This morning at 1:30am we received a phone call by one of the men who works for Earthview, John Saaya, to inform the security team that cattle rustling is taking place on the escarpment, and that they suspected the cattle to be driven across the park to Tanzania.

We coordinated with the Ngiro-are team and laid an ambush on both sides of Ngiro-are Stream. By then there was sporadic gunfire at the top of the escarpment near Kerinkani area, and we knew that these people were armed with automatic weapons. We suspect AK47s. We orientated ourselves to where the rustlers would pass and waited for almost one and a half hours.

After this time, the Ngiro-are team heard some movement about 100 metres away from them, just along the edge of the riverine forest. Immediately they tried to ascertain what was causing the movement and concluded there was cattle in the vicinity.

They started opening fire, but there was no fire returned by the rustlers. Instead they fled from the area leaving behind the cattle. It was impossible to follow the men because the land was covered by total darkness.

We retrieved 15 cattle, and the Maasai on the escarpment also recovered 6 cattle when exchanging fire. There are 5 very large oxens which are still missing. But we don’t think that they came down the escarpment, we believe the group was divided.

Rangers, and community with retrieved cattle this morning.

In this case the rustlers removed 50 cows, and split the cows into two groups. One of the groups had the 5 oxen, which are extremely valuable at about 18,000 Shillings. Then all of the other cows would be taken on another route to cause a diversion and eventually leave behind without a fight because they know they still have the most valuable of the cattle. 

Rangers from Ngiro-are are still working with the community to track the missing oxen.

Rangers and community. 

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Leyian and his wife, Naponari

Yesterday morning, I went with a group of rangers from Serena, Oloololo and Mara Bridge to visit Ranger Johnson Leyian at his home.

Ranger Leyian was shot twice at the end of April when chasing cattle rustlers who had stolen cattle from the local communities up on the escarpment. His injuries were very serious with Doctors saying that he arrived at Aga Khan hospital, Nairobi, just in time.

He is very well and is able to walk, but there is a small limp that is a recent development over the last three days, and he has had some pain appearing in his lower abdomen. We know that he will consult with the Doctor again today.

Leyian and fellow rangers and workers from the Conservancy.

Leyian’s family were so happy to see us, despite already the many visitors that were there. Members of the local church were there to pray for Leyian as well as the people from many of the surrounding villages.

We all pray that Leyian will make a full recovery.

Please help if you can with some of our outstanding bills & Air Ambulance charges, or consider if you can, sponsoring one of our rangers.

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Despite a period of silence, all the activities pertaining conservation in the Mara Triangle are on. Our Ranger Anti-poaching teams have been carrying out patrols regularly but no arrest made in the park, since the last arrest of the six poachers who killed the 37 Thomson gazelles.

The night patrols have been strenghtened along the Kenya-Tanzania border to protect the Thomson gazelles at moonless nights. This is alternated with day patrols and luckily on the night of 12.5.08, our Rangers successfully helped to retrieve the community cattle from the rustlers around midnight along the border. There was an exchange of fire but thankfully nobody was injured. Some standing observation patrols were temporarily established at the salt-lick ridges and have been running for a week now.

Ranger Teams on Patrol

On 18.5.08, Oloololo team with the Ann Kent Taylor Fund(A.K.T.F) scouts while on patrol along the escarpment arrested one Kipsigis, who was found to have killed a male Bushbuck. He was with a company of five others who managed to escape. The arrested man was handed to Lolgorian Police station for further actions.

On the 19.5.08, all the patrol teams from Serena, Ngiro-are and Oloololo jointly carried out a day long patrol at the Mara river riverine forest, which was so difficult this time round due to the heavy presence of elephants. They managed to walked through the forest and in some sections they were forced to cross the river by charging elephants. No poaching activities were detected and they will repeat the patrol, in two days time, just to be very sure.

Mara Triangle Patrol Teams

The tourists visiting the park at the moment are still very low and we are eagerly waiting the high season which is a month away from now. I hope to see many coming and the Mara alive again with visitors.

Once again on behalf of the Management and staff of Mara Conservancy, I wish to thank all of you for supporting us through this critical period, where we’re faced with an acute shortage of funds to finance our operations. It is only with your tremendous and generous donations we’ve come this far. Thank you so much!!

Giraffes necking in front of the escarpment.

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Yesterday afternoon cattle rustlers entered Kenya and stole 24 cattle and 2 donkeys from the communities living up on the escarpment. Our rangers were alerted at around 3pm and joined Tanzanian rangers and the Kenyan Anti-Stock Theft Unit in pursuit of the rustlers.

A battle ensued for more than one hour, with sporadic gunfire between both sides. During one of these bursts of fire our Ranger Johnson Leyian was shot in both legs. He suffered heavy bleeding and was immediately taken to the main station here at Mara Serena. It was not possible to arrest the bleeding and surgery was also needed, so he was airlifted by African Air Rescue to the Aga Khan hospital in Nairobi. On arrival he was given four pints of blood.

Ranger Johnson Leyian at Ngiro-are Outpost

It was extremely bold of the rustlers to attack in broad daylight. Normally these thefts are attempted at night, a week either side of the full moon. Before the financial crisis hit the Conservancy, we would often lay night ambushes for these rustlers but we no longer have the funds to put these in place.

Our reduced visibility in the area may have been an incentive for the rustlers with all our night patrols halted since January, along with a massive reduction in joint day patrols of the area with Tanzanian rangers.

Also, on March 3rd rustlers attacked at night and managed to escape with cattle from the local community. It was one of only a handful of successful thefts since the start of the Mara Conservancy in 2001, and occurred at a time when the electricity is off at the main station - due to cutbacks - this made it extremely difficult to coordinate the rangers and offer further assistance, as they were only able to use radio handsets which were out of range.

We believe that a combination of reduced visibility in the area, and the successful theft in the beginning of March, emboldened the rustlers and led to yesterday’s attack in broad daylight.

Rangers and Hippo poachers on 9th April; Ranger Leyian in the centre.

Today, Ranger Leyian’s condition is stable and he is expected to make a full recovery. Our insurance will cover the costs of medical treatment but not the costs of the emergency flight, which will be at around 420,000 Kenyan Shillings (roughly US $7,000).

Please make a donation if you are able. Thank you.

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