South Rift: Communities, Conservation, and Research

Embirika Nursery School Opening

2011-06-30T12:42:00.002+03:00

On June 11^th Olkiramatian officially opened the newly built Embirika Nursery School. This one classroom building was funded by CDF Kajiado North and currently hosts 3 grades include a Baby class (2-3 years) Nursery class (3-4 years) and Pre-unit class (4-6), catering to a total of 38 students. It is a wonderful accomplishment for the area, helping children who would have had to walk up to an additional 10 kilometers in order to access these classes at other facilities.

A number of people gathered for the occasion including the Assistant chief of Olkiramatian, the Group Ranch Chairman, and many educational leaders in the area. Lale’enok’s own Albert Kuseyo is the Chairman of the Embirika Pre-School and representatives from Lale’enok appreciated Albert’s dedication by presenting some new books for the school.

2011-05-16T15:01:00.002+03:00

Wednesday May 11^th marked an important meeting in a series of community meetings taking place at Olorgesailie with the agenda of initiating the establishment of conservation and education programs around the Olorgesailie and Kwenia region. Lead by SORALO coordinator John Kamanga the meeting brought together representatives from The National Museums of Kenya, African Conservation Center, and researchers from the Lale’enok center to share and discuss with leaders and important community members from all areas of the Group Ranch. The rains did not slow down the liveliness of the meeting with lots of good questions presented and progressive discussion. A notably inspirational moment was when one of the Mamas got up in front of all the leaders and reminded them of the role woman want to play in the development of the region and by putting money into the hands of the woman you will see progressive change on a community level. Met with applause and enthusiasm there are plans in the development proposal to create a cultural center that will support woman’s initiatives in the area.

Rarely will such an opportunity arise where we can take a look back over hundreds of thousands of years at a landscape so key to human and wildlife origins, while simultaneously investigating that same relationship and how it plays out on that same landscape today. In addition, the area is also vital to the conservation of large connecting landscapes, which host vulnerable populations of rare species such as the Ruppell’s Griffon vulture, elephants, and wild dogs. The meeting marked a positive step in a long road towards bringing together all agendas in the region and the Lale’enok team came away from the meeting enthusiastic and inspired to be a part of the new possibilities the region presents.

2011-05-16T12:14:00.003+03:00

The month of May has brought with it huge rain storms and ample game spotting, creating exciting opportunities for research and a sigh of relief from all of us and the community at large. It is just about possible to watch the grass grow and our ecosystem monitoring team has been working hard to capture the changes across the landscape. Game appears to be recovering exceptionally well from the drought as our last set of transects revealed high numbers of new young within the zebra, wildebeest, and giraffe herds. We have also been lucky enough to locate some of our resident lions, finding a kill and recording their movements as the rains change the herbivore distributions. A few notable sights from this week include running into a pair of Honey Badgers one evening, as well as getting some quality time with an older male elephant as he grazed through the new plant growth.

The center has also recently acquired a motorcycle to increase mobility and aid in carrying out research in some areas. It has been a source of entertainment at camp this month teaching everyone to ride, and of course deciding what colour helmet you look best in! Albert was even able to strap on the pin frame to zoom off to count all the new grass sprouting up!

Community Scout Training

2011-03-26T12:06:00.001+03:00

March 22^nd marked the official launch of the very first African Conservation Center Community Scout Training Program. The six week program is being held at the Lale’enok center, housing 35 scouts based in areas ranging from Mount Susua, Siana – Mara, Rombo – Oloitoktok, and our own Conservancy’s Group Ranches Shompole and Olkirimatian. The course is an intensive program in discipline, wildlife management, and team building. From 5am fitness training to lectures from KWS officials the course provides a wide range of exposure and skill building necessary for each of the men to be leaders upon returning to their respective conservancies. The course not only provides a standard of excellence in conservancy management for across the country but is an opportunity for members from different conservancies to meet and discuss the wide range of issues that affect many areas in Kenya. It has been a refreshing change of pace at camp and we are excited to host the team for the next 6 weeks!

2011-03-07T14:48:00.013+03:00

Lale'enok is formally open! A glorious event where over 70 VIPs from across Kenya as well as over 150 local community members were present to witness Mr. Jaco Mebius, the Senior Policy Adviser for Environment, Water and Sanitation to the Royal Netherlands Embassy, officially open the centre. Representatives from the Ministry of Environment and Mineral Resources, the Ministry of State for National Heritage and Culture, the National Museums of Kenya, the newly formed Taskforce for drafting the Legislation Implementing Land Use, Environment and Natural Resource Provisions of the Kenya Constitution were all present and the feedback was extremely positive from all fronts. The press, who were present in full force, have done a great job with publicising the event on local TV stations over the past few days. What seems to be the main take-home message from the day was the relevance of the centre from so many angles; from what the new constitution stands for (devolution of
responsibility and ownership to the community level) to biodiversity conservation efforts built on an evidence-based approach, local capacity development, support of local women's enterprise and much more..... Lale'enok's community-based philosophies stole the day.

Lale'enok

2011-02-28T10:19:00.003+03:00

On March 4^th 2011 the Resource Center will official open the beautiful new buildings as Lale’enok. The new name comes from a Maasai herding term where they send out scouts to survey the grazing and water points in the area and then come back to report where to take the cattle and what areas are currently safe. It is a similar the role the community has in store for the new Resource Center. It will be a hub for all the research and information collected by local and international researchers alike, and be a place where that information can then be distributed, discussed, and applied appropriately for future planning. We are looking forward to hosting over 300 people next Friday from International V.I.Ps to important community members and everyone who has been with us along the way.

The buildings have already been put to good use with the arrival of the two student groups the women had their first opportunity to use their new banda as a welcoming area and a place to sell their beadwork. What a successful opening it was, with the Chairlady and the committee there to welcome everyone. There were many members of the women’s group who showed up with their unique handiwork and beautiful shukas and kangas and it was an exciting mix of cultures for the students to interact with the woman and pick up a few souvenirs along the way.

Maji Maji (and more) Maji!

2011-02-28T09:36:00.012+03:00

February has turned into a very prosperous month! Everything started off very dry as we were well into the dry season and the usual migrations down to the swamp grazing were well under way. However, by the middle of the month we had 5 days straight of rain receiving up to 36mm a night and instantly turning the arid landscape into a sea of tiny green shoots. It is an amazing transformation to watch and a shift you can feel as you drive through the Maasai settlements where relaxed and cheerful moods have settled upon us all as we watch the grass grow. Even the wildlife is responding with sightings of new baby zebra, impala, and even wildebeest across the area. This is the first sighting of wildebeest calving since the 2009 drought and it is a positive sign towards the recovery of populations.

It is not just rain from the sky that is cause for delight, but camp now officially has running water from taps! The days of buckets showers are over and though some of us will reminisce the old days it is certainly an exciting progression for the center. All this water has created both a beautiful and functional facility to welcome our two returning University Groups. The first is the Canadian Field Studies in Africa Program from the University of McGill in Montreal Canada. The group spent 3 nights at the center talking with elders and community leaders on issues ranging from land tenure and subdivision to conservancy arrangements and livestock issues. They were even lucky enough to overlap with a visit from David Western who gave a lecture on the history of conservation in Kenya and how this area fits into the larger picture of ecosystem management

The group visited the shambas in Nguruman, took a drive to see the flamingos in Lake Magadi, and learnt tracking techniques from our carnivore researchers. Overlapping with their departure we had our second University team come through from Sweden. Interested more specifically with cattle behaviour and interactions with the wildlife the Swedish team spent half their days walking with cattle and learning about local herding practises while using the other half of the day to visit the conservancy and learn about tracking techniques. They were even lucky enough to see 2 male cheetahs just outside of camp! It has been a busy time at camp and a wonderful experience to have visitors using the new center. We are thankful for all the support and enthusiasm!

Carnivore Update

2010-12-21T09:20:00.005+03:00

Carnivores, carnivores, carnivores. Most of our research is facilitated with radio-collared animals, but we take advantage of opportunistic sightings of uncollared animals whenever we can. Hyenas have really been helpful lately, lying along the roads in the early evening and letting us get very close to follow them as they hunt. The hyenas are quite predictable, lying along the routes the wildlife use to reach the river to get a drink at night, when all the people and livestock are safely inside their bomas. Uncollared lion sightings have also been surprisingly common. Even though none of the 3 new males who have immigrated to the study area wears a collar, we have had no trouble finding them at least once a week. Of course, being able to find receptive females makes it much easier to find interested males. The new males have been seen mating or courting at least three lioness we regularly follow. (written by David Christianson)

Construction Update

2010-12-15T09:51:00.000+03:00

This will likely be our last construction update, for a while anyhow. The masons and laborers all left and the builder gave everyone the green light to move into the new buildings. The new and improved Resource Center looks amazing and the spacious, cool buildings have made living and working in the camp much more comfortable.

Before moving into the new staff quarters, the guys in camp wanted to have a feast together. We spent the afternoon engaged in a chapati cook-off and then stuffed ourselves that evening with goat meat, beans, sakuma wiki, and chapatis...so many chapatis.

School Supply Donations

2010-12-03T09:47:00.001+03:00

At the end of November we went shopping for school supplies using the money that many different friends of the resource center donated over the past several months. Albert and Joel provided us with wish lists from two different nursery school teachers in the area. The four of us visited both schools and presented the donations on behalf of the generous donors who made the donations possible. We visited the nursery school at Darkalali first. We were greeted by a number of parents and community elders who were extremely grateful for the donation.

When we went inside we realized what a huge difference this small donation would make. The teacher had been relying on tattered hand-drawn charts to teach her students things like colors and letters, so the stack of new charts we gave her will most certainly be put to good use.

Here you can see the classroom for the "baby class." The 3-year-olds learn under this tree while the pre-school and kindergarten students learn inside the school. It made me wish we had been able to fit a classroom in the little trunk we brought.

A few days later we visited the nursery school at Embirika and gave the teacher the school supplies we had purchased. There were many parents and other members of the community in attendance to accept the donation and express their gratitude. We were even treated to some singing and dancing by some of the children and women. It was truly an honor and we thank those of you who donated for making it possible...you have touched many lives through your generosity.

Albert showed pictures from the book on animals that we picked out. It was a huge hit and the children's eyes absolutely lit up as they shouted out the names of the animals.

Albert said that most of the children at the school have probably never even seen a ball before, let alone actually played with one. The balls and jump rope should make their outdoor time more enjoyable and educational.

Lion Update

2010-11-29T10:20:00.004+03:00

The lion follows have been going well, though a few of the lions have been more difficult to locate as they spend more and more time in the thick bush near the escarpment. We have seen Ren, Stimpy, and Mwanzo much less frequently than we did a couple months ago because the thick bush makes it either impossible to get close to them or if we do get close we can't get a visual on them through the dense vegetation. Thankfully, Esipata, Kereng'ende, and Bolt have been cooperative and we collected a wealth of data in November. The highlights of the month included:

finding three giraffe carcasses killed by lions in the span of five days
collecting 15 lion fecal samples in one day
multiple encounters of 3 new male lions that seem to have settled in the study area
finding one of the new males courting one of the uncollared females from the Lengungu pride (Photos 1-3)
the next day finding another of the new males with Esipata (Photo 4)
tracking Kereng'ende and finding her after she had just killed and eaten a guinea fowl

November School Visits

2010-11-28T11:00:00.000+03:00

This month we visited several different schools with a number of different purposes. At the start of the month, we accompanied Joel Njonjo and Albert Kuseyo to Entasopia Primary School and Oloibortoto Primary School where they donated solar lights that had been purchased by a group that had visited the Resource Centre earlier this year. In this photo Joel is donating solar lights to the head teacher at Oloibortoto Primary School.

We also continued our weekly visits to the Patterson Memorial Secondary School's Wildlife Club. We held some interesting discussions, presented the Form 4 students (seniors) with certificates of participation we made for the club, and taught the students how to identify some of large mammal species in Olkiramatian and Shompole with an interactive presentation. They are on break now for a month but we are looking forward to the start of the new term in January and we already have several ideas for activities we will do when school resumes. In this photo the students are playing a game where I showed them a picture of a large mammal and they had to identify it correctly...they did very well. Maybe one day I can take them out and show them gerenuk and impala, then I don't think they'd confuse them again.

Toward the end of the month we visited the Embirika Nursery School with Joel and Albert so they could donate some school supplies that had been donated to the Resource Centre. There were many parents in attendance to show their support and to entertain us and the students performed a few songs for us as well. In this photo I am reading a book to the students and parents and Albert is translating it into Maasai. I think the parents enjoyed it as much as their children!

Construction Update

2010-11-27T11:27:00.000+03:00

Construction is definitely wrapping up at the Resource Centre. The workers made a lot of progress in November and many of us have already started benefiting from the new buildings. They are hoping to be completely finished in the next week or two so the camp is brimming with excitement about moving into all the new buildings.

In the researcher's part of camp we have been enjoying the new kitchen all month. The kitchen itself and the storage area has made cooking and eating much more pleasant.

Last week the plumber hooked up the water so we have running water in the kitchen as well!

On November 24th we had our very first meal in the new mess area. The views are beautiful, the raised wood floor is nice and cool, and a refreshing breeze blows freely through to the other side.

On Thanksgiving Day we moved out of the hot, cramped office tent and moved into the new office. We now have a comfortable, cool place to do computer work, read, and write. It's a major improvement.

Bursary Update

2010-10-29T14:53:00.008+03:00

As we approach the end of the school year, it seemed like a good time to visit the four local schools where there are girls sponsored by the bursary program. Albert Kuseyo, Joel Njonjo, and a representative from the Women's Group spoke with the principals and head teachers from each school to check on the progress of the girls. The students were all doing well and the teachers had very positive things to say about each of them. To learn more about the bursary program, read an earlier blog post here, and to donate to the program click on the donate button at the bottom of this page.

Students in Class 1 at Entasopia Primary School

Students outside Oloibortoto Primary School

Joel, a representative from the Women's Group, Albert and the teacher at the Komiti Nursery School talking about the sponsored girl's progress report

Albert, a girl sponsored by the bursary program and her friend, and a representative from the Women's Group in the Komiti School

Albert, Joel, and one of the sponsored girls with her teacher at the Olkiramatian nursery school

Grateful for Water

2010-10-29T14:12:00.005+03:00

On October 16th, our community day took a different turn than it normally does. Instead of working with a group of teachers or students, we found ourselves helping the community in an entirely different capacity-to help restore water to the pipeline that feeds the Resource Center as well as many other sites down the line. It took a total of 4 days to find the problem (rocks clogging the pipe) and to repair it because out here the only way to find the problem is to guess where you think the problem is, dig up and separate a section of pipe, and then turn the water back on to see if water will flow. It was not an easy task, so it was great to see many members of the community coming together to help fix the problem, including 4 guys from the Resource Center. In the end, it was a good reminder of what a precious resource water is.

Patterson Wildlife Club

2010-10-14T09:07:00.005+03:00

This student volunteered to be the lion to show the rest of the group how the lion collars work and how we use the radio and antenna to track the radio collared lions.

This is the group of students and their teacher listening to Dave Christianson talk about the carnivore research project.

Wildlife Club members with Dave Christianson and Joel Njonjo. One of the students is pounding in the post that held the motion-sensing camera that was set up inside the school grounds.

Although the Resource Center is still under construction, we have started bringing school groups here so that they can see the buildings and understand the purpose of the Center and our research. The first group to visit was comprised of a teacher and thirteen Form 4 students (last year of secondary school) from Patterson Memorial Secondary School in Olkiramatian. The students were all members of the Wildlife Club at the school and were thrilled to see the buildings and to have the opportunity to learn about some of the projects taking place at the Center. The students learned about the carnivore research project and about some of the local wildlife in the area, asking thoughtful questions all along the way. They made their excitement and appreciation abundantly clear. We have been visiting the Wildlife Club every Thursday now for three weeks and look forward to continuing our visits to their school as well as bringing the rest of the Wildlife Club to the Center in the next few months.

One of the projects we have begun with the wildlife club involves the motion-sensing cameras that are used in the carnivore research project. On October 7th, we met with the club and explained how the cameras work and how they can be used to study wildlife. We discussed what types of data we could collect if they were set up on their school campus and what sorts of questions we could answer. The students then selected two sites (after much deliberation and discussion), one within the school grounds and one just outside the fence. They ultimately decided to set up the one inside the fence near a water source and the one outside the fence on a game trail with the idea that those places would be the most likely places where wildlife would congregate. After the two cameras were set up, the students made predictions about the types of pictures the two cameras would take. For example, some of their predictions include: that they will get more pictures on the camera outside the fence, that the camera inside the fence will probably take pictures of smaller animals, and that they will not get a picture of an elephant. The cameras will be deployed at those locations for at least a few weeks and then we will revisit the cameras and show the students what types of pictures they took. We are all anxious to see the results!

Entasopia Teacher Visit

2010-10-11T16:46:00.004+03:00

On October 9th, we had the pleasure of bringing nine teachers and two parents from Entasopia Primary School to the Resource Center for a tour with Albert Kuseyo, followed by the very first presentation in the brand new meeting hall building! Although the teachers were seated on makeshift benches amidst wood shavings, sawdust, and woodworking tools, the setting was perfect and it was the ideal way to inaugurate the new building. Joel Njonjo briefly spoke about the baboon project and then Dave and Erika Christianson discussed the carnivore research before the entire group embarked on a game drive into the Olkiramatian Conservancy. The evening started with a zebra sighting, then a a sighting of a herd of 17 eland, and at the end we were fortunate to locate one of the collared lions. Ren, a male lion, was resting in a woodland and we spent about an hour watching him and another male resting in the bushes before they got up and stretched and walked out of sight. Though, they didn’t leave without saying goodbye….they roared back and forth to one another several times while they were still very close to the vehicles – a thrilling experience for all of us!

A productive September

2010-10-11T16:33:00.006+03:00

Going into the second week of October, we have been reflecting on September and the incredible month we had. In less than two weeks we saw our first cheetah, elephant, and leopard and frequently came across less common species like kudu, eland, and oryx. Every time we go into the field holds promise of something new or exciting to see as well as excellent conditions for collecting data on predator-prey interactions. And oh how the data have been flowing in! We have not had any trouble finding the lions, and in fact, several of the prides have been found within one mile of each other and not far from camp, making it easier to record locations and behaviors of multiple lion groups in a single evening or morning.

2010-09-21T17:19:00.003+03:00

This weekend we were excited to host Andrew Murray and Jasper Montana from the BBC's Natural History Unit. They are filming a series which is, for the moment at least, called 'Unnatural Histories' and they were interested in taking a look at the South Rift as an example of how people and wildlife coexist within the same landscape - a rare but precious part of their story. They were intrigued to find out how the local people feel about the concept of 'pristine wilderness' and the part that they as Maasai have played in shaping its ecology through time. They interviewed the Chairlady of the Olkramatian Women's Group, Titieyo Meiponyi and John Kamanga the Group Ranch Chairman as well as simply enjoyed the scenery.

2010-09-21T16:18:00.003+03:00

We are happy to have finished a back-breaking week of transects and vegetation plots. It was quite an introduction to new carnivore research team, but I am happy to report that we all survived the long days and nights in the vehicle with almost all our bodies and minds in one piece, thanks to lots of tea breaks. I was very happy to see the enthusiasm Dave and Erika showed in trying out some new camera techniques which may make vegetation plots in the future much less laborious... if only we had started this three years ago!

Construction Update

2010-09-03T10:49:00.003+03:00

Construction of the buildings is coming along nicely. There are noticeable changes in some of the structures every day. From top to bottom: visitor's kitchen, staff housing, staff kitchen, local women making screens out of local materials, and research offices.

Entasopia Primary Textbook Delivery

2010-07-21T15:27:00.000+03:00

Along with members of the women's group we handed over the remaining textbooks to Entasopia Primary. Once again we raised over (133,000 KSh) for Kenya’s curriculum textbooks to supplement the needs of two schools in the area – the contributions bought 422 books for Entasopia and Pakase Primary Schools. Thanks again to all those who helped make this possible.

Construction Update

2010-06-18T12:21:00.000+03:00

The staff housing and kitchen are just about complete and the crew is now working diligently on the main building. Everyday there is more to show for it.

Top to Bottom: Staff housing, Staff kitchen, Main dining and office, Main kitchen, Research dining and office.

Construction Progress

2010-05-27T12:00:00.001+03:00

Time marches on and things are looking good in camp. The staff housing is really coming along - the roofs are up and thatching has started making us all want to move in when they are completed. The main building's structural elements have been raised and focus has shifted to that area. The upcoming weeks should be very exciting.

Top to Bottom: Staff Housing 1, Staff Housing 2, Staff Kitchen & Dining, Staff cooking area, Research Kitchen, Community Main Building pillars, Main Kitchen

How You Can Help

2010-05-23T11:11:00.000+03:00

BURSARY (SCHOLARSHIP)

"Educate a girl to improve the lives of a community." (Maasai phrase pictured above) The Olkiramatian Reto Community Based Organization (CBO) would love your support for their bursary program launched in May of 2010. They hope to continue to promote education and send girls to school throughout their schooling years. The program is estimated to cost 22,000 Ksh (about $300) per year to send one child to boarding school. This covers tuition and all of their initial boarding needs.

TEXTBOOKS

50,000 Ksh (about $670) will buy a set of Kenyan curriculum textbooks for a school in Olkiramatian or Shompole. All donation amounts are welcome.

SOLAR LIGHTS

The Olkiramatian Reto CBO now sells three different solar light products throughout their communities. Help provide solar light to schools (and support the local women’s group) by donating money to purchase these lights. The Kiran lantern and the Solata cost 1300 Ksh (about $17) and the Nova – which also charges your cell phone – costs 4000 Ksh (about $53). Find out more about these products on the company website at dlightdesign.com.

All donations can be made through our US partners below.

africanconservationfund.org

Meet the Bursary Beneficiaries

2010-05-14T11:57:00.000+03:00

School resumed May 1st and with the beginning of this term comes the beginning of the Olkiramatian Reto CBO’s bursary program. The first four students are prepped to go and eager to learn. Three of the girls will go to Olkiramatian Boarding School next year and one student who is just starting out will attend Olkiramatian Nursery School. The students are attending day schools for the rest of this year.

Pain ene Shisha is new to school this year. She lives with her adoptive mother and will be the first to go to school from the household.

Naomi Kuresoi ene Parseyio has finished nursery school and is ready to start class 1. Her favorite subject is Swahili. She lives in Oldorko with her mother, father, and three siblings. One of her brothers is in class 8, but her other brother and sister dropped out of school due to limited funds. The family had 50 cows before the drought and lost all but one.

Magret Kilakoi Karino is in class 5 and lives with her mother, brother and baby sister in Olibortoto. Her best subjects are social studies and math. Her brother is also in class 5. The family used to have 6 cows and 45 sheep and goats. After the drought they are left with 2 cows left just 10 goats.

Esther Tarisio Musenke is in class 1. She lives with her mother and five siblings in Entasopia. Both of her brothers are in school, but just one of her sisters. Her favorite subject is math. Her family lost all 5 of their cows during the drought and are left with 19 goats.

Meet Kereng'ende (Karen-yen-day)

2010-05-11T12:56:00.000+03:00

Thanks for all of your suggestions for the name of our new lioness. Here are some photos of her and her pride that seem to answer the question: Do lions climb trees?

2009-2010 Camp Comparison Photos

2010-05-10T12:35:00.000+03:00

Construction Photos

2010-05-09T14:42:00.000+03:00

We wanted to give an update on the progress of the Resource Centre construction. The staff housing is making great headway as the walls and roof are starting to take shape. All other building foundations have been dug out and we are waiting on just one more concrete slab to be poured.

(Photos Top to Bottom: Staff Building 1, Staff Building 2, Staff Kitchen, Women's Banda, Main Building Kitchen, Research Building Kitchen)

New Lioness Needs a Name

2010-04-30T16:40:00.001+03:00

We were fortunate to radio-collar a new female lion this week! As we mentioned in earlier posts, the distribution of lions has changed dramatically since the long rains began in March, the Maasai people moved to the east side of the river to graze their livestock, and the zebra and wildebeest herds have moved out from their drought refuges. We have been following our radio-collared lions as they literally move around now unoccupied bomas (homes), hunting the plentiful zebra, wildebeest, and grants gazelle. In the process, we’ve encountered several groups of unidentified lions and cubs, pushing the limits of what we thought we knew about the region’s lion population. As such, we took advantage of a good situation to radio-collar a 4 year-old female lion from a group of 3 females. She is strong and healthy, the largest of our 3 radio-collared females. We now have 5 lions radio-collared (3 female, 2 males) in the area. Surely, following this new lion will help clarify how many lions there are in this seemingly ever-growing population, and provide further insight into how the Maasai people are able to coexist with lions and other large predators in the South Rift Valley of Kenya.

However, we would like to provide “Lion #5” a better name, and want to offer our supporters the chance to help name her. So, for the next week, we encourage you to email us (schuette@montana.edu) your favorite suggestions for this newly collared lion. In one week, we will pick our favorite 4-5 names, and hold a vote. Details will be provided by twitter (follow our tweets at ‘southrift’), on facebook (become friends with Paul Schuette, Christine Kovash, Samantha Russell, or Joel Njonjo), and here on the blog. Think hard and send us your favorite lion names…

Solar Lights come to the South Rift!

2010-04-06T14:39:00.004+03:00

Olkiramatian Women partner with D.light solar lighting company

We are excited to report that the Olkiramatian Women’s Group - now officially registered as the Olkiramatian Reto Community Based Organization – have launched a new small business. The Women have formed a partnership with D.Light (http://www.dlightdesign.com/) solar lighting products, and are becoming official distributors in the Olkiramatian area.

For much of rural Africa, electricity is not an option, forcing most families to light their nights with kerosene lanterns and flashlights/torches. A dependence on these types of light has many drawbacks: kerosene lanterns are extremely dangerous because of the risk of fire, the toxic fumes are a major cause of illness, and kerosene is expensive and often difficult to get in remote areas. These risks, and the poor light quality they provide, also prevent many school children from studying with kerosene lanterns at night. Battery-powered torches/flashlights used in this area are of extremely low quality as are the locally available batteries they require. As a result, people have to frequently replace their broken flashlights/torches and/or their batteries. This is expensive and an environmental and health hazard. There is currently no way for local people to dispose of old batteries properly, hence leaking battery acids end up in the soil and water.

Luckily, the good people at D.Light are well aware of the situation in rural areas around the world and are doing their part to alleviate poverty and promote sustainable environmental practices. They have a lofty goal in mind – to eliminate the world of the kerosene lantern.

Here in the South Rift, the Olkiramatian Women have been searching for ways to reinvest their camping fees from the past 2 years into small businesses. They also wanted to find an appropriate business that promotes the Resource Centre’s goals to integrate conservation, development, and education. After careful thought, it was decided the sale of solar lights represented all of these goals – solar lights would decrease dependence on kerosene and battery products, provide a sustainable light source for each home, allow children to study safely at night, and provide a small business opportunity that will develop the Women’s Group, which in turn, will help sustain their new projects, including the school bursary program.

After a month of ‘field-testing’ D.Lights products, the Women invited representatives from D.Light to visit the camp and discuss the possibility of becoming a local distributor. To everyone’s great delight (pun intended), a partnership was formed and the women purchased their first modest stock of Kiran, Solata, and Nova lights. The Women are working out the details of marketing strategies, sale prices, business management strategies, etc., and hope to offer these lights for sale as soon as possible. All in all, everyone at the Resource Centre is extremely excited about this new venture, and very proud the Olkiramatian Reto Community Based Organization will lead the way providing solar lights to their community.

Olkiramatian Lion Update

2010-04-06T14:37:00.002+03:00

The lions have been very active since the long rains began in March (maybe you’ve been following our tweets …). I’ll give you an update on 1 of the 3 prides we’ve been following in Olkiramatian, showcasing the wonders and frustrations of studying lions on community lands:

Sampu Pride:
We have to start with this group as we’ve been studying them since the beginning – Mwanzo (Swahili for ‘the beginning’) – a female we collared in July 2008. We are happy to report she is doing well, and we just observed her 2 nights ago with 4 young cubs, less than 3 months old. We estimate the date of birth sometime between early January and early February. We had seen her and other females mating with Mkubwa (a collared male in the Sampu pride) last year. Mwanzo had been a bit of a mystery for most of January as we were unable to locate her, but she started making herself visible in early February. This all seems to make pretty good sense now as females often disappear on their own into the thick bush for birth and the early weeks with the cubs. We will try and post pictures when we can. Right now we’re only watching them with night vision binoculars, which Mwanzo tolerates, but not any visible light at this stage.
Mkubwa was missing for the first few months of the year, but we finally saw him up north towards Nguruman, a more agricultural area with permanent settlements. We’ve been a bit concerned about what he and the other male have been up to as there have unfortunately been about 7 lion attacks on livestock in Olkiramatian in the past 6 weeks. Most reports have been of a single male lion, so we are trying to monitor Mkubwa closely to see if he is the responsible lion or not. Fortunately, the collective efforts of SORALO, led by John Kamanga, community leaders, KWS (Kenya Wildlife Service), ACC, David Western, Scott Creel, and all of us at the Resource Centre have been actively discussing with community members on ways to help alleviate further attacks. Most importantly, the community here still moves traditionally to the east side of the river during the long rains of March and April, away from most lion activity. We hope this traditional practice will promote continued coexistence, and prevent any major retaliatory actions that are common across much of East Africa. This also stresses the importance of community members receiving tangible benefits from living with wildlife. The Resource Centre is the base for many such projects: the Women’s Group sponsoring children to go to school, the Women’s small businesses like the recent solar lighting program and bead work, conservation & camping fees from visiting research groups, and the employment of 15 community members in community-based research programs. But, there is always more that can be done to bring benefits back to the individual household, which is essential for conservation and development programs to succeed in the long term. As always, we welcome any suggestions you may have…

It is a small world.

2010-04-05T12:34:00.003+03:00

It is indeed a small world, and forgive me while I explain how Michael Chung and his family ended up visiting two pre-schools and a clinic in Olkiramatian, bringing well-needed gifts rulers and pencils for all the students.

One of the participants for last years Earth Expeditions group, Daniel Grigson, is a teacher at a school in Ohio. He has established an Environment Club at the school and it is through this club and others such as the Cincinnati Zoo that money was raised to support our Drought Relief efforts in pre-schools across the South Rift. One of the young girls who helped raise money through this Environment Club was Madeline. Madeline's family are close family friends with Dr. Michael Chung who lives and works here in Kenya. Michael Chung and his family wanted to visit the places where Madeline's efforts had been valuable and give her family as close a connection with the region as was possible, without actually visiting themselves.

We thank the Chung family for their kind gifts to the schools as well as visiting the local clinic and buying lots of Maasai items from the parents at the schools to send back to Madeline and her family and for bringing all our worlds that little bit closer together.

As an additional aside, Daniel is planning to bring some of the children from his school to Olkiramatian this year to participate in a joint Maasai Music Project, where the children will spend time with the local Primary school and enbark on creating and recording music together. For more details go to http://web.me.com/danielgrigson/LBMS_Environmental_Club_Home_Page/Maasai_Music_Project.html . I know they are still looking to raise the money to make this happen.

Olkiramatian Reto Community Based Organization

2010-03-31T21:14:00.001+03:00

The women have been officially registered with the social services as a CBO, Community Based Organization. “Leave your politics at the gate, this centre is for the development of the community and not any one party.” The chairlady said as she stood up to greet the leaders and community members that had come to hear the news. They have high hopes for this centre and weren’t afraid to say it. “We want the projects of this centre to do better than anything the men of this community have ever tried to do.” There was laughing and timid support of this idea across the room but then the chairman of Olkirimatian School, stood up and answered, “If these programs do succeed, they will.”

The women have been very patient waiting for things to develop and it now seems like things are coming together and moving fast. Building in camp has commenced; there are 4 skilled laborers on site and 5 more people hired to help from within the community. Concrete was being poured in the staff housing on Thursday and the foundations have already been dug out for the staff kitchen, mess areas, and the women’s Banda. Recent rains have created a swimming pool where the septic tank will go though this hasn’t slowed anyone down.

Three beneficiaries of the bursary program were present and witnessed us publicly hand over the check from our fundraisers. The treasurer of the committee accepted the check and after a bit of celebration, she asked us what this piece of paper was. Which leads us to our next order of business – finding basic educational training for these women. We are actively seeking advice and direction that any of our readers could give us.

On other community news: The Patterson Memorial Secondary School is taking up collections for a school bus that they would like to purchase to ease the costs of renting transportation for school field trips. The bus can also be rented out to the community and primary schools in the area for individual events. They were asking for 1000 ksh from everyone in the community – about $12.

Breaking ground!

2010-03-04T10:52:00.004+03:00

Great news! The South Rift Resource Centre is about to begin its next phase of development. We have signed a contract with local contractor Matias Bifani to begin building the centre. On Monday this week a team comprising of the ACC director, the women's group committee, local leaders and resident researchers met with Matias at the site to disuss the final placement of all the proposed buildings. Matias starts breaking ground as I write! It is hoped that within four months the centre will have:

- a central meeting hall and main office with a supporting kitchen. It is imagined that both the local community and visiting groups will use these buildings. We also will have our library and herbarium in the office area.
- a building for resident reserchers to cook, have office space and living space.
- staff accommodation upgraded with a kitchen and living space
- a banda for the local women's group to display their beadwork and other small business items
- supporting bathrooms for all these facilities.

The total cost of the project will be Ksh. 7,087,114. ACC has committed Ksh. 5 million. We therefore need to raise an additional Ksh. 2 million (approximately) for construction work. We will also need to raise additional funds for equipment. Any thoughts on this most welcome!

McGill Students visit the camp

2010-03-04T10:37:00.003+03:00

The South Rift Resource Centre hosted 45 students and professors from McGill University in Canada for four nights over last weekend. The students were studying a variety of different courses including Environment and Development, Nutrition and Biodiversity, and Wildlife and Ornithology over the course of their 3 months in Africa, and used the South Rift region as part of their learning environment. The students visited the conservation areas, the irrigation schemes, had talks from local herbalists, leaders and resarchers and played football with a local school. Despite the fact that they were camping during the biggest rainstorm on record since the centre was established (with 27mm falling in one night!), they had a great time and assured us they would be back next year.

Fundraiser Update

2010-03-03T21:20:00.001+03:00

Education is the word. We are proud to finally report on what we did with the money raised this fall at the Emerson fundraiser in Bozeman, Montana. A second effort was made in St. Louis, Missouri, by the 1^st grade class of Christ Prince of Peace elementary school. Together the combined contributions totaled ~ $5,000.

We spent $1,800 (141,000 KSh) to support the relief efforts started by the African Conservation Fund and SORALO late last year. Contributions through ACF, SORALO, and our efforts supported nursery schools throughout the south Rift, which are financed by local communities rather than the government. Salaries were paid to teachers and food was provided to help sustain nursery schools for at least 3 months during the severe drought.

The Olkirimatian Reto Women’s Group has launched their bursary program for girls to attend school. This has been something the women have wanted to do since the creation of the South Rift Resource Centre, and they are now in a position to get off the ground running. We are matching the women’s initial investment of $1,334 into this program (100,000 KSh). One girl from each of the four sub locations of Olkirimatian has been chosen to receive this scholarship. In the weeks to come, we will visit the homes of each of these girls to get their stories and share them with you here. There has already been tremendous gratitude expressed by the leaders of the community. They praised the women for truly picking the most needy girls. The aim of the program is to send the girls to school throughout their primary and secondary education. The community will continue to monitor this program and welcomes any suggestions you might have.

Furthering our efforts to promote education we’ve started a textbook program and spent $1,774 (133,000 KSh) on Kenya’s curriculum textbooks to supplement the needs of two schools in the area – the contributions bought 422 books for Entasopia and Pakase Primary Schools. Upon our visit to Entasopia Primary School we realized the school’s basic needs were not being met due to over enrollment. The school has 510 pupils, but the government only recognizes its capacity at 350. There are so many students enrolled in class 1 that the school has had to split them into two groups. They set up a second classroom outside because there was no space left within. Education has become a high priority to local families and more and more parents are starting to send their children to school. While this is a great thing it has led to the increasing demand for basic educational needs. With guidance from the community leaders, we hope to continue the textbook program.

We would like to thank all those who helped to raise this money and spread the word on the importance of education. We could not have supported these programs without your help. Thanks to the 1^st grade class of Christ Prince of Peace elementary school who simply collected coins from their classmates and made a substantial contribution to this cause. What you may have around your house can help to change the lives of so many children around your world.

Carnivore Project Update

2010-02-20T13:18:00.001+03:00

New Year:

The rains arrived over Christmas and New Years. The region received only about a week of rains, but they were enough to settle the soft, ashy soils, and bring an end to the long, devastating drought. Christine and I arrived back in camp just after New Years, and the camp was the greenest it's been since May 2008. Up north in Olkiramatian, rains were light, but enough for Tribulus (a small herb with nasty thorns) to pop up and set seed. To the south, rains were heavier and the former dust bowl now had grasses as tall as the Landcruiser in some areas. Given the reports we'd read and heard while we were back in the U.S., we expected to see carcasses riddling the landscape. Instead, during our first animal counts of the year, we observed hundreds of wildebeest, and even more zebra, that have been devastated by the drought in other parts of Kenya. Unfortunately, the drought did take its toll on the wildebeest, with hardly any wildebeest calves from March surviving in to 2010. We can only hope 2010 remains a wet year, and the long rains of March and April will sustain the plant and animal communities for many months.

Lion Update:

We have 4 lions radio-collared total, a male and female in each of two prides. There is a third pride of lions that we hope to collar in the next month. During the drought, the prides sustained small, tight home ranges, based in the thicker bush and woodlands near water sources. Here, the lions seemed to find an adequate prey base of zebra, lesser kudu, and buffalo during the long drought. Now, the lions have dispersed out, making it much more difficult to find on a nightly basis. Ren, one of our male lions typically found around the region where the Ewaso Nyiro river and the Sampu stream meet (an area locally known to the Maasai as Lengong) has moved out from his drought range. Much to our surprise, Ren was found way up by Sampu camp with another male from Lengong, about 12 km away from their typical territory. This is also the same area where the Sampu pride had been resident for all of last year, and contains Mwanzo (collared female) and Mkubwa (collared male). We haven't seen Ren interact with either Mwanzo or Mkubwa, but we have yet to locate Mkubwa this year. We're not sure if he has been displaced by Ren or not. We hope to figure this out in the coming weeks…

Conservation and Development Strategies:

About 2 years ago, I attended a workshop in Nairobi sponsored by KWS, IUCN (World Conservation Union), local NGO's, and researchers to develop 5 year management and conservation plans for lions and spotted hyenas in Kenya. A similar workshop was held for cheetah and wild dog several months prior. This past week, all stakeholders were invited to KWS headquarters for the official launch of conservation and management strategies for lion, spotted hyena, cheetah, and wild dog. It was an exciting event attended by ~200 individuals, with speeches by the director of KWS and the Minister of Forestry and Wildlife. These strategies are the first of their kind in Kenya, and will hopefully set a new precedent for large carnivore conservation and management strategies throughout Africa (http://www.newstimeafrica.com/archives/10910). Among the highlights are an increased emphasis on protecting large carnivore populations not just inside parks, but outside on community and private lands. Community and private lands comprise ~90% of Kenyan lands and contain ~60% of all Kenyan wildlife. We are quite pleased these new strategies emphasize integration of local communities, like the pastoralist Maasai, in conservation planning. Many of these ideas are already in progress in the South Rift, where SORALO, ACC, and the Olkiramatian and Shompole communities have developed programs that integrate conservation and development. All partners recognize wildlife conservation, inclusive of large carnivores, will not succeed in the long-term unless basic socio-economic needs of local communities are met. Simultaneously, rural development plans that ignore short and long-term impacts on the environment will inevitably damage ecosystems and adversely impact rural livelihoods. In the South Rift, we are all excited for the recent progress of several integrated conservation and development strategies: Loisiijo eco-tourism project (http://www.loisiijolodgeshompole.org/) in Shompole has officially opened in the last three weeks and has already had 4 groups of visitors, the Olkiramatian Women's Group is currently developing a new girls scholarship program and pursuing small business plans, and everyone at the Resource Centre continues to promote education through purchases of textbooks for local schools, and encouraging regional health facilities across the South Rift. We hold a strong belief that each of these socio-economic factors, coupled with long-term ecological research, must be considered for any future conservation, management, and development plan to succeed.

Comparing the drought situation across ecosystems

2010-01-08T09:15:00.004+03:00

Report on the Impact of the 2009 Drought on
the South Rift Valley Ecosystem
and Comparison to the Amboseli Ecosystem

December 23, 2009

by Samantha Russell
African Conservation Centre
South Rift Association of Land Owners

DROUGHT PROFILE

The savannas, swamps, and forests of Kenya’s South Rift Valley are home to traditional pastoral people and their livestock as well as an abundance of wildlife. Recently however, it has experienced the same severe drought as other regions across Kenya, with largely failed rainy seasons over the past two years.

The drought began to impact wildlife at the beginning of this year (2009). By May many of the juvenile plains game, particularly the wildebeest, were dying. Buffalo, zebra, and adult wildebeest then were reported to be dying in small numbers across the region. As the months progressed, the wildlife began to increasingly reside in and next to the main Shompole swamp, and down toward Lake Natron, where there is still forage available. This applied to most species with the exception of giraffe and Grants gazelle, which have remained spread out across the ecosystem. However, although the drought was apparent in its effect on wildlife populations, it was far more apparent in its devastation of livestock, in particular cattle.

Traditionally the Maasai of both Shompole and Olkiramatian group ranches move seasonally with their livestock, following available forage. During the rainy seasons, they move to temporary settlements to the east of the group ranches, away from the main Ewaso Ngiro River and the community conservation areas. Here they access good grazing and temporary water sources such as pans and dams. As the area dries out, on the go-ahead from the Group Ranch committees, they start to move back to settle along the river and graze westward, up toward the Nguruman escarpment and by late dry season and during droughts, they have access to the conservation areas, which act as “grassbanks” or forage in reserve.

However, 2009 has been the year where all traditional systems and coping mechanisms have broken down, to an extent not seen before by the people living there. People have not left the river settlements en mass as usual, but can be seen making individual decisions about where to move. Movements have been erratic and desperate, some choosing to take their herds far into Tanzania, while others try their luck north of the group ranches, moving to the Maasai Mara, or simply keeping smaller herds on their small-holder farms. Cattle from as far away as Kajiado moved in to Shompole to add to the pressure on resources. Despite extreme levels of effort and investment (manpower, drugs, and extra food for the livestock), most people have lost over 90% of the cattle to date. These losses span across the community, whether wealthy or poor, whether they chose to move far or not. For quick cash, many families are now selling their sheep and goats, which for the most part survived the drought, but now are unsure if they will have any livestock left at all. Some families are so desperate that elders are committing suicide by drinking poison. For pastoralists, this is indeed a transformational drought. The culminating effects of large numbers of stock on the land, high dependence on these stock ,and cumulative droughts have spelled disaster for so many, and left them wondering what the future of their proud culture will really be.

FOR FULL REPORT INCLUDING PHOTOGRAPHS AND DATA PLEASE VISIT

http://www.amboseliconservation.org/amboseli-drought-2009.

COMPARISONS WITH AMBOSELI

As illustrated in David Western’s recent article on the impact of this drought on the Amboseli ecosystem (http://www.amboseliconservation.org/amboseli-drought-2009), wildlife populations, particularly the wildebeest and zebra, in the Amboseli ecosystem have collapsed over the past few months, on an unprecedented scale.

‘Nearly 15,000 animals have died of starvation since early this year. Wildebeest numbers fell from over 6,000 to fewer than 150, zebra from some 7.000 to 1,500 and buffalo from 600 to 185. Large numbers of elephant and many hippos have also died. Most of those losses occurred the three months between September and November. The proportional losses are among the biggest recorded anywhere in recent times… The Maasai, realizing the severity of drought, moved their cattle herds as far as Nairobi, Naivasha and the coast in Kenya, and into neighboring Tanzania. Despite the huge exodus in search of pasture, questionnaire surveys conducted by the African Conservation Center and ACP put the cattle losses among pastoralists in the region at 75% or more.’ (D. Western, December 4, 2009).

David Western illustrates that the causes of the mass mortality in Amboseli stem from a long-term decline in habitat diversity (with the woodlands and swamps declining in abundance and forage in particular), a build-up in grazing animals, the steady depletion of swamp grazing, a severe shortage of rain in 2008, and the failure of the long rains in 2009.

By the same token, it is the high habitat diversity, in particular the large swamp and abundance of woodland and bushland, that has saved the South Rift wildlife populations (and the sheep and goat populations) from suffering the same fate as those of Amboseli.

In both areas, cattle make up the largest proportion of biomass on the land, or did. In both regions, despite the mass movements between and across the Southern Rift area and beyond, reports of cattle mortality are severe. A more accurate comparison will be possible when the remaining herds return to both regions. It is clear though that livestock did not escape the fate of the drought in either area.

It appears that the South Rift population of the sub-species of wildebeest (Eastern white-bearded) found in both ecosystems may well now be the largest in the entire region. As those involved in the rehabilitation and future of Amboseli decide on what to do, they may well look to the South Rift for possible solutions.

REPERCUSSIONS

Ecological:

Recruitment for wildlife populations will take some time, given the loss of all the juveniles, but given the relatively low losses in general, the population of wildlife should recover fairly soon. Given that there is now fewer livestock in the area, this may mean an expansion in overall wildlife numbers in the coming decade, as the cattle herds take time to rebuild.

Social:

The social repercussions of this drought are already being felt. With the high levels of stress within the community, bitterness and anger as well as increasing poverty has led to such extremes as suicide. In other cases, it has led to family arguments, unfair accusations towards herders (either family or employees), and overall concern about the future of pastoral livelihoods and culture.

Education has suffered; the future of the young pastoralists will become more difficult and uncertain.

Decisions will need to be made from the household level to the group ranch level as to how to move on from such loss and devastation. This may lead to a change in land-use within the area, with more people turning to agriculture to support themselves. This will create more pressure on key resources such as land and water. Increased reliance on alternative sources of income such as wildlife may occur.

LESSONS LEARNED

• Habitat heterogeneity is vital. Maintaining key drought refuges such as swamps and woodlands should be a key conservation priority. Maintaining a balance between key species, such as elephants and people, assists with maintaining this heterogeneity.

• Monitoring of ecosystems is essential to understanding the processes which contribute to their success and/or failure.

• Pastoralism is at a transformational crossroads.

THE FUTURE

Looking forward at a time like this only leads to more questions. As a starting point for discussion the following questions need to be addressed:

• What will the lack of cattle biomass in the ecosystem mean?

• What will be the resulting changes in wildlife numbers, vegetation composition and structure, human social networks and patterns, land use choices and human/wildlife conflict?

• What do we need to make a priority in the South Rift in terms of conservation of resources?

2009-11-03T06:59:00.000+03:00

Education is at the core of rural development and conservation programs in the southern Rift Valley. However, for many young Maasai boys, and particularly girls, primary school is a privilege, high school an opportunity open to just a few, and college a rarity. The demands of a nomadic, pastoralist lifestyle just seem to impose too heavy a financial and logistic burden on many families. However, the enthusiasm is there, and attendance at all of Olkiramatian and Shompole schools are continually increasing. You can now see the benefits of education all around Olkiramatian and Shompole. A local Resource Assessor program now employs 8 young Maasai men, who have all completed high school, to conduct conservation and livelihoods research. The Women's Group is begining to learn basic business skills to develop and manage their Research Centre. And local schools have had the opportunity to share and discuss conservation and education with Kenyan and international researchers.

Unfortunately, Kenya is in the middle of a severe drought and the impacts have been devastating, with many schools forced to close due to insufficient funds for teacher salaries, school meals, textbooks, and school supplies. The Maasai community, researchers, and Kenyan and international groups are now trying to step in and alleviate the situation. And we can help this cause in Bozeman.

On Wednesday, November 18, join us at the Emerson Ballroom at 7 pm for a fundraiser to support local schools in Olkiramatian and Shompole. Throughout the evening, we will have a silent auction with all proceeds going directly to schools in Olkiramatian and Shompole. Researchers have contributed a variety of wildlife, landscape, and cultural photographs, Maasai jewelry, and traditional goods for auction. We will also have alcoholic and non-alcoholic beverages during a meet-and-greet session, with a slide show displaying pictures of the area, research projects, and local schools. Dr. Scott Creel and Paul Schuette (MSU) will then introduce a short film (~10 min.) produced by the South Rift Association of Landowners (SORALO) and the African Conservation Centre (ACC), our Kenyan partners, discuss their role in conservation projects in the area, the importance of local education, and the impacts of the current drought. Throughout the night, we will be accepting donations for local education programs through our U.S, partner, the African Conservation Fund. This registered 501 c3 organization has been a trusted partner for all programs in the southern Rift Valley for several years. Please join us for what we anticipate will be both an interesting and productive evening for people of all ages.

South Rift Drought Emergency

2009-10-08T03:30:00.007+03:00

The worst drought in living memory is gripping Kenya's savannas and devastating lives on a scale not seen in more than half a century.

World news is finally focusing on the human and wildlife tragedy - images of dead and dying cattle and wildlife, and people struggling with feeding themselves and their families through this terrible drought.

There is yet another victim of the drought that is lesser known: Education.

While pastoralist Maasai families are struggling to survive, their wealth slashed, many of the hardest hit are not able to pay for fees that cover teacher allowances and food. Scores of schools across the South Rift are closing.

The elders of the South Rift Association have approached us for help. Many of them remember the horrible droughts of the 1960s, when they had to drop out of school due to the movement of their families away from the areas were the schools were located and for their own survival. Few of them ever returned to school.

The elders asked us to focus on the Pre-school in the area, as these young children are the most vulnerable in times of drought and the schools are all parent-funded. Some 60 pre-schools and 3040 children are affected in the South Rift alone.

It is a critical time for the Maasai - the elders know that school is the most important tool for the future of their lives as pastoralists, to help inform management of their land, resources, and opportunities such as science and tourism. Without education, the future is lost.

HELP US SUPPORT EDUCATION & THE FUTURE OF CONSERVATION IN THE SOUTH RIFT - JOIN OUR CAMPAIGN

WHAT WE NEED:

Three months of food and teacher salaries to see them through the worst of the drought.

Teacher salaries, Magadi region (20 teachers for 3 months): $4,000 USD / 300,000Ksh.

Food*, for 40 of the most affected schools: $23,000 USD / 1,725,000Ksh

*it takes ksh 3,600 Ksh / $48 to feed 50 children (the average size of a school) for one week.

WHAT YOU CAN DO:

Hold a fundraiser with your schools - we'll send images and messages to the schools in Magadi. Car washes, bake sales, contests.

Solicit donations from your friends and family. If you ask ten friends for $10 each, you can raise $100. Ten of you can raise $1000!

Solicit donations from businesses - $50, $100, $500 or more

We can't accept food or goods donations from overseas - due to import duties and problems - cash is best.

All international funds can be sent through African Conservation Centre's international representative, African Conservation Fund, and are tax-deductible in the U.S. and we guarantee the aid will be delivered as promised, through the South Rift Association of Land Owners.

ONLINE: click the DONATE NOW button on the upper right main page of the website http://www.africanconservationfund.org or checks can be mailed to African Conservation Fund, 3400 E Speedway, Suite 118-146, Tucson AZ USA 85716

In the US:

Contact Roseann Hanson at 520-591-1410

In Kenya:

Contact John Kamanga, South Rift Association of Land Owners ( 722 709514, Soralo@acc.or.ke) Or Samantha Russell (722 583734, samantha.russell@acc.or.ke), South Rift Resource Centre

(Pictures Above) The Embirika Nursery School, in Olkiramatian Group Ranch, is one example of a pre-school which is unable to open due to the current drought. The school teacher is Mary, Albert Kuseyo’s wife. Albert runs the South Rift Resource Centre. The pictures show the school in October 2008, and now standing empty in September this year.

Posted on behave of Roseann Hanson

Olkiramatian Women’s Group - Bead Sale

2009-07-23T17:21:00.011+03:00

Earth Expeditions came to stay at the resource centre for about a week. Part of their program included a community day where Olkiramatian and Shompole leaders came and talked about Maasai culture and tradition and then everyone spilt up into small groups and discussed various political, personal, and economic issues differing in the two countries. A hot topic was how people here were coping with the current drought. The women’s group formed one small group and discussed cultural differences with the women from the United States. Everything from husbands to education was discussed. Two days later the women came back to showcase their traditional Maasai beadwork and generate supplemental income for their families. About 50 women showed up producing quite a selection of goods. When the resource center is completely built, one proposed building is a welcoming hut where the women can permanently display their beadwork and sell it all of the guests that come through the centre.

In the last week, the women have also attended a workshop where, along with eight other women’s groups in Kenya, they met to share ideas and projects that they have started.
ACC facilitated the meeting and four representatives from each group attended the workshop. The Olkiramatian Women’s group was especially interested in something that the Amboseli group was already doing, bee keeping. It is something that each sub-location can independently do and then they can use the resource centre as a refining centre for the honey.

Earth Expeditions visit the South Rift

2009-07-23T16:45:00.007+03:00

The South Rift is the latest place to be added to the Earth Expeditions prestigious line-up of global destinations, hosting a team of 19 participants in early July this year.

Earth Expeditions is jointly offered by Project Dragonfly at Miami University, the Cincinnati Zoo & Botanical Garden, and partners worldwide, in order to build an alliance of individuals with first-hand knowledge of inquiry-driven, community-based learning for the benefit of ecological communities, student achievement, and global understanding.

Earth Expeditions envisions each person as an ambassador who creates as well as transmits knowledge, who promotes authentic dialogue at all levels of society, and who inspires others to do the same. By adopting participatory models of education, schools become centers of investigation, students engage more deeply in their studies, and communities achieve higher levels of self-determination.

The Kenya course themes include:

• Introduction to the ecology of East African savannah ecosystems

• Inquiry-driven learning

• Community-based conservation and participatory education

• Models of conservation: national parks and community-owned conservancies

• Field method techniques

Most of the 19 people were actually enrolled in the new Global Field Program offered by Earth Expeditions. The Global Field Program (GFP) brings Master’s degree candidates, scientists, educators, community leaders, and others together at conservation hotspots in Africa, Asia, and the Americas for firsthand experience with inquiry-driven education, environmental stewardship, and global understanding. GFP candidates join a growing network of leaders who work collaboratively to bring about change in local and global contexts. This program builds on the graduate courses and environmental partnerships of Earth Expeditions and the NSF funded Wild Research.

This year included a community interaction day, a visit to the local Olkiramatian Primary school (where there was a historic football match played), game drives which included learning some field techniques for observing animal behaviour in relation to carnivore presence and general methods for counting animals, walking with Joel and the baboon troop and going out with Paul at night to track and observe the collared lions in the area.

The trip was an enormous success, and the South Rift will continue to host Earth Expedition groups for many years to come.

‘Thanks you so much. The course was very meaningful to all of the participants. It is the type of experience that changes a person forever! I am more impressed than ever with your effort and the community, even with the stress caused by the drought you and the community were so very welcoming. Thank You’ (Dave Jannike, course leader).

People, plants and herbivores

2009-07-23T16:35:00.006+03:00

Taking a more bottom-up approach to studying the ecosystem, I focus on the vegetation and habitats and what affect this has on the densities and distributions of wild and domestic herbivores. I am interested to see for example if the wildlife and the domestic stock use the same kind of habitats at the same time or if they avoid each other, and generally how they relate to each other. I am also looking at how then they in turn impact the vegetation.

Having areas within the ecosystem which are predominantly for cattle grazing and areas which are set aside for wildlife (i.e. the conservation areas) makes this even more interesting as these areas can act as control study areas. The situation gets really interesting however in times of extreme drought such as is being faced now, where both livestock and wildlife are both doing all that they can just to survive, and therefore are ending up in the same areas at the same time in search of water and forage.

Predators, Prey, and People

2009-07-23T14:41:00.003+03:00

The carnivore program has experienced several major changes in the last couple months. First, we have had some recent good luck in radio-collaring lions and spotted hyenas. We now have 4 lions (2 males, 2 females) fit with radio collars. One male and female come from the Sampu pride, which is named after the Olkiramatian eco-tourism project in the area they reside. The second male and female come from the Lengong pride, a Maasai word for the bushy habitat along the Ewaso Nyiro river, where these lions spend a lot of time. There is one more known lion pride in the Shompole area, which we hope to study in more detail in the coming year. Additionally, we've observed another lion (our 20^th confirmed individual) in the far reaches of our study area to the south. This male lion presents either a fourth pride or is a migrant passing through the area. We look forward to figuring this out soon.

We now also have 2 spotted hyenas radio-collared. One spotted hyena comes from a clan on the east side of the Ewaso Nyiro river, that resides strictly on Maasai group ranch lands. The second spotted hyena comes from a clan that spends some time inside the community conservation area and other times outside on the Maasai group ranch lands. It will be very interesting to see how their behaviors compare across these different land use strategies.

The carnivore team has also hired two new research assistants, Loserem Mpukere Meitamei and Philip Oltubulai Mwae from Olkiramatian and Shompole group ranches, respectively. These veteran Maasai researchers have joined forces with Michael Kapoli and Patrick Moikinyo to conduct the camera surveys across Olkiramatian and Shompole. Our research assistants conduct these camera surveys completely on their own, allowing research to continue while I am away in the U.S. for coursework and lab work at Montana State University. We welcome them to the team and look forward to working with them for a long time to come…

Baboon Bits

2009-05-17T13:06:00.004+03:00

Baboon species:

• They are grouped into only two species of which only one sub species of each is living;
• Theropithecus baboon. (Gelada is its only living species.)
• Papio baboon; also called the savannah. (Have five sub species but since they interbreed and give forth-fertile offspring, they are considered as one single species.)
• Yellow (papio cynocephalus cynocephalus)
• Olive (papio cynocephalus anubis)
• Guinea (papio cynocephalus papio)
• Chacma (papio cynocephalus ursinus)
• Hamadryas (papio cynocephalus hamadryas)
• Hamadryas are different from the rest in their appearance and behaviors, they are most northerly of the five species found in the arid scrublands and desert of Ethiopia, Sudan, Somalia, and the coast of southern Arabia. They are smaller, light gray color coat and pink faces and bottom. Males have manes of longer hair around their head and shoulder and much longer than females.
• Olive: Found in Ethiopia, northern Tanzania and across West Africa. Adult males have large furry mane, have overhanging tips to their noses and they are very robust compared to the rest.
• Yellow: fond in Tanzania, Zambia, northern Mozambique and Angola. They are characterized by yellow coat, slender with long legs, overturned nose; males have mane furry hair around their heads.
• Chacma: through southern Africa, mid Zambia, to Cape Province of South Africa. They are dark in color, furry fringe of black hair around their neck and shoulder, males have cape of hair around their shoulders.
• Guinea: restricted distribution in West Africa.
• Gelada species is restricted distributed to the Simen Mountains of Ethiopia. Males have magnificent longer, silkier mane, both male and female have patches of bare skin on their chest-bright red color made them called “bleeding hearts baboon.”

Baboon Facts:

• They are the most widespread of all the savannah monkeys.
• They are adaptable, found in extremely cold and hot areas alike.
• They have a highly varied diet. They get food from above and below the ground. They feed on fruits, leaves, seeds, berries, flowers, roots, shoots, gum, insects, and meat in a diverse and discerning manner. They sometimes eat only a particular part of any food.
• Their ability to manipulate things with their hands and fingers suggest the reason why they have successfully colonized the savannah. They are found virtually in all parts of sub Sahara Africa.
• Adult males weigh an average of 22kg to 30kg and females- 12kg to 15kg.
• Females establish close relationship with their relatives that often last an entire lifetime.
• They sharpen their canine teeth by grinding them against a specially adapted tooth in the lower jaw. The sound of a male grinding teeth is a good indicator that fighting is about to break out.
• Baboons have extremely sharp vision; it’s their primary sense.
• They get safety in numbers; they forage and sleep together.
• They are inquisitive and very smart; forever investigating new things they come across in the environment. Youngsters and adult males are more adventurous than females who are more conservative.
• Infants sometimes use their mother’s tail as backrest when jockey riding on their mother’s back.
• They have shown ability to live alongside human and benefit from the association unlike many other animals.
• They can store food in special cheek pouches that lie just under the skin on either sides of the jaw. They push food into the insides of their cheeks and then eat it later.
• Baboons are adept at spotting clues that tell them that a tasty corm, bulb I lurking underground. Often, this clue is nothing more than a small shoot poking up from the ground.
• Depending with its size, the troop will move between 1 to 5 kilometers per day, but the bigger to troop, the longer its day’s journey. In scarce food, they move up to 9 to 10 kilometers a day.

Olkiramatian Baboon Project

2009-05-17T12:52:00.004+03:00

OLKIRAMATIAN BABOON PROJECT
By Joel Njonjo

Background information:

The Maasai tribe inhabits Olkiramatian group ranch. The group ranch is divided into three sections; the northwest fringe has potential for agriculture and has been set aside for farming, the eastern part of the group ranch is the widest with vast space for livestock and the Northeast part is blessed with vast plains and forest parches that are wet and green year round. Olkiramatian provides a home for many different animal and bird species including the Big Five (except rhinos). Other rare species and endangered species, like lesser kudus, are abundant. More than two hundred beautiful bird species have been reported within the conservation area.
The Maasai people have a rich culture that embraces the conservation of their natural resources. This is why they have been able to coexist with wild animals in their day-to-day lives up to the present time. Although human encroachment and increasing development exert high pressure on wildlife populations across Kenya, wildlife is still thriving in Maasai areas. Their culture contains measures that protect the environment; for instance, excessive poaching is prohibited since it’s believed that poachers will become unsuccessful outcasts. Tree conservation is an important characteristic: people may prune trees for a variety of uses, but may not cut down the whole tree.
In Maasai society, every animal species is viewed differently – generally depending on their size and benefits. Before the tourism era, they valued wildlife for food, ritual, and cultural functions. Killing a lion used to be seen as a sign of braveness and manhood. On the other hand, some animals are viewed to be of low or no benefit. These animals are neither used for cultural purposes nor subsistence purposes. Some of them come into conflict with people through crop-raiding or livestock predation. Baboons and hyenas fall in this category. Hyenas predate on livestock, and baboons raid crops and eat young goats and sheep. Hence, both species are perceived to be pests in the society.
Baboons are among the world’s best survivors and are adept in changing diet and introducing new foods when resources are scarce. Their flexibility occasionally leads to conflict with people, especially where there is competition over wild fruits, water and livestock fodder during dry seasons, leading to a negative perception in the community. Resource competition intensifies as the drought continues and baboons introduce meat as their supplement source of food.

Project introduction:

Dr. Shirley Strum, Director of Uaso Ngiro Baboon Project, Debbie Nightingale of Uaso Ngiro Baboon Project and John Kamanga, the Olkiramatian Group Ranch Chairman and SORALO coordinator, introduced the idea of baboon habituation for research and eco-tourism to the Olkiramatian community in the year 2005. They proposed the idea as a way of adding value to the existing eco-tourism project in Sampu Tented Camp. They also wanted to create job opportunities for the locals and to support different development programs in Olkiramatian.
In addition, the community will benefit through the project by learning baboon ranging patterns and learning when and where they attack their livestock. This will help the community develop non-lethal approaches to reducing human-baboon conflict.

Project aim:

The project aims to habituate a baboon troop for use in a “Walking with Baboons” eco tourism project in Olkiramatian Group Ranch. This is a unique opportunity to walk within a troop of baboons while learning about the environment, vegetation types, and Maasai culture. Visitors learn how the Maasai, livestock and wild animals collectively and sustainably use natural resources.

Project packages-activities:

The project gives its clients a chance to walk with wild baboons with a Maasai guide, and watch them at a close range while they continue with their daily activities. The guide knows each individual baboon, and will answer questions about baboons, Maasai culture, livestock and vegetation.

TO SCHEDULE YOUR WALK, CONTACT
JOHN KAMANGA
AT
SORALO@ACC.OR.KE OR 254-20-891360
OR
JOEL K. NJONJO
JOELNJONJO@GMAIL.COM
OR CALL

+254 722 545 285
+254 737 545 285

Predators, Prey, and People

2009-04-13T11:38:00.010+03:00

Project Personnel: Paul Schuette, Phd Student, Montana State University (supervised by Dr. Scott Creel); Michael Kapoli, Research Assistant, Olkiramatian; & Patrick Moikinyo, Research Assistant, Shompole.

Project Overview:
This project examines predator - prey dynamics, human - carnivore conflict, and carnivore community ecology in the southern Rift Valley of Kenya. Research is interested in the relationships between the Maasai people, large predators, and their prey, and how these interactions change in relation to land use strategies, habitat availability, and environmental conditions.

We are collaborating with the Maasai people of Olkiramatian and Shompole Group Ranches, SORALO, the African Conservation Centre, the African Conservation Fund, and fellow researchers to collectively examine the processes regulating this biologically rich and complex ecosystem and identify conservation strategies that benefit people, wildlife, and landscapes.

Research Strategy & Community Involvement:

We have designed a research program to estimate distributions and densities of lions, spotted hyenas, and their prey, livestock, and many smaller carnivore species. Our project will identify behavioral strategies of lions and spotted hyenas that allow coexistence with people across this region of Maasai land, and determine where potential or actual conflict occurs. We are also collecting data on livestock predation and livestock husbandry practices to better understand the circumstances surrounding carnivore conflict. This information will allow our research team and the community to develop management strategies to mitigate conflict between the Maasai and large predators.

The Maasai community plays an integral role in the development and implementation of all research in the southern Rift Valley. Our carnivore research team employs 2 full-time, local research assistants who have an intimate understanding of human-wildlife interactions in Olkiramatian and Shompole. We also work closely with the Resource Assessor program, which consists of 7 Maasai men collecting natural resource data for their community, the community game scouts, and the Kenya Wildlife Service to collectively examine this rich ecosystem. We meet regularly with local leaders and members of the community to incorporate current conservation concerns in our work and maintain open communications between our research team and the community.

Olkiramatian Women’s Group

2009-03-06T16:46:00.002+03:00

Introduction:

SORALO and the African Conservation Centre (ACC) approached the community with ideas for developing community conservation and research projects in the region. The community embraced the shared concern for the environment and wanted to know how they could benefit from the research as well. After a research site was chosen the Olkiramatian Women’s Group was given legal ownership of the land. This way the camping fees collected from researchers and educational groups could be put back into the community through various programs that they are still developing.

The Olkiramatian Women’s Group was established in November 2007 and there are currently 170 members. A chairlady and thirteen committee members have been elected. The women reside in four sub locations of Olkiramatian and committee members are elected from each location. Membership dues are required with registration, which add to the new organization’s accruing revenue.

Community Projects:

The women have many areas of interest where they would like to use the profits from the Resource Centre. They would like to establish a place where they can do beadwork and sell beadwork to national and international research groups. The centre has already hosted groups from Earthwatch and Earth Expeditions. They would also like to set up bursaries for girls in the community and see the Resource Centre develop into a meeting ground and educational centre for the whole community. SORALO and ACC are actively helping them with the development of the land and they are now seeking support from outside the community with regards to training in business management.