UP’S AND DOWN’S OF 2022… + a report on the last 16 months Milgis work..

The DOWN of course is the everlasting drought Northern Kenya seems to be enduring..

The UP is the incredible resilience shown by the people and animals, wild and tame living there!!

UPS… SOOOOOO Agama lizards do enjoy views!

DOWNS.. we’ve had some terrible fires in the mountains.. Our valuable water towers..

This fire on the south side of the Ndotos destroying an old natural forest..

With the drought .. One of the things we observed was all the bigger herds of elephants seemed to all fragment into family groups .. I love this little sequence of this little party of elephants looking for water..

A thirsty little family looking for water… Babe rushed in first!

a united family !.. A mother working hard to keep her 2 children alive..

There’s hardly a drop of water left in this usually full of water swamp, here on the Seiya lugga.

trudging through the mud looking for more water.. the little one on the end had to be very careful not to get stuck.

after their drink the little one lay down for a rest and his big sister lay right on him..

after a minutes struggle to pull himself out from the big lump, he was free.

now he says.. take this!

Just thinking back over the years and when I first went to this area, you never saw elephants in the day time .. They lived in fear of humans all, day every day.. Now these 3 are very aware we are there and enjoyed giving us a show!.. So a really good UP for the Milgis..

Although, Sadly, Yesterday, after a tip off, of trouble in the Kirisias, (not really in our area, but what to do) 3 of our scouts went to investigate.. unfortunately 2 elephants had been shot by poachers but luckily they had not got away with the tusks.. The tusks were brought down and handed over to KWS..

WATER ISSUES!.. A few months ago we had a meeting down near Mpagas on the lower Milgis with the community .. The beautiful Ntepes Ntare project we had handed over to them with Richard and Heather a few years ago was not in good shape!

the solar panels were dirty , the guards house eaten by termites!

the community had let things go at the Ntepes Ndare borehole.. the fence was broken, the taps, the pipes, the pipeline and the tank were destroyed..

water pouring out every where,

pipes broken

pipes cut

The tank completely destroyed..

We called a meeting with all our scouts present, to try to get to the bottom of their problems.. The girls arrived in force because its their job to find water! It was definitely not them that destroyed it.. A lot boils down to just not understanding… and living only today.. youngsters cutting the pipe to get a drink.. what’s wrong with that, I’m desperately thirsty!? not sure what they were thinking with the tank….. Plus three communities share the borehole and they needed some help to sort the issues out!

Many of the girls from far away arrived on ‘Pikis’.. dressed up to the nines!

the women pitched up in all their finery to talk business..

The men..

If looks could kill!..

A lighter moment when the ladies all chuckling, having said the men are useless!!

The out come was good and the communities promised to pay for the damage done.. January 2023 will see to this..

Its the end of the year again!! Not sure where 2022 went?? BUT any way, all of us wish every one a fun time and a wonderful start to 2023… I’ll leave you with some phots from the last year.. THANKS EVERY ONE FOR KEEPING UP WITH US AND ALL YOUR SUPPORT!!.. Its amazing..

Sengi

literal sun rise from Lkanto

The girls coming home with the goats

View of Ndotos from the North

Nubian nightjar

Verreaux’s eagle owl.. 66cms tall, with a freshly killed hedgehog

Lkanto morn.

Lkanto eve

Augur buzzard

This little girl with lots of responsibility..

slender mongoose at Lkanto

an evening walk in Northern Kenya

African stops owl.. 17 cms tall.. quite a lot smaller than a dove.. All my life I’ve never seen one in the day!

lions, YES, a pride of LIONS!!!! below Lkanto..

Baboons climbing into the trees for the night

a beautiful birth thanks to this decorated mama

Wahlberg’s eagle

sunrise at Lkanto..

Rain???!! And for those that would like to know if it rained Northern Kenya!… End November it rained quite well in some areas like in the lower Milgis, the Lenkiyou range and to the east was pretty good.. Even not bad to the lowlands to the west.. BUT other areas further north have had none and others some rain but not enough… BUT all in all things are much better than before.. Most of the livestock has been taken to the lower Milgis and east Lenkiyou…

The food hampers for the hungry were hugely HUGELY appreciated.. This November we distributed 7000 21 kg bags full of nutritious food.. THANKS PANKAJ and ALL that helped and sent money…. Here’s a few pics below..

Please find below the Milgis report from the last 16 months..

Milgis report from the last 16 monthsDownload

Thanks for reading !!