The Milgis Trust

Category: Uncategorized | Date: Aug 25 2008 | By: milgistrust

Just back from a six day camel safari in the Matthews Range… Our first and 5th nights being able to reap the good things that the Milgis Trust has set out to do..promoting co-existence between people, there livestock and wildlife… The first night sleeping out on the Laana Nikan Lugga… There is no way one can describe the feeling when a herd of Elephants are browsing and coming in your direction, with the wind behind them, and you are sleeping in a mosquito net on the ground… It has to get your adrenaline going!!…Can you imagine how big they look, when suddenly the moon disappears from site because he is so close? On the 5th day, a leopard grunting a few meters away from our tents… How fabulous is that….Very Exciting!!…

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Category: Uncategorized | Date: Aug 10 2008 | By: milgistrust

Hi every one… I’m back from my safari to Ngurnit!! Beautiful as usual… and even for me exciting!! [ I say this because I’ve been doing walking safaris in northern kenya for 25 years now… Each day I love it more, and learn more!].. I never managed to get to see the Wild dog den as per my last blog, because my little new puppie was too hot!! We had to climb a final mountain to get there and she was already sitting in the shade and asking me to carry her… But I now know were it is and will return!!

What was really interesting on this safari was how nature works things out… unless we ruin it!!… Just when its beginning to get abit dry and the animals are beginning to look thin, the acacia tortilis, [ a beautiful flat topped acacia], drops its load of seed pods, [they look abit like a curly green bean] but not all of them in a night but little by little, when the wind blows… and every single animal that eats ‘vegetable’ goes crazy, from the Elephants to the squirrels.. and of course all the samburus stock.. They call it sagiram, and its extremely nutritious.. Two nights out on safari we heard people coming out with there stock, at 4am so that they could get there first..talking and singing as loud as they could so as to encourage the Elephants to move off.. Again nature working wonders, the Animals then spread the seeds far and wide!….Then we get back to base where the sagiram season is finished, and the Acacias are all in flower, which when they fall to the ground, are also eaten by every thing, which keeps them going untill the rains come!! We hope that will happen soon…As I write this I have just heard thunder rumbling in the west but the wind is VERY strong from the east still..But its getting closer!!.

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Category: Uncategorized | Date: Jul 28 2008 | By: milgistrust

What is up in the north?.. or is it every where!!!.. In the last few weeks the scouts have reported seeing 2 white baboon, and then a squirrel, then several reports of white dikdiks and now a superb starling,, and a drongo with a white head! Is it the water, the vegetation or the weather up here?? I remember several years ago seeing a white Wildebeeste in the Mara… amoungst the millions!!.. Interesting…

I do apologise for the pictures of the last two blogs not getting posted… I don’t know what the problem is…We tried several times… I will be leaving for ’safari’ tomorrow to meet our visitors in Ngurnit on the 2nd August.. On the way I am going to meet up with Lesuuda, Milgis 3, our Cheetah.[ all 22 scouts represent an animal]as he has reported, that he has seen a wild dog den, with lots of Puppies…I’m very excited… Will be back with more news on the 7th August…

By the way I have a new puppie… Shes called Ndoto!!…

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Category: Uncategorized | Date: Jul 26 2008 | By: milgistrust

There is a lot of talk on the importance of education in the developing world… Many poor communities get these messages and try to believe in them. The people talking about the importance of education however do not assist the communities in finding sources of funds to pay for teachers. Pre schools have mushroomed in almost every village you visit. Some just under a tree, or in some old shack that happens to be there..

In the last two months there has been a dry spell in the north. Because of the extra work load on the families to keep there stock alive, the children tend to get slightly neglected, As an option to escape some parents take their children to school and even some children take themselves there so as to get some food. This gives nursery schools a lot of pressure in terms of space, feeding and teachers. When the rains come some of the children who originally came for food find the school interesting and remain. This keeps the pressure on and almost every month we get requests for assistance to pay for a nursery teachers. It is difficult to ask someone who does not get three meals a day to pay for teachers. With donations of US$ 150 a month we can help pay for three teachers, and help feed the children. Is there any one out there that would like to help??

thank you yours Moses Lesaloyia.. The Milgis Trust manager

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Category: Uncategorized | Date: Jul 12 2008 | By: milgistrust

To continue the story from yesterday… The Milgis Trust was approached by Illumine partners from America, to find out if there was a need for clean water in any of the areas we work… Our reaction was EVERY WHERE!!,, But for five years now we have been trying to sort Latakwens water problems out!! At the meeting on the 10th the residents could not believe what they were hearing!!.. Very kindly funded through The Voss foundation, we will be fitting a Solar pump like the one we had at the Milgis school… obviously our major concern is security of the panels which was spoken about long and hard!!.. By the way, the panels for the school wil be replaced,[ ref may 7th] by our last guests on camel safari, from private journeys, who visited the school to take them some books. They could not leave thinking that such a disaster had fallen apon such an innocent community!! Thank you very very much to Dianne…and all your friends from Greenwich, USA!!!.. Dianne has been coming on safari for a few years now with groups, and she has noticed a HUGE difference in the wildlife and its behaviour….. ‘What goes around , comes around’.. conserve the flora and fauna and ALL will reap the benefits.. Welldone the people of Latakwen and Ilgwe Eldome for their conservation efforts!!!

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Category: Uncategorized | Date: Jul 11 2008 | By: milgistrust

Some times one wonders!! when you try to do good, misunderstandings get blown out of proportion… and the next thing is you are nearly ‘out on your bicycle’!!

Latakwen is a little town about 10 kms north of The Milgis Trust Base… Our Neibours and friends for the last 9 years!!…. Yesterday we went to have a meeting with the community to iron out some rumours that we had been hearing!.. We had decided to move the base radio from Elkanto hill in Nairimirimo Location, to a higher hill to get better communications, and decided it would be a good idea to put it in Latakwen Location for a change and make them feel more part of it! After lengthly meetings with the community to explain… There seemed no problem, every one happy to be included, and we immediatley employed 15 people from Latakwen to build the road… but after two weeks, we had a strike!!, yes a strike.. miles away from nowhere!, they wanted to be paid more than double what they had agreed to, for the work they had aleady done!! Eventually we paid them a bit more than the agreed amount but stopped the work… We then got a message that the radio house would not be moving unless the trust paid rent for the hill, and that any work done would be double the amount… ie half as much again as skilled workers get!…To the 100 or so people who attended the meeting, including the chief, we explained to them that the Trust is for the community so who was going to pay the rent, plus 2 people from the community would get a job as radio operators…..The long and the short of the discussion was .. Some very embarrassed ‘ex road workers’, lots of apologies.. And the go ahead to establish the radio room as soon as possible!!, and that when and if theres work, to pay the normal rate…

Having settled the misunderstandings we then went on to tell them the real reason for the meeting… Latakwen is a isolated town that has sprung up in the middle of nowhere, the only water is brackish from the nearby Lugga. Some years ago an organisation put a well in for them, with a hand pump… This soon broke down, and the 1000 or so residents resorted to their old system, and to throwing buckets down the well……. continued tomorrow!!

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Category: Uncategorized | Date: Jul 08 2008 | By: milgistrust

On the 1st July, while up in the Milgis, I mentioned in my blog that one of the Samburu warriors had said ‘What were the Elephants thinking! How could it rain, Venus hasn’t come back yet!!’ While checking that my blog had actually gone on to the internet, I saw the title “The night sky is full of unanswered questions!!” from ‘art for Gorillas’…. With my fasination for what the sky tells us, and a subject that is persistent in the Samburu way of thinking! I thought ..gosh must check that one out when I get into better internet range… and am delighted to see in their blog .. The question that came up most after the students had been told to check out the night sky… …’where does rain come from?’.. Thought it was an interesting coincidence!!…

And by the way… The ‘art for conservation’ idea is an amazing way to get people ‘on board’.. We have got the women in our area drawing animals on pieces of material,, and sowing beads on to them, also beading wooden animals… they are beautifully creative, and its really making them think!!! When I asked them why they put the eye of the Rhino too low, they say ‘well we don’t know, we have’nt seen one’… and I say.. ‘Are you proud of this??’ Them.. ‘NO’…. me… ‘OK!!!’

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Category: Uncategorized | Date: Jun 26 2008 | By: milgistrust

Firstly I would like to apologise to any one who may have sent comments, unfortunatley I am not able to answer them while I’m using the satphone as each time I go on the internet it costs too much ..Just to keep the blogs going is resonable, but once I start trying to look up any thing else it takes too long… SO APOLOGIES..Its not because I’m not interrested…Next week I will be in a place where I can use a different system and get back to you..If you would like to get in touch sooner please go to www.milgistrustkenya.com

Last week there was a report in one specific area, west of base..Lashimi, Lesoit and Nadoto of alot of deaths..5 wild cats, 3 bat eared foxes, 4 dikdik, 1 jackal,.. and for several months reports of Lesser Kudu, and Dikdiks further down on the Milgis and towards Ngurnit.. dieing very suddenly with the only symptom being swollen and pussy eyes and diarrhoea.. Also two young elephants have been reported in Nongeek area..in the last month… KWS have been short of fuel, the lack of tourism in Kenya really bitting, so we lent [hopefully!] them 270 litres, so that they can keep on top of things…

SAD NEWS…When I’m in the bush, I don’t need a gun, I need a dog!! He tells me well in advance whats ahead!! Last night was one of those rare occasions that I slept in the bush with out a dog, on my bed… Why? because my ‘ best friend’ for the last six years [the dog in the picture] died of cancer..We ‘picked’ that dog off the street with the most horrendous wounds to his back end, they were full of maggots,[which probably saved his life!], and the KSPCA [kenya society for prevention of cruelty], said that he deserved to live, so after 3 months with the vet.. he came back to me… Since that day we have only been apart for probably ten days, and that was when I had to go to town…He has been invaluable.. warning me of many dangers… The last one being a huge spitting cobra, on my way to bed!!.. So sad as we understood each other so well.. He never let me out of his site.. SHAME….

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Category: Uncategorized | Date: Jun 01 2008 | By: milgistrust

On the 26th may 8 pm, every one at the Milgis Trust base was treated to a very unusual noise… It sounded like a camel in distress… So much so that the samburu warriors rushed down into the bush below the hill to find the camel, they thought it was being killed by one of those famous Milgis Lions!!, mentioned in my last post!.. They nervously searched all round, but could not find anything, so sat on the side of the hill and listened.. The second time it called they realised that it was not quite a camel!!.. The next morning the only tracks around were striped Hyena.. They have a den on the next hill which we have been watching for about 4 months but not heard a sound!!.. There seems to be two quite small young, one older one and the mother.. Initially they were so shy, but beginning to show themselves quite alot now.. Both Spotted and striped Hyena are quite plentifull in this area, but again are extremely shy.. We hardly ever see them on safari, so are delighted to beable to watch this familly with our binoculars!!, some times coming out to suckle and play quite early..

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Category: Uncategorized | Date: May 22 2008 | By: milgistrust

I’ve been walking in the Matthews/Ndoto region since 1989, running camel safaris.. Although we have seen the tracks and have proabably lost 20 camels to lion!!, I have not sighted a male lion since 1990!!..Because they were so shy, insecure, and persecuted.. yesterday we watched for half an hour the finest lion couple frolicking, down in the middle of the Lugga, from the Milgis trust base… The Samburu who we work with were so excited…And I know that all the people who used to frequent this area in the 60’s/70’s, who many times have told me’ the Milgis is finished.. No game left?? ‘ will be very happy to hear this news… I am particularly happy because is a result of our work…weldone our scouts… and thanks to all the people who support us..

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