West Laikipia Fence Project

Monthly Report to the Laikipia Wildlife Forum for the period October to November 2009

By

Tobias Ochieng

Laikipia Elephant Project

The Symbiosis Trust

January 2010

Monthly Report No. 1

LAIKIPIA WILDLIFE FORUM ROYAL NETHERLANDS EMBASSY

Introduction

This report covers the period from October 01 to December 01 2009. One community meeting
was held at Matigari on 17th November. The fence upgrades process along the ADC Mutara
fence section was carried out between November 4th and 20th. Two energiser houses were
constructed, and one is underway. Fence management training was conducted for ADC Mutara
fencers, community fencers, LEP scouts, KWS officials and ADC rangers at ADC Mutara on
23rd November. LEP has engaged the ADC Mutara head office in the process of upgrading and
maintaining their section of the West Laikipia Fence.

The Laikipia Nature Conservancy and the neighbouring Mwenje community have improved
the working relations. Consequently, LEP was requested by LNC to carry out an assessment of
the fence to identify needs to improve its performance. On 12th November, I visited LNC and
identified new locations for energisers, configurations, voltages and alignment of the fence
along the Mwenje side. A full report on the way forward has been sent to the LNC
management to help improve the fence.

Several cases of fence vandalism have been reported especially from Lombala and Ngorare. As
had been emphasized earlier, this is proving to be the greatest challenge to the fence
management and long term survival of the fence. The affected ranches are operating on very
tight budgets which undermine the ability to replace the stolen wires and broken insulators in
time. There is need for all the stakeholders to be engaged in the protection of this fence. LEP
has planned to meet the DC Rumuruti to discuss the way forward.

The highest number of fence breakages was reported from the ADC Mutara Ranch fence
section. Most of the breakages occurred between M25 and M30 (see map below). A total of 29
breakages were reported in October in ADC Mutara. This number fell to just 6 in November,
most probably as a result of a reduction in the elephant population in Mutara Ranch. OPC
reported 7 breakages in October, most of which occurred between OPC85 and OPC90 and
between OPC 95-OPC100 (see map below). On the Lombala section, fence breakages have
been concentrated between L5 and L10 (See figure below) for three consecutive months. Crop
raiding has been reported over this period, particularly near the Lombala and ADC Mutara
Ranch boundaries.

Four cases of attempts by elephants to either get near the fence or break the fence were
attended to by the rapid response team. Only 1 case was attended to in November. This is
because there were very few elephants on ADC Mutara ranch hence and therefore pressure on
the fence was also low.
1.0. Fence Sections

Figure 1: Map of the West Laikipia and the Olpejeta Conservancy Fence
Fence breakages

Fence Breakages Along the West Laikipia Fence and Olpejeta Conservancy fence
Number of breakages
Fence Section Location of Breakage (s) Oct-09 Nov-09 Total for each section
N5-N10 2 0
Ngorare Ranch Total 2 0 2
Lombala Ranch L5-L10 3 2
Total 3 2 5
Kifuko Ranch
Total 0 0 0
M0-M5 6 0
M5-M10 4 0
Mutara Ranch
M10-M15 1 0
Olpejeta M15-M20 6 3
M20-M25 2 0
M25-M30 10 3
Total 29 6 35
Opc25-30 1 1
Conservancy Opc30-35 1 1
Opc 85-90 3
Opc 90-95 1
Opc 95-100 3
Total 7 2 9
Grand Total
41 10 51
Table 1: Fence Breakages by fence sections

Most fence breakages on ADC were concentrated along the M25-M30 and M15-M20 sections
(Figure 1 and Table 1). These are adjacent to Ex-Erok and Mutara swamps where crops are
cultivated.

Breakages on Lombala involved elephants from outside the fence driven by farmers into the ranch.
There is a herd of elephants currently outside the fence on Muruku valley near Rumuruti town.

Breakages on OPC have been reported along the OPC80-OPC100 (Figure 1 and Table 1). There is a
need to establish the fence condition and any other reasons this section is preferred by elephants. In
addition, it may be useful to monitor crop raids along this section to establish the level of damage,
especially in Kijabe and Ngobit areas.
 Crop raids

Figure 2: Crop raids along the West Laikipia Fence

Crop raids on Lombala section were mainly from elephants outside the fence within the Muruku area. Most
crop raids along the ADC Mutara ranch boundary were concentrated near the Mutara and Pesi swamps.
 1.0. Rapid Response to Problem elephants

Rapid Response activity for the Month of October-2009

GPS Group No of Elephant
Date GPS X Y Where Type Elephants Deterrent Used Response
Moving Vehicle, Shouting,
towards the Shooting,
14/10/2009 241408 8192 fence Bulls 5 Spotlight Ran Away
Attempting to Vehicle, Shouting,
Break the Shooting,
15/10/2009 247145 7346 Fence Bulls 7 Spotlight Ran Away
Moving Vehicle, Shouting,
towards the Shooting,
15/10/2009 244286 6231 fence Bulls 3 Spotlight Ran Away
Attempting to Vehicle, Shouting,
Break the Shooting,
29/10/2009 242054 7677 Fence Bulls 3 Spotlight Ran Away
Rapid Response activity for the Month of November-2009
GPS Group No of Elephant
Date GPS X Y Where Type Elephants Deterrent Used Response
Attempting to Vehicle, Shouting,
break the Shooting,
28/11/2009 240774 7875 fence Bull 1 Spotlight Ran Away
Table 2: Rapid Response

The rapid response team attended to 4 incidents in October. Only 1 incident occurred in November. All
incidents involved bulls. As in previous incidents, shooting was still used a lot during response which isn’t
ideal.

Figure 3 Rapid Response events

Problem elephant monitoring and management

Problem Elephant Monitoring- 2009

Number of Breakages
Name October November
Clint 1
Harry 3
Ismael 3
Jagwani 3
Mbuthia 2
Nelson 3
Nicolas 2
Rayn 3
Sirikwa 2
Thesiger 3
Tyson 2
Winston 4
Ananias 2
Suyan 5
Liban 3
Glen 5
Unidentified 12
Hemmingway 2
Matt 2
Orwel 1

Glen, Suyan and Winston were involved in breakages on OPC fence and raided crops in Kijabe and Ngobit, South
West of OPC - OPC80-OPC100 (Figure 1).

Ismael, Jagwabi, Mbuthia, Nelson, Rayn, Thesiger, Winston, Suyian and Glen were involved in fence breakages on
more than three occasions in October. However none of them was involved in November. This could be attributed to
the low elephant population reported in the ADC Mutara ranch and Olpejeta Conservancy.