At 41 years old, Patrick Mwalua is a pea farmer and conservationist who founded Tsavo Volunteers, an operation that specializes in delivering water to regions in southern Kenya, where rainfall is scarce and injurious to animals located in Tsavo West National Park.
Tsavo is comprised of two distinct parks, Tsavo East and Tsavo West National Park, both located in Mombasa. Tsavo is almost 22,000 kilometers; the biggest national park in Kenya and also one of the largest in the world. Tsavo East National Park is one of the oldest parks located South East of Kenya. It is faintly larger and is predominantly flat with dry plains across where the Galana River streams. Tsavo West National Park is significantly mountainous and more saturated that its parallel, with the inclusion of its swamps.
Patrick Mwalua personally delivers over 10,000 liters of water, driving his water truck hundreds upon hundreds of kilometers weekly, to the park’s parched watering holes. Mwalua states “(Tsavo isn’t) really receiving rain the way we used to… [since June last year] there has been no rain [at all]. So I started giving animals water because I thought [that] if I don’t, they will die.” The masses of animals are left to exert much of their necessary energy, traveling far distances to locate active watering holes. In many of their voyages, they encounter dangerous situations with other predators. Mwalua says the elephants are one of his bigger concerns, as the elephants’ journeys include areas where they might be at more risk to poaching. Elephants are being poached in large quantities and they are killed every year, mainly for their ivory tusks. The ivory is generally used for engraving jewelry and other products that large consumers look indulge on. Mwalua also says that “Elephants are becoming endangered and we need to save the ones we have left by providing water for them until the drought peril is over.”
Many international tourists and supporters for his cause have taken a liking for his humanitarian work. From the positive feedback, Mwalua has taken his project to a global scale as he started a Go Fund ME crowdfunding page (https://www.gofundme.com/tsavoelephantguardian) that aids the coasts of water transportation and expansion of the many conservation awareness programs that he offers to schools in the Tsavo region.
Mwalua shares his passion for wildlife and his story through the effective use of online social media. Interacting with thousands of people who have contributed from all over the globe, he keeps them updated with the progress of the project.
For more information and updates on the Tsavo Volunteers project, visit Mwalua’s Facebook page. https://www.facebook.com/patrick.mwalua
