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With everything going on in Kenya at the moment I thought it a good idea to post a good news pararaph or two. We have had to postpone the 10 to 4 Mountian Bike Challenge that raises funds for the Trust but I have decided that we will try to raise more than ever when we do run it and that it will benefit not only Mount Kenya and some communities in the region but that we will raise funds for the displaced, wounded and needy who are helpless victims of the post election violence. You can help me to raise the profile of the event and email me for sponsorship forms so that we can aim to raise an amount that will make a significant difference to these causes. If any of you are mountain bikers out there, this event is truly unique and fast becoming of the most popular events of its kind. We are hopefull that things will calm down soon and a solution will be found so we can encorage people to travel to Kenya and take part in the event. I attach a couple of pics from the last couple of events, I hope it inspires many of you to think of ways you can help me to raise the profile, raise funds or come and take part.
In November last year a group of us were able to send Ibrahim Wafual and Dedan Ireri to Columbia to take part in a paracycling competition and they were the first Africans to be able to attend the event. I know these guys through the 10 to 4 and they have taught me more than I could ever teach them. They did us proud and came back with qualifying times for the Bejing Paralympics this year. We hope to get them there. I started the initiative and could not have waved them off so proudly were it not for their unbeliveable supporters and many of my freinds. It was an incredibly emotional goodbye ceremony, not least because all Dedan’s crew from Jamii Bora, an oranisation that supports getting people off the streets turned up to support him. Ingrid and her team are just the most inspirational group of people you could ever meet.
So much to report! Not had much time to blog so apologies for the gap. Dr Nyamwea who is one of the vets who was able to remove a snare from one of the elephnts recently was still around when I last visited the area. There was yet another snared elephant at the water hole that day but the group didn’t hang around long, we suspect it was becuase there was already a herd at the waterhole and then big cantankerous old buff came to join them and put them off hanging around. Dr Chege was to replace Dr Nyamwea and play the waiting game again.
This is part of the little group with a very young calf that was already at the waterhole in front of Mountain Lodge when I was last up there. The other group with the snared elephant came in a bit later but were not around long enough to let us help the limping elephant.
The youngest elephant in the middle of the group is the one with the snare. She never came close enough for Dr Naymweya to try and dart her. We hope she’ll be back with her family again soon. Pictured below is Dr Nyamwea with KWS rangers who assist him when he treats wildlife along with Humphrey (our Field Co-ordinator, and Edwin Kinjuanjui who operates from Mountain lodge and works with the Trust). From left to right: a ranger, Dr Nyamwea with his dart gun, Edwin, a ranger and Humphrey. The KWS rangers who help the vets are trained to work with vets on operations such as this one, translocation and probalem animal control projects.
In the meantime I have been trying to raise money for two guys who have become friends through my mountain bike challenge that I organise to raise funds for the Trust. They are Dedan and Ibrahim and I help them because there is so little support from the Goverment for people with disabilities and these guys have incredible will power and enthusiasm. The paralympic comittiee in Kenya is not funded and there are no offices. Another friend of mine who is blind was made president and he needs assistance so we have entered Dedan and Ibrahim in an event in Columbia and it has been up to me and the guys to look for funding to send them over there to represent Kenya. We have very little time left because the event is on the 8th Nov but I have tried my best to get support. Amazingly there has been a great deal of support from kind individuals but very little from our National corporates which includes Kenya Airways. I am rather shocked by this. Until this morning we had 200,000/- shillings pledged by individuals and one small company. Give up is not an option I am particularly fond of so I have kept at it. Today I got confirmation that Ingrid Munro from Jamii Bora here in Nairobi will support Dedan through the company. She got Dedan off the streets and says he is like a son to her. I am overwhelmed. Now I must find the money for Ibrahim to go to Columbia with Dedan. I don’t intend to let him down.
Dedan is on the left and Ibrahim next to his aborial bike. Ibrahim and Dedan both have one leg. Through the support and exposure a team of supporters have given Ibrahim and with his uncompromising willpower he recently got a sophisticated leg in the US. Dedan will get the same kind of support if he can go to Columbia. If the guys do well at this parapanamerican event they may well qualify for the paralympics in Bejing next year. There is no hope of them getting there if they don’t go to Columbia next week as this will be the last qualifing trial. I need to find another 10,000 Euros or some donated air fares and half that. I am still working on some airlines. I just found out that the vehicle I was telling you about that we got for the Trust from a donation given by AFEW Kenya will be ready for its second lot of modifications on Monday. It is very exiting! Humphrey our Field Co-oridinator is doing his driving lessons at the moment so that he will be able to use the Suzuki from next year. In the meantime the Land Cruiser donated by AFEW USA is also being modified specifically for is work with the new Joint Wildlife Protection Team. The new Ford Ranger is pictured below on the day I went to collect it! Thanks to AFEW and CMC Motors Group we have made an initial deposit and need to find the (interest free) balance of 1m shillings over the next two years.
Good news came through yesterday from Edwin a female about 5 years old with a snare on her leg was darted and her snare removed yesterday. This will save her from the same fate as the young ele who’s amputated leg has manged to heal. Her wound was cleaned and she was spotted again today looking content at the waterhole with her heard. Great news. It is a traumatic experience as the mothers must be darted too but when it is sucessful it is so worthwhile. I hope that in the period that Dr Nyamwea has remaining at Mountain Lodge he will be able to help at least one more of the elephants. It was a strange weekend, I took my dogs along for the breast cancer walk on Saturday morning and the cameras were very interested in them so my friends and I ended up on TV. I am getting used to these little apperances every now and then but not usually for my dogs, who were very popular. I tied pink socks on their collars so they could get into the spirit of things: after all they have six breasts each. Follwing a huge brunch and a couple of hours work it was time to go and watch the rugby but on the way there my freind Sam told me there was an urgent appeal for our blood type and so we went and gave blood instead of watching England beat Australia.. That’s the 3rd pint I’ve drained this year so far. I am amazed that there are such low stocks, especially of O+ which should be one of the easiest to keep stocks of, would be good if the hospitals could make urgent appeals to replenish them instead of people rallying around when people need transfusions yesterday. A lovely dinner party in the evening, a walk on Sunday morning with freinds, two more hours work and a barbeque in the afternoon completed my weekend. This is the first weekend i have spent in Nairobi for nearly two months so it was very social. I am finally able to give field co-ordinator Humphrey the Suzuki I have been driving around for the past 4 years. I once had to catch matatus to get around and about in the Mount Kenya area and then I raised enough money to buy the Suzuki over a period of time on an interest free basis thanks to CMC Motors Group, now Humphrey will be able to take over the Suzuki as I received a donation from the African Fund for Endangered Wildlife which has enabled me to put a deposit down on a new Ford Ranger for the Trust. It is now being modified so that it is suitable for the safaris it will go on with me for the Trust. It is an exciting time! Humphrey has had to cope with the rough terrain and usually muddy conditions on the Mountain on a motorbike for the past six years. The suzuki will imporove things for him immensely. I will need to rasie the funding to pay for the balance of the Ranger, once again CMC have given us an interest free deal which is a great help. Last night I had a dinner meeting with my 10 to 4 committe who help me to organise the mountain bike race by the same name. I can’t belive we have to begin the organisation for that all over again but we have some very exciting prospects for the 2008 event with lots of overseas teams threatening to take part. There are lots of demands on me at the moment with so much going on but its all great stuff and I’m feeling really motivated.
The elusive elephants didn’t allow Dr Chege to help them, he arrived on Sunday and had to leave today but the head vet at KWS Francis Gakuya has been very helpful and freed up another vet to take over from tomorrow. It is so difficult to help when you have to wait for them to emerge, and it is always Murphy’s law that they come when the vets have left. I have a photo of an elephant that lost his leg and later his life which I will post now, apologies for the graphic image but it brings the reality home. It very unlikely they will survive in the wild if they loose a leg especially if they are untreaed because infection in this kind of environment sets in quickly. I hope Dr Nyamweya has more luck. Edwin will keep watching out for them. We are lucky that Edwin has been there to assist us for so long, and I am finally able to employ him full time as of the end of this month. He will be part of our new joint anti poaching unit. Over the next few days I have to concentrate on the Elephant Corridor project which we have support from Virgin Atlantic, the Dutch Goverment and Safaricom for. I am holding a meeting near Timau in the Northern Mt Kenya region in a few days time with my elephant corridor committee. After years of putting this project together we have most of the funding in place and we will be discussing the fencing phaseses of the project. I am hopeful that we will be able to get a contractor to start on the fencing by the beginning of next year, we are putting the job out to tender soon. There is a great deal to consider and we need to ensure we have the best fence possible so that we can make the corridor a great success. The other part of the project is underpasses so that the elephants avoid busy roads - it’s an incredibly unique project so you’ll here more about that as we progress. We need to raise a further 200,000 US$ for the project. I am already beginning work on the 10 to 4 mountain bike challenge - something I organise with a team of volunteers every year. We will have the 2008 event on February 16th and I will need to have the entry forms prepared well in advance. It’s the 10 to 4 because cyclists travel from 10,000 ft above sea level down to just over 4,000 ft near the Ngare Ndare River in the dry country below. The synergy of the event for the Trust is exciting because it almost runs exaclty paralell to the elephant corridor - symbolising the necessary link between ecosystems and the need to keep these routes open for wildlife and habitats to survive in the long term. This year’s event was a great success raising over 2 million Kenya shillings which goes towards Mt Kenya Trust’s projects including fencing, anti poaching and tree planting and a portion also goes towards an education Trust for kids in the area. I hope that the 2008 event will be even more fruitful. We have already pledged some of the money towards the running of the joint anti poacing team because althogh we have the set up costs we don’t have all the running costs as yet. Once it is in place I am so hopeful that there will be fewer elephants going through such horrific pain. I’m going to have to leave it at that for now, hopefully I’ll be able to post more tomorrow or Thursday. I am still making my way around how to respond to people’s questions and how to manage this blogging business but I am going to blogging well succeed.
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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