News

Kora  
GAWPT has raised a donation to re-site and re-drill the water windmill pump in Asako village that was installed a couple of years ago. This will ensure a better supply of clean water for the villagers [link]

Mnazi and Buiku Secondary Schools Mnazi Secondary School and Buiku Secondary School have both received donations from GAWPT to build a classroom each.  Both schools are getting on with the building works [link]

Rhinos and dogs The new rhino calf born to Marina in July is a male.  Pete Morkel has been in Mkomazi to look at a wound on the back leg of one of the breeding females.  The wild dog pups are in good shape and we will start their vaccination schedule for rabies and canine distemper in October 2010 [link]

George Adamson's death remembered Kenya Wildlife services (KWS) organised a big event on 20th August to commemorate the 21st anniversary of George Adamson's death.  The event took place in Kora National Park with the main ceremony of the day being held at the graves of George and Terence Adamson. [more]

Supporters and infrastructure

Mkomazi camp headquarters

The past year has seen many fundraising trips abroad, Trust board meetings internationally and visits to the project by trustees and treasurers. Events have been held in the UK, Holland and the USA to raise the critical funds to keep the whole project in operation and we are grateful to everyone who has given their time to this massive undertaking.

In Tanzania, we were honored to welcome Rose Lugembe as a board member. A new Memorandum of Understanding was signed between the Trust, the Ministry of Natural Resources & Tourism and the Ministry of Finance. The Chairman, Trustees and Tony held meetings with the Director of Wildlife, Wildlife Division personnel and the Director General of National Parks to begin to establish the Trust’s position under the new bureaucracy.

Tony was awarded an OBE in the Queen’s Birthday Honours for services to wildlife in East Africa and we attended the investiture by HRH Prince Charles with Brigadier General Hashim Mbita, Bob Marshall Andrews and Andrew Mortimer. HRH Princess Michael of Kent, as Patron of GAWPT, kindly continues to give her support.

Representatives from the Board of Tanapa visited the project, as did the Regional Commissioner Kilimanjaro, Mohamedi Babu, and the District Commissioner Same, Ibrahimu Marwa.

Through TUSK, we were visited by the keepers from Longleat Safari Park and a film crew for the series Animal Park.

As always we would like to thank Mazao / Neumanns Coffee Group and Indigo Telecoms for sponsoring communications, as well as Bill Savoy, Ed and Liberty Zwick, Moritz and Hilla Borman, Mark Shanker, Pete Wakeham and Tim Peet for general funding.

None of our work would be possible without the extraordinary commitment and loyalty of our Tanzanian staff, under Elisaria Nnko. Their reputation as one of the most hard-working and professional teams in wildlife conservation is fully deserved. They carry the mantle and responsibility of this project with integrity and determination and we are privileged to work alongside them:

• Elisaria Nnko – Operations Manager
• Wilfred Ayo – Workshop / Technical Manager
• Semu Pallangyo – Rhino Sanctuary Manager
• Philbert Shindano – i/c Rhino Sanctuary Security
• Simeon Tumbo – Rhino Sanctuary Fence Maintenance Manager
• Penieli Elia and Evans Goodlack – Rhino Sanctuary Tracking Team Managers
• Sangito Lema – Wild Dog Head Keeper

The next few years will bring with them serious challenges. The Trust has a wide range of disciplines to carry out encompassing habitat restoration, infrastructural development, the expansion of the rhino sanctuary both in terms of rhino numbers and area, breeding and reintroduction of wild dogs and the continuation of outreach work.

Needless to say, the project will always need increasing financial support so we look forward to maintaining close contacts with all those individuals and organizations who believe in the project as well as developing new funding sources.