The Milgis Trust

As the horrors of drought continue, the answer is to fight back….The Milgis Trust scouts have embarked on a major well digging campaign, up and down all the big luggas to ease the Elephants, and other wildlife’s plight to get to water… Also at the same time going on a fact finding mission to find out where all the disused wells are, after an Elephant had fallen into one and was not found until it was too late… They will talk to all the locals about exactly where all the old wells are, so that they can be monitored every day… The pictures and story written my Moses Lesoloyia below is the reason for this decision…..

On the 19^th June 2009 at 3pm a report reached our office that there was an elephant stuck in a water hole in Laana Nikan lugga, it came from a herder who was on a survey mission for pastures for his livestock.. He was also desperate, to find grass for his hungry cattle, so in stead of turning back to bring the report , he gave it to a KWS patrol vehicle, a day later… They picked the man up and brought him to where he thought he saw the Elephant, and searched the whole place but he could not quite remember where it was in the very thick bush along the Lugga.. They then sent a message to Elkanto, and asked us to bring some more people and any one with knowledge of the area…We immediately packed our land rover with water, rope, spades and digging tools and 8 of us, met up with the KWS team and headed back up the Lugga, grinding up in the soft sand… The land cruiser got stuck, but with many people gathering to try to help, they managed to get it out quickly… about 3 km from the Barsaloi and Seiya junction we stop, as the man leading us said he saw the elephant around there. He seemed to be behaving strangely, and we asked him to show us his tracks but there had been many Rendille camels in the area and it was not possible to retrace them, at one point we thought the man was cheating!! He kept on saying I promise you I saw an Elephant in a well, But where is it!… After a brief gathering of thoughts, Ltankian, a local warrior told us that he remembered where a well was when he was a child…We asked him to lead us there and sure enough we found the elephant which we assessed to between 10 and 12 years. The hole was very narrow and the elephant had fallen from the back and the whole body except the head got trapped into the hole. When we arrived she looked ok and used her trunk to scare away anyone going towards her head. We decided to open up the hole all round her back and tried to pull her out by passing the rope below her fore legs.

We pulled her ¾ out and while trying to pass the other end of the rope below her hind legs she was calm and looked sleepy, we passed the rope very easily and when pulling it out someone shocked us all by saying.. “hi ndovu imekufa” [The elephant is dead] no one believed him. We continued pulling but stopped after realising that the elephant is no longer trying to come out and a foul smell filled the area. We found out that the hind legs were rotten and the skin peeled off when touched. It was at this time that we really started to believe that the elephant could be dying. After a few minutes the elephant was dead. Everybody’s spirit went down and all were tired. How, why, what, followed for about 10 minutes as all wondered why it died… This Elephant had been stuck in this well for at least a week or more,,, It breaks my heart…

Disbelief after all that effort, as the Elephant seemed to be dieing..

One of the very strange things about this poor trapped Elephant is why did the hyenas not attack it when it was stuck in the hole, and apparently even ten days after it died it had not been touched…Despite lots of hyena tracks all round.. The people who tried to save this animals life say that they believe that this elephant has to have been cursed… ” tanang’a negol “ …to die in a hidden place…Why?? I can’t understand as my experience with these people is they hate to see suffering, but they say maybe some body in a family was hurt by an Elephant, and they must pay… I must mind my P’s and Q’s!!! ….

I apologise for so many photos not coming up on my blogs… I am trying…

Why?…. I suppose its because there are more people on the world??….. IE More trying to live off less… In Northern Kenya we can expect a pretty bad drought every ten years, but its worse each time… And this time its no exception… I’ve just come back from another beautiful safari in the Matthews, we climbed to the top, but we could not avoid seeing the people and animals enduring hard times…. And doing more damage just to stay alive… As in the pictures below…

Two valuable trees cut down for hungry livestock to try to keep them alive… But then what will they eat tomorrow?… We have so much work to do on this issue..

During our safari we saw plenty of Elephants, but every time one could not but think … Where is the nearest water?, for this beautiful herd of Elephants… Most of the wells we came across are over 20 feet deep, not even a chance for them, but we found flowing mountain water, thanks to the beautiful forest above on the slopes of the Matthews range, in the Ngare Narok Lugga, where the De Brazza monkeys frequent.. Indeed two herds of Elephants came into drink, at the same time, just behind our camp, plenty of trumpeting went on, which made our little camp with the camels all hobbled abit restless!!..

Huge tree in the Matthews range… Strangler fig, growing up a Newtonia..

Below is a positive note from a geologist who comes out to Kenya a lot… and he seems to be giving us some bright news!

Lets look at the forecasts at the Climate Prediction Centre and the
International Research Institute for Climate and Society. We are
currently moving into an El Nino year, slightly anomalous sea-surface
temperatures in the W Pacific, the El Nino/Southern Oscillation is
coupled with the Indian Ocean Dipole that influences E African
rainfall. They are not yet sure about the strength of the El Nino if
it comes later this year. El Nino means more intense short (oct-nov)
rains for most parts of E Africa. The prediction maps do not show any
difference in the rains from other years except for Oct-November where
there is a 40% probability of heavier rains in this time of the year.
Well, get an umbrella soon!!!

Our Milgis Trust website has been updated, If any of you have got time to read whats going on, it out lines all our plans and goals…

Finally a little note on how Pete is doing!! Hes walking!!… But the Doctor is still working on getting all the dead tissue, killed by the Snakes poison, out of his foot… What a palaver… but hes in good spirits, and looking forward to getting back to the bush…

I blogged this news on the 14/5/09… and on the 16/5/09 … The little elephant is safe at DSWT.. We have only managed to get our hands on the photos lately so here with…
The water holes are so vital to the elephants survival, and yet these little guys keep falling in…If you try a clever way so that they can drink but the babies can’t fall in they pull it apart… Or if you cover them up completely they go crazy… This is how Kudup was found… The latest baby Elephant to be rescued.. Actually the main herd was not drinking out of this hole, but this little Ely went round the back, probably playing, and down he went…

The poor mother went crazy, and tried and tried to dig her youngster out, but left the scene… lost and sad..

‘Hey you guys.. what do you want of me… out of my way’!!.. This little Elephant… Found in a place called Kudup was not wanting to be friendly and was fairly keen to go free, but as the story tells, the mother is no where to be seen, and in the night they were visited by many hyenas… So to let her free with out the protection of the herd is futile…

Trying to make friends… She was very strong and feisty to start with…

THANKYOU TO WILDLIFE DIRECT AND TO YOU ALL FOR HELPING US TO GIVE THESE LITTLE ELEPHANTS A WONDERFUL FUTURE!!.. Before they would have perished down these water holes… And many did sadly.. or they may have been pulled out by a kind Samburu, to be let go, only to die from hunger, or to be eaten… Our scouts are working very hard to keep the ‘walk in wells’ open for them, and lots of elephants are using them daily… They are not great at leaving things as they found them!!…

Tomorrow we are setting off on a safari over the Ndoto mountains, starting off with camels, and then porters when it gets too steep for the ’ships of the desert’… Hope to come back with lots of stories!

This picture shows things in the good times, plenty of water..

This is the Elephants favourite area, at Ol Donyo Waas.. This special salt water that they come to every day… And lots of cover around.. This is now completely dry, and the well than Nchan was rescued out of is in the middle of where the water is…

and this one shows another elephants favourite drinking spot in not so good times… I gather from the oldest people around that its never been this dry, at this particular spot, in there life time.. It must have been affected by the fires up stream…

And this picture shows just how bad it can get… There are about 200 cat fish, in this stinky mud hole, and each day it gets dryer.. They have their head up to breath… You see them open there mouths, and the air goes in and muddy bubbles come out through there gills… Every two minutes there is a complete frenzy to try to get to the cooler mud below ..Imagine how hot it must get at mid day, in that disgusting smelly mud hole….. yesterday I got a report that they are nearly all dead now… Shame, shame.. nature is cruel…

This beautiful little young animal, the desert warthog is just another victim of these dry times, he was found stuck in the mud, on the Milgis Lugga.. The scout cleaned him up and brought him 15 kms to try to save his little life but he was not lucky… I just wanted to point out the incredible defences he has, at this very young age!! They can draw blood quite substantially with a quick side swipe!…

I think you… YES YOU ALL, are so sweet! Any one who manages to plough through my blog, and to have the time to leave a comment is just so great, THANKYOU……. Sheryl, and Anna especially, but all the others as well… I can see that you spend alot of time thinking and coming up with some brilliant comments… So very appreciated… You have no idea how encouraging it is to receive your thoughts… But even more Thanks to you ‘guys’ actually the latest are girls!!, Wendy, and the two Annas!..We are touched, and VERY GRATEFUL…for you being so generous with your donations… All the funds we get through wildlife direct goes to all the sudden problems that arise… Like rescuing Elephants, and alike..remember the big elephant that was pulled out in September… did you see the photos??. I wish we had more success in finding the mothers of these young ones, but thats how it is, and I gather that Nchan and the latest one called Kudup, are doing well at DSWT..

Unfortunately the pictures of Nchans rescue were too late for DSWT before they put the news on the inter net, the pictures below show what a SURVIVER SHE IS!! …

When her rescuers arrived this was her situation… She had been in this hole for any thing from 6 hours to 15 hours..

Poor little baby… Totally exhausted, and just lay there for quite a while… Just to believe she was out..

Suddenly she realised she was out of her watery ” jail “, She just wants to go, but its no good just letting her go into the bush, with no sign of any Elephants around..

Finally quietened down, in the shade, and taking a drink.. Then to wait for the evening in the hope that the mother will come back…

The next morning.. No Luck unfortunately so she is lifted into the vehicle and taken to the nearest runway, about two hours away… To wait for the aeroplane..

Next Blog will show you Kudups predicament!..

It started at 6 am with the scouts down at Kudup, [please see my last blog] having had an eventful night, but no sign of the youngsters mother, nor of any herds…sadly, but the lugga came down in a massive flood in the night, so luckily the baby was safe and not still in the well….They stayed the night near
the well in the hope the mother would be back but just one old bull came in to drink, he took a long thirst quenching drink at the well, and did not show much sympathy for the little boy, who was calling, and just wanted to go to him, but there were also lots of Hyenas around keen to have a nice tasty baby
elephant!!, and the scouts stayed awake all night… I strait away got on to the phone to tell DSWT, who were ready at any moment to help… I have just received news from Angela, that he arrived in good form, thirsty for milk, and ‘full of nonsense’! The scouts tell me that he was like that for the whole night!!

As we were settling down to a cup of coffee, We had not slept too much either, hoping that the guys would come on the radio with good news!, The dream outcome.. ‘ The mother is here, and the baby is safely back!’ BUT so such luck…one of the scouts in the western slopes of the Ndotos, piped up on the radio, ‘PLEASE I need help, I am being hunted down by a mad man who wants to kill me because I caught him shooting a greater kudu, I have been hiding all night, he went to my manyatta, and luckily I was not there, but he is looking for me… Please send the home guards to help me, call the chief, come quick in the car’… I quickly answered that the car was miles away in a nother direction, carrying an Elephant!, and that he must find some elders, to help, hope fully there will a home guard,or he must run away to safety, and as soon as we can we will send a team of home guards to help, and have a meeting with the elders on what to do next… Later on he came on the radio to tell me he was safe, the elders had come out ‘en mass’ to help!! Yesterday, the 15th, the team went up to the area, had a long meeting and resolved the problem… last news I had was they will be late because the elders had given them a goat to eat!! [ Who are the Home Guards... they are police reserve, its a wonderful way of keeping the peace in these remote areas, certain responsible people are given a training, and a gun, they live amounst the communities an ordinary life, do not have a uniform and they are called up when there are problems like this or attacks like the next report!]

Next to come up was there had been an attack in the early hours of the night, on a Samburu boma with alot of cattle, near the Suiyan Lugga west of the base!.. One person was shot dead, and one wounded, but the owners of the cattle with the home guards managed to fight off the attackers, and save the cattle from being stolen… Unfortunately unrest between the tribes has reared its ugly head again and there has been quite a few skirmishes north of us, between the Samburu and Turkana… Mostly about cattle rustling, but also old quarrels that have not been resolved.. We had an important meeting that was supposed to take place on the 19th may in Baragoi, on the plight of the Grevy Zebra, which of course is always caught up in these skirmishes.. The meeting has been cancelled..

Last but not least their was alot of relieved talk about rain.. alot of excitement, but its the 16th today, and the rain has gone again… At least we had one good flood down the luggas..And the desert is bursting into life.. little bits of greenery popping out of the ground all around us!! Soon lots of flowers! Today we will be an emergency meeting with the scouts responsible for the wells.. We need to think again of what to do about wells… Its a complicated problem..

The Genet is old enough to be released.. which we did a week ago at Elkanto.. He is very happy in his new home, learning the tricks of the wild again… Hes found all the good places to hide, and we see him every night… He looks forward to his food, but slowly he will disappear off into the wild..

No pictures as we are using a satellite phone, but will put some up asap…There are some great ones of the two baby Elephant rescues!..

13 may 2009….Sadly another bad day for elephants, although last night I am extremely pleased to tell you that it poured with rain……EVERY WHERE!!!… .. As the day dawned, beautiful colours, spirits were high, and every one was excited, as the rain was good rain, it had rained all night… but on the radio this morning a report came from the Noongek area, North East Matthews,that there was another dead baby elephant, about one year old.. this is the third one of this age in the last month, I think its just too dry for them and they are struggling to keep up with the big elephants, who are managing to reach the water in most of the wells, but these little ones can’t… We have dug wells for them, up and down the sand luggas, but the big elephants insist on drinking from the deeper ones on the edge, some times angrily dragging the thorns that the scouts have put to try to keep them away… Then at 4 O’Clock an urgent report that another baby elephant is down a well, in the lower Milgis, at a place called Kudup…Why did we get the message so late?… Because after the rain, nobody needed to go to the lugga to give their stock water, as there was water every where, but luckily a passer by happened to hear a strange noise in the direction of the deep well, and went to check it out… Luckily the water in the well was not too deep, but he was concerned as if a flood came it would cover this well… He rushed off to find Lesanju, the nearest scout, who on hearing the news called the base to let us know that he was on his way to check things out.. Base on hearing the news, was very alarmed as he had just heard that there had been torrential rain upstream, and to expect a huge flood…

With the news reaching Elkanto, there was action, every one rushing around grabbing what they may need to spend the night, once again with the hope that the mother would come back… She apparently had tried , in vain, by digging around the sides of the well, to get her young one out…She had done a formidable job, unfortunately the sides were hard, and the well very deep…But Lesanju when he got to the recked scene,was frightened that she may come back while he was waiting for help!!… The 5 man rescue team rushed off, as much as one can rush on these rocky tracks, and were there in an hour an a half… They hauled the baby out, who is fine, rather feisty…. As we speak so to say, they are there…silently waiting for a miracle, and the huge flood has just passed us here at Elkanto, heading East… Hey its GOOD TO SEE WATER, TO HEAR WATER!! Also its good to know that before the days of the Milgis trust, that baby would have been trapped and drowned…

Yes I have not been blogging lately, as if I use too much energy writing I will chase off those clouds…[ not a good excuse but feasible?? also I have been away!] and one just keeps on thinking it will rain and then we can talk about good news rather than bad… But no…. not yet… Yes there has been the odd sporadic storm, and of course this is helping the very worrying situation because luckily the people are still nomadic…People with their livestock and wildlife are moving from here to there, to keep themselves, alive… Thank goodness they still are nomadic, and the land has not been divided up, and fenced… But the situation is quite grave, as far as water for the wildlife is concerned… In 20 years, since I have been in this region, we have never got to May, and not had a huge flood or 20 down the big luggas, Laana Nikan, Parsaloi… Milgis.. We keep hoping, that because they, [the rains], are late, that it will come with vengeance!! … The other evening, while the scouts were opening up the well below Elkanto for the Elephants to use during the night, they suddenly saw a group of eight elephants, who were thirsty, and were not going to wait for the night… Every one scattered, and they moved in to drink…The site of a hot thirsty herd of Elephants taking a long cool drink is extremely satisfying, especially when you’ve spent the after noon digging!! This was the managers comment!!… It has been hard work keeping the wells for the Elephants as they do tend to destroy them every night… Not their fault they are so big!!…

Little snippets of news… The mini matriarch Lesanju, our first elephant that was rescued out of a well, and taken by helicopter to DSWT back in October 2006, has been taken to Voi, on her path back to freedom…We are delighted with this news!!.. The little Elephant mentioned in my last blog is also doing well, which is such great news considering the well water was very deep, but we keep our fingers crossed for her… Last week we had another young elephant about two years old, that was deserted by its herd down at the same place as the last one was rescued.. It was still alive, desperately thin, when the scout arrived, sadly it died before our team could get there…… We do not know if its mother was poached or he was sick..

The Grevy Zebra are in trouble again, to the west of the base, with another disease outbreak in the donkeys, the main symptom being constipation, they have found one Grevy dead so far.. One more bit of bad news, and almost can’t bear to bring this up, as so far we have not been part of this, but the bush meat trade has reared its ugly head in the area, with the scouts reporting, dikdiks, and guinea fowl being killed and sold in the towns, and missionaries buying warthog meat… This is not the first time we have heard of the missionaries involved in killing and eating wildlife…!! ?? YES, Im afraid so..

Yes I’m afraid so…Despite having all the scouts that live any where near the luggas, heading down to open up wells for the wildlife every day, we have a new well victim…. Here with the story written by Moses Lesoloyia, Milgis Trust manager.. unfortunately do not have any pictures of the incident, so heres a couple taken in January 2009

The Dam that is now dry with the Rock of Ol Donyo Wuas behind..

On 17^th morning around 8 o clock we received a report from Lesanchu that there is a young elephant in a kisima, [well] down on the lower Elgerei. I contacted Helen with the news, and 5 of us piled into the landrover and headed off down the very slow track to Ndonyo Wuas. We took with us a blanket, ORS,[ rehydrate salts] spades, ropes, water and bottles. The kisima was dug in the now dry dam that the Elephants have been relying on, the bush around the dam is very thick which took us quite a time to cut through, but all the time we could hear the desperate crys of the Elephant struggling to get out of the Kisima… On arrival we assessed the 10 feet well and decided the fastest way to get it out is by throwing a loop round the youngster and to pull it out, the baby was thrashing around so much, making it too dangerous for somebody to go in. We made a loop with the thick rope [after the last big elephant rescue we made sure we had the right equipment] and put it round its chest as it raised its legs to try and come out. We pulled it out and it stood immediately and started chasing people around. Kosma and Lenkulate struggled to catch her but soon managed to calm her down.. We gave her 2 liters of ORS solution and went on giving it normal water the rest of the day. On our way to rescue the baby we had made a decision if she was in good enough shape, that we will try and link the baby with the mother. We ensured that no one touched it. We collected water from the well and stayed with it so that we could pour it on her if we heard the mother coming. Everybody was sure by 5 the mother will be there!!. We sent 3 scouts to try and find any eleys nearby, but with no luck… At one time the baby was urinating so frequently and we got worried that it had a big problem but after consulting Helen we were assured, that hopefully it wasn’t.. By 4 o clock we decided to move away abit from the well to set up our camp, below the Ndonyo Wuas rock and left three guys with the baby near the kisima. The rest of us went up the rock with binoculars to monitor any eleys coming, so that we could alert by radio the guys with the baby to pour the water on it, and dodge it and leave it to make a noise for the mother to come for it. We did this till 6.30 pm and darkness was already falling. We decided to move out of the thick bush because it was abit risky to stay in there as we were expecting all the usual Elephants to come in for water..

The Dam that the Elephants rely on at Ol Donyo Wuas.. South end of Ndotos behind. The dam is dry now and the Samburu have dug wells in the mud, for their livestock.. even though we have dug special wide wells for the Eleys in the main Lugga they insist on coming back to this dry natural dam.. that will fill up when the lugga floods..

2 people stayed on the higher bank of the of the dry dam so as to alert the rest of us if any eleys are coming in, and the rest of the group stayed with the baby in between the rock and the dam.. They stayed away from the baby so that it made a noise for the mother to hear, and were ready with their ‘running shoes’ should she come!!… By 9 we were losing hope and started thinking, maybe the eleys had followed the rain that was now falling on the Matthews range and the mother feared coming back alone. At 10.30 two bulls came in and stood for 5 minutes listening to the baby making a noise, but sadly it wasn’t their problem, so they drunk water from a different kisima and left. By this time every body was struggling to keep off mosquitoes, but we were here to do a serious job, and the advantage was, they helped keep us awake! We didn’t make a fire because we didn’t want to show our presence. We had taken dinner by 5. We stayed on and on till morning with no luck. We truly felt if the mother had come in we would have won the battle. This is something we are going to build on, by liaising with DSWT and try as much as possible to return babies to their mothers. But this time having had no luck, at 6.30 in the mining, we called Helen with the sad news, loaded her on the landy drove the 2 hours to the airstrip. We had given her another 2 liters of ORS solution and later at the airstrip another 2 liters of normal water. Finally the little eley fell asleep at the airstrip. . The Plane arrived to pick her up for her journey to the amazing DSWT orphanage in Nairobi, where Angela will keep us informed… Fingers crossed for the little surviver..All the people involved in the rescue were surprised that the mother didn’t come back, as this is very unusual with eleys and the following opinions were voiced.. .

• The mother feared coming back alone if the group went very far.
• Mother was old and not very strong due to drought
• Mother had previously lost a baby this way had so lost hope of this one too…

Unfortunately we won’t know… But the drought is probably not helping, with the fact that Nomadic people from all around, , especially from the Kaisut Desert, have come into this area, with thousands of camels, cows, goats, and sheep, and they are all trying to survive these hard times… There does seem to be a ” good agreement ” between the people and the wildlife, and every one sticks to it!!.. Wildlife have the use of the Lugga, and all that it gives at night, people by day…

BY the way the genet that was brought in to us about 3 weeks ago, it must gone out with its mother on one of its first nights out, and followed her into the well, but could not get out, is doing very well, and keeping me busy!.. It will be released at Elkanto when its old enough..

Just wish we had our dam project up and running, but thank goodness this morning there are exciting clouds billowing over the Matthews Range.. Finally we REALLY hope for rain throughout.. All I am getting news of, is wild animals desperately in need of water… Just to mention a few of the problems…. Two young Grevy Zebras died trying to get to water, on the east side of the Ndotos… And many more animals falling into wells, and not being able to get out .. On the lower Milgis a big elephant spent the night battling to get out, which it did luckily as we did not enjoy the thought of having a repeat of the one in September! Elephant in desperate situation is saved…. PHEW!!! I have added some pictures on the blog which you may like to see….. Another very pregnant Elephant that was going down a very steep path having drunk in the Langata Nanyuki to the south of the Ndotos, slipped down the rocks and landed badly, her front legs were under her body, all her weight was on her neck, and she could not get up… She died before the scouts could find help.. A warthog, which died sadly but two wild dogs where pulled out of a well in Nairimirimo, and released I am happy to tell you… Unfortunately we have got no further with our investigations on our wild dog that was tied up for two days, and supposedly taken by KWS?? [See my last blog] I’m afraid the plot is thickening, and please be patient, we are determined to find out what is going on… But have discovered that there is a trade in wild dogs, going to markets where rich people want these beautiful animals as pets!!..Which explains why we have heard of people looking for puppies… Going back to our ‘poor’ dog… It sounds like she was pregnant, somebody who tried to get a job with us a few years ago, with a letter from the KWS, [ who knows how genuine] suggesting we took him on to look after the wild dogs!!, He made the phone call, and refused them to let it go… What we haven’t managed to establish is whether the dog died or was taken… Our scout has been taken on a ‘wild goose chase’ and he will go back to investigate… He was told the dog died, but when he asked to see the body it did not seem to exist!!… Yesterday a young genet cat was found in a well near the base, which was brought in…Its too small to release but we will as soon as its ready to go… LETS HOPE IT POURS WITH RAIN… PLEASE EVERY ONE WAVE YOUR MAGIC WANDS!! We need the rain so badly..