RUPI MANGAT: Foray into new frontiers

Driving into Mwea National Reserve is a new frontier for me. This little-visited national reserve straddling the Tana where it meets the Thiba – is only an hour’s slow drive from the massive Masinga Dam.

Measuring a mere 42 square kilometres compared to Nairobi National Park which is 117.21 square kilometres, it is dryland and its limits pushed by the expanding homesteads and farms.

The Tana forms a natural boundary on its southern side and flows on to fill Kamburu Dam which borders the eastern stretch of the reserve. The river is the only source of water for whatever wildlife there is in the reserve.

A board at the main gate displays daily sightings of where to find the wildlife. The elephants are at Thiba River and hippos at Hippo Point. The excitement is palpable.

Within minutes we’re watching a herd of zebra. Mapping our route, we decide to drive along the Thiba to Kamburu. 

It’s been dry for many months. Almost every tree and scrub has shed its leaves to save on whatever water the plant can conserve to survive the long dry months – except for the commiphora with its red pods that change to gold depending on the position of the sun. Elephant dung litters the roads, raising our hopes that we will see them at the Thiba.

Suddenly the lead car halts to a stop. Lying in front of it is a massive tree blocking the way. Ideally it needs a tractor and a strong winch to pull it off or a team of strong guys with pangas to hack it into smaller pieces to drag away.

Luckily there are bush-smart people in the group. In steps Jacqui Resley, a designer and the founder of Spinners Web. Her car has an electric winch and her box of bush gadgets includes pangas, but the winch isn’t big enough for a full grown acacia knocked over by elephants. Elephants are the only ones that can knock down a tree of this size. Moreover, the dry mounds of elephant dung and tree barks that have been stripped are evidence that it is the work of elephants.

Under a blazing sun, the strong in the team work to hack and drag the tree away. They do this every few kilometres when we encounter more trees knocked across the road. 

Finally through the driest of scrub and bush, we’re at Hippo Point on Kamburu Dam. It’s a pretty site. The river flows by a cluster of huge rocks and into the dam. A hippo is conspicuous because of its pink ears otherwise it blends in with the heavily silted earth-brown waters.

A few wading birds while away the midday sun that literally sucks the energy from everything.

After lunch under the little shade available by the banks of the river, it’s onto more road blocks by trees pushed over by elephants. The landscapes changes from dry thorn-filled scrub to lush succulents like euphorbia, sansevieria (or the elephant’s toothpick) and commiphora, to golden sweeps of grassland. I would love to see the transformation after the rains.

The only bright colours we see are the blue Tsetse fly traps hung on trees. Since this blood-sucking flies cause sleeping sickness in animals, the International Centre of Insect Physiology and Ecology (ICIPE) has trained members of the local community on how to handle the traps.

TSETSE FLY MENACE

In 2003, 550 were made with 330 hung inside the park and the rest outside. Initially, the programme was a success – the tsetse fly population declined from about 60 flies trapped per day in August 2003 to 10 a day by March 2006, but then the fly traps began to fade in colour because of the sun, so they hardly attracted any more flies. The ones hanging now are the recommended sun-fast cloth traps. ICIPE went further to train farmers in silk farming and bee-keeping – we see plenty of beehives strung around outside the park.

In 2011, the tsetse flies infected a few of the rare Rothschild giraffe in the reserve with seven succumbing to the disease. We see none and by the end of day we’re burnt out having seen only a few scampering dikdik, a bushbuck, zebras at the water trough and a few birds like the pale chanting goshawk.

The ranger at the gate when told about the trees blocking the road expresses disbelief. “Only yesterday, the rangers went out and didn’t see any trees on the road,” he claims. It’s like the elephants went on rampage the day before – only that the dry dung suggests otherwise.

FACTS:

The mwea experience

Mwea National Reserve is 200 kilometres from Nairobi. Take the road via Thika or via Embu. Carry lots of drinking water because it can get very hot. A four-wheel drive is essential. There are a few basic camp sites with no facilities – log on www.kws.go.ke. Log on to kenyamuseumsociety.org or naturekenya.org for local trips.