Soysambu’s newest arrivals!
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
The daily battle against the bush meat trade (follow up)
Category: Community, Conservation, Wildlife | Date: Nov 08 2009 | By: Kate Jennings
The day after I wrote the below article on the , our security team came across 30+ snares in one small area of Soysambu, proving that this really is a daily battle and something needs to happen now to stop it.
Pictured below is Soysambu Conservancy Community and Wildlife manager Charles Muthui with Mohammed, one of the security rangers unloading the snares yesterday (Saturday 7th Nov).
The battle against the bush meat trade
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.
Tags: Bush meat trade, Kenya, poaching, Soysambu Conservancy
Saving a beautiful flamingo sanctuary from extinction
Category: Community, Conservation, Great White Pelican, Habitat Preservation, Ramsar, Wildlife | Date: Nov 05 2009 | By: Kate Jennings
This article written by Beatrice Obwocha appeared in the Kenyan national newspaper The Standard today (5//11/09)
From the Nairobi-Nakuru highway, the shoreline of Lake Elementaita looks like a desert surrounding a small patch of water.
The western and eastern shores of the lake hold little patches of water from hot springs while the main basin of one of Rift Valley’s smallest lakes is turning into a dust bowl.
One gets the impression that they can walk right across the remaining muddy patch that stretches several kilometres.
When strong winds blow, a whirlwind of grey dust sweeps right across the lake whose water levels have declined to less than half a metre deep.
Not even water from the recent rains pounding Nakuru and its environs seem to have made a difference on the lake.
Thousand of flamingos that used to line its shores, giving them a pink hue, have migrated elsewhere as the lake’s water level has declined to its lowest in 20 years.
Continue Reading »
Tags: , Flamingo, Soysambu Conservancy, The Standard
For all you artists out there…
Category: Education | Date: Oct 08 2009 | By: Soysambu guest blogger
Soysambu is in a great location for access to Nakuru, Aberdares & Baringo and only 2 hours from Nairobi on good road. We’ve got 2 operational lodges: http://www.atua-enkop.com/nakuru.php and http://www.sleepingwarriorcamp.com/ and balloon safaris available: http://goballooningkenya.com/
And there are another 2 lodges/tented camps being planned. One of them is a luxury Serena tented camp.
Simon Combes gave amateur artists some tuition at a bush studio set up as part of a fly camp for an artists safari on Soysambu (see Facebook photo album: “Art at Soysambu”).
Any artists that comes to Soysambu can, with prior arrangement, come and see where Simon Combes used to work and learn about what inspired him. Also we’re planning to build another studio, and if artists want to come and work with researchers, we’re developing a field study centre that will have accomodation, called CREATE (Centre for Research, Environment and Arts Teaching on Elmenteita)
There are and will be many more activities available at Soysambu, including camel trekking and a proposed Cheetah Sanctuary.
AS SOYSAMBU IS A NOT-FOR-PROFIT ORGANIZATION, WE ARE ALWAYS LOOKING FOR FUNDS TO GET THESE PROJECTS OFF THE GROUND
If you have any ideas about how to achieve this, or are able to include Soysambu in any fundraising efforts you’re involved in, let us know! Our appreciation will be considerable.
I plan to be based on Soysambu for the second half of 2010 and in the future am planning to balance out my time between the US and Kenya. While I’m there I will be available as a guide/driver for professional artists to come and get reference on a one to one basis. Experience has revealed that putting professional artists together on GROUP safaris has its pitfalls: everyone having the same reference; coordinating a group so that all involved are available at the same time; logistics of coordinating a group of artists who want to paint different things; having enough room in vehicles for camera equipment etc; being landed with a driver who doesn’t understand how to position the vehicle with an understanding of light and composition…..the list goes on.
Also it’s much easier to hire one vehicle and accomodate individuals at short notice.
You’re a wildlife artist, you have one or less opportunity a year to get reference in the field and you’re on a limited budget. Do you need: A tent with a chandelier in it? To pay another professional artist to give you tuition when all you want to do is get as many photos/sketches as possible?
Get in touch if this makes sense to you
Thanks
Guy Combes
Tags: art, artists, Simon Combes, Soysambu Conservancy
Soysambu Wildlife Census, September 27th.
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
The Conservancy “a sight to behold”
Category: Education | Date: Sep 12 2009 | By: Kate Jennings
July 21st, a group of sixty-seven students and seven teachers from Highbridges Academy took a day trip to Soysambu Conservancy. The students spent the day exploring the different areas of the Conservancy including Lake Elmenteita with thousands of pink flamingoes and the pelicans nesting out on the black lava island. They had great luck with their game drives, seeing giraffe, buffalo, gazelles and the rare sight of a wart hog family. The students were also taken on a tour of the old Delamere farm house and saw the statue of 3rd Baron Lord Delamere – who began farming on Soysambu in 1906.
School trips such as this are a great way to teach the next generation of young conservationists about the importance of protecting this beautiful land and wildlife. We hope the experiences the students of Highbridges Academy had whilst visiting us will inspire them to take action in the fight to preserve Kenya’s beautiful forests and wildlife.
Tags: school trip, Soysambu Conservancy
Memoirs of a volunteer
Category: Community, Education | Date: Sep 11 2009 | By: Soysambu guest blogger
Holly Fagan tells of her experience volunteering at Mbogo Primary, one of the two primary schools on Soysambu Conservancy
Before I arrived in Kenya I spent the last few months raising money for this little school deep in the heart of Africa’s Great Rift Valley. I knew they were in need but I wasn’t prepared for what I saw. The dirt floors are rocky and hazardous, the desks are rotten and splintering, there are almost no chairs – even for the teachers - the doors and shutters are falling off their hinges – if there are any at all - and learning resources are virtually non-existent.
Yet, the children there are some of the most cheerful, delightful and enchanting children I have ever met. When I first arrived they were quite shy around me because they’re not used to visitors, but their curiosity overtook their unease and I soon had the whole school crowded around me with outstretched hands. I’m sure I shook some of those hands three or four times!
I started off helping out in the Nursery class which was great fun – the children have so little they get quite excited about really basic things such as glue! I’ve also been teaching English and Maths and Science to the older students. There is a huge range of abilities and potential in the classes. Some of the students are very bright and eager to learn whereas others barely speak. It must be difficult to teach such a varied class. When I went to the school one of the teachers, Florence, was trying to teach Classes One, Two and Three. That’s pupils aged five to nine. I took Class Three for her and taught them in the morning. The pupils were so enthusiastic and polite and I really enjoyed it.
I find it difficult to explain how it felt but it was a very good feeling; being able to help the children and communicate with them. I felt “lifted” by the experience, like I had done something really important and worthwhile. It was the most gratifying thing I have ever done and I feel very privileged to have had this experience.
The children need exercise books, textbooks, pencils, rubbers, sharpeners, basic school equipment that they just don’t have! They even need clothes and shoes. The money I’ve raised is going towards next term’s feeding programme. For many of the children it is the only hot meal they get a day and it is only a cup of uji, or thin porridge, but I realise now how much more they need, so I will try to continue with my fundraising.
Tags: fundraising, lunch program, Soysambu Conservancy, volunteering
Leopard Spotted!
Category: Conservation, endangered species | Date: Sep 10 2009 | By: Soysambu guest blogger
Guest blogger Alan Turner, volunteer on Soysambu, recounts a brilliant night game drive earlier this week.
We weren’t expecting to see very much when we left for our night game drive yesterday. We’d heard that a leopard had been spotted the previous night by the Lake, but we still weren’t getting our hopes up too high. But as seems to happen a lot in Kenya, the coolest things happen when you’re not expecting them. About 15 minutes into the drive, we stopped suddenly and Duncan, our guide for the night, shone his light onto a figure in the distance and whispered excitedly “Do you see that?”. In the spotlight was a huge male leopard staring straight at us and hanging from his mouth was a full-grown male impala, still kicking. The leopard was very wary of us, as well as a spotted hyena which was hanging around in the distance. After several minutes, the leopard began dragging the impala towards the thicket. It took about 30 minutes for him to reach the bush, as he stopped, panting, every 10 meters to rest and look for any danger. Finally he made it to the thicket and we watched as he struggled to drag the impala up a rocky hill, and finally disappeared into the bush. Hopefully he enjoyed his meal.
Tags: impala, leopard, Soysambu Conservancy
Success for the security team!
Category: 1 | Date: Sep 04 2009 | By: Kate Jennings
The Soysambu Conservancy security patrol had a big victory over night, with the arrest of six men found stealing steel water pipes on the property. The men were found with 30 pipes loaded in a truck belonging to a scrap metal dealer (all of which are being held as evidence). Once stolen the steel pipes are cut up and sold to the scrap metal trade. So the confiscation of a scrap metal dealers truck is a big step in trying to stop this problem.
Sadly, pipe theft is a common problem for The Conservancy and Delamere Estates. It is not only a huge cost to replace the pipes, but these thefts disrupt the vital flow of water to stock, wildlife and people. So well done to the security team for these arrests. Lets hope the perpetrators receive a hefty penalty.
Tags: , Soysambu Conservancy
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