I flew out of Bangui as soon as it was light. I was headed to Marsabit, Kenya, which was right next to one of the National Parks. Like Costa Rica that realized their land was more valuable pulling in tourists, Kenya has long known that tourism would be their most valuable asset. The country has numerous National Parks protecting their unique animal heritage.
Marsabit Park is famous for elephants and birds. I was headed for the town which is just north of the park.
I was tired and hot by the time I was close to Marsabit. I turned the radio to the local frequency while monitoring the emergency channel. As soon as I changed it I heard excited voices and what sounded like gunfire. I broadcast, “Do you require assistance?”
A quick note for those who haven’t read my earlier trip around the world. I had gotten a permit from the ATB to reinstall the machine guns on my plane. Since the permit was issued to me, I had transferred the guns to this plane when I traded planes. So I had six machine guns all loaded. The world is a dangerous place.
An excited voice came back, “Yes, yes! They are shooting at us from the hill; they are going to kill all of us!”
“Coordinates please,” I said.
A different voice came back, this one I could hear the engine and prop in the background, gave me coordinates. I put them in the GPS and headed off that way. I was over the Park in a few minutes. The coordinates were in the northern part of the Park! I came back on the radio and told them I was 10 miles out and asked for the situation. The radio from the plane came back and said, “Poachers have a team of rangers under fire. They are on a hilltop and firing down with automatic weapons on the rangers.”
“Can you spot them?” I asked.
“No, I don’t have anything,” he said.
I saw a small plane circling ahead. As I came up I could see a hill that he was circling around. I came around and tried to scope out the situation. “Where specifically are they?”
The other pilot came back, “See the three tall trees?”
“Roger.”
“They are right below them spread out maybe thirty meters along the crest.”
Well that was easy to see. I jacked rounds into the machine guns and came around to make a pass in line with the crest. As I came in I started out low of the position and walked the guns over the position of the poachers. The hilltop turned into clouds of dust. Those fifty caliber bullets were so powerful that every impact threw a fountain of dirt into the air like a string of explosions. I pulled out and flew out to see what happened. As the dust blew away on the wind, I saw a few guys running as if their feet were on fire away from the hilltop. Well, they had started the fight. I came around and lined up. About 1,600 meters out I fired using the rudder to spread out the rounds. The area around the poachers turned into a solid cloud of dust. I pulled out and circled around. As the dust cleared there was no one moving.
The small Ranger plane came over and circled too. The radio was full of talk going back and forth ground to air. “Can you return with me? We have an airstrip in the park.”
I couldn’t exactly follow him since he was going about 85 and I was going over two hundred. But I did circle around him and maybe ten miles away, there was a flat strip. He set down easily. Luckily, the Mustang had been designed for unimproved grass strips. I set down and taxied over to the other plane. The pilot jumped out and several other rangers came out of the tents. As I shut down, they gathered around. The pilot told them what had happened. By the time I jumped off the wing I was being congratulated and thanked.
The Rangers who had been under fire came in an hour later and I really got thanked. I asked one of the Rangers who spoke good English who the poachers were. It turned out they were Somalis. I couldn’t believe it! Somalis? It seems that things had now gotten so bad in Somalia that the bad guys were using the weapons the war lords gave them to kill each other to come over the border and kill elephants for the tusks. The world would be a better place if Somalia would just fall in the ocean and wash the whole place clean of Somalis.
I was invited to dinner with the Rangers. Over dinner I said I was interested in the elephants. They talked and invited me to stay tomorrow and they would take me out to see the elephants. They also asked about fuel. I told them that I still had plenty to make it to Mombassa. I would have over an hour's fuel plus reserve.
I joined them for dinner and the talk over dinner was largely about how this little dust up might discourage the Somali poachers. The Rangers sure hoped so since they were out gunned by the Somalis. The Rangers had rifles to protect them from the wildlife but the Somali gangs came over with automatic weapons. I slept in one of their tents. The next morning, I jumped in a truck with three guys and off we went up onto the plateau in the park. I stood in the back since the ride was too rough to try sitting. A couple hours out we slowed. I heard the trumpeting of an elephant. Soon, the sound of the herd came clearly. They were grazing our way. One, then another and another elephant came by the truck. Having seen elephants in zoos, I wasn’t shocked by the size, but it was different knowing these elephants weren’t restrained by a ditch or bars. They could easily attack the truck. They ambled by. A couple of the largest kept an eye on the truck as the herd went by. But they knew the Rangers truck wasn’t dangerous.
At one point, the female who ran the herd came over to the truck. The Rangers looked a little worried so I got very worried. She pawed up some dirt and took two steps towards the truck in a mock charge. I was looking for someplace to hide when she turned away and took off after the herd.
The rangers took me out onto the plateau and we saw lots of gazelles. We found one of the lakes and it was home to all sorts of birds. As we drove along the shore, it seemed the sky was filled with birds.
After the lake, we drove back to the ranger’s camp and had dinner. We sat around and they told me stories of the Park. Several were about how since Somalia had gone to ruin, they had trouble with the poachers. These guys were all aware that the future of Kenya was dependant on eco-tourism and keeping elephants alive was imperative to that future. I got thanked again for helping them out. I turned in early as I wanted to get away early.
Go back to the Table of Contents
Copyright Rod O'Steele © 2009