Conservation Program Update - Lesser Kudu Rescue

Yesterday, the MWCT Conservation Team was called by Rangers in the field, to hear that a herder boy had found a very young abandoned lesser kudu. We went to the site to examine the case and found the beautiful young lesser kudu walking in the middle of a herd of goats. Unfortunately, the kudu was not in hiding as it should have been, and was out in an open area exposed to domestic dogs, and would certainly not survive the day.

The young herder with the abandoned lesser kudu

Therefore, we decided to take it with us, and we immediately called David Sheldrick Wildlife Trust to collect the kudu and look after it appropriately. The vet said they would come to our camp to pick it up later in the week, and advised us to care for the little lesser kudu with 0.75 L of milk per day. Currently the lesser kudu is still at our camp and in a very good condition!

Conservation Manager, Dirk, providing daily milk at CCRC

Conservation Program Update - Aerial Game Count 2014

Kuku Group Ranch lies in the heart of the Amboseli-Tsavo ecosystem, and covers 1133km squared. It is an important conservation area for wildlife and critical ecosystem services, protecting crucial water resources from Mount Kilimanjaro and the Chyulu Forest, which supports millions of people across Kenya for water needs.

Kuku Group Ranch location in Kenya

Understanding wildlife and livestock distribution and abundance on Kuku Group Ranch (KGR), and being able to monitor trends and changes over time, is an important part of being able to develop appropriate conservation management strategies. Therefore, aerial surveys were started on KGR in 2010 as part of a long term monitoring plan.

This will provide valuable information to enable the monitoring of trends in the distribution and abundance of wildlife and livestock on KGR providing a basis for monitoring ecological changes and patterns of human use over time. A longterm dataset will enable MWCT to monitor major patterns of abundance and distribution of certain wildlife species in particular in relation to habitat and human presence and disturbance. The results will provide information to identify areas of conservation, which will guide conservation management.

The 2014 Game Count team after a very long day of hard work!

Fuelling the aircraft mid-day

In general, there has been an increase in wildlife as well as livestock numbers over the past few years since the drought of 2009. The most abundant wildlife species found on Kuku Group Ranch during the aerial survey of 2013 was the Burchell's zebra, followed by gazelle, Maasai giraffe, and Impala. The results of this year's aerial survey will be compared with the previous years.

Education Program - The Kanzi Academy

The Kanzi Academy is a unique school, based in the heart of the Maasai wilderness, supported by the Maasai Wilderness Conservation Trust, and kind donations from visitors to Campi ya Kanzi.

The children here at Kanzi Academy have a unique opportunity. Not only do they learn from an international curriculum; they approach their learning from a multicultural perspective too. Kanzi Academy offers education to gifted talented pupils from the local Maasai community, as well at the children of Luca and Antonella (founders of Campi ya Kanzi).

Intimate and genuine learning environments

It is here at the Academy that the children are actively encouraged to be children. By that, we encourage free-thinkers, critical thinking, and problem solving. Learning is an active state, not one where we just sit, listen, and do. Learning is a partnership between the child, the teacher, and the environment; whether that be a classroom, or in our case, "out there" in the bush!

Protecting and learning about traditional culture

Maasai culture is steeped in history. As such the childrens' roots and and heritage is nurtured and supported accordingly. We like to think of the children as the "leaders of tomorrow". Education across all the standard school subjects is of vital importance. But there is more to it than that - these children learn and play in the heart of an environment that is being protected through the work of MWCT. Already the children know about living amongst the wildlife around us, from the smallest insect, to the Big Five! They are global citizens, and realize that. Having an awareness of the responsibility they have to their immediate bush life and community, combined with a solid education, will ensure that these "leaders of tomorrow" disseminate information to their generation, and generations in years to come.

Innovative and advanced learning opportunities

At the Kanzi Academy we believe that making small, individual changes today, through expanding our knowledge in a holistic way, can lead to a combined effort for bigger changes - namely protecting our environment, our roots and heritage, and our integrity as caretakers of this planet.

Conservation Program Update - Meetings & Collaborations

As you may know from our previous posts, the Conservation team here the Maasai Wilderness Conservation Trust has been extremely busy in the last few months. Not only has the lion collaring process been at the forefront of the efforts, but tremendous amounts of other work has occurred.

A large part of the success of the Conservation Program, is the collaboration that occurs with various partners and organizations. Over the past few months, the following meetings and works of collaboration have taken place:

MWCT Conservation Managers were invited by Stefano Desperati from IMMap to attend the International UNEP-Interpol conference on Wildlife Crimes in Nairobi on the 7th and 8th of November. At the conference, Stefano Desperati gave a presentation on data management and its' implications for conservation management. In this presentation MWCT was featured as a case study.

Further, Chris Tuite from Conservation International (CI) visited MWCT on the 24th of November to discuess the progress of the Chyulu Hills REDD+ carbon project. During this visit, Chris announced that the international law firm, Freshfields, is willing to do pro bono work to assist the partners in the development of the necessary legal agreements.

Joseph Lairumbe (MWCT Outreach Officer) speaking to the community about the Chyulu Hills REDD+ carbon project
at one of the Free Prior and Informed Consent meetings. During these meetings, community members were
informed about the project, and consent and support was given for the project. Community members also said
that they see the importance of the project and that they would refrain from charcoal burning and help MWCT
rangers to prevent charcoal burning and illegal logging on the group ranch. 

Christina Ender from Wildlife Works visited MWCT headquarters to gather information and to work on the Project Development Document (PDD) of the Chyulu Hills REDD+ carbon project.

And finally, a total of 18 community meetings were held across Kuku and Rombo Group Ranch to inform the community members of the Chyulu Hills REDD+ Carbon Project. In these Free Prior and Informed Consent (FPIC) meetings the community and the local leaders gave their consent to the project.

Conservation Program Update - Summary of Efforts

We have just recently compiled our quarterly report for the MWCT Conservation Program efforts. MWCT Community Wildlife Rangers have been hard at work patrolling Kuku Group Ranch, and have provided a summary of incidents for July, August, and September.

Through the employment of nearly 100 community Rangers and Simba Scouts, we aim to continually prevent illegal wildlife activity, reduce human/wildlife conflict, and monitor the impacts on the biodiversity here on Kuku Group Ranch.

During the third quarter of 2013, we are happy to announce that no elephants were killed on the Group Ranch. Zero tusks were retrieved by poachers during this time, and no elephants were injured by spears - all very positive news!

This map indicates different ranger sectors during security patrols on Kuku Group Ranch.

As you can see, the sectors in the Chyulu Hills (top right corner) have done an

excellent job patrolling to curb poaching!

One lion was killed by a Maasai warrior in Olorika this quater. The lions were predating on a cow, so the warriors proceeded to hunt it. A MWCT team of Simba Scouts, Rangers, and community elders ventured out in attempts to stop the hunt from occurring, but unfortunately they were unsuccessful.

Fortunately, no hyena or leopards were killed, and one lion hunt was prevented from occurring, and 10 arrests took place by MWCT Rangers for the purposes of: illegal bushmeat poaching, illegal charcoal burning and bushlogging, and illegal giraffe poaching.

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Numerous forms of community outreaches took place by Maasai Wilderness Conservation Trust staff this quarter. They are as follows:

A community outreach was organized after an attempted lion hunt in Kuku village this quarter. The Group Ranch officials, chiefs, the Kenya Wildlife Service community warden, the district police, and MWCT spoke out to community members against lion hunts.  They warned the community that lion hunts will not be tolerated and that it is a criminal offence to kill wildlife.

It is this vast ecosystem that we are working so hard to protect

On August 31, community members from all over Kuku Group Ranch gathered at the Chyulu Conservation and Research Centre to celebrate the winning of the UNDP Equator Prize for grass roots initiatives. Representatives from UNDP, KWS, and the group ranch officials gave speeches on the importance of conservation, community engagement, and congratulated MWCT on its successes.

The preparation for Wildlife Pays payouts in every zone has finished. At the end of this quarter, a MWCT team of conservation, health, and education staff will plan to visit the whole of Kuku Group Ranch and talk to the community about the goals of MWCT and to raise further support for our efforts within the community - a crucially important aspect in the mobilization of knowledge to community members to further increase buy-in to the Trust programs.

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Moreover, the Wildlife Pays program was busy this quarter. There was a total of 334 wildlife predation incidents reported. The majority of these incidents were due to hyena predation, followed by jackal, and cheetah.

The cheetah - a major stakeholder in livestock predation

A total of 460 heads of livestock predated were reported (cows, goats, sheep, and donkeys). The majority of these livestock were killed by hyena, then by lion, cheetah, and jackal.

The second highest predator to livestock on Kuku Group Ranch

The total value of the payout towards these incidents was 1 728 200 Ksh. Hyena were responsible for 50.9% of the compensation paid, 21.4% to jackal predation, and 9% for lion predation.

Conservation Program Update - New Lion Collars

Kuku Group Ranch, 1133 squared kilometres of communally owned Maasailand, is situated in the heart of the Tsavo-Amboseli ecosystem in Kenya, and acts as a critical wildlife corridor between Amboseli National Park, Tsavo National Park, and the Chyulu Hills National Park. It is crucial for maintaining healthy populations of wildlife and preserving ecological processes.

On Kuku Group Ranch, lion-livestock conflict is considered to be one of the most important threats to the lion population. The increase in human population density results in an increased frequency of contact between people, their cattle and lions. This causes intense lion-livestock conflict that consequently leads to the retaliatory killing of lions. 

The main objective of the MWCT Lion Project is to study the lion's social structure, its' home range and movements, habitat use and diet on the community land. Four new lions will be collared with GPS satellite collars and the diet will be determined using the GPS clusters method. The behaviour and movement of lions in respect to human settlements, water points and livestock will be investigated. More detailed information could help us find ways to more effectively mitigate the human - lion conflict and help us conserve this lion population in Maasailand. 

Lion conflict with people and their livestock has been a serious cause of lion population decline, especially in Maasailand, and therefore it is critical that local communities living with lions are incorporated into lion conservation measures. The Maasai communities who share their land with lions are critical stakeholders in ensuring their long term conservation and MWCT is working with the community to reduce the costs of living with wildlife, while demonstrating benefits derived from lions and other wildlife. This in turn can improve the lives of Maasai people and can be a key contributing factor to ensuring the long term survival of lions in Maasailand.

MWCT Simba Scouts with the four new lion collars!

MWCT has just recently obtained these four new lions collars. The collaring exercise has been planned for the end of November (weather permitting of course).

We would like to extend a word of thanks to the sponsors of these four new lion collars - Apple Inc. via Shari Overstreet (a CyK guest) whom agreed to have CyK conservation feeds and the matched dollars by Apple Inc. put towards the purchasing of these collars; as well as all guests of Campi ya Kanzi as their daily paid conservation fee significantly contributes to the successful outcome of this Lion Project.

Furthermore, through MWCT's crucial eco-tourism partner, Campi ya Kanzi, MWCT is able to utilize surcharges on visitors to CyK to fund Wildlife Pays, a program that compensates livestock herders for losses to wildlife predation. This occurs through a rigorous system of certification and monitoring of best practices. Maasai livestock owners are paid quarterly for value of losses in exchange for full protection of predators throughout the Group Ranch.

The Campi ya Kanzi conservation fee paid by guests significantly cover the annual compensation costs, establishing a sustainable model of Payment for Ecosystem Services (PES) around the protection of wildlife, and further emphasizing the importance of the relationship between Campi ya Kanzi and the Maasai Wilderness Conservation Trust. 

MWCT Report on Lion-Killing Incident

In February a lion was killed in Kuku Group Ranch in reaction to an incident of lion-livestock predation for the first time in more than three years. The lioness killed was named Nosero (Maa for thick cover after the lava field forests that were her favorite hiding places) was well-known to MWCT and Campi ya Kanzi -- in 2007 she was collared for the first time and was since then has been frequently tracked by MWCT Simba Scouts; her movements, behavior and reproduction history were well-known and documented.

The incident in which Nosero was killed was very unfortunate. Early on the morning of February 19th, a party of young morani (Maasai warriors) departed on a traditional lion hunt to kill the lion responsible for killing a lost cow the day before. The hunt was planned at night and sadly MWCT was not alerted in time to respond. Unfortunately, Nosero and her three cubs were found feeding on the cow carcass when the morani arrived; Nosero and two cubs were killed. The other cub was able to escape.

Nosero shown with her radio collar.

Even more unfortunately, one of the Maasai warriors was severely injured during this hunt and tragically passed away before he could be transported to the Iltilal health center. It had been over three years since a lion was killed by Maasai on Kuku and more than thirty since a human life was lost in this community due to a lion hunt.

In weeks prior to the fatal hunt there had been a sharp rise in planned lion hunts, with hunts prompted by nearly every incident of lion-livestock predation. Since the implementation of Wildlife Pays, MWCT's wildlife protection and livestock compensation program, there has been a marked decline of such hunts as the community embraced the reliability of compensation for losses and the increased economic benefit of tourism. However, this year a significant cultural moment within the community, the initiation of a new warrior age set, stressed this happy partnership with new pressures.

MWCT Rangers, Verifying Officers, Simba Scouts, and Kenya Wildlife Services intervened to stop twelve hunts during 2012, but nine hunts were already mounted in under two months of 2013. Several meetings were held with the new Maasai warriors and community elders, but despite these efforts to convince the morani to abandon the hunts, they persevered and killed Nosero before MWCT could be alerted.

MWCT officers speak to morani while halting a lion hunt in late 2012.

Any time we fail to stop the unnecessary killing of even one animal, we are greatly saddened. But it is important to place this isolated event in context. Two years before Wildlife Pays was implemented, in 2005, an average of nine or ten lions were being killed on Kuku Group Ranch per year. Since Wildlife Pays began the number of lions killed has decreased dramatically; with only five killings in seven years. Overall, the human-caused lion mortality rate decreased 92%.

Additionally, 2013 was widely anticipated to be an extremely challenging year due to the cultural significance of a new warrior age set being inducted. Traditionally, this is when many lions are killed throughout the ecosystem by newly minted warriors eager to prove their manhood through a traditional hunt. In February Prior to the incident on Feb. 19th in which Nosero was killed, MWCT and KWS prevented six lion hunts; two more were stopped in January. From this perspective, the killing of Nosero and her cubs was the only loss in a month that without MWCT's intervention may have seen a dozen lions killed.

MWCT's Simba Scouts received GPS training in late 2012 to become more effective in the field. 

Finally, Nosero herself is testament to the impact of our programs. The lifespan of lions in the wild is between 10-15 years; Nosero reached the age of twelve last year. This is especially significant considering she lived outside a national park in a largely human-dominated landscape. In the course of her long life, this lioness preyed on cattle several times and would have been hunted each time if not for Wildlife Pays.

Over her twelve years she gave birth to five litters with fifteen cubs total, so MWCT's efforts allowed this single lioness to add nine lions (three cubs were killed by fellow lion) to the local population. While saddened by any loss, we consider Nosero's life a shining example of how MWCT's work is assisting the recovery of the Tsavo-Amboseli lion population.

Conservation News - Simba Scout Training

The Maasai Wilderness Conservation Trust's Simba Scouts are a special group of eight Maasai warriors paid to patrol Kuku Group Ranch.  As they traverse the Ranch they record animal sightings and locations, especially lion sightings, and they report this data at the end of every month.  This data is extremely useful to the Trust's Conservation program, allowing our staff to develop better population estimates, wildlife movement patterns, and much more.  

The Simba Scouts study MWCT's new wildlife monitoring protocol during our recent training in Iltilal.

When the Simba Scouts were initially employed by MWCT, they were illiterate because they never had an opportunity to attend school.  In fact, without MWCT they would likely have never been able to find a paying job.  In the early stages of the program the Trust provided our Simba Scouts with basic training in writing their names and simple numbers, so that they knew the basics and could aid in data collection.

A Simba Scout demonstrates how to properly identify and count various animals found on Kuku Group Ranch.

A while ago we gave our Simba Scouts further training, building upon their initial data collection skills.  Seeking to further standardize the Simba Scout's data collection, MWCT worked with the Zoological Society of London to develop a new wildlife monitoring protocol.  We proceeded to teach the Simba Scouts this new protocol, as well as giving them training on how to properly use GPS systems on their walks to provide more accurate location data and allow us to make more effective management decisions.

Our Simba Scouts are now better equipped and prepared to go into the field and return with valuable information.

Finally, we provided the Simba Scouts with user-friendly wildlife data recording sheets, showing pictures of each animal so they are able to collection information on animal population and distribution using the most scientific and relevant methods.  Teaching the Simba Scouts GPS operation and systematic data collection was quite the challenge, but the training went very well and was a huge success - we are proud of our newly empowered employees!

Kanzi Academy Excursion to the Chyulus!

As part of Kanzi Academy’s continued efforts to take learning outside the classroom and find new ways for its students to interact with their unique wilderness environment, last week the schoolchildren went for a walk in the Chyulu Hills.  Hemingway’s famed Green Hills of Africa, the Chyulus are a volcanic range that were active as recently as the 19^th century, but have been dormant since that time.  The drive up provided an opportunity for the students to test their knowledge of the region’s geography and geology, including distinguishing between ancient granite formations and more recent volcanic ones.

Heading up into the Chyulus with the students of Kanzi Academy.

The drive and walk also gave ample opportunity to study and learn about the wildlife and botany of Kuku Group Ranch.  We saw giraffes, impalas, elands, hartebeests, hornbills, lilac-breasted rollers, and even an elusive bushbuck!  The beautiful Erythrina abyssinica, also known as the red-hot poker tree, was in its full-blooming October glory, punctuating the green hills with dashes of crimson. 

The beautiful Erythrina Abyssinica tree blooms in October.

After a break in the forest for a spirited game of Hide-and-Go-Seek, we continued our hike through the cloud forest, identifying trees such as the strangler fig and discussing its parasitic relationship with its host tree.  Finally we arrived at a bluff atop the range from which we could see for many kilometres, all the way to the Yatta Plateau.  We returned via the forest path and drove back to Campi ya Kanzi after a very successful morning, and we're planning to continue these educational outings in the future!

The students of Kanzi Academy look out from a bluff atop the Chyulus.

Kanzi Academy Excursion

The students approach a hill called Longido, our destination.

Time for a quick Education update!  Last Sunday the sixth-grade class at Kanzi Academy went for a hike in the savanna surrounding the school.  Located on the grounds of Campi ya Kanzi, the Academy is a private boarding school for gifted Maasai students operated by the Maasai Wilderness Conservation Trust.  Because the students come from all over Kuku Group Ranch, they board at the camp and often do fun learning enrichment activities over the weekend.  On this particular day, the sixth-grade class set out for a walk, accompanied by Kanzi Academy's four teachers and a trained Maasai tracker.

Kanzi Academy's sixth-grade class enjoys the view atop the outcropping.

During the game walk the students had the opportunity to apply lessons learned in their classes during the week, identifying animal tracks and scat, spotting wildlife including zebras, gazelles, and giraffe, and practicing their English in conversation with the teachers and each other.  Upon arriving at Longido, the local hill that was the destination of our hike, we climbed to the top and enjoyed the stunning views of the Kuku Plain unfolding before us.  In the end it was a highly successful walk with great views and good exercise, and we hope to continue with this sort of outside-the-classroom educational initiative in the coming weeks and months.

A student smiles for the camera on the granite rock.

Success!

Above, one of the lions regularly spotted nearby MWCT headquarters

Our good friend and active contributor to MWCT, Kristin, brought this interesting article to our attention, and now we'd like to share it with you. It highlights the serious challenges facing crucial wildlife corridors in Tanzania and Kenya as a result of drought, rampant poaching a poisoning of large carnivores. The article highlights the rapidly declining lion populations in Kenya and throughout Africa, and exemplifies the urgent need and successes of predator compensation programs, such as MWCT's Simba Project, which has proven to be one of our most successful endeavors. Since its implementation in 2006, we have witnessed the lion population within Kuku Group Ranch (neighboring Tsavo and Amboseli National Parks) increase from an estimate 20 lions to well over 50. We're very proud to be part of what the author refers to as "better news" in the Chyulu Hills, and we're working hard to ensure the continuation of the Simba Project, and the protection of the local environment. We look forward to hearing your comments on this article, and hope that it brings attention to the very real, serious environmental challenges that face Kenya's land and wildlife.

Check out the article through the link below......

African safaris: Bleak news from the bush

Brian Jackman, concluding our report into the perilous state of Africa's wildlife, hopes that responsible tourism is finally coming of age.

To learn more about MWCT's Simba Project, check out our webpage www.maasaitrust.org