Yesterdays Blog had two pictures of our findings, 3 and a half months after the two Elephants died… But for some reason the pictures are not going on…I will be in Nairobi at the end of the month so will find out what the problem is… I’ve got so many fabulous pictures to share with every one… No rain yet!! Its worse this year as we have had hundreds of people in the area near The Milgis Trust’s base, who ran away from the fighting, with their thousands of goats, sheep and cows… But in the last few days we have noticed mass movement of stock to wards the west, as they feel its better to deal with the Turkana than to let the animals die of starvation… brave people!! But the Turkana seem to be in abit of a squeeze at the moment, as they are fighting on both fronts… The other front against the pokot in the Suguta..The wildlife in the mean time have had a good break, in that there has been nobody for several months in the Suiyan area, so have had plenty to eat and no pressure over water!!.. The Grevey Zebra, of which there are only about 2000 left in the whole world, being one of the beneficiaries!, of the tribal fighting..
About a month ago, there was rain up in the southern part of the Kirisia hills, which brought the Laana Nikan Lugga [Seiya] in flood. The carcass of the Elephant that died in the beginning of may in the lugga was swept down stream about a kilometre or so.. I left it for two weeks before I went to check it out, to see if the all the Elephants would change course so as to visit their ‘old friend’, and amazingly enough, they had!! [ ref post 22/7/08] Interestingly the carcass is all most whole still, as the carnivores can not get through the tough skin, that has been baked hard by the sun.. As opposed to the other Elephant that died a few days earlier[post 7/5/08] but under a tree is almost only bones now, and has also been visited by hundreds of Elephants… The carcass is in thick bush, and all around is big open paths to the site, made by many visits of grieving, I suppose?, elephants… But what is very touching is to watch the samburu pay their respects to ‘The Elephant’.. They wait until there is a clean skull, and then they pick pieces of grass, or shrubs and stick them into the holes… In a way a little like when they pass the grave of their father, they will not go by with out sprinkling some tobacco, or leaving some food!!… In fact there is a legend that if they walk past with out leaving something, the food or what ever they are carrying will either burst the bag, or fall to the ground with out explanation.!!!..
Hi every one… I’m back from my safari to Ngurnit!! Beautiful as usual… and even for me exciting!! [ I say this because I’ve been doing walking safaris in northern kenya for 25 years now… Each day I love it more, and learn more!].. I never managed to get to see the Wild dog den as per my last blog, because my little new puppie was too hot!! We had to climb a final mountain to get there and she was already sitting in the shade and asking me to carry her… But I now know were it is and will return!! What was really interesting on this safari was how nature works things out… unless we ruin it!!… Just when its beginning to get abit dry and the animals are beginning to look thin, the acacia tortilis, [ a beautiful flat topped acacia], drops its load of seed pods, [they look abit like a curly green bean] but not all of them in a night but little by little, when the wind blows… and every single animal that eats ‘vegetable’ goes crazy, from the Elephants to the squirrels.. and of course all the samburus stock.. They call it sagiram, and its extremely nutritious.. Two nights out on safari we heard people coming out with there stock, at 4am so that they could get there first..talking and singing as loud as they could so as to encourage the Elephants to move off.. Again nature working wonders, the Animals then spread the seeds far and wide!….Then we get back to base where the sagiram season is finished, and the Acacias are all in flower, which when they fall to the ground, are also eaten by every thing, which keeps them going untill the rains come!! We hope that will happen soon…As I write this I have just heard thunder rumbling in the west but the wind is VERY strong from the east still..But its getting closer!!.
What is up in the north?.. or is it every where!!!.. In the last few weeks the scouts have reported seeing 2 white baboon, and then a squirrel, then several reports of white dikdiks and now a superb starling,, and a drongo with a white head! Is it the water, the vegetation or the weather up here?? I remember several years ago seeing a white Wildebeeste in the Mara… amoungst the millions!!.. Interesting… I do apologise for the pictures of the last two blogs not getting posted… I don’t know what the problem is…We tried several times… I will be leaving for ’safari’ tomorrow to meet our visitors in Ngurnit on the 2nd August.. On the way I am going to meet up with Lesuuda, Milgis 3, our Cheetah.[ all 22 scouts represent an animal]as he has reported, that he has seen a wild dog den, with lots of Puppies…I’m very excited… Will be back with more news on the 7th August… By the way I have a new puppie… Shes called Ndoto!!…
There is a lot of talk on the importance of education in the developing world… Many poor communities get these messages and try to believe in them. The people talking about the importance of education however do not assist the communities in finding sources of funds to pay for teachers. Pre schools have mushroomed in almost every village you visit. Some just under a tree, or in some old shack that happens to be there.. In the last two months there has been a dry spell in the north. Because of the extra work load on the families to keep there stock alive, the children tend to get slightly neglected, As an option to escape some parents take their children to school and even some children take themselves there so as to get some food. This gives nursery schools a lot of pressure in terms of space, feeding and teachers. When the rains come some of the children who originally came for food find the school interesting and remain. This keeps the pressure on and almost every month we get requests for assistance to pay for a nursery teachers. It is difficult to ask someone who does not get three meals a day to pay for teachers. With donations of US$ 150 a month we can help pay for three teachers, and help feed the children. Is there any one out there that would like to help?? thank you yours Moses Lesaloyia.. The Milgis Trust manager
Tusitiridhowlamu@africaonline.co.keThe other day I went to ‘ pay my respect’s ‘ to one of the elephants that had died in the beginning of may… It was fabulous and touching to see that every single elephant that had passed through had stopped and spent a bit of time there… The normal trails up or down the Laana Nikan Lugga have all changed route so as to pass by… And have all been busy!!!… Not only with Elephant tracks, of course, but all the carnivores as well…
Again, would like to take this opportunity to especially to thank Theresa and Luke for supporting our trust… Your donations are hugely appreciated… Especially with the news below…. We read in the Kenya news paper, and on the wildlife direct emergency blog, about the Chinese being involved in renewed elephant poaching and this is bothering us, as they have been given the contract to build the road to Marsabit… Our scouts are keeping an extra vigilant ‘eye out ‘ ….
The tribal fighting is really hotting up..15th july…9 dead… 5 wounded.. [including one of our scouts, luckily not serious]… over 200 cows taken.. The Turkana V Samburu.. Big battle was fought 20 kms west of our base where the Suiyan Lugga meets the Parsaloi!!.. Full moon ..a good time to plan this as they can get well away with there bounty before the sun rises…They hit at 12 pm just as every one was settling down to sleep… and fought through the night… but the cattle were rushed off, and the back guard kept the rescuers at bay,,, In the last three months 2 attacks north of here…. in a place called Masiketa..3 people were killed, several hurt including one child who was trampeled by the running cows… Yes.. this is 2008… But this has been going on for centuaries, …And after the latest round of circumsision ceremonis in 2006.. There are many young warriors looking for action!!.. Things have really flared up in the last 6 months…But ‘life goes on’!!!
To continue the story from yesterday… The Milgis Trust was approached by Illumine partners from America, to find out if there was a need for clean water in any of the areas we work… Our reaction was EVERY WHERE!!,, But for five years now we have been trying to sort Latakwens water problems out!! At the meeting on the 10th the residents could not believe what they were hearing!!.. Very kindly funded through The Voss foundation, we will be fitting a Solar pump like the one we had at the Milgis school… obviously our major concern is security of the panels which was spoken about long and hard!!.. By the way, the panels for the school wil be replaced,[ ref may 7th] by our last guests on camel safari, from private journeys, who visited the school to take them some books. They could not leave thinking that such a disaster had fallen apon such an innocent community!! Thank you very very much to Dianne…and all your friends from Greenwich, USA!!!.. Dianne has been coming on safari for a few years now with groups, and she has noticed a HUGE difference in the wildlife and its behaviour….. ‘What goes around , comes around’.. conserve the flora and fauna and ALL will reap the benefits.. Welldone the people of Latakwen and Ilgwe Eldome for their conservation efforts!!!
Some times one wonders!! when you try to do good, misunderstandings get blown out of proportion… and the next thing is you are nearly ‘out on your bicycle’!! Latakwen is a little town about 10 kms north of The Milgis Trust Base… Our Neibours and friends for the last 9 years!!…. Yesterday we went to have a meeting with the community to iron out some rumours that we had been hearing!.. We had decided to move the base radio from Elkanto hill in Nairimirimo Location, to a higher hill to get better communications, and decided it would be a good idea to put it in Latakwen Location for a change and make them feel more part of it! After lengthly meetings with the community to explain… There seemed no problem, every one happy to be included, and we immediatley employed 15 people from Latakwen to build the road… but after two weeks, we had a strike!!, yes a strike.. miles away from nowhere!, they wanted to be paid more than double what they had agreed to, for the work they had aleady done!! Eventually we paid them a bit more than the agreed amount but stopped the work… We then got a message that the radio house would not be moving unless the trust paid rent for the hill, and that any work done would be double the amount… ie half as much again as skilled workers get!…To the 100 or so people who attended the meeting, including the chief, we explained to them that the Trust is for the community so who was going to pay the rent, plus 2 people from the community would get a job as radio operators…..The long and the short of the discussion was .. Some very embarrassed ‘ex road workers’, lots of apologies.. And the go ahead to establish the radio room as soon as possible!!, and that when and if theres work, to pay the normal rate… Having settled the misunderstandings we then went on to tell them the real reason for the meeting… Latakwen is a isolated town that has sprung up in the middle of nowhere, the only water is brackish from the nearby Lugga. Some years ago an organisation put a well in for them, with a hand pump… This soon broke down, and the 1000 or so residents resorted to their old system, and to throwing buckets down the well……. continued tomorrow!!
On the 1st July, while up in the Milgis, I mentioned in my blog that one of the Samburu warriors had said ‘What were the Elephants thinking! How could it rain, Venus hasn’t come back yet!!’ While checking that my blog had actually gone on to the internet, I saw the title “The night sky is full of unanswered questions!!” from ‘art for Gorillas’…. With my fasination for what the sky tells us, and a subject that is persistent in the Samburu way of thinking! I thought ..gosh must check that one out when I get into better internet range… and am delighted to see in their blog .. The question that came up most after the students had been told to check out the night sky… …’where does rain come from?’.. Thought it was an interesting coincidence!!… And by the way… The ‘art for conservation’ idea is an amazing way to get people ‘on board’.. We have got the women in our area drawing animals on pieces of material,, and sowing beads on to them, also beading wooden animals… they are beautifully creative, and its really making them think!!! When I asked them why they put the eye of the Rhino too low, they say ‘well we don’t know, we have’nt seen one’… and I say.. ‘Are you proud of this??’ Them.. ‘NO’…. me… ‘OK!!!’
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I Helen Douglas-Dufresne, have been doing walking camel safaris for the last 20 years in the Mathews-Ndoto region having witnessed the destruction of the Milgis ecosystem by the local communities who were unaware of its implications, either we did something or not- so the Milgis trust was born! 
