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My four days adventure with a desnaring team in ranches neighbouring the Tsavos was a great learning experience for me and an excellent chance to see bushmeat issues first hand. But this would not have been possible was is not for Dr Dame Daphne Sheldrick and her daughter Angela who generously offered me the opportunity to join one of the six desnaring teams that they run in and around the Tsavos in Kenya. Being the field person I am, I have for long wanted to get the desnaring field experience but this would only be possible if I joined an existing team in the field. This rare opportunity presented itself during an interview with Dr Dame Daphne Sheldrick at the Sheldricks’ orphans project in Nairobi. After asking her many questions on bushmeat, she invited me to join one of their desnaring team to learn more on bushmeat in the field. She handed me over to Angela who heads these activities for the trips logistics.
On Monday afternoon, I met Angela to organise how and when I would join one of the teams. By the end of the brief meeting, the highly efficient Angela had made a call to the Bura Team leader and arranged to have me picked at Tsavo the next day! I was very excited to run away from the madness of Nairobi, at least for a few days and go to the tranquillity of the Tsavos.
I am very grateful to the Sheldricks’ for offering me this rare opportunity. Asante Sana Iregi Mwenja MENTOR Fellow USFWS MENTOR Fellowship program +254 (0) 723713642 Powered by Zoundry
6 Comments posted on "Thanks Dr Dame Daphne Sheldrick and Angela"
Lucia Cristiana, Brasil on May 18th, 2008 at 10:22 pm
Congratulations, Iregi Mwenja.
Lucia Cristiana, Brasil on May 18th, 2008 at 10:24 pm
Congratulations, Iregi Mwenja. Your experience will be very important for disnaring work.
Matthew Wilkinson on May 19th, 2008 at 5:21 pm
Hi Iregi - I’ve been alerted to your work via Steve Itela of YFC and I’d like to speak to you more about the bushmeat crisis - I founded and fund http://www.safaritalk.net which highlights wildlife conservation, environmental protection and community initiatives in Africa. If you have time please contact me to discuss your work further. Hope to speak soon, my best regards Matthew Wilkinson - http://www.safaritalk.net
filmingwild on May 23rd, 2008 at 3:50 am
Hello Iregi, My name is Tanya and I work with the African Environmental Film Foundation. I also blog here on Wildlife Direct - our blog is called Filming Wild. We are a Kenyan-based organization, making educational films in local languages about diverse environmental and conservation issues. These films are distributed free of charge across Africa. Some of our films show the effects of bushmeat poaching; others deal with elephant and rhino poaching; others discuss charcoal issues; others illustrate the effects of deforestation and resultant water issues; others show how communities can benefit by participating in conservation; others are biodiversity, ecology and animal behavior films…as you can tell, we cover a wide range of topical and urgent issues in these films. I am sure that our films would help you in your work, especially when trying to persuade people to adopt more sustainable practices. If you would be interested in obtaining a set of our films, please contact me via the Filming Wild blog here. (You will also be able to access more information about AEFF and the different films we have available.) Or you can go straight to our main website: You may already have seen some of our films: YfC screen them regularly as part of their community outreach programmes, as do the Sheldrick Trust, Wildlife Clubs and many other conservation organizations here in Kenya as well as in other countries in Africa. We are based in the Tsavo region, but we frequently come to Nairobi too - it would be great to meet up to chat some time if and when we are both in the same place at the same time! Thanks and kind regards,
bushmeateastafrica on May 25th, 2008 at 1:21 am
Tanya,
bushmeateastafrica on May 25th, 2008 at 1:24 am
Matthews, I have dropped you an email with my contact. I ma hoping to hear from you soon. Mwenja Post a comment
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Iregi Mwenja is one of the 8 USFWS MENTOR Fellows from E. Africa studying a post-graduate course on Bushmeat in CAWM Mweka. He is a leading wildlife biologist with 8 years field experience in East Africa
