Eco-Factory Expansion Progress

By JAMIE HENDRIKSEN-Carbon Operations Manager- 7th July 2011
The construction for our second eco-factory at Rukinga has begun.
All supporting pillars have been cast, ready to receive the roof trusses and verandah shades. Roof trusses have been fabricated and are ready to go up as soon as the floor slab is laid. Drainage, plumbing, steel ring beams and ventilation are all ongoing.
The slab for the factory floor is being laid today. Reinforcing mesh and spacers have been laid. The entire slab has to be poured in one day to avoid cracking from temperature changes. Forty locally employed staff are working on site today to ensure this gets done in time.
Mixing “karais” are filled and emptied into the mixer continuously for the duration of the day, keeping a non stop flow of concrete mix available for the masons.
With exception of the concrete mixer and a concrete vibrator, all other work is manual. Forty tonnes of construction gravel,  20 tonnes of sand and ten tonnes of cement are being mixed today and laid out.
Progress is good on site, and we believe we are on schedule for completion of the construction of the factory building by September.

Injured Elephant Treated on Rukinga

BY ROB DODSON – VP – RUKINGA -  15th February 2011

Our Wildlife Works rangers came across a large male elephant that was having trouble walking and so we called in the Sheldrick Trust vet to dart him and have a look at the heavily swollen leg. Our rangers led the vet through the thick bush to where the elephant was leaning against a tree, showing obvious severe discomfort.

A dart was successfully shot into his flank and he went down after a few minutes and we were able to have a good look at him. We found that he had a small but deep and badly infected penetration wound on his shoulder, made by either a bullet, an arrow or a spear point. The vet cleaned the wound thoroughly and then tended the numerous other small sores he had on his body, which were probably caused by the infection. He was also given antibiotics and anti-inflamatories and then the reversal drug and he managed to stand up and totter off into the bush.

We will continue to monitor him over the next few days and I doubt he will move off very far whilst his leg is so painful.

Thank you to The Sheldrick Wildlife Trust vet and his assistant for a job well done.

Wildlife Works Rangers point out the location of the sick elephant to the vet.

Our staff assist the vet to move the elephants good leg off the injured one so that he can try and find wound that has caused the inflammation. Water is poured over his ears and neck area to cool him down whilst he is immobilised.

We think that the swelling on his leg was caused by the injury higher up on his shoulder.

The vet cleans the puncture wound to the elephants shoulder with hydrogen peroxide.

Wounds treated and reversal drug administered, we left the elephant to wake up quietly. It took about 3 minutes for him to come around and stand up again.

Tsavo Elephant Count

BY ROB DODSON – VP – Saturday 12th February 2011

The Tsavo Conservation Area 2011 elephant census found  12,572 elephants in Tsavo East, West, Chyulus, the ranches, Mkomazi and the adjoining dispersal areas.

This is up from 11,696 that were counted in the 2008 count, representing a 2.5% increase per year, which is significantly less than the 4.5% increase in numbers recorded between the 2005-2006 counts and the 2006-2008 counts.

Of significant interest is that the 2008 only found 30 carcasses, which is in line with natural deaths. This time over 500 were spotted, which is a huge increase and is likely to be attributed to the 2009 drought and the huge increase in poaching that we’ve seen over the last few months.

The Kenya Wildlife Service GIS team have promised to share all the flight transect and plot data with us once they’ve cleaned it up…

Four of the aircraft that were used by the counting teams to carry out the elephant census.

It took over 100 people a week to cover the 43,000 square kilometer Tsavo Conservation Area, which included Tsavo East and West National Parks, Galana Ranch, the Taita Ranches, the Chyulu Hills and Mkomazi National Reserve in Tanzania.

Indigenous Tree Seedling Purchase – November 2010 Report

By Silvester Mkamaganga, Forester at Wildlife Works Carbon 13 November 2010

TREE SEEDLINGS PURCHASE INTRODUCTION

The Kasigau Corridor REDD project has now created an economic incentive for the landowners and communities within the corridor to protect their forest. Wildlife Works will be working with the landowners and local communities to implement forest management plans that exclude the destructive use of forest resources. In that local communities are encouraged to raise indigenous tree seedlings in their own home made nursery in different containers and will be purchased by Wildlife Works for nurturing them to the right size then they will be taken back to the communities to be planted to the degraded land, for the purpose of increase tree cover which will help to reduce forest degradation.

OBJECTIVES

The objective is to purchase indigenous tree seedlings from the community farmers in which they have propagated and raise them in different containers to be taken to the nursery for nurturing them to the right size for planting program in their areas.

PURCHASING

The purchasing of the tree seedlings commenced at Marasi area where we concentrated on the first day and purchased 6,149 tree seedlings. The other days we moved to other areas including Marungu, Bondeni, Chamani, Rukanga, Bungule, Kajire and Talio. We covered Marungu Hill Mount Kasigau and Lower Sagalla Hill. The species mix we collected include Acacia nilotica, Acacia robusta, Acacia mellifera, Balanite aegyptica, Lannea, Commifora Africana, Delanox elata and other indigenous species, In total we managed to purchase 29,043 tree seedlings. The strategy we used in seedling purchase we were moving to points of collection which were close to the road. The farmers who had tree seedlings far from the collection points, had to transport them to the nearest collection point, due to bad roads and bad terrain. It was also our mandate to assess the tree seedlings if they were ready to be purchased and transported to our tree nursery in Maungu.

DISCUSSIONS

This time we got a huge purchase compared to the previous ones. The highest seller emerged to Mr Mliwa with 3, 986 tree seedlings and the lowest was Mr Mwangere with 5 tree seedlings. The ones with the lowest seedlings could due to dry spell which killed most of the seedlings.

The activity went on well although there were some challenges here and there. These challenges included:

I.         Under budgeting and the nursery owners had high expectation of high sales and hence we had to apologize for the inconveniences.

II.         Some of the tree seedlings were not ready for purchasing and some of the owners were trying to force, but we had to leave them because most of them could die on the way to the nursery and hence we would have incurred a lot of loss on our side.

III.         Some roads were in very bad condition, we had to find ways of reaching the purchasing points.

IV. The duration set for collection and purchases of different areas were very short compared to the work on the ground, hence we had to extend the duration in some areas and this affected a lot on the time and energy input to the communities and they complained a lot.

We did apologize for the inconveniences we caused.

CONCLUSION

Tree seedling purchase to the community it is an important part of the Carbon project so we have to reduce as many challenges as possible to smoothen this activity. We propose that there should be some survey prior to planning and budgeting is done. We should also discourage disinformation and encourage the local communities to come for the right information from our offices. We should also set specific collection points which are practical for us and allow the more isolated areas in the Project Zone to benefit from the cash flow it brings.

The summary of the tree seedling purchase

Mr Clinton Mliwa our highest tree supplier with his son on their tree seedling stock at Marasi area with 3,986 seedlings purchased.

Supplier Locality Total tree seedlings 

Per supplier

1. W.Mwikamba Marasi 1672
2. C.Mliwa Marasi 3986
3. P.John Marasi 216
4. E.Mwandigha Marasi 275
5. N.Mswahili Marasi 187
6. G.Mswahili Marasi 140
7. J.Kitatu Marasi 408
8. N.Makuto Marasi 270
9. F.Ndenge Marasi 10
10. A.Mswahili Marasi 116
11. H.John Marasi 179
12. G.Chao Marasi 36
13. J.Ngati Marasi 126
14. E.Kanyeki Marasi 287
15. Kulii Ndile Marasi 788
16. Ngonyo Boni Bondeni 462
17. M.Ng’endo Bondeni 1165
18. C.Mwakitau Marungu 38
19. C.Ali Marungu 55
20. W.Mwakina Marungu 1325
21. F.Mwadime Marungu 89
22. F.Mwakina Marungu 160
23. L.Mwakina Marungu 513
24. H.Mwakio Marungu 10
25. Kalaghe M Marungu 103
26. M.Baraka Marungu 156
27. B.Mwanyika Marungu 15
28. Mwandoe Marungu 238
29. N.Obare Marungu 36
30. G.Muru Marungu 63
31. P.Onyango Marungu 400
32. T.Shauri Marungu 717
33. C.Ngonge Marungu 262
34. J.Mrunde Rukanga 278
35. M.Machocho Rukanga 155
36. J.Zingiri Rukanga 173
37. N.Chao Rukanga 140
38. P.Hannah Rukanga 34
39. P.Wawuda Rukanga 42
40. M.Malemba Rukanga 121
41. J.Muasya Rukanga 2550
42. S.Muthini Rukanga 762
43. J.Kabaya Rukanga 252
44. C.Mwasingo Rukanga 58
45. M.Mchawia Rukanga 113
46. E.Mterengo Rukanga 86
47. E.Mwakai Rukanga 22
48. H.Paul Rukanga 661
49. N.Nyiro Rukanga 531
50. E.Nyambu Rukanga 522
51. J.Nyambu Rukanga 904
52. F.Njeghe Rukanga 65
53. P.Mwanganda Rukanga 73
54. N.Katuu Rukanga 57
55. D.Silas Rukanga 60
56. Eu.Nyambu Rukanga 54
57. M.Mwandango Rukanga 1008
58. P.Mwazaule Rukanga 28
59. R.Ngali Bungule 552
60. F.Mwamvula Bungule 1740
61. R.Wali Bungule 99
62. M.Mzee Bungule 20
63. J.Mwikamba Bungule 17
64. L.Kimani Bungule 151
65. E.Michael Bungule 130
66. C.Mwaluda Bungule 44
67. M.Bambanya Bungule 20
68. S.Kilongozi Bungule 121
69. L.Mwachia Bungule 254
70. M.Mwangeje Bungule 37
71. F.Njemu Bungule 463
72. S.Makenga Bungule 92
73. M.Mshai Bungule 19
74. T.Mwangere Bungule 5
75. I.Mzee Bungule 100
76. D.Michael Bungule 31
77. A.Mdawida Bungule 335
78. N.Mwamvula Bungule 150
79. M.Motibo Kajire 251
80. S.Mwambela Kajire 30
81. J.Mwakima Kajire 210
82. M.Mwambonu Kajire 160
83. G.Talu Talio 206
84. E.Mkamburi Talio 463
85. J.Pelu Talio 56
86. G.Mwacharo Talio 35
TOTALS 29043

Elephant Poaching on Rukinga Sanctuary

3 JANUARY 2011 – Eric Sagwe, Head Ranger

On Monday 3 January 2011 having checked into Rukinga Headquarters in the morning, I and my team of 8 Rangers, went out on an afternoon patrol through Rukinga Sanctuary. At 3.00pm we found some footprints of 3 people who we tracked off Rukinga and into a neighbouring ranch.

As we followed their tracks in the sand we came across their lunch break camp which was very recent, and showed evidence of bush-meat having been eaten – a small team of poachers. The tracks kept getting fresher and clearer until an hour and half later we knew we where very close. At that time and knowing that the poachers would be armed I ordered our Wildlife Works Rangers team to pull back and I alerted Kenya Wildlife Services (KWS).

A team of 3 tough and very skilled Somali bush-men had been elephant poaching heavily in the area since September last year and had managed to elude quite an intensive air and ground operations between KWS and Wildlife Works Rangers since then. We all hoped that we had found them again. KWS Armed response unit, headed by Corporal Jele, were based at 6.0, our new Rangers post and they immediately came to us. Previous response times had been up to 5 hours. I gave KWS our best tracker Mohammed Bakula to show them to where the poachers where resting.

Within 10 minutes KWS had found them, and opened fire immediately. The Bushmen fled without returning fire, leaving behind crucial evidence. We reunited with KWS and went to where the poachers had run from. They had left 6 elephant tusks – 4 big ones from old kills, and 2 non matching pairs from much younger elephants which where 3 or 4 days old. This confirmed our fears that there had been more elephants slaughtered very recently and very close to us. By now it was nightfall. We made a plan for the following day for KWS to continue pursuing the Poachers and that Wildlife Works Rangers would backtrack their footprints in the hope that it would lead us to the elephant carcasses.

At daybreak having spent the night at Makaramba we split up. Our 8 Rangers and I backtracked the poachers’ tracks, which where still very clear, to their camp in thick bush near a dam on Rukinga. It was evident from their tracks that they had spent considerable time there. Bones from animals, a discarded torch and many tracks around the dam where they had collected water confirmed that this was their base camp. They had used it for 3 to 4 days.

I decided to split the rangers up into three smaller teams, one going North, one going South and one going East from the Poachers Base Camp. This would I hoped find the elephant carcasses quickly. At 2.30 pm one team called in to say that they had come across a dead female elephant – we quickly came together and within 10 metres of the first carcass we found the other two butchered elephants.

One of the Slaughtered Elephants was not even 4 years old. The carcasses showed evidence of AK47 destruction: multiple bullet wounds to the heads.

12 Cartridges were found on the ground, confirming the type of weapon used in their slaughter.

The following day, KWS called into say that they had found another 4 freshly killed elephant tusks discarded on the poachers trail. This confirmed the 3 elephants killed, and gave us some conciliation to know that the poachers had not got away with any of the ivory. Their mission had not been successful.

Ivory poaching in the area has seen an incredible increase in the last six months.  We will catch this team of poachers soon and put a stop to their slaughtering.

Production on our relaunch collection has begun!

For the first time in Wildlife Works’ 14 year history, we brought our screen printing process in house, making us the largest screen printing operation in Kenya outside of Nairobi. And here it is:

The temporary housing for our screen printing operation.

Staging and screen printing table.

Paschal washing the screens

I was reminded of power of pure human skill as I watched these guys produce what machines here in the west do in seconds. Peter, our color specialist, was able to mix and match a pantone color swatch by eye with 80% accuracy, on the FIRST try.

Since we didn’t have running water at this site, the newly exposed screens had to be sprayed off by hand with a handheld spritzer bottle. Not one guy complained about a hand cramp!

hand made screens

Working with Gilbert, the screenprinter.

Example of our graphic placement for one style.

Pile of films, which had to be printed in the US and hand carried to Kenya.

The site didn’t have lights set up either so the sun dictated our working hours.

Driving the guys home after a long day screen printing.

Rangers Recruitment Day 2, Marapou Borehole, Sagalla – 6th November 2010

By Lara Cowan – Office Manager – 6th November 2010.

Wildlife Works Rangers Recruitment Day 2 at Marapu Borehole, 6 November 2010

The recruitment day at Marapu was to allow the communities of Sagalla Hill lower such as Zomngwani, Raghasi, Marapau Talio B, Teri B to participate in the recruitment process. These are new community areas from Phase II, and are not yet being employed by Wildlife Works Carbon. It was very important to involve them.

Our Rangers and management at the Marapu Borehole completing registration.

All applicants had to come with their IDS, Application letters, be between the age of 18 to 40 years old and for men be over 5 foot 6 inches tall. All women where welcome. There was no education level or other restrictions on the applicants.

In total there where 107 people who participated in the recruitment day.

Of which 28 where ladies!

The Female contingent at the start of the race.

The start of the race for the male recruits  – the ladies were allowed a five-minute head start.

Some of the spectators who came to watch the Recruitment Day

This photo below shows the stunning surrounding area under which recruitment exercise took place on 6th of November 2010. The area is well covered with a variety of both indigenous and exotic tree species which could be considered a prime location for the REDD project.

The day was a huge success and we would like to thank everyone for their help.

 

Rangers Recruitment December 2010

By Rob Dodson – General Manager,  31 May 2010

To: ALL CHIEF CAMPS

Re:  RANGERS RECRUITMENT

Wildlife Works would like to inform you that our recruitment was successful, and the total number who qualified and have been shortlisted, as Rangers was 30.  We are still building/preparing the camps, and once we are done we will employ all the number of Rangers selected.

The listed names below 14 men and 6 ladies are the shortlist and will be trained between January to March 2011. They represent 5 recruits from each of the 4 areas where the recruitments were held.

1.  Jane Mwae from Bondeni

2.  Constance Mwandaa from Talio

3.  Grace Manga from Rukanga

4.  Florence M Ndoro from Mkamenyi

5.  Fidlorah K Mwaighacho from Relinyi

6.  Grace V Mwalumba from Kajire

7.  Ramadahan A Galagola from Rukanga

8.  Joseph Ningulo from Landi

9.  Bernard M Mwatate from Marapu

10. Harrsion N Mwatibo from Kajire

11. Jonah K Juma from Bungule

12. Calvin K Elipinah from Marapu

13. Fernard Kidundu from Marapu

14. Japhet M Gomboshi from Marapu

15. Feisal Kizongona from Landi

16. Julius M Mwangala from Landi

17.  Jermiah K Mnjala from Landi

18. Dafton M Kidedela from Jora

19.  Isaack Mwandisha from Kajire

20.  Wildfred Wamisi from Kishamba

The following 10 recruits will be employed at a later stage.

21.  Fionah M Muthini from Makwasenyi

22. Mary M Mwachira from Landi

23.  Javotah M Mwachai from Marapu

24.  Joyce M Mwambingu from Landi

25   Daudi  Ndawiro from Landi

26   Raphael Malandi from Kajire

27  Alfred Mwanjala from Kajire

28  Ian K Cheusi from Rukanga

29  Ali M Mwanyungu from Landi

30  David S Mwadime from Marapu

The listed names below had started since last May and June 2010:

1.  Stephen Mswahili – Makwasinyi

2.  Elemu Lokichari – Miasenyi

3.  Simon Kiprop – X Ranger

4.  Boniface Mnyambo – Wildlife Works

5.  Nicholus Rono – X Ranger

6.  Domnic Kivuva – Maungu

7.  Peter Anelico – Mwambiti

8.  Emmanuel Ndurya – Kale

9.  Mohamed Abdalla – Maungu

10. Fedrick Kyalo – Mackinon road

11.  Joshua Thuranira – Maungu

12.  Daniel Ngazi Kombo – Itinyi

13.  Jumaa Chiboya – Sasenyi

14.  Chrispin Mazozo – Mwatate

15.  Paul Msheshe – Sagalla

16.  Evans Mwachoki – Maungu

17.  Ayub Lalo – Mackinon road

18.  Omari A Wanjala – Maungu

19.   Stephen Mwalimo – Kibaoni

20.  Jackson Ngiyo – Marungu

21.   Peter Nyamoko – Lockichogio

22.   Moses Lorewa – X Ranger

23.   Lalo M Lalo – Mackinon road

24.  Mohamed Rai – Sasenyi

25.   Cassian Mwakio – Maungu

26.  Hassan Lugwe – Sasenyi

27.  Augustine Mjomba – Buguta

28.  Michael Mulonzi – Itinyi

29.  Davis Mwakuro – Rukanga

30.  John Lopeyo – Samburu

There will be some other community projects, which will start very soon, and we will pick from the same people who did the recruitment but did not qualify as Rangers.

Rangers Recruitment Day 1 at Kajire, Sagalla Hill – 5 November 2010

By Lara Cowan – Office Manager – 5th November 2010

Wildlife Works Rangers Recruitment Day 1 at Kajire 5 November 2010

Rob Dodson and Eric Sagwe adressing the participants

Total number of Community members participated 63.

22 of them were ladies!

All participants completed the Race.

The recruitment was held at Kajire to involve the communities of lower Sagalla: the people living in Ndara B and Kishamba B Community Ranches

The start at Kajire town

Our “First Lady” runner Mrs. Grace Vita Mwalumba – Congratulations to her!

Below the WWC Rangers assisting in the placement of the Runners by the ACK church at Kajire town. The run took place through town past the Primary and Secondary schools. There where many Cheers of encouragement.

This line is of the female community members waiting for interview having completed the fitness test. They where interviewed in the same position as they completed the Race.

All present were given copies of our September/October newsletter.

Thank you to everyone

WW hosts the Sixth Field Dialogue for Interests in Investing in Locally Controlled Forests

By Jimmy Eggers, Wildlife Works Special Projects

Wildlife Works hosts the Sixth Field Dialogue for Interests in Investing in Locally Controlled Forests
Sponsors include Wildlife Works, Nedbank

As the owners and protector-operators of the Africa’s first carbon offset project under the new (2009) REDD guidelines, Wildlife Works was happy to recently host members of The Forests Dialogue (TFD) on November  29, 2010.  There were some 47 members from all parts of the world, including Canada, the U S A, Scandanavia, Europe, Asia, Central America, South America, and Africa.

Rod Dodson, VP of African Field Operations, led the Rukinga tour.

Delightfully, these travelers were able to mingle and exchange ideas with the chiefs and directors of  the very communities adjacent to and supporting our  REDD related efforts.  Kenyan governmental ministries were also well represented. It was a wonderful opportunity for all of these persons that subscribe to and live by the TFD’s broad credo of diverse peoples being committed to the conservation and sustainable use of the world’s forest.

Even better, with this event being tagged as the Sixth Field Dialoguefor those interested in idea of local people Investing in Locally Controlled Forestry (ILCF)— whether they be small landholders, community peoples, indigenous forest-dependent people, or persons like WWC owners and employees—-the  commonality was bright and perceptible.

Although TFD’s schedule included a day on site with us on the Rukinga Wildlife Sanctuary in southwestern Kenya, it also included trips to both Northern and Southern Kenyan coastal forest preserves,  providing the group unusual diversity for a single trip.

The group assembled in the Wildlife Works eco factory shortly after arrival on the Rukinga Sanctury grounds.  They were first welcomed and then given an overview of the full range of WildLife Works activities by VP of African Field Operations, Rob Dodson.  TFD executive director Gary Dunning then reinforced the principles of The Forest Dialogue and reminded the group of the extraordinary parallels guiding both TFD’s and the REDD program’s work.

The next stop at the Wildlife Works seedling nursery and greenhouse seemed to generate a lot of curiosity and a very broad range of questions for the presenters of the  seedling programs.  Of special interest seemed to be our community seedling buying program whereby very small seedlings of many different species are brought to us by community members in small containers.

There was particularly keen interest from the group about our seedling purchase program offered to community members. The seedlings are often used in restoration programs a year later, as part of Wildlife Works' community reinvestment.

The “sellers” are paid an advertised amount for each seedling.  These seedlings then are cultured and grown for a year under our protective nursery conditions, then in turn redistributed throughout area communities for use in tree planting programs. These help the entire region recover from decades of deforestation for human consumption.  Some purchased seedlings will be used in our own treefarm activities mentioned below.

Everyone present, no matter where they are from, seemed to be very aware of the deleterious effect of hardwood charcoaling in regions where charcoal is the primary cooking fuel.  In our region of east Africa, it is probably a larger source of deforestation than clearing for subsistence agriculture.  Jamie Hendriksen,  WWC’s  Rukinga field operations manager, described for the group Wildlife Works’ new effort to produce sustainable or green charcoal by using coppiced or pruned branches from Acacia species indigenous to our area.

Sustainable or green charcoal: coppiced or pruned branches from Acacia species indigenous to our area. photo by www.peterzjones.com

These are raised on “treefarm” plots now being started on appropriate non-carbon project ground and charred by a barrel-kiln charring process found to be much more efficient than the bush ground kiln processes.  Fingerling branches can be harvested every year—with no trees cut.  Wildlife Works is hopeful this will eventually replace illegal bush charcoaling while providing even more jobs to community peoples.  All seemed to enjoy witnessing the actual barrel-kiln charring process.

barrel-kiln charring process has been found to be much more efficient than the bush ground kiln processes. photo by www.peterzjones.com

We all enjoyed lunch prepared by and served Camp Kenya safari camp, a long time safari concession operated on the Rukinga Sanctury, now operated by Camps International (CI). It was announced that CI was this year’s winner of EcoTourism Kenya’s Eco-Warrior Award, and we all congratulated them on that.  Another extensive question and answer session involving almost everyone in attendance concluded the session.  A serious flurry of contact info exchange preceded the conferees loading onto the buses by 4 PM for the substantial journey back to Mombasa for a dinner conference that evening and field trips the following two days.

Camp Kenya

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