Mount Kenya Trust

Category: Uncategorized | Date: Oct 09 2007 | By: admin

No responses yet

Category: Uncategorized | Date: Oct 09 2007 | By: admin

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.

No responses yet

Category: Uncategorized | Date: Oct 02 2007 | By: admin

this little elephant lost his leg earlier this year. The baby was treated but never survived. We want to make sure that we can prevent this happening to more elephants rather than trying to treat them at this stage with the few vets and resources we have that can currently be spared.

One response so far

Category: Uncategorized | Date: Oct 02 2007 | By: admin

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.

No responses yet

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.

One response so far

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

No responses yet

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.

5 responses so far

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.

No responses yet

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.

4 responses so far