Maasailand Preservation Trust
Background
The Maasailand Preservation Trust (MPT) has been operating since 1993 on the Imbirikani Group Ranch, which borders the Amboseli and Chyulu National Parks in South East Kenya. This 300,000 acre ranch is an integral part of the Tsavo/Amboseli ecosystem, which is a key area for wildlife including large herds of elephant, buffalo, wildebeest and other plains game.
Perhaps most significantly, on a thickly vegetated lava flow stretching from the Chyulu National Park into the Imbirikani Group Ranch, the last remaining wild Black rhino in Kenya can also be found. Up until the early 70’s, this area had one of the highest rhino density’s of anywhere in East Africa as it provided ideal habitat for the secretive Black rhino. However, poaching decimated its population and that pressure from poachers is still very much in evidence today.
The Trust started with just six community game scouts collecting snares. Today, MPT, which is sponsored by Tusk employs 42 game scouts, (six of them armed) who work on the vast Imbirikani Group Ranch. The Imbirikani Game Scouts have a dedicated rhino unit, which aims to secure the remaining population of approximately 12 animals. This team works closely with Kenya Wildlife Service (KWS), who have a team of 14 rangers tasked with securing the eastern side of the rhino range, which lies within the Chyulu National Park.
Wider Conservation
The Trust oversees the operations of the Amboseli Tsavo Game Scout Association (ATGA), which currently employs 92 game scouts working in the greater Amboseli/Tsavo region. In essence the Imbirikani Community Game Scout Programme has expanded its original sphere of influence from the Imbirikani Group Ranch (300,000 acres) and now leads the security and conservation for the five community owned group ranches that make up the 1.2 million acre wildlife dispersal area and corridor between the Amboseli, Tsavo and Chyulu Hills National Parks. Collectively the community game scouts have been responsible for making over 400 arrests and prosecutions, and destroying over 4,000 snares and hundreds of bows and arrows since their inception.
The Trust also works closely with the Kilimanjaro Lion Conservation Project (KLCP), which monitors the diminishing lion population in the region and aims to determine the mechanisms of predator-livestock conflict, working with the communities to encourage the coexistence between people, livestock and predators.
Tusk Trust Support
Tusk has funded the employment of game scouts in the area for sometime, but the charity’s most recent grant has allowed the Trust to purchase a Super Cub aircraft, which has had an enormous impact on the work of MPT. The aircraft serves as aerial support in anti poaching operations; conducts game counts; is able to transport MPT’s new tracker dog team (also donated by Tusk) across the whole region; track and monitor radio collared lion; allow the project managers to attend meetings in neighbouring regions and enables the Trust to reach and treat injured wildlife in good time.
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