Born Free

Category: Born Free, Born Free Kenya | Date: Jul 03 2009 | By: bornfree

A growing number of Born Free’s projects place the community at the very heart of the project.  Many of these projects stem from Born Free’s Global Friends programme which has identified schools and communities located near Born Free’s wildlife projects, and provided yearly support for infrastructure and resources.  Global Friends works closely with the local schools to encourage further community support of our wildlife projects, address local issues (e.g. access to clean water, tackling human-wildlife conflicts) and create a positive learning environment for children by providing uniforms, stationery and infrastructures. The programme also provides training opportunities to members of the school staff and increase local employment through use of local materials. Currently there are six Global friends schools in Kenya.

Our Visit
Last month, Born Free Kenya team together with a group of its supporters from the UK visited the Global Friends Schools in the Amboseli catchment area. The supporters were on their routine tour of Kenya and they brought various educational toys and learning material, which were distributed to the school children.  In total they visited four schools: Ol moti, Lenkisem, Amboseli and Enkongu Narok where they were ushered with breathtaking traditional maasai dances and poems.  

As we drove through the dry bushes and on dusty roads to each of the schools, there was something unusually notable in all the areas. Most of the manyattas were deserted, there were few people on the way and countless carcasses of livestock scattered all over. This was quite visible in the Ol moti area. Unlike our previous visits, there were no community members in the school, around the boreholes and in manyattas. The number of children in school had dropped from 280 to about 200. 

All these changes have been attributed to the prolonged drought that has engulfed the entire Kajiado south. For the second year running the district has registered a ‘zero’ harvest making people rely on minimal relief food. Farms have turned into open dry fields full of dust. Livestock keeping is no longer a viable option as the community have lost most of their livestock. We were told that a bull that used to cost Ksh 20,000 now fetches as little as Ksh 1000.
 
Most of the community members have moved in search of green pastures and water. Some have moved together with their children as far as Tsavo and Kitengela areas-about 200 kilometres away. This has resulted to reduced enrolment especially at boarding schools.
Ol moti school, which was primarily revived to help less fortunate children whose parents are traditionally nomadic, continues to survive by defying the harsh condition in the area. Even with only 300kg of food left for the entire term, the head teacher Mr. Koringo was still opportunistic and hopeful that situation will go back to normal. He also believes that changing his school registration to a low cost boarding school will be finalized in time to start benefiting from the Home-grown school-feeding programme.

The District Education Board (D.E.B) has already appealed to the government to supplement food to primary schools in the district. The D.E.B chairman who is the District Commissioner (DC) of Loitokitok district said that only boarding secondary schools were on the government-feeding programme.

The DC is concerned with the current harsh situation and has vowed to help hasten the appeal to ensure all primary schools also benefit from the current secondary schools feeding programme.

And as an emergency measure the DC donated about 450kg of maize to Ol moti school to keep them going. This was in addition to about 900kg of food pledged by the BFF supporters and a significant amount of food provided by Born Free Foundation itself. 

Born Free has also been providing for the wildlife affected by this drought, including the hippos in Mzima Springs which have been suffering terribly.

As we left the Amboseli region, we were left contemplating on how soon the rains will come back to rescue the situation.

If you would like to donate to Born Free Kenya and the work they do, please dontate in the BF Kenya section to the right of this blog.

Thank you for reading,

Manoa, Born Free Kenya

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Category: Born Free Kenya | Date: Feb 19 2009 | By: bornfree

The Born Free/ Wildlife Clubs of Kenya team recently spent 6 days patrolling the dryland that is the migratory corridor between Tsavo East & West National Parks. Even after having spent countless days on desnaring and anti poaching work in the Athi Kapiti plains nothing quite prepared me for what lay ahead in Tsavo.

While we had to contend with the occasional lion and cheetah in the plains, the first thing we were aware of when we started our foot patrols on Rukinga Ranch (in Tsavo) was the looming threat of elephant and buffalo. With heightened senses and the constant pressure of keeping up with the rangers who had mastered the art of tracking these animals we trudged along in silence. One time, the lead ranger came back running; he’d seen a herd of elephants less than 50 meters ahead of us! Our untrained eyes couldn’t see them through the dense thorny thickets but then we heard the unmistakable breaking of branches characteristic of elephants as the walk through the bush. Luckily the wind was blowing away from the elephants and they therefore did not catch our scents otherwise they would have been greatly agitated. One of us was too afraid to go on so we radioed the vehicle and the rest of us bravely walked on determined not to leave without recovering any snares. 

You would think that after collecting nearly 2000 snares this would be easy part, well we quickly learned otherwise.   The trees & bushes are so dry they turn a shimmery silver, making snare spotting very difficult. Not only this, but we also discovered that a majority of the poachers do not set snares in the conventional way. Poachers in Tsavo are known to hunt wild animals using bows and poisoned arrows; and then there is the torch & horn device. A poacher will make a powerful torch by combining 6+ batteries to a regular 2-battery torch.  He will then attach a bicycle horn to the torch and under the cover of darkness imitate an approaching vehicle. The bright light and noise from the horn will easily startle any animal rendering immobile particular species especially antelope e.g. Dik-dik and Tommy gazelle. Since the poachers often work in pairs, one will startle the animal while the other waits for it to become immobile. He then quickly hacks it to death using a panga (machete) or a knife.

While with experience it becomes easier to predict where poachers will set their snares and thus recover them, poachers who use torch and horn are more difficult to apprehend. They normally work through the night, hiding in the depths of the bush and following animals for miles on end. They often leave behind trails of the night’s activities mainly including animal skins and hooves. In one incidence, this desnaring team recovered the remains of 28 Dik-dik, 1 Impala and what was suspected to be a Gerenuk. The team however did not randomly stumble on the remains; they had followed bicycle tracks first by car then on foot for nearly 10 kilometres hoping to apprehend the poachers.

Other than poaching, the Tsavo ecosystem faces great threat from illegal logging and charcoal burning. Large numbers of men and women enter the ranches everyday illegally cutting down trees for firewood and charcoal. This desnaring team came across 4 freshly dug charcoal kilns and confiscated numerous bags of charcoal. They also apprehended groups of people who they came across while patrolling the bush. One particular group was made up of young women who had taken their children (one- only a few weeks old!) along with them.

Because of the long days that these people spend in the bush making charcoal, many of them also hunt wild animals for food. In one occurrence the team stumbled across a man tending to his charcoal kiln. Although he managed to escape, a few members of the desnaring team chased after him and followed him to his village. Unfortunately they did not get hold of him but recovered numerous bags of charcoal, a bundle of wire snares and the remains of a warthog from his house. By interrogating his family they discovered that this man was a known poacher who had on many occasions, been known to eat wild animals and sometimes share with his neighbours. Since the man got away, the team left the information they had gathered with KWS Tsavo East’s investigation team who promised to follow up and apprehend him.

During the project period, the group also learnt that a KWS team on patrol had arrested a man and his son. They had been apprehended as they left the bush after a night of torch and horn poaching. They had killed an Impala and a Dik-dik.

A few of the people I encountered during that daunting period in Tsavo remain etched in my mind. The 24 year old woman and her 3 week old baby; with the nerve to brave the elephants and take her baby with her, she said she couldn’t sit home and starve to death…The young man and his brother; who pleaded over and over to be set free, claiming that they only burnt charcoal as they had nothing else they could rely on… A man and his son; he couldn’t raise the fees required to take his son to school and was therefore passing on the ‘tricks’ of the only trade he knew would bring food to the table…

It is a tough call for those of us working in Wildlife Conservation.  If we are to succeed in our objective to conserve wildlife, we cannot ignore the plight of people struggling to survive…

Elsie Kariuki, Born Free Kenya

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Category: Born Free Kenya | Date: Jan 12 2009 | By: bornfree

In the latter part of 2008, a marked increase in poaching had been seen within the southern part of Taita Ranch and Rukinga Ranch (whose anti-poaching work has been supported by Born Free Foundation), within the corridor between Tsavo East and West in South Eastern Kenya.  This increase indicated that poachers were actually residing in the bush in large numbers and that they were poaching on a large ‘commercial’ scale. 

Therefore, in November 2008, a co-ordinated effort to remove these poachers was put into action.  Rangers and vehicles from Wildlife Works Ltd / Rukinga Ranch, KWS and ANAW carried out an operation, backed up by an aircraft provided by the Kenyan Wildlife Service, to find and arrest the poachers.  Several large and well established charcoaling and poaching camps were identified and raided simultaneously during the operation.  Bicycles and shoes were discarded as the poachers ran to try and escape arrest showing how established the camps had been.

During the raids 11 people were arrested and dozens of carcasses including dik diks, impala and kudu confiscated, several which were found drying in a tree – the meat is sold but the heads are boiled up and eaten by the poachers. Snares, hunting torches, and bangi were also confiscated.  The meat which was confiscated in the raid would have been transported on charcoal lorries to small towns or villages along the Mombasa Road where it would have been sold in small ‘informal butcheries’ and drinking dens.

Some of the largest charcoal kilns ever seen were also found on Kambanga Ranch - literally thousands of trees had been cut in the last months of 2008. 

Rob Dodson of Wildlife Works Ltd. / Rukinga Ranch met with the Directors of Kambanga Ranch directors, showing them the pictures resulting from the raid.  They were quite shocked at the extent of the problem that they have and an offer has been made that should the Ranch Directors be able to pay and equip a couple of rangers, then Wildlife Works will co-ordinate them to work within the network under their management.

Special thanks go to Isaac Maina and his team from ANAW and to the KWS who provided excellent back up to the rangers.

Rob explains to Born Free Foundation the issues that are facing Kenya’s wildlife and environment in the light of the current global economic downturn:

“Last year was a seriously bad year for conservation all over Kenya, for quite a few reasons. The year started badly with chaos and violence after the election fiasco and then continued to get harder as the ’short rains’ failed and the world economic slow-down halted new investment and development funding. It’s been hard enough for people in the ‘developed world’ to make ends meet lately; for people here, it’s been impossible.

With the tourism industry in ruins and food and fuel prices nearly doubled, those people (and there are millions here) who tread the fine line between surviving and not, have had to find a way of subsidising their existence. In an area like Tsavo, the bush is expected to provide, be it from the meat of the animals or charcoal made from the trees; it’s basically a return to our hunting and gathering beginnings as a race of people.

But this dry and fragile environment cannot sustain this sudden onslaught, and left unchecked, the land might well be left barren and shattered, unable to produce food crops and now unable to sustain eco-tourism or other conservation projects. Even in these most difficult of times, it is absolutely essential that we protect our wildlife and natural ecosystems, because they are our future and they are our most precious natural resource. Kenya doesn’t have gold or oil or coal or sands full of diamonds and our unreliable dry equatorial climate will never produce an abundance of food even in a good year. But what we do have is incredible wildlife, this is our natural resource and this we must protect.”

For more information on the projects Born Free Foundation supports, please visit www.bornfree.org.uk.

Tags: bushmeat, charcoal, Kenya, KWS, poaching, Wildlife Works Ltd

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Category: Born Free, Born Free Kenya | Date: Dec 13 2008 | By: bornfree

I’ve just come back from a place called Ilmarba where we’ve been working in this great little school called Olmoti. It’s next to Amboseli National Park. I’ve told you this before, I think, but anyway, when we started work there in 2004, there were about 70 children in the school. And yet, we found many others out herding goats or fetching water.  For Born Free, this wasn’t great.  Because we’re educating the community about wildlife conservation, when children don’t go to school, it’s harder for them to get the message.
 
So we pledged to help build up the school infrastructure and lobby the government to get more teachers on condition that the community brought more children to school.  The community were delighted.
 
We started small, first renovating the existing classrooms and an old dorm that was falling down. The community said that if the school could be turned in to a boarding one, with a place for the children to sleep, then more could attend classes.  By January 2006 the number of kids in school doubled and continued to go up throughout that year.
 
We introduced a group of sponsors interested in supporting the community, through what Born Free calls the ‘Global Friends Programme’.  We raised the money we needed to put in a second dorm so that both boys and girls could sleep in school. Also because the number of kids was increasing practically everyday, we built more classrooms. At the same time, the Government, through the District Education’s Office provided more teachers to cope with the increase in enrolment. There was a lot of progress in 2007.
 
Now there are 282 children enrolled at the school – with about 180 using the boarding facilities! There are 4 new classrooms and a brand new dorm and in total, the school has 8 classrooms and 2 dorms. Which is exactly what they wanted. 
 
You should have seen the faces of the little children when we drove in there last week accompanied by the people who had sponsored all the new developments!  I hope the pics I took of my colleague Manoa and the children, show the joy we saw.

Alice

Tags: Born Free, education, Kenya, school

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Category: Born Free, Born Free Kenya | Date: Dec 03 2008 | By: bornfree

Anyone who’s been on Safari will tell you how difficult it is to see any of the big cats in the wild. The time of year, weather, location, luck and even one’s choice of safari guide all play a role in the Big Cat experience. And what a joy it is when you see these animals go about their daily lives, unperturbed by the happenings, the lazy lion stretching in the morning sun, the lithe cheetah stalking her prey and of course nothing beats seeing the extremely elusive leopard!

In nearly six years of having worked in the field of wildlife conservation I have only seen a leopard twice! in the wild. This most secretive big cat lurks in the dense foliage of trees, its fur providing the perfect camouflage. It is no wonder that when a leopard is sighted in the wild, word spreads like a bush fire. There is often a frenzy when Madoadoa ya juu * -as the animal is known among the Safari circles - is spotted.

It was therefore shocking!! to see a mass of leopard fur lying by the side of the Nairobi Mombasa Highway as we drove back to Nairobi on our way back from shooting a documentary on the illegal bush meat trade. We immediately pulled off to the side of the road to examine it closer. It was indeed a leopard! We suspect that it was killed by a large vehicle, a cargo trailer driven by an exhausted driver perhaps… Well, we thought it wise to call in the Kenya Wildlife Service as leaving the carcass unattended would mean that some unscrupulous person may well take the fur to sell off. We left after having reported the matter to the Tsavo West National park main gate who promised to act on the matter.

Apparently road kills are not uncommon on this highway. A source who had spent months working in the Tsavo area told us that they had seen a cheetah lying by the side of the road a few weeks ago. Early this year, my colleague witnessed a group of villagers scampering to get a piece of an elephant that had been knocked down earlier.

The Nairobi Mombasa Road cuts across a huge area of wildlife habitat, traversing the Nairobi National Park, the Athi Kapiti plains, The Chyulu Kibwezi area and the Tsavo ecosystem. Its supports a huge amount of traffic - vehicles, people, livestock and even wildlife – moving from one area to another. This incident got me thinking that it may be time for a road safety campaign for this busy highway. As the festive season draws closer and the amount of traffic on our roads increase please spread the word to all your friends in Kenya. Let’s all Drive Safely. Save Lives. Save Wildlife!

Best wishes,

Elsie

*Madoadoa ya juu literally translates as the spots above.

Tags: Born Free Kenya, Kenya, leopard, roadkill

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Category: Born Free, Born Free Kenya | Date: Sep 12 2008 | By: bornfree

Hello all! My name is Elsie Kariuki and I coordinate Born Free’s de-snaring and anti-poaching project in Kenya. Kindly follow the link below for a brief introduction of the project

http://www.bornfree.org.uk/born-free-kenya/community-projects/de-snaring-community-project/

And then read on to get a glimpse into a day in the life of the young conservationists who join us to turn their passion into action. Karibu!

There is always talk about the illegal bush meat trade in and outside conservation circles and many of the volunteers come armed with all sorts of information, from their teachers, from those they know working in conservation, from books and materials they read and even the Media.

However, it is not until these young people experience the gruelling 15 kilometre walk through the bush, hour after hour in the oppressive eastern Kenya heat searching for the often elusive snares;

It is not until the find their first live snare and measure the diameter of its noose, its height from the ground and thickness of wire used to establish what animal is targeted, and then remove it knowing that they have at least saved one animal.

Its not until they stand next to the carcass of a zebra and see its wide open eyes already gorged by vultures, or feel its warm body full of life barely an hour ago and feel the despair of the possibility that maybe, just maybe they could have gotten there in time;

It is not until they see bicycle tire tracks or footprints in the dust and feel the frustration of knowing  that the poachers have gotten away yet again, or hear from the herdsmen tending their cattle in the bush that the poachers were spotted taking away bloody sacks ; it is not until they have to remove ticks stuck onto their bodies when they take a well deserved shower at the end of the day; or until they have their evening meal by the fire where they listen and reflect on the day’s experiences, from the novice who’s only just began his journey to the KWS ranger with over 20 years of experience they share tales of triumph and of despair; it is not until have to get up early the next morning, their muscles still aching from the previous day’s activities and brace themselves for another hard day’s work…

It’s only then that they fully realize the severity of the illegal bush meat trade. It is only then that they realize that by volunteering to be part of the de-snaring team, they make a significant contribution towards protecting threatened species, stopping individual animal suffering and keeping Kenya’s wildlife in the wild.

Reader’s Note:
The Born Free Foundation would like to thank the nearly 150 students from 12 different institutions affiliated with Wildlife Clubs of Kenya who have served as volunteers in this project. Their efforts have led to the recovery 1335 snares within a period of 49 project days. 929 of the snares were live, whereas 509 snares had already been ‘successfully’ used by the poachers. They have indeed saved countless wild animals by removing the snares and sometimes rescuing animals trapped in them.

With additional funding from our supporters we hope to continue providing these young enthusiastic students the chance to get actively involved in conservation; to increase their knowledge and most importantly help conserve Kenya’s wildlife.

Donate here at Wildlife Direct stating that you are donating to help the work of Born Free Kenya or visit http://www.bornfree.org.uk/shop/acatalog/Donations.html for the Born Free Kenya special appeal.

Tags: Born Free Kenya, bushmeat, de-snaring, Kenya

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Category: Born Free, Born Free Kenya | Date: Aug 31 2008 | By: bornfree

My name is David Manoa, and I am a field project co-ordinator with Born Free in Kenya.  I’m currently based in Olmoti Primary School just outside Amboseli National Park where we’re building 4 new classrooms and a boys dorm to add to the kitchen, hall and girls dorm that we completed in 2006. 
 
For the first time in history, Ol moti primary school community organized an end of term closing ceremony. Parents and guardians as far as Oloitokitok (about 80 km away) and Kimana (about 50 km away), were all in attendance. Some ‘privileged’ parents arrived in style on their motorbikes while others simply walked to the school from the near by manyattas.

About 60 parents/guardians and 250 children convened in the schools airy multipurpose hall that was built by BFF with the help of Martin Clunes funds. After introductions, came the prize giving sessions where students in position one, two and three were honoured by heavy applaud. It was encouraging to see girls competing fairly well with the boys. The big shock to many was in class three, with all the top three positions being scooped by girls.

Toward, the end of the celebrations, the master of ceremony (the head master) invited various parent representatives, school chairman and myself to talk to the gathering. I must say, I was really impressed with the whole ceremony set up. The speeches were brief and to the point. The speakers from the community encouraged the children to work hard and reminded parents to help the children to realize their dreams. A renowned parent representative said, ‘the greatest prize one can give their children is education’. Some parents even vowed to campaign against the outdated cultural practices such as Female Circumcision or FGM as it is now more commonly known, which undermines the education and general development of the masaai communities. And in their closing remarks, the headmaster and the school chairman thanked BFF for their continued support to uplift the lives of the Ol moti community and promised to take care of the provided facilities.

All these happenings are a notch high, contrary to what I used to see in the past years. I believe there is light at the end of the tunnel and I can’t wait to witness yet another purposeful event!

Manoa David

Tags: Born Free, Born Free Kenya, community, Ol Moti, school

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Category: Born Free Kenya | Date: Aug 22 2008 | By: bornfree

There are over 1500 elephants in the Amboseli National Park, and some of these animals often roam outside the park in areas around the Olmoti school.  Sometimes even inside the school compound at night!  So you wouldn’t think the children who come to school here would get all that fascinated when they see an elephant!  Well, that’s what I thought until I turned up in June with this sculpture. 

The children couldn’t keep their hands off it.
 
We took this life size elephant calf sculpture to Olmoti to allow the children to participate in an international art exhibition.  The sculpture was to be painted by the children with the help of an artist, Jason Corder, to promote elephant conservation.  So we spent a weekend watching as the children transformed the brilliant white sculpture into a piece of Maasai art and named it “Meiluami”– in Maa, this means ‘the one who is always alert’. 

 
The sculpture is now back in England, on exhibition in Norwich City and we understand that together with a herd of over 53 others, they will be auctioned next month to raise money for some of our projects. 
 
Such a fun a idea and what a way to raise money for elephant conservation! To read more about this project and to see the 53 elephants sculptures on exhibition in Norwich, you can click on http://www.goelephants.co.uk/gallery.aspx. 

There is also more about Meiluami’s journey at http://www.bornfree.org.uk/about-us/born-free-kenya/community-projects/go-elephants/the-go-elephants-journey/.

Tags: Born Free, elephants, Go Elephants, Kenya, Norwich

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Category: Born Free Kenya | Date: Aug 18 2008 | By: bornfree

Hello readers of Wildlife Direct’s Born Free blog,

My name is Alice Owen, and I am the East African Regional Representative for Born Free Foundation, managing projects across East Africa as well as the Born Free Kenya office.

There are many aspects to Born Free’s work in Kenya, our small team of seven works from an office in Nairobi. Wildlife protection is crucial and we support the removal of animal snares through partner organisations such as the Bill Woodley Mount Kenya Trust and Youth for Conservation. For this work the fleet of vehicles generously donated by Land Rover is invaluable. 

One of the biggest challenges to conservation of wildlife and habitat in Africa is poor communities living inside or adjacent to wildlife areas.  But without the support of these communities, safeguarding wildlife becomes impossible.  That’s the paradox of conservation in developing countries and why Born Free in Kenya has established a programme that works directly with these communities.  We call it “Global Friends”.

 
Let’s start in Amboseli.  Born Free has supported elephant research and conservation here for many years.  But adjacent to Amboseli National Park lies the Olmoti community.  This is a predominantly Maasai region.  Maasai are pastoralists and move their herds of cattle, goats and donkeys seasonally to find grazing and water.  With expanding populations they have less and less land every year and are forced to become more sedentary.  They are also keener on getting their children educated now, to open up new opportunities in salaried jobs.  It is estimated that only 1 in 10 Maasai is literate. Responding to the growing population, the increasing permanence of settlements and the interest in education, Global Friends decided to focus on supporting education within this community.
 
Two years ago, we found a tiny school at Olmoti with only 74 children and 3 teachers. But there were numerous additional children at home doing chores such as fetching water, herding goats or taking care of siblings.  We wanted to get these children to school too.  This took a year of negotiation with local leaders and parents and we eventually brokered an agreement that if we built a boarding school, the children would attend.  The boarding facility was important, as in a remote area with wildlife about and no public transport, some children can’t get to school as day pupils for fear of encountering elephants and lion along the way. 

By the beginning of 2007 a girls’ dorm was completed and when the school opened that term we started to see the enrolment going up.  By the end of March there were 120 children.  It was like a dream - every day there was a new enrolment or two.  Children simply starting streaming in, some with permission from their parents and some without.  There have been cases where children herding livestock, having seen their friends start to enjoy school, simply ran off and left their goats in the bush.

Now there are over 240 children attending Olmoti and half of them are full-time boarders, 60 boys and 50 girls.  With that encouraging result we sought further support to raise money for a boys’ dorm and more classrooms.  In April 2008, we started the construction of 4 new classrooms and a boys’ dorm thanks to Born Free supporters in the UK, Jack Froggatt and Laurence Bloom.  We’re in the final stages of construction now and will be having an opening ceremony in November 2008!

The joy of working with rural communities is when you see the faces of the children.  It’s just the best thing in the world.  I have two children of my own who are more privileged than the children of Olmoti, but if they all get an education, the future may hold equal opportunities for them all. Alice Owen

Tags: Born Free Kenya, community, Kenya, Ol Moti, school

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