Everyone knows very well about Kenya that it is a water scarce country. The condition remains critical for the wildlife, in particular when there is only 2% availability of water in the total surface area. Due to this water scarcity, a lot of animals died due to thirst.
But when this generous man Patrick Kilonzo Mwalua came to know about it, he decided to do something to change the scenario. He desperately wanted to somehow quench the thirst of animals.
He hit upon the idea of driving gallons of water every evening to Tsavo West National Park, a place that had been through a massive drought.
He makes sure that animals live a peaceful life and doesn’t want them to suffer due to lack of water. He continued to repeat the process in cycles every evening and then the things got restored back to normal stage. Patrick Kilonzo Mwalua plies his trade as a pea farmer in a local Kenyan village during the day. In leisure time, he brings water to thirsty wild animals such as buffaloes, elephants, zebras and antelopes in drought-stricken country.
The animals that live there have got used to the routine way of life as they are seen waiting near the empty areas (where water will be provided) where Patrick unloads the water to keep the animals hydrated. Patrick delivers 3,000 gallons of water (11356.24 litres) in his supreme water tanker spending his personal money for the cause. Many animals have become his friends and they know him.
According to Patrick, the situation is so bad at the park that the animals would die of dehydration if he failed to bring the water. He told The Dodo: “We aren’t really receiving rain the way we used to. 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.'”
To do this work bearing all expenses is such a great thing. He himself pays the rent for the water truck that he has been using to load and unload water. Apart from that, he has been spending money on fuel and other expenses as well. Patrick said, “Last night, I found 500 buffalo waiting at the waterhole – 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. We are not expecting any rain until November and this has got us all very worried about losing many animals- including antelopes and elephants.”
“Some years back we lost many animals including elephants due to a prolonged drought. Elephants are becoming endangered from poaching and we need to save the ones we have left by providing water for them until the drought peril is over.
We have many elephants concentrating in very few water holes fighting to drink water and this has made the smaller elephants lack water. They become very thirsty and they end up spending a lot of time and energy walking very far distances with young ones searching for water.”
Highly inspired by Patrick’s hard work, grit and dedication, a group of American women came forward to set up a GoFundMe page to help Patrick with his work. Because of this great initiative, it has raised more than £133,000 towards the running of the project. They believe that one day, Patrick would have money to afford his own water truck.
