David Ngala

On Saturday I went with Simon Thomsett and Laila into Arabuko-Sokoke Forest to show them the nest of the resident pair of African Crowned Eagles. Simon & Laila were keen to see if it was active and if so to get photos of the eagle on or near its nest if at all possible. We entered the forest in the early afternoon and I took them straight to the nest – but as we reached the nest we immediately saw the huge Brachystegia that was 36m from the nest tree and which the eagles liked to perch in before going to the nest… had been cut down. We were furious to see that the tree had been cut down by tree poachers.

Here’s the cut tree with the eagle nest showing behind (circled) – the disturbance to the nest when it was cut would have been significant.

The tree had only been felled and a start made on the sawing up of the trunk into planks. They had clearly been surprised and chased off by something because the cross-cut saw was left in place as well as their outer clothes and a 5 ltr jerry can of water – it was probably an elephant that came along and scared them off.

the water, clothes and other items the poachers left behind when they were disturbed

you can see the saw sticking out each side of the end of the tree trunk which was left by the poachers.

Simon & Laila took photos of the nest and we waited for about 20 mins to see if the adults would return… and sure enough one adult came and perched higher up in the nest tree, looked around a bit and then flew off again. We didn’t stay any longer for fear of disturbing them from the nest and instead returned direct to the Kenya Wildlife Service offices for the forest to see the Warden and make a report of the cut tree. Unfortunately he was not in but Simon took the Wardens phone number so he could explain the situation about the nest and the cut tree and to make sure that it should not be disturbed. This is particularly so as Crowned Eagles are getting rarer and rarer and need to be protected with the same level as rhinos are.

a close up of the eagle nest

I didn’t have my camera and GPS that day so I returned yesterday (Sunday) with them to mark the path and the trees and photograph the illegally cut Brachystegia. It is a huge tree – 226cm in circumference – and was really important for the eagles to perch on before going in to the nest. The disturbance by the tree poachers as they cut the tree with an axe would have been very serious and we don’t know the exact effect of it yet.

Today I saw the Warden in the morning and reported it in full to him and he is going to send some rangers to try and catch the poachers. I was to show them today but they went with Willy to see another cut tree in the Arabuko area of the forest that they hoped to catch the poachers – but they found the planks had already been removed by the poachers. I’ll therefore hope to take them to the Crowned Eagle nest tomorrow.

Technorati Tags: tree poaching, illegal logging, Arabuko-Sokoke Forest, Crowned Eagle, Simon Thomsett, Ngala