Walking the talk to save Kenya’s elephants

Whenever poaching comes up for discussion, there are always ideas being floated on how to curb it — from heavy fines and long jail terms for poachers (as has happened in Kenya) or a shoot-to-kill policy as suggested in Tanzania.

Jimmy Nyamu has made it his life mission to save the elephant from poachers by walking and talking to people who matter in this fight — communities that live near elephants’ natural habitat, as well as in places that have no elephants but the people there come to Kenya and the rest of Africa to see them.

Recently, Nyamu gave a talk hosted by the Kenya Museum Society about his mission to save the elephant.

“People said what I was doing was useless. I translate that to ‘use less’ (as in resources). They said ‘that boy has nothing to do,”’ he told the audience. “Out there, people really don’t know what the issues are surrounding the elephant.”

Africa’s current elephant population is estimated to be half a million, down from 1.2 million in 1980 and 10 million in 1900. Research shows that an estimated 22,000 elephants were poached in 2012, and if the trend continues Africa could lose 20 per cent of its elephant population in a decade.

“But people really don’t know what we are losing,” says Nyamu. “When I met a district commissioner in Taita Taveta some time back, he told me there were lots of elephants in the park. I asked him ‘how many?’

“He replied, ‘one million.’ This was the district officer talking — can you imagine communities that live far away from elephant range lands? They have no concept of the numbers we are talking of.”

INTERESTED IN WILDLIFE AT A YOUNG AGE

Now in his 30s, Nyamu became interested in wildlife at a very young age. “In school, I joined the Wildlife Clubs of Kenya and started reading their magazine Komba. It made me aware of the challenges faced by wildlife,” he said.

He later joined the Kenya Wildlife Service, monitoring elephants in the country and then the African Conservation Centre.

But the desire to reach out to people and talk to them about saving the world’s largest land mammal could not be quenched.

He finally decided to walk the talk and quit his job.

Nyamu went on to found the Elephant Neighbours Centre, a grassroots and participatory research organisation to help people value elephants as a natural resource, and bridge the link between species and habitats.

“There’s power in walking,” says Nyamu. “People listen to you, they identify with you and you see more. But when you drive by in a big four-wheel drive, you are seen as someone else.”

His quest is to conserve the African elephant in the wild. He believes that by walking and talking, he can penetrate the remotest areas and meet people in the most rural settings.

He has a four-year-old son whom he wants to show free-range elephants. He fears that if nothing is done soon, his son and future generations will not see the elephant in the wild; statistics show that four elephants are killed every day in Kenya.

According to the Ivory Belongs to Elephants campaign started by Nyamu in collaboration with other organisations, the elephant mortality rate in Kenya is four per cent against a growth rate of just two per cent. At this rate, in 10 years, there will be no elephants in the wild in Kenya.

Go to the East African to read the full article.