Mount Kenya Trust

Category: Uncategorized | Date: Sep 27 2007 | By: admin

Apparently there was a leopard in my garden (in Nairobi) yesterday. Armed KWS rangers turned up to capture it but I think he or she was long gone. I have two terriers so they would have made nice starters for the Mr Spotty. I live pretty close to Nairobi National Park when in Nairobi and the odd warthog and hyena makes its way over but this is the first neighbourly leopard that’s come round for snacks.

I spoke to Dr Chege who has been in Naivasha and other areas that desperatley need his assistance too. He may be able to come to Mt Kenya with me for 2 days next week but as we both know it will probably not be enought time to help and of the four elephants frequenting the waterhole. I sent an email yesterday to the head KWS vet and copied to the KWS Assistant Director with regard to the snared elephants requesting that they please please try and find a vet who can spend a minimum of two weeks in the area. Dr Gakuya is going to do his best to try to free someone up. We could pay for a private vet but there is protocol that is difficult to get round, and from the point of view of KWS and previous experience it is there for the right reasons. Lewa are going to help install a vet in Mweiga who can help deal with the Abadares and Mt Kenya but in the meantime I will have to hope that Dr Chege can save some of them from loosing limbs. I will probably travel to Kihari on the Southern side of the Mountain on Monday now. Edwin will keep me updated from Mountain Lodge.

Humphrey, my Field Co-ordinator just called to tell me that the finishing touches are being put on the new classrooms we have been building for Manyatta Priamary School near Naro Moru. We were given funds from Kuoni via Born Free to build classrooms and start a tree nursery there. It will be exciting news for the donors. Many of the parents have contributed their time to building the classrooms and KWS have assisted us with transport. The kids have been making do with wooden clasrooms that are in a state of disrepair and no floors for many years. I will be able to post a picture of the new classrooms next week.

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Category: Uncategorized | Date: Sep 26 2007 | By: admin

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Category: Uncategorized | Date: Sep 26 2007 | By: admin

Now that the intro for the Trust is uploaded its time to start blogging. I’m Susie Weeks, the Executive Officer of the Mount Kenya Trust. Right now I’m in my office in Nairobi but I divide my time between Nairobi and various parts of the Mt. Kenya region. I heard over the weekend that more snared young elephants are being sighted near Mountain Lodge. Edwin who has been volunteering for us for sometime informs me when this happens and we try to get a Kenya Wildlife Service Vet to help with the problem. Dr Chege is the KWS Vet who deals with our area but he is usually needed in a few places at once so though we need to help these animals urgently we often have to wait or he can only be present for a few days. The area he is supposed to work in is vast and his work in constant demand. Darting elephants in forest habitats to remove snares and clean wounds is extremely difficult. You have to wait until they emerge which they may take several days to do, and then you have to ensure you dart the mother of the elephant you want to help first. Edwin just told me there are currently 4 individuals who are now coming on a fairly regular basis but that there are more. This is one of the most heartbreaking sign of the kind of indiscriminate poaching that goes on. Most snares are set for antelope and buffaloes but younger elephant are also caught.

Recently the African Fund for Endangered Wildlife (USA) provided us with the funding for the set up costs for a joint wildlife protection team that I am currently trying to set up. Hopefully we can help to reduce poaching incidences in the area concerned as soon as we have the team and vehicle in place. I picked up the new Land Cruiser some weeks ago and now it will be modified to carry KWS rangers, community scouts and others who will be dedicated to stemming the problem. I have another (community based team) in the North who we call the Marania Scouts, and we often work with KWS to patrol for snares in hot-spots, but the new team will have the equipment to stay in the forest for long periods of time. As a result they can ’sit’ on snares or near poacher’s dens and wait for the culprits to return. They will also have the ability to make arrests and try to reduce the number of poachers who return to the forest becuase the team will be run with KWS and the Kenya Forest Service as well as our community contingent.

I hope that I can get Dr Chege’s help before the end of the week, I will keep you posted. I will be in the Mount Kenya area next week from Thursday. I have rented a room there now so that I don’t have to do so much driving and I can spend longer periods away from Nairobi. I was going to post a pic of an amputated elephant that was taken in March this year - the result of what happens when snares are not removed in time but I have decided it is very graphic for a first ‘newsy’ post so I will post a picture of myself instead.

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Category: Uncategorized | Date: Sep 24 2007 | By: admin

Kirinyaga is the Kikuyu name for Mount Kenya, it means ‘the seat of God’. Usually shrouded in clouds the mountain and permanent snow caps only appear fleetingly from time to time inspiring numerous myths amongst the people who inhabit the lower slopes. Spiritual leaders of the Kikuyu tribe face the mountain to pray to Ngai for rain or other divine interventions. Also one of Kenya’s most popular climbing sites, but Mt Kenya is no picnic. There are more than 25 routes to the main summits of which 8 are ice routes concentrated on the south and west sides. 90% of visiting climbers underestimate Mt. Kenya and her tallest peaks Batian and Nelion, yet professional climbers have met barefoot Kikuyu elders clad only in skins, praying at the summit.

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Category: Uncategorized | Date: Sep 23 2007 | By: admin

Mount Kenya is an internationally significant protected area inscribed in 1997 by UNESCO as a World Heritage Site. The World Heritage Commission recognised Mount Kenya as “one of the most impressive landscapes of Eastern Africa, with its rugged glacier-clad summits, Afro-alpine moorlands and diverse forests, which illustrate outstanding ecological processes”. Mount Kenya is also a gazetted National Park and National Reserve and the protected area is some 2,100 square kilometers. To the people of Kenya it holds immense cultural value and is a vital and irreplaceable lifeline.

The forest zone is the largest remaining in Kenya and its ecosystem as a whole plays a critical role in water catchment for two main rivers in the country, the Tana and Ewaso Ngiro. Millions of Kenyan’s depend directly on these rivers for their livelihoods. The Tana also supplies over 55% of Kenya’s power to the national grid.

Varying geographical conditions on Mount Kenya contribute to a diverse range of flora including the Afro-alpine moorlands, giant heath, extensive stands of East African bamboo and major forest types including mixed closed canopy forest. Mount Kenya also hosts several wildlife species dwelling mainly within the natural forest including mammals of international conservation interest such as bongo, elephant, black rhino, giant forest hog and leopard.

THE BILL WOODLEY MOUNT KENYA TRUST

A group of concerned Kenyans established the Trust following a detailed 1999 report that shocked the nation by concluding that “Mount Kenya’s forests are under extreme threat from human induced illegal activities such as extensive poaching of wildlife, devastating logging of indigenous tree species, charcoal production, over-grazing, and large scale growing of marijuana.”

The Bill Woodley Mount Kenya Trust was established to help preserve and protect this important heritage. Named in memory of Bill Woodley, a dedicated conservationist who together with his team successfully protected the mountain and the surrounding forest for 20 years of the 44 years he served in National Parks, the Trust hopes to continue this legacy.

The Bill Woodley Mount Kenya Trust works closely with the Kenya Wildlife Service and the Forest Department to ensure that its projects address the issues of highest priority.

Our mission is:

1. To concentrate preservation efforts at the field level for
maximum impact.

2. To fence critical forest areas in order to minimise
human-wildlife conflict.

3. To support existing Government and Law Enforcement
agencies and assist them in stemming illegal activities
that threaten Mount Kenya’s ecosystem.

4. To initiate reafforestation programs and establish
nurseries for indigenous trees.

5. To develop and implement local education and
research programs.

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