It's A Trunk Road!!!!! Elephants Use Underpass That Links Two Wildernesses For The First Time

How did the elephants cross the road???? They went underneath it.

Dusk had settled on Mount Kenya's forested slopes, and traffic had slowed to a trickle on the region's major highway. That's when three elephants crossed through Africa's first dedicated elephant underpass – a new solution to the increasing problem of animal-human conflict in Africa.

 

It was 6:47 p.m. when a gleaming set of white tusks poked through the end of the newly built underpass. A second set of tusks appeared. Then a third. Moving cautiously, the three young males climbed a bank of dirt, made a sharp left turn and crashed into the forest.

The $250,000 tunnel – built with donor funds – has successfully connected two wilderness areas and two distinct elephant populations separated for years by human development. The elephants successfully crossed a major road without putting themselves or motorists in danger, and without damaging crops or scaring residents in a nearby village.

"The first time we had a report about an elephant going under the underpass it was very exciting. We didn't expect it to happen so quickly," said Susie Weeks, executive officer of the Mount Kenya Trust, one of the partners in the tunnel project. "They actually managed to go through it within days of it being opened."

The 15-foot-high (4.5-meter-high) tunnel opened for elephant business around Christmas, and on Jan. 1 a bull elephant named Tony made the first crossing. Accompanied by two other young males, Tony moved through the underpass again as an Associated Press reporter captured the first ever photos and video of elephants making use of the underpass.

Africa's wildlife is coming under increasing pressure from human development. Villages are being built and crops raised in areas that for centuries were animal wild lands. The new elephant underpass reconnected wilderness areas on Mount Kenya's highlands and the lower forests and plains, linking 2,000 elephants on Mt. Kenya with 5,000 more below.

Iain Douglas-Hamilton, the founder of Save The Elephants, said the 9-mile (14-kilometer) man-made corridor that surrounds the tunnel allows elephants to move from low to high to search for food and mates. The fenced-in corridor will also help strengthen the elephants' gene pool. The overall corridor and tunnel project cost $1 million.

"All over Africa this incredible wildlife is increasingly being fragmented by the growing human population, and if African wildlife is to survive, solutions must be found of this nature, where connectivity is preserved through corridors," he said.

"I think it's a good example of the compromises that can be made between human interest and the survival of wild animals," he added.

The underpass is somewhat pricey, Douglas-Hamilton said. Cheaper solutions will also need to be found, including points where traffic will be stopped so elephants can cross the road, he said.

Kenya's elephant underpass may be the first in Africa but not the world. China and India have elephant underpasses, and India even has elephant overpasses. In the U.S., a winner was announced Sunday in a contest to design a highway wildlife crossing in Vail, Colorado aimed at reducing collisions between cars and deer, coyote and bighorn sheep.

In South Africa's Addo Elephant National Park, which is fragmented by roads and railway lines, officials recently opened an elephant crossing over a road, said Megan Taplin, a park spokeswoman. She said officials have considered overhead bridges that are wide and full of vegetation to help elephants move around.

Kenya's underpass was 10 years in the making, and didn't gather much momentum until Richard Branson, owner of Virgin Atlantic, donated $250,000. The Dutch government kicked in more money and other donors stepped up. Two major farms allowed the corridor to cross through their land.

One of those family farms gave up 671 acres to the corridor. The elephants have already caused $25,000 in damage, but farm owner-manager Charlie Dyer said he is "just overjoyed and really, really satisfied" to see the underpass in use.

The project had many skeptics, people who feared the elephants wouldn't walk through a tunnel that humans had built.

"So many people were wondering, are we putting good money into this?" said Weeks. But so far about three dozen elephants passes have been made, providing conservationists with the answer they were hoping for.

The tunnel sits in the rolling hills below Mount Kenya, near fields of young green wheat and bright yellow canola stalks. It was lined with hay and elephant dung to entice the animals through. The bucolic lands can be dangerous, though.

Poaching is on the upswing, fueled by demand for ivory in China. John Pameri, the senior warden at the Lewa Wildlife Conservancy, one of the partners in the underpass project, said poachers killed more than 30 elephants in northern Kenya in December. Because elephant tusks have increased in value, poaching is "really a big, big danger," Pameri said.

Save the Elephants has put GPS collars on several elephants and can track their movements. Three minutes after Tony crossed through the tunnel Monday, an automatic text message alert went out to people like Weeks and Douglas-Hamilton, who has since watched Tony climb to the top of the elephant corridor on a Save The Elephants Google Earth maps program.

"This particular corridor is almost a symbol. It's a very high profile one under the peaks of Mount Kenya, and what happens there is important for Kenya and for Africa in terms of conservancy of elephants and biodiversity," Douglas-Hamilton said.

HOW TO FIGURE OUT A GOOD HOTEL FOR YOUR HOLIDAY GETAWAY

Kenya: The service industry is cashing in on the brisk business the holiday season brings. Kenyans are increasingly opting to spend their holidays away from home, and not necessarily in the village as was the norm before. With more than 500 licensed hotels that range from small town hotels to five-star bush, beach and city accommodation to choose from locally, how do you know a ‘good’ hotel from a ‘bad’ one? 

 

To help reduce the chances of receiving less than you bargained for, various systems are used to rate establishments. This grading is done by the responsible ministries in respective countries, respected bodies such as Forbes, trusted travel writers, and consumers through feedback on forums such as the Trip Advisor website. However, keep in mind that these customer forums are more likely to represent how much a person liked a hotel rather than the level of luxury offered. Some countries adopt letter grading from ‘A’ to ‘F’, or simply a ‘satisfactory’ or ‘unsatisfactory’ footnote for accommodation such as hostels and motels. However, the use of terms such as Deluxe/Luxury, First Class/Superior, Tourist Class/Standard, and Budget Class/Economy and symbols such as diamonds and stars is more widely accepted. 

 

Universal standard Kenya uses the star system of grading. However, even within this classification, there are many grading standards. It is no wonder that hotel rating systems have been criticised as being overly complex and too difficult for laypersons to understand. It has also been suggested that the lack of a universal standard may undermine the usability of rating schemes. One feature, however, that cuts through the different star rating systems is that the number of stars awarded is indicative of the range of facilities available, and not necessarily equated to the degree of luxuriousness of the hotel. Food services, number of restaurants, entertainment, view and room variations are some of the considerations. Also taken into account are spa and fitness centres, business centres and conference facilities, 24-hour room service, ease of access and location. Some consider this disadvantageous to smaller hotels, whose lack of a facility such as an elevator or valet parking would prevent them from being placed in a higher category. Even though star ratings can seem arbitrary, they can help to provide information on a hotel. Generally, star ratings run from one-star to five-star, and contrary to popular belief, there is no such rating as six-star or seven-star. Even the world’s super luxurious establishments (like the The Burj Al Arab in Dubai that boasts a servant for every room, and the first hotel widely described as ‘seven-star’) discourage the use of these terms

Basically, a five-star rating is reserved for the country’s highest end chain and boutique hotels. Expect to pay a premium for this luxury. This explains why some hotels are said to bribe their way into this category. Even then, one and two star hotels will usually have all the amenities you require for a good night’s sleep. It is important to note that one reviewer could rate a hotel a ‘four’, while another gives the same hotel five stars. A third might even rate it a ‘one’, although this is highly unlikely — while respected travel writers see things differently, they look at the same basic criteria. Some resorts, however, do not necessarily conform to any typical hotel star rating system. This includes vacation clubs like Kilifi’s Vipingo Ridge, where visitors choose their accommodation based on what they specifically want during their stay. The advantage of the five-star system is the ease of comparing and contrasting various opinions of the same hotel. However, remember that not all sources are trustworthy. To get the most out of your next vacation, approach those stars with a savvy eye to make educated decisions about your hotel.

CHINA’S SYMBOLIC STEP TOWARDS SAVING AFRICA'S ELEPHANTS

At the ceremony in Guangzhou on the 6th January, officials from the State Forestry Administration will make the strongest demonstration yet that China intends to end her role in the destruction of Africa's elephants. In December 2013 the US Government - which presides over the world's second biggest ivory market - also destroyed its entire ivory stockpile.

When Kenya burned the first ivory stockpile in 1989 it proved to be a crucial tipping point that helped shut off demand in America, Europe and Japan and so end the killing. Two decades on, elephants are now in the grip of a new crisis that is in many ways more serious, thanks to their shrunken numbers and a demand swollen by China's demographic and economic expansion.

Key elephant populations are plummeting across Africa. Last month a census of Tanzania's Selous National Park, until recently the second-largest elephant population in Africa, revealed that numbers there have fallen by an estimated 67 per cent in four years to little over 13,000 elephants. This week Tanzania's President Kikwete reminded his nation that in 1976 this population was estimated at 109,000 elephants, a figure that followed a census by Tanzanian and international scientists led by Iain Douglas-Hamilton, founder of Save the Elephants.

China observed the ivory ban for twenty years and has strong penalties for people caught trafficking, but a one-off sale of a legal stockpile in 2008 appears to have roused a dormant demand and ivory poaching in Africa began to surge.

"By burning her ivory China joins the body of nations that are taking firm measures to stem the haemorrhage of elephants out of Africa," says Dr Douglas-Hamilton. "With measures like this we can still save elephants from being driven towards extinction."

WILL VOLUNTEERISM SAVE TOURISM????

Kenya: Dwindling tourism numbers are a cause for alarm for a nation as dependent to the industry as Kenya is. Our main attractions —diverse terrain and culture, pristine beaches, and the safari — are fast fading as bait for first-time visitors as well as return guests. Various explanations have been offered for this state of affairs: If it is not the monotony and general decline in the quality of our products, then it is the spirited onslaught from other destinations offering similar packages but on a grander scale, or, better yet, we could blame it on the new kid on the block — terrorism. For a 44-million-strong nation, local tourism should be a bankable option to salvage the sector that slumps to a near halt during the low season. But, just like international tourists, locals require incentive to visit places or make return trips. 

One way to achieve this is by giving a feel-good reason to visit; a charity, for instance. If the ‘Kenyans for Kenyans’, anti-jigger, and other charity initiatives are anything to go by, then this might just be what the industry needs. A while back, one journalist had  the honour of covering an incredible story whose roots run so deep that Kenya’s tourism recovery might be pegged to its model. Athletic events are not new to us. Neither are the fundraising drives linked to this sport. However, true to Kenyans’ well-meaning naivety, few bother to follow the trail to the end, and see the recipients of the monies raised. Expenses Sadly, a huge chunk of these funds goes towards covering the expenses of the events. Nevertheless, from what is left over, a trickle forms, and widens to help meet the intended goal, but I politick. Today’s tale is one of beneficence; of a dream born of the need to give back to society. 

In 2010, Paul Lebeneiyo, a game ranger, and Francis Merinyi, a social worker, who had met while herding cattle as boys, were invited to participate in the Chinese edition of the The Amazing Race television series, alongside nine other teams from all over the world.
The competition running through 12 cities required mental astuteness, physical strength and a bit of luck. But it came with a healthy sprinkling of exposure and experience, even as lifelong friendships were formed. One such friendship was that between the ‘Maasai Warriors’, as Paul and Francis called themselves, and ultra marathoners Sarah Edson and Molly Fitzpatrick. (An ultra marathon is any sporting event involving running and walking longer than the traditional marathon length of 42.195 kilometres.)

 This friendship culminated in the launch of an ultra-distance event dubbed The Amazing Maasai Ultra (Tamu). Proceeds go towards supporting Maasai girls’ education in Kenya. An early start from the capital, then a lunch stop in Nanyuki, followed by 70 kilometres northeast through rough terrain sees the van I share with a jolly team of runners and service crew arrive in Kimanjo area of Laikipia County. Cliff The race camp is located at the foot of a cliff intended to ward off the chilly, not to mention dusty, gusts of wind. Freshening up, registration, pitching of tents for self-catered campers and race briefing are done swiftly, before darkness engulfs the plains. The next day, the race, which has 21km, 42km and 75km categories, begins just before first light. 

It is like any other race, save for the blistering heat the runners have to brave. But it is all for a worthy cause, and locals volunteer in the planning of the event as a show of appreciation. During the long wait for the runners at the finish line, one journalist chated with Helen Meshami and Valarie Julius, scholarship recipients of the previous year’s race. Theirs is the touching story of hope renewed after lack of school fees almost dashed their academic dreams. Along with 24 other beneficiaries, they would have been bartered for five cows each, and left the classroom to become wives, were it not for the money from this event. As Charles Rotich and Monica Chepkurgat, the latter running barefoot, cross the 75-kilometre

tape after noon, everyone shares their win. From the girl dreaming of a bright future to the herdsboy who is now exposed to a new sport, and the widow with one less financial burden, there is much to celebrate.

IS SELF ISOLATION THE ANSWER TO REVIVE MAURITIUS TOURISM?

‘The present tourism leadership at MTPA will leave Mauritius tourism as dead as a Dodo’ concluded one regular source from Port Louis, drawing the parallel to the long extinct bird Mauritius was once home to before it vanished from the face of the earth, leaving but a myth behind as well as the byword ‘Dead as a Dodo’. 

Karl Mootoosamy, still CEO of the Mauritius Tourism Promotion Authority – some hope for not much longer – stuck his nose into a hornets’ nest when a few days ago suggesting that Mauritius should go it alone and pull away from the hitherto all inclusive cooperation with neighbouring Indian Ocean islands, which came together under the brand name of ‘The Indian Ocean Vanilla Islands’.

More feedback from incensed tourism stakeholders, several of them now ready to go public under their own name and organization, has allowed to follow up yet more on this unsavoury story, which appears to drag Mauritius into isolation from her neighbours all of whom full heartedly stand behind the Vanilla Island concept and have embraced it to promote their own keynote events across the year.

One of Mauritius most read newspapers started the week with a article on tourism entitled ‘Tourism: Mauritius is overtaken by the region’. Karen Walter of the newspaper presented for all to see the state of affairs of the Mauritian Tourism Industry. This article comes as the Ministry of Tourism is getting ready, we are told from the Mauritius Hotel and Tourism enterprises, to seek the Government’s approval to move the island out of the Indian Ocean Vanilla Islands. ‘Will that also mean that the Indian Ocean Commission (COI) and the Indian Ocean Rim (IOR) will be asked to move their Headquarters out of Mauritius’ a resort General Manager asked in his reaction: ‘We have lost it completely. We built an airport to become the hub of the Indian Ocean, then we do not want to work with the Indian Ocean’ another Mauritian owner of a small hotel was quoted to have said. Both the COI and IOR are regional organisations where the island’s Anil Gayan, their Minister for Foreign Affairs speaks with a loud voice. Another tourism industry professional of Mauritius asked what Regional Cooperation can Mauritius speak about when Mootoosamy of the MTPA is pushing for isolation.

The L’Express Newspaper stated that now the Russian Media are set for the first time to cover the Carnival International de Victoria that will be taking place in Seychelles this coming April. This, as Mauritius still cannot decide if it is to be present at this regional event with all the other islands of the region or not. But it was Mauritius that was in the leadership under a former Minister of Tourism to form the Vanilla Islands to reposition the Indian Ocean as a tourism destination. L’Express Newspaper of Mauritius says that this was the aim of the Vanilla Islands and today countries such as Madagascar, South Africa and Sri Lanka amongst others are looking at benefiting from the spirit of togetherness of the region, Mauritius is playing the lone ranger if not envious spoiler all alone, and their participation at the Carnaval International de Victoria in the Seychelles this year still remains undecided, largely attributed to Mootoosamy’s personal vendetta against all things Seychelles and in particular their tourism and culture Minister Alain St. Ange. Here a source, wishing to remain unnamed, but close to MTPA, confirmed that ‘Mr. Karl hates St. Ange’s guts and is green with envy over his success, the success of the Seychelles islands as a destination and his personal success, rising to a ministerial post’.

La Reunion, Mayotte, Madagascar are all Vanilla Island members are joining as co-hosts of the carnival festival with the Seychelles and South Africa to organise the 04th Carnaval International de Victoria that is set for the month of April. Even Sri Lanka is showing interest to be associated with this new drive in the Indian Ocean according to Alain St.Ange, the Seychelles Minister for Tourism and Culture.

But an unanswered question remains, Mauritius that has been noticeably absent from past events of the Vanilla Islands, will they yet again be marked as absent at this coming event in Seychelles. L’Express Newspaper of Mauritius says that it is exactly this deliberate absence by Mauritius at events aimed at consolidation regional tourism that is so much regretted by Alain St.Ange, who is also the President of the Vanilla Islands. Karen Walter of the L’Express Newspaper confirms that she interviewed Minister St.Ange of the Seychelles by telephone on Wednesday 29th of January where he said that the Vanilla Islands Organisation aims to reposition the Indian Ocean Region as a key tourism destination. The Seychelles Minister also said that this cannot be achieved without unity and that Mauritius needed to be more involved in regional events. ‘If we are not working together as a united group our region will not be what it could succeed to be and it is our people from our respective islands who suffer as a result. Mauritius tourism must decide what it wants for itself and for the people of Mauritius’ the Minister is quoted as having said.

Nando Bodha, the former Minister responsible for Tourism of Mauritius agrees with the Seychelles Minister. Former Minister Bodha was one of those who launched the Vanilla Islands concept in 2010. ‘Mauritius is missing out on a rare opportunity’ former Minister Bodha of Mauritius said. It is reported in the L’Express Newspaper that the former minister went on to say that Mauritius as a country had lost ‘the leadership and the motivation it used to enjoy to make the Indian Ocean the centre for tourism’, a damning indictment for the present tourism leadership at MTPA and at the Ministry of Tourism.

Karl Braunecker, the Managing Director of Connections, a Destination Management Company in Mauritius takes, according to L’Express Newspaper a different twist to the Mauritius regional saga. Even though he says that he remains convinced that Mauritius must be present at the carnival in Seychelles as this would bring benefits for Mauritius. Mr Braunecker said that it was not a world event that will make the major difference in the island’s records ‘I am supporting a Vanilla Islands Carnival on a regional basis that is held each year in a different islands’ he said. ‘Mauritius is well positioned to become the aviation hub of the region. But we need to double our efforts in the promotion of twin destinations (Africa-Mauritius) on the Asia and Australia markets‘ Mr. Braunecker further said. This approach is supported by Alain St.Ange ‘Twin centre destinations remains a formula that works and attracts the Japanese, Chinese and South Americans. But for now the Seychelles strategy is to work to remain visible. This is the reason why the Seychellois hoteliers recorded a bumper year in 2013 with 230.272 arrivals and USD 343.3 million US Dollars in revenues. This is an increase of 11% over 2012’ Alain St.Ange, the Seychelles Minister said.

Karen Walter of the l’Express Newspaper reported that they had tried in vain to get a reaction from Minister Michael Sik Yuen, the Minister of Tourism of Mauritius but calls were not returned nor were other efforts responded to.

Watch this space as this saga is sure to get uglier as time goes on while isolationists and a few individuals driven by greed and envy still stand at the helm of Mauritius’ tourism bodies, ready to self-destruct if thing do not go their way.

FASTJET LAUNCHES LUSAKA FLIGHTS

FastJet Tanzania launched their latest and second international route when the inaugural flight took off on time at 10 a.m. from the Julius Nyerere International Airport in Dar es Salaam for Lusaka / Zambia.

The flight which took just under 2 ½ hours – in comparison going by bus, or worse by TAZARA rail connection, can take days at end – was according to a report received overnight welcomed with open arms at the Kenneth Kaunda International Airport in Lusaka, where a traditional water cannon salute awaited the taxiing plane while the passengers were greeted by traditional dancers and drummers.

One way tickets sell, EXCLUDING OF CHECKED BAGGAGE FEES, TAXES AND OTHER REGULATORY CHARGES INCLUDED IN THE TICKET PRICE OF OTHER AIRLINES on this route, as low as Tanzania Shillings 120.000 though this fare requires advance booking and payment and increases when bookings are done shortly prior to departure. FastJet is the second airline on the Dar to Lusaka route after Proflight from Zambia launched their operation a few months ago using a turboprop aircraft as opposed to FastJet’s Airbus A319.

NEW BRIDGE AND BORDER POST BETWEEN RWANDA AND TANZANIA

Rwanda and Eastern neighbours Tanzania are jointly progressing work on a new bridge over the Kagera River at Rusumo, which when completed in late 2014 will replace the old single lane bridge and allow larger cargo volumes to cross between the two member countries of the East African Community.

The old bridge, currently used to cross the river which forms the border between Rwanda and Tanzania, is now over 40 years old and has weight restrictions which makes the use of today’s modern long distance trucks impossible, a problem the new bridge will finally resolve.

The new bridge and custom posts, are financed in a tripartite way, with the bulk of the money coming from Japan while Tanzania and Rwanda are paying for the balance on equal shares.

Both new facilities are expected to be ready by late 2014 and when formally inaugurated will operate 24 hours a day, instead of the present 16 hours which limit the movement of cargo and people across the common border.

The bridge is part of a major road corridor from the port of Dar es Salaam to Kigali and beyond, also serving Burundi and Eastern Congo. It could not be established why the two customs offices would not be unified to serve as a single customs clearance point, as is now emerging for instance between Kenya and Uganda, perhaps a signal that Tanzania is not quite ready yet to fully embrace the opportunities which are provided for under the various EAC protocols in addition to bilateral agreements.

Inspite of the currently cooler relations between the two countries, triggered by suggestions from Tanzania last year that Rwanda ought to negotiate with the notorious killer militias holed up in the Eastern Congo, and upon the subsequent rejection by Kigali the expulsion of thousands of people from Western Tanzania into Rwanda for alleged immigration offenses, such key infrastructure projects appear to continue to roll out on schedule, offering a glimmer of hope that bilateral relations will eventually become warm and cordial again as they used to be.
 It is in particular the business community in Tanzania which is keen to improve trade and tourism links, mindful of the possibility to losing out to neighbours Kenya, which together with Uganda and Rwanda has formed a fast tracking alliance for several key projects which under the mainstream EAC have progressed too slowly if not faltered altogether, like the common tourist Visa and the unified customs clearance system, besides such mega projects as the standard gauge railway which is now under construction from Mombasa via Nairobi, through Uganda and on to Kigali.