It was not a usual day in the African jungle yesterday. Or maybe it was. I have yet to define 'usual'. I’ll recap the day and let your imaginations take the rest.
Its 6:30am and Eagle (formerly known as Nkori in my posts), Phillip and I are bouncing around off-roading in the truck in search for rhinos. We head off southwest to a block we hadn’t been in some time. Phillip looks over and mumbles something to Eagle in Swahili. Eagle is driving and takes a sharp turn down an unusued road and shuts off the engine. I look over and see a few people on top of a small hill next to us. I wonder what the heck these people are doing at this hour of the morning hard at work…and what work? Eagle and Phillip are suspicious and I feel the tension mounting. Eagle gets out, ducks down, and starts running up the hill in pursuit of the people that have now started off in a sprint after seeing us. Phillip explains to me they are illegal fetchers – it is illegal to gather and take firewood from the Lewa property.
Philip reports in to the Operations Room back at headquarters of what is going on and asks me if I am ok if he helps Eagle. I say of course, and wish I could run to help him too but I don’t know the landscape, don’t have the Lewa training, and I certainly don’t know the security protocols that are in place. Nevertheless, I’m happy to help wherever I can and jump in the driver’s seat to be able to follow the rangers. Eagle and Phillip are off in hot pursuit and I maneuver the vehicle down the roads for their easy access. Phillip returns to the vehicle and Eagle scours the area. Phillips says one fellow took off towards the forest, another took off towards a nearby community and two took off towards the centre of Lewa.
Unbeknownst to the fetchers, the Lewa security team is great at what they do best, respond and follow-up. I wait with Phillip who monitors the radio and walkie-talkie, and keeps me updated. I try to keep Sunthar (marketing intern) posted via text message as I figure good footage might be on back in the Ops Room. Phillip receives an update that one of the fetchers is caught by the armed team that formed a line on the opposite side of the hill to us. Turns out the man saw elephants and buffalo behind, and people ahead. He choose people.
Some of the rangers return to us and hop on the vehicle in pursuit of the other fetchers. Driving down these dirt roads usually involves a lot of care to avoid damage to the underside, however, this time other priorities take precedence and Eagle drives as one would down a well maintained freeway. We arrive at a spot they believe to be the last known sighting of the fellow and file out. I stay back with Philip and Kaporo and we discuss strategy and techniques. The training involved in becoming a ranger in Kenya is very impressive and knowing that the value of wildlife can be upheld to such high standards is amazing.
After searching the entire morning, the team heads to the spot where the fetchers were first spotted. I snap away pictures of the firewood (see above) for evidence collection for the security guys. The armed team heads off to headquarters and takes the fetcher with them. He will be taken to the nearby police station for questioning and will likely be delivered a hefty fine for trespassing.
And this was just the morning.
Watching the rangers at work, I am reminded of the pride of lions that we watched just a few days prior. It was the end of a long day. We were finishing up rhino tracking and poor Kate (vegetation intern) didn’t get to do any of her work as we spotted rhinos on the way to dropping her off. Rhinos took priority and it became too late in the day for Kate to complete anything. Eagle felt bad and asked me if Kate had seen any simbas (lion in Kiswahili) yet. I knew she hadn’t and Eagle and Fox discussed with other rangers to see about any lions around. We headed to a swampy area and all of a sudden amongst the tall grasses, four beautiful male lions raised their heads high enough for us to see.
The smiles on our faces were priceless and we snapped away our cameras. These four lions didn’t seem to notice as we followed them up a road and watched as they appeared to get closer to a herd of zebras.
The rangers were sure a slow hunt was in progress. We observed as one lion would perch atop a high branch and look around as the other three would overtake each other to get nearer to an unsuspecting zebra.
This went on for quite some time but darkness was falling. We turned back to head home, fully aware that something would happen under the full moon of the night. Hours later, we heard the grunts of the lions and the laughs of the hyenas as the success of the hunt was confirmed.
Yesterday afternoon’s events might be a result of this hunt, or perhaps another, its too hard to guess. If you picked that you’d rather be a Grevy’s zebra from my earlier post, you may not want to read further. To situate the setting, on Wed, Eagle, Phillip, and I spotted a Grevy’s zebra that had clear markings of a lion’s attack. Deep wounds caused the zebra to be slow in response to our vehicle and we managed to snap good pictures for reporting back to the heads of wildlife department. After seeing the pictures, it was clear that intervention would be necessary to give this dying individual a chance at survival amongst its endangered friends and family.
We gathered together at the vehicle. The head of security, Richard, ready with a mix of tranquilizing drugs and antibiotics, and we set off to find the suffering zebra. Another ranger in the field already had his eyes on it and it was relatively easy to find the animal. The weight was estimated, the drugs were mixed, and the animal was darted. The zebra took off and a few of us followed on foot while the others faced off in the vehicle. A towel was thrown over the eyes to calm the individual and was slowly led to ground for treatment.
The injuries were worse than how they appeared from a distance, and the smell of the oozing pus indicated the animal may not actually have a fighting chance at survival. Nevertheless, the wounds were cleaned as best as possible and it was decided to revisit the animal in a few days time. A reversal drug was administered and we watched with sad eyes as the animal slowly came to from his daze, with high hopes that we will see him again prancing around in the field dominating his territory.
It’s a common debate in wildlife management when it comes to issues of intervention. Some advocate that it’s a great thing to administer treatments, while others argue that nature should take its course without human influence. Either side can be discussed till we are blue in the face, but nothing really takes away from being close to this individual zebra in agony and distressed as a result of a fierce fight that surely left the lion in pain as well. The emotional lives of animals are related to cognition, and its quite hard not to extend a helping hand to a fellow intelligent, sentient, and dying being. We certainly do that for each other each day, or at least we are supposed to….
Are you kidding me? This is your day. Now you are going to kill a goat for dinner. You are kidding me.
ReplyDeletewow.. very well written.. AND HAPPY BIRTHDAY!
ReplyDeleteWow! Happy birthday, you probably aged a year in that one day!
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