The Milgis Trust

Category: Conservation Awareness, Education, Errosion, Livestock, Overgrazing | Date: May 26 2009 | By: milgistrust

As I watch a herd of cattle crossing the lugga below us, with over half of the participants hardly able to put one foot in front of the other, and they still have miles to go, as the owners have decided to cut and run to try to save their ‘ love of their life ‘ [ cows] lives, by looking for greener pastures, is a very difficult situation, even the hardest person can not be happy to see that… Again three weeks ago there was a bit of rain on the west side of the Ndotos, and ‘every one and his goat’ left for the area with their livestock, on a last resort run to save their bank account from collapse!!! or to put it into context, try to save their lives,…They could not stop to wait for the stragglers, they had to leave them behind to fend for themselves, in this harsh country side… knowing that there was not much hope…who’s going to give them water out of the deep wells? and then when it gets dark, the predators will have a field day… I am not sure when it is that us humans will realise that our environment just can not hold any more??

Up here this year, thousands of trees have been cut down to save the animals, and to make new bomas [Koral’s] ,unbelievable over grazing until there is not even a spike of dry grass left…and then comes the erosion…

which leads to the thick, thick mud in the luggas..

It is an indication, that its time for the MILGIS TRUST to start a very controversial project, NOW… We need to start talking, and immediately after this dreadful drought I feel is a good time..’ QUALITY RATHER THAN QUANTITY ‘ of livestock is the way forward, although to persuade these Samburu people, is going to be interesting, BUT this year once again they have learnt their lesson, and plenty of people have lost stock… Out here a drought is like a bank robbery to us, the only difference is it slowly bites!!.. This problem, is a problem that we could ignore because it is controversial, it is untraditional, But it means in twenty years time we will call this area a desert… I have seen an unbelievable change in the last 25 years.. Imagine another 25 years with so many more people living off this parched land… Milgis trust is going to take the bull by the horns… so to say, slowly, gently, coaxingly…. Persuade… Funnily enough, already many people we have met lately under stand, its action that is needed, to move on!!

2 responses so far

Category: Errosion, elephants | Date: Feb 16 2009 | By: milgistrust

As we flew in my Cessna 182 [ small four seater aircraft] into Wilson airport, in Nairobi, this was what I told the tower as I requested landing permission, and that I wanted to come strait in!! The lady in the tower thought she had heard wrong, but eventually when she realised, was very helpful in giving me priority!!…Yes.. sadly another baby elephant has lost its mother and herd, and yesterday we took it down to Daphne Sheldrick… We have not found out exactly the circumstances of how it came about that she got left behind, but what we were told is she fell down one of these dangerous erosion gullies, as per my last blog…Did I put my ‘black’ tongue on it.??. Too sad for words to hear about another elephant found lost and hungry, way down the Milgis Lugga, at a place called Marti Dorop, at 9 am Saturday… We got the message on the radio at 6 pm…and I was told that Lesuuda, one of our scouts was on his way down to pick her up with the KWS team from Latakwen…But no news of how old it was, how big etc.. 7.45 on a very crackly radio, all I could hear was that they had not reached the place yet… So we had to wait till the morning… I spoke to Daphne and Angela at the D.S.W.T. [David Sheldrick wildlife trust] to warn them of the news.. It went down badly!, as literally in the last two days, two other young elephants had been brought in, and they are over whelmed with baby elephants from around the country… But when I suggested we tried to find the herd, Daphne was adamant that it was not a good idea, as it already had been too long, and with the smell of humans on the ely, the herd actually may kill it.. I did not sleep all night, wondering if I was going to beable to get the baby into my aeroplane, and at what stage I was going to have to admit it was too big!! Could Lesuuda judge whether or not it was too big!! It was already a one hour flight from where I was, but hoped at least we could help with the flying…

The next morning, as soon as it was clear enough to communicate [ for some reason its impossible to hear on HF radios at night] We got the message that the very little female, barely a week to ten days old, was at the Milgis runway waiting to be collected… After all the size was no problem..!! When we arrived there was a big crowd at the runway… amazing how many people can ‘come out of the woodwork, in such a remote place!!.. The little Ely was just too sweet, trumpeting with excitement!! adorable! But very hungry… We decided to get her to her new home quick quick!! We put her on a mattress behind the front seats, standing, with two people holding her, put a blanket over her as we started the engine… Not a worry though, and as soon as we took off she fell asleep, and eventually about 10 minutes before we landed she lay down and went into a deep sleep on Lesuudas lap…Did not even wake up on my rather bumpy landing at Wilson airport!… Lesuuda told me that he and her had not slept or eaten all night, and even he was ready to collapse!.. But he still had the energy to go and see where his little friends [ Elephants bond to kindness very quickly] new home would at the DSWT and also to learn more about looking after these ‘minute’ fragile creatures!!…. Angela will give us the rest of the news when she can!!

Lesuuda and his hungry friend on the Milgis runway.. We have learnt not to try to feed these youngsters with cows milk, as this does not agree with their stomachs…only special milk formula which one doesn’t find in the bush! so shes only had water, for the last 24 hours…

It was a bit of a squash in the plane!!

6 responses so far

Category: Conservation Awareness, Errosion | Date: Feb 10 2009 | By: milgistrust

Just what are we going to do about it… It is very frightening…. Every time I fly up to the North over the plains west of the Matthews this is what I see. I keep taking more pictures as it just seems to look worse each time… But how can we stop it???… Tell people to stop breeding?? Tell them to cut down on there goats etc?? [ Its abit like asking us to cut our money we have in the bank by half!] , stop cutting the trees down to feed the stock, stop cutting the forests down for timber, research!, essential oils [Our scouts intervened a truck leaving the Kirisias just yesterday full of Sandal wood, hopefully the KWS are hot in pursuit]… Make dams, ie stem the rushing water flow?? … What else… At what stage do we [ humans] admit that there is a problem… I’m abit baffled.. You hardly ever hear our leaders, say any thing about the environment not being able to sustain the pressure we put on it… We just blame it on every thing else, the Climate change, No rain, too much rain, … never the fact that maybe we are too many…. No I don’t have children!!..

We can’t just close our eyes to it… Its dangerous, really dangerous…In so many ways…

Our head scout, Daniel Lentokunye ‘the elephant’, was on leave and was walking with some friends to Rumuruti in the Laikipia district, to return the skins used during his wedding to his second wife, to her mothers manyatta. He had to do this before he could proceed with any other ceremonies. He was going through an area called Ol Donyo Nyiru, where there is alot of the erosion like in the picture below and found a herd of Elephants in a terrible tiz, rushing around trumpeting. So he went to investigate and found a calf stuck in one of these erosion drains. They dug and dug with their spears, until they managed to get the calf out. They were fortunate enough, this time, to rescue the little one and see it reunited with its mother.

We hear of animals all the time falling into these gullies. Some body came to me when I took this picture and asked… WHAT CAN WE DO???

3 responses so far

Category: Conservation Awareness, Errosion, Forest Fires, Grevy's Zebra, Mt Nyiru, Northern Frontier District, Overgrazing, elephants | Date: Nov 18 2008 | By: milgistrust

Every things happening up in the Milgis this month!! Usually a quiet sort of place…except when the wind blows!…

2 weeks ago, ‘The Landrover’ left for the Milgis Lugga, from our workshops at Naro Moru… We were very kindly given this series 2 landrover by Marika Beckman, who came on a camel safari in March..She decided this was the place for this beautiful old car to spend her last days… We picked her up in April, she was a wreck as she had done many Rhino Charges with Donna Hurt!!.. But after a thorough going over, in the workshop, and a paint job, shes out in the bush again… What a lovely vehicle, just so quiet compared to these modern cars and yet so much power.. She cruises up Elkanto hill in second gear!!..

We want to find out more of the probably 40 year history of this car, I’m sure its interesting!..But what we know is its already done alot for CONSERVATION!!… Immediately the land rover got to the Milgis, we organised an awareness campaign up in the north…Ten scouts went ahead by foot to gather every one for meetings, all round Mt Nyiru, and Ol Donyo Mara.. The manager and some of our “clever talking” scouts from the Matthews area, have gone to meet up them, so as to inform the communities about the inevitable return of the Elephants, what its like to live with them, and please to welcome them home… They also have lots more to tell the communities…. water for the wildlife, erosion issues, the result of too much stock, tree cutting, the value of wildlife, especially the Grevy zebra and how rare they are, ideas of how to protect there bomas [ thorn enclosure] against predators, killing the predator is not the answer!! Of course one one of the major topics is the burning of the forests…He has a small inverter, which will work off the Land rover battery and he has many pictures on his computer to show them …and a small film on how to live with predators..

Last but NOT least… Andrew thank you for your donation….Its greatly appreciated….Lots more news tomorrow

2 responses so far

Category: Conservation Awareness, Education, Errosion, Grevy's Zebra, Livestock, Northern Frontier District, Overgrazing, Rendille, Samburu, Turkana, Water holes, elephants | Date: Nov 11 2008 | By: milgistrust

A REQUEST FOR

FINANCIAL SUPPORT FOR A WILDLIFE WATER DEVELOPMENT PROJECT….

Project description

Following efforts from the scouts and the entire community within the Milgis ecosystem, we have observed a significant and rapid change in the behaviour and distribution of wildlife populations over the last few years. Overall, both wildlife and local communities appear to have become more relaxed and wildlife, especially elephants have been opening up old movement routes into the Matthews-Ndoto Ranges which they used historically. This has benefited local communities living near the mountains, providing them and their livestock access along these new elephant routes to areas in the mountains. Also the elephants are now feeling safe enough to probe the areas north of the Ndoto mountains, in the hope to go back to mounts Nyiru and Kulal.. where they were almost completely wiped out of during the tragic poaching of the 1970s and 80s..Those that were lucky enough to escape south, are the ones probing to go back… What they don’t know is that things have changed and human populations have increased dramatically, and the water sources are not where they were when they had to run for their lives…

As a result of the increasing presence and movement of wildlife under the protection of the community scouts within the area, the opportunity for conflict with people and livestock over water and pasture during the dry season presents itself. Conservation efforts now have to strike a critical balance: Wildlife and habitat conservation needs to be clearly understood, and the benefits need to be recognised.by the communities.. Our conservation efforts need now to be even more vigilant as a result of our success, which leads to an increase in demand for resources. One of the major sources of conflict in northern Kenya is over water, the resource is scarce in this region and the little that exists is needed by all.

In the northern frontier district, there are huge tracts of land that are unoccupied because of lack of water. Opening up such areas would ease the population in those currently occupied as the wildlife and even nomads would spread out and reduce the damage to the environment that is caused by over crowding. This will also ease over stretching of the available resources. Opportunities for accessing water to the communities living in the drier parts are enormous, there are numerous pans and dams that are no good, because of silting, while there are plenty of dry streams where flood waters during the rainy season can be harvested by developing new dams or Haffir tanks.

We are therefore requesting for support… A water project that will involve accessing water to communities and wildlife in northern Kenya… Some wildlife species like the Grevys’ zebra that are endemic to this region, are threatened by lack of water. The Trust will continue its security and monitoring operations which have been responsible for the encouraging change in the behaviour and distribution of wildlife in this region and in gradually building positive attitudes towards wildlife. This stability provides the platform from which the Trust can implement its other conservation activities which will ensure that for wildlife and natural resource protection to be sustainable there needs to be real development opportunities made available.This includes education, security, health care, livestock marketing and water development.

The specific objectives of this project are; De-silting pans and dams that are dry, and opening up new dams in arid areas. Creating water resource conservation, use and management awareness among the communities…

Benefits…

• Mitigating human wildlife conflict within the Milgis Trust area

  The Trust is dedicated to conserving the environment and wildlife in the long-term through the provision of real economic benefits to the communities…, To this end, the Trust is taking steps to make water accessible to the people to try and reduce situations that cause conflict with wildlife. By making water available to both the nomads and wildlife, opportunities for conflict will be reduced, and the communities will start to see wildlife as bringing benefits to them. This will strengthen our conservation efforts and the people will start to be more accommodating to the wildlife..

• Easing the elephants water problems, as the Umbrella species for all wildlife..

  ‘The Elephant’ is under pressure from fences and human populations to the south, so they are probing routes to go to places with less pressure.. The presence and movement of elephants within the area naturally increases the opportunity for conflict between people and livestock over water during the dry season..

• Especially easing the endangered Grevy Zebras plight of travelling huge distances to water …
• Accessing to water to communities, and solving overgrazing, and erosion …

  Through the Milgis Trust community scouts and the Manager, continued awareness creation on the importance of conserving the available water and other resources in sustaining human livelihoods is undertaken. Meetings are arranged… discussions take place on local conservation concerns with particular focus on water resource use issues especially during the dry season. The communities will be trained on catchments area protection, the relationship between the environmental destruction and water shortage among other conservation issues.

  Methods:

The Milgis Trust would do this by purchasing equipment to undertake this activity. Purchasing our own equipment will ensure sustainability of this project.

Project Impact:

As an established field presence, the Milgis Trust scouts have made a significant impact on improving security for wildlife and natural resources within the Milgis Ecosystem, in the three year time frame they have been operating… The role of the scouts has therefore been instrumental in maintaining the momentum of conservation and awareness activities across the region. Once this program is under way the following benefits are anticipated;

ü Reduced erosion due to congestion in areas where water is available, once water is made available to other areas the community will spread out.

ü Reduced human wildlife conflict over water resource use.

ü Improved human wildlife relationship and co-existence.

BELOW IS THE FINANCIAL NEEDS….

Tractor, ripper and Dam Scoop, and Back up pickup…

1 x SAME LASER TRACTOR 125 4wd ..

1 x 3.5 cubic meter Dam Scoop

1 x Ripper

offer 7 free services to our customers however depending on where this tractor will be located we will negotiate what we are willing to do for you as soon as we have further details.

Training: We offer full operator training for your operators and service maintenance training for your mechanics. The training is offered free of charge with only incidental costs of transport, food and accommodation etc being charged.

1 x 4wd pickup backup vehicle..

Extras… camping equipment…

Total costs to set up the Dam unit… …………………………………………….aprox Ksh 10,750,000/-

aprox….. US $ 150,000.

Operating costs per month… Fuel, maintenance, wages, and food… aprox Ksh 200,000/-

per year x 12 = Ksh 2,400000/= US $ 32000.

I am putting this on the Blog, because especially after this last drought, we have decided this is one way we can hopefully ease many of the problems… I am not expecting just any one to come up with this sort of cash!, but if anyone knows of any organisation that may beable to help…We really want to get this project going…As a independent mobile unit… Run By Pete Ilsley.. a Milgis Trust Trustee….

4 responses so far