Kuku Group Ranch lies in the heart of the Amboseli-Tsavo ecosystem, and covers 1133km squared. It is an important conservation area for
wildlife and
critical ecosystem services, protecting crucial water resources from Mount Kilimanjaro and the Chyulu Forest, which supports millions of people across Kenya for water needs.
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| Kuku Group Ranch location in Kenya |
Understanding
wildlife and
livestock distribution and abundance on Kuku Group Ranch (KGR), and being able to monitor trends and changes over time, is an important part of being able to develop appropriate
conservation management strategies. Therefore, aerial surveys were started on KGR in 2010 as part of a long term monitoring plan.
This will provide valuable information to enable the
monitoring of trends in the
distribution and
abundance of wildlife and livestock on KGR providing a basis for monitoring ecological changes and patterns of human use over time. A longterm
dataset will enable MWCT to monitor major
patterns of abundance and distribution of certain wildlife species in particular in relation to
habitat and
human presence and
disturbance. The results will provide information to identify areas of conservation, which will guide
conservation management.
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| The 2014 Game Count team after a very long day of hard work! |
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| Fuelling the aircraft mid-day |
In general, there has been an
increase in wildlife as well as livestock numbers over the past few years since the drought of 2009. The most abundant wildlife species found on Kuku Group Ranch during the aerial survey of 2013 was the Burchell's zebra, followed by gazelle, Maasai giraffe, and Impala. The results of this year's aerial survey will be compared with the previous years.
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