SWT Aerial Surveillance Unit Report April 2020

AERIAL SURVEILLANCE UNIT MONTHLY REPORT

APRIL 2020

AERIAL STATISTICS

HOURS FLOWN

KMS COVERED

AREAS PATROLLED

APRIL 2020

164

21,086

Tsavo East, Tsavo West, Chyulu Hills National Park, KARI Kiboko Ranch, Taita Ranch, Galana Ranch, Kulalu Ranch, Kishushe Ranch

APRIL 2020

MONTHLY AERIAL PATROL MAP

MONTHLY AERIAL SUMMARY Incredibly, many parts of Tsavo continued to experience rainfall throughout April, with several heavy downpours, especially in the South and North. This has related into the most beautiful carpet of ipomoea flowers as far as the eye can see. While it is still unclear what effect the global coronavirus pandemic will have on Kenya, and if there will be a dramatic increase in illegal activities as the Kenyan economy slows, we are preparing for the parks and protected areas to be yet further threatened. However, April was another relatively quiet month, with the only major illegal activities being livestock incursions and charcoal burning.

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Livestock numbers were generally up in April, especially in Tsavo West and areas of Tsavo East that have become difficult to access by vehicle due to prolonged rains. For the first time in many months, significant livestock incursions were noted along the eastern boundary of Tsavo East, with some enclosures being noted up to 14 km into the Park.

Where livestock incursions were discovered along the Tiva River, these were successfully pushed back to the boundary

by KWS, however, south of the Tiva River where vehicles have difficulty reaching, livestock numbers have been increasing steadily with limited success from KWS ground teams. In Tsavo West, livestock numbers from Lake Jipe up to Ziwani have reduced slightly, with most of the incursions occurring close to the Park boundary. On one occasion, an SWT aircraft was able to spot 2 enclosures deep within the Park, and by chance also found a KWS mobile patrol in the area, which was directed to the cattle by the aircraft for immediate action.

While no cases of livestock were noted in the Chyulu Hills National Park, there has been a slow push to remove livestock from KARI Kiboko Ranch, which abuts the National Park, and which has been recently added to SWT’s Saving Habitats project. Although livestock has not been reduced dramatically in KARI, there has been a gradual movement to the north, and it is hoped that continued pressure from KWS and county government will mean a livestock free dispersal area for Chyulu’s wildlife in the near future. We are very close to the completion of an elephant exclusion fence that will surround the eastern perimeter of this ranch and keep elephants out of community farmland, which will dramatically reduce the amount of time and resources spent by the Trust removing elephants from people’s farms and pushing them back into the protected area. This is currently a monthly if not weekly activity for the Trust’s helicopter and will be a huge burden lifted once in place. In April, one such case was attended to. Following a report from the community, a fixed wing aircraft was deployed to locate 5 elephants that had found themselves in a small patch of forest near Kibwezi. Once located, the helicopter was deployed to successfully push these elephants back in to the Forest and out of harm’s way. The community was relieved for the assistance; however, the issue of HWC is an ongoing battle and one that we are looking forward to putting behind us in this particular area.

Poaching activity is still well below typical levels in Tsavo, especially compared to dry season months, but even compared to previous years. Given the very favourable rains, and despite COVID-19, people bordering the Park appear to not yet be feeling the pinch, since most of them are subsistence farmers and have built up a decent store of food.

There was one active incident that was uncovered by a ground team who came across 3 sets of footprints. The helicopter was able to deploy the K9 Unit to track the suspects; however, the tracks led to the Athi River and the team was unable to pick up tracks on the other side. A follow-up patrol by fixed wing, in the area they were thought to have exited the Park, did not yield anything. Two days later, however, the light from a torch was seen across the river from the SWT Field HQ and the following day, the same tracks were picked up again on the Tsavo Safari Camp airstrip to the north – they had never crossed the river in the end. Sadly, the tracks were followed to a crossing point where it was confirmed that at least 2 of the suspects had crossed back into community land the previous night and made a clean break. At points, it was apparent that the poachers had picked up their pace and one of them was barefoot and running, so at the very least, they seem to have been aware that they were being followed and the pressure forced them to make an early retreat from the Park and their poaching activity. One camp was discovered where they had spent the night on the Yatta Plateau, but there was no evidence that they had been successful on the hunt.

To the south of Tsavo East, on Taita Ranch, the SWT helicopter did also respond to a KWS K9 callout to track a gang of armed Somali poachers who had initially been seen by a herder and whose tracks had been found by rangers on the ground. Unfortunately, upon arriving, the K9 Unit found that the tracks had been disturbed by additional foot traffic, and as they moved into thick grass, it was impossible to find a fresh set of unadulterated tracks and the dogs could be of no help. Other than these two incidents, there were several sightings of old campfires and hideouts, as well as one very old shooting platform, but none of these were active and in some cases were over a year old.

There were a small number of charcoal kilns discovered in Chyulu Hills NP, which were subsequently destroyed. As well, the helicopter was able to locate a number of camps in the same area of loggers, and sandalwood harvesters, which were visited on the ground and destroyed. In an effort to be proactive, the helicopter conducted a number of border patrols, finding and reporting breaches in the fence, which would be attended to by the SWT fence supervisor to permanently close the breach and visit the households where the breach is thought to have originated.

Elsewhere, no charcoal kilns were found inside the Parks, but multiple patrols of Kishushe Ranch, bordering Tsavo West, revealed a large number of kilns which were later attended to by a SWT ground team and destroyed. On Galana Ranch, a large industrial scale charcoal operation was discovered with around 500 charcoal sacks in a small area and another 200 sacks ready to be collected by waiting trucks. Coordinates were passed on to KWS for action as this area falls outside of the Trust’s ground operational area.

In addition to regular patrolling, our pilots were also involved in other work in the landscape. For example, flights were conducted to do a provisional survey of old charcoal routes in South Kitui National Reserve to create a KWS access road from Mukomwe Hill in the South to Enyali and Kalalani along Thua River in the north. It was found that there is an adequate network to achieve this objective, but it will require earthmoving equipment to open the roads up. The Trust is well-equipped in this respect; however, this work will have to wait until after the current health crisis due to logistical challenges.

To the south, the Trust has also begun the work of spreading a cochineal to combat the invasive prickly pear cactus which now dominates many parts of Tsavo East, having moved in from cattle ranches on the periphery and been very efficiently spread by elephants, birds and baboons. Flights were conducted to monitor the first efforts to spread the mite, which targets only the prickly pear and will not pose a threat to any other vegetation in the Park. Over the coming months, the Trust will continue to breed cochineals in a greenhouse at Bachuma and spread them among the wild population of cactus.

On Ithumba Hill, several ferry flights were conducted by SWT helicopter to deliver technicians and new radio repeater equipment to replace old and damaged equipment that was no longer working. This radio repeater serves our Aerial Unit and ground teams in much of the north of Tsavo East and is an absolutely essential communications tool.

There was only one vet treatment that required aerial assistance in April, which involved the search for an injured elephant that had first been spotted by an SWT ground team. An aircraft was used to search for and locate the bull elephant and monitor its location until the KWS/SWT Voi Mobile Vet Unit was able to get to the scene to treat it. The prognosis was 50%, as the elephant is suffering from a fracture to the pelvis. Several follow-up flights were conducted by fixed wing to monitor the elephant, which moved a small number of kilometres, but is nonetheless still alive despite losing condition. We will continue to monitor its progress over the next few weeks.

Highlights in April included a pride of 7 lions and a pack of 14 wild dogs hunting dik dik.

Photographs copyright © 2020 The David Sheldrick Wildlife Trust