Mount Kenya Trust

Category: Uncategorized | Date: Sep 22 2008 | By: mountkenya

Edwin is reporting more snared elephants being sighted coming out of the forest nearly every day from where he is based at Mountain Lodge.  KWS vets are not available for now and even if we can get someone soon there is no guarantee that they will be helped because of the forest cover.  As the days go by while we look for funding for the Joint Wildlife Protection team more and more little elephants and other species will suffer.  I am currently on the other (Northern) side of Mount Kenya preparing for the 10 to 4 Mountain Bike Challenge which is only a three weeks away now. I’m setting up meetings for the 10 to 4 and other projects and having a look at the route and campsites for the event. I am enjoying being back on Kisima Farm where I’m staying for the rest of the week thanks to the Dyers. I will go and see the progress of the elephant corridor fence tomorrow. Thankfully now that some of the Virgin money has arrived with us we have signed off on the contract for the underpasses. The underpasses will go below two roads (one of which is a fairly major highway) so that the elephants can use the corridor safely!  I hope to post some pics of the fence over the next couple of days.  

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Category: Uncategorized | Date: Sep 15 2008 | By: mountkenya

The great happiness I felt this morning at the news of the coalition signing in Zimbabwe and emotion that rushed through me on hearing the heartfelt words of the new Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai were shattered by Mugabe’s speech which followed. Still banging on about interference, colonial rule and his Government’s ‘achievements’ like the evil madman he has been for so many years. The PM was talking about getting the country on its feet again, feeding the starving and turning the crippled Nation around. He was not dwelling on the pain and betrayal of the past but the hope for the future. Then Mugabe starts up with the same old same old drivel. I struggle to understand how his man is still alive. There is nothing more ugly than his regime, his divorce from reality his total lack of regard for his own people. I know it could have been so much worse but I hate that we still have to hear this man speak!!! It is a great day for Zimbabwe and Zimbabwe’s people let us hope Mugabe’s influence is going to be stemmed enough to help real change blossom.    

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Category: Uncategorized | Date: Sep 12 2008 | By: mountkenya

Don’t get me wrong, I have trekked around Mount Kenya’s forests and camped at altitude for my work hundreds of times but until now I have never actually climbed the mountain! My usual argument/excuse being that I can be of much more use on the ground without the altitude sickness and where there are actually trees and animals to save. How can you hug trees where it is too extreme for them to grow I ask??Having grown up on the Kenya coast my ‘fear’ of cold inability to handle it well has not really disappeared over the years. However I realise that since  the idea of camping above 10,000 ft is mindblowingly scary (extreme cold) and walking uphill for days is equally unappealing, it is probably an even better way to raise funds! I hope I can raise more money simply because this probably one of the toughest things I could possibly put myself through, especially as an asthmatic. This is very much under control these days and I am currently very fit and healthy so I’ll have to keep that way and up the endurance training. So right here right now I am making the commitment to climb to Point Lenana. I am to be joined by four others. Please support the Trust by sponsoring me to do this climb! No pledge is too small - every little counts. 

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Category: Uncategorized | Date: Sep 11 2008 | By: mountkenya

Recently we were pleased to receive pictures of the few bongo that remain on Mount Kenya. Only last year did we receive confirmation from the Bongo Surveillance that there were any left on Mount Kenya at all. We have been giving some support for their work on Mount Kenya though much of what they have achieved has been on the Abadare Range.  Night cameras set up earlier this year deep in the forest on the Southern side of Mount Kenya have backed up the evidence collected by trackers and DNA tests abroad.In the photo below some of the Bongo Surveillance Team check a hidden camera. .  The one remaining Mount Kenya herd of bongo are in an area that is prone to poaching activity and it is therefore even more crucial that we can get the Joint Wildlife Protection Team up and running. The team and vehicle and all the equipment is idle, waiting for me to come up with the funding necessary. There are many more bongo on the Aberdares’ but not in numbers sufficient to guarantee their survival for more than the next 40 years and the Aberdares’ have a more serious poaching problem than Mount Kenya. We can support the Bongo Surveillance Team so much more easily once the Joint Wildlife Protection Team is up and running.    A bongo is captured by a hidden camera in July. 

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Category: Uncategorized | Date: Sep 10 2008 | By: mountkenya

I’ve just been away in the UK having our first UK committee meeting. So lovely to have some new input to help move things forward. I was also trying to chase funds from Virgin Atlantic for the Elephant Corridor underpasses. Finally some of the funds have come through. The delay has caused untold problems for the Trust and put us very behind schedule. Lots to catch up on now that I am back in Kenya especially with the 10 to 4 Mountain Bike challenge looming! I really hope it will be well attended!  There’s no news of the little elephant that was abandoned. It is not likely she is still alive after all this time. Unfortunately even the Sheldricks couldn’t help as she would have the same problems being released with other elephants in Tsavo. I find it utterly shocking that we cannot get help to euthenase in cases like this if there are no KWS Vets available. I cannot bear that protocol is held above reason.  It makes the need for the Joint Wildlife Protection Team’s presence on Mount Kenya all the more pressing. 

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