On Tuesday May 13th, I joined David Sheldrick Wildlife Trust Bura Desnaring team at Tsavo East to get hands on knowledge on illegal bushmeat exploitation and the mitigation activities on the ground. I was warmly welcomed to the team Leader Nicodemus Kivindyo. We then headed straight to Sagala Ranch where the our desnaring activities were to be based. The group was composed of the six desnaring scouts from Sheldricks’ and two KWS Ranger who help Law enforcement i.e. arrests. The ranch Manager and his scouts also accompanied us to help in spoting snares and navigation in the dense bush thicket.

The team final briefing before embarking on the desnaring at Bomani in Sagala Ranch

Life in the bush is not new to me, but desnaring was certainly a new experience for me. After being dropped at the targeted desnaring spot, the team would split into two groups, each with a local guide and a KWS Ranger. We combed through the area looking for snares, bushmeat poachers and any other illegal activity in the Ranch. We started off at around 07:00 am in the morning and walked through the dense bush thicket full of “wait-a-bit acacias and commiphora that made working a real hassle. After walking for four gruelling hours, the teams would converge at the drop of point and head back to the camp for lunch. At this time, the sun is too hot to continue walking in this semi-arid bushland. In the early afternoon, we headed back to the bush to a different area that was usually jointly identified by the ranch Manager and the team leader.

In the bush there were many little surprises that I am really not comfortable with. However they are colourful and harmless and I always took a picture to add to my wildlife library. I would like to share some of them with you;

Iregi Mwenja

MENTOR Fellow

USFWS MENTOR Fellowship program

+254 (0) 723713642

Powered by Zoundry

Share This

Following the tremendous support I got from family, friends and colleagues in the USFWS MENTOR program, I was able to resume my bushmeat field assessment last Saturday, on full time basis. That day I interviewed two high profile personalities in Kenya;

1. Dr Dame Daphne Sheldrick of David Sheldrick Wildlife Trust

2. Dr Mike Norton-Griffiths, a well-known Wildlife economist in East Africa.

Sunday is usually my family day and I spent the day at Sheldrick’s Orphanage. I was touched by what I saw when I saw the elephant Orphans first hand after the Interview with Dr Dame Daphne the previous day. The elephant orphans at the orphanage are brought from all corners of the country after they lose their parents. They are taken care of and brought up by keepers who from a strong bond with these orphans. Most of them are orphaned by escalating human-elephant conflict in Kenya.

Iregi Mwenja and Iregi Mwenja Jnr. holding an elephant calf at the Sheldrick’s

Calves drinking milk

This project offers the public an excellent chance to interact with elephants and see how tenders and gentle these magnificent animals are. My son and daughter had a great time playing with calves and also watching them drink milk, wallow in shallow pool, play soccer and communicate with their keepers.

Today, I spent the entire morning talking to Ian Parker, who served as a warden in Kenya in the 1950s and most of his life working on wildlife sector.

Tomorrow morning I will be joining a desnaring team at Tsavo East to get first hand experience on anti-poaching efforts, interact with poachers and bushmeat traders and bushmeat consumers. This is an opportunity I have not had since starting my field assessment.

Life goes on.

Iregi Mwenja

Share This

I am grateful to YFC staff and members, Wildlifedirect staff and bloggers who sent words of encouragement to me following the attack. All your comments were very good. Some of them made me forget my predicament as people shared their ordeal in the hands of robbers, muggers etc. Please allow me to quote one here that made me laugh. It came from Theresa “… I was mugged in Spain on holiday, only 23 at the time. Just minding my own business and in a flash I was out of $800 and my passport. I was even foolish enough to give chase!”I imagined myself giving a chase to the six armed robbers!! That would have been suicidal although the scene would have been comical. That made me laugh at a time when I was so gloomy.

Although all comments really touched me, I can forget Minna words; “I’m so sorry for that injustice and sheer terror you have just gone through! And hope the robbers will soon be caught and punished! You are so brave working in such difficult and dangerous circumstances, and I wish you all the strength to get past this horrendous experience! With love from the other side of the world”

Thanks Paula, Joy, Sheryl, Steve, Dana, David Ogiga, William, Dino, Morgan, Phoebe, .. and all of you good people out thee who shared words of encouragement when I was down. You’re are true friends indeed.

Asante sana

Iregi Mwenja

Share This

The response I got from people all over the world following the attack has been overwhelming. I am humbled by all the encouraging emails, calls and comments in my blog and pledges for support that I have received following the attack. Honestly, I had no idea that there so many people out there who care and also appreciate what I do.

Please allow me to dedicate this post to members of the MENTOR program family in the US for their tremendous support and their pledges to help overcome the lose. I am really proud to be part of this MENTOR program family.

Nancy Gelman called me on Monday all the way from Washington to give me moral support and to make sure i was okay. Her pledge for financial support means that I will be able to finnish my Bushmeat field assessment despite the lose. Heather Eves was the first to send an email immediately the post went online to give me the moral support I desperately needed last Sunday. Dirck Byler sent me a very reassuring email yesterday.

Thanks to all you and your spouses for showing that you care. I wish you and your families all the best in life.

Iregi Mwenja

Share This

Many people associate me with primates’ conservation following the highly publicised breakthrough discovery of an isolated population of de Brazza’s monkey in northern Kenya. The de Brazza’s monkey is rare and highly threatened in Kenya. Until the discovery, western Kenya was a known eastern limit of the species distribution in Africa. The unique location where this new population is found - isolated mountain ranges of the arid north 200 km away from the hitherto known population and occurring to the East of the Great Valley, led to speculation of speciation and hence the great interest in this discovery.

However, I am not here to talk about monkey discovery in this bushmeat blog. The point I want to drive home is that I am not new to wildlife conservation and success for that matter and whatever I have achieved in the past is only a measure of the minimum.

To make sure I succeed in bushmeat, I decided to expand my knowledge and capacity to pilot bushmeat projects in Kenya by enrolling for a post-graduate course on Bushmeat under the prestigious MENTOR Fellowship program. The MENTOR (Mentoring for ENvironmental Training in Outreach and Resource Conservation) Fellowship Program was established by the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service, the College of African Wildlife Management- Mweka, Tanzania, and the Africa Biodiversity Collaborative Group to train and build the capacities of emerging conservation leaders in order to build a network of eastern Africa wildlife professionals who can lead efforts to reduce illegal and unsustainable bushmeat exploitation at local and regional levels. I am one of the eight Fellows under this program.

The 8 MENTOR Fellows, 4 Mentors, the Program Coordinator USFWS Official and BCTF Director

More high profile African wildlife issues have long overshadowed illegal bushmeat exploitation. The illegal use of wild meat (bushmeat) is perhaps the least documented, but most far-reaching use of wildlife in eastern and southern Africa. It is believed to involve more people and to have a greater effect on wild animal populations, including those in protected areas, than any other wildlife activity. Due to lack of information, the problem is not getting the attention it deserves and very little has done so far.

Today, Bushmeat off take in Kenya is still seen as subsistence activity that has no impact on wildlife population. I beg to differ and that is the reason why I have started this blog to show you just how significant the level of bushmeat off take is in Kenya and the entire East Africa. Bushmeat use in Kenya is no longer a subsistence activity but a highly profitable illegal trade.

photos credit YFC and DSWT

Iregi Mwenja

USFWS MENTOR Fellow

Share This