Human-wildlife conflict on the rise as jumbos seek drinking water

Laikipia, Kenya: At dawn, Josephine Meshame strides out of her makeshift bed, takes her water gallon and walks 12 kilometres to Kimanjaro area to fetch water from a community borehole.

She leaves the house before the scorching sun heats up the entire Il Motiok area and the rest of Laikipia North Sub-County.

This is her daily routine, and which is a dangerous affair, especially early in the morning as elephants roam around in search of pasture and water.

Her two children, aged eight and ten, occasionally accompany her. “This is my daily chore. I have to go to the community borehole or send relatives who own donkeys to fetch water for me,” says Meshame, who spends Sh300 monthly for the commodity.

Other women living in Il Motiok and adjacent areas of Olorubae, Doldol, Chumvi, Makurian, Il Ngwesi, Ewaso and Kimanjo villages experience Meshame’s ordeal.

Currently, most sub-surface rivers have dried up, alongside dams and pans.

The scenario is partly to blame for rising human-wildlife conflict cases, since the women collide with animals, especially elephants straying out of ranches.

Surprisingly, elephants camp at Loisokut windmill area along the Nanyuki-Doldol road, where they wait for the winds to pump up ground water and fill an adjacent water trough for them to drink.

Early this year, hundreds of Maasai herdsmen, led by Nominated MP Sarah Lekorere, marched to Nanyuki town, 70 kilometres away to protest increased cases of elephant attacks.

But Kenya Wildlife Service (KWS) officials, Deputy Director Robert Njue and Assistant Director in-charge of Mountain Conservation area Aggrey Maumo blamed increased human population, leading to habitation on formerly wildlife zones to the attacks

Common activity

“It is unfortunate that the animals have been concentrated on meagre portions of land, yet they used to roam in expansive land. At the moment, elephants and other animals are competing heavily with huge livestock populations for pasture and water, while humans have settled in former wildlife zones, where they have ventured in farming in wildlife migration corridors,” Njue told The Standard On Sunday team.

John ole Keshine, an elder from Il Motiok Group Ranch says about 50 years ago, Ewaso Nyiro River, which traverses through Laikipia, Isiolo, Samburu and Marsabit counties, was a grand spectacle which used to drown animals as huge as elephants.

 

“What is left now is only a shadow of what it used to be. It is so embarrassing that humans are threatening the well-being of their downstream counterparts through over-abstraction of water from rivers for irrigation, as well as poisoning the resource,” said Keshine.

Keshine says the semi-arid region experienced regular rainfall, which falls on the leeward side of Mt Kenya.

“But currently, our children gather outside whenever clouds form since it is a rare spectacle,” he said.

The Maasai community are known as major livestock keepers in Kenya, and destruction of the environment is not commonly associated with them or their way of life, until recent times.

Keshine says the entire Laikipia North Sub-County is the best charcoal producer in the region.

“It is unfortunate how poverty has driven residents to charcoal burning to earn a living. This is posing a huge threat to the ecosystem. Rivers are drying up, the few ones remaining have been contaminated, posing threat to animals living in water,” he said.

During our tour early this week, The Standard on Sunday established that most residents have moved their livestock to unknown destinations, while pastoralists from the neighbouring Isiolo and Samburu counties are streaming into the area in search of the depleted pasture.

Along Kimanjo-Ol Donyiro road, there are no vegatation and the land has been left bare.

On our way to Ol Donyiro and Kipsing areas, we met Mr Reluso Ngeres and his son, driving a herd of 10 cows towards Loisaba area in Laikipia.

Ngeres said he has since early this year lost five cows to the stinging drought.

Five million lives

“I have walked from Mlima Chui near Kipsing since I was told there is scanty pastures in Loisaba area.

My neighbours have moved to Mt Kenya, but I fear I may lose more cattle,” said Ngeres.

Longupere Ntoimar also moved his 30 head of cattle from Kipsing area to Kimagandura area in Laikipia, an area where resident pastoralists have also vacated.

In most compounds within Laikipia County, livestock bomas have been left empty, with only a few sheep and goats left. This may not be the first time pastoralists are migrating to Mt Kenya.

In 2010, at least 5,000 heads of cattle gained way to the mountain forest, and their owners were left counting loses after losing a huge number to cold related ailments.

Last week, the Indigenous Movement for Peace Advancement and Conflict Transformation, an organisation operating in Laikipia, Isiolo and Samburu areas organised a week-long camel caravan which brought together communities living in mid-Ewaso Nyiro river region.

 

The caravan was aimed at creating awareness to the resource consumers and help find a lasting solution to the climatic changes causing water shortage.

Johnson Mali ole Kaunga, the organisation’s Executive Director warned that at least five million lives, comprising both human, livestock and wild animals rely on Ewaso Nyiro for water.

Camel caravan

“We are sitting on a ticking timebomb. It is high time the community, organisations and Government found a long term solution to this catastrophe,” he said.

“We want the camel caravan to bring together all the communities, which rely on the river and other sources of water to appreciate and work towards conserving the water sources,” Kaunga said.

The caravan of ten camels was flagged off at Il Motiok area, near the Ewaso Nyiro river banks.

The participants walked for 250km to Archers Post in Samburu County, through Ol Donyiro, Kipsing and Kiltamany areas in Isiolo County.

Others trekked from Marsabit in northern part of Kenya towards Archers Post, where they all converged.

Mr Joseph Ole Dira, the organisation’s programmes officer said, “We want the Borana, Rendille, Samburu, Maasai, Turkana, Pokot and all other communities relying on Ewaso Nyiro and other water sources to co-exist and never fight because of lack of water. We want all sources to be running all year round”.

Current scenario

Ewaso Nyiro River flows from Nyandarua County, and is joined by numerous tributaries that flow from the Aberdare range and Mt Kenya forests.

Human activities, among them destruction of the Mt Kenya and Aberdares forests, over abstraction of water in its tributaries within farming zones and wanton charcoal burning have been blamed for the sudden change of climatic atmosphere and drying up of rivers in the region, hence leading to the rampant conflicts.

But Mr Peter Leshau, the Mukogodo West Ward Administrator faulted pastoralist communities for overstocking livestock at the expense of their environment.

“We blame climate change for the current scenario, while we are not advising our people to reduce their stock levels, but instead concentrate on range management,” he said.

Leshau observed that a holistic management should be applied to reduce the livestock populations and also introduce paddocking and also engage upstream, mid-stream and lower water resource user associations to see how we can effectively manage our water resource,” said Leshau.

His Mukogodo East counterpart, Mr Timpes Ole Legei said if the current situation is not addressed, the survival of pastoral communities will be a thing of the past.

“We have started feeling the adverse effects of the climate change. We are losing cattle and facing an acute water shortage. Our women are walking for as long as 20 kilometres to fetch water. If nothing is done, we risk losing an entire community to droughts,” said Legei.

Currently, the county government is distributing water to affected communities using water boozers.

“The county government is also putting in place measures to reduce the distance between various water points, through rehabilitating numerous boreholes and constructing dams and pans in villages,” said Legei.