The Milgis Trust

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??

One response so far

Category: Forest, Forest Fires, Matthews range, Northern Frontier District | Date: Dec 07 2008 | By: milgistrust

Richard, Thank you for your support on this Matthews Saga… I am delighted that you have brought these valuable forests in Northern Kenya to the lime light… This whole thing with Luca managing to get a licence to cut a substantial count of fully grown indigenous trees for research, will funnily enough I hope, end up helping these forests, I’m not sure about the reason for cutting the trees for research??, BUT.. below is more from Luca to try and convince us…What is more exciting hopefully the Kenya forest service will show more interest in these forests… Instead of only taking money from them, IE this research permit, and camping fees up at Mt Nyiru, etc….Each time they come for fees, I ask what the forestry are doing about the forest fires, they can not answer… I even wrote to them to ask them, and have had no reply… A couple of comments from your blog, for the record… Re the size of the gaps made in the forest…either Samburu, do not know what a meter is, or Lucas meters are long…We will send somebody to check again!.. so the record is strait.. BUT to me this is not the issue… The issue is the fact in this day and age a researcher was able to get a licence to cut, live indigenous trees…After all that has been said and done in Kenya lately about cutting trees… I actually thought there was a total ban… The Matthews range is Samburu district!! And the amount he paid or promised to pay to the community about a month or so after they had evicted him, and after the forestry had suspended his research, because he had not agreed with the community, is in the region of 100000/- not 150000/-… Just for the record.. Any way your support on this issue is very very much appreciated, and Wildlife Direct is is an unbelievable help to conservation… Thank you for the idea and for setting it up.. .. salaams Helen..

Matthews peak, taken from the north…

Lucas Justifications….

Implicit in much conservation thinking is the idea that the activities of local human peoples are damaging to the environment. The direct consequence of this is that local people are often excluded from protected areas, sometimes with little regard for their rights, but also with little appreciation that - as any other species - humans might have a role in the balance of natural ecosystems. Let me clarify with an example: we all agree that lions have a key role in controlling herbivore populations in African savannas. When lions disappear, chances are that the entire ecosystem will suffer. Now, my question is: given that humans have lived in Africa for longer than anywhere else, why can’t we hypothesize that local peoples might have a key role in the preservation of African ecosystems - including forests? Are we sure that a forest without human impacts is by default better that a forest whose structure is partly affected by the activities of local peoples living in that area? I guess that we are not at all sure. Research is badly needed on this subject.

I studied local nomadic peoples and their effects on Afromontane forests for some years. Let me summarize a few key facts. First, forest area in the Mathews range is 26,300 ha. Assuming 1% yearly growth, this means that approximately 36,000 cubic meters of wood are produced each year in the forest.

My estimates suggest that about 10,000-20,000 trees are *dropped by local people in the Mathews range during drought years. In normal years it is less than half, about 3,000-6,000 trees.

On average, a tree in the Mathews range forest has a diameter of 9.8 cm and a height of 8.3m. These data are from 800 trees that I measured in the forest in 2006-2007. With these measurements, we can calculate that an average tree has a volume of 0.25 cubic meters, which means that even in drought years, local people drop less than 5,000 cubic meters of trees in the forest. This is much less that the average yearly natural growth. Of course, I have not considered forest fires (which, however, are much less frequent now than a few years ago), and my estimates are very rough, but a case can be made that after all, human use of forest resources in the Mathews range might still be within sustainability levels.

Ecological knowledge tells us that Afromontane forest canopies have a discontinuous, “gappy” structure. This is not the Amazon: trees here are comparatively small. In Afromontane forests, 10-30% of the area is actually made up by gaps in the canopy, whose diameter is on average 29 meters (n = 232 measures). More than 50% of these gaps show signs of human activities, therefore I hypothesize that humans have an important role in the creation of canopy gaps in Afromontane forests.

Forest gaps are also important for wildlife. Herbivores preferentially graze in the gaps. Endemic chameleon species might be gap-specialists, and bird diversity in a gap is approximately twice as much than in “undisturbed” forest.

Now, I am not jumping to the conclusion that we should conserve the Afromontane forest by dropping trees. Much more humbly, I am asking whether the activities of local human peoples might be important in the maintenance of forest species diversity. If that was true, then by managing these activities in the proper way, we will achieve a win-win outcome, in which local people could maintain their lifestyles and at the same time contribute to the conservation of species diversity. Wouldn’t this scenario be enticing?

This is the theoretical justification of my research; now let me describe the experimental settings. In my experiment, I selected 20 small plots within an “undisturbed” tract of the forest. For two years I studied ecosystems processes and structure before the creation of a gap. Then, last August, I (with the help of two friends) created gaps in ten of the survey plots. The remaining ten plots will be left undisturbed to provide experimental control. The ten artificial gaps are 24m diameter (i.e. 12m radius), that is, approximately similar to the “average” forest gap in an Afromontane forest.

Concerns were raised over the ecological impact of my “destruction”. Please consider that the total area of my artificial gaps is tiny - 0.45 ha in all in a forest that is 60,000 times larger. Also consider that gaps are natural components in this ecosystem, nothing alien is being introduced here.

If you are thinking that this could have been done in “natural” gaps without the need of dropping any trees, you are wrong. There is too much variation in size, shape and age within natural gaps. By using an experimental approach I have zeroed many sources of variation: all my gaps were created at the same time, they have the same size and shape. This will allow to record changes in ecosystem processes with a detail that has probably never been achieved before in tropical forest research.

Now let me conclude. Readers of this blog called me “idiotic” “inconsiderate”, and used words as “catastrophe”, “madness”, “destruction” etc. Some snubbed at the “findings” of my “research”. Those people might want to reconsider their judgment. I am a serious naturalist, I spent years working in this region and I think I am in my rights when I ask to be judged on the basis of truth and not rhetoric. Nothing in my research is a secret. Those who wish to come and see are welcome at any time.

With my best regards, Luca

Helens comments on your justifications… *The trees that the Samburu people cut down for there cows are usually pretty small.. Or they prune big ones… We are working hard on teaching them how to prune, so that next year, that same tree can help them…Don’t get me wrong, we don’t support any one cutting trees, but I do understand that people will tend to ‘destroy’ if there livelihood is on its last legs…

2 responses so far

Category: Forest, Forest Fires, Matthews range, Northern Frontier District | Date: Dec 04 2008 | By: milgistrust

Ok every one… Here’s more of an explanation?… and a contact… The University as you saw from the first two blogs, don’t seem to beable to give us any info, as per my emails to the Head of Dept., Mr Kay, and to his Thesis adviser…Henry Howe… Lucas contacts below…

From: “Luca Borghesio” <borghesio@gmail.com>
To: “Helen” <helendd@uuplus.com>
Sent: Thursday, December 04, 2008 10:31 AM
Subject: Re: Research in Kitich forest

> Dear Helen
> thanks to you too. So please let’s decide when we can meet so that we can
> talk. Of course I propose that talk means discussing, so I hope that in
> our meeting you will at least give me a chance to convince you.
> You said you have waited almost three months and tried a few channels to
> contact me. This is good because this inconveniences would have been
> avoided had we talked form the beginning. However, you could have found me
> very easily, by just typing “Luca Borghesio” on google - in this way you
> can get more information on me, my full contact details as well as
> descriptions of some of the other projects on which I am working in
> Africa.
> You and I are working on the same things, simply we have two different
> approaches to conservation. You perhaps believe that conservation means to
> remove human impacts from natural ecosystems. My point is instead that
> there is no such thing as a “natural ecosystem” as all ecosystems
> (especially in Africa have been modified and reshaped by humans for
> thousands of years). In my opinion, conservation means management of
> natural resources, including sustainable use, which is an essential point
> in a country like Kenya where 80% of energy resources are provided by
> fuelwood.
> Finally, I would ask you why not rewriting a bit you postings on Wildlife
> Direct. I wrote you and I repeat that much of what you wrote is plainly
> wrong. My plots are 12m radius, not 30m , I have no problem with maths.
> And “money talks” is simply an insinuation that is not appropriate to
> describe a honest person, as I am. I have proofs for what I am saying and
> you are welcome to visit my study area at any time to learn more about my
> research.

Readers… please take note of the above..

4/12/08 14.30…Luca, Thanks for this and I will post it on wildlife direct, so that all
the other people that need convincing can read… Alot of people have been
in contact with me about this… It is not just Milgis Trust… Soo I hope
you can convince us all…
I have been walking in and around the Matthews for 23 years… And
before then we used to go to the area above Kittich often, after Mills
Burton died and when they started Kittich camp up again…
Up in the Milgis we have very limited satelite internet, and I did
actually write an email to you, Ian Craig gave me your address… he was
the first person I contacted when this all started…which you didn’t
answer, I also sent a letter to Ngelai, which was mean’t to be given to
you…And several messages, via radio… Maybe you could have contacted
us.??.. You know we exist.. Maybe because of your contact with Julio, you
shrug, us off, but actually we are very serious, in trying to stop any
destruction in these northern forests, and I am happy to say, the fires are
much less these days esp. in the Matthews……Actually it was the fire
problems in the Matthews that sparked the Milgis Trust off… Many years
ago, we did a walk across the mountains from the north, into the Ngeng
valley, and we walked though a big area that had just been destroyed by a
fire… I decided on this walk that, something had to be done to stop this,
we started the ball rolling, and the’ Milgis Trust’ was formed..
Any way… The fact is that tree cutting in the Matthews by a
responsible person like you has left alot of people shocked, and saddened,
because this place before Julio took over the camp, and stopped people
camping, was visited by many people, and it is fairly well known…I used to
start all my camel safaris in the area just above Kittich camp…In fact I
spent many weeks up there…
I understand that people think in different ways as far as conservation
is concerned, and I am not the person to stop your research, or argue with
you…I just don’t want to see any more trees being cut down, in the
Matthews forest.. And with what is already cut down, I feel that is quite
enough.. If money doesn’t talk then why have the community who stopped you
cutting trees, agreed to you cutting more down…I hope you can finish your
research, and give us some interesting facts!!.. What comes to my mind is
… There is not a fire wood problem up there in the north, except where
people are beginning to settle in one area, ie Ngelai, Wamba, I would hate
to think that they would resort to going into the forests to find fire
wood??..Julio would love that!! Or are you going to come up with a better
idea…
I am away for a few days and will be back at the Milgis from the 14th
December… Where are you based??.. salaams Helen

5 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

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, Northern Frontier District, Samburu, Turkana | Date: Nov 06 2008 | By: milgistrust

Its a lovely thought, that here we are out here in the heart of Samburuland, the Americans have just voted in these historic elections, if you turn on the radio, its the topic to talk about…In fact I’m sure every ones talking about it… And yet these guys are quietly getting on with their lives, talking about the rains, and which Lugga is crossable at the moment, and when will the cows come back home!..The lovely thought also, is one things for sure is they will probably suffer least in the credit crunch!!

This is not a conservation story, but its a story that shows how amazingly positive, and proud these Samburu people are.. A couple of days ago a very nice man, called Lesarge, pitched up to the hill to see me, he had an envelope full of papers to show me… This was the man who’s manyatta had been attacked in April, by Turkana raiders….. He was in fine form telling me of how things were going in the area, that has now moved to… Don’t blame him, because then he went on to tell the story of the night of the attack… He had gone shopping at the little centre called Masiketa, that was about 5 kms away from his home… As he was heading home at about 8 pm, his bag of maize meal, sugar, tea leaves in hand, for his family he heard some shooting in the direction of his manyatta… He hurried along but nothing prepared his mind for what he was going to find…The raiders had aimed all their bullets into his house… The Samburu live in very low temporary houses made of thin sticks tied together with bark, and skins and woven mats that go on the roof… His whole family were inside…His wife with her little tiny baby, 12 year old daughter, and his 5 year old son.. plus 3 warriors… His son was dead, his daughter had had her lower jaw shot off, his wife had been shot through the knee, and 1 warrior had been shot through the calf … And all his camels had been taken… Unbelievable.. A night mare to beat all.. He was happy this day because finally he had managed to get his daughter out of the hospital, in Nairobi…So now all that was left is to pay the bill… He wanted to discuss how ‘ we ‘ could do it… What I can’t understand is why hes got a bill at all.??.. I asked him how the girl is…He said ‘ shes OK, and shes happy to be home.. she can talk, but shes still got many problems with her throat, and she can’t eat of course, the hospital really tried, but they could do no more to help her…They were very kind and caring to my daughter.. They even rallied together, with some Samburu people in Nairobi, to help me pay for the massive bill of Ksh 450,000/- , I only owe Ksh 131000/- now… ONLY!!.. and hes lost all his camels… I asked him if any one had followed up on the camels, and he mentioned that the government had taken alot of camels from other Turkanas, but he could not take them because they were not his, and they were taken off Innocent people… He told me he will build his herd up the Samburu way, he will ask his friends to give generously!!… His only worry is his bill… We decided that each of us would try which ever way we could.. He was going to ask his friends for goats… And I was going to ask my friends for ‘ Goats ‘!!!….

2 responses so far