David Ngala

The nest of the eagle shown in the picture below has been active for about 20 years and I have known it for the last 8 years. In October last year I took a visitor to the site and we both saw the eagle on its nest but there was a tree close by that the bird used to rest on before going to its nest which had been felled (see other posts).

Crowned Eagle Nest that I found in forest last year

This picture I posted last year showing the nest and the adjacent cut tree.

I reported the matter to the Kenya Forest Service and then later took them to the site. The Forester decided that forest guards should return to the site every day to see if the poachers had returned for the timber as they had not yet split the trunk into planks. However over the following days that they went to check, they didn’t find anyone there.

After some time I went on a safari for two days to Mlima wa Ndege on the western side of the Arabuko-Sokoke Forest which is 80km from the Gede forest station. I had gone to educate the community about setting up a community run nature reserve in their area.

When I returned back I was told the shocking story by one of the game rangers of how the tree had been cut by a power saw and that it happened over four days but during the night. This activity took place from 7/12/09 to 11/12/09. I was told that the forest rangers and the forest guards had been informed when it was happening because people around Mida and Arabuko area could hear the power saw working in the forest during the night.

According to the story I got, when the forest guards and game rangers heard about this they took the boundary road on the north side of the forest instead of taking the elephant track which would take them faster to the place. I was told that they did this because there were many elephants on the tracks and it was therefore dangerous for them.

This information made me feel bad because I thought that the rangers and guards would use their thunder flashes to move the elephants away from the track but they decided not to do so and therefore missed the poachers!

The day I went back there with the rangers we saw how the tree had been split into pieces of timber and that they had collected almost everything as you can see in this picture. 
you can still see the eagle nest in the background

I guess at least they tried and it was very good to be able to work with them and show them where the nest was. Let’s hope next time they are able to get their quicker and catch the poachers.

Technorati Tags: David Ngala, Crowned Eagle, powersaw, illegal logging, Kenya Forest Service, Arabuko-Sokoke

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

It was a little while back now that this happened as we’ve been having difficulty getting information to Colin who’s got the internet access for posting blogs, but I wanted to tell you about one of our typical surveys we do in the forest. It was one of our regular surveys in the Arabuko Sokoke forest; actually it was very cold that morning as we drove our motorbike to our designated transect. Our target was doing a common bird point count survey for the first two and a half of the morning hours and then doing forest disturbances as it was to be hot for the birds.

Albert Baya, an A Rocha Kenya Field technician, who has been with me for almost 14 years doing the research and monitoring of the Arabuko-Sokoke forest and the surrounding, stopped counting the birds and pointed out some cut stems which were almost 2 metres from the transect, trying to look more further away, it was bad to see the most vulnerable trees were cut.

In a distance of 5 km we were able to count 46 cut stems, for wood and carving, 4 active campsites and 2 old
camps which we thought they moved two or three months ago.

Whilst our forest is being managed by an active Forest Management Team, we are actually frustrated to see all these activities still happening.

We have several vulnerable and endangered bird, plant, butterfly, lizard species in the forest, but on the day of this survey we saw Clarke’s Weavers about 25 in one group of which we used to see 50+, and we were not able to see any male actively feeding on a Brachystegia tree. The Clarke’s Weaver breeding ground is not yet known and now the feeding grounds are being destroyed, we need to have a support to help stop this distraction otherwise we will lose our heritage. The picture here is one that was taken by Steve Garvie who is a birder and photographer who I took into the forest last year to see the specialities. These are the best photos I have seen of Clarke’s Weaver and we like to say “asante sana” to Steve for letting us use them.

Well… it has been a loooong time since we were on the net and blogging. David has been “running all over” using his motorbike to do surveys for snares & cut stumps, visiting the elders and other villagers to encourage them to stand up for protecting the forest as well as being involved in bird monitoring surveys and helping with other research projects in and around the forest.

In April David was called to Naivasha – a lake in the Great Rift Valley where the birding is awesome – for a week of training on bird guiding with about 20 other Kenyan bird guides. For this they had input on planning itineraries, marketing as well as further practice in bird identification which took them on a safari down to Tsavo West National Park and to Lake Jipe on the Tanzanian border. One of the typical birds of Tsavo is the Rosy-patched Shrike (pictured here by Simon Thomsett)

Otherwise most of the birding practise was done around the grounds of the Elsamere Field Study Centre where the course was taking place. This was Joy Adamson’s (of “Born Free” fame – the story of her lioness Elsa which became world famous in the 1970s I believe it was) old home. The old house is now a lodge / hotel but in the grounds a field study centre has been built that does a great job providing facilities for courses such as this one for the guides as well as a lot of environmental education with local school groups. Another bird seen regularly along the lake front of Elsamere is the world’s largest kingfisher – the Giant Kingfisher – pictured here in a shot borrowed from NatureKenya.

David has been working actively with Francis Kagema (the FoASF Secretary and David’s direct line manager) to fight against some of the quite serious corruption that has been going on in the forest especially with regard to illegal logging. Only a week or so ago a lorry loaded with illegally cut logs was caught leaving the forest and taken to the Police station in Watamu. One such lorry I remember that was impounded with illegal logs a few years ago was grounded and stayed put in the forest station for almost two years before the case was finally completed… This lorry (truck) was released within 24 hours…!! Also the guys who managed to escape when it was stopped were not followed, apparently on orders from “on high”. This sort of frustration is what we are facing almost daily though we were thrilled to hear of the Gede Forester being transferred to another forest as there have been a LOT of implications as to him being deeply involved with much of the illegal activity going on (why these guys can’t just be sacked mystifies us…!). Anyway, he’s gone which is great news – though we fear for where he’s gone…

We’re in the process of taking on a manager for Friends of ASF who will be able help David get his blogs posted on a regular basis which will be great news. Meanwhile, we’ll do what we can to get a bit more news of David’s activities up on the blog…

One morning recently, I travelled for about 30 kilometres around the edge of the Arabuko-Sokoke Forest with fellow forest guide Albert Baya. When we reached a place called Chumani, I got the feeling that we should stop and study the forest there more closely.

We went into the forest which at that point is what we call “Mixed Forest” as it isn’t dominated by any one type of tree. Only about 40 metres in we found many trees that had been freshly cut for timber and removed. I counted a total of about 39 new stumps (see picture).

This is me recording details of one of the cut trees.

Another of the cut trees we found – one of these trees would have taken probably 100 years to get to this size… and only 20 mins to cut down.

After we had finished the survey and after Albert had gone (with the camera), I was near the elephant fence on the edge of the forest and I saw a Green Mamba – a long, bright green, and deadly poisonous snake – which had recently swallowed a Golden-rumped Elephant Shrew. All I could see of the elephant-shrew was the tail sticking out of the snake’s mouth! Pole sana fugu! (”Very sorry, elephant-shrew!”)

I was really upset about the cut tree situation. When I returned to the Forest Station at Gede after my survey, I reported the cut trees to the Assistant Warden, Kenya Wildlife Service (KWS) for the forest. About three days later he sent me back to the site with Sergeant Musa to show him the cut trees. Apparently they had also just caught a tree poacher the day before in the forest.

We urgently need to do more patrolling in the forest and to support KWS and the Kenya Forest Service (KFS) in protecting it. Since that day I have found further cut trees but have not been able to take photos as Friends of ASF doesn’t have a digital camera for me to use – the pictures above were with a borrowed one. If anyone would like to contribute to purchasing a camera, it would make a huge difference as we need photographic evidence to support the reports we do.