Author Archives: Combes Kathryn

Marauding Lion on Soysambu!

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Last week the Conservancy was home to a traveling lion! Foot prints (pictured below), growls in the night, spooked horses, whispers of 2 Masai cattle being taken in the bordering Ututu forest…

Lion foot print

With the help of some Kenya Wildlife Service trackers we followed the footprints from near the main office right across the property to the foot of the Sleeping Warrior, where we lost them. Several days later he was seen near Lake Naivasha passing through several properties (photo below). We can only guess where he is off to, The Mara perhaps- Wildebeest for dinner?

The lion near Naivasha

The Conservancy “a sight to behold”

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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.

The Great Wall of Soysambu

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The construction of a boundary dry stone wall as begun on the eastern boundary of Soysambu Conservancy. The initial section of the fence will stretch from the base of ‘The Nose’ on the Sleeping Warrior crater and extend down to Lake Elmenteita. This area of the Conservancy constantly being entered and illegally grazed by herdsmen and their stock, often herds of over 1,000 cattle.

Initial stages of construction

The dry stone wall is being made using the volcanic rocks that cover the property, particularly southern area of the lake. Six-foot wooden posts are being built into the stone wall and will carry solar powered electrified wires to deter trespassers from simply climbing over the wall. The estimated cost of building the fence is 300,000ksh (~US$4,000) per 5km.

Initial stages of construction 2

This method of fencing, although labour intensive has had proven success on other properties in keeping unwanted trespassers out as well as keeping wildlife in, and is much more durable than a standard electric fence, and a lot cheaper too.

If you would like to make a donation towards the construction of the wall please follow the links on our home page- your contribution will be greatly received.

Success for the security team!

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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.

Security and Rangers

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.

Stolen Pipes

July-August news!

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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!

Elmenteita Clinic

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.

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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.

Me feeding Nekundu

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.

The Great White Pelicans