Mount Kenya Trust

Category: Uncategorized | Date: Aug 24 2009 | By: mountkenya

This week we hand over the site for building the elephant corridor to the contractor who won the tender. This has been long awaited and we are grateful for the assistance of Virgin Atlantic who have made this possible. We still have 8km of fences to raise funds for but we have completed nearly 20km of fencing thanks to the Dutch Government. A ground breaking ceremony take place on the 3rd of September and the underpass should be complete within 16 weeks. While this is all good news the current state of wildlife decline and lack of control of illegal activity and water extraction are a stark reminder that Kenya has always survived on private enterprise, the work of NGO’s and the average Kenyan man and woman making their way with little help or guidance. Such enterprise, some of the more successful projects and such incredible sprits are let down time and again by the short- sightedness and mismanagement of the few who hold the possibility of hope and a bright future in their hands. The Mau Forest is finally receiving some support from the Government, again pushed by private enterprise and caring individuals who have pushed them into doing it years and years after the warning bells were ringing.  Once upon a time this was the largest forest in Kenya. So fragmented is the Mau complex now that it will take many years and enoromous funding to put it right. I congratulate those who I know are the real heros behind the efforts, and wish them every success.  Mount Kenya’s forest is now the largest remaining continuous canopy of forest in the country and we must ensure that it is never allowed to be carved up in such a brutal way.  Rhino Ark which has fenced the Aberdares, the new team working to reverse the effects of destruction in the Mau and the Mount Kenya Trust (all in conjunction with KWS) and education in the communities really are the single best hopes for the country’s future. We have had many many droughts like this one, usually 2 low years of rainfall in cycles of 10 to 15 years, but never have the rivers and water table been so low and never have so many previously unseasonal rivers actually stopped.   The Trust has also managed to successfully deploy the Joint Wildlife Protection Team, the first of it’s kind in Kenya.  I am sure of its success in helping to reduce poaching and I hope we can save Mount Kenya’s few remaining Mountain Bongo. I know that in future we can duplicate this effort elsewhere, it should be a winning effort of teamwork. In the meantime let us hope that there will be something left to protect 10 years from now.  I leave you with pictures of communities hungry for knowledge and assistance. Women’s groups who work with the Mount Kenya Trust passing on their knowledge in the 1st picture and children being shown films about wildlife and the environment.