Former enemies unite to built the giraffe arch

Former enemies unite to built the giraffe arch

In Kenya, rising waters threatened the habitat of rare giraffes. Ancient enemies have therefore joined forces to move these huge animals, using a modern ark.

When an island in Lake Baringo, Kenya, flooded in late 2020, the eight Rothschild's giraffes they were home to were relocated. A team of rescuers transported them one by one, starting with a female named Asiwa, to a newly built sanctuary on the mainland, using a barge constructed from metal drums, steel beams and tarpaulins.

Not so long ago, peace between the Pokots and the Ilchamus seemed impossible. Settled on the shores of Lake Baringo, Kenya, these two communities had been fighting for decades over livestock, access to land and water. One of the most biodiverse regions of the country had become a barren battlefield.

Not so long ago, peace between the Pokots and the Ilchamus seemed impossible. Settled on the shores of Lake Baringo, Kenya, these two communities had been fighting for decades over livestock, access to land and water. One of the most biodiverse regions of the country had become a barren battlefield.

In 2006, the elders of the two tribal groups reached a truce. They decided to cooperate in order to restore the wildlife that their clashes had helped to destroy. First beneficiary: the Rothschild's giraffe, whose population is declining. Only about 2,000 remain in the wild, 800 of them in Kenya. The Rothschild's giraffe is also called Baringo's giraffe, because it once abounded around the lake of the same name. But this subspecies became extinct in the region after decades of conflict and poaching.

Eager to see these giraffes return to their native land, the Pokots and the Ilchamus took no more than a year to establish the community reserve of Ruko – 18,000 ha where they work together.

Once evacuated from a flood zone and acclimatized in an area of ​​1,800 ha, the giraffes will be able to live in a reserve ten times larger.

“It was not easy, admits Rebby Sebei, a member of the Pokote community who heads the Ruko reserve. But both sides wanted to change things. 

In 2011, the reserve welcomed its first group of Rothschild's giraffes. Eight animals transferred from other regions were settled on a peninsula in Lake Baringo, where protecting them from poachers was easy. The return of the giraffes has attracted tourists and boosted the local economy. The animals and their young born there have become "a symbol of peace and unity, and a source of income for the community," says Sebei.

Alas, after years of harmony, disaster has struck. Heavy rains flooded many areas of the Rift Valley, including Lake Baringo. By 2020, the lake's rising waters had already driven out more than 5,000 residents and destroyed schools, hospitals and homes. As for the giraffes, the 40 ha of their peninsula had become an island whose surface was rapidly shrinking. The animals found themselves trapped, starving for food, even when rangers brought it to them from the shore. Several adults and calves died as the water rose.

Asiwa, one of the last eight Rothschild giraffes, is guided to a barge bound for the mainland. Her rescuers fitted her with a blindfold and earplugs to reduce the stress of her journey.

Already struggling with a global pandemic and natural disaster, the Pokots and Ilchamus still set out to save the eight surviving giraffes. The best option, albeit complex and dangerous, seemed to be to get each animal on a barge, towed by boat to dry land. But safely loading a wild animal measuring at least 5.5 m and which can weigh almost as much as a small car on a barge is not an easy task.

Giraffes do not tolerate tranquillizers well – we have already seen sedated individuals choking on their saliva. And their physiology makes them vulnerable to neck or leg injuries.

The second giraffe rescued from the flooded island, a female named Pasaka, regains consciousness after being put to sleep. Tranquilizing a giraffe carries many risks, but rescuers in Pasaka say it was necessary to get it onto the barge and transport it to safety.

Using metal cans, steel beams and tarps, the Pokots and Ilchamus built a barge strong enough to carry the giraffes across. They also created an 1,800 ha sanctuary, protected from predators, inland, where the giraffes could acclimatize to their new environment.

The first giraffe chosen for transfer was a female named Asiwa. In 2020, she had been left alone most of the time, isolated from the rest of the herd after rising waters cut the island in two. Rescuers tried unsuccessfully to lure him onto the barge with mangoes and other treats.

They then decided to give her a tranquilizer, blindfold her and put her in a harness to guide her to the barge. A risky plan: in the event of a fall in the water, drowning was almost certain. When the tranquilizer arrow hit her, Asiwa ran away from the barge. She ended up collapsing "about 30cm from the water," recalls David O'Connor, president of the nonprofit Save Giraffes Now. We were very lucky. 

To rescue the giraffes, rescuers had to maneuver them onto a barge nicknamed the "Giraft". Here, the barge carrying the female named Asiwa is towed across Lake Baringo.

Once the giraffe was asleep, rescuers rushed to inject her with the tranquilizer antidote and put socks in her ears, a blindfold and a homemade harness.

When Asiwa got up, they guided her back to the barge – slowly at first, O'Connor says, but once she found her rhythm, "it was like walking the dog on a Sunday afternoon at the park ". When they got to the barge, the giraffe climbed on it right away. According to O'Connor, the passenger remained "perfectly calm" during the hour-long trip to the other side, where a crowd of Pokots and Ilchamus were waiting for her. She left the barge and entered the sanctuary to applause. “We were bathed in joy”, testifies Rebby Sebei.