MARA MONTHLY MARCH 2010 Thomson Gazelles killed by poachers. MARA CONSERVANCY CHIEF EXECUTIVE’S REPORT FOR MARCH 2010 By Brian Heath General possible terrorist threats, local wildlife populations and improve insecurity, robberies, petty theft, the dialogue between wildlife managers, The heavy rains we had proliferation of shanty villages the authorities and the judicial experienced in February continued around the Mara and the system. The workshop was well into March, giving us the heaviest improvement of roads to enable a attended, with representation from and most sustained rain we have rapid response to any incident. Tanzanian National Parks, the experienced in years. The areas Kenya Wildlife Service (KWS), the along the river became completely The Mara Conservancy helped Uganda Wildlife Authority, the flooded and the river was support a workshop on developing a Mara Conservancy, Mara North exceptionally high for weeks, very “working partnership to fight Conservancy, the Anne Kent-Taylor different from the two previous wildlife crime in the Mara/ Fund/Care for the Wild, Police years, when the river had been a Serengeti ecosystem” in Narok on prosecutors and the Senior Resident trickle. The rains subsided for ten the 26th and 27th. The workshop Magistrate, Kilgoris. days and then returned on the 22nd, was organized by BEAN (Bushmeat- with heavy and prolonged storms. Free Eastern Africa Network) and funded by US Fish & Wildlife, the Wildlife The Chief Executive attended a Mara Conservancy, Care for the The cheetah with three cubs on the meeting chaired by the District Wild, Mara Siria Camp and & border was seen quite frequently. Commissioner, Trans Mara West Beyond. “Sita” started to leave her cubs, they and the whole security team on the are 19 months old; there were times 18th at Mara Serena. It was The aim of the workshop was to when she left them for a few days attended by camp and lodge increase awareness on the value of and then rejoined them and by the managers and discussed security wildlife, the effect of poaching on 9th, one of the cubs seemed to have threats to the Mara including: 1 left her for good and a few days later they all disappeared – possibly Lions near Mogoro. across the river. Photograph taken by A lioness with two cubs near the Asst. Warden Joseph Purungat picnic trees was seen Kimojino. MARCH 2010 frequently, sometimes the pride would take over the picnic site and lie on the tables. The lioness lost one of the cubs towards the end of the month. MONTHLY Game viewing in the Triangle was MARA excellent in March, lions were seen every day, the rhino were very visible and we had some excellent leopard sightings. Many people were able to see the “Big Five”: lion, leopard, elephant, buffalo and rhino in a single game drive. reason why people should graze The exceptional rains that we have their cattle in the Triangle – there limitations on livestock numbers and experienced since November 2009 has been excellent rain – except for distribution – people are being will almost certainly mean that the the fact that people living along the forced to take their livestock wildebeest have ample food this escarpment have given too much of elsewhere and the Reserve seems to year. This is likely to translate into a their land over to agriculture. There be the obvious choice. In the long- late and possibly weak migration. is a considerable amount of term people will have to keep fewer, Unless the rains stop early there is a cultivation all along the South and hopefully better quality, cattle. chance that the migration will not Western third of the escarpment This is happening in some areas in arrive in the Mara before the end of and there is no longer any space for Trans Mara, some Maasai with July or early August. livestock. small farms are only keeping a few “high grade” cattle. However, we The competition for resources is a have a long way to go in rangelands Research major issue, protected areas are seen that form the best wildlife areas. The Swedish students returned for as underutilized and as more land is two weeks to continue with their turned over to agriculture so more various research projects. We are Dogs pressure is put on conservation Morani picked up a fairly heavy particularly interested in areas. This is a major issue in regeneration of Balanites trees and worm infestation; both dogs were National Parks (KWS are discussing treated on the 25th. have been monitoring the growth of drastic measures to try and control some trees for over five years. illegal grazing – such measures may Staff Saplings that have been protected include confiscating 50% of a Mr Samson Lenjirr attended the from wildlife and were also person’s herd). Parts of the Narok International Travel Fair in Berlin. protected from insects for one or two side of the Masai Mara National He was accompanied by senior years are doing much better than Reserve have been overrun with Council officers including the Clerk, the controls and I look forward to cattle and concessions made to the Chairman, Treasurer and Chairman seeing the results. Insects seem to locals during the last drought have of the Game Committee. have a major impact and most of now been accepted as the norm. the saplings had no leaves, as was One of the Senior Rangers, Johnson the case with many mature trees. Thousands of cattle along the Talek Leiyan, was returned to the Council Some of the protected saplings are River continue to graze in the on the 5th for gross misconduct. Mr over a metre in height; the controls Reserve, despite the fact that there Leiyan had received two other have shown no significant growth in has been excellent rain in the region written warnings in the space of five five years. and there is no shortage of grass. months for lesser offences. The formation of conservancies, Community excellent as they are, is bound to The law enforcement workshop in We have been having a problem exacerbate the problem in the short- Narok highlighted the need for us to with illegal grazing. There is no term. The conservancies all have 2 Staff cont. and the rangers were mobilised. Six A routine patrol on the 17th came do some in-house training on the cattle were recovered and one of the across some wire snares near Wildlife Act, the procedures to be thieves arrested in an area known as Kasarani, in the Lemai Wedge. An followed and the statements that “Korongo ya Ndege”, a place we ambush was set up that night but no need to be written in order to had recovered cattle in the past, with one returned to check the snares; maximise sentencing for poachers. aircraft assistance. The thieves had ten were recovered. MARCH 2010 In the past we have tended to pass hidden the cattle in a valley on the the responsibility onto the Police to escarpment and the others had gone The Iseiya and Ngiro-are rangers set ensure a conviction. We will to get cattle to mix them with – by out on a twenty-four hour patrol on th conduct this training in the next few mixing them, they would not attract the 19 . They met up in an area MONTHLY months. attention in the villages. The known as “Sampura”, in the Lemai seventh cow had been slaughtered Wedge before lunch and then set up Tourism and butchered on route, as it had an observation point until dark. MARA been unable to keep up. Cattle theft After dark the patrol moved into an The number of visitors dropped of is treated as a serious crime; the ambush position and on the third dramatically in March; this is cattle rustler was prosecuted and watch (midnight to three am) the normal for this time of year and we jailed for six years. rangers observed poacher activity. will see no significant increase until They closed in on the poachers and June or July. Our rangers arrested two, of three, managed to arrest three people. poachers on the 5th. The poachers The three were part of a much The Ministry of Tourism conducted were on their way to camp in the larger group of fourteen who had an audit of all camps and lodges in Triangle when arrested near “Maji already killed 37 Thompson’s the Mara ecosystem. This was in ya Bett” on the Kenya/Tanzanian gazelle, three impala and two dik response to a lot of negative press, border. They had three dogs with dik. The rangers then set up both locally and internationally, that them and would have been targeting another ambush along a route that the Mara was overrun with camps, warthog. they suspected the remaining many of them considered illegal. poachers would use and managed to The Ministry said that they will Our Tanzanian counterparts from arrest two more people at seven am. close all camps deemed to be illegal Lemai saw a large group of and we are awaiting the results of poachers near the Lemai swamp on A large group of poachers, the audit. We believe that almost all the 8th but unfortunately they estimated at around fifty, entered the the camps in Trans Mara have the escaped. The Tanzanians did find Lemai Wedge on the night of the required licences but the ruling may one dead topi and one dead impala 24th. Unfortunately, our rangers had have a major impact on the Narok in snares. Our rangers from Ngiro- set up an ambush in a different area side of the Reserve. are set up an ambush in the same that night and the poachers area that night and managed to managed to kill a large number of We have started our evaluation for arrest two people as they came in to animals and escape.