AERIAL SURVEILLANCE UNIT MONTHLY REPORT
SEPTEMBER 2018
AERIAL STATISTICS
SEPTEMBER 2018
188 HOURS FLOWN
24,416 KMS COVERED
AREAS PATROLLED
Galana Conservancy, Kulalu Ranch, KMC Ranch, Rukinga Ranch, Tsavo East, Tsavo West, Chyulu Hills National Park, Amboseli.
SEPTEMBER 2018
MONTHLY AERIAL PATROL MAP
MONTHLY AERIAL SUMMARY Livestock in the parks began to increase in September, most notably in Tsavo West where several operations were undertaken by fixed wing aircraft to site the herds from the air. This assisted KWS rangers who were then able to round the cattle up and push them into holding pens to be claimed by their owners, who are then required to pay a fine. On one occasion, several arrests were also made of herders attempting to stop their cattle continuing towards the KWS base at Jipe. Cattle were also noted in Tsavo East to the North of the Galana River, however they were in much smaller numbers than the same time last year and only a relatively short distance into the Park. Along the Tiva River, cattle herders were also reluctant to enter too far into the Park for fear of arrest by KWS.
There was evidence of ivory poaching during the month when gunshots were reported and responded to by fixed wing aircraft, this was followed a few days later by two carcasses being discovered during patrol. Both carcasses had already had their tusks removed; an investigation is ongoing.
Elsewhere, several elephants were found with various attempted poaching-related injuries. Some of these were found with minor arrow wounds and were not treated, however, 1 bull elephant was treated in the Northern Sector of Tsavo East with a swollen leg with the help of DSWT’s airwing. Due to the remote area that the bull was sighted in, the Tsavo veterinarian had to be transferred in the Trust’s Cessna 206 to Ithumba where the bull was being monitored by a ground team. It quickly became apparent that the bull, which began moving away from the team, would be difficult to follow and dart safely without air support, so a smaller Super Cub assisted overhead by giving the team directions to the elephant and then following it after it had been darted. Once it had been anaesthetized, the vet went about inspecting what appeared to be a very deep arrow (or possibly spring-loaded spear) wound in the back of its front left leg. The elephant was administered with long-lasting antibiotics and anti-inflammatories and marked in iodine with a large “X” so that it can be identified from the air and monitored over the next few weeks. Another elephant, sighted by DSWT fixed wing in Rhino Valley, Tsavo West was treated by the Amboseli vet with help from DSWT’s helicopter with a deep wound on its trunk. It’s unclear what caused the injury, but the treatment was successful, and the elephant is expected to make a good recovery.
The helicopter was also involved on two occasions to drive elephants out of farms and back into Kibwezi Forest, which was successful on both occasions. Two orphaned elephants were also airlifted with the help of the DSWT helicopter, one from near McKinnon Road and the other from the edge of Imenti Forest near Meru. The helicopter has proved incredibly effective in collecting these orphans on site, often dehydrated and stressed, and relocating them directly to the orphanage in Nairobi, which cuts down on transport time and the additional stress of travelling in several modes of transport. The helicopter also conducted several routine K9 patrols, which fortunately did not turn up anything untoward.
On the 20th September, while on a routine fixed-wing patrol, the Tiva team leader Kapina spotted the tracks of what appeared to be a lone elephant calf wandering down the Tiva River. Shallow, semi-permanent pools along the dry riverbed are the only source of water for several kilometres, so there are tracks of literally hundreds of elephants crisscrossing the soft sand. Amazingly, despite this, Kapina was able to identify a small set of tracks that were slightly fresher than the others, moving down the river without a herd. From the air, he was able to follow the tracks for a little over 20km before they disappeared. Unable to spot the calf from the air after a search up and down the river, the team followed up on the ground the following day, picking up from where the tracks were lost the day before. They tracked the calf as far as they could but were unable to find it. Fortunately, however, the mobile team was on patrol in the same area and two days later found the calf back in the riverbed and still alone. The KWS/DSWT de-snaring team were able to rescue the little bull they drove him to the DSWT Ithumba relocation unit where he was placed in a taming stockade and cooled down with water and fed cut vegetation. Meanwhile plans were underway to transfer the calf to the Nairobi Nursery in a Cessna Caravan where it could receive specialised care.
A huge positive for the month of September was the conspicuous lack of charcoal kiln sightings in the Chyulu Hills National Park. Only 2 kilns were sighted the whole month, with several flights not turning any up at all. This is a massive improvement, as over the past months, it has not been uncommon to see as many as 15 charcoal kilns in one flight. In Kishushe ranch where we have increased aerial and ground coverage, there has been a notable decrease in charcoal as well. Some highlights from the month were 3 separate sightings of wild dog, one group of 30 individuals. As vegetation dried out, several large sightings of rhino were recorded, and early in the month, a new born rhino was observed in Tsavo East, which was very exciting. A rare sighting of a melanistic serval near Roka on the Tiva River was also enjoyed by one of our pilots.
Photographs copyright © 2018 The David Sheldrick Wildlife Trust