Surviving drought and the lessons learnt: catching up with the Timau River Project
We spoke to Patrick gatamu, trp manager, to learn more about the work of the project and how they goals have shifted during the drought.
the safari series has been investing our profits into timau river project for over a year as a part of our ‘give a ccr:ap’ framework. by 2050, the safari series aims to give away 100% of our profits.
TSS: Remind us (or for those reading about the work of TRP for the first time)… why was TRP founded?
TRP: The Timau River Project was founded in early 2020 after two people with a passion and interest in the Lolldaiga eco-system (one being TSS owner, Ed Hough) surveyed the conservancy and recogonised that the riverine forest on the southern boundary of the conservancy was, by far, the most threatened part of the landscape. This was because of Human-Wildlife Conflict (HWC), excessive and unregulated water offtakes, illegal grazing of grass by community livestock and huge amount of deforestation for firewood. The riverine forest is stunning and incredibly diverse in both flora and fauna and needs protecting for future generations. In light of this, TRP has four main objectives:
Creating jobs and improving livelihoods
Reducing Human Wildlife Conflict (particularly Human Elephant Conflict)
Restoring and conserving the riverine ecosystem
Sustainably managing river resources
TSS: What work is TRP doing on a daily basis?
TRP: Day to day, the two river scouts are patrolling the river from its source on Mt. Kenya right down to where it reaches the Nanyuki river. We split the river into the Upper Zone, Mid Zone and Lower Zone and make sure to visit and understand each zone on a regular basis. We interact with the communities that rely on the river for their needs - farming, domestic, livestock - and discuss with them what our work includes and how it can improve their lives. We also educate river users on the laws of using river water and help them to become more compliant to them.
While over 70% of the river users are smallscale, subsistence or domestic users their water usage is only 4.2% of the river’s water. During the drought it has really been bought to our attention that the commercial farms and community water projects, who only make up 5% of the river users are using, and abusing, as much as 58% of the river’s water.
TSS: Why is the river so important and how does each zone differ?
TRP: The river is a vital source of life for over 16,000 community members who rely on the river to survive. Much of the Timau river also touches conservation area (Lolldaiga Hills, Ole Naishu, Mt. Kenya) so it is also vital for wildlife who use it for migratory pathways and for water to drink. The river is also home to a number of water-based species such as birds, fish, crabs and the rare clawless otter. The Upper Zone is where the river leaves Mt. Kenya and is where the water is cleanest and the flow is the strongest. The Mid Zone is where the river is hammered the hardest as it flows past a number of commercial farms and community water projects that pump the river water and store it in vast dams. By the time the river reaches the Lower Zone, the river’s flow is weakest and also the most polluted - large farms are known to release chemical-treated water back into the river, as well as water mixed with fertiliser.
TSS: How has the drought changed TRP’s goals for the last 12 months?
TRP: The drought has really shown us how important the river is to so many different users, whether human or wildlife. During the drought we have been focusing on trying to keep the river stable and flowing and encouraging users to think about how to protect the river for the future. It has also shown us the disparity between users and how some users are abusing the river much more than we had ever imagined.
TSS: Now that the rain has come, what does the next 12 months look like for TRP?
TRP: Now that the river is flowing, we are educating users (especially community members) about the importance of storage and pumping the river during the times when it is legal to do so. Now that farmers are planting crops again, we are looking towards the growing season and the increase in HWC again - farmers have been asking for better fencing between conservation areas and farmland for decades and we are working to implement solutions that can protect both the farmer’s livelihood and the wildlife. We also hope to encourage farmers to use more modern farming techniques that will bring more yields with less inputs. As we look to the future, we will try to see how to improve the water usage by all users, especially commercial farms who are exporting our river water abroad in the form of vegetables and flowers.
Thanks for your time patrick and we look forward to supporting trp and it’s work well into the future. make sure to follow their work on the trp instagram page:
