Baraza

Category: National Parks and protected areas | Date: May 29 2008 | By: baraza

For some reason this hasn’t hit the mainstream press, but according to the East African newspaper,  the KWS have given up Amboseli National Park.This story goes back to  2005 when the president in his wisdom gave away the reserve to the local Maasai in what many believe was an attempt to buy support  for constitutional referendum. They accepted the land which overlooks Mt Kilimanjaro, and voted against him anyway.

Local NGO’s Nature Kenyaand Eastern African Environmental Network took the government to court to squash the ministers decision to actually gazette the presidents declaration. The case is still in court. Despite this KWS have apparently given up and the newspaper claim that they have a copy of an agreement to that effect. It seems that the agreement puts KWS in a contracted position to manage the park on behalf of the council who can boot them out if they are not happy.

Why does this matter?

Amboseli is iconic of Kenyas’ wildlife protection and conservation success. It is one of the most important protected areas in Kenya  - and the combined attraction of mountain and elephants generates more revenues than most of the others combined! It is where the elephants and lions have recently been speared. The local council is unlikely to have relevant competence to manage the site and Kenya may lose one of its greatest and most famous wildlife refuges.

It’s not surprising that the locals want the land, KWS has been raking in millions for years, with little to show for its contribution to the local communities. Nevertheless, this decision is likely to see the invasion of the park by pastoralists, the killing of elephant and lions and tourism is unlikely to recover.

I suspect that this is the beginning of something interesting, KWS releasing a stranglehold on parks and reserves especially where communities are ferocious (they are very averse to aggression). They will let go  back down and take on managerial roles only - like the private sector. Can KWS survive this way? I’m curious - it is quite a bloated organization.

I wonder what would happen if we engaged more private sector interest in conservation directly (not just hotels) in Kenya that way Kenyans could invest in wildlife and nature protection and earn dividends.

……perhaps I”m dreaming again.

Tags: Amboseli, Kenya, Kenya Wildlife Service, KWS

15 responses so far

Category: National Parks and protected areas | Date: May 28 2008 | By: baraza

Well, I’m back and it was a MEGA adventure. First let me tell you how it all ended – 65 km later, up and down an elevation of over 2,500m and from temperatures of 35 degrees C to minus 15 degrees! I returned with one big blue toe and a wonderful sense of achievement!

Hard to think that this mountain straddles the equator. The peak, Batian is named after Mbatian, the Maasai paramount chief. Its sister peak, Nelion is named after Nelieng his brother. Two other peaks Lenana and Tereri were his sons, while Sendeyo was a headman. All other peaks, valleys, lakes and points of interest carry the names of the British explorers and armers in the area (not a single Kenyan explorer or climber is recognized on the plaques at the peak! It’s rather sad. I apologise for this venting but not a single peak is named after the Kikuyu, the tribe that lives around the mountain, to whom the mountain symbolizes God. Strange! You can read the colourful history of the ‘discovery of Mt Kenya on Wikipedia‘

Climbing Mt Kenya is not a cultural norm in Kenya. Only 10,000 visitors enter the park and attempt the climb each year – that is compared to 22,000 visitors going to Tsavo East National Park per month! I don’t understand why it is such an under appreciated park? It’s stunning as you’ll see from these photos.

Alpine moorlands dotted with giant groundsels, silvery cabbage gruondsel, and amazing sunbirds and other rare yet tame creatures everywhere. My decision to go was rather impulsive and I expected huge regrets. I let myself down on that one, it was simply amazing and for several reasons. First there was nobody else on the mountain but Peter and me plus our team of porters and a guide. Yes, we did it the easy way – first we didn’t even know the way up, and secondly there was no way in hell I was going to lug 15 kg of kit up a 15degree slope for 5 days…. And survive. So we splashed out and contacted a firm called Go to Mt Kenya who sorted us out with some very grateful local guides and porters to do the work. Since tourism has all but collapsed they were really happy for the income so while Peter felt horribly guilty - I accepted that were it not for them I’d not be trekking.

The hike up Mt Kenya started at the Sirimon Gate on the north western side of the mountain in the forest Zone about 2,800m. Setting off almost went belly up – I’d forgotten my identification and the rangers at the gate argued with me for 45 minutes – was I really a Kenyan or not (Kenyans pay daily park fee of only 20$ vs 40$ for tourists so they didn’t want to lose any money). I had to make many phone calls, answer too many funny questions, and even my Swahili was not convincing. Eventually someone high up told them off, apologies were accepted and we set off on something of a walk and a scramble…..

Bamboo zone - incredibly dark and mysterious full of elephants!

Alpine meadows

Everything is wierd on Mt Kenya - and beautiful. Our first day, Saturday, was easy – only 3 hours of uphill on a road – we stopped frequenly, observed insects, hugged trees and enjoyed the sunshine. The forest zone thins out to Bamboo and then giant heather before it’s suddenly moorland – open tussocky grasslands …

Giant groundsel at higher altitudes form forests! This one is over 100 years old

Everything there was tame, even these Mountain Chats wantd to hang out with us. as we walked the blue sky turned white as clouds and mist crept up and overtook us… then it started raining.

My first thought was ‘rats, what were we thinking climbing in the rainy season’. Luckily we were near Old Moses hut which was very dry, offered good beds with mattresses and that was when we first realized just how spoiled we were. Within minutes of changing into dry clothes we had mugs of hot chocolate, cookies, and local donuts. We were told to eat up- we needed the energy for the next day, an 8 hour hike to the next camp. At 3,200 m it was cold at Old Moses but not freezing.

Old Moses hut is managed by this guy who was absolutely amazing. It was clean, warm and perfect in that rainy weather

At 7 am on Sunday we set off for Shipmans camp 4,300 m – the walk continued up hill, until there was no more heather, everything shrank … until it was just grass, and then all of a sudden everything was giant again – giant cabbage plants and other rosette plants, giant lobelias, huge hyraxes, mosquitoes!

I’m glad I didn’t touch this but - it’s a blister bug, one touch and you end up covered in disgusting warty blisters according to Dino. We were collecting bugs for Dino in streams – it wasn’t easy, the water was freezing and every time we stopped the cold would chill us to the bone.

I even looked for bugs in hyrax poop. We had such enthusiastic support from the guide Nicholas Njuguna that I’d filled almost all the jars by the end of the day.

Nothing we did could shock our seasoned guide Nicholas Njuguna who had a great sense of adventure. Shipmans camp at 4,200m altitude sits at the base of the main peaks of Mt Kenya which tower over the beautifully sculpted Mackinders Valley.

We arrived after the 14 km uphill hike in the afternoon, tired, cold and hungry. As the afternoon wore on it got colder and colder but at least it was dry. We chatted to the guide Njuguna at length, about his love for the mountain and the kinds of people he has guided up as we ate donuts.

It’s almost impossible to imagine how the chef (Yes had a chef!) produced such delights in these conditions!

The hyraxes on Mt Kenya are also giants - seriously!

Njuguna revealed to us that many Kenyans climb, but they are only porters and guides. Not the likes of myself basically. What a shame!

The next day was an acclimatization day – necessary if we really want to make it to Pt Lenana. We planned to use the day going for walks around the peaks. We set off at 7 am to climb up only 370 m scree slopes – sounds easy? Well I promise you, it was much tougher than anything we had done. I knew it wasn’t nearly as bad as the last days climb, and so my doubts began to plague me….when we got to Oblong and Hausberg tarns, only about 3 km from Shiptons, it began to rain, then hail! and we had to abandon any plans to go up and down the next 3 around the peaks (thank you God!).

Call this acclimatization? To what? Hell?

We returned to more hot chocolate and cookies at Shitpons, hiked around the streams, photographed hyraxes, and enjoyed a night of photographing the peaks in the dark. We tried to get off to sleep early but the guides, chef, and porters seemed to be in a terrible argument, on top of it all they were playing really loud Kikuyu music (which I hate). I asked them to keep the noise down - it softened for a few minutes before the pitch rose again. Later I asked what was the cause for such animated discussions - they said politics, but truth is it was nothing, loud is just how these guys communicate! Everyone shouting at the same time!

Until this point we felt like we were the only people on the mountain, and then the doors flew open and an icy gust blew in, with three more tourists. Ug! Two of them were unlikely to be going anywhere but one, a loud over confident athlete was bragging about the final assault, and asking for aspirin (I have to forgive her because she was obviously already suffering from altitude having ascended much to fast).

We began strategizing how to avoid being with her for the last and most spiritual part of the climb. We woke up at 3 am to leave before her, but she was already up, greeted us loudly and bragging about herself. We let her and her guide go first. Half an hour later we left in pitch black, the hike from Shiptons to Pt Lenana is serious, I’m not joking. They say it’s a 3 am start so that you reach the summit at dawn… but I suspect it’s to prevent you from realizing the full stupidity of the final ascent – it is so steep and apparently dangerous that I appreciated the darkness and the amazing starry sky.

The peaks at night

We had a full moon night that revealed the harshness of the peaks against the night sky. It was also absolutely freezing - juice in our drinking bottles froze! I could see her torch on the higher slopes – were it not for her annoying bragging I might have sat down and refused to continue climbing. My muscles were tortured but I had to do it!

At 6.30 we watched the sunrise and light up the icy scree slopes and peaks. Whatever bad thoughts I had until then vanished, the beauty of Gods mountain just overturned all thoughts. The hiking up hill was bad but the scrambling was terrifying one wrong footing and I could have gone hurtling down hundreds of meters into a glacier – or rocks. I know I sound like a terrible wimp but the truth is that Mt Kenya is one of the most dangerous mountains in the world (so experienced climbers say).

Anyway, I don’t feel at all embarrassed that I had to be assisted with a pull at the very final point to climb a rock that seemed impossible at that altitude. It was icy and slippery but once up I had my balance. The weather was perfect, the sunrise stunning and the peaks of Batian and Nelion were absolutely spectacular.

At the top of Point Lenana is a flag placed by Kiseo Munyao - the only Kenyan mountaineer I’ve ever seen recognized(!) who planted this flag on Kenya’s independence.

It was very very cold!

After half an hour bathing in the sense of achievement, we had to start the descent – it was actually much harder than you can imagine.

For Peter and I this was a lifetime achievement, we’d been talking about doing it for years.

Once the sun was up, the ice had started to melt, stones were slippery and legs were wobbly.

The truth is - I was in pain. But breakfast beckoned…our itinerary said

‘Descend to Minto’s hut for full breakfast. After a short rest descend further to Mt Kenya bandas lodge through the gorges valley for dinner & overnight. You can enjoy log fires, hot showers and bed at the lodge.’

It left out the part about the descent being 12 hours of really tough hiking! Hence the painful blue toe

The worst part is that you can’t give up on that track - there’s nothing out there… just total wilderness

Still, it was worth it for the views - these are the Vivian falls (yes named after some guys girlfriend or something)

We actually detoured to view the beautiful lake Michaelson (named after a colonial farmer I think).

Day 4 was certainly the most difficult, I had changed shoes as my hiking boots were destroyed by the scree, and ended up in a pair of hiking shoes that were far from ideal – hence the blue toe.

Though it was 12 hours – it was a glorious 12 hours through some of the most spectacular country I’ve ever hiked. Ever!

The so called Mt Kenya bandas lodge was a bit of a joke – we expected to have a noisy smoky bar full of Yahoos, and all that goes with ‘lodge’ but in fact it was just a rather poorly maintained set of cottages – but there were clean beds, hot water and a wonderful fire.

The next day we slept in, and had to be roused for the final 10 km hike to the car and then drive to Chogoria – and matatu (public minibus transport) back to Nanyuki. This part was an adventure in itself – suffice it to say that we made it (high speed, lots of shouting and banging,Bob Marley music blaring, watching the driver bribe police, crazy overtaking….). Getting back into my car was tough, my muscles had all seized into theat cramped position in the matatu – all other customers must have found it rather amusing to watch me.

The dashboard of one of the cars we ended up in! We drove all the way back to Nairobi and our house on the edge of the rift Valley getting home at 9 pm feeling really smug as we settled into our beds. We did it. What a great feeling!

Having done the mountain once, we’ve decided to do it again early next year. And, we’re planning to do something about the poor access to information about how to get there, and how amazing the local porters and guides are. We will do an online and printed guide book for the visitors like us to the Mountains of East Africa, for peopel who want to know about the people, local climbers, the flowers, the animals, the routes, geology and the mountain itself for ordinary people like us, to inspire everyone to go hiking. That means I have to do more hiking… got to replace those darned boots!

PS. the noisy athlete made it to the peak but appeared to be in considerable trouble on going back down (and I thought I was scared of heights!)

Tags: Climate change, climbing, glaciers, Kenya, Mount kenya, mountains

10 responses so far

Category: Uncategorized | Date: May 17 2008 | By: admin

Yesterday I had a big scare. While on what was to be a gentle walk with my sister and her shaggy dog Fiji, I had to make a mad sprint to save a chicken that Fiji figured was food.  The dog was going bezerk at the sight of the flapping screeching hen. I took off at an obviously too fast pace to get between dog and hen, and heard a snap in my right calf, I’d pulled a muscle! the pain of missing my climb was worse than the burn in the calf.

Too bad. I’m still going. … with a big supply of Deep heat.  I had to restrain myself from punishing dog and hen. What on earth are people keeping  chickens in apartments for? This place is mad!

I took us all day to get organized to start the drive to Nanyuki, the frontier town from where the hike starts. We woke up at 6.30 this morning to an amazingly clear sky, walked around our verandah to glimpse the mountain - guess what, it was gone! I went out front in total confusion, Oh no, it hadn’t gone just that the hotel faces AWAY from the mountion. What a lost opportunity. I had to walk out of the main gate to get this picture.

They must have built the hotel on a clouldy day if they didn’t think this view worth facing. I know the mountain looks miles away and actually resembles a little pimple. But a beautiful one at that!  The Kikuyu (my fathers tribe) and the Masai both revere the mountain as Gods mountain - they believe he resides there.  I’m curious to meet him in there days time! I have to run now to get started - it’s a 4 hour hike today to the top of the tree zone to our first hut.  I’m taking my phone and will try to capture  a shot from the peak  that I’ll send to Masumi to post if it works! Look out for it Tuesday!

Tags: hiking, Kenya, Mount kenya

7 responses so far

Category: Climate change | Date: May 16 2008 | By: admin

Friends, I will be taking a short break starting tomorrow to attempt the third highest peak of Mt Kenya.  It is  the second highest mountain in Africa at 17,058 ft high and having done it 4 times before I know how thin the air is up there (and I was a fit young spring chicken back then!). It’s not unusual for people to get mountain sickness or mountain madness, finally I’ll have a good excuse for my crazy ways. I’m taking a different route this time, through the Sirimon trail and back down the Chogoria trail which is apparently stunningly beautiful.

The purpose of course is to get to Pt. Lenana, 16,355 ft. This peak is named after a Masai Paramount chief. My itinerary for that day which comes after 4 days of climbing reads

“Kick off at 3.am to reach pt Lenana 16,355 ft in time for the sun rise.
The climb starts on frozen scree and continues on a rocky track with some very minor scrambling. With a good Moon you barely need a torch. Without a Moon, then the pollution- free sky bangs on the ground giving you as good a view of the stars as almost anywhere on Earth.
The climb takes 3 -4 hrs and to add to the exhilaration, Kilimanjaro is also visible from the horizon.
Descend to Minto’s hut for full breakfast. After a short rest descend further to Mt Kenya bandas lodge through the gorges valley for dinner & overnight.
You can enjoy log fires, hot showers and bed at the lodge.”

Damn they have good marketers! It sounds so good - especially the log fire (poor trees) and ‘full breakfast’ … somehow I doubt a big meal will be quite as well appreciated as at lower altitudes, but my adrenalin is already flowing. You can read about adventures on Mt Kenya blogs here and here

Mount Kenya is a spiritually important place in Kenya, and I feel massively compelled to climb. Part of me wants to witness what is happening on the mountain, it is a National Park, a National Forest and a World Heritage site that is very well protected. However, scientists say it is also horribly affected by climate change with the glaciers melting at fantastic rates, we have already lost 45% of our glaciers, and its predicted to be gone in 15 years. I want to see the snow again before it’s gone. As usual I’ll get you some photos and perhaps a podcast about the adventure. I’m meant to be on leave for that week long climb, and although I’m doing it for fun I’m sure there will be a huge amount of pain involved, I’ll probably need another break afterwards!

Wish me luck!

Oh, and finally, I’ll be up the mountain when the Stockholm Challenge results are announced. Please please monitor it and let me know if we win anything!

Tags: , Mount kenya, retreating glaciers

10 responses so far

Category: Uncategorized | Date: May 14 2008 | By: admin

Greetings everyone. This morning I had to apply for my USA Visa - I had to wake up at 6 am to get to the visa center in time - 7 am. I got there early but there was already quite a crowd. After a body search and bag search I was allowed into the compound. Then I joined the queue, it started raining, luckily the path is covered, which wasn’t the case last year when I had to stand in the rain for an hour - you see if you miss your visa appointment its virtually impossible to get another one. The lady in front of me had an open basket and I could see a whole picnic in there! I teased her about it and she confirmed to me that she was anticipating a 4 hour wait in the queue! After an hour of slowly nudging forwards, I got to the window and then into a door - it’s like an obstacle course. There the search is repeated and my computer was wiped and tested chemically - to my horror the alarms went of in screeching bleeps. They tried another box of the wipes, same thing. They did something to the machine turned the machine and tried again. The alarms screamed. They started to look at me with great suspicion, ask questions, make phone calls, ‘had anyone else used my computer?’ they asked. No! The problem they said was that the machine was registering chemicals… I asked if they could be agricultural chemicals and they said ‘organophosphates” …bugger, I told them about the pot of Furadan on my desk which I bought and wrote about a few posts ago in our Stop Poisoning Wildlife campaign. I was told to step out of the building, and after a few more phone calls I was asked to take my computer away and come back without it!

Luckily my car was nearby so I dropped it off, returned to the queue and there was no further drama, I submitted my documents and had my fingerprints taken, two and a half hours later and 150$ poorer I was back in the sunshine. I have to return tomorrow to pick up the passport. It felt like the longest morning although it was nothing compared to my last visit where I was rained on, insulted by guards and stood in queues for many hours.

Actually, I’m not here to write and complain about the visa process (it’s truly miles better than last year) but to give you an update about the baby gorilla sales. Well, several people have tried calling and faxing, but nobody seems to be at the other end of that telephone number. However, Botha middle farm does exist and infact has a church and a school on it. I found several references to it on the interenet. It is in LImbe and very close to the Limbe sanctuary We have contacted the folks at Limbe as well as at LAGA the Last Great Ape Organization which is based in Cameroon. They are amazing and solve wildlife crimes by working with local authorities. They sent me this report.

“The first two arrests of the week were of leopard and Caracal skin dealers in the North of Cameroon. The third succeeded just today, of an internet dealer. He was arrested following a complaint from Malaysia and caught with a falsified CITES permit for sulcata tortoises. He admitted regularly carrying these illegal activities, falsifying CITES permits for several protected animals including chimps for more than a year. He stated that he has many collaborators around the world, including a Cameroonian based in China , that sends him contacts and “blank” CITES permits to “fill in”. As Sone’s work gets us more and more Internet trade and fraud arrests, our strategies are improved. I renew my call for more collaboration - please forward us any relevant complaints.

All 3 dealers are locked behind bars after blocking several attempts of obstruction of justice. A forth case of this week was initiated by the Ministry asking for our legal support.

I want to renew my appeal for financial assistance urgently needed in Congo . Our short mission in Congo can result in a sustainable impact if we use the momentum to set up a local structure. Project proposal is available for a structure that would be run by The Aspinall Foundation, financially audited by WCS and with technical support of LAGA.”

I told them about the baby gorilla and they promised to look into it.

I also invited them to start blogging with us as I’m sure they have one or two great stories to tell. I’ll keep you posted on developments.

In the meanwhile if you haven’t already done it, please take our online survey to help us with our strategic planning process. Just click here to start

Tags: CITES, enforcement, Gorillas, Great apes, illegal willdife trade, LAGA

2 responses so far

Category: Uncategorized | Date: May 13 2008 | By: admin

We are numbed by news of human killings every day – Iraq, Gaza, Afghanistan, Zimbabwe,….frankly my I can’t understand it. But what we rarely hear about is the daily wildlife death toll.

I’ve come across even more madness of the intelligent ape. In what may be the most memorable day of their lives, two boys in Sutter County California were convicted of a wildlife killing spree in which they slaughtered at least 13 deer a turkey and a vulture. They have just been sentenced to 40 and 50 hours of community services and of 2,400 and 2,000 each, and they won’t be able to hunt again until they turn 21. The news article doesn’t explain why these boys did it.

Do you think their punishment was fair? I think they should be banned from hunting for life! In fact, I wish that we could use our intelligence to turn people around – rehabilitate them. Perhaps these boys should be put into a program that inspires them to care about nature?

Ok if that was illogical, what about the use of rare and endangered species in Chinese diet and medicine?  I’m all for culture, but not when it’s killing our environment. I don’t know how many wild animals die each year – but reading this and this made me extremely sad. How can we make a difference with this kind of appetite?

Its not just the species but the cruelty that these animals endure that makes me feel positively depressed. Sky News did a special under cover story on it and Sir Paul McCartney says he’ll never perform again in China after seeing the film on cruelty.

One real hero has emerged. Her name is Jill Robinson who has started a cause to rescue bears from bile farms through the Asia Animal Foundation

And talking about China and animals, have you ever heard of the animal Olympics? And abuse that happens in zoos where shows include dog fights and lions attacking goats.

What happened to humans that we can be so cruel? I know that animal cruelty happens everywhere, but somehow the scale in China seems deeper, they don’t have a law against animal cruelty, and some people are calling for an Olympic boycott based on this.

I was planning a personal trip to China this year, but when I came across all of this information about animal cruelty there I cancelled those plans. I wish I could do something to change things, to make people more humane and caring. Any ideas out there?

Before I go I’d like to invite all of you to help us with our strategic business planning for the next three years. Please help us by taking our user survey. It’s easy, just click on the box! Thanks a million. Paula

Tags: animal cruelty, animaly olympics, China, olympics boycott, wildlife suffering

12 responses so far

Category: Uncategorized, WildlifeDirect news | Date: May 12 2008 | By: admin

Dear readers,

We are doing our strategic planning and would appreciate your views as an important part of this process. Click here or on the  graphic below to start taking the online survey.

Thank you.

Tags: Online survey, strategic planning, survey, wildlifedirect

One response so far

Category: WildlifeDirect news | Date: May 12 2008 | By: admin

Dear readers,

You have probably noticed a few problems with the website lately. We sincerely regret the inconveniences it has caused to bloggers, visitors and donors. We hope you can bear with us for a few more days as we finalize the website upgrade.

Kind regards

The team at WildlifeDirect

4 responses so far

Category: Gorillas | Date: May 08 2008 | By: admin

Ok, I have an idea. Lets do some detective work.
This is the contact information Phone: Country code (237) –74631656 - Fax: 00237–74698532

Could someone out there call these guys and let us know ifthis is genuine? This may require a French speaker to make the call.

We need to find out how much the baby is going for, where it came from? Does anyone have any other ideas about how to get to the bottom of this? Where exactly is it located so that we can send the authorities after them.

14 responses so far

Category: Gorillas | Date: May 08 2008 | By: admin

I hope that this is a hoax,  apparently someone is trying to sell baby gorillas online in Cameroon.

http://www.bikudo.com/product_search/details/43204/west_african_gorillas.html

Given that we only just got the Taiping 4 back home, this seems foolishly daring, but I’m not taking any chances and have alerted the Lusaka Task Force. Does anyone have any other ideas about how to get to the bottom of this?

Tags: 33, 597, 603, 806

3 responses so far