- KITENGELA AREA CONSERVATION AREA ON 2/2/2025.
The Kitengela conservancies count with Nairobi National Park on the same date to determine the number of wildlife species inside and outside the park. On the second of February, the TWF team, together with the 8 scouts of the area and volunteers, conducted a wildlife census for the 8 blocks of this triangle. Many species were observed, including Wildebeest, Masai giraffe, Zebras, and Grant’s gazelle.
- PRE-GAME COUNT TRAINING.
Pre-game count training was conducted in the following conservancies:
We had a refresher on wildlife data collection on Earth Ranger. I created Earth Ranger log-ins and did a demo data entry with them. This is to prep them for the count day. Here is a summary of what was done.
| Date | Conservancy | No. of scouts trained | No of blocks | Notes. |
| 4/2/2025 | ILRI -Kapiti | 8 scouts 2 managers | 10 | The blocks were allocated to the driver and recorders. |
| 4/2/2025 | Lisa | 2 Scouts 1 Manager | 3 Blocks | Did a training and afterwards Merab and Mr. Mbithi had a game count planning meeting. |
| 5/2/25 | Malili and New Astra | Malili-2 Astra-3 | 2 3 | All the scouts were trained. |
| 5/2/25 | KWS outpost | KWS rangers | Those trained covered the Portland and Mwambi conservancies | |
| 6/2/25 | Emarti | 3 | 3 | Training included the allocation of the blocks. |
| 7/2/25 | KWS Konza station | 2 KWS Rangers | 1 | They covered Konza City |
| 7/2/2025 | Machakos Ranching | 3 Scouts 1 Manager | 5 Blocks | Redefined the blocks and allocated the recorders. Did training for the recorders. |
| 7/2/2025 | Maanzoni, Olosira and Swara | I created logins for the Few scouts who did not have Earth Ranger. | Made sure all conservancies were set for the count. Coordinated the volunteers coming for the count |
- GAME COUNT DAY 8/2/2025.
We had volunteers from the following organizations joining us for the count.
- TNC
- KWCA
- WRTI
- ANAW
- KWS Machakos
- Nature Kenya
- National Museums of Kenya Group
- County Government of Makueni
- County Government of Kitui
- Friends of Athi Kapiti (individual volunteers who help us do the count)
The count started at around 7 and each conservancy is divided into blocks where each block has one vehicle comprising of a driver, recorder and several spotters. The data collected was recorded on Earth Ranger and a manual data sheet. After all submission the data is tallied and a report is generated. Here is a summary of how each conservancy did their count;
| Conservancy | No. of Blocks | No. of Vehicles | No. of scouts | No. of participants |
| ILRI Kapiti | 10 | 10 | 10 | 65 |
| Lisa | 2 | 2 | 2 | 7 |
| New Astra | 2 | 2 | 4 scouts 1 Kws ranger | 8 |
| Emarti | 3 | 3 Motorbikes | 3 | 3 |
| Malili konza area | 1 | 1 | 1 scout 1 KWS | 3 |
| Konza City | 1 | 1 | 1 scout 1kws ranger | 3 |
| Machakos Ranching | 5 | 5 | 5 scouts | 20, Volunteers, TNC team |
| Swara | 4 | 4 | 8 | 14 |
| Lukenya Hills | 3 | 3 | 3 | 12. Two volunteer team from Nature Kenya |
| Lukenya Wildlife | 3 | 3 | 3 | 3 plus the Kitui group. |
| Maanzoni | 5 | 5 | 8 | 16 |
| Mwambi | 1 | 1 | 2 KWS rangers | 4 ANAW plus 2 KWS. |
| Portland | 2 | 2 | 4 KWS scouts | 4 WRTI team plus 4 KWS rangers |
After the count the Participants assembled at Stoni Athi Grill for a meet and great, Lunch and networking.
CONCLUSION.
The count was a success gathering lot of volunteers from different organizations. All the conservancies were well counted and the data was well received. Analysis of the data is on going and once it is done a report will be done and shared.
Prepared by:
Merab Eliezer Nasimiyu.
AKWCA Secretariat.
28/02/2025.
PHOTOS.
Figure 1 TNC Team
