SWT Community Outreach Report for April to June 2019

COMMUNITY OUTREACH QUARTERLY REPORT APRIL TO JUNE 2019

Summary

402 School Children

16 School Trips

27 Hives Occupied

Quarterly Report by Samuel Munyao Through the months of April to June, SWT carried out 16 School Trips, 8 of which were with school children from the communities neighbouring the Tsavo East ecosystem, and 8 of which were with school children from the communities neighbouring the Tsavo West ecosystem. SWT continued to work with bee farmers to ensure that the hives, on their beehive fencelines installed by the SWT, remain healthy. The health of the hives and their bee colonies is extremely important to the effectiveness of the fencelines in mitigating human-elephant conflict.

School Trips Nature walks and game drives help educate the children on the importance of wildlife conservation as well as creating an opportunity for these children to see and learn about the different plant and animal species within the Tsavo ecosystem. These trips can aid in teaching the environmental skills that tend to instil the values that nurture their relationship with nature.

Date

Name of School

National Park

No Students

No Teachers

21-May-2019

Kauguni Primary

Tsavo West National Park

25

2

22-May-2019

Kauguni Primary

Tsavo West National Park

25

2

23-May-2019

Ndauni Primary

Tsavo West National Park

25

2

24-May-2019

Ndauni Primary

Tsavo West National Park

25

2

27-May-2019

Kyandulu Primary

Tsavo West National Park

25

2

28-May-2019

Kyandulu Primary

Tsavo West National Park

25

3

29-May-2019

Kilungu Primary

Tsavo West National Park

25

2

31-May-2019

Athi Primary

Tsavo West National Park

25

4

4-Jun-2019

Kilungu Primary

Tsavo West National Park

25

2

5-Jun-2019

Athi Primary

Tsavo West National Park

25

4

11-Jun-2019

Mbukoni Primary

Tsavo West National Park

25

2

12-Jun-2019

Mbukoni Primary

Tsavo West National Park

25

2

13-Jun-2019

Nzoila Primary

Tsavo West National Park

25

2

14-Jun-2019

Nzoila Primary

Tsavo West National Park

27

2

17-Jun-2019

Usalama Primary

Tsavo West National Park

25

2

18-Jun-2019

Usalama Primary

Tsavo West National Park

25

2

During the School trips, the students are given Wildlife Guardian Field Books, where there are different fun exercises for them, such as word search, and different tasks where they can tick off and identify animals that they have seen throughout their trip. On top of this, the students can learn about the different relationships between species, and their different eating habits and how each of these habits plays a beneficial role in the preservation of the parks diversity.

On each of these trips, the students are able to interact with the SWT Staff and KWS Rangers, asking them any questions they may have and at the end of the day they are each awarded a certificate of participation from the Sheldrick Wildlife Trust.

On their game drives, the children were able to see some of the following animals; the lesser kudu, buffalo, elephants, zebras, impala, Thomson gazelles, warthogs and many of the other grazers. They were also able to spot some hippos, different bird species, some Sykes monkeys, and crocodiles whilst at the Mzima Springs.

Beehive Fencing Project Bees are found in habitats ranging from forests to deserts and flourish in areas where there is sufficient pollen, nectar, shelter and water to fulfill the needs of the colony. Mostly, rainy seasons tend to provide the mentioned supplements for a bee colony’s survival.

April through June 2019, SWT continued to work with bee farmers to ensure the hive project remains healthy and effective. SWT community staff carried out their routine inspections to investigate the occupancy of hives and collect any possible data on its effectiveness. However, due to the continued dry weather and lack of rain around the Tsavo ecosystem the bee farmers have not seen as many bees as previous years and the hive occupancy continues to remain low.

The hives surrounding the Iviani village seemed to have had the highest occupancy throughout these months.

Dates Inspected

Village

Total No Hives

Hives Occupied

Hives Unoccupied

6-May-2019 and 28-Jun-2019

Ngiluni

24

0

24

6-May-2019 and 28-Jun-2019

Syusyani-Monica

20

2

18

6-May-2019 and 28-Jun-2019

Syusyani-Juliana

25

1

24

6-May-2019 and 22-Jun-2019

Iviani

43

21

22

6-May-2019 and 28-Jun-2019

Syusyani-Kivuva

24

3

21