Translocating the Elephants of Ngulia

Wrecking havoc to the fragile semi arid vegetation, the bulging elephant population was slowly becoming a thorn in the flesh of its host - the critically endangered black rhino, a fact that was raising a lot of concern to both the park managers and the species department.

According to Dr. Francis Gakuya, Head of Veterinary Department at the Kenya Wildlife Service “The over 150 elephants were now becoming like the camel that only wanted to be given some little space in the tent to hide its head from the wind, but ended up ousting the owner when the camel realized that it was much warm in the tent than out in the cold chilly wind.

“This situation therefore called for action based on the recommendations of the species department that the jumbo’s should be moved out into greater Tsavo West National Park,” Dr. Gakuya explained.

The fact that the sanctuary had a bevy of other herbivores compounded the issue even further, as it was established that within the sanctuary the different species were now competing for water and a rapidly dwindling vegetation base.

“We therefore opted to translocating the excess elephant families and bulls from the little sanctuary into the main park, so as to create room for what the sanctuary was created for, which is breeding the endangered black rhino population into a viable one that would help replenish other rhino ranges in the country that have none of too little,” a candid Dr. Gakuya reveals.

The vegetation destruction wrought by the excess elephants was also a crystal clear pointer that the resident population was beginning to record signs of stress and thus the decision to move certain families and bulls out of the sanctuary was well thought out.

But unlike in October 2005, the vet department responsible for the translocation decided to opt for a cheaper more feasible move. “We had tried helicopters in the prior year and a whole load of machinery to effect the translocation, but this did not yield much succcess,” Dr. Gakuya revealed.

From the lessons learnt in the past exersices, Dr. Gakuya and his vet team decided that this time round to use a few lorries and more men on the ground and the operation was quite a success. 38 elephant were translocated between May 26th, and June 11th, 2006, unlike in the past year where only 19 elephants were translocated.

According to a genial Dr. Gakuya “Having reduced the number of elephants to a level that Ngulia would comfortably carry, we stopped the operation and focused our eyes on another major project in the offing - the worlds largest elephant translocation which is scheduled to see more than 500 elephants moved from Shimba Hills to Tsavo East National Park.”

Established in 1986, the 62kmsq. Ngulia rhino sanctuary, currently holding an estimated 60 rhino individuals in the heart of the vast Tsavo east national park - recently branded as the land of lava, springs and the man eaters; was originally demarcated as a breeding and stocking zone for the critically endangered black rhino population.

The fencing of the unique rhino sanctuary and the setting-up of a round-the-clock security detail made Ngulia the most ideal home not just for the resident rhino, but also for the other species that had been fenced in. The rapid population explosion details it all.

The magic of Ngulia Rhino sanctuary still flows and only a visit to this unique facility can one imbibe of the majesty of this haven and one of the homes to the critically endangered black rhino population in Kenya.