Here’s the cut tree with the eagle nest showing behind (circled) - the disturbance to the nest when it was cut would have been significant.

The tree had only been felled and a start made on the sawing up of the trunk into planks. They had clearly been surprised and chased off by something because the cross-cut saw was left in place as well as their outer clothes and a 5 ltr jerry can of water - it was probably an elephant that came along and scared them off.

the water, clothes and other items the poachers left behind when they were disturbed

you can see the saw sticking out each side of the end of the tree trunk which was left by the poachers.

Simon & Laila took photos of the nest and we waited for about 20 mins to see if the adults would return… and sure enough one adult came and perched higher up in the nest tree, looked around a bit and then flew off again. We didn’t stay any longer for fear of disturbing them from the nest and instead returned direct to the Kenya Wildlife Service offices for the forest to see the Warden and make a report of the cut tree. Unfortunately he was not in but Simon took the Wardens phone number so he could explain the situation about the nest and the cut tree and to make sure that it should not be disturbed. This is particularly so as Crowned Eagles are getting rarer and rarer and need to be protected with the same level as rhinos are.

a close up of the eagle nest

I didn’t have my camera and GPS that day so I returned yesterday (Sunday) with them to mark the path and the trees and photograph the illegally cut Brachystegia. It is a huge tree - 226cm in circumference - and was really important for the eagles to perch on before going in to the nest. The disturbance by the tree poachers as they cut the tree with an axe would have been very serious and we don’t know the exact effect of it yet.

Today I saw the Warden in the morning and reported it in full to him and he is going to send some rangers to try and catch the poachers. I was to show them today but they went with Willy to see another cut tree in the Arabuko area of the forest that they hoped to catch the poachers - but they found the planks had already been removed by the poachers. I’ll therefore hope to take them to the Crowned Eagle nest tomorrow.

Technorati Tags: tree poaching, illegal logging, Arabuko-Sokoke Forest, Crowned Eagle, Simon Thomsett, Ngala

This month the elephants have come to one side of the forest - the north-eastern side around Arabuko and Mida. The reason for this is most likely due to human disturbance further into the forest where they are normally found - including pit-sawing, cutting poles for building, animal snares and camps for wood carvers [ed: wood carvers go into the forest, cut trees and then make a rough carving at a camp right in the heart of the forest so that their load to carry out is much lighter]. We are spotting elephants even in the day - something which previously was almost unheard of since they are so shy. On the 14th, just 400m from the junction near the main road we saw 5 elephants cross the road around 1pm in the afternoon.

We really believe the elephants are being chased out of the Nature Reserve area due to human disturbance - and we therefore need to get in there and check out what disturbance there is in the area. To do this I follow foot paths and using a GPS note all incidents of illegal activity - cut stems, snares and wood carvers camps. These are then to be mapped and distributed as reports to the forest management.

I have been using the FoASF motorbike to reach the very far inland side of the forest in order to survey foot paths near a place called Malanga. There were some well-used paths getting into the forest which I spotted and while over there I met an elephant fence controller who informed me there were tree poachers camping in the forest to cut Cynometra for carving. They apparently leave the forest at the weekends to bring out the wood carvings they’ve made and take them to Malindi or Mombasa through Kilifi using buses. On hearing this I came and reported this to the Forest Officer of Kenya Forest Service at Gede Forest Station who then asked me to take the fence controller to show me the paths that he knows the poachers use to reach their camps for cutting Cynometra trees so that I could take forest guards to follow the pathand take GPS coordinates of any destruction in order to evaluate how far the destruction has gone in that area.

Illegally cut tree for timber - Arabuko-Sokoke

I use the forest guards because to go alone is risky - the poachers can be quite dangerous as they are carrying these ‘big cigarettes’ which when they smoke they don’t worry about who they’re pointed at [Ed: this is David’s way of talking of pangas & other weapons which they don’t think twice about using]. Secondly it is then possible to arrest poachers with guards - something which is impossible alone.

Technorati Tags: illegal wood carving, pit-sawing, Arabuko-Sokoke, Kenya Forest Service, elephant, David Ngala

We’ll be updating our daily happenings on the newest social networking site, and David will be able to post his activities directly from his mobile as he continues work in the forest.

Check us out at www.twitter.com/foasf

The snare survey on April 15th involved no such run in with poachers, but did manage to dismantle 20 snares.

FoASF has benefited greatly from the help of the Gede division of the Kenya Forest Service. Mr. Maganga has been more than helpful in providing rangers for the snare surveys, and is quite adept at identifying them himself.

The team with the unfortunate catch of the poachers.

The dangers of bush meat are many. Certain diseases such as anthrax and Ebola can be transmitted to humans through the consumption of wild animals. These animals are also part of what draws tourists to the forest. Unfortunately, some of these mammals are both endangered and hunted, including the Adders Duiker, Sokoke Bush Mongoose, and Golden-Rumped Elephant Shrew. The loss of these animals to hunting will also mean a loss of tourism and revenue to the surrounding area.

The schools were happy to have us, and FoASF benefited from a number of volunteers from A Rocha in organizing the lessons. In total, we visited seven schools, reaching over 670 students!

The students were eager to join in on the lesson

Charo Ngumbao, Bushmeat Committee Member from the local community, assisted in the school sessions

A Rocha Kenya volunteer Laura Wise from Reading, UK was there to help out

The team also set out to make aware the community the laws against hunting bush meat. The surrounding villages of the Arabuko-Sokoke have depended upon the forest for hundreds of years as a source of food. Many are still unaware that hunting in the forest is now illegal. For this reason, FoASF, A Rocha and Nature Kenya have strived to provide alternatives to illegal poaching. We have helped to establish small groups within the local community organized to both breed and distribute domesticated animals like goats and chicken. Each group organizes a constitution stipulating the best way to distribute these animals throughout the community. Once the Bushmeat Committee approves these plans, they will distribute a number of animals to the groups.

The meeting in Malanga drew 364 villagers from the local area! We were glad to have such a great turnout and are excited that the community is taking an interest in conservation.

A Rocha even helped out with allowing us to use their projector for our presentation!

Thanks to all who volunteered and participated!

Geographical Information System (GIS) is a conservation tool that is slowly gaining momentum in today’s conservation world. Recently the Ecological Society of Eastern Africa also know as ESEA organized for a GIS training that was held at the Earth Watch Institute in Samburu - Kenya.

Participants at the GIS training.

The training targeted users of GIS in the field in conservation work, its aim was to help users become familiar with the use of GIS as a conservation tool and how to use it in mapping issues of importance in conservation.

Participants are shown how to use a GPS.

Elepehants at Sambur Nature Reserve, where we carried out our field work.

The training drew participants from Kenya, Uganda and Tanzania. This training gave the participants insight on the of GIS and the use of a GPS as a data entry tool. The FoASF manager, Caroline Lumosi was among the participants who benefited from the training. The new skill gained will be of a valuable resource for FoASF in mapping the illegal activities in the forest.

GIS training participants.

For more information concerning training opportunities with ESEA kindly visit www.ecsea.org

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Arabuko-Sokoke recently received students from the University of Helsinki in Finland who were on a tour to learn on the conservation efforts in Arabuko-Sokoke and what can be replicated in Dakacha woodland.

The students in the Forest.

The students are carrying out a study in Taita on impact of community participation on natural resource management. Arabuko-Sokoke area has been taken as a baseline study to evaluate the impacts and outcome of community participation.

Illegal charcoal burning in Dakacha woodlands.

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Illegal bush meat.

Two past surveys done in October and November, 2006 revealed an alarming situation on the game meat hunting. In just three weeks, 1087 snares were located and destroyed in the nature reserve. To estimate the number of traps in the entire forest may be difficult but there are all indications that there could be thousands of snares and other traps in which hundreds of animals are caught annually.

Local community has low awareness of the impact of their actions, the risk of catching insurable diseases and the legal implications of engaging in Bushmeat practices. Alternative sources of proteins do exist but they either are not aware of them or lack the resources and skills to adopt them.

Just three weeks ago David Ngala and Lucy Kapombe carried out a bush meat survey at the nature reserve in Arabuko-Sokoke forest and they were able to retrieve 113 snares.

David Ngala - facilitating a bushmeat awareness meeting.

With support from KNH-NABU (Birdlife Germany), Nature Kenya together

with the bush meat awareness committee are carrying out a bush meat awareness programme in Arabuko-Sokoke forest and the surrounding communities.

This programme is aimed to create awareness on the negative effects of bushmeat hunting to the community and alternatives the community can use. Bushmeat hunting has led to various health implications such as the Ebola virus, rift valley fever, rabies, yellow fever among others, these infection have jumped from primates to people on at least seven separate occasions in recent history.

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Scientists always work on facts and figures, its either this or that, most of them are straightforward and to many people they are always termed as boring and don not entice anything. Well this past week a group of scientist, researchers and conservationist took part in a one week training held at Naivasha. The training was aimed to help them explore their creative and story telling side.

The workshop facilitators: Richard Brook, David Harper, Noah Lusaka and Mary Mwendwa

I was lucky to be among this interesting group of people and to learn first hand how to be more creative in presenting facts, be they scientific or others. This was part of the final stage of the Darwin initiative that seeks to engage young and vibrant conservationist in filming and story telling. The course was structured to help us gain more skills that will enable us tell good film stories and present our data or facts in a more appetizing way.

A group discussion.

The training gathered participants from three different countries in Eastern Africa: Ethiopia, Tanzania and Kenya. The participants have been engaged in conservation work in there home countries and are learning to involve filming as a tool to pass the message across.

Listening to the presenters.

This training was a good eye opener for us at Friends of Arabuko-Sokoke as we intend to use filming as a marketing tool for the forest and to tell the story of what has been going on. We look forward to use this skill in the next year.

Workshop participants

Caroline Lumosi

FoASF

The main problem in Dakatcha woodland is charcoal burning and hunting of game meat. David was able to find some young duikers that were hunted and sold illegally.

Duiker meat, hanged to be sold illegally.

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