The Milgis Trust

Category: Milgis lugga, elephants | Date: Feb 03 2009 | By: milgistrust

First I have to clear every ones worries of the wounded elephant, reported 22 January… It seems that it was a ‘game’, to try and get help from somebody because this cow had been killed…Possibly they were looking for compensation… When the news first came through, we got a message that a cow had been killed by an elephant, and somebody needs to get there immediately, but it was a very long way and these things happen, so then they came back with the news that the Elephant had been wounded, and the next message was it was dead!!!.. Oh dear ! It turned out that it was a fight over ’sagiram’…The acacia tortilis pods that fall twice a year, and every one from the squirrels to the Elephants, Goats, sheep, cows and camels go crazy over them… Fortunately these accidents don’t happen very often, and often you will see elephants peacefully eating ’sagiram’ with peoples livestock, one seed pod at a time!, even the stock benefiting from the Elephants being able to shake the trees to make the pods fall, but for some reason the Elephant got really angry with the cow, and that was it.. Nobody saw it, nobody knows which Elephant it was. I felt that it may be something to do with the renewed poaching and the Elephants becoming jittery again… On the subject of compensation, this is another big issue, which i think has to be very very carefully thought out… as it would mean people do not try to look after their stock… its a hot subject though, as I think the lion conservation people have discovered….

On our last safari at full moon, we had a big Elephant that came just below our camp on a high bank of the lower Milgis to drink water from a deep well… Funny, he chose to drink right there, below our camp, lots of people, camels and dogs!, as there is water close to the surface literally half a km away on the other side of the Lugga… maybe the water was sweeter in this about 8 feet well.. We were woken by the dogs barking, and this apparition in the moon light came out into the middle of the lugga.. The Elephant paced back wards and for wards, checking things out before he came in… He cautiously knelt down, but could not reach the water, so the next trick was to lift his back leg up so he could reach further!!… It was a wonderful sight, only 10 feet away below our tents!!.. he had a looooong drink, and melted back into the moon light… What a privilege…

. Where the Elephant was kneeling..Would have been more dramatic with the Elephant in the moon light in the picture, but I was busy holding the dogs!

We also heard about another Elephant in the Matabauwa Lugga, west of the Ndotos, where the wells are too deep, about 25 feet, for the Elephants to reach.. But this one has a great deal with the local people… When they are watering there goats he pitches up and stands around… They fill the Ngarau [trough carved out of wood] up with water, and go and stand across the way… He comes in to drink… If the water is not enough he goes and stands alittle way away, while they fill it again!! He is a completely wild Elephant making use of his friendly neighbours!!.. Would love to see that…

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Category: Milgis lugga, Northern Frontier District, Samburu | Date: Jan 16 2009 | By: milgistrust

Yesterday evening was quite exciting…A wild evening!!

Not so typical of Elgerei, the Samburu name for the Milgis Lugga, a place full of dramatic surprises. At about 5.30 pm looking to wards the east there seemed to be a very strange brown look to the sky, and soon it became clear it was a very strong wind coming in from the Kaisut desert, bringing with it the most incredible amount of dust… It came slowly but surely up the Milgis lugga, and spread out to wards the Matthews and Ndotos.. The sight was amazing, beautiful colours, and suddenly we are all most in the dark!..

The dust was so thick we’ve all got sore throats today!!… In the morning there was a thin coat of dust on all the surfaces, which the Samburu told me not to clean as its bad luck… If I leave it, it will rain!… Well… they are not wrong… because today has turned into a cold after noon, with rain all around!!… FANTASTIC NEWS… The full moon did it!…. There is alot of warriors wandering around singing at the top of their voices… true joy ringing through the hills at the sight of rain!!

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Category: Milgis lugga, Northern Frontier District, Samburu | Date: Jan 11 2009 | By: milgistrust

Yes and its something that we noticed on our last few safaris… The various projects in the area, to bring water out of the mountains is my biggest concern… Not because it causes mini deserts so much, but the fact that every time the water in the mountain rivers doesn’t get to where the beginning of the pipe is, the projects , with out asking ‘WHY’, just go and buy more piping to take the water from further up… All most every scout in his report told us that WATER is very short… What are we going to do about it… Its of great concern to the Milgis Trust..

We were also graced at the scouts meeting by two gentlemen that came all the way over from America from the Shikar Safari Club International Foundation, who last year very kindly supported the employment of ten new scouts and to move the radio to higher ground… Both have helped our ground operations immensely.. I told the scouts that Chuck Lathrop, and Jon Mellen, came all the way to Kenya to be with us for five days only to support the Milgis Trust aims!…They both listened to all the scouts reports, and spoke of how impressed they are, it was nice to hear of the improvement of wildlife counts, the reports of new animals in the areas, etc. Jon gave full verbal support to the scouts and Pete and I for undertaking such a huge project..Chuck was in this area in the 1960s.. He remembered his first view of the Seiya Lugga!!… There was two Rhinos sleeping under a tree, a heard of Oryx, grazing to one side… A heard of Elephants came down to drink, and there was Grevy Zebra all around…He said it was a paradise!.. He would like to help us return this area to its former glory, but not with out the consent of the people who live here… THE SAMBURU.. ”This work the Milgis trust is doing is ‘right up my street’.. Its a true wilderness ” … He went on to tell the scouts… ” I am passionate about making it work with SSCIF support, and will do all he can!!”

The ‘lions’ let us down last night!.. This morning we woke up to the news that a lion had killed two camels??

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Category: Milgis lugga | Date: Nov 17 2008 | By: milgistrust

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Category: Milgis lugga, Northern Frontier District, Samburu | Date: Nov 08 2008 | By: milgistrust

When these big luggas come down in flood, the only way to describe it, is its like a Tsunami, ‘a wall of water’ but at least its got a river bed to follow… BUT it is very exciting to watch…In places these luggas are almost a kilometer wide, imagine the amount of water coming down… The roar is deafening, and quite frightening actually!! What does lugga mean…Its a seasonal river… Actually these big ones never dry up as there is always water flowing under the sand, all you need to do is dig a hole… sometimes quite deep, but then you have as much water as you like… which is why they are vital to the survival of this area… The SEIYA Lugga came down in full flood this morning… It was about 7 am, and I heard a sound like wind…, but the trees weren’t moving! I went out to inspect, and realised it was the lugga coming down… It was about 7 kms away!.. The Seiya is quite famous in Northern Kenya… Its described as the most dangerous lugga in Kenya… The Samburu say that its ‘ eaten ‘ many vehicles, people, livestock… elephants and lions… Vehicles.. because the drivers don’t realise how ‘mean’ it is, especially in the rainy season… they try and cross when the water is low, sink up to their axils in the soft sand, and the next flood takes them away… People… because the Samburu can’t swim, and they try and cross it when its too high! Animals have been known to be taken by surprise, or they too have sunk in the sand like the camel on the 29th oct., in the parsaloi lugga…Thats why I chose to live on a 600 feet hill, when I hear that roar, I’m ok now!!… But…many years ago we used to have our camp in the beautiful acacia tortilis, on the banks of the Seiya, at Sware… We asked the oldest man there if the lugga had ever been that high… not in his life time, he said!.. There was no driftwood signs, so it seemed correct… In 1997, during the el nino rains we joined the people who got ‘ eaten ‘ by that famous lugga…

Funnily enough the meaning of Seiya is so gentle… Its a kind of papyrus, and is very important to the Samburu.. They take the bulbous roots, Seiyai, and make a nice necklace out of them, or include just one in their beads.. and its a permenant perfume… When it heats up it smells of an earthy eucalyptus… It is vitally important to their circumcision ceremonies, and when you are going on a journey you shave a little off your necklace and blow them into the air… Then your safari should go well!!

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Category: Livestock, Milgis lugga, elephants | Date: Oct 30 2008 | By: milgistrust

This morning I could see Mount Kenya from the Milgis, Crystal clear,110 nautical miles away!!. What a pleasure..Its a good sign, it means the rains are still around even though there is a lull at the moment… Quite lucky for me as yesterday one of my camels sunk into the sand in the Parsaloi Lugga, up to his neck!!…Lucky it was a camel!,[not an elephant] and luckily theres a scouts meeting this weekend, so we had plenty of people to help…!!..It took a team of 19 men about 4 hours of hard digging to get him out… What happens is when the Luggas, come down in full flood, after a few days, the surface water is no more but you have water, flowing under the sand..Then you have areas where water is stagnant in pools, that when you had the flood, the water had been swirling, some how you get pockets of air trapped under the sand, and when some unsuspecting animal comes down to drink, it sinks straight in up to his neck, the air bubbles out and the sand ‘grabs’ round the animals legs and it can’t move…When you try to dig them out, the water makes it all most impossible to dig the 5/6 feet so that the camel can move… Its an unbelievable situation…A camel is so tall, and at the end of those long legs is a big foot, so adding to the problem… What amazes me, is that elephants, do not seem to get them selves into these situations… Can they feel that there is a problem ahead… Probably!!.. Many years ago on Manda Island an Elephant had managed to get him self on the wrong side of an underground water tank, something panicked it, and he wanted to run across the tank to get away, luckily he felt it was there, slammed on the brakes just before, [ it left good skid marks] and went back the way he had come from, which was quite complicated, as he had been browsing, not really concentrating in amongst the houses, and now he was in a hurry!!..

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Category: Milgis lugga | Date: Oct 23 2008 | By: milgistrust

At long last the news we have been waiting for, for too long… Thunder, lightning, driving rain, AND luggas in full flood.!!!.. Milgis Lugga when its dry…Flat, wide,windy, sandy highway

Milgis in Full Flood.. Raging torrent of muddy water.. impossible to cross!!

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Category: Milgis lugga, elephants | Date: Oct 17 2008 | By: milgistrust

Chuck Lathrop, from the U.S. came back to the Milgis in Febuary 07, this time not to hunt, but to go on a camel safari, and to remember those fun days back in the 60s.. He immediately noticed what had changed, and picked up on what The Milgis Trust was trying to do… He was determined that he wanted to see Shikar Safari club International Foundation [ SSCIF] support the trusts work and of course the area… After a great safari walking through his old haunts, he returned home with a mission… The first barrier he came across was that some of the members of SSCIF did not like the idea of supporting a project in a country that did not allow hunting… But Chuck and others persevered, with abit of encouragement from me with a letter in which I said… ‘Considering this area was a favourite hunting ground, and many a hunter had wonderful times here, and went home with very good trophies.. It would be fabulous if the foundation would consider supporting our project.. It would mean alot to me’… And they did….Huge financial support for 3 years.. We are eternally gratefull… First and foremost was to increase our scouts from 14 to 24, so as to beable to cover some of the areas further north, in preparation for the Elephants return.[ explained below] also..Milgis Trust goals… 7/6/08.. Secondly to move the radio room to higher ground, so as to get better coverage… It has helped our work immensely…Having the ten extra scouts gave us a real boost..All the scouts report in to base 3 times a day, with any interesting reports, animals seen, any wounded animals, or problems.. and generally give news of their area, and attend any meetings, to spread the word, go to schools to give talks…Check on fires, catch the perpetrators, bring them to the elders, follow up on trees cut down, teach people how to prune.. and so on.. All this is reported at the base… and recorded..

Why is the return of the Elephant important in the north… First after the complete destruction of the elephant population north of the Milgis see my blog over 100 years… and a short history… We never want that to happen again.. And its wonderful to know that there are still elephants that remember these areas, and want to go back… Our job is to give them safe passage and welcome them home!!… Also pressures from Laikipia area, and south, on the Elephants is growing every day… The human population increasing every day…Fences are being erected through out, and the elephant needs space… Not boundaries… Actually if you think of it theres not many places that can offer what we can offer them… This is why I feel chuck felt very strongly about supporting us!! Thanks once again to Chuck, and all the members of the SSCI…

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Category: Milgis lugga, elephants | Date: Oct 13 2008 | By: milgistrust

Just to let you all know that the elephant that was dragged out of the waterhole [ Blog 6.10.08 ] has been seen twice since by Lesambaua..It is back with his herd and relaxed…

The news this morning is wonderful.. The whole region has had a good dowsing of rain… This is such a relief as the rain on the 5th October did not continue, and this is when we started seeing all these fires… The worst one was in the Ndoto Mountains… Over a hundred acres of bush and forest was burn’t… The biggest worry being that the fire followed up one of the luggas that houses the few De-Brazza monkeys that live in these steep mountains… Seems that the fire was started by a hunter gatherer extracting honey, and he probably left the fire burning… Our scouts are following up on this..

A Grevey Zebra, fell into a water hole in the Guasi Lugga, and sadly before the scouts were able to rescue it, a big flood came down, and it drowned…..There are two reports this morning of grevey Zebras limping, one in the Sulabei area, west of the Suiyan… Two Milgis scouts have gone with two Ambassadors from the Grevey Zebra Trust to see why.. The other in Chagwai… It is in a herd of seven, and is not letting any one near it… At least it can move fast!

News from the lower Milgis [Elgerei] is that four lesser Kudu have been found dead… This is the area that had good rains on the 4th October [ blog 5.10.08].. There has been a virus killing goats in the area, so sadly I think this is hitting the Kudu… What a shame as the beautiful lesser kudu has made an incredible come back in the last few years…

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Category: Milgis lugga, Samburu, elephants | Date: Oct 08 2008 | By: milgistrust

Some of the comments we receive when ever we find an elephant in a well gives me a thought that people don’t quite understand what the situation is like…?? Its quite tough, and we are trying, on limited recourses…This area is vast… When it gets very dry the only water available is down below the sand or rocks in the dry river beds… We have come across wells as deep as 30 feet..This is pretty hard work for these nomadic people just to keep them selves and their stock alive… You can imagine how they feel when they find an Elephant has broken their well, or fallen into it after they have spent many hours digging… Our scouts are trying to keep as many of the wells already broken open so that the eleys can get in and out easily and drink.. But you can’t tell the Eleys these are the ones to use!!… At one time we tried to cut thorn branches to protect the good wells, but then you end up cutting all the trees down in the vicinity of the wells… Remember a flood can come down at any time and ruin all the wells and take the thorn branches away.. So then you have to cut more!.. With over grazing becoming more and more of a serious problem, the initial flood waters are very muddy, to a point that it becomes dangerous.. The mud becomes really thick, in fact thats how the little wart hog got stuck…When this muddy water comes down it fills these hundreds of wells, and every one has to start again…These wells are very dangerous at this stage because you can not see that there used to be a well and you can sink into them… What we really need is a huge amount of rain, that will bring good clean water down, wash every thing clean… Then every one will be happy! We had that initial rain but it seems to have disappeared.. What a shame..I hope this makes you realise the luxury of turning on the tap at home… But at least these Samburu don’t have to worry about traffic jams!!!

Below was a note from the David Sheldrick wildlife trust…on the story of the last elephant/well.. Which I felt was quite fitting! Daphne has been sent a beautiful walking stick by Lesanjus rescuer!..When he went to visit Lesanju, he was touched by the care and love that the DSWT give to the Elephants…

Great Story Helen. Well done to all concerned, and it is so heartwarming to
know that so many people care enough to make such an effort for one
elephant - this sort of thing would never have happened in the past so it
just shows how much these grass roots initiatives help for the future of
elephants in Kenya. Daphne will be so chuffed with her walking stick - and
when in Tsavo going on walks up the Galana with rocks and sand she does use
a stick so it will come into good use.

I think I may have made a mistake as I named your little elephant Barseloi
not Parsaloi! Anyway too late now, but the good news is he is doing really
well - loves the others, very vocal and active and is really happy.

Thanks for all the support Helen.

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