The Milgis Trust

Over three months have passed in a colourful blur of wonderful experiences and this last week was no exception.

Having been fully immersed in this wonderful culture and land it was high time Helen decided, to ‘abandon’ me at the Milgis. Of course I was by no means on my own through I had the wonderful company of singing Samburu warriors, the welcoming communities and naturally the beautiful wildlife.

My first task was to begin our very first Eco-Screen event comprising of our new projector, some great conservation films dubbed in Maa, and a white cotton bed sheet (which the Morani warriors were all after to add to their handsome dress).

The screening was a huge success and the entire town of Latakwen turned out to grab their place to watch the films. The Milgis Trust knows how important it is to keep the people involved in its work throughout all its projects – only they can protect their land, their wildlife and their futures. We were also able to show them some filming we took of them during the water and school opening which went down a treat. This isn’t a one-off screening through, it is one of the Trust’s new awareness programmes and we will be travelling around all our communities showing them the different conservation themes from erosion to poaching intermingled with some fun films like the Lion King.

Next on my task list was to handover some supplies to the new primary school; a great selection of books on environment to art, pencils, crayons, paints…even a kit to create a little pawpaw shamba (garden) so each child has their own seed to plant, look after and water in the hope of some yummy fruits – a wonderful exercise to promote the growth of the land and reduce the felling. The teachers and children couldn’t have been happier and it just shows how such simple and inexpensive gifts such as these can really develop and lighten the lives of so many people. There are several other schools in our area that need similar materials and equipment to run effectively and of course such things only last so long – the need for educational support is always present and the Trust does as much as it can to provide to all the schools writing to us for help, which we couldn’t do without everyone’s continued support.

Latakwen Nursary children showing off their new books!

During my stays at the Milgis there is always something happening; this day a camel was in need of rescuing; not just the elephants need support, this land is harsh and accidents can always occur for any animal. This camel had fallen down a rocky knoll and could not stand due to an injury to its back, unable to get to food or water it had to be moved to a safer place. On arrival at the scene in the midday heat the camel grunted irritably at us clearly suffering, but the question was how on earth were we to get a fully grown camel that can’t stand into our pickup?! But suddenly out of nowhere fifteen Samburu appeared – some warriors, some pastoralists and just some people nearby. After ten minutes of discussion they decided on their plan and working as a perfect team manoeuvred the camel as gently as possible into the pickup. I was delighted and so very impressed by the caring nature of these people – this is exactly what happens when any animal is in need of help and it’s wonderful to know these people are there and eager to lend a hand . The camel is now in a safe area with water and food – so let’s hope he finds his feet again!

My journey back down to the modern world was just as much an adventure. Driving down the snaking Barsaloi lugga we passed herds of goats, sheep and cows and their Samburu and Rendille owners – all flocking to the area where there is just a little water to ease the suffering of the drought. Having usually flown to the Milgis it was certainly eye-opening to see the changing of the land from the ground; the further we got towards civilisation the more the land was in disrepair, a ‘tree graveyard’ was my initial thought after a few hours of driving as we followed the dusty track towards Maralal. As clear as anything you can see the slow spread of the ruin of the land, pushing ever further north towards the Milgis – a swell of destruction that we must prevent before it consumes more beautiful ecosystems and that of the Milgis.

This was once forest.. Now its almost desert… Due to fires…

I am replying to your comment Sheryl, on ’sad and lonesome death.’.as I feel its worth blogging about… …. I wish it was as simple as that… Keep the Elephants from falling into wells!!… Its a huge huge area, and sadly it is desperate times… The Elephants have increased because they are being pushed out of areas to the south, and before the seventies thousands of Elephants roamed this part of Kenya, actually they are returning home….. If only we had the money to employ lots of people to patrol… We so so appreciate your help, and I have told the manager that this money goes towards helping the Elephants, and all our well problems… Now is the time to get the communities involved in helping keep the Ely wells open, and if any one else is feeling generous, we would so appreciate, some financial support, for this project… Two reasons… If the communities benefited more from being nice to the Elephants, then they would try harder… Also I have just received the news below… We don’t want to reverse, the good balance of living together that we feel has been achieved, after this incident….

I have just spoken to the manager and he told me we had a very sad problem yesterday, where an Elephant tossed somebody, so they… The authorities decided they had to shoot the Elephant because he was now a ‘rogue’… Apparently it had killed a camel a few months ago… They stunned him, having shot at him several times, and they thought he was dead, and then for some reason they cut his ears up, and speared him several times…after a bit, and as every one was off guard, he got up again and killed somebody… This elephant is now out there, very badly wounded, and unfortunately dangerous… Now who’s to blame?…

Its very sad, and distressing, as we have tried so hard to tell every one, ‘you don’t hurt/disturb the Elephants they won’t hurt/disturb you, always keep a good eye/ear out for them, and avoid going too close’… And the first person he tossed, who was going about his day, was not harmed, more shaken, and the Elephant removed him from his path, he did not follow him up or any thing… Many times we have watched, as children are out with their stock, when they come across Elephants they watch from a distance, as the stock go through the trees , and they meet them the other side..

MAN MADE INTERFERENCE is an interesting statement actually… Man has to survive out there as well, and have for hundreds of years, in harmony with the wildlife…Actually if it was not for men digging water holes there would be no way the Elephants could survive here once the water goes down past a certain level… Most of the life out there, is share, and share a like… Men and Elephants do very well together, and really help each other out… The Samburu especially can take huge credit for their incredible patience, of living side by side with the wildlife, and have shown many times serious tolerance… But below is a picture showing a well, that the Elephants were using, every day, but the owner decided to cover it up.. Now where do they drink?… Tough times.. And difficult decisions…

Covering this well to me is now a misunderstanding on mans part… Or what??…

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…

We are all conservationists , us lot who write the blogs and our readers!, but I can see we are divided, about SNAKES!!..Thanks so much for every ones nice ‘ good recovery’ comments to Pete!… Actually he is back in hospital, as now the secondary infection which we have been warned about is coming out.. Abscesses, but we hope to have that under control soon, and get on to the ‘home strait soon’… Ay, Ay, Ay…The moral of the story is don’t get bitten by a snake! We all know that but as Anna hopes, and I hope!!, it was a case of being in the wrong place at the wrong time… But Anna, I thought two wrongs made a right!?? To be positive the Right of this is we’ve all learnt abit more, and all your comments are adding to our experience…But Sheryl, when you come to Africa, if I’ve made 48 years with out even a threat from a snake, don’t worry!!.. I’ll send a Samburu into the shower with you with his ‘rungu’ because after two days here we won’t beable to live with you!!!

Our trip to the doc., turned out to be a ‘funny’ story, now at least, as Pete has got over it, and the doc apologised!! We had been told that if there are any signs of soft swellings etc to go and see a doctor…So we make an appointment, and head to Nanyuki Cottage hospital, Dr Butt is an expert on snake bite, but as we are getting out of the car we get a phone call that don’t bother to come unfortunately there has been two emergencies, and he can’t see you, but we persevered and waited, and we were told 2 hours and he will be with you… Good news.. !! But suddenly, 15 minutes before our ‘D’ time a vehicle comes racing in at high speed..There was guy who had been shot, so we were told sorry but you’ll have to come back tomorrow.. Luckily the head nurse had seen Pete, and she told the doctor… Sorry please give Pete 5 minutes… When he saw Pete’s ankle, he now realised he had two more emergencies, but the operating theatre was already occupied.. The doc made a quick decision, and Pete had to endure a ‘bush type op.!’as if he had left it any longer, it would turned into septicaemia… Pete nearly expired!.. But he survived to tell the tale, and today he is feeling so much better!!..

Bob, actually probably the snake expert of all of us!… glad you saw my blog, actually was going to contact you on this experience, when you update your book, you must ask Wamba hospital, about all the various, esp.red spitter bites they deal with.. While we were there was a woman who was bitten on her finger, and they actually brought the snake in for identification!… On our part, at 3 am with Pete there was no sign of panic, or surprise they went about getting the Fav-Afrique anti-venom, into Pete as soon as possible!!… Two weeks before two children sleeping in the same bed, one was bitten on the cheek, pretty big reaction, the other one was bitten on the forehead,.. no reaction at all .. obviously all the venom had gone into the first, one!.. Both cases were lucky to be close to Wamba!.. That Rendille kid was pretty lucky to find you!.. The good news!!, as most of us conservationists believe… is really, snakes are usually heading in the opposite direction, and don’t want to know… What is strange about this incident is… The snake came from the out side.. he was not cornered, Pete actually was, although he did not know it, until it was too late.. !! Wrong place at wrong time!!.. or what??

You may be wondering ‘why the silence’, on my part… No blogs, but this ordeal ‘got’ to me thats for sure!!… Imagine this situation!!… Friday 5th June 9.30 pm, we are at Elkanto.. miles from nowhere.. We were meant be leaving on a dream safari to climb over the Ndoto Mountains… But it wasn’t to be.. Pete Ilsley, my partner and a trustee of the Milgis Trust, had just finished his open air shower, standing there drying his back, when he feels a tap on his leg, and then a second tap… Its full moon, but his leg is in the shadows, and he can’t see what it is, so he finds his torch, thinking it may be a big cricket or something else like that, thats landed on his leg!! Not a man to panic, as sometimes brushing things off your self can be more dangerous…. BUT Ha Ha… It was a five foot copper coloured collared spitting cobra, literally chewing on his leg…

This is a juvenile copper coloured spitting cobra… Not the one that got Pete!

A sight he will never forget!!.. Unbelievably frightening, he hit it hard with his towel twice before he let go… He shouted ‘Helen, Helen I’ve been bitten by a snake… ‘ By this time, I was fast a sleep, I was really tired… but the moment I saw the bite marks I knew there was no more sleep to be had, and that we had to move fast !!.. OUR NIGHT MARE HAD BEGUN!.. The most important thing is not to panic! … I was given some BLACK STONES 25 years ago, by a Belgian guy who came on safari… I have carried them on every single trip since then and never used them!….. So the first thing I did was cut through the bite marks to make them bleed, and stuck the black stone on both bites… Do they work?? We believe they do!! many people are divided, from absolutely NOT, don’t know, and they DO work… We are definitely in the ‘believe in them’ category, after what we went through!!.. All the Samburu ran to help, and we made a decision that we had to get to a hospital, AS QUICK AS POSSIBLE!.. So ten guys picked him up in a blanket, and headed down the mountain side to the vehicle… We wrapped the whole leg in crepe bandages to try to stem the flow of poison to the rest of the body… and we set off… The excruciating pain that followed, was like somebody peeling off his skin, and rubbing salt in… It is only 91.5 kms to Wamba Hospital, but it took us five and a half hours of hell, to get there…there is hardly a road to start with, and the part of the road that exists was badly washed away, in the last rains… Not this year!! Pete was complaining of unbelievable pain in his stomach, which we later found out was the poison [enzymes] literally digesting Pete’s insides… 3 am we eventually arrive and Pete tells me he can taste blood in his mouth… Wamba hospital can take full credit for saving Pete’s life, but it was a battle, also to get the pain under control, and eventually they ‘knocked him out’… Luckily he knew nothing until Sunday morning… But we had a very worrying Saturday…

I am so sad this has happened…I LOVE those snakes.. I have lived side by side with them all these years, why did this one get so angry. It was not cornered, was it chasing a mouse, or looking for water, or just crazy with humans, and all that we are doing to destroy our world?? I was born and brought up living in the bush, I enjoy it so much because it is not possible to get lonely, as there is always something around , be it a lizard, mouse, snake, bird, dikdik, cricket, scorpion, hyena, Genet cat what ever… all the beautiful things that live in the bush, and now I feel let down… Now every one tells me you can not live with snakes??… Two weeks later Pete is doing well.. sounds like hes a snake hater now!!.. and I don’t blame him.. He still has a very swollen foot, and who knows which way it will go, but amazingly no necrosis, which we were warned of… I think that was because of the BLACK STONE!

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!..

In all those 100s and 1000s of acres of land, why does this spot get a signal!..

A busy moment in the office…

Sending an email from miles away from no where! Or trying as my last blog tells you!