SWT Aerial Surveillance Unit Report November 2021

AERIAL SURVEILLANCE UNIT MONTHLY REPORT

NOVEMBER

AERIAL STATISTICS

NOVEMBER 2021

143 HOURS FLOWN

21,078 KMS COVERED

AREAS PATROLLED

Kulalu Ranch, Galana Ranch, TENP, CHNP, TWNP, Rombo, Taveta, Garsen, Mt. Kenya, Teita Estate

NOVEMBER 2021

MONTHLY AERIAL PATROL MAP

MONTHLY AERIAL SUMMARY The drought began to really be felt during November. Although there were a few isolated rain storms, especially in the north east of Tsavo East, most of the park remained bone dry. This is unusual as the rains normally start in late October or early November. The lack of pasture and browse took a major toll on both livestock and wildlife alike.

Livestock pressure reached a peak for the year in November, although numbers along the Tiva River were reduced by persistent KWS operations to push them out of the park. Pilots continued to find dead cattle in both Tsavo East and West, along with equal numbers of dead wildlife sadly. There simply was not enough food to go around, with up to 19 livestock enclosures, housing thousands of cattle, being recorded on a single flight, with at times over ten thousand cattle competing for food with wildlife. In Tsavo West, eland were particularly hard hit. In Tsavo East, elephants were badly affected too. Our pilots found a total of 6 elephant carcasses, all thought to be drought victims, representing a fraction of the elephants found in the park by all of the stakeholders. Between ground teams, tour operators and other pilots, carcasses were discovered on a daily basis in November. Sadly, most of these victims were young calves.

In addition to carcasses, 3 abandoned orphaned elephant calves were rescued in Tsavo by either the SWT helicopter or Cessna Caravan. One was found stuck and abandoned in a mudhole, another was found collapsed, the third was found standing next to its dead mother, another drought victim. While the caravan was called out to collect a fourth young calf from Satao, sadly it passed away before it could be rescued. Another 2 abandoned elephant calves were rescued from up country. The first from Ragati Conservancy in Mt. Kenya, which was airlifted by SWT helicopter to Nanyuki Airfield and then transported by caravan to our neo-natal nursery in Tsavo. Another tiny elephant, estimated to be one week old, was rescued from Dol Dol in a TropicAir helicopter and then airlifted again by the Trust’s caravan to Tsavo. In addition to elephant calves, we also received a request to rescue a baby hippo from Garsen in Tana River County. A tiny premature hippo still carrying its umbilical cord, had been found alone next to a drying pond. Its mother had obviously abandoned the baby who was unable to travel the distances required to reach water. This story unfortunately had an unhappy ending, as the hippo’s condition declined rapidly after arrival at the nursery, and she passed away shortly after.

Three vet cases were attended to with assistance from the Aerial Unit. An elephant, suffering from a spear wound on the top of its head and neck area, was darted from the helicopter and successfully treated with an excellent prognosis.

Another female elephant sighted on Teita Estate with 3 spear wounds, was also darted from a helicopter and treated, however, she was given a guarded prognosis due to the severity of the wounds. Finally, Dr Poghon was also flown up to Ithumba during the course of the month to treat an ex-orphan (Sidai) who returned to the stockade with an arrow wound.

Despite the severity of conditions brought on by the drought, our aerial teams encountered very little evidence of poaching inside the park. One old poacher’s harbour, where evidence of illegal honey harvesting was later found, was spotted during a routine helicopter patrol. Outside of the Park, on Galana Ranch, one of our pilots spotted motorbikes carrying bushmeat which had been poached on the ranch. We begun operations on Galana Ranch in May, so there is still commercial bushmeat poaching occurring. Despite a huge improvement on both Galana and Kulalu ranches It will take time and a concerted effort between ground and aerial teams to bring the situation fully under control.

No charcoal activity was observed within the park, but largescale charcoal operations were observed throughout the month on both Galana and Kulalu Ranches. Sightings varied from transport trucks carrying charcoal through Kulalu Ranch to market, as well as dozens of charcoal camps, kilns, and sacks ready for collection. As with the poaching, and especially because the two go hand-in-hand, it will take some time to get under control. Extensive efforts have already been undertaken on Galana Ranch, and our pilot noticed a corresponding increase in activity on Kulalu Ranch necessitating more frequent patrols there.

Whereas there was no logging for charcoal burning observed in any of the Parks, our pilots did observe logging for other purposes. One suspect was sighted actively cutting trees during a patrol, and while he managed to evade arrest by a ground team, they found that he had been cutting small poles for use in agriculture. Some logging for wood carving was also seen in an unrelated incident nearby.

A total of 9 human-elephant conflict callouts were responded to by helicopter pushing elephants out of community areas and back into the park. Other callouts involved elephants deep within settled areas down on the Tanzania border. On one occasion our helicopter pushed a group of 4 bulls a total of 12 km to get them to safety.

Only two fires were attended to in November, both near Kibwezi Forest in the Chyulu Hills National Park. The first of these was successfully put out with a combination of helicopter buckets and teams on the ground. The second fire, caused by suspected arson, was set at a time when the helicopter was not available. Three days of firefighting in very challenging conditions ensued. With fixed-wing aerial support, teams were directed on the ground to the most critical fire fronts and fought bravely day and night. Although the aircraft was limited to day time operations, flights were conducted until late into the evening to assess and plan for ground team operations at night.

Highlights included sightings of 41 rhino on one patrol as well as repeated sightings of a pack(s) of around 20 wild dogs.

Pilots were also treated to regular sightings of lion and a chance sighting of a pair of honey badgers.

Photographs copyright © 2021 The David Sheldrick Wildlife Trust