Mountain Dispatches from Kenya

In February, Borana Conservancy hosted our signature fundraising event – the 10to4 – raising a record-breaking 6.6KSh million! We have had a number of donor and film crews visit us over the last 3 months keeping us on our toes. We are feeling really positive about our progress so far this year, particularly when it comes to the 10to4, our 3 Peaks Climb fundraiser for our Horse Patrol Team and the growth of our Community Health project.

We are bowled over by the support in the form of a new vehicle for our community projects. Thanks to Tusk Trust and Chase Africa we now have a Toyota Hilux for use on our community outreaches. Funding pledged over the next two years means we will be able to pay for it in full by 2018. We can’t thank Tusk and CHASE enough for this much-needed support to our capacity in line with the growth of these projects.

Read on to find out more about the many projects and activities we’ve been participating in since the year began. We thank you all for your support.

Susie Weeks
Executive Officer

Overall champs for the most challenging 2-day event, the Extreme were David Kinjah and Annemarie Griffioen who also won the Hardcore and King and Queen of the Mountain challenge.

We are are immensely grateful to all our sponsors and participants, you all helped us raise an incredible 6.6 million shillings for our conservation projects and core costs. The fact is without this event the Trust cannot continue its present project portfolio. We also want to thank all of our partners in the event volunteers without which the event could not take place.

A special mention to Hitesh Shah and his AMAZING team Sukuma Twende who won the trophy for the highest sponsorship raised. We were totally speechless. They raised over 600,000KSh for the Trust.

Massive thank you to Adele Wilson, the 10to4 Committee and our fabulous partners for organising and hosting such a top event.

SMART Update
February saw the first complete data collection via SMART (Spatial Monitoring and Reporting Tool) with the MWG and HPT. An example of the maps is shown below. MWG patrolled over 250km in 25 patrol days with HPT covering 229km in 24 days. Both teams were on duty for the 10to4 event. SMART data provides new information for the team managers to assess the teams performance and area covered.

JWPT
In January Edwin and his team were extremely busy with the elephant survey. Training to use a new system monitoring system using Trimble GPS units was also being pioneered with JWPT and one other team on the mountain including KWS and Rhino Ark input out alongside our own ‘inhouse’ use of SMART tracking. Every other day patrols have carried on as usual in the Ruthumbi area and the team continues to impress us all with their successes in uncovering illegal activity and making arrests. Here are just a few examples in January alone:

• Bhang fields were uprooted in upper Ruthumbi.
• The team followed footprints near Kithira that led to a house with 109 red cedar posts logged from the forest. The suspect found there was booked at Kianguya Police post.
• On a patrol from Kithirune to Marima the team immobilized a snare for bush buck. The same day the team arrested a man carrying 15 red cedar posts. He was booked at Githongo Police Station.
• Three men wee arrested in Themwe having been caught chopping down read cedar for posts with a chainsaw. The men had a skinned suni, 3 snares, 3 pangas, an axe and 3 hunting dogs. They were booked at Githongo Police station.

Corridor Fence Team
Major repairs to the elephant corridor were needed after a lorry lost control on the A2 road and tipped a load of sand on top of the fenceline. Illegal grass harvesting was again recorded along with several lone elephants breaking in and out of the corridor. Many leopard footprints were seen. General maintenance continued such as spraying and clearing to keep the fence line ticking. Work on a new fence at the top end of the Corridor opening into the forest will begin in April due to the initiation of PELIS activities earlier this year.

THREE PEAK CHALLENGE

In early March, a group took off to Solo / Crater Camp with four horses to accompany the climbers for the first night. The fundraising climb has been organised by Gwili Gibbon our Programme Officer with the aim to raise funds to build satellite camps so that the HPT can move further afield away from their main base at Kisima Farm.

Kinyanjui Edwin, TimmyFlowers and Henry Van Der Does summited all three peaks and Gwili Gibbon, Jamie Manuel, Lorian Campbell Clause, Lorien Chen and George made it up Lenana and Nelion! Well done all!

A HUGE thank you to all our supporters, donors and our fantastic guides from African Ascents – Julian Wright, Tom Gregory, Michael Spencer and Schaniela Wright.

Over 1million KSh has been raised for the Horse Patrol Team so far! Many thanks to those who have made a contribution we are so very appreciative!

In the spotlight:
David Njenga Nginyo
KFS Ontulili Forest Station Manager

Ontulili is the biggest forest station in the Mount Kenya Reserve covering over 33,200ha. Around 25,000ha are indigenous forest and 3000ha bamboo and grasslands.

In 2014, around 2250ha was plantation area (to be increased by 1000ha next year). Three per cent
of this area is exotic plantations. Plantation areas are not allowed over 10 per cent of the total area.

Njenga has been the Forest Station Manager since 2015. He works closely with MKT on indigenous tree planting, rehabilitation of degraded sites and fire fighting.

How do you manage forest protection and communities?
One of the main purposes of plantations is to be a buffer zone between the community and natural forest. It is assumed that people will default into the exotic forest to collect their materials instead of moving into the indigenous. There are three ways to manage the forest: Protect, Conserve and Manage

Protect
‘Illegal activities are difficult to control as one person. The best way is to get the communities on board and to work closely with them. By involving the community, I can get information about illegal activities going on in the area,’ says Njenga.

This also involves the courts. ‘When I arrived, individuals that had been arrested were given a ‘community service order (CSO).’ This meant community service for 6 hours a day over one to two month period. However, the individuals would then come back to the forest during the time they are under CSO and also afterwards and would continue with their illegal activities. After talking to the judiciary, I went over the Forestry Act and highlighted the least sentence they should be given (50,000KSh fine or 6 months in prison). Since January 2015, there has been no more CSO’s. This has helped to deter individuals even more.’

Conserve
Protecting the already natural recovering (regenerating) areas against grazing and human interference as well as planting for rehabilitation and enrichment planting is critical to the region. This includes the MKT 150ha area at Karuri and other scattered plots around the station such as around the old staff quarters. A new site will be opened up in October at Kangiata.

Manage
‘We have six tree nurseries with over 100 community members working in each one. PELIS works under the condition that an individual needs to first commit to raising enough seedlings for 1 acre of land and prove they have enough seedlings to qualify for this piece. I need to be particularly careful at monitoring the sites around harvesting time as often the farmers will employ casuals to do the potato harvesting. As the soil is moved, this may uproot the trees as they go,’ explains Njenga.

What are your main challenges?
Rangers being attacked, false information fed to me by dishonest informants and a lack of vehicle capacity.

What have been your best achievements so far?
Bringing down illegal activities to an acceptable level and the successful establishment of an indigenous forest at Karuri with birds and wildlife returning.

The Karuri section, a main area where tree planting has been focussed of the Ontulili Forest, is already fully planted!

Another area has been opened up for PELIS but with a KFS plan to plant exotic plantation species which are harvested once they mature. However, the steeper areas will be planted with the indigenous species for the purpose of creating a permanent cover to enhance water retention and stop soil erosion.

New areas suggested are slopes along the river valleys and the area around the old inhabited KFS staff houses. There are 10,000+ tree seedlings with the groups that MKT support ready for planting this April 2016 season.

Table Banking Success!
A GREAT STORY of how a cohesive group can improve their livelihoods by growing trees

The Kianjogu Mwanzo Mwema Women Tree Nursery Group have set up a table banking programme from the sale of their tree seedlings. The group has accumulated over KSh 300,000 which they are now loaning to their group members for interest.

James opened a shop in the village, Mercy bought a chaff cutter and Kinya bought a grade cow – photos below!

‘CHSP is the youngest project in the Trust portfolio having been set up just over a year ago. It has given us a unique experience dealing directly with the community on healthcare matters. During the clinic outreaches which are held monthly in at least three counties we take the opportunity to address the community about conservation.

We often use a Swahili term ‘’Tunzamsitu ikutunze” meaning take care of the forest resources and it will take care of you.

The majority of the community members who live close to the reserve have a negative approach when it comes to conservation. They view the government institute given the mandate to protect the reserve as unfriendly hence rebel against any effort put across to protect the reserve.

We aim to let them feel they own the reserve and they should feel entitled to protect and preserve the Mount Kenya Reserve. The project is a direct touch to the community and we hope we can reach many more people.We receive lots of suggestions and invitations to visit new areas in the region.’

Delphin Mukira – CHSP Project Manager

Batian Level Donors

Nelion Level Donors & Fundraising Events
CHASE Africa
SAX 10to4 Sponsors: Fly540

Lenana Level Donors
Safaricom Marathon via Tusk Trust

Coryndon Level Donors
Eden Wildlife Trust, The Woodcock Family, Tusk Trust, Zurich Zoo
Fly 540 10to4 Sponsors: BATUK, Tropic Air

Point Piggot Level Donors & Event sponsors
The International Elephant Foundation, Seneca Park Zoo, Jim Butterfield, Bunson Travel

Point Dutton Level Donors & Event Sponsors
Safarilink, Lewa Wildlife Conservancy, Kisima Farm, Marania Farm, Ol Donyo Farm, Steve Strong
Fly540 10to4Sponsors: Highlands Water, Braeburn Schools, Remote Medical, The Born Free Foundation (Kenya), Flamingo, Timaflor, Commercial Bank of Africa, Mascor, Xado EA, Browns Cheese, Dormans, CMS, Express Automation, Gras Savoye, Kenya Treks, Kongoni Camp, Rift Valley Adventures, Trout Tree, Mt Kenya Bicycles, Bikes & Outdoor Adventures, Tropical Heat, Kitengela, Matbronze, Shimano, Equinox Flowers, Huduma Services Limited, Laikipia Wildlife Forum, Laikipia Wilderness, Ligent, One Stop, Saab, African Ascents, Azimuth, Gundua, Kisima Flowers, Kisima Flour, Marania Farm, Ol Donyo Farm, Mawingu Networks, Raka Cheese, Savage Wilderness, Sirai House, Tambuzi, Uhuru Flowers.

Thanks to our regular contributors for their assistance so far this year: The Mountain Club of Kenya.

Our partners: We wouldn’t be able to keep up the good work without our most important supporting & operational partners. These include The Kenya Wildlife Service, The Kenya Forest Service, Rhino Ark, Kisima Farm, Marania Farm, Tropic Air, Borana Conservancy, African Ascents and Lewa Wildlife Conservancy and One Stop.

• Thanks again to Morten Jensen for his voluntary time working on the Trust’s financial reporting for the Finance Committee.
• A big thank you again to Jorien Schuurmans for all your work with the Community Health Project so far.