Tropic Air helicopters supported a humanitarian mission to distribute household supplies to 200 families in Kajiado County, who had been marooned by the heavy rains and floods. The initiative was carried out by the Kenya Red Cross Society and made possible by Airbus Foundation who support the work of disaster relief and emergency responders world wide.
Our H125 Airbus helicopter was used to help deliver the supplies, some of which were done by long line.
Southern Kenya
May 2020
No challenge too much! Heli-longlining a picnic breakfast onto the summit of Ol Lolokwe (also known as Ol Donyo Sabache) – Northern Kenya’s most striking landmark. This sacred mountain in Samburu rises 1000 feet from its base, with sheer cliffs and a summit with pockets of mist forests and giant cycads. Thanks to Lattitude Adventures Africa for the ground logistics and providing a picnic that will not be forgotten anytime soon!
Photos, Will Dyer, Feb 2020
Helicopter adventures and safaris in Kenya, and beyond, operating Airbus H125 and H130 helicopters.
It is believed there are only about 100 Dama Gazelles still existing in the wild, fragmented in four tiny populations in Chad and Niger. The Sahara Conservation Fund (SCF) is committed to saving this critically endangered species from extinction, and we are so thrilled to have been involved in their latest efforts on the ground. These have included the searching for and darting of three females and one male (from a different population) which will now be valuable to start a controlled breeding programme, within Chad’s Ouadi Rimé-Ouadi Achim Game Reserve. This vast protected area (78,000 km²) is solely dedicated to the conservation of desert species, and the dama will be nurtured from a basecamp here.
So, with great support from many organisations, government bodies and individuals, the main long term aim of this project, coordinated by SCF, is to recover some of the most genetically diverse dama individuals, to strengthen their genetics and give them a chance to repopulate the territories in which they used to thrive.
In the 1940’s dama roamed in abundance from Morocco to the Nile. But for the last 20 years, SCF have been actively monitoring their numbers and every survey has shown a worryingly diminishing population, with the known threats being the 1980’s conflict between Chad and Libya which caused a huge population crash, and more recently intense competition from pastoralism, which is the main way of life for the majority of the local communities.
The work of SCF is made possible with the backing of the Environment Agency – Abu Dhabi, who were key in the successful reintroduction of Scimitar-horned Oryx to Chad in 2014, and alongside the dama, are also fighting for the critically endangered Addax – a desert antelope characterised by its spectacular spiral horns.
Other key support includes technical input from Smithsonian in Washington for GPS collars, monitoring and fieldwork by Zoological Society of London (ZSL), and Fossil Rim Wildlife Center in Texas.
Photos: Hoho Andrew, 29th Jan 2020
Tropic Air Helicopters Ltd provided a platform for biologist and vet, to search vast areas, dart and transport the gazelle back to the base camp.
Milestone for Binny Oldenburg as she completes her final flight as a commercial pilot. A lifetime spent flying, Binny’s career started in Tanzania as a bush pilot, continued in UK, and her final years have been back here in Kenya.
For the last two years Binny has been flying our Cessna Caravans, and has been an integral and much appreciated member of our fixed wing team, with an immaculate flying record. She will now shift roles and take on an office position as Director of Flight Operations. Congratulations Binny!
The first time in a chopper for these Samburu warriors and elders! We stopped on the top of the Ndodo Mountains (Samburu) to drop our clients who wanted to walk from one end to the other. 12 Warriors and elders, came see meet us, intrigued by the helicopter, and we offered them a lift to the site where we were collecting our guests. It was just a few minutes, but they loved every moment. We posted this on our instagram feed, and got such a great response – mostly about the socks! @ Jamie Roberts
On 14th August at dawn, Tropic Air launched two helicopters onto the upper slopes of Mount Kenya, with 4,000 Rainbow Trout fingerlings on board, with the task of restocking the alpine lakes.
We dropped the tiny 4 month old fingerlings into several lakes including Fox Tarn, Lake Ellis and Lake Alice – all located at altitudes over 11,000 feet and up to 14,000 feet.
Coordinated by Ed Ghaui, donations were made by several individuals, conservationists and sports fishermen who pledged funds to buy the fingerlings and support the operation, to the value of USD 4,400.
For Tropic Air, this was the third time that we have donated helicopter time to help re-stock the mountain lakes with trout, and this latest operation cost no less than USD 7,000. Without the helicopter, it would be impossible to get the fingerlings from the Jitunze Trout Farm (located near Chaka – Nyeri county) to the lakes within their 6 hour bag-survival time. We would like to thank Jitunze for their professional approach to bagging and delivering the fingerlings to Nanyuki Airfield – a task that commenced at 4am!
Last but not least THANK YOU to everyone who supported this exciting re-stocking mission, and we look forward to many happy fly fishing days ahead!
