Soysambu Conservancy

Category: Conservation, Rothschild Giraffe, Wildlife, endangered species | Date: Nov 21 2009 | By: Kate Jennings

Spring has definitely sprung on Soysambu, and with it has come the next generation of wildlife. Baby Gazelles, Impala, Baboons and Zebra can be seen running and dancing around on the fresh (albeit short) but never the less, green grass! Three new arrivals in particular have everyone talking excitedly, three brand new Rothschild’s Giraffe!

We are not sure exactly when they were born, but signs all point to sometime in the last week. The three calves are in a group of about 12 other adults and sub-adults living in the sanctuary around the lake sure. There is also another heavily pregnant female who looks ready to have her calf any day now!

Soysambu Conservancy currently has a group of volunteers monitoring the giraffe and their habitat daily. The group from Africa Venture Volunteers is working on an ongoing identification project for the giraffe on Soysambu, taking pictures and monitoring movements and social groupings of the giraffe. The voluneers are also studying the habitat destruction that seems to occurring in areas of the Conservancy that the giraffe graze heavily. Acacia xanthophloea, or Yellow Fever Tree, is the primary food source of the giraffe, and in addition browsing the foliage, the giraffe are also stripping bark from the trunks and branches. This practice in some areas is leading to ring-barking and death of a number of the trees.

Giraffe expert, Julian Fennessy of Kenyan Land Conservation Trust visited with a prospective PhD student Zoe Muller to see the giraffe population as well as to meet with the volunteers and offer them guidance in their researching. There has been surprisingly few studies done on the Rothschild’s giraffe, so with the help of Julian, Zoe and the volunteers we hope to gain a better understanding of the giraffe on Soysambu as well as add to the information bank of the Rothschild’s giraffe.

Thanks to Zoe Muller for the photos.

Tags: Julian Fennessy, Kenyan Land Conservation Trust, research, Rothschild's giraffe, Soysambu Conservancy, volunteer

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Category: Community, Conservation, Education, Rothschild Giraffe, Wildlife | Date: Nov 06 2009 | By: Kate Jennings

Warning: The blog below contains links to some graphic images…

Poaching for the bush meat trade has long been a problem on Soysambu.

Trespassers break onto The Conservancy and set snares - nooses made from lengths of wire, attached to a tree, bush or fence and hung over animal trails (see image below).

The unwitting animal, be it an Impala, Gazelle, Zebra, Buffalo, Eland etc, walks into the snare and becomes trapped. The more it pulls or struggles the tighter the snare becomes, eventually leading to a cruel death by suffocation. The animal is then collected and either eaten, or the meat sold.

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Tags: Bush meat trade, Kenya, poaching, Soysambu Conservancy

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Category: 1, Conservation, Great White Pelican, Rothschild Giraffe, Wildlife, black rhino | Date: Oct 11 2009 | By: Soysambu guest blogger

My name is Jenny and I recently had the privilege of spending two weeks at Soysambu Conservancy in Kenya. Soysambu, geographically nestled in the Great Rift Valley, is home to a teeming abundance of beautiful wildlife. While I was there I came to realize just how special this place was. It’s not often that people get to experience these animals in their natural habitat. Most of these animals are only viewed in Zoo’s or National Parks.

In Soysambu, animals are free to come and go as they please. It is a credit to the Conservancy that even with their freedom these animals choose to make their homes on Conservancy land. While I was there I saw Cape Buffalo, Impala, Thomson’s Gazelles, Grant’s Gazelles, Rothschild’s Giraffe, Waterbuck, Dik Dik, Burchell’s Zebra, Eland, Flamingos, Pelicans, and numerous African birds. I also was fortunate to be able to participate in a bi-annual Wildlife Census for the Conservancy. After gathering the data is it clear that wildlife is prospering there. Great things are in store for Soysambu in the future. Kat Combes, of Soysambu Conservancy told me her dreams of bringing the once present Black Rhino back onto Conservancy land. To see this dream come to fruition will be a wondrous site. It might take many years of fundraising and planning but I have no doubt that she will reach her dream. She certainly gives her whole heart to this Conservancy. After observing her over the two weeks it is clear that Soysambu is her heaven on earth.

I feel fortunate to have been able to experience everything that Soysambu has to offer. I have come home feeling well rested and knowing that these majestic animals are being well cared for. I know that in the future if I am having a bad day I will be able to close my eyes and be transported back to a land where the graceful Giraffe are “dining” with their family, and the Gazelles are swishing their tails while frolicking with their friends. All the while the beautiful sound of the African Dove can be heard boasting of what a special place in the world this is.

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Category: 1, Conservation, Rothschild Giraffe, Wildlife, endangered species | Date: Oct 04 2009 | By: Kate Jennings

Twice a year a Game Count is conducted on the entire of the Soysambu Conservancy, to give an idea of animal numbers. It is impossible to get an exact count on most animals, however using particular techniques a general idea can be established!

Rangers, staff, volunteers and residents assembled at the head office at 6am to collect counting sheets, binoculars and vehicles. The property was divided into 11 sections and groups of 3-6 people designated to each section, plus an aerial count of larger animals, like Giraffe and Buffalo, over the entire property.

The count took most groups about 3 hours, but the last group didn’t finish until 11am after scrambling through the dense scrub of the Lake Sanctuary!

Some of the notable sightings included a Leopard, 4 Hyena, 4 Bat-Eared Foxes wrestling across the plains, and 3 Ground Horn Bills. 63 Rothschild’s giraffe were counted, including quite a few newborns! There were only 7 Colobus Monkeys seen, which adds to suspicions that the population size has dropped.

Over 200 Eland were seen, and 67 warthog were counted, both numbers having increased since last count in MayThese figures are very encouraging as both these species are targeted heavily by poachers. And last night I saw my first Aardvark on a night drive! Very exciting stuff!

Tags: Soysambu Conservancy

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Category: Community, Education, Great White Pelican, Rothschild Giraffe, Wildlife | Date: Sep 03 2009 | By: Kate Jennings

We’ve had quite a busy time in here these last two months!

In early July we had a group of people associated with the George Mason Uni (GMU) in America come out to see Suganoi House, the site of the Conservancy’s CREATE (Centre for Research, Environment and Arts Teaching on Elmenteita). We had a great time and the outcomes from the two weeks work were really positive. The research centre once up and running will have a laboratory, art centre museum and library, dorm rooms and tented camping, communal dining room, bar and out door recreation area. All this will be available to groups of researchers, artists, volunteers and anyone else wanting to spend time at the conservancy for work or research! A lot of work to be done and funds to be raised but it can all be done! The GMU folk also kindly donated exercise books, mathematic sets, and soccer balls to both the primary schools on the conservancy, Mbogo and Kiboko Primary- all of which were received very well! Mbogo Primary also had a volunteer, Holly Fagan from England, help with teaching some of the older classes as well as games with the nursery school. Holly had conducted several fundraisers at her school in the UK and was able to raise enough money to support the Mbogo Primary porridge program for the remainder of the year. Well done Holly!

In late July we had Gene Rurka, Chairman for Humanitarian Services of Safari Care International (SCI), spend two weeks out here working with the local communities and Soysambu Conservancy on several projects. SCI donated 50 desks and 5 microscopes to local schools, 100 portable stoves to local families. On top of this the big project was installing a 4600L tank water piping to bring water from a bore-hole on the west of the property to the medical clinic at in Elmenteita village. Soysambu Conservancy, SCI and the people of Elmenteita worked hard for the two weeks, digging and burying 5km of piping, installing fittings and erecting the tank and tank stand. It all paid off in the end, seeing the looks of happiness on the locals faces as the fresh drinking water flowed into the village for the first time!

That brings us to August. This month we have 3 volunteers, Kendall Smith has been helping the nurse in the Soysambu Conservancy clinic just near the head office. Shalyn Pack and Allan Turner have been continuing the studies on the Rothschild’s giraffe population. This is helping us to further our understanding of the population dynamics and total number of giraffe we have here – they have confirmed sightings of 42, including one brand new baby! They are also studying the impact the giraffe are having on the acacia trees around the western side of the lake shore- they are stripping bark from the trees which in many cases is ring barking the tree leading to its death. We want to know why this stripping is happening and whether or not it is sustainable to the future of the trees in that area. Alan is also starting to do some monitoring of the lake levels, to get an idea of how fast the water is receding.

This month the CEO Kat Combes house became an animal shelter when we had an injured flamingo named Nekundu (swahili for pink) living with us for a short while. Nekundu had flown into a power line and damaged the nerve in her right leg, so she was unable to stand. She had also had some damage to her left wing. The vet and flamingo expert weighed in with their knowledge, and we fixed Nekundu a delicious mix of bread, spinach and lake algae. Sadly despite all our TLC Nekundu died after five days.

So for now we are all keeping busy catching up on office work. We have been getting a little bit of rain each day the last week or so. Hopefully it will keep up as the lake is drying up at a rather alarming rate. All the pelican chicks that have just hatched need the water as a barrier from predators.

Tags: community projects, Lake Elmentieita, Soysambu Conservancy, volunteers

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Category: 1, Community, Conservation, Education, Great White Pelican, Habitat Preservation, Ramsar, Rothschild Giraffe, Wildlife, endangered species | Date: Jan 31 2009 | By: soysambuconservancy

Students at Mbogo Primary School on Soysambu have begun writing students at Lincoln Elementary School in Mundelein, Illinois in the USA. It was quite the project. Artist Michelle McCune brought the letters out when she came on safari in late November. Sarah Omasula, our Community Education director began working with the students and teachers at Mbogo Primary School which is a short hike from the Conservancy’s head office. Charles Muthui, the Conservancy’s Community and Wildlife Manager introduced the programme.  Bro Jenkins, a former school teacher in Nairobi assisted Sarah with handing out the letters and over two days helped with everything from handing out biscuits to explaining what a Pen Pal friend meant. One of our new rangers filmed the project with very old video camera. He took some amazing footage which  compiled into this very amateur video. It really shows the enthusiasm and hard work to complete the letters. These children came off their school break, donned their uniforms (those that were fortunate to have hand-me-downs). Many walked quite a distance on two separate days. I hope you enjoy the video and  wish to give to their school needs such as food, water, desks, supplies, uniforms, building repair, power and so much more!

Tags: Artists and Education, Community, Community Outreach Kenya, Conservation Education, Education, Kenyan Students, Pen Pals, Wildlife

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Category: Conservation, Great White Pelican, Habitat Preservation, Ramsar, Rothschild Giraffe, Wildlife | Date: Sep 23 2008 | By: soysambuconservancy

Soysambu is the only area of open land left in this part of Kenya’s Great Rift Valley where the wildlife have come to take refuge from expanding human development. The soil is fragile and can only sustain grasses which provide food for the wild animals and cattle. Once an area successfully utilized only for livestock and hay cultivation it now has around 12,000 wildlife competing for the same resources. Lake Elmenteita which Soysambu borders on 3 sides was named a Wetland of International importance by the Ramsar Convention in 2005. This lake now hosts the only breeding colony of Great White Pelican in East Africa. Many populations of lesser and greater flamingo also occupy the lake. It is a birders paradise.  You can’t imagine how important this is to the whole string of Rift Valley Lakes!  Semi endangered Rothschild giraffe are happily reproducing here along with the Colobus monkeys, cape buffalo, eland, gazelles, impala and just about everything else. The Acacia woodlands, the Euporbia groves, the leleshwa bush all add up to areas in need of forestry preservation when everything around us is getting flattened. I could go on forever… How can we preserve this amazing array of flora and fauna and operate in a sustainable way utilizing all the resources available and to help the surrounding communities benefit from their wildlife heritage by developing programmes for poverty reduction and education? These were the questions facing us then and now as we are building the Conservancy. I am not an expert on these things, but learning fast, and looking for every way possible to protect the land, the wildlife and the culture. Any suggestions and comments are greatly welcomed and appreciated. 

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