october - december 20142 swara october - december 2014 frontlines 5 editor's letter 12...

OCTOBER - DECEMBER 2014

T h e V o i c e o f c o n s e r V a T i o n i n e a s T a f r i c a

GREATER AMBOSELIa plan for Man and Beasts

Save our SeaS

KENYANTASK FORCE

REPORTTime for action is now!

sos

2 SWARA OCTOBER - DECEMBER 2014

FRONTLINES5 Editor's Letter12 Chairman's Letter16 Director's Letter19 News Roundup

CONSERVATION30 ShaRiNg thE SpaCE foR maN aND bEaSt

oN thE pLaiNS of KiLimaNjaRo

Colin Church walks us through an ambitious plan to

conserve Greater Amboseli for the benefit of all who

live on or around it.

38 DRiLLERS iN thE miDSt

iS SoCo withDRawiNg fRom ViRuNga

NatioNaL paRK?

Dan Stiles tracks the progress of a proposal to drill for

the world’s most traded commodity in the world’s most

biodiversity-rich area.

43 iN ChiNa to SaVE afRiCaN ELEphaNtS

Resson Kantai Duff tells us of a visit to China to

try to understand why the ivory and rhino horn of his

homeland is so valued so far away.

46 StEppiNg up fRom a SCout to a guiDE

felix patton drills us through the steps to becoming a

fully-fledged conservancy guide, and it isn’t easy.

50 how maRiNE pRotECtED aREaS CouLD

SaVE ouR oCEaNS...aND ouR futuRE

Nicky parazzi issues an SOS for our oceans, so

neglected in our conservation consciousness but so,

so vital.

SPOTLIGHT 55 aN amERiCaN, off SChooL LEaRNS

KEy wiLDLifE LESSoNS VoLuNtEERiNg

iN KENya

adam Eichenwald went to Kenya to study wildlife and

reflects on the need for a baseline in all conservation

enterprises

30

5038

43

OCTOBER - DECEMBER 2014

SWARA OCTOBER - DECEMBER 2014 3

58 aN auStRaLiaN Zoo, KENyaN

waRRioRS aND footbaLL uNitE foR

CoNSERVatioN

brooke Squires recounts how practical help from

down under ended up benefitting a community

conservancy and had a kick to it too.

64 woNDERfuL wiLDfLowERS aND wEEDS

thE humbLE pLaNtS that SuppoRt

poLLiNatoRS

Dino martins asks us to look more closely at the

plants crucial to the business of pollination, and to the

way we live.

70 fRom tRaCKiNg DowN tERRoRiStS to

CoNtRibutiNg to CoNSERVatioN

felix patton’s latest Conservation Character lives up

to both words in the title. Learn about his life and his

work in Uganda.

PORTFOLIO

74 ENDaNgERED aND guaRDED fRom biRth -

a baby whitE RhiNo

Shazaad Kasmani is privileged to spend a morning

watching the bonding of a mother and baby White rhino

in Meru National Park.

BOOK REVIEW78 StatE of thE apES: EXtRaCtiVE

iNDuStRiES aND apE CoNSERVatioN.

By Helga Rainer, Alison White and Annette Lanjouw.

Reviewed by Dan Stiles

aNimaLS of thE SERENgEti

By Adam Scott Kennedy and Vicki Kennedy.

Reviewed by Andy Hill

biRDS of thE SERENgEti

By Adam Scott Kennedy. Reviewed by Andy Hill

wiLDLifE of EaSt afRiCa

a photogRaphiC guiDE

By Dave Richards. Reviewed by Andy Hill

REAR WINDOW80 afRiCaN fiSh EagLE hELpS iN

REguLatiNg fERaL Coypu

olivier hamerlynck & Stéphanie Duvail find out

why there are coypu in our midst and this fish eagle

doesn’t like them.

80

58


OCTOBER- DECEMBER - VOLUME 38, NUMBER 4

SwaRa appreciates the continued support it receives from fauna & flora international

patRoNS The President of Ken ya

The President of Tan za niaThe President of Ugan da

ChaiRmaN Fredrick Owino

ViCE-ChaiRmEN Tom Fernandes

John Emily OtekatJoseph Gilbert Kibe

tREaSuRER Michael Kidula Mbaya

EXECutiVE DiRECtoR Michael Gachanja

tRuStEES Frederick IB Kayanja

Albert MongiAdalja Mahendra Krishnalal

William Ronkorua Ole NtimamaGeorge Kamau MuhohoMohamed Jan Mohamed

mEmbERS of CouNCiL Hon. Wilbur Ottichilo

Jagi GakunjuMaj. Gen. (Rtd.) Peter Waweru

Esmond MartinPhilip CoulsonVirginia Shaw

EawLS miSSioNTo advocate and collaborate on the safeguarding and

sustainable management of East Africa's natural resources

SwaRa offiCESC/o EawLS head office

P O BOX 20110 – 00200, Riara Road, Kilimani, NairobiTel: 254-20-3874145 Fax: 254-20-3870335

[email protected]

LEttERS to thE EDitoR: [email protected]

The Impala is the symbol of the East African Wild Life Society. SWARA is the Swahili word for Antelope.

Editor Andy Hill

Editorial BoardNigel Hunter

Michael GachanjaEsmond Martin

William PikePaolo Torchio

Patricia Kameri-MboteMunir Virani

Lucy Waruingi

dEsign & layoutGeorge Okello

CirCulation and suBsCriptionsRose Chemweno

advErtising / salEsGideon Bett

Copyright © 2014 SWARA is a quarterly magazine owned and pub lished by the

East African Wild Life So ci e ty, a non-prof it mak ing or gan isa tion formed in 1961. No part of this publication may be reproduced by any means whatsoever without the written consent of the editor. Opin ions ex pressed by con trib u tors are not nec es sar i ly

the official view of the Society. SWARA ac cepts the in for ma tion given by con trib u tors as correct.

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usaMr & Mrs Harry EwellFinancial Representatives200 Lyell Avenue SpencerportNY 14559-1839

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aFriCan Journal oF ECologythe african journal of Ecology is published by wiley – blackwell in

association with East african wild Life Society. purchase a copy of thisjournal at wiley online Library:

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EaWls WorldWidE rEprEsEntativEs


It is heartening to see the Task Force report 'Lifting the Siege – Securing Kenya’s Wildlife' –

tackle the ills afflicting conservation in Kenya in a comprehensive way. The 15-person Committee takes no prisoners, especially when it calls for a complete overhaul of KWS. But what sets this report apart is its breadth. Not content to beat the drum of poaching –

Let's see some action on the Task Force report

EDITOR'S LETTER

the donor darling of the moment – the report rightly pinpoints less fashionable and complex issues as deserving of attention, most notably land use, land encroachment, climate change and bioprospecting.

It also uses Hell’s Gate as an example where good intentions are not turned into good deeds. Hell’s Gate is not exactly your Picture Postcard National Park, but what is happening there is a perfect example of the letter of the legislation not being followed. There is a development versus wildlife conflict there which, simply put, is whether a project in the government’s Vision 2030 blueprint has to meet the requirements of the Environment Management and Coordination Act (EMCA). Of course it should. But it is not. It should be common sense that if tourism is part of the 2030 blueprint, then the park, its geothermal energy, unique landscape and predator birds, need to be managed in coordination. They are not.

EAWLS Chairman, Frederick Owino, tackles similar inconsistencies in attitudes towards the Mau water tower in his letter (pg 12). What is common to Hell’s Gate and the Mau is the gap between legislation and its implementation, between promises and reality. Nor is this the only example. Kenya has a commendable record on recognizing where things have gone wrong and setting up various Commissions of Enquiry to steer a path towards solution. But how many of them have led to action?

Let’s hope the Task Force’s recommendations meet a determination to act and to change the situation. The alternative for Kenya as a wildlife destination, and Kenyans and their natural heritage, is unthinkable.

Andy HillEditor


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About one year ago I wrote on the imperatives for conservation of Kenya’s largest water

catchment forest with critical national and regional ecological significance – the Mau Forest Complex. I wrote the article from the background of having chaired a national stakeholder “Task Force on Conservation of the Mau Forest Complex”. The report and recommendations of this Task Force had been approved by Cabinet and Parliament in 2011 and the Government of Kenya had made commendable efforts to restore the seriously degraded forest complex. Regrettably, some of the recommended actions by the Task Force turned into political fodder in the build up to national elections of March 2013, which culminated in President Uhuru Kenyatta and Deputy President William Ruto taking office.

For the benefit of those who did not read that article, it instructive to quote as follows. “On a broader conservation context, the new Uhuru Kenyatta administration faces a huge challenge of providing political direction and commitment with regard to conservation of Kenya’s major water towers I had the opportunity to serve as chairman of the previous Prime Minister’s Task Force on Mau Forest Complex. From that position, I became fully aware of the high profile political in-fighting, spearheaded by both President Kenyatta and the Vice President Ruto, against the implementation of some recommendations of the Task Force. At that time, I tried to avoid being drawn into the political rivalries which revolved around the implementation of the Task Force recommendations. Some

Changing Political tunes over Conservation of the Mau Forest Complex in Kenya

political advisors of the former Prime Minister, Raila Odinga, insinuated that our efforts to restore Mau Forest were “chasing away” a significant voting block. Raila Odinga’s opponents hit back by insinuating that “we had no heart” in implementing some of the recommendations. The high profile political contest over the Mau forest proved particularly distracting and we lost speed. Suffice it to stress that as chairman, I made all efforts to ensure that the Task Force recommendations were based on professional analyses and positions rather than political inclinations. We have all had to live with the hard realities that the restoration of the Mau Forest Complex became unfortunately shrouded in top level elective politics culminating in March 2013 elections.

But now that we can all look at the recent election outcomes as water under the bridge, it is upon the parties involved and all other stakeholders to review their positions on the protection and restoration of Mau Forest Complex. In particular, I appeal to both President Uhuru Kenyatta and Vice President William Ruto to come forward with new pronouncements and directions for restoration of Mau Forest Complex and other major Kenya water towers. Despite any stands they may have taken in the past, it is now their turn to lead from the front on these forest conservation efforts”.

At the time of writing my earlier article, I had not expected big changes in political tunes in top leadership over restoration of the Mau Forest Complex. However, about a month ago, it came as a very pleasant surprise when the Deputy President stated

in a public forum in Narok that the Government of Kenya will take actions to remove human settlements in the forest complex so that this critical water catchment forest can be restored. Coming from William Ruto, this is a dramatic change of political tune!! Moreover, there are grounds to expect a change of political tune from President Uhuru Kenyatta as he and his wife have become conspicuous crusaders for environmental conservation in the recent past. The begging question is whether they will follow up the changed tunes with appropriate actions at forest level.

On the same issue, I was rather disappointed with a recent comment by Cabinet Secretary for Environment, Prof. Judith Wakhungu, to the effect that conservation of Mau Forest Complex is only feasible if “politics” is kept at bay. I do not know what she refers to as “politics” in this case. However, past actions which have contributed to the degradation of the forest complex were sanctioned by past presidents of Kenya. Such actions included large-scale “legal settlements” over a period of two decades in favor of particular ethnic communities. In situations like this, it is highly unlikely that you can find effective solutions without involving political leadership at the highest level. On the contrary, restoration of Mau Forest Complex and other water towers calls for unwavering commitment at the level of the presidency and local political leaders.

Fredrick OwinoChairman

CHAIRMAN'S LETTER

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DIRECTOR'S LETTER

The EAWLS now has more than 50 years of hands-on conservation experience to

learn from. Throughout our history, we have played an important role in shaping Kenya’s – and the region’s - thinking, policies and practices surrounding natural resource management and use. The EAWLS Biennial Report (2012/2013) presents the work we’ve already been involved in over the years with a focus on the last two years. Working in collaboration with partners and engaging with our members, we have achieved a number of great successes, which we describe in detail in this report. Notable ones are presented below.

Six Notable Achievements in the Last 2 years

2012 Working with Tanzania Natural Resource Forum (TNRF), EAWLS initiates discussions between the

Kenyan and Tanzanian governments on ways to collaborate and harmonize efforts to develop a viable and sustainable forest product trade between the two countries resulting in a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) between the two governments, which is yet to be signed.

2012EAWLS supports the creation of Natural Resource Management County Networks in Kenya aimed at empowering stakeholders at county level to participate in County development under the new devolved Government governance structure in Kwale, Nakuru, Samburu and Laikipia.

2012/2013EAWLS works in seven villages, in Kenya’s South Coast to establish 8 Beach Managed Units (BMUs) and succeeds in having two Community Conserved Area under management by BMUs approved by the State Department of Fisheries, the only two in the country to progress to this stage so far.

2013Proposed construction of a road inside the only National Park in a city – Nairobi National Park – by Kenya National Highway Authority (KeNHA) is stopped by the National Environment Tribunal (NET) until the law and other procedures are followed, following an appeal by EAWLS.

2013EAWLS provides advocacy leadership and technical input in the development of the Wildlife

Conservation and Management Act 2013, a process that had taken over 10 years and which has now put in place one of the best laws to boast Wildlife conservation in Kenya.

2013Support provided by the Society and Nature Kenya to a court case

East African Wild Life Societ y launchesit's Annual Report (2012/13) andStrategic Plan (2014 – 2019)


dedicated Membership. We therefore look forward to your support which helps us to protect Wildlife and the environment, while also improving governance and local livelihoods.

The biennial report can be downloaded at: https://www.eawildlife.org/resources/The_East_African_Wild_Life_Society_Biennial_Report_2012-2013.pdf

The strategic plan can be downloaded at: https://www.eawildlife.org/resources/The_East_African_Wild_Life_Society_Strategic_plan_2014-2019.pdf

Michael GachanjaExecutive Director

contextual issues, including the rapid social and economic development and the associated pressures on the environment and natural resources in Kenya and the East African region, Kenya’s new constitutional order, a transition to a county system of government and regional integration.In order to deliver this strategic plan effectively and efficiently, EAWLS will use a combination of approaches, including advocacy, partnerships development, issues-based networks, community-based natural resources management, capacity building and the generation and sharing of information and knowledge. The achievements highlighted in the biennial report and what we aspire to undertake the following five years will not be possible without our

DIRECTOR'S LETTER

advanced by local communities seeking court orders compelling the Tana and Athi River Basin Development Authority (TARDA) to develop and implement a comprehensive land use plan for the Delta, results in a High Court ruling that development agencies should develop and share with stakeholders including local communities land use plans for ongoing and planned development in the Tana Delta. Looking ahead, the Society has also published its five year strategic plan for the period between 2014 and 2019. The strategic plan presents EAWLS’ roadmap for programmes development and institutional strengthening for a period of five years beginning April 2014. The strategic plan takes cognizance of key

1964EAWLS launches a programme that offers financial support to game departments in Kenya (1964), Tanzania (1965) and Uganda (1966). This included, providing anti-poaching equipment, erecting fences around national parks, assisting with animal rescue, purchasing aircrafts and providing education opportunities.

1965EAWLS initiates an education programme to support wildlife conservation research work, including studies that focused on well-known species, such as Cheetah, Hyena, Elephant and Rhino, as well as lesser known species, such as threatened Tana River Mangabay, Red Colobus monkeys, Sable, Roan and antelope.

1970The critically endangered Roan Antelope is translocated to Ruma National Park as the population is estimated at just 50 individuals. The attention given to this decline prompts the Wildlife Department to prepare a strategy for Roan Antelope survival.

1982Michael Werikhe, a well-known conservationist in East Africa, walks from Mombasa to Nairobi and across five countries in Europe as well as the US to raise awareness about the plight of the Black Rhino. The EAWLS begins to sponsor his pursuits and they work together to promote rhino conservation. They raise funds to support rhino ecology studies and help establish the first rhino sanctuary initiatives.

1989EAWLS advocates for a quasi-

government institution to run the National Parks and Reserves in Kenya. This leads to the establishment of the Kenya Wildlife Service (KWS) to replace the previous Wildlife Conservation and Management Department (WCMD). 1995EAWLS broadens its mandate to include public education, advocacy, stakeholders’ participation and capacity building as part of its approach. In the same year, forest conservation groups request the Society to host the secretariat of the Kenya Forests Working Group (KFWG).

This model informed the development of other similar working groups hosted by the Society, including the Kenya



Wetlands Forum (KWF) and the Kenya Wildlife Conservation Forum (KWCF) at national level. At the regional level this model was instrumental in the formation of the Tanzania Forests Working Group (TFWG) and Uganda Forests Working Group (UFWG).

2001EAWLS and KFWG launch an advocacy campaign to halt the large-scale hiving off 67,000 hectares of important protected water catchment forests. The campaign advocates for a law to stop further forest loss resulting to enactment of the Forests Act 2005.

2008As a result of EAWLS, UNEP and KFWG advocacy campaign, the Prime Minister initiates a Task Force to address the destruction of the Mau Complex Forest.

2009The government endorses the recommendation of the Mau Task Force and forms an interim committee to oversee its implementation.

2009The National Environment Management Authority (NEMA) refuses to grant a license for the construction of a highway through the environmentally sensitive Aberdare National Park following objections by EAWLS that the construction could have lead to habitat fragmentation and increased pressure to the park with an effect on biodiversity conservation, tourism and water.

2010The government puts on hold proposal by the Lake Basin Development Authority to build a dam inside the South Nandi forest that would have led to the clearing of 1,185 ha of closed canopy rainforest following advocacy

campaign spearheaded by EAWLS.

2010The high court reverses a legal notice published by the Tourism and Wildlife Minister in 2005 that downgraded the Amboseli National Park to a National Reserve. The litigation was spearheaded by EAWLS.

2011NEMA rejects the large-scale clearance of Dakatcha woodlands and Tana Delta - a proposed total of 110,000 hectares for jatropha plantations – based on information from EAWLS and Nature Kenya that these proposed initiatives were not economically or ecologically viable and that they would undermine local land use planning efforts.

2011The Government of Tanzania drops its plan to build a highway through Serengeti National Park, which could have undermined conservation efforts and increased pressure.

DIRECTOR'S LETTER


China donated anti-poaching equipment to the East African

Wild Life Society (EAWLS) and the Mara Conservation Fund

(MCF) at a ceremony in Nairobi on August 14. The Chinese

Ambassador to Kenya, Liu Xianfa ,said the donation is part of a

long-term commitment by Beijing to revitalize the war against

poaching in Kenya. "This donation will enhance the capacity of

four wildlife conservancies to provide security cover through

targeted patrols in the northern rangelands and the coast," Liu

said.

During his visit to Kenya in May, Chinese Premier Li Keqiang

reiterated his government's commitment to the eradication

of poaching in the African wild when he announced a pledge

of $10 million for wildlife conservation. The Director of Kenya

Wildlife Service, William Kiprono , said Chinese equipment and

expertise will rejuvenate the fight against poaching. “Currently,

about 600 rangers are under training to enhance security”

Kiprono said.

The four beneficiaries of Portable tents, Camel back packs,

Sleeping bags, Binoculars, GPS and Unit huts for radio room

and office sets are; Nasuulu, Leparua, Nakuprat-Gotu and

Ndera community wildlife conservancies.

EAWLS ADVOCACY NEWS

Handing over of anti-poaching equipment by William Kiprono,

Acting Director General, Kenya Wildlife Service and the

Chinese Ambassador, Dr. H.E. Amb. Liu Xianfa


Kenya task force completes “lifting the siege” reportA 15-person Task Force

commissioned by the government

to investigate the surge in poaching

of ivory and rhino horn has

delivered a 120-page report with

almost 300 recommendations. See

Kenya Special Report on pg 27

EAWLS ADVOCACY NEWS

The poisoning of birds on the Bunyala rice

scheme has declined from nearly daily

pre-September 2012 to just 34 poisoning

incidents and 142 prevented cases in 2013.

So far, no incidents have been observed this

year. This is the result of an intervention led

by Martin Odino and his team, who have

been fighting against poisoning since 2009.

A study he conducted in 2009 found that

at least 3186 of 8659 birds exposed to

poison bait died. Eight were palaearctic

migrants and 25 were afro-tropical

species. The Near threatened Black-tailed

Godwit, Limosa limosa was the most

affected palaearctic species while the

African Openbill; Anastomous lameligerus

suffered most of the afro-tropical species.

Specialist poachers lace various bird meal

items including rice grains, termites, small

fishes and snails with pesticide poison.

Carbofuran was the predominantly used

poison for at least two decades until 2009

when a campaign spearheaded by a

Kenyan NGO, WildlifeDirect compelled the

US manufacturer FMC to withdraw their

carbofuran product, Furadan and buy-back

already supplied stocks. Several unknown

products and counterfeits packaged as the

traditional Furadan 5G are still in circulation

at Bunyala and sold discretely to poachers

who use them to poison birds.

EAWLS is spearheading an ambitious

pilot programme to encourage multi-

stakeholder engagement particularly

from the community level to participate

in the development and ongoing

monitoring of county natural resource

policies, legislation and administration.

So far these forums have served as

a bridge between local and county

circles, by making important information

accessible to community members

while also bringing local opinion and

voices to county and national level

policy discussions. These forums are

already influencing county decisions and

legislation, and they are also contributing

to national-level dialogue about natural

resource management and use in Kenya.

To enable this process, EAWLS has

helped establish four county natural

resource networks in Laikipia, Samburu,

Kwale and Nakuru counties, three

of which have become registered

community based organizations while

one is still operating as a loose network.

The networks have members drawn

from communities including Community-

Based Organizations (CBOs), Civil

Society Organizations (CSOs) and other

local, national and international Non-

Governmental Organizations (NGOs), the

private sector; and county and national

government institutions.

The networks have participated in

county level policy formulation, directly

contributing to four pieces of legislation,

including the Laikipia County Wildlife

Conservation and Management Bill,

the Nakuru Environment Action Plan

and even the National Mining and

Geology Bill. Thanks to input from the

networks, these bills bring attention to

the role of community natural resource

management and the need for benefit

sharing among all stakeholders.

Additionally, all the four networks gave

recommendations on ways that their

County Integrated Development Plans

(CIDP) can address natural resource

challenges to help their counties benefit

from natural resources while sustainably

managing them.

The British government has relaxed

its travel advisory to Nairobi. Last

July the government had advised

its citizens to avoid travelling to

Kenya, especially the coastal island

of Lamu after a string of attacks and

massacres. In a statement, however,

the British embassy in Nairobi said its

Foreign and Commonwealth Office

had decided to relax the advisory.

“This relaxing of the travel advice for

Nairobi brings it into line with FCO

travel advice for comparable cities

worldwide,” the statement said.

The FCO do not advise against travel

to Kenya’s popular safari destinations

in the national parks, reserves and

wildlife conservancies including the

Aberdare National Park, Amboseli,

Laikipia, Lake Nakuru, Masai Mara,

Meru, Mount Kenya, Samburu,

Shimba Hills, Tsavo.

However, the advisory against all but

essential travel to the Eastleigh area

of Nairobi remains and the travel

advice for other parts of the country

has not changed.

“Our travel advice reflects solely our

objective assessment of the security

position, an assessment shared with

the Kenyan authorities. Changes are

not driven by political or economic

factors,” the statement said.

Britain eases travel advisory on Kenya


Police chief sees Paula Kahumbu after hours of waiting

The Inspector General of Police, David Kimaiyo, kept

conservation celebrity Paula Kahumbu waiting for eight

and a half hours before accepting a petition signed by

over 400 prominent Kenyans urging the arrest of an

alleged poaching mastermind in whose premises tons if

illegal ivory were recently found.

Kahumbu, Wildlife Direct leader commented in a

Facebook update: "We spent eight and a half hours in a

waiting room in the Chief of Police's office. When he finally

met us we got only a few minutes of his time and I was

able to give him the letter signed by 400 people offering to

help "Catch Feizal".

Feizal Ali Mohamed is a notorious suspected ivory

trafficker who is wanted in connection with an ivory bust

of 2.1 tons representing over 120 elephants on June 5th.

He has avoided arrest since June 11th when a warrant

for his arrest was issued. Kimaiyo says the police are

doing all that they can do to arrest Feizal. Wildlife Direct

have offered to assist with running WANTED adverts in

newspapers plus raising funds for a reward for information

leading to his arrest but Mr Kimaiyo has not respond to

this offer.”

EAWLS ADVOCACY NEWS

EAWLS and its partners are taking steps to

combat the illegal trade of timber in Africa,

which is estimated to cost the continent at

least $17 billion a year, as well as affecting

livelihoods and the environment. EAWLS

has been partnering with Tanzania Natural

Resource Forum (TNRF), WWF’s Coastal

East Africa Global Initiative (WWF-CEAGI)

and TRAFFIC, the wildlife trade monitoring

network .

The aim is to bring together stakeholders

from government forest agencies and Non-

Governmental Organizations in Kenya and

Tanzania, intergovernmental bodies, private

sector, communities, media and regional

economic commissions through various

regional worKshops and forums. These

forums and worKshops seek to influence

current and future interventions on timber

trade by sharing new information and

aims to develop an agreed set of actions,

identify and coordinate solutions to the

illegal and unsustainable trade in timber,

review ongoing and planned timber trade

studies and initiatives, receive updates

from government, private sector and civil

society, and identify priority actions. The

main output of this strategic partnership is a

Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) for

cooperation and harmonization of policies,

procedures and operations between Kenya

and Tanzania which is yet to be signed

between Kenya Forest Service (KFS) and

Tanzania Forest Service (TFS).


NEWS ROUNDUP

Elephant ivory poaching is no longer

solely a conservation issue. As

poaching reaches levels that threaten

to render African elephants near-totally

extinct within the next 10 years, it also

funds a wide range of destabilizing

actors across Africa, with significant

implications for human conflict, says

a new report commissioned by Born

Free.

A single elephant yields 10kg of ivory

worth approximately $30,000; a

conservative estimate is that 23,000

elephants were killed in 2013. With the

true figure likely much higher, the ivory

A University of Michigan researcher worked

with University of Utah colleagues to

develop a new weapon to fight poachers

who kill elephants, hippos, rhinos and other

Wildlife.

By measuring radioactive carbon-14

deposited in tusks and teeth following open-

air nuclear bomb tests, the method reveals

the year an animal died, and thus whether

the ivory was taken illegally.

"This could be used in specific cases of

ivory seizures to determine when the ivory

was obtained and thus whether it is legal,"

Radioactive testing helps date tusks and fight poaching

trade could be worth as much

as a billion dollars annually,

and will likely increase with

the escalating retail price of

ivory.

The report, Ivory’s Curse;

the militarization and

professionalization of

poaching in Africa, provides

detailed case studies of how these profits

empower a wide range of African conflict

actors:

• FromSudan,government-alliedmilitias

complicit in the Darfur genocide fund

their operations by poaching elephants

hundreds of miles outside North

Sudan’s borders.

• IntheDemocraticRepublicofCongo,

state security forces patronize the

very rebels they are supposed to fight,

providing weapons and support in

exchange for ivory.

• Zimbabweanpoliticalelites,including

those under international sanction, are

seizing wildlife spaces that either are, or

likely will soon be, used as covers

for poaching operations.

• InEastAfrica,al-Shabaaband

Somali criminal networks are

profiting off Kenyan elephants

killed by poachers using weapons

leaked from local security forces.

• Mozambicanorganizedcrimehas

militarized and consolidated to

the extent it is willing to battle the

South African army and well-

trained ranger forces for rhino

horn.

• InGabonandtheRepublic

of Congo, ill-regulated forest

exploitation is bringing East Asian

migrant laborers, and East Asian

organized crime, into contact with

Central Africa’s last elephants.

• InTanzania,politicaleliteshave

aided the industrial-scale depletion

of East Africa’s largest elephant

population.

At the most macro level, the ivory

trade is essentially a large-scale illicit

resource transfer from Africa to Asia;

on the ground, however, ivory is bush

currency for militants, militias, and

terrorists, and an illicit contraband for

organized criminals and corrupt elites.

said University of Utah geochemist Thure

Cerling, senior author of the study.

U-M paleontologist Daniel Fisher worked

with Cerling and a former University of Utah

researcher, Kevin Uno, on the project. A

report about the new method was published

online July 1 in Proceedings of the National

Academy of Sciences.

Fisher studies mammoths and mastodons,

and over several decades has developed

techniques to interpret the life histories of

those prehistoric pachyderms by analyzing

growth layers within their tusks. He shared

those techniques with Cerling and Uno, who

then applied them to modern-day elephant

tusks and teeth.

"Not only can this method help Wildlife

forensics to combat poaching, but it's

also provided conclusive validation of

earlier work that had suggested that

tusks and many teeth are made of layers

that reflect consecutive years in the

life of the animal that grew them," said

Fisher, co-author of the paper and a U-M

professor of paleontology and of Earth and

environmental sciences.

"Whether we're dealing with animals from

today's ecosystems or fossils from the

remote past, we can study these layers

and extract information on climate, diet and

conditions of growth," he said.


NEWS ROUNDUP

The Wildlife Conservation Society (WCS) says elephant poaching is happening on an unprecedented and “industrialised” scale in Mozambique after 22 of the animals were killed for their tusks in the first two weeks of September.

WCS said organised crime syndicates are slaughtering between 1,500 and 1,800 elephants a year in the southern African country, feeding demand for ivory in the far east. There are fears that Mozambique’s elephant herds could be extinct within a decade. The crisis, described by the WCS as a “national disaster”, was discussed during a two-day meeting of Mozambican officials, law enforcement agents and diplomats in the capital, Maputo. The Niassa reserve, co-managed by the WCS with the

Mozambican authorities, is double the size of South Africa’s popular Kruger national park. Pareira added: “The killing of elephants in the north of Mozambique … is reaching proportions never seen before. The killing of elephants is being industrialised.”

Poachers use automatic weapons and high-calibre hunting rifles to kill the animals, the meeting heard. In the northern Tete province, they poison drinking water sources, killing not only elephants, while spikes concealed in the bush have also been used to wound animals in the coastal Querimbas reserve, causing them slow and agonising deaths. Between 480 and 900 elephants died in the Querimbas between 2011 and 2013, according to a recent study by the WWF.

A new law passed in June toughens penalties for poaching, including hefty fines and jail terms of up to 12 years for killing protected species. Although the new conservation law was approved in June, it will only go into effect at the end of the year, officials said.Douglas Griffiths, the US ambassador to Mozambique, described the law as a “crucial step”, but said the government would need to “ensure it is respected by all and fully implemented”.

For more on elephant poaching in mozambique eawls recommends a story by cody pope, which can be downloaded at: http://countingthedead.com/2014/08/23/counting-the-dead/

''Industrial'' poaching ofMozambique’s elephants


NEWS ROUND-UP

A study in The Auk: Ornithological Advances shows that species of African Vultures that feed earlier in the day obtain more food than those that feed later. "The earlier you can get to the carcass, the more successful you can be," says Dr. Corinne Kendall, who conducted the research in the Masai Mara National Reserve in Kenya during her graduate studies at Princeton University.

Kendall's research used provisioned carcasses to assess the interaction between time of day and species identity in competing scavengers. In natural conditions, carcasses are more plentiful in the morning, particularly during the dry season when animals are dying of starvation, Kendall says that should be the best time for vultures to feed. Although she predicted that the larger-winged and less competitive Lappet-faced Vultures would feed in the morning, she found that the smaller and more social White-backed and Ruppell’s vultures dominated the experimental carcasses early in the day and quickly got full. Kendall wanted to find out how the vultures reduce competition for food and to learn whether certain

strategies work better than others for acquiring food. The more social vultures got more food because they are able to find food earlier in the day, and they filled their crops early. The more solitary Lappet-faced Vultures, which prefer to eat alone or in pairs, sought their food in the afternoon and, as a result, fewer were able to fill their crops.

"Vulture foraging ecology is interesting not just from a scientific standpoint, but from an ecosystem standpoint as well," Kendall says. "These are species that are preventing disease and controlling waste by getting rid of carrion." It's important to understand the role they play in getting rid of carrion, and how that reduces human diseases. "It's not a glamorous job, but it's an important role in the environment," Kendall says.

The results show that even vultures can have too much of a good thing; daily satiation by a dominant species in the morning generates a time window in the afternoon during which a subordinate species is able to feed, but it is still not enough to compensate for being excluded from the carcasses earlier in the day,

Early Vulture catches the worm – study shows

Poachers kill two of Kenya’s most famous Elephant BullsTwo of Kenya’s most revered

elephant bulls succumbed to

poachers in May 2014. Believed to

be more than 40 years of age, Satao

and Mountain Bull each survived

the poaching wars of the 1970s

and 1980s, only to be cut down last

month as the latest war on Africa’s

elephants rages.

“Satao and Mountain Bull were

one of us; they were Kenyan,” says

African Wildlife Foundation’s senior

director of conservation science, Dr.

Philip Muruthi. “To lose these national

treasures in the span of one month is

devastating. It also galvanizes us in

the conservation community and as

Kenyans to work harder at protecting

what belongs to this nation and this

continent and penalize those who are

robbing us of our heritage.”

Though Mountain Bull had been

partially de-tusked by rangers in

a 2012 operation and regularly

tracked by radio collar, and though

Kenya Wildlife Service kept tabs on

Satao’s movements through aerial

patrols, neither bull could be kept

safe from the crude instruments that

ultimately claimed their lives. In early

May 2014, poachers trespassing in

Mt. Kenya National Park attacked

Mountain Bull, not with AK-47s,

but with spears. A few weeks later,

poachers in Tsavo East National

Park took down Satao with a single

poisoned arrow. (AWF)


NEWS ROUND-UP

Poachers have killed 100,000 African elephants

in just three years, according to a new study that

provides the first reliable continent-wide estimates

of illegal kills. In central Africa, the hardest-hit part of

the continent, the regional elephant population has

fallen by 64 percent in a decade. Demand for ivory,

most notably in China and elsewhere in Asia, and the

confusion caused by a one-time sale of confiscated

ivory, have helped keep black market prices high in

Africa.

The new study, published in the August 19 issue of

Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences,

led by George Wittemyer of Colorado State

University, included local and regional population

estimates and concluded that three-quarters of

local elephant populations are declining. The study

authors conducted the first large-scale analysis of

poaching losses using data on illegally killed elephants

maintained by CITES (the Convention on International

Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and

Flora).

100,000 African elephants killed by poachers, new study says


Dear Sir

I refer to the July/September 2014 issue Vol 38 of Swara which highlights the precarious situation in which Kenya's

wildlife and our society is being 'attacked' from all quarters. It seems to boil down to greed and lawlessness. These elements are not new to Kenya but have reached crisis levels, so much so that the very cornerstone of Kenya's economy is being eroded to the detriment of our entire society.

How do we balance the safeguards of our amazing ecology with the demands of a burgeoning population desperate to improve their standard of living?

There are many brave and well meaning people from all walks of life who are devoted to protecting our priceless heritage. Sadly there are also some conservationists who equate those Kenyans with a white pigmentation as being feudal and elitist. Those interviewed by Storm Stanley (Swara Jan/March 2014) are passionate about preserving Kenya's heritage. They were born into families who chose to stay in Kenya after independence.

Then we move to Damian Cook's piece on Tourism and the Crossroads, which makes so much sense. But the same sentiments have been voiced for many years within the tourism sector. At the AGM of KATO (Kenya Association of Tour Operators) in 1998 a unanimous resolution was passed to halt all further expansion of lodges and permanent tented camps in the Mara. This moratorium, although approved by the Government, soon collapsed due to avaricious tour operators and hotel developers looking for quick returns at the expense of this unique eco-system. The Narok County Council and tribal elders living in the wider Mara coalesced with the developers to destroy the sustainability of the Masai Mara Game Reserve. Mr Ulf Aschan's letter to the editor summarises the disastrous decline of the Mara. Those of us who have known the Mara since the 1960's bear witness to his remarks.

Then we move on to page 23 to read that the use of drones for the purpose of managing wildlife and combating rampant poaching, has been suspended by the government. This is in stark contradiction to the declared policy of safeguarding

our animals and tourists alike against lawless elements within our borders. It is well documented that the illegal trade in rhino horn and ivory fuel the activities of terrorists.

Jonathon Scott's excellent article with a plea to sign up now and join the "Why I Love Kenya" campaign is as timely now as it was when the East African Wildlife Society was inaugurated at the time of Independence. But is there the will by the Kenya government and ruling elite to implement stringent policies to protect our nation from different forms of exploitation? East Africa is Planet Earth's most magical destination.

The great dilemma remains as to how the rural communities around national parks, game reserves, conservancies are to be rewarded for protecting these priceless areas. Without their total participation, it becomes a losing battle. Entrepreneurs and industrial planners buy up or lease huge tracts of under-populated land for the furtherance of agriculture, manufacturing and techno-cities.

Perhaps we need a global fund into which all countries within the UN inject hard currency on an annual basis to underpin the total protection of designated wilderness without compromise. This money will compensate those rural communities living within or near these special habitats who must be rewarded for being the custodians of our heritage. This concept has been put forward before by Mr Richard Leakey,

though seems to have run into difficulties. But the UN has many agencies that attract huge sums of money to alleviate starvation, run health campaigns, finance the plight of refugees and rescue those hit by natural disasters. Why not an emergency fund for Conservation?

Every community receiving financial assistance from a global fund can be audited annually by an Independent Standards Commission.

Mixed messages from Kenya's leadership must cease and be replaced with laws that enforce security and healthy ecosystems in which wildlife thrives and all those living, working and visiting Kenya feel safe.

The security forces and police, KWS and KFS, have a huge role to play in this endeavour. Tribalism has to give way to patriotism. There has never been a more desperate situation in our beloved Kenya as is evident today.

When there are Travel Advisories stating parts of Kenya are labelled as 'war zones' surely our government must act with a dedicated and transparent strategy from the President downwards.

The 'Wildlife Direct' Petition to stop poaching addressed to Margaret Kenyatta, Kenya's First Lady, is a step in the right direction.

Tony Church P O Box 160920117 Naivasha, KenyaEmail: [email protected]

LETTER TO THE EDITOR

The great debate on eco-toursim and securit y

Comments from the East African Wild Life Society

Tony Church’s letter spells out some of the issues causing the wildlife crisis that Kenya is currently

facing. The purpose of these comments is not to disagree, but to suggest a couple of steps

that need urgent attention, if we are to turn the corner. The new Wildlife Conservation and

Management Act recognises that wildlife occurs in significant numbers on community and private

land as well as public land.

The Act therefore enables wildlife user rights and benefits to be conferred to managers of private

and community land. But nothing has been done on the regulations required for spelling out the

benefits and it is only recently that the Kenya Wildlife Service rolled out the process of establishing

the County Wildlife Conservation and Compensation Committee to facilitate conferring of user

rights. Secondly a Wildlife Security Task Force appointed by the Government recently produced

a report covering many of the issues raised by Tony Church. This same edition of Swara has an

article summarising the recommendations that have been made. What is required is for these

recommendations to be urgently implemented in the best interests of Kenya as a nation. But Tony

is right; these two steps will require full political commitment at the highest level.

Michael Gachanja, Executive Director


KENYAN NEWS - SPECIAL REPORT

Report on Kenya’s wildlife woes seeks KWS overhaul

Ivory and rhino horn poaching. Bushmeat poaching. Cattle grazing in parks. Illegal and excessive

lodges in the parks. Climate change. Invasive species. VAT burdens. Unimplemented laws. And a Kenya Wildlife Services (KWS) so skewed towards head office that it is ineffective in the field.

These are some of the main findings of a Task Force on Wildlife Security commissioned by Kenya’s Ministry of Environment, Water and Natural Resources in a report called Lifting the Siege, Securing Kenya’s Wildlife.

It was set up to respond to the “saddening wave of poaching” demonstrated by a rise in the killing of elephants and rhino from 134 and 24 in 2011 to 384 and 29 in 2012 and 289 and 25 in 2013.

But this is not just another report climbing on the carcasses of dead elephant and rhino to expound on what needs to be done. The 15-person team does wildlife and habitat a service by looking far deeper into the list of woes

By Andrew Hillafflicting it. The timing could not be better and if the Kenyan government takes note, it could ride the wave of international outrage at poaching and set funding help to modernize across the board, from community conservancies to KWS.

The window of opportunity is now. “We are still far from reaching the tipping point. It is not beyond recovery, But some serious reforms are required if the current siege on Kenya’s wildlife is to be reversed.”

Little in the report’s findings will surprise regular readers of SWARA or anyone involved or interested in the business of conservation and the industry of tourism. The ills are common knowledge and are broadly outlined in the first paragraph of this story.

What makes this report stand out is the thoroughness of the research the 15-person team engaged in and a willingness to stand up and say unpopular things about government management, and mismanagement, and point a way forward.

This is especially true in its recommendation for a thorough

overhaul of the way KWS works, is structured and equipped. “It needs to be stated that the Task Force is not recommending a patching up of KWS, but a major reform.”

Bushmeat, finally, gets the prioritization it deserves. “The problem is so serious that it is posing a great challenge to conservation and seriously affecting tourism in Kenya’s Key parks,” it says. “Yet it is the Task Force’s view that this threat is not really on the KWS radar.”

The muddle over coastal policy is also in the cross hairs. Land grabbing, illegal fishing by dynamite and ring net and the absence of a coherent development plan all threaten a key resource for millions of people, not to mention the tourism industry.

“Given the pressure on land and illegal grabbing of such land, allied to the tenure status on significant areas in the coastal zone, there is a real need to develop capacity at County level to bring order to the current chaos.”



The report advocates a far more structured and coherent use of land than is now the case so that dispersal areas for animals and the use to which land is put are both recognised and taken into account in any planning.

“…….if tourism is to remain an important sector in Kenya’s economic development, the resource base must be protected. This calls for the need to recognise and respect major natural land uses. Wildife-rich lands out to be recognised and managed as wildlife conservation areas,” it says.

It uses Hell’s Gate as an example of how Environmental Protection laws are flouted by the state electricity-generating organisation KenGen, to the detriment of the rare birds of prey that nest there and the tourists who visit.

Leaked versions of this report have all attracted headlines pointing the finger of blame at the Kenya Wildlife Services, unsurprisingly so. It is the government department with primary responsibility for wildlife and habitat management and the buck does stop somewhere on the Langata road.

“There is a strong belief, shared by the Task Force, that the core

business of KWS has become shrouded with confusion leading to a drop of effectiveness and delivery and loss of motivation and morale in the field.”

“KWS structure is inappropriate and incapable of delivering the institution’s mandate,” it says, blaming “a top heavy organisation at headquarter level, an over-fragmentation of departments and units at both headquarters and in the field with a consequence of overlapping functions and unclear reporting lines, an infighting over roles, with poor reporting systems and a communication process that has become very much one way between HQ and the field.”

It finds that there is one Director at KWS, plus 9 Deputy Directors, at least nine Senior Assistant Directors and 46 Assistant Directors. “Of these only eight Assistant Directors are deployed in the field.”

The recommendation is for a restructure into two main divisions, Conservation and Management, dealing with protected areas, and a Division of Community Extension, dealing with local functions. A third division, of Security, needs setting up staffed by well-trained and well-equipped people to improve on the weakest areas of KWS performance, it says. KWS intelligence unit is apparently broken down, and very weak.” KWS guns are old, only half

its fleet is serviceable, it has virtually stopped helping communities deal with problem animals and its airwing is inadequate and sometimes abused to deliver letters.

Ranger morale is weak, cronyism is rampant; some KWS staff are themselves involved in poaching; ranger housing is out of date and demeaning. Opportunities for promotion are obstructed by vested interests and favouritism. “Rangers live in pathetic conditions in most areas.”

It recommends that the KWS changes from having eight operational regions to a system that corresponds to the County network and the spread of wildlife.

Each of the eight Conservation areas is supposed to have one company of men consisting of three platoons. But a visit to Lamu found three platoons of 20, 15 and 12 rangers against standard platoon strength of 36. And each platoon had only one serviceable vehicle.

“This thin spread of personnel across the whole of Kenya ignores the distribution and concentration of wildlife, and leaves species such as elephants, lions, Grevy’s zebra, Hirola and plains animals more vulnerable to poaching,” it said.

Hell's Gate scenery



So much of Kenya’s wildlife is outside protected areas that its future depends on the establishment of community conservancies in all key wildlife dispersal areas.

At the government level the report calls for much tighter inter-agency collaboration, not just with the security apparatus but, in these times of organized crime, land grabbing and surging economic growth, with the authorities responsible for tax, roads, engineering, planning and land.

It is not known if KWS was consulted about the imposition of VAT on fees to National Parks. The Task Force says this means visitors to Tanzania now pay $55 per day to visit a National Park while in Kenya they pay $90. The result is a loss of competitive price edge for Kenya as a tourist destination, falling numbers of tourisms, loss of jobs in the tourism industry and a decline in KWS revenue which means conservation is hit.

The report calls on the Ministry to act as the vanguard of wildlife security when competing interests of revenue, land allocation and international engagements and treaties collide.

“It is the Task Force’s view that this function is not being effectively carried

out at the moment, as evidenced by reactive rather than proactive responses to a number of decisions and policies that have negatively impacted wildlife security function in the recent past.” It recognises that there will be resistance

• Commercialandbushmeatpoachingrequiresimmediation attention. KWS structure and ability in the field need an overhaul to be effective in delivery. Bushmeat poaching not on KWS radar.

• InaKWSoverhaul,SecurityandIntelligenceneedprioritsation. KWS also needs to take interest in problem animals and human-wildife conflict, which it largely ignores.

• KWShumanresourcespoliciesneedoverhaulingtoend in-fighting, pay grievances, problems of welfare, promotion, transfers and training.

• Wildlifecrimeneedstoberecognisedasacrimeofnational and international significance and put on a par with drugs and people smuggling. Detection has to be improved at key airports and ports.

• KenyaneedstoworkwithAsianleaders,China’snotably, to stem the demand for ivory. China should ban the trade completely.

• Theuseoflandneedsacompleteandimmediatere-

think and inter-ministerial and inter-agency planning.• Hell’sGateisapriorityproblem.Thereisanurgent

need to get the Environmental Management and Coordination Act enacted to ensure that KenGen accept and abide by environmental safeguards and rules.

• Currentpolicyisbasedonprotectedareasbutmanyspecies ignore park boundaries and need protection on community and private land, such as Laikipia. KWS’s record on community conservancies is poor and needs to be improved in a new division dealing with communities.

• TheCabinetSecretaryneedstoappointasmallteamassoon as possible to establish an effective government way of dealing with wildlife, land and conservation issues.

• TheimpositionofVATonentryfeestoNationalParkshas overpriced them and undercut revenue with the real risk that there is less money to protect wildlife. This needs an urgent review.

to many of its recommendations, particularly from KWS, and suggests that the Ministry appoint an appropriate implementation strategy team to develop the way forward and ways of budgeting for it.


Kenya Wildlife Service Guards


The repor t was compiled by a a task Force consisting of 15 members covering a wide range of exper tise in terms of wildlife, securit y, intelligence, land and legal issues.


Twenty first century realities have pushed the greater Amboseli region and its

inhabitants to a defining crossroads – can a plan to balance the needs of man and beast succeed?

Sprawling over 2.0 million acres (8000Km2) of sweeping savannah four times the size of the Aberdares with its famous Amboseli National Park (125,000 acres) at its epicenter, the region’s future is in the balance.

Can those who live in the shadow of Mount Kilimanjaro, Africa’s highest

Ecosystem’s future put their signatures to a master plan (Amboseli Ecosystem Management Plan 2008-2018) that expects gazettement (before publication in December). In this plan, the realities of what the land is best for, is defined by three broad zones, in which, in the case of wildlife and livestock, there are overlapping interests and a third focuses essentially on the rising slopes of Mt Kilimanjaro where higher rainfall has led to small farm crop production and that will need to be fenced.

As this process moves forward what are the outcomes, the threats and the change indicators?

The significance of greater Amboseli is that it borders three national parks – Tanzania’s Mount Kilimanjaro, Tsavo West and the Chyulus. Combined this region is one of the East Africa’s greatest wildlife strongholds.

served as Chairman of the Rhino Ark

Management Committee from November

2000 to July 2012. In this time he

completed the electrified fence that now

surrounds the entire Aberdare mountain

range then launched for Rhino Ark the

current major fence construction projects

for the Mt Kenya and Mau Eburru. He has had many years

of involvement in conservation in East Africa including serving

as honorary Chairman of the KWS Board of Trustees in 2003

and 2004.

Colin Church mountain, be assured of a future utilising the great traditions of its past for livestock mentoring and for living in harmony with its oldest inhabitants – the savannah wildlife?

Can humans live with lions and elephants – both of which challenge man’s sources of livelihood as they compete for space and food on an increasingly pressured landscape – large as it is.

The answer lies in the hands of the communities who live on the savannah. Given the enabling environment of devolved authority that Kenyans chose by referendum in the 2010 Constitution, the opportunity to develop a best purpose process can either unfold or be scuttled by those who own the land.

In one sense the harmony of the past is a proven way forward. In another the land itself dictates what it is best at. All parties that are shaping the Amboseli

Can livestock and the Savannah's oldest inhabitants live in harmony - Amboseli National Park

Sharing the space for man and beast on the plains of Kilimanjaro


In 1883 a group of Masai elders bedecked in all their finery and fully armed with spears, simis and

rungus – members of the Ilkisongo group - guardians of the great plains at the foot of Mt Kilimanjaro stepped forward to meet a stranger from Britain – who walked up to them unarmed and accompanied by a small band of porters.

The explorer, Joseph Thomson – a keen geologist and naturalist in his early twenties counseled the party of elders that he meant no harm. Apparently the young moran were raiding cattle in Kamba land at the time. This was further good fortune for Thomson. His request to walk northwest through their land was agreed. This peaceful

encounter was the first time an explorer from Europe was granted entry by the Masai on his journey to Lake Victoria, rather than being killed or chased out.

The Ilkisongo Masai today make up the inner core of the greater Amboseli region. Today’s challenges are as momentous as their forefathers’ meeting with the young explorer 131 years ago.

Today’s realities are driven primarily by a deteriorating ecosystem due to strenuous human pressures upon the land. Human inertia to give political drive for best practice has contributed to this malaise.

A vastly increased human population that brings accelerated demands for water, grazing, schools, health clinics, and the infrastructure of modern society – roads, power and most essentially

employment, are today’s reality. These in turn place huge pressure upon wetlands, growth of crops on marginal land, land sub division to secure ownership of small uneconomic entities, poaching for ivory, rhino horn, and bush meat. The modern need - endorsed by the 2010 Constitution - to factor wildlife corridors into dispersal areas is a new reality and little understood.

If the region is to build an economically sustainable future, the moran of today are faced with the challenge of interlocking the land value processes to best advantage.

The core areas of the Amboseli Ecosystem include the group ranches of Olgulului, Mbirikani, Kuku, Rombo, Kimana and Eselenkei. It borders the Kilimanjaro National Park and the

By Colin Church

Livestock graze under the Chyulu Hills National Park

Masai make bold changes for survival of Greater Amboseli


Ilkisongo communities that overlap into the vast Ngasarai plains just over the Tanzania border.

In the past decade and more, there is clear recognition that it is these group ranches and those who lead them, that will define the future of this region. The group ranch leaders emerge from the traditional process of moranhood usu-ally in age groups of between 14 to 28 years and who then graduate into elder-hood. It is only in recent times that life expectancy has extended over 45 years of age. Starting life most often as child herders, the young warriors are then charged with the protection of livestock from predators and all other threats. So lions must be killed - to protect family assets and in so doing, to earn rite of passage to manhood.

In earlier times when resource pressure was not an issue and the population of lion much greater, this mindset to achieve warrior status and

founder donor grants from Big Life Foundation, 330 rangers from the group ranches have been trained and operating as community scouts and informants under a carefully structured incentive payment system.

On neighbouring Kuku Group Ranch, the Masai Wildlife Conservation Trust (MWCT) have added more rangers, more muscle and outreach to the community ‘umbrella’ pioneered by the Big Life commitment launched in April 2003.

Fully trained in patrol work and intelligence gathering, they work hand in hand with the government’s Kenya Wildlife Service (KWS) to track down and arrest poachers. This is a real change from 20 years ago when community landowners were categorical that all security and human wildlife conflict issues were the sole remit of the Government to resolve through KWS. In reality the communities have grasped

win a bride was the norm. Today the number of moran and the scarcity of lion demand a change – if lion are to be secured. There are several main thrusts now in place that point to what could be a sea change in outlook amongst the Ilkisongo group leaders – old and upcoming. If a cow is lost to its owner incentives are essential as a ‘consolation’ form of limited insurance to partially reimburse the owner.

In tandem, pressure upon resources is focusing great attention on the group ranch leaders so that mechanisms to secure their lands from any exploitive activities – woodcutting, valued animal poaching, bush meat, and general lawlessness – are being introduced.

A group ranch ranger force now being operated on the ranches in the immediate areas surrounding Amboseli National Park – at least two million acres - is now making a major impact upon lion and elephant losses. With


this as an opportunity for employment, and ultimately to create an environment for better land husbandry for both livestock and wildlife. But all stakeholders are needed to play their part in the conservation of the ecosystem. There have been several attempts to convince all tourist hotel operators to find ingenious ways to raise funding mechanisms and play a dynamic part. Whilst some have supported the concept and inject funds, unanimity has not been possible to date. Some of the oldest hotel investors refuse, stating that their role is not conservation but tourism - their raison d’être to be there ignored.

So the process of inclusiveness from the key stakeholders in ensuring responsibility for long-term upkeep is deprived of a sustainable way to raise the funds. Benevolent donors continue to inject both the funds and steer the process.

A self-sustainable mechanism is now urgent. Old attitudes face a new reality. The group ranches on which sizeable communities are living with livestock and wildlife are taking a significant lead in conserving wildlife. The ‘not our problem’ attitude of some hoteliers and

Ol Donyo Wuas ecolodge on Mbirikani Group Ranch, and Tom Hill, the American entrepreneur and founding Chairman of the Institute of Human Origins. They saw the crisis of predator destruction as an opportunity to convince the communities that it was better to co-habit with predators if ways could be started that recognized

the reluctance of KWS to significantly increase Amboseli revenues to the ranches – currently a tiny per annum Ksh 18 million out of a total park entry fee collection of over Ksh 500 million in good years is not going to wear.

Group ranch Chairman Daniel Leturesh of the 400,000 acre Olgulului that encircles Amboseli National Park, told me:

“ Without a more equitable revenue sharing, the park and the huge ecosystem will die”. “We are now playing a more dynamic part and look to all stakeholders to recognize this dynamic.” (see map P 30)

The Predator Compensation Fund (PCF) is proving itself a forceful addition in the conservation battle throughout the areas where it is impacting.

In 2003 when the situation was dire an idea was born. Lions and cheetah faced complete extermination. Hyenas – the largest livestock killer of all and leopard too - all were the target of moran spears and poison – anything to destroy the ‘enemy’.

PCF was conceived by long time conservationist and KWS honorary warden Richard Bonham – founder of

Main Photo ans Insert: Rangers and Masai moran, tracker dogs, vehicle and aircraft now play a dynamic part in lion, elephant and rhino protection

''We are now playinga significant par t...''

Daniel LetureshChairman of Olgulului's 400,000 acres


domestic animals and wildlife were both long-term value assets for those living with them.

As Daniel Sambu Big Life’s project co-coordinator explained it:

“Our communities are business driven. A system was needed that gave direct compensation to the individual owner against a set of conditions that our elders approved of and agreed to pay into. PCF is not a total grant set up. PCF group ranches pay 30% of each claim”.

Today, in its 11th year of operation, PCF has seen lion numbers rise from a near extermination (no records were kept but it was generally thought they were down to less than 20) to a fully stabilized recovery.

Before PCF in 2003 about 4 lions were killed monthly (50p/a) on the founder PCF group ranches – Mbirikani and Olgulului as well as Kuku.

Kuku’s MWCT whose Patron, the actor Edward Norton, leads a programme developed from the Big Life template, followed with its own PCF scheme.

Today 12 livestock- cattle or shoats/donkeys- are killed by predators daily. Lion kills are now almost unheard of in the vast ranches of Olgulului, Mbirikani and Kuku – all now protected by PCF

schemes. In the past four years only six lions (3%of the pre rate pre PCF) have been killed in these heartlands. It is little understood that lion kills represent only 12% of the total – hyena and cheetah killing more. From 2005 prides had begun to re-form and breeding started to accelerate.

In scientist speak, cubs aged up to three years, do not make the cut. The PCF ranches and neighbouring Kuku estimate a population of at least 150 adults. KWS figures indicate a steady 5% rise annually. Cubs up to three years of age will take this number to perhaps 200 now roaming the plains. Confirming this reality, the Olgulului’s Chairman Leturesh comments: “ Lions are seen all over our land today”.

He adds: “PCF has 5 tangible benefits for the 11,485 registered members of Olgulului:

• Theconsolationfeepaidtotheindividual who has lost an animal is a direct benefit to him.

• TheopportunitytojoinBigLife’s ranger force against tough entry and training requirements has recruits queuing up to gain employment

• PCF’sabilitywithhigh-techcommunications and mobile

teams backed with sniffer dogs, provides immediate response to a livestock kill

• Awarenessthatweascommunitymembers have an additional asset – lions and wildlife -in addition to our domestic stock.

• Ourmoran now compete in athletics through the Masai Olympics two-year programme and have stopped killing lions.

If predators are threatening livestock then prevention and protection methods have to be developed and ‘sold’ to livestock owners even though tourism income may only come indirectly to them.

PCF is based on good business practice. Lion and other prime predators – cheetah, hyena, and leopard roam the whole ecosystem but attack an individual’s stock. So the insurance principal still only a ‘consolation’ payout makes sense. As Tom Hill says: “PCF - whilst based on insurance principals - differs specifically as it offers to pay the premium for the killed cow as long as the owner promises not to kill a lion.”

Hill doubts if a comprehensive and compulsory scheme for the entire ranch membership would have the same effect. “It would remove the onus on


the cow’s owner not to kill the lion – this is a social responsibility and cuts right to the quick of Masai culture”.The value of PCF is that it is dependent upon the landowners running the process themselves. Money for a killed beast is paid out only after a set of strict conditions has been followed. Ranch management runs the check process. If it is found that livestock were unattended or the night coral was poorly set up, reduced sums or no money is paid. Stiff fines are exacted and shame is cast upon the individual who kills – now very rarely - in the heat of the moment.

An independent study of PCF’s impact on the group ranches of Olgulului and Mbirikani shortly to be fully released confirms the following:

• PCFisthemostimportantfactorfor discouraging lions - the penalty side of PSF -81%

• Fearofarrestifalioniskilled-80%

• Only42%arenothappywithwaiting two months prior to receiving compensation – another PCF condition by the group ranches to ensure peer group pressure and compliance by everyone in the community before claims are paid.

Says Richard Bonham: “PCF is changing an age old ‘sport’ and building a new attitude in the communities where it is working.” As with the ‘save the animal’ passion of global conservation bodies, the weighted scale for support funds needs to go to improving management in ecosystems

with less on targeted research. The world is fully aware that lion

numbers have plummeted and why. Research is still the easy option for big donor money. Research must continue but the serious money needs to be directed at building new conservation practices and the wider needs for self help in the fields of jobs, education and health. The challenge in the next decade is to make wildlife and better livestock management pay best for land uses where these valued assets exist.

Today the group ranches are making embryonic steps to accepting their responsibility role. Whilst it is easy to blame an increasingly cumbersome and off target KWS, the enabling environment of county involvement has created the space for the process of - who owns wildlife, owns responsibility for its protection and sustainability.

Part of this process focuses hugely too on the ‘world heritage’ value factor. Biodiversity in all its forms – from the smallest insects, plants and trees to the giants of the oceans and the land are vital to man’s future.

The organizations at the forefront of international conservation for the past 50 years have focused on saving and undertaking exhaustive research on the threatened animal, not the collapsing ecosystem in which wildlife thrives. Billions of dollars are raised and all to good cause

though the spend on the actual ground activity remains totally inadequate. The focus for the next 50 years has to shift to better securing and managing the communities who live where the species can thrive.

Some international conservation organizations may have to review their core policies to bring this change into public focus.

Areas of human activity continue to expand at an alarming rate so conservation funding needs to concentrate on zones – forests, savannahs, wetlands, mountains, hot spots where biodiversity can flourish and in which pastoralists who have lived with both livestock and wildlife are central players.

Will a set of parameters enable value added from traditional ways of using the land or will the next generation be short changed or short change themselves into non-sustainable activities?


The centuries old Masai belief “more cattle means greater wealth and status” is being increasingly challenged by realities on the ground.

Such ‘old ways’ culture will find its own space to fade.

So in the Amboseli Ecosystem hotspot where should the emphasis for fund support and community investment be directed? Primarily to alter the mindset of those who live on its land so that strong policies can be put in place to give them an improving livelihood.

PCF and the Kuku combo are now covering half the ecosystem (one million acres/ 4000 km2). But funding is vital and more needed to cover the exposed flanks. PCF ‘s policy is to be all embracing and offers to extend its security to all the ranches. It is already operating mobile rapid response units into Eselenkei, Rombo and Kimana areas. Other group ranches – Mailua, Kimana and Porini have embryonic

projects too that are gathering momentum.

Says Bonham: “Such a large landscape requires big thinking and big money but is it if compared to the asset value in livestock and wildlife? .

According to Hill: “The current budget allocates less than USD 300,000 to PCF out of a total of an annual USD 2.6 million support through Big Life for all services – rangers, vehicles, rhino and elephant protection, health, student scholarships and welfare.

“This translates into less than usd 40 cents per acre per annum or about usd about USD 8 (ksh 700) for each ranch resident. With stock levels valued at millions of dollars annually, PCF is a solid investment”, Says Hill.

Other players in the information gathering and conservation mix in the Amboseli ecosystem include Lion Guardians. Using GPS embedded col-lars, and by physical observation, they

monitor certain prides in the Mbirikani/Ogulului/Eselenkei central rangelands and attempt intervention when possible to reduce lion-livestock conflict.

Formed in 2007 on Mbirikani , four years after the start up of PCF, with eight “guardians”, they now comprise more than 50 from community manyattas, adding a further layer to the monitoring and community response methods in the three group ranches. Their practice is to persuade the communities living with the lions also to regard them as assets. “We say these are ‘their’ lions, not Lion Guardians’ lions so that the protection process remains a community responsibility” explained Stephanie Dolrenry, the organisaton’s team leader. The lions are given individual names by the community. Their website confirms that 69% of their lion killing preventions has been in conjunction with PCF and KWS participation.

Two powerful voices are calling the moran of the Masai ‘nation’ on both sides of the Kenya/Tanzania border to change their age-old ways.

The spiritual leader of the Masai Laibon Kimani Oltalesoi who lives near the Mountain of God – the active volcano Ol Donyo Lengai in Nor thern Tanzania has called on all moran to re-direct their spiritual energy at puber t y to cease killing lions

'' I will be running to demonstrate that killing

lions is no longer the way. We Masai have a future as

great runners. We must run - not spear the king of beasts - to earn our

manhood and to win our bride in future.''

Masai Olympian giant and patronof the Masai Olympics - David Rudisha

spiritual leader of the Masai Laibon Kimani OltalesoiSWARA January 2015 edition

will carry a full report of the Masai Olympics in the Amboseli ecosystem which

took place inDecember 13, 2014

'' I tell you not to kill lions. We want to protect our wildlife like

we do our livestock.'' Februar y 2010


Amboseli’s elephants have been some of the most photographed celebrities on the planet.

Millions around the world have seen pictures of great herds lumbering down to the Amboseli swamps against the awesome backdrop of Mt Kilimanjaro - to say nothing of the thousands who annually visit Amboseli to see them in real time.

But elephants need range – thousands upon thousands of acres of it. The incredible viewing experience in the national park requires outlying range areas to be secured and big enough to enable the great Amboseli herds to roam through all the seasons. This includes over the northern Tanzania border to the rangelands and the forest regions of Mount Kilimanjaro and Mount Meru – their home turf for centuries.

The pressure of cultivation especially on the upper fertile slopes around Loitokitok and embracing sections of the Kimana wetlands has already severely reduced these migratory routes.

A determined initiative involving various energetic conservation groups – African Wildlife Foundation (AWF), International Fund for Animal Welfare (IFAW) have joined legendary Cynthia Moss’s Amboseli Trust for Elephants

to create corridors for elephants. The plan includes a lease back funding of portions of land owned by group ranches and individuals to enable a secure passage between the National Park and into Tanzania

This will require fencing the corridor line in its most critical parts.

Peter Lenges, Chairman of the Kilimanjaro Community Conservation and Development Trust has an active group of farmers owning land along the upward mountain slopes above Loitokoitok who are raising funds for a 25 km section of a planned 37 kms electric fence to stop elephant encroachment into their maize and bean shambas.

“We are losing up to 50% of our crop to elephant. With average per acre crop values at Ksh 20,000 per month. Elephant control by our community and with KWS assistance, is costing Ksh 80,000 per month for our 25 km section. Once we can find the Ksh 15 million capital for a fence, the returns from 100% crop off take and the reduction in human elephant conflict control, would very quickly pay off.

“Our community is ready to manage the fence maintenance. We have worked out the budgets – that would cost each family just Ksh 650 per annum.”

At a time of accelerated elephant poaching, Big Life record some impressive prevention and recovery statistics on the group ranches where they operate together with KWS.


Headlines last June reported an agreement between SOCO International, a British oil

company, and WWF (Worldwide Fund for Nature), to end to oil exploration in Virunga National Park, one of the most biodiverse landscapes on the planet.

When King Albert I of Belgium founded Virunga National Park in 1925,

Africa's first such protected area, little did he know what was in store. The king created the park in then-Belgian Congo to protect mountain gorillas in what is today the Mikeno southern sector and the Parc des Volcans in Rwanda, but since 1925 the park has expanded as far north as the Ruwenzori Mountains, over 150 km away. Now at 7,800 km2 it encompasses one of the most diverse and spectacular landscapes in Africa, including active volcanoes, tropical forest, savannas, swamps, glacier-capped mountains, Rift Valley lakes and rivers.

Besides mountain gorillas (Gorilla beringei beringei), the park is also home to the eastern lowland Grauer's gorilla (Gorilla beringei graueri) and the chimpanzee (Pan troglodytes),

making Virunga the only park in the world to host three varieties of great apes. In addition, both forest and savanna elephants, the rare okapi which looks like a collision between a zebra and a giraffe, lions, hippos and various monkeys roam within the park's boundaries. Virunga is one of the most biologically diverse places on the planet containing more mammal, bird and reptile species than any other protected area on the African continent.

In recognition of the park's biodiversity importance, it was made a United Nations Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Organization. (UNESCO) World Heritage Site in 1979. As such, under the terms of the World Heritage Convention, the government of the Democratic

Began in anthropology with a Ph.D. from

UC Berkeley, Dan Stiles has studied

natural resource management and Wildlife

trade from the level of hunter-gatherer up

to senior government and international

organization official. He has worked in

academia, for the United Nations as staff

and consultant and for various NGOs such as IUCN, TRAFFIC,

Save the Elephants and many more. He has lived in Kenya

almost continuously since 1977.

This reporting was funded under the Mongabay

Special Reporting Program.

Daniel Stiles

1 This article is adapted from two published for Mongabay.com http://news.mongabay.com/2014/0617-sri-stiles-virunga-soco-withdrawal.html

Drillers in the Midst Is SOCO withdrawing from Virunga National Park?1

Virunga National Park


Main Photo: Grauer's GorillaTop Right: Mountain GorillaBelow Right: Chimpanzee

Republic of the Congo (DRC) agrees to do all it can do to ensure that effective and active measures are taken for the "…protection, conservation and presentation of the cultural and natural heritage situated on its territory."

But in 2006 SOCO International arrived. SOCO, which also operates in Congo-Brazzaville, Angola and Vietnam, was attracted to what is termed the Albertine Graben, a geologic depression along the western arm of the Great Rift Valley, because oil has been found on the Ugandan side. Since grabens do not respect man-made borders, it follows that oil should be on the DRC side as well.

The DRC government awarded SOCO a huge exploration area, called Block

V, in June 2006. The 7,500 square kilometer block runs along the Ugandan border starting at the northern shore of Lake Edward and moving south right through Virunga National Park to just north of the Mikeno-Rwanda volcano highlands, where Dian Fossey studied her famous mountain "Gorillas in the Mist." A small population of Grauer's gorilla lives on Mt. Tshiaberimu, north of Block V, and chimpanzees are scattered in various places within the block.

Ever since word got out that an oil company had started exploration in Virunga, conservationists protested the oilmen's presence. Even billionaires Richard Branson and Howard Buffett, bolstered by the moral authority of


Nobel Peace prize winner Archbishop Desmond Tutu, concluded in a joint op-ed in the Huffington Post, "It is … difficult to understand how oil exploration in a fragile region like Virunga is a plan that is in the Congolese people's best interests."

WWF International has led a coalition of conservation groups with an energetic campaign: "Virunga: Africa's most beautiful and diverse oil field? Help draw the line." An online petition garnered 750,000 signatures opposing SOCO's intervention. Belgium, Germany and the EU Parliament are also opposed to any oil exploration in the park, and UNESCO, which oversees the World Heritage sites, has called for cancellation of SOCO's concession.

WWF filed a complaint against SOCO with the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD), the Paris-based body grouping the world’s richest countries, claiming that the company was violating good-practice business guidelines, as well as DRC law. Congolese legislation governing national parks, passed in 1969, prohibits "excavations, earthworks, surveys, sampling of materials and all other work liable to alter the appearance of the terrain or vegetation," except in the context of scientific research. In this case, SOCO calls its seismic surveys "scientific research."

SOCO finally gave in to international pressure and on 11 June made a joint announcement with WWF that an agreement had been reached. WWF would drop its OECD complaint and SOCO would suspend operations.

The memorandum puts SOCO's activities and results directly under the personal control of Pasteur Cosma Wilungula Balongelwa, ICCN's Director General, including the $15,000 a month that SOCO is paying ICCN for the right to access the park.

"Our agreement with WWF focuses the need for the DRC Government and UNESCO to also reach an agreement on the best way to combine development and the environment," said Rui de Sousa, Chairman of SOCO.

"Today is a victory for our planet and for good practices in business… This is the moment for the international community to support DRC and help us bring lasting change that will ensure Africa's first national park remains the mother park of Africa," said Marco Lambertini, Director General of WWF International.

SOCO's statement, however, suggested that the victory may be short-lived. Not only will SOCO continue its "…operational programme of work in Virunga which we anticipate will conclude within approximately 30 days of the date of this statement," but "the company commits not to undertake or commission any exploratory or other drilling within Virunga National Park unless UNESCO and the DRC government agree that such activities are not incompatiblewith its World Heritage status."

The door is still open for SOCO to continue work if the DRC and UNESCO agree. The DRC government has shown its commitment to SOCO's exploitation of the petroleum resources in the Albertine Graben in numerous statements and signed agreements, particularly an eight-page memorandum of understanding between the Congolese Wildlife authority (ICCN) and SOCO, signed in November 2013.

Virunga National Park


This appears to put the final decision on whether SOCO can continue to work inside Virunga on UNESCO, since the DRC government has already agreed that "such activities are not incompatible with its World Heritage status."

In any case, approximately half of Block V is outside the boundaries of Virunga National Park. Nothing in the agreement with WWF is stopping SOCO from continuing work there, across an imaginary green line.

When I asked if they planned to continue work outside the park, a SOCO spokesperson said, "…there will be contractual obligations associated with the Production Sharing Contract—such as social projects for the local communities…"

Thus far, SOCO’s work has done little environmental damage. Most of the oil prospecting, which wound up 13 June 2014, was carried out in the waters of Lake Edward using compressed air releases, detecting the seismic waves with hydrophones. They avoided known fish-spawning areas. SOCO claims no aquatic life was harmed by its activities. They are now evaluating the data, which SOCO told me could take up to a year.

Following the winding up of their work on 31 July, SOCO’s Roger Cagle, Deputy Chief Executive, stated, “We realise that a successful project can transform the economic and social wellbeing of a host country. We have demonstrated our value of local involvement and commitment to sustainable development though the successful social programs SOCO fulfilled between 2009 and 2014 in the Democratic Republic of Congo, in Congo-Brazzaville and in Angola. We are focused on engaging with local communities where we operate to better understand their needs, for guidance on what social projects to take on.”

These words do not seem to suggest that SOCO has plans to leave Virunga any time soon. SOCO’s strategy to remain seems to have adapted to take on its critics on their own turf.

An integral part of WWF’s campaign, and the arguments of the Buffet, Branson and Tutu op-ed, was that there

was an alternative to SOCO’s vision of development in the Virunga park area.

When I asked WWF what their response would be if the DRC government decided to go ahead with oil exploration in Virunga, in spite of WWF's agreement with SOCO (which did not include the DRC government's agreement), a spokesperson replied, "… we hope we can work together with the government to promote investment in sustainable industries such as fisheries, hydropower and ecotourism that could help the park reach is potential to create 28,000 permanent jobs and serve as an economic engine for the entire country..."

There is a Virunga Alliance Plan that is financed mainly by the Howard T. Buffet Foundation. It has supported the construction of three clean, carbon-neutral hydropower facilities. The electricity is aimed to attract investments in agribusiness. The Huffington Post op-ed by Buffet et al. boasted: “Already one of these ventures has attracted a palm nut oil processing plant and a papaya enzyme extraction facility.”

Palm nut oil extracting plant? To function, it needs nuts, which require oil palm plantations. Many conservationists think that oil palm is the greatest single threat to the future of

Virunga's block V Oil Map


African tropical forests and biodiversity. Oil palm plantations in South East Asia have devastated vast areas of forest and led to huge losses of Asian elephant, orang-utan, rhino and tiger populations. Promoting oil palm plantations in eastern DRC near Virunga would seem to many as bad as or worse than drilling for oil.

What does the DRC government say? It is their territory, after all. UNESCO, which is responsible for World Heritage Sites, has reported with concern that the DRC Minister for Hydrocarbons has announced that if economically viable oil reserves are found inside the property, exploitation will go ahead.

The minister's announcement is reinforced by the ICCN-SOCO agreement from November 2013, which states in Article 8 that if the oil exploration yielded positive results then SOCO would negotiate the formulation of a program with ICCN for drilling, whether it be for further testing and evaluation, or actual exploitation.

ICCN, the Congolese government agency with the responsibility for conserving Virunga, has already agreed in effect to oil drilling in the park.

The next round between conservationists, SOCO, and the DRC government could escalate. The eastern region of the DRC has experienced instability, lawlessness and armed militias for almost two decades. A recent UNESCO assessment of the Virunga World Heritage Site noted that nine armed militias operate in the area. Illegal mining, logging, charcoal-making and poaching are endemic in the poverty-stricken region.

In May this year, WWF announced that staff members based in Goma, near Virunga, had received death threats. Angered by a WWF staff member's public statements about the negative impacts of SOCO's oil exploration, one caller said, "We want his head." Another caller said that they had "missed killing de Merode," but they would not miss the WWF employee.

Emmanuel de Merode, the highly respected chief warden of Virunga National Park, was shot four times by attackers as he drove from Goma

to Virunga in April. De Merode has voiced his opposition to drilling for oil in Virunga and is on record stating, "any oil related activities are illegal" and contribute to the instability in the region. He survived that attack and returned to work in late May.

In September, Global Witness (Drillers in the Mist), The Telegraph and The Ecologist all published serious charges of bribery, intimidation and even murder committed against local opposition in Virunga by those associated with SOCO who want the oil exploitation to go ahead.

The oil company, of course, denied the allegations in the Global Witness report, saying that it “does not condone, partake in or tolerate corrupt or illegal activity whatsoever” and that bribes to park rangers “have never been nor will ever be sanctioned by SOCO”. The

company also said that it is committed to the protection of human rights and that it would investigate if there was evidence of wrongdoing.

SOCO, backed by the DRC government, claim that exploiting oil in an environmentally sound manner will benefit the local people and not harm the environment, if done properly. Conservationists and others maintain that SOCO is wrong, and that there are better ways of achieving social and economic development for the people in the region.

What happens in the high-stakes Virunga case may herald the future for all protected areas in Africa. If the most biodiverse and oldest park on the continent cannot be protected, in spite of numerous laws and agreements, then no national park is safe.

Emmanuel de Merode, chief warden of Virunga National Park


and memory – the cities where the first China Africa dialogue on ivory trade was hatched. It was our desire, as two young Kenyans, Chris Kiarie, myself and one Chinese, Yufang Gao – who organized the trip – to breathe new life and hope into a debate that is spiralling into hopelessness.

The trip was the start of a cross-pollination of beliefs, where we helped peel away long-held misconceptions about the African continent, while similarly shedding the preconceived ideas we had about China and the ivory trade.

In China to Save African Elephants

Two young Kenyans went to China to promote understanding between Africa and the world’s biggest consumer of illegal ivory. Here is the first part of their

report. The second will appear in SWARA 2015 -1 in January

China accounts for 70% of the world's illegal ivory and is fueling the slaughter of

thousands of elephants across Africa. Unfortunately, most people don't know the complexities of the trade in China. Without this knowledge, we may

The team at Tiananmen Square

unintentionally vilify an entire nation and may lose the battle to save our elephants. Having undertaken a whistle-stop tour through five cities in China, we believe that we can begin to understand who the actors in the ivory trade are, and then share awareness with the right target audience. Our hope is that instead of denigrating China, we will join the growing force of Chinese willing and waiting to fight for elephants with the same passion and vigor we have.

Guangzhou, Xiamen, Quanzhou, Fuzhou, Beijing. These are the names of the cities indelibly etched in my heart

is a Masters graduate of Biodiversity,

Conservation and Management of

Oxford University, with a zoology degree

from the University of Nairobi. She is the

Projects Officer of Save the Elephants,

and a consulting writer with IISD-

Reporting Services.

Resson Kantai Duff


Armed with information from media reports, I admit that initially, I was rather pessimistic about the response to our trip. The Chinese have long been depicted as bloodthirsty consumers, either totally ignorant or entirely numb to the cruel effect of the ivory trade. I expected to find towers and markets filled with ivory sold by – and to – heartless non-human people. Even going into schools, I half expected to meet the obedient zombie children of an incomprehensible culture.

All this was proved entirely wrong. After each presentation, we were quickly embraced by an army of passionate Chinese youth willing to engage and fight for elephants just like we do. Many were eager to come to Kenya and beam back messages about elephants in a language their countrymen understand. They were almost impatient to contribute to the cause. On our market visits, I was shocked to discover that

''FINDING OUT ThAT ThE PRICE OF A jADE BANGLE CAN BE UP TO 20 TIMES ThE PRICE OF ThE MOST ExPENSIVE IVORy BANGLE ShOWED US Why ThEy SAy ThE PRICE OF IVORy IS ''NOT ThAT hIGh.''


Top Left: Resson giving a presentation in Fuzhou.

Below: Resson and Kiarie with the teachers in a classroom.

there are no “ivory markets” in the way that I understood the term. There are only a few shops within jewellery markets where ivory is sold. From this experience, we finally understood why Chinese media reports we’ve read say the ivory issue is not “very big” in China. Finding out that the price of a jade bangle can be up to 20 times the price of an ivory bangle showed us why they say the price of ivory is “not that high.”

We discovered that although the world sees these things in absolute terms, most Chinese think relatively, comparing ivory and ivory trade with other commodity trades in the market. The visit gave me new faith in one thing: the market can go on without ivory. If ivory trade became illegal, not much would change in China, but Africa’s elephants would be saved.

The schools we visited were filled with vibrant, sociable, intelligent kids, very much like children you meet in any part of the world. These children have the same fascination with elephants that any child would have. We showed them how “ivory jewels” were obtained. We watched as sadness and disbelief descended on the children like a


blanket. "So very cruel" they said. The message was so easy to pass across.

In all this, we continued to look for this elusive “middle class,” group that is said to be the growing consumers of ivory. As I consider myself to be part of this group in global terms, I looked for people who dressed like me, talked like me, and had similar aspirations. I came up short – the middle class does not appear to be fuelling the problem. I found myself feeling ashamed to have blamed an entire nation for a trade that only a few engage in.

I also began to ask questions about the market, some of which were answered by research being conducted currently. Anecdotally, we learned that although the famous 2008 One-Off Sale of ivory sanctioned by CITES may have triggered the rising demand, there is need to painstakingly look at the dynamics in China. In 2006 for example, China declared Ivory Carving an “Intangible Cultural Art” to be preserved, and later, they began official ivory auctions, a category of trade we call the “grey market.” These auctions, coupled with the global economic crash which heavily affected Chinese real estate, is in my opinion a major cause of the rising killings; the potential reason why Africa lost 100,000 elephants between 2010 and 2012 to the ivory trade. In 2012, this grey market was


closed, and since then, it appears to have gone underground. This may explain the slight dip in the poaching in 2013.

Our voyage across China not only filled me with hope, but spawned new energy to focus on the select group of people who are investing in ivory. These are the baofahu – the suddenly rich who may number less that 1% of the Chinese populace, but hold the entire African elephant population in their hands. These people are purchasing legal ivory wherever they can, including Paris, where Chinese buyers bought most of France’s auctioned ivory just months ago. They are also trading relentlessly on the black market. We confirmed this from Chris’ experience in the market. We saw posts from sellers and buyers on Weibo, Chinese Facebook equivalent, and heard about underground ivory auctions. Together, these edge the price of ivory higher and higher ever year. We now know the people we need to reach.

But how? Chinese people hold the key. Regular Chinese can be the first beacons. With multitudes speaking

about this issue, I’m certain there will be a growing push to stop the trade. To reach government, the second beacon may be the most important. Among all the actors in the ivory trade – those fighting it and those driving it – Chinese conservation groups have been silent. In almost every country pushing for a revolution, civil society has been an active participant. The short-term policy actions we can push for with this group include decisively shutting down online markets, including on mega e-business platforms, and dealing with the underground ivory auctions. Ultimately, it is this group that may hold the key to getting the Chinese government to shut down domestic markets altogether. Now is the time to engage them.

Proud to have been part of this first dialogue, I look forward to more African involvement, and hope we show how much this trade affects us. I hope more collaborations between us will result in an end to the blame game. I hope we can come together to end the ivory trade, which has posed the greatest threat to elephants in our time.

Left: Resson Kantai Duff, Christopher Kiarie and Gao Yufang.Right: Resson looking at ivory in a shop.


When your continued existence relies mainly on the income from a stream of visitors

experiencing a safe and memorable adventure, you have to be sure your staff are “at the top of their game”.

On a rhino tracking experience at Ziwa Rhino Sanctuary (ZRS) in Uganda, visitors are privileged to walk in Wildlife country through grassland and

woodland to view, close up, wild White rhinos. They will be led by a guide who is knowledgeable, approachable, interesting and, above all, safety-conscious. To achieve the appropriate level of professionalism, the six- step process the guide has to go through is so rigorously assessed that few survive.

Those who start the process will already be working in the reserve, probably as a trainee or senior ranger, but many rangers with excellent field skills in tracking and monitoring rhinos do not have the skills needed for guiding. But everyone who wants to is given the chance.

Step 1 - LEARNThe guide is the ‘font of all knowledge’ and will be confronted by a surprising diversity of questions that the visitors will ask and will expect answers to. There is nothing more disappointing than a guide who appears clueless.

The first step in turning a Ziwa scout into a Ziwa guide is for the applicant to demonstrate a sound knowledge of the history of rhinos in Uganda, of the

is a rhino ecologist, who writes and broadcasts about the species from Africa and Europe. He has an MSc in Conservation Biology and a PhD based on research into individual rhino identification

and social behaviour. He is a frequent contributor to SWARA.

Felix Patton



history of Rhino Fund Uganda (the NGO behind the development of ZRS), of the rhinos in the sanctuary, of rhino conservation, biology and behaviour, and a whole lot more especially to ensure the safety of visitors. Before moving to the next step, the trainee guide has to take a written knowledge test with a pass mark of 90% plus!

Step 2 - SKILL A guide must be able to impart knowledge in a professional manner,

using language that visitors understand (remembering that some might not have strong English) and in a clear and pleasant manner. A guide must both look the part and act the part.

To ‘look the part’ requires the individual to be clean and well groomed with a fault free uniform. To ‘act the

part’ requires social skills – a pleasant demeanour, smiling face and the ability to talk to visitors while making eye contact with all members of a group. This last facet is not so easy for many Ugandans brought up in rural areas, who initially find talking to Western tourists intimidating. When addressing a tourist group the guide must make eye contact with everyone, not stopping too long on one person, as this may make that person uncomfortable. Many scouts fail to learn this skill.

The guide needs to be intelligible, giving a clear and audible presentation throughout the guiding experience again remembering that some visitors might not have strong English. The KISS principle is taught – Keep It Simple Stupid – using short sentences with easy words spoken slowly and with good enunciation. This may sound obvious but most presenters when nervous or over-enthusiastic tend to speak too quickly and not clearly.

A ‘reverse’ problem can be the guide’s ability, or not, to understand a question that has been asked. Visitors are quickly irritated when they are given an answer to a different question to theirs due to a misunderstanding of the original question. Ugandans like to please and will say anything rather than ask the questioner to repeat their question another way. The challenge is to get the trainee to realise that doing so is not a sign of ignorance or weakness on their part.

The best way to overcome errors of communication is by practice. As it is not acceptable to practice on guests, accredited guides and volunteers are used. The volunteer programme at Ziwa brings many young Europeans to the sanctuary, who work with, and become friendly with, the scouts. This interaction is particularly helpful in reducing the guides” ‘fear’ factor.

Training, practice and assessment of progress for these skills is undertaken in controlled conditions around the offices. The final assessment is carried out by the Sanctuary Technical Adviser and only then does the field training begin.


Left Page: A Ziwa Rhino Sanctuary guide with visitors observing the rhinos.Top: Trainees taking the Knowledge test.Middle: Trainee practicing the Briefing.Bottom: The trainee must learn to handle a large group.


Step 3 - TRAINThe rhino tracking experience at Ziwa starts with a briefing which involves a welcome, a short history of the rhino re-introduction programme and safety instructions. Prior to introducing specialist training, guides were spending too much time making visitors stand in the hot sun while telling them the names, ages, birth dates and more for each rhino while the guests were itching to get in the field to see the animals. Written guidelines as to the content of the briefing are given to all guides especially to ensure that the safety instructions are clearly communicated to the visitors. Walking in the bush to see wild animals is not without its risks and it is the responsibility of the guide to keep the visitors safe.

Practice makes perfect so again other guides and volunteers help the trainee perfect their briefing. When it is clear that the trainee can regularly deliver a satisfactory briefing, field training starts in earnest.

Step 4 - WATCHHaving gained the right level of knowledge and shown the ability to impart this knowledge in a professional manner, the final steps are to demonstrate that the trainee can take the responsibility of a group of visitors and deliver a safe and enjoyable

experience in rhino tracking as they have been shown in training.

Initially, trainee guides accompany an experienced guide, usually the Guide Manager and/or the Senior Guide, as an observer. This enables them to see how an experienced guide imparts information to clients especially using the “show not tell” approach. What this entails is best described by way of an example: a rhino has three toes – two small oval side toes and one larger more triangular front toe, all with toenails that leave an impression on soft soil


1. Guests receiving the briefingGuide showing guests:2. A rhino’s track3. Rhino dung at a midden4. Rhino footprints5. Acacia for medicinal use6. Share butter tree7. The toothbrush tree


when the rhino is walking. Rather than just say this to the visitors, the guide will gather the group around the spoor, crouch down and point out the outline of the toes with a finger. If the ground is hard and there is no spoor, the guide will scratch the footprint out on the ground.

To ensure an interesting rhino tracking experience, on the way to the rhinos, the guide points out three or four rhino signs such as the trail, footprints, midden (dung pile), territorial male scrape marks while on the way back, the guide will point out special trees and plants such as those used for medicine and “the toothbrush tree”.

Most important though is safety, and each viewing of the rhinos presents different challenges. The guide may have a young group who do not appreciate the danger of getting too close, or a group of older, less athletic visitors who could never climb a tree, or the rhino is in some closed bush where the only option is to move in close but where a big group might make too much noise, or its in an open area where it may charge at 45km/hour which not even Usain Bolt can outrun!

There is a plethora of viewing scenarios and only with training and observing an experienced guide at work over a number of months does a trainee see how to handle each situation.

Step 5 - TRIALWhile accompanying and observing experienced guides in action, practice tracking sessions are arranged for trainees. These involve volunteers or staff but not clients until the Sanctuary Technical Adviser has confirmed that a satisfactory level of guiding has been reached. After this, the trainee is allowed to lead a group of visitors but only in the presence of an experienced guide who may intervene if they feel safety may be compromised and who will debrief the trainee at the end of the visit.

Step 6 - GUIDEWhen a trainee guide believes they have reached the required standard to carry out a successful rhino tracking experience with tourists, they apply for a ‘real life’ assessment by the Sanctuary Technical Adviser, taking out a group of

Find out more about Ziwa, its people, birds and animals, at:

www.rhinofund.org


Top: The scout becomes a guide on receiving his guiding certificate.Below: The hard won Certificate of Accreditation as a ZRS guide.

visitors. Even if approved at this point, the Executive Director of ZRS may, in exceptional circumstances, request an additional approval test.

The rigorously assessed, six step process that turns a scout into a guide enables visitors to ZRS to experience rhinos in the wild in a safe and memorable way. If, or more hopefully when, you visit Ziwa Rhino Sanctuary, please remember what your guide has been put through to get the job!


is a founder and Trustee Project Director of The Local Ocean Trust: Watamu Turtle Watch - a private, not for profit

organisation, which relies largely on public support. For more information about joining Friends of Local Ocean contact: [email protected] www.watamuturtles.comFB Local Ocean Trust

Nicky Parazzi


The oceans cover 71 % of the earth’s surface, play crucial roles in our global climate and

probably support the life of over 50% of all species on Earth. They hold the greatest diversity of major plant, animal and microbial groups. Oceans are the largest carbon sink on earth, provide 50% of the Earth’s oxygen, and 20% of our protein supply. That’s just for starters. So much of what the oceans can give us is unknown and more than likely will play an even greater, vital role in the future. The ocean is arguably one of the most romanticized elements on earth, yet probably the least respected. We have been told that our future could literally depend on the state of our Oceans. Treaties, agreements, quotas and conservation plans are touted with much pomp and ceremony. Most wash away with the tides. What happens under water, largely stays underwater.

In the excellent book ‘Fire in the Turtle House’, Osha Gray Davidson makes a simple case for the importance of our oceans. “Destroy all life on land, the ocean creatures will survive just fine. Given time they’ll even repopulate the land. But wipe out the organisms that inhabit the Oceans and all life on land is doomed.” Charles Clover’s End of the Line first published in 2004, exposed the madness of out of control commercial fisheries world wide - then.

Though little has changed in practice, more people are listening. Governments slow to heed well-researched fish stock data, continue to set quotas far above recommended levels. This is compounded by the arrogance of commercial fishing conglomerates. They openly break the law by disregarding the skewed quota limits, sometimes by more than double. And they get away with it. The bottom line is that the few who benefit connive with Governments and corrupt

Government officials and all are richer for turning a blind eye.

It is almost certain that the Blue Fin tuna will become extinct in the near future. Several giants of industry and many others are targeting and freezing the last of these majestic animals. One wonders if they are not willing the day they are gone. Blue Fin tuna could become one of the most valuable commodities on earth when the last one is killed.

All over the world marine fisheries are badly managed and mostly unsustainable. The impact on the oceans’ ecosystems is devastating and so is the knock-on effect for coastal communities and possibly world security. Scratch below the surface and it is clear that the Somali pirate problem and the massive exodus of desperate migrants from West Africa to Europe have close links to crashing artisanal

fish stocks – caused by uncontrolled, unsustainable large scale, largely foreign, commercial fisheries and their collusion with local Governments. Bad

coastal developments, tourism and pollution also have enormous negative impacts on our oceans, especially on inshore waters and coastal zones.

The madness is that with relatively little effort, there are many solutions. We need to keep hammering the fact that marine ecosystem services should and could benefit millions, maybe billions more people, if managed correctly. One of the problems is that few people have much of an understanding or respect for our oceans and this allows abuse. Most know very little about the ‘sea’ except it is blue and looks lovely on a sunny day. How many people speak out for anything marine except perhaps, Whales and Dolphins?

In Kenya, who cares when beach hotel developments destroy sea turtle nesting areas? How many people know of the importance of reefs or that

ThE PhILIPPINES Although a coral reef may appear healthy, the absence of certain important species can jeopardize its future. In the case of this reef, located off Panaon Island in the Philippines, overfishing had effectively wiped out the reef fish population, making the ecosystem unstable and prone to mass mortality.

ThE PhILIPPINES Insert: Good example of healthy reef ecosystem with good diversty of corals, fish and invertebrates.


ThE PhILIPPINESTop Left: Healthy coral reefs host an astonishing diversity of fish and invertebrates, as well as hard and soft corals. This reef, located off Panaon Island in the Philippines, is a good example of a healthy coral reef ecosystem.

WATAMU, KENyATop Right: Although not pristine, the reefs in the Watamu Marine National Park still host an interesting array of species. This nudibranch (a type of marine snail), Chromodoris fidelis, is a commonly sighted when diving of Watamu Beach.

ThE SEyChELLES Below Right: Intricate detail of individual polyps in a soft coral. Thousands of individual polyps work together to form the coral structure. Each one of these polyps in this picture is about 5mm. Picture taken at Cousin Island, the Seychelles.

corals are delicate living organisms, taking years to grow? Compare the attention the destruction of forests get in comparison to marine reefs and the poaching of iconic species such as sea turtles to rhinos. How many equate the same importance to marine wildlife as they do to land wildlife? This has to change. For the future of our planet, the plight of the oceans must be addressed. Marine habitats must be protected and allowed to recover. Sustainable fisheries management, with precautionary quota levels must be stringently enforced. Better protection and management of our coastlines must start urgently.

Changes are happening. Small-scale fisheries employ about half of the world’s fishers and play a critical role in food security around the world. Recent studies show that expanding the world’s Marine Protected Areas (MPAs) will be crucial for the survival

of many important fish species. The knock-on effect for fisher folk and the world’s economy would of course be enormous. MPAs simply, allow fish stocks and marine habitats to thrive. The oceans are fluid and unlike protected areas on land, MPAs are not corralled. It can take as little as two years to see a difference once an area is established and sustainably managed. Once fish populations recover, there are two potential benefits. Firstly ‘adult spillover’, whereby the density of animals inside the MPA becomes so high they spill over into the surrounding areas. The second is by “recruitment subsidy”, meaning adult fish inside MPAs produce large amount of eggs and larvae. These flow out and settle in areas far from the MPA.

Pristine MPAs also make extremely valuable contributions to the world’s marine tourist industry, worth over


$9 billion annually. Many feel that 40% of the oceans should now be protected, but a report led by The Nature Conservancy in 2013 warned that we need to look at ‘100% of the ocean’, if they are to completely recover. More specifically Tim McClanahan of the World Conservation Society (WCS) stated that, “if you lose species with key functions, then you undermine the ability of the ocean to provide food and other ecological services, which is a wake up call to protect vulnerable species and locations”. World leaders committed to protecting 10% of the oceans by 2020. Though this is on track, it has mostly been facilitated by the increase of a few large MPAs and not because MPAs per se have increased the world over. In fact of the 10,280 MPAs reviewed, most MPAs were not effectively managed or designed to best benefit marine biodiversity and the interests of people.

According to Dan Laffoley, Marine Vice-Chair of IUCN's World Commission on MPAs, "It is time to stop pretending more of the ocean is protected than it actually is. Understanding what is protected in the ocean and how it is protected is of paramount importance in driving global conservation efforts forward.” The other factor is that many existing MPAs are in remote areas, which have a low human impact anyway, but are included in the 10% equation. We need to be concerning ourselves with effectively managing areas where there is significant human impact, by setting up new MPAs and enforcing those already in place.

There are numerous examples around the world where MPAs or ‘no take zones’ have actually restarted areas previously destroyed by overfishing or other abuse such as pollution and bad coastal developments. Community MPA systems can also be very successful as long as there is serious community involvement, constant awareness and support for artisanal fishers while the area recovers.

Kenya has already scored - on paper anyway - by creating some of the world’s first National Marine Protected Areas in 1962 (later upgraded in 1968). In 2014, we urgently need to ensure they are still worthy of the accolade. To be effective MPAs must be stringently protected and managed correctly. Too many comprises can seriously compromise the integrity of MPAs. The interests of the likes of tourism, development and commercial fisheries for instance, are too often given priority over conserving MPAs. This is a problem Kenya has yet to overcome. Again it goes back to the level of understanding and affinity for the marine environment. How much


priority is the Government prepared to give to managing our marine resources well? Kenya has the opportunity to create an exceptional example for the benefits of MPAs, but a serious amount of work needs to be done.

Although setting up an effective global network of worldwide MPAs is no small task, there is already the knowledge and expertise to do this. Opponents of the MPA system, argue that such an endeavor would be too costly, (ref Balmford et al 2004), however this argument is nonsensical. A global MPA network conserving 20-30% of the world’s oceans, may cost between $5-19 billion annually to run. Although this is a large sum of money, it is less than the exorbitant Government subsidies dished out worldwide on largely unsustainable, industrial fisheries, which are so detrimental to the health of our oceans. Other positive gains and spinoffs already mentioned if worldwide fisheries were managed correctly, are numerous. A global MPA network would not only save the oceans, but possibly save the world. Perhaps it's the time we realized our planet truly is, Planet Ocean and gave it the respect it deserves.

Top: Watamu National Marine Park Beach

GREAT BARRIER REEF, AUSTRALIA Below: Pristine coral reef on the outer Great Barrier Reef, Australia. The reef in this picture features nearly 100% hard coral cover. The fragile coral structures are easily damaged by fishing gear or careless tourists.


There’s a herd of zebras grazing outside my door and a troop of Vervet monkeys relaxing in the

trees. I’m trying not to disturb them, but it can be difficult. Although the zebras seem satisfied eying me warily, any sudden move will cause them to gallop away into the bushes.

I am a recent graduate of Bowdoin College in Maine. For the next two months, I will be living at the Elsamere Field Station in Naivasha, Kenya – the childhood home of Born Free’s main character, Elsa the lioness. I am here assisting The Peregrine Fund’s African

Fish Eagle and Augur Buzzard projects, which aim to understand how human-caused habitat changes are affecting their distribution and abundance.

Tourists are few and far between due to local issues with security and unrest in Somalia; regardless, the field station continues to operate. Streams of Kenyan school children flow through on an almost daily basis, where they learn key conservation concepts and are shown the benefits of their environment. It has frequent non-human visitors as well. A troop of baboons has recently decided to raid the camp every other day, despite having to evade the giraffe herds that methodically meander by.

What makes my stay even better is that I have the best excuse to walk with wildlife: I’m assisting out with a long-term study on raptors. This means that as part of my volunteer description, I have to bolt after Augur Buzzards as they circle over herds of grazing wildebeest, or track African Fish Eagles as they torment groups of terrified Cormorants. It beats the classroom any day.

Although I have traveled extensively, this is the first time I have been in the southern hemisphere. All my life I have heard about the beauty of Africa, seen it in pictures, even visited replicas at a

zoo. But it’s often stated that nothing compares to the real thing, and Kenya does not disappoint. I’ve dined near hippos, shared fish with eagles, and competed in a staring contest with a baboon (which, admittedly, I lost). The wildlife in Kenya is incredible, but my amazement makes me somewhat sad.

Let me explain. I am sure many Americans will

remember gasoline prices in the early

An American off School learns key wildlife lessons volunteering in Kenya

recently graduated from Bowdoin College with a B.A. in Biology and Environmental Studies. He has worked with the National Park Service on tracking the impact of the white nose syndrome

epidemic on bats in Acadia National Park, and is finishing his raptor projects with the Peregrine Fund. He now works with the US Geological Survey in Maryland.

Adam Eichenwald

Top Right: A baboon is caught in the act of opening a vat of water. Bottom Right: A pride of lions hunt and travel together through the grasses of Nairobi National Park. Today, lions are rarely – if ever – found in Hell’s Gate National Park.Left: The author standing on Crescent Island, a game park on Lake Naivasha. The island houses large numbers of nesting African fish eagles.


1990s. To fill up your car in the United States, you were charged about a dollar per gallon. Today, those prices have leapt to $3.70 per gallon. Although most drivers would consider that expensive, my generation does not have the personal history to place what we see in context. Instead, we marvel at the cheap cost of a $3.40. For those of us who never experienced low prices, we’ll never know how driving used to be.

The same holds true for the animals here. Black kites fill the skies over Nairobi, Malachite kingfishers line the edge of Lake Naivasha, and Rüppell’s vultures nest in large groups on the rocky cliffs at Hell’s Gate. I’ve tracked a Falcon as it dove at swarming Swifts and cheered as African Fish Eagles battled for control of their territories. And yet all the Kenyans I’ve met have shaken their heads sadly at the sight: “Twenty years ago, this was absolutely amazing,” they say. “It’s now a shadow of what it used to be.” And it’s true. The

number of African Fish Eagles recorded around Lake Naivasha has dropped since 1970, and many African vultures have been poisoned - four species have even been listed as endangered

The wildlife here is in sharp decline, and yet after only a few days it has successfully staggered me with its presence and diversity. To return to my analogy, the baseline has now been set at $3.40, while many Kenyans remember when their animals were a metaphorical nickel a gallon. Of course, this isn’t exactly news. Plenty of smart

Top left: A secretary bird hunts for food in Hell’s Gate National Park. Bottom left: A vervet monkey sits for a moment after chasing a fellow monkey in Mundui, Naivasha. Top right: an African fish eagle sits proudly on a perch overlooking Lake Naivasha in the early morning. Bottom right: a family of cormorants nest in acacia trees now submerged by the risen lake waters.


and dedicated people are battling to save African wildlife for this very reason.

No, my first reflections hit closer to the country I call home. If an animal population in the midst of a precipitous decline amazed me, how low was my previous baseline? We know that – in the United States – species like the Passenger Pigeon used to blot out the skies while buffalo herds rumbled across the plains. But the length of time between their loss and current conservation efforts has been so long that any reference point has been set exceptionally low. Therefore, it is difficult to say when a fight to save a species has been successful. Although we may remove the animal from the endangered species list, its prevalence could still be a shadow of its past abundance.

African conservation is immensely important, but the lessons learned here are applicable in the northern hemisphere as well. The wildlife here is under siege, but as an American I don’t have the perspective to truly

understand the battle. Therefore, I feel that conservationists in Africa raise a vital series of questions for their counterparts in the West. Should we really be satisfied if we can bring an animal back from the brink of extinction? Or do we keep pushing to bring the species back to its former glory – a glory that perhaps no living American can remember?

It is true that – in the U.S. – we have wildlife reserves, national parks, and the like. But I feel that – despite the presence of the natural world – much of the country gives off a feeling of sterility. Wildlife is seen as a nuisance, or as something that gets in the way of human progress. I get that same feeling from many Kenyans as well. Those who see wildlife as an important resource, however, are in much smaller numbers. The work of The Peregrine Fund and other conservation organizations, then, strikes me to be crucially important.

Working with local communities, developing local capacities, and undertaking scientific research is key to increasing the human ability to conserve the environment. However, I also think it’s extremely difficult to reliably measure and evaluate successes in outreach and education programs. But one cannot give up. Although these things take time and there are only minimal funds available for wildlife conservation – making it vital to allocate resources to animals that need it most – I feel that we can’t ever claim to have finished saving a species. Our baseline is much too low for that. This is why the development of local conservation capacity is so essential. We can’t be everywhere and do everything – but so long as there are like-minded people in the world, we won’t have to.

Adam’s stay was facilitated by the Peregrine Fund.

The author feeding a tamed klipspringer near Kongoni lodge. The lodge is situated next to a territory for augur buzzards, who feed on the ground rodents living nearby.


As the dust settles on the dry Merille river bed in Melako Conservancy, 20 young warriors

give each other high fives and sing a victory song. They collect their spears from the river bank and head home after another competitive football game in the Melako Conservation Cup.

Football, oryx, warriors- it’s an unusual combination but this is how Melako Community Conservancy in Northern Kenya and Zoos Victoria

An Australian Zoo, Kenyan Warriors and Football Unite for Conservation

in Australia are helping to secure the future of Wildlife and communities in the northern Kenyan rangelands, through innovative conservation and community development initiatives.

I'll get back to soccer in a moment, first let’s take a quick look at the Melako Conservancy- Zoos Victoria partnership that began back in 2008.

Melako Conservancy covers 380,000 hectares of arid rangelands and is one of 26 community conservation areas operating under the Northern Rangelands Trust banner. NRT’s mission is to develop resilient community conservancies which transform people’s lives, secure peace and conserve natural resources.

Melako Conservancy is home to approximately 40,000 people, who are predominantly Rendille, and whose main livelihood revolves around nomadic pastoralism. Zoos Victoria is working with the conservancy to protect and increase Wildlife populations, particularly the Grevy’s Zebra and Beisa Oryx ,while also focusing on conservation education and sustainable development.

So why a zoo? Zoos Victoria is a Zoo Based Conservation Organisation, which means that we work locally and globally to deliver conservation activities that secure

Brooke Squires has a BSc in zoology and

a Masters in International Community

Development and has been working

for Zoos Victoria for over 20years, first

as a rhino keeper then in International

Partnerships. Brooke's role is to work with

communities to create programs that

alleviate community driven threats to Wildlife while benefitting

local people.

By Brooke Squires

Above: Melako Conservation Cup logo Below: Team Oryx


Wildlife populations. We are passionate about alleviating conservation threats, developing sustainable alternative livelihoods and encouraging support for community conservation that deliver tangible benefits for both people and Wildlife.

With just on two million visitors a year to our three properties located in and around Melbourne, we are essentially a huge shop front for

conservation. Our strength is in the ability to use our Wildlife to engage our visitors in supporting environmental activites through targeted conservation campaigns. We connect our visitors with the unique species in our zoo, we explain the conservation threat being driven by either our visitor or by a community living alongside the animals represented in our collection, we then ask our visitors to do one thing, one action, one behavior that can make a tangible difference. We call this Connect- Understand- Act and the model is based on sound conservation science, education, community development and social sciences.

Since the beginning of the partnership we have supported the operations of the Melako rangers recognising that these incredible people are on the frontline protecting the conservancy while also monitoring and managing the Wildlife.

Melako and Zoos Victoria are also working with 15 schools in the conservancy to integrate conservation education into the curriculum while also building capacity of the teachers to teach conservation and the importance of Wildlife to the people, the livestock and the rangelands of northern Kenya.In 2009 Zoos Victoria began its

partnership with NRT Trading, the business and enterprise branch of NRT, to sell the beautiful beadwork created by the women of the NRT conservancies including Melako. With Zoos Victoria providing just on 90% of the market for the beads, this partnership has helped to support 900 women through the sale of over 150,000 pieces of beadwork. This is where a zoo can be perfectly placed to support conservation and sustainable enterprise through their animal collections. When visitors come to our zoo, we help them fall in love with our plains zebra (yes it is possible for a zebra to outshine giraffe if you know the right way to influence people), we let our visitors know the challenges facing their wild cousins in Melako, the Grevys zebra, due to lack of enterprise opportunities - then we offer a solution- buy a piece of beadwork and you will support the Grevys zebra and sustainable livelihoods of the women in

Top Left: Hi 5’s! Merille river Football pitch Top Right: Beisa oryxBelow Right: Plains and Grevy’s zebraBottom: Beads for Wildlife


Melako. Connect- Understand-Act. It’s that simple.

Zoos Victoria, Melako and NRT trading have also endeavored to measure the conservation and social benefits of this enterprise, to ensure that it is still meeting the needs of the people while benefiting Wildlife, and to

see where the gaps in our knowledge are and where future opportunities lie.

So back to the football. Like many cultures in northern Kenya, young men between the ages of 13 and 25 in the Rendille community of Melako, undergo initiation to become a warrior. The role of Melako’s warriors is to protect the

community, acquire livestock and develop skills to become wise and strong leaders of the future. But times are changing and the role of the warrior is changing. These young men have more time on their hands and less resources. The warriors of Melako are engaging in

conflict with rival groups, cattle rustling and harming Wildlife to pass the time; to prove leadership skills; to have fun and to obtain or protect resources. The key species under threat from this process are the Grevy’s zebra, oryx, giraffe and gerenuk. These are the ambassador species for the programme.

When the community raised the issue of the warriors as a concern, we all wondered if there was an alternative to relieve boredom, prove leadership skills and have fun. So we asked the warriors “ what would you like to do with your idle time instead of activities that involve conflict or harming Wildlife”

Top: Football Melako styleBelow: Melako Warriors


The answer was clear “We’d like to play football! We’ve never played it but we know it’s addictive”.

So we organized some footballs, but not just any old footballs but One World Futbol’s indestructible footballs. Over the years of playing in the harsh northern Kenyan bush, you soon realize that most footballs don’t last very long. They either get trampled by camels, pierced by acacia thorns or stolen by hyenas. We knew we needed a ball that could be tough enough for all of this plus withstand warrior games and an OWF indestructible ball was the solution.

Using a river bed as a football field and elephant dung or branches for goals, we suddenly realized this might actually work- as long as the players left their weapons off the field!

One year on Melako has 260 warriors in 13 teams with another three teams in the making. The teams are named after the very Wildlife their lifestyles were threatening. Each team selected its own Wildlife mascot, printed on the team shirt. The team tries to embody the quality of that animal in their game. Team giraffe are tall and graceful, team oryx are strong and proud, team ostrich are fast and colourful and team dikdik are quick and loyal. Using this simple tool we were able to observe a very quick reinforcement of values or positive attitudes towards the Wildlife selected as mascots.

We also have 32 coaches and referees trained in conservation football. Conservation Football is different to regular football in that the teams earn points for performing conservation actions that are relevant to the community and especially the warriors, as well as winning marches, displaying respect, turning up to practice matches and games. In this way the socially and conservation conscious team will win, not just the team who is best on the field.

How do we measure Success?In recent years, the gap between the community and the warriors has been growing as the role of the warrior changes and they question their relevance within the community and their culture. This has resulted in a decrease in self-worth, pride and confidence. Keeping the programme relevant is important so we check in with the warriors regularly to make sure that the programme is still fun, creating leadership opportunities, discipline

Name: Reet LokuruPosition: Captain Nairibie Village- team Grevy’sZebra (loibor lkurum);

Why do you want to play football: I love football because it’s fun, before i was killing Wildlife and herding livestock- but this only brings trouble and has no future.

Why is the grevys zebra a good mascot?: Grevys zebra are beautiful in colour and the people like them because they remind them of a donkey which is useful and they also like. The zebra here are tough like the people of melako.

Team Grevy’s Zebra


We measure the Wildlife impact by surveying the flight distance of the key species. In theory when Wildlife is being harmed or harassed it is much more difficult to get close to them- LARGE flight distance. When Wildlife feel relaxed and calm and not harassed by people it is easier to get closer to them therefore a SMALL flight distance.

The Melako rangers are therefore measuring changes in flight distance over time. Most of the warriors in the program have never had the opportunity to go to school, therefore we developed communications tools to deliver key messages that were very visual and appealed to the warriors.

The logo for the program is a visual representation of “Love Soccer, Love an Oryx”, the oryx is part of the conservancy logo.

and building social cohesion- one of the drivers to warriors harming Wildlife in the first place, as well as increasing feelings of self worth.

Being part of a team is really important. Working together in a team and 16 teams working together to form a league, encourages discussion, conflict resolution through sport not through conflict encounters and cattle raids, which also impacts Wildlife.

To help Wildlife in Melako is not just a matter of engaging the warriors in a new action, it is also about understanding the warriors attitude towards Wildlife and the conservancy and their ecological knowledge of Wildlife.

We also conduct surveys to look at:• influenceoftraditionalstorieson

attitudes towards Wildlife• perceptionsoflocalWildlife;• ecologicalknowledge,• knowledgeof,andattitudetowards

Melako Conservancy • attitudetowardsthefootball

program.

Fostering positive attitudes towards Wildlife while increasing relevant ecological knowledge is also a measure of success. We are working with the Melako Rangers to measure the direct impact of the program on key Wildlife such as Grevy’s zebra, oryx, gerenuk, giraffe and dikdik.

Ache Oleng! is Rendille for thank you and reinforces ownership ….thank you for being such great custodians of your Wildlife such as the oryx.

The wristbands were nominated as a high value item by the warriors and reinforce the key message of “Love Soccer, Love an Oryx”.

Every warrior in the programme wears a wristband and this reinforces the warrior being part of a league committed to Wildlife conservation and to reducing conflict in their community.

Delivering messages around conflict alleviation and conservation education in a fun and engaging way is also an important aspect of the

Top: Team GerenukTop Left: Warriors leading their programBelow Left: Warrior Wristbands


football program. Warriors know best how to talk to warriors, therefore we created Warrior Conservation Theatre Groups to deliver peace conservation messages to their fellow warriors in a culturally appropriate and effective manner. The four groups will also be utilised to engage the schools and broader community with conservation education. In the future the Warrior Theatre group could be utilised for health and gender related, sustainable development messages.

Within the conservancies, the warriors have the potential to make or break any conservation related activities. This is due to their mobility across the conservancy, and their willingness to engage in conflict to protect their livestock and grazing systems from external threats. This conflict has a direct impact on communities and Wildlife. The impact the warriors have on conservancy activities is often underestimated, this is why it is imperative to involve the

warriors in the governance and decision making process of the conservancy.

The football is also a platform to engage the warriors in programs that allow them access to education, business and enterprise programs and microcredit schemes. In the future this will allow warriors better opportunities to diversify their livelihoods beyond pastoralism.

Sport programmes for young men and warriors are becoming more popular across northern Kenya. Sport is a great platform for engagement with a range of issues from HIV education to conflict resolution to social enterprise. How is the Melako Conservation Cup different? Direct behaviour change- from warriors using idle time to harm Wildlife and engage in conflict to using

that idle time to play football. With Zoos Victoria and Melako able to measure the tangible outcomes for the warriors, the community and the Wildlife.

Now our biggest challenge is keeping the goats off the pitch!

Special note: Zoos Victoria would never have been able to initiate this program without the support and trust of the Melako community, conservancy rangers, staff and board. We have been able to draw on the expertise of NRT and Redmac Theatre Youth Group to engage the warriors of Melako in the program.

www.zoo.org.auemail: [email protected]

Top Left: Melako Ranger Training Top Right: Melako Warriors dancingBelow: Goats on the pitch


is an entomologist and evolutionary ecologist broadly interested in life on the planet and natural history. He studies the intricate connections between insects and the way the world works and how

they keep the planet running.

Dino Martins

Exuberance is an inadequate way describe it. A frenzy of life engaging in a youthful, yet

ancient, fertility ritual. Suffused with perfume, colour, hairy bodies, furtive groping, pollen baskets and a glut of luscious nectar and ripe, fertile pollen. Guided by both visible and invisible lines, evident only to eyes whose long, complex history allows vision to extend into the ultra-violet end of the rainbows’ spectrum. This is the daily dance of life when rains have drummed down and brought life back to the dust and thorns.

Standing here at the edge of a farmers’ field at the edge of Kenya’s Kerio Valley, on a piercingly bright July morning, insects and plants are fully engaged in their never-ending pantheon of life and love. The air hums with life. In the distance the voices of wood hoopoes, children and cicadas all blended into a single energetic medley. Sunbirds twitter from the lines of the fence. Harvester ants plod along diligently as termites rattle their insomniac discontent from their cloistered towers nearby.

But it is the play unfolding on the flowers that is most captivating. The flowers of a strange, delicate and untidy creeper, Mormodica, are being dipped into by an aerial scramble of wild bees. This oft-overlooked plant, is properly known as Mormodica foetida, and as the name suggests, the flowers can

exude a rather musty, cloying odour. Peering closely a glimpse is to be had of someone rare and special. For in a bizarre departure from the norm, Mormodica flowers taunt their visitors not with nectar, but with special oils, in return for the favour of helping out with plant sex: i.e. transferring their pollen.

In the space of just a few minutes, a number of bees dart in and out of the flowers before me. Most of them are fairly small, but then, out of the corner of my eye, a metallic glint reveals all: one of the very special bees has arrived. This bee is legendary, exquisite and rarely observed at work on these flowers! And certainly not ever at this site in Kerio Valley. This is a very special bee for such a very special flower. For this bee can gather oils from the flower, which it has evolved to do so over millions of years, and is one of the most specialised bees in all of Africa.

The bee is one of the Oil-Collecting Bees, known as Ctenoplectra, and one of the most elegant of all our native, solitary bees. They are gorgeous creatures, appearing dark and shiny, but in the right angle of sunlight revealing the intense metallic hues that lie within their coat of armour: their exoskeleton.

But of course, I have become hopelessly distracted here. I always promise myself that I won’t do this, but there is something deliciously heady about the coming of the rains, and subsequently the insects and flowers, in the African bush. I always promise myself over and over not to become distracted. So, despite the temptation to spend the whole morning waiting for A Bee Peeks Out From A Mormodica Flower.


another rarity to show its face, more practical matters are at hand.

This microcosm of life and earthly pleasures is the edge of a small-scale farmers’ passion fruit field. And passion fruit is one of those many crops whose sweetness we enjoy thanks to the tireless efforts of pollinators. And of course, just as man cannot live on bread alone, pollinators who do us the favour of pollinating our crops, also need sustenance from a wide range of sources. And this is the purpose of this day: to follow bees and watch them feed from weeds and wildflowers.

For without the weeds and wildflowers there would be no bees about. And without the bees the passion fruit flowers would not be pollinated and there would be no passion fruit to harvest. And passion fruit is currently fetching 80 KShs a kilo (just under 1 US $), and this single farm, with just an acre of passion fruit, has been steadily harvesting between 20 to 50 kilos weekly for the past couple of months.

Natural habitat, containing plants that provide forage, is probably the single most important aspect for pollinator survival. All wild insect pollinators in East Africa are dependent on natural areas for both forage in the form of wildflowers, sites for nesting and have co-evolved over millions of years with the wild plants that they pollinate. The publication of the Flora of Tropical East Africa was recently completed and over 12,000 species are described as part of this. Globally

there are over 300,000 described species of flowering plants. Two-thirds of all flowering plants are dependent on wild pollinators.

Across East Africa, most farming areas are adjacent to some form of natural habitat. This could take the form of

a small verge of wildflowers and grasses, a fallow area for pasture or tracts of protected habitats in national parks or forest reserves. All these different areas are important for pollinator conservation.

Bees are the most important group of insect pollinators. Bees are entirely dependent on pollen and nectar from flowers for their survival. Some bees, such as honeybees and stingless bees, convert nectar into stores of honey. Most bees, especially the solitary bees, collect pollen and store this as food for their larvae. Many bees only forage a short distance from where they build their nests, so having a diversity of wildflowers close to their nesting sites is important.

The more diversity of plants that are present and flowering across seasons, the better the conditions for bees. In different habitats, different kinds of plants will be important for bees. In seasonal areas (which is most of Kenya) both annual and perennial plants are important. Wildflowers that grow at the edges of forests or woodland areas tend to flower for longer periods of time and support bees. There are some types of wildflowers that are particularly attractive to bees. These include species of Ocimum, Justicia, Leucas, Bidens, Indigofera, Crotolaria, Cleome, Commicarpus, Barleria, Aspilia, Crassocephalum, Emilia, Gutenbergia and Vernonia.

So how does this connect with passion fruit? Firstly, we need to understand the importance of passion fruit

Top: Rare Oil-Collecting Bees Hide Inside Mormodica Flowers.Bottom: The Oil-Collecting Bee, Ctenoplectra.



and the horticultural sector in East Africa. Passion fruit is a crop that is growing in popularity as it has a ready cash market and can be harvested for extended periods of time once the vines are established. Harvests here in the Kerio Valley, are typically done once a week at pre-arranged times when brokers from nearby Iten and Eldoret town come to the farms.

There are two levels of brokers: those who purchase from farmers locally, and then re-sell to a further larger-scale broker in Eldoret town. Demand for passion fruit is high and they are transported from the Kerio Valley in Kenya into Uganda as well as to Nairobi for sale in markets as well as to brokers who buy fruit for use in making passion fruit juice. Passion fruit enables farmers to pay their childrens’ school fees, purchase inputs for their farms and save

money for improving their lives and livelihoods.

Passion fruit flowers are complex with anthers arranged above a ‘ring’ and the nectaries even have lids on them. It takes a hefty pollinator to lift the lid to the nectary so as to access the nectar. Passion fruits are 100 % dependent on pollination in order to set fruit.

The most efficient pollinators of Passion fruit flowers are large Carpenter bees (mainly Xylocopa spp.), honeybees are not as efficient pollinators of passion fruit unless they visit in very large numbers (and compete at the flowers in small numbers). From work at other site in East Africa, sometimes farmers mistake the large Carpenter bees for beetles and kill them. Without these pollinators there would be no passion fruit for us to eat, sell or make juice from.

At this site in the Kerio Valley, passion fruit is mainly pollinated by two different subspecies of honeybees (the Common Honeybee, Apis mellifera scutellata and the Mountain Honeybee Apis mellifera monticola, who ventures here from its high altitude enclaves in the nearby Cherangani Hills). In contrast with some other parts of East Africa, carpenter bees (Xylocopa spp.) were not observed among flower visitors. This was a surprise, as we expected them to be the main pollinators.

Top: A Honeybee visiting a Common weed, the 'Black-Jack' (Bidens Pilosa) and a view of the edge of a passionfruit farm showing the diversity of plants in a natural hedgerow.Bottom: The edge of a fallow strip alongside a farm is home to a host of wildflowers that support pollinators.


larger numbers of Carpenter bees were present, they were not observed visiting the passion fruit flowers, even when they nested and foraged on hedgerows belonging to passion fruit fields. So at this site it appears that these two honeybee subspecies, originating both from managed hives and wild colonies, are the main pollinators of passion fruit.

So what does this have to do with weeds and wildflowers? Quite simply: everything. For the honeybees need a great diversity of plants to feed from to survive and maintain healthy colonies with high numbers of bees. Most of the

farms growing passion fruit in this part of the world have hedgerows. These are of greatly varying age, density and wildflower species diversity, but all provide the essential nutrition for bees. Hedgerows here include a few creepers growing on a barbed-wire fence, more organised forms with planted species (sometimes exotics), to semi-natural hedgerows where large numbers of indigenous plants have become established.

Following a single honeybee forager over her mornings’ travels reveals that they visit the passion fruit flowers early in the morning, then immediately move on to weeds (including the ubiquitous ‘black-jack’ Bidens pilosa, whose clinging seeds are an annoyance to anyone who ventures into a shamba or field anywhere in East Africa). In the window of just a single hour, honeybees can be found foraging for nectar and/or pollen from over two dozen different kinds of plants here at this single farm alone.

These plants that allow the honeybees to survive include both common weeds as well as wildflowers that grow along the hedgerows and in fallow fields, the edges of maize fields, cattle bomas or alongside paths through the countryside.

Among the ‘star’ wildflowers of East Africa that support pollinators are species of the wild basil, Ocimum, and the poised, pretty flowers of Justicia as well as most kinds of wild daisies (Asteraceae, formerly known as ‘Compositae’). It is these humble, overlooked plants that keep the pollinators going. Springing to life in hidden places, or where we would trample them without a second glance, they are a vital link in the complex web of life. By protecting, nurturing and valuing these overlooked habitats, we can add so much to the health and productivity of our farms, gardens and landscapes.

Next time you find yourself at the unkempt edge of your garden, or in a weedy shamba, or stopping at a roadside verge, please take a moment to appreciate the diversity of the ‘weeds’ and wildflowers and the life they support.

At first we attributed the absence of the Carpenter bees and abundance of the two honeybee subspecies to it being the dry season. At other times of year, Carpenter bees are more common and visit crops in this region including runner beans, pigeon pea and cow pea. However, even following rains when

Top: passionfruits ripening on the vine: this crop has higher yields when pollinators have access to other plants around the farm.Below: two different honeybees visit a freshly opened passionfruit flower in the kerio valley.


Wildflowers that Support Passion fruit Pollinators

Blackjack, Bidens pilosa

Vernonia sp. (Asteraceae)

Sonchus sp.

Crotolaria sp.

Justicia sp.

Plectranthus sp.

Ipomoea sp.

Oldenlandia sp.

Black-eyed Susan’ Thunbergia alata.

Oldenlandia sp.

Commelina sp.

Anisopappus sp.


Wildflowers that Support Passion fruit Pollinators

Oxygonum sp.

Hypoestes sp.

Glycine wightii

Leucas sp.

Solanum sp.

Tagetes minuta

Sida sp.

Chenopodiaceae sp. plantedas a hedgerow

Hibiscus sp.

Lantana sp.

unidentified Asteraceae sp.

Bottle-brush, Callistemon, also used as a hedgerow plan.


Johannes Jacobus Genade is the owner/manager of Amuka Lodge set in the pristine woodlands

of Ziwa Rhino Sanctuary in central Uganda. This new build lodge was officially opened in August 2011 and marked the remarkable journey of Johan Genade from an army ‘squaddie’ into full time Wildlife conservation.

A native of Namibia, Johan was brought up in a small village on the edge of the Namib desert in southern Namibia. In a family of three brothers, much time was spent hiking and camping in the desert among some of the world’s most spectacular flora and fauna, not the least of which was the Namibian Oryx. After school, like many of his contemporaries, he was drafted

From tracking down terrorists to contributing to conservation

into the South African National Defence Force. There he stayed graduating through the ranks to become a Company Sergeant Major. An opportunity existed, and was accepted, to change from eight years of practical soldiering to work as an officer in Intelligence and Counter Intelligence where he stayed for a further eight years. With the expertise built up in managing security operations, Johan moved to the private sector in the Angolan mining industry managing administration and training for a security company. But a hankering after being his own boss saw him make a sea change by starting up a carpentry products business back in South Africa.

Wanderlust crept slowly back in and Johan sold up and moved back into the security world in Angola and then on to

is a rhino ecologist, who writes and broadcasts about the species from Africa and Europe. He has an MSc in Conservation Biology and a PhD based on research into individual rhino identification

and social behaviour. He is a frequent contributor to SWARA.

Felix Patton

Uganda, where his family joined him. In September 2008, Johan’s wife Angie was appointed as Executive Director of Rhino Fund Uganda based on the Ziwa Rhino Sanctuary, where the only wild rhinos in Uganda can be found. From this point on the whole Genade family immersed themselves in Wildlife conservation. The two sons worked as volunteers while Johan helped out when not at work in Kampala.

With the ever-present threat of poaching to Ziwa’s rhino population, upgrading the security systems was paramount. The expertise that Johan had gained in the military and industry was an asset not to be ignored. He took on the role of Security Adviser, recommending system changes, advising on personnel issues and


Johan second left in his army days


undertaking the basics of ranger training in discipline and teamwork. His most recent project is to establish and train a dedicated six-man anti-poaching unit with the ability to lay an ambush and undertake offensive and defensive actions.

Never one to miss an opportunity and wishing to put all his project management and practical skills to good use, Johan found that there had been a failed attempt to start a game lodge on the sanctuary. On close inspection and with some market research, Johan came to the conclusion that the failure had largely been caused by bad timing and a poor location. So strong was his belief that there was a niche in the market for a mid-range priced, quality facility that he decided to go ahead and take on the project himself with the help of his two sons. But what also drove the concept was the opportunity to create a new income stream in support of the rhino conservation project whereby a percentage of Lodge profits would

be channelled directly to Rhino Fund Uganda. “It was the perfect opportunity for me, with my family as part of the team, to embark on a project that has such important goals and diverse objectives” says Johan.

Having gained a concession from the landowner, Joe Roy, Johan set about designing a Lodge with a rustic feel reminiscent of a well-worn farmhouse and which would blend in with its surroundings. A combination of wood, stone and canvas was used including old, recovered mahogany beams and timber planks from a sawmill abandoned in the Budongo Forest some 30 years ago.

Construction of what is today a 10 bed, chalet based, facility with sun deck, plunge pool, restaurant and bar

Top Left: Instilling discipline in the rangers through drill

Below Left: A security meeting with Rhino Fund Uganda Executive Director Angie Genade

Top Middle clockwise: Johan hands on building the Lodge



all in an ‘African style’ was started in September 2010. The business employs 12 people from the local community supplemented by local contractors when required. Says Johan “the staff took enthusiastically to the rigorous training programme I put them through in order to meet the standards expected of an upmarket hotel and this has given them a real sense of responsibility in their work and pride in being part of the Amuka team.” In addition to gaining the Lodge concession, Johan

was later appointed by the board of the land owning company as a consultant charged with studying and reviewing the Uganda Wildlife Authority (UWA) approved management plan for the area and ensuring that the agreed actions were started. In this capacity he attends the annual UWA Wildlife User Rights meeting.

So what are the main tasks of Johan as owner/manager of Amuka Lodge? The easy answer, being the owner, is everything, of course, but Johan’s two

sons are fellow directors. “I always taught my sons to be respectful of their environment and of the Wildlife. Little did I know we would end up working together in our own conservation business”.

All three have specific responsibilities – Nico, 27, looks after the infrastructure and building development while Duan, 23, looks after the hospitality side not least the kitchen. This leaves Johan to only have to deal with personnel, reservations, marketing, product development, finance, logistics and the most enjoyable part of the job – being mine host to the guests! This aspect of the job is not to be under-rated as a key objective of the Lodge is to promote Wildlife conservation and especially rhino conservation in Uganda. Many guests have enjoyed the chats they have had with Johan over a drink around the campfire on conservation issues. As Johan says “Guests to the Lodge are potential ambassadors, donors or fund raisers for the conservation project. It is no chore for me to ensure they understand the importance of the work”.

Key to the success of any new Lodge enterprise is getting the accommodation as full as possible as often as possible. The majority of international tourists

Top Left: The Lodge staff Top Right: Training the chefsBelow Left: Planning with his sons and fellow directors Nico (left) and Duan (right)



travel through safari operators and a big challenge for any new business is to get on to their itinerary. Johan meets regularly with the operators using the Kampala/Murchison Falls route to encourage them to have a stop-over at Amuka Lodge and have their guests experience rhino tracking, bird and nature walks and even the chance to see the rare Shoebill. Johan’s research had also suggested that there was a big potential from people such as embassy staff, company and NGO managers and those involved with the International schools living just two hours or so away in Kampala/Entebbe as a getaway from the bustle of the city.

Much of Johan’s time and effort goes into marketing the Lodge using such as Facebook, Twitter, Trip Advisor and so on, building up a reputation for the Lodge as an ideal family friendly place for a long weekend or mid-week break. And by giving himself the responsibility for bookings, Johan can see the results of his marketing on a daily basis while keeping an eye on cash flow. Behind

the jovial ‘mine-host’ persona is an astute businessman who bases decisions on detailed financial and development planning.

Just about all the raw materials for the running of the Lodge have to come from Kampala, be it cement for building or steaks for cooking. Securing the supplies and arranging their transport to the

Lodge on a timely and cost efficient basis is a major logistics operation but one which, with his industrial experience, is right down Johan’s street.

They say you can take the man out of South Africa but you cannot take South Africa out of the man and this is fortunately true if you are lucky enough to taste a Johan prepared potjes from the braai!

Amuka Lodge is now entering its second expansion phase with the construction of five single bed chalets. Not one to stand by and watch others, Johan can often be seen with saw in hand putting his carpentry skills to good use. Johan is clearly proud of the achievement so far – “It’s extremely satisfying to see what started out as an idea on paper becoming a reality and then to have proved such a success that we are having to expand”.

Conservation is not just about rangers and researchers, NGO’s and donors. The tourist industry is the key provider of money and jobs essential in maintaining the Wildlife and its habitat. The role of the Lodge owner and manager should not go unnoticed. If all goes to plan, Amuka Lodge will make a significant financial contribution to the running of Ziwa Rhino Sanctuary which, in addition to the fees paid by Amuka guests for rhino tracking and other activities, will amount to some $35,000 per year and that will be down to Johan Genade’s vision and his ability to put it into practice.

Top: Financial planning with NicoBelow: Checking the braai with a guest


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Rhino horn has become such a valued illegal commodity that the Kenya Wildlife Service has White rhino mother and her months-old baby under 24-hour surveillance. I was privileged to spend an entire morning watching the bond between the two in Meru National Park - Shazaad Kasmani

Endangered and guarded from birth - a baby White rhino

SWARA OCTOBER - DECEMBER 2014 75 SWARA OCTOBER - DECEMBER 2014 75

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76 SWARA OCTOBER - DECEMBER 201476 SWARA OCTOBER - DECEMBER 2014

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Can apes survive extractive industries?

State of the Apes: Extractive Industries and Ape Conservation.

Cambridge University Press, 2014. By Helga Rainer, Alison White and Annette Lanjouw.

There seem to be endless laments

about the destruction of tropical

forests and the loss of the priceless

biodiversity that they hold. Images of

chainsaws felling giant trees, massive

pits dug in forests to extract minerals and

leaking oil pipelines fouling waterways

seem to tell the story of ‘development’ in

the tropics.

An impressive tome launched at the first

United Nations Environment Assembly (23-

27 June 2014) in Nairobi attempts to alter

our perceptions of what is possible. State

of the Apes: Extractive Industries and Ape

Conservation offers hope that it might be

possible to extract the raw materials that

society needs, and at the same time leave

behind most of the forests and the wildlife.

The Arcus Foundation, which is the

largest private financer of ape conservation

and welfare in the world,

produced the book, the first

of a series. Arcus “…accepts

the inevitability of extraction

in countries where apes live,

and looks for solutions that will

enable economic and social

development while conserving

the natural world…”.

"There's absolutely no doubt

that extractive industries are

severely impacting on apes

and their habitats," said Helga

Rainer, conservation director

of the Great Apes program at

Arcus and the lead editor of

the book.

“Only five out of 27 ape

species do not have a mining

project within their habitat...

and there is also an indirect

impact associated with infrastructure

development such as roads and railways,"

she added.

Andrew Seguya, Executive Director of the

Ugandan Wildlife Authority, also present at

the launch, illustrated the problems that face

cash-strapped governments. “We recently

discovered that huge iron ore deposits are

in the Bwindi National Park. The park holds

450 mountain gorillas, more than half the

total in existence. Applications have already

been filed [by mining companies].”

In response to a question about whether

mining would be allowed, Seguya said, “Our

laws do not allow mining in national parks.”

He did not know if the law would be

enough to hold off the mining, however.

The Arcus book presents case studies

of areas similar to Bwindi protected by law

that were mined and seriously impacted

by associated infrastructure and population

immigration. That is ‘bad’ development,

where governments give in to economic

pressure on an ad hoc basis, with little or

no planning.

The book advocates a number of

measures whereby ‘good’ development can

be achieved, which includes the survival

of our closest biological relatives, the ape

family.

“Constructive cooperation between

extractives, government and conservation

and environmental organizations can

help ensure that employment, economic

development and profit can be created

in ways that minimize the threats to

biodiversity and ecosystems. And

cooperation is crucial if the world’s gorillas,

chimpanzees, bonobos, orangutans and

gibbons are to survive”.

Reviewed Dan Stiles

Three invalubale guides – tailor-made for visitors

Animals of the Serengeti

Adam Scott Kennedy and Vicki Kennedy

Princeton Wild Guides

ISBN 978-691-15908-9

Birds of the Serengeti

Adam Scott Kennedy

Princeton Wild Guides

ISBN 978-0-691-15910-2

Wildlife of East Africa

A Photographic Guide

Dave Richards

Struik Nature

ISBN 978-1-77007-891-8

When I went to the Falkland Islands

earlier this year for the very first time. I

scoured around the Internet for some guides

to its unique Wildlife. I needed something

compact and not too learned for a two-

week visit; something that would help me

identify the main species I came across

on the moorland, above it, and on the

ocean and its edges. I was disappointed.

Thankfully Kenyan birdman Rupert Watson

had a now out-of-print bird guide so I could

sort out my Caracaras. It’s a super boom, if

heavy to carry around in one’s fishing bag.

But there was nothing that pulled together

the bird life, the plants, the penguins, the

seals and sea lions. I resorted to taking

notes in the day and trawling the Internet


plates. The book is divided into Birds of the

Plains, Birds of Marsh and Water, Birds of

Woodland, Scrub and Garden Acacia Scrub,

Village birds, Forest and Crater Highland, the

Air, Night Birds and Lake Victoria Specials.

Each section gets a separate and helpful

description, tying the type of vegetation to

real places so that they visitor has the book

open at the right place. Common names

are used with Latin version in an appendix.

The author says they aim of the book is to

enrich the experience of the traveller and

to “avoid OTJ - ornithological techno-jargon

– at all costs.” This it does well. A small tick

box is provided for the reader’s personal

checklist

There is an adequate map of the Greater

Serengeti area. A bigger, pullout map might

have been clumsy and detracted from the

pocket-ability of this book, which is one of

its many assets.

Reviewed Andy Hill

and differentiate. The text, including the

Swahili and Maa names, is built around

the image rather than the opposite, in so

many cases. There are easily digested fact

boxes about gestation periods, main points

of recognition, habitats and food as well

as generous descriptives of the species,

some of the myths they generate and

other idiosyncrasies that will turn visitors

into “experts” when they display the shots

they take. Also remarkable in this book is

a touching tribute to six guides to whom

the Scott Kennedys pay tribute. How many

other books do this? How many do not?

The layout makes it the kind of book you

want to have around because you can not

only identify and learn briskly, but savour

a bit more when time permits. The authors

say the book’s aims are to:

• Helpidentifyanyspeciesyouare

not sure about (you know it is a

mongoose, but which one/)

• Offerlotsofinterestingandeasily

digestible information

• Showyouthereissomuchmoreto

look out for than the Big Five.

And they have succeeded.

Birds of the Serengeti is a similar style

of guide, offering large, easy to examine

photographs of 270 different species in 480

at night. If I could stay awake after a day’s

battering at the hands of the weather.

Visitors to East Africa have no need

of a similar experience. Here are three

volumes that do exactly what they say on

the tin – introduce the novice and the not

so novice to the main species they are

likely to encounter with colour plates that

require neither magnifying class nor de-

mystification.

The inestimable Dave Richards pulls

together in 168 well-structured pages a

terrific guide for the visitor with a digital

camera who needs a quick reference as to

what that was. Wildlife Of East Africa – a

Photographic Guide is a treasure.

Most of the common varieties of

mammals, birds, reptiles, frogs, insects,

trees and flowers are covered here. The

plates are small, but of brilliant clarity. The

text is crisp and sparse and includes the

best places to view whatever is described.

Richards generously gives a bibliography

of more detailed guides, should one be

needed. Anyone on a two-week safari,

two-year assignment or residents planning

their first wildlife foray, needs this book.

The Scott Kennedy’s have performed a

similar service with Animals of the Serengeti,

pulling together fascinating insights in

minimal test and pictures of coffee table

book quality that really do help identify

All books reviewed are available at:

Souk Bookshop, Dagoreti Road

Bookstop, Yaya Centre


previously invisible adult Coypus to the water’s edge. Some even went into the grass towards the Fish Eagle tree. Interestingly, there was a subsequent scene of aggression between the two adults who had, we think now, been feeding the young. One must always be prudent with anthropomorphic interpretations but it looked very much like a “you were supposed to watch the kids” and “what about you, I at least tried to defend them while you plunged back into the water, you coward” type of dialogue (image 6). Coypu are known to have cooperative behaviour (nursing in groups, mutual preening, etc.) and aggression levels are normally low but there is a dominant male in the group responsible for most of the antagonistic interactions.

As an aside, the future impact of this invasive remains uncertain. Escapes elsewhere in Africa (Zambia, Tanzania)

REAR WINDOW

Over the past 2 years, the Kenya Wetlands Biodiversity Research Team (www.kenweb.or.ke) has

been working on the wetlands of Laikipia. In December 2013, during an early morning visit to the main marsh of Ol Pejeta, we observed 2 individuals of a medium-sized aquatic mammal swimming but they disappeared too quickly for a picture. A short literature search revealed that it were most likely Coypu (Myocastor coypus), a South-American rodent (distantly related to our Porcupines and Cane Rats) introduced to Kenya in 1947 for fur farms, in spite of the fact that escapees were already known to have caused massive damage to wetlands elsewhere (e.g., Louisiana). Escaped (or released?) individuals ran havoc around Lake Naivasha in the 1960s, destroying a lot of marsh vegetation, but they are now considered ecologically neutral there (Gherardi et al. 2011). They continue to make regular appearances in the Ewaso N’giro basin ad being largely nocturnal are observed at The Ark and Treetops in the Aberdares since 1968 (Massey 2013).

In late February we returned to the spot at sunrise to try our luck. Very quickly a frontal mugshot confirmed the identification (image 1). The “pair” observed was particularly active, one (the male?) regularly bringing a mouthful of aquatic plants to another (the female?) who tucked it away on a small island (image 2), the other turning around for another foraging bout (image 3). An African Fish Eagle came to sit in one of the dead trees close by but we really didn’t pay any attention to it until it appeared in the viewfinder of the camera swooping down on the Coypu but seemingly missing its target (image 4). However, a next picture found the Fish Eagle holding 2 Coypu juveniles in its claws and landing on a branch to devour them, incidentally confirming the identification as the webbed hind foot is clearly visible on enlargements (image 5). There were loud squeaks, presumably from the juveniles and this brought about a dozen (corresponding to the average group size in the wild in Argentina, Guichon et al. 2003),

African Fish Eagle helps in regulating Feral Coypu

By Olivier Hamerlynck & Stéphanie Duvail

did not lead to the establishment of feral populations, probably because it is requires relatively cold highland climates. In the wetlands of Laikipia its feeding habits tend to create more open water, thus accelerating flows. This is precisely the opposite of what the Ewaso N’giro needs as the destruction of important swamps such as Pesi (formerly a papyrus stronghold, now basically a rather miserable maize farm), Ol Bolosat and Rumuruti (largely converted to agriculture and fish ponds), the general deforestation of the catchment and increased abstraction have reduced dry season flows and exacerbated flood peaks. Marshes naturally slow down the rivers and filter out sediments and other pollutants. In Europe, North America and Asia the Coypu does extensive damage to reed beds and, because of its tunnelling behaviour, is destructive.

october - december 20142 swara october - december 2014 frontlines 5 editor's letter 12...

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