Hello from the
Maasai Wilderness Conservation Trust Headquarters in the bush! We have a few recent stories about animals on the ranch and MWCT's
Conservation Program, including this great news. In mid-July we had an experience which was incredibly inspiring and heartening, and which showed that the Maasai community has really bought into our conservation efforts.
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| Elephants crossing a road on Kuku Group Ranch in front of a Campi ya Kanzi safari car. |
The story begins on a slightly sad note, which is that one of the older wild elephants on the ranch took ill and died. In one sense this is sad, but on the other hand it means it was able to live a long, full life and die of natural causes - an admirable fate for any large African mammal in these trying times of poaching. The elephant was noticed by two young Maasai boys herding cattle; they alerted their fathers that an elephant had died.
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| MWCT's Community Rangers holding the ivory tusks after careful removal. |
On receiving this news, the fathers came straight to MWCT Headquarters and notified our Conservation Coordinators of the death. This was particularly wonderful, as the fathers could just as easily have gone to harvest the ivory and sell it to poachers for a substantial fee. Upon hearing about the elephant, we dispatched several of our Community Rangers to remove the tusks and give them to Kenya Wildlife Services as required by law, so as to keep the ivory away from poachers and off the black market that has fueled so many elephant kills in recent decades.
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| MWCT Assistant Commander Narua gives one of the boys two shukas a reward for his help. |
In return for their commendable actions, we held a ceremony at the local school in which we honored the actions of the shepherd boys and their fathers in front of their peers. One of the boys, a student, received a full new school uniform, and the other received two new
shukas to wear around the village and while herding. Our Head Ranger Muterian also spoke with the other students about how important their tips can be, as most schoolchildren act as herders and roam the bush during weekends and school holidays.
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| MWCT Head Ranger Muterian speaks to students on the importance of conservation and MWCT. |
It was truly a moving occasion to see the Maasai community take such pride in doing the right thing to conserve their natural resources and biodiversity, especially when it would have been so easy to sell the information to poachers. Events like these show that MWCT is truly making a difference in the lives of the Maasai and making substantial progress in helping locals to view their animals and land as valuable treasures.
