: Mar 23 2008 | By: William

I’ve just spoken to Wilson Naitoi, who reported the attempt by a local Masai to kill a lion a couple of weeks ago. This is what he told me had happened yesterday:

“I was up on the escarpment on patrol, when I received a phone call from a Masai who had my number. He said ‘Please, come right away, there are some Masai who are trying to kill a leopard.’ And so I went down to where they were, and saw that a group of men had surrounded a bush, and they were throwing stones into the bushes. There were other men standing around the bushes with their spears, ready to kill the leopard once it tried to make its leave.

“I went together with the warden from Oloololo Gate, and we tried to convince them to stop. “No, don’t kill, don’t kill the leopard,” we said. And they said, “No, we have to kill the leopard, he has already killed our goat and our sheep, and there is no one to pay.” We told them that they mustn’t kill, as we are still looking for the money, and they said “No, how do we know ? If you have the money then you must pay for our goat.”

“It took the warden some time to convince them not to kill the leopard, and he said to them that we should go back to the village to finish the talk there. We were forced to carry one of the dead goats with our car, back to Kipas village. The other goat that had been killed was taken by the leopard.

“When we were in the village we spoke again. We told them that we are looking for donors who will help pay for the goats killed. “Please don’t kill this leopard ” we said, “it is the only one that we have in the area. You cannot kill him.”

“Eventually the old men came round and they agreed that the men will not go back to kill the leopard. They said, “Once we are paid, then we don’t kill the leopard.”

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