DSWT Community Outreach Report January 2017

COMMUNITY OUTREACH MONTHLY REPORT

January 2017 SUMMARY: During January 2017, the DSWT hosted 4 fully sponsored school trips, 3 wildlife video shows, donated 25 long-lasting learning desks and erected a new beehive fence made of thirty modern langstroth hives.

SCHOOL TRIPS After the short rains in November/December, most parts of Tsavo were still green during January despite the prolonged drought. Four groups of school children from the northwestern border of Tsavo were taken for a fully sponsored school trip in Tsavo West National Park. The school trips guided by the DSWT Community Outreach officer, start with a brief lecture by a Kenya Wildlife Service Education Warden at the Tsavo West Information centre where the students are introduced to the physical features and wildlife to be encountered during the trip. Each participating student is provided with the DSWT field guide booklet which also offers information about Tsavo and provides a spotter’s guide.

The children encountered several herds of elephants, zebras, impalas, oryx amongst other wildlife

Name of School Yimbuvu Primary School-1 Yimbuvu Primary School-2 Ngiluni Primary-1 Ngiluni Primary-2 TOTAL

Date

19th January, 2017 20th January, 2017 26th January, 2017 27th January, 2017

Park visited

No. of Teachers 3

Total

Tsavo west

No.of children 25

Tsavo west

25

3

28

Tsavo west

26

2

28

Tsavo west

25

3

28

101

11

112

28

WILDLIFE FILM SHOWS Conservation education plays an important role in protection of wildlife, the DSWT through educational wildlife films, is reaching out to school children to teach them more about wildlife and the challenges facing Kenyan wildlife.

In January 2017, DSWT hosted 3 wildlife films in three schools reaching out to 367 children and 22 teachers. These films made in an easy to understand local Swahili language, highlight poaching and habitat destruction as major threats to wildlife in Kenya.

Name of school Ngiluni Primary School Misani Primary Kamunyu Primary TOTAL

Date

Video shown

No. of audience

18th January, 2017

The Elephants of Tsavo

Children 117

Teachers 13

24th January, 2017 26th January, 2017

The Endangered Heritage

198

6

The Elephants of Tsavo

52

5

367

22

DESK DONATIONS Tsavo is home to the most impoverished human population in Kenya. Parents cannot afford basic essential such as desks in schools. The DSWT has donated thousands of long lasting metal framed desks to schools in Tsavo.

In January 2017, the DSWT donated 25 desks to Kongoni Primary School in Maktau area.

Kongoni is a new school with a steady increase in enrolment of students.

Name of school Kongoni Primary School TOTAL

Date

Location

31st January, 2017

Maktau

No. of desks donated 25 25

BEEHIVE FENCE As elephants continue to be squeezed into smaller areas and cut off their migratory corridors, cases of human-elephant conflict are on the rise. In last two months, Tsavo has experienced the most frequent human-elephant conflict over the years. On two occasions, the conflict led to loss of human life.

By erecting beehive fences around farms in Mtito-Andei, the DSWT has remarkably reduced incidences of elephants raiding community farms. In January 2017, DSWT erected a new beehive fence covering a length of 0.6km in Kyusyani village bringing the total of the DSWT’s beehive fence to over 3km.

The David Sheldrick Wildlife Trust is reliant on your kind support in order to keep our community outreach projects running.

For more information about these projects please visit www.sheldrickwildlifetrust.com/community or email info@dswt.org