Climate change has affected different regions of the world in numerous different ways. For Kenya’s Tsavo West National Park, it’s come in the form of a drought, seeing thousands of wild animals scrambling to quench their thirst as water supplies have dried up almost everywhere.
Having seen firsthand the devastation in his native homelands, Patrick Kilonzo Mwalua began dedicating his time and resources to helping the native wild animal populations in their search for water.
Patrick, who is actually a pea farmer for his local village, says that they “aren’t really receiving rain the way [they] used to.”
“From last year, from June, there was no rain completely. So I started giving animals water because I thought, ‘If I don’t do that, they will die.'”
In fact, the animals have come to recognize the sound of the water truck’s engine, traveling to meet him at the waterhole whenever they hear the truck heading their way. Patrick’s truck holds 3,000 gallons of water and he regularly sees elephants, buffalo, antelope, zebras and a slew of other animals running to find water.
Patrick travels to each of the region’s watering holes, which are often bone-dry, to fill them with water for the animals. He says that sometimes the animals don’t even wait for the truck to start expelling water into the holes, they simply crowd around the truck hoping to quench their thirst.
“Last night, I found 500 buffalo waiting at the water hole,” he says. “When I arrived they could smell the water. The buffalo were so keen and coming close to us. They started drinking water while I was standing there. They get so excited.”
When Patrick is not busy delivering water, he also runs the Tsavo Volunteers conservation project. He travels to local schools and educates children on the wildlife that share their home.
“I was born around here and grew up with wildlife and got a lot of passion about wildlife,” he says. “I decided to bring awareness to this so when they grow up they can protect their wildlife.”
Patrick’s efforts eventually caught the attention of three women in the United States who sought to help Patrick. Angie Brown, Cher Callaway and Tami Calliope all began to help Patrick in different ways.
Currently, Patrick has to rent several different water trucks to keep up his goal of saving the wild animals in his region. Callaway helped set up a GoFundMe page for Patrick that has raised quite a bit of money from folks all over the world. While they’ve raised over $18,000, the group says they are still in need of quite a bit of money.
“We have all spent a lot of time getting the word out about the animals Patrick is helping and the GoFundMe has been a real success,” Brown says. “He needs so much more money though.”
Eventually, they hope to buy Patrick his own truck.
h/t Arctic Fox