The consequences of poaching are there for all to see in Maasai Mara

On June 20, I set out for the Maasai Mara Game Reserve to experience the much-famed second phase of the wildebeest migration, dubbed the Seventh Wonder of the world.

Drunk with expectation, I armed myself with a good camera. I expected to see large herds of elephants, buffaloes and other wildlife during the great wildebeest migration.

I was disappointed that unlike the past, it was not easy to spot wild animals; we had to travel for many kilometres before getting the first encounter, thanks to poaching and poor conservation policies.

We finally came across a lion flanked by family members. They looked withdrawn, possibly in a “crisis meeting”.

WRATH OF HERDERS

I recalled six of their loved ones who faced the wrath of herders near Nairobi in June 2012. Perhaps they were “yet to recover” from the loss of relatives whose only sin was to stray out of Nairobi National Park; they got “brutally murdered”.

With a population of only 2,000 in Kenya, the “pain and grief” this family was facing could only be compared to that of our Lamu and Mpeketoni — and now Likoni — compatriots after the loss of their loved ones in recent attacks.

Kilometres on, we came across a herd of elephants. As opposed to their usual big numbers, they were only six in a herd. All were in a “pensive mood”. They were possibly “moaning” the death of their elder, “Mzee” Satao. Satao was the biggest, a pride of Africa, and in the elephant world, it could only be compared to Nelson Mandela.

This “Nelson Mandela’s” life was brutally cut by poisoned arrows in Tsavo East National Park in South East Kenya. With KWS indicating over 150 elephants dying in the hands of poachers every year, their 35,000 population is threatened. They had every reason to be in that “pensive mood”.

And in the Mara River where we expected to watch the great migration, wildebeests came in great numbers to a position beside the river. They kept us waiting for hours and then, to the disappointment of many tourists, turned away and went back. We all missed a chance of a lifetime. They were possibly “protesting” against our cruelty to their ecosystem.”

The Mara River was also seemingly drying up, putting in the spotlight, our “misbehaviour” towards trees (especially the much encroached on Mau Forest which is among our river sources). This means the few crocodiles and hippos in the river are also endangered.

Returning to our base, I noted we could not spot a single rhino. KWS records indicate that we have very few black rhinos.

The whole thing got me thinking... why would the government tolerate poaching?

DANCAN BWIRE, Narok