North eastern, the third largest province in Kenya, is mainly characterized by arid climatic conditions with an erratic rainfall of less than 250mm a year. The area is mainly inhabited by Somalis, who rear livestock as their main economic activity.
Garissa district, the headquarters of the region represents one of the most degraded ecosystems threatened by desertification, biodiversity loss, deforestation and fuel wood shortages. the reasons include the prolonged shifta wars, livestock- wildlife conflict and the influxes of refugees and their livestock from the neighboring Somalia.
However, the vast district is historically home for large mammals including elephants, the endangered rhinos, buffaloes and finally the big cats. Older people still vividly remember how they had some rough time with these animals. Other than the big cats (Lions, Leopards, Cheetahs) most of these animals have disappeared, thanks to the illigal trade in trophies (tusks and horns) in the 70s. However, due to recent improvement in security in the province,elephants have reportedly returned to garissa which used to be a migratory corridor connecting the Tsavo and Kora ecosystems to the grater Somalia ecosystem.
Specific sightings have been reported in Bura division of Garissa district in past two years. According to the area Kenya Wildlife Service Honorary Warden Mr. Hassan Sheikh Ali, who recently encountered a breeding herd of 14, with their calves in Jambele area, south of Garissa, the elephants have invaded farms in the area and destroyed mango trees.
The animals have also been seen in Modika, Balambala, Balich and Bananey, in north of the district.The big question is how will these elephants be accommodated by the local pastoralists/ farmers who have not had to deal with any since late 70s, when elephant poaching was at its peak?
Historical corridors and water access points have been blocked in the recent past, and this could be a source of new battle between the destructive beast and the people. Too many people in Garissa view the return of elephants as a disaster in the making and they may not be supportive of the government conservations goals.
Ali A Hussein

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Dear frieinds. This post is just to inform you that Tana river is the only source of water around garissa district in kenya greatly defining population distribution pattern. The 440-mile Tana River is the longest river in Kenya, rising in the Aberdare Mountains to the west of Nyeri. Initially it runs east before turning south round the Mount Kenya massif. The river then turns into the Masinga and Kiambere Reservoirs created by the Kindaruma dams. Below the dam the river turns north and flows the north-south boundary between the Meru and North Kitui and Bisanadi, Kora and Rahole National Reserves providing the much needed water support to all these dryland biodiversity pockets. In the reserves the river turns east, and then south east. It passes through the towns of Garissa, Hola and Garsen before entering the Indian Ocean at Ungwana Bay. The sanctuary is located along the eastern side of the river near garissa and the giraffes acess it through marked watering corridors. However due emerging river bank farming along the flood plains of the River farmers continue to block these ancestral routes for accessing the river by expandings their farmlamds. Nevertheless, in collaboration with government agencies we are trying to reach out to these farmers not to block the access points. Efforts are also underway to sensitise the farmers to tolerate the presence of wildlife around their farmlands.

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Happy new year to all of you out there. we are doing well, just adjusting to the post election violence in our country, but thinks have normalised. As a way of creating awareness among school children the Giraffe sanctuary committee in collaboration with wildlife clubs of kenya (WCK) representatives at the district level, are intending to start awareness programmes for school children. This will take in the form of the Talks, lectures, video shows, tree planting activities, seminars, clean up activities and conservation rallies. We actually intending to involve other stakeholders to raise some fund for these activities.We will be very much assisted by Mr. Mohamed Ahmed who is the WCK representative for the region. We had along discussion moments with mr. Mohamed and agreed on how to share tasks. The picture above shows one of our discusion meetings at the sanctuary, on the righthand side is Mr. mohamed, myself on the left with the sanctaury chairman at the centre.

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