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MayJune 2001
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I am back in Kenya after spending holidays with family and friends in the UK and US - and picking up my Dog Elsa to bring here out here. She is sleeping at my feet, seems to like the climate - it was quite a trip fo r a 13 year old Golden Retriever!!
I met with some of the Sheldrick Wildlife Trust, who run an elephant orphanage here in Kenya, the only of it's kind, along with doing a lot of work in Tsavo National Park. We are hoping to support their adding another anti-poaching team to the two in existence in and on the borders of Tsavo. There were 4 rhinos poached there just before I left mid-December, which was a real tragedy. As well, just a few days ago a baby elephant was found just outside the park with a most horrific snare around it's neck and ear, nearly cutting through his throat and the top of his neck.. I met him yesterday and he seems to be recovering,, he has begun eating and the Vet has seen and treated him. We are hoping to at least partially sponsor his care. He is a tough little guy, having been through some horribly hard times.
We are also seriously looking to assist work in the Chyulu Hills, a region off the northeast border of Tsavo West National Park. This is a private initiative of an association of 4 Masai group ranches, and they require outside help to purchase a vehicle to coordinate their efforts. We were there in December of 2001 on a day when the game scouts caught some poachers with a number of animals they had killed that night. It was quite compelling to meet these men, and to see the bodies of some of these animals. Having met a number of local folk, I know that they are sincere in their desire to protect their land and animals from this sort of slaughter.
One of the exciting aspects of all of this, is that these parks are in one large ecosystem, comprising Tsavo, the Chyulus and Amboseli National Park.. If this region can be protected, it keeps open old routes for the migratory species, and benefits the whole system, allowing for a much more promising future for all of the inhabitants; human and non-human.
In conjunction with these efforts, we plan to work with the local schools and communities. There is a great deal of need for school support, health care, water, and environmental education. We can help in these areas. We are receiving support and encouragement from the local communities, and I believe that what we do there will be important.
We will do further work in the North with the Nursery School that we helped to reconstruct in June, and the nearby Primary School. These are things we hope to attend to in the next few months, and I will report on our progress there.
I can provide information to any of you who would like to help us. The rewards are great, I can assure you.
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