by Mary Wykstra

Nataanywe really can move! When we collared her, we believed that she was a cheetah who is not commonly found in the park. She was young and she did not have a spot pattern that we have seen before. We tracked and downloaded her collar after about a week and found that she had pretty much covered the whole of Samburu reserve. The cluster of points seem to be her location after she makes a kill.

by Mary Wykstra

Action for Cheetahs in Kenya needs your help. Visit our web site - actionforcheetahs.org.

To make a donation, please visit Project Survival – http://www.cathaven.com/giftshop.htm

by Mary Wykstra

I am so proud of my dog - Ginger! And her new trainer - Chifuyu!

The two of them spent a month in training with KK Security perfecting Ginger's skills in finding cheetah scat (faeces). Chif had to be trained in giving commands and rewards that would keep Ginger motivated. Ginger had to be trained in being focused on the poo!

while i will miss my companion for the last three years, it is truely Ginger's calling. She loves being in the field, loves sleeping in the bush and loves the long car rides that will take her throughout the study area in search of cheetah scat.

by Victoria Yu and Mary Wykstra

Action for Cheetahs in Kenya needs your help. Visit our web site - actionforcheetahs.org.

To make a donation, please visit Project Survival – http://www.cathaven.com/giftshop.htm

In February 2007, attendees at workshops in Mpala Research Center in Laikipia cranked out the East African Wild Dog and Cheetah Strategic Plan, a program that lays out the strategies for protecting these endangered animals. Conservation experts from Kenya, Uganda, South Sudan, Ethiopia, and Tanzania worked together to draft the Regional plan which was published in 2008.

by Cosmas Wambua

Starting December 2009, Action for Cheetahs in Kenya (ACK) staff are conducting walking point and distance sampling transects in four farms in our study area to estimate densities of various herbivore species and relative abundance indices of carnivore species.

by Mary Wykstra

While I was in the US, Chifuyu Beckett was finalizing the details of her return to Kenya. During the last year, she had been fundraising for her PhD and settling her own affairs to prepare for her three year PhD work. Chifuyu arrived a week after me - in November, and since that time she has purchased a vehicle, interviewed potential assistants, completed training Ginger (poop sniffer dog extraordinaire), and finalized many of the details for initiating her work.

She is now starting her new year with most of the pieces in place.

Her research has three primary goals:

by Mary Wykstra

I have met a lot of amazing people in my life. 2009 was a year of giving me a clue that I need to get fit!

by Mary Wykstra

Since March 2008 we have worked with partners in the Samburu region to better understand the issues facing cheetahs in these northern districts. In August 2008 I received authorization from the Samburu and Isiolo County Councils and initiated a cheetah monitoring programme in collaboration with the Ewaso Tracking Project. In 2009 I received permission to collar four cheetahs in the region, the first of which would be from within the Reserves (Samburu and Buffalo Springs).

by Mary Wykstra

Last year we planted trees and held a contest between schools. Part of our tree planting commitment was to cattle dip committees. The trees we delivered are a part of a pledge from EcoSys Action to plant trees in Kenya. The good news is that we have assisted in the planting of over 3000 trees to date. And both good and bad, we had a real problem finding indiginous trees to deliver this year.

While I was in the US I received word that rains had started in the Salama area. I was soooo very excited when I arrived at the camp to see it beginning to turn green. Through November and into January the rains continued randomly. \

In early December it rained a bit nearly every day. We delivered trees to the Marwa Cattle Dip and spent most of the day in the mud - what a welcome! After a month of rain, these trees are all surviving and will make the area spectacular.