Community Ranger News

Time for another Conservation Program update from the Maasai Wilderness Conservation Trust!  This week we'd like to share our pride at some of the recent accomplishments of our Community Rangers team and their recent activities.  It's been a great few months for the Ranger program and we're excited for all the great work they've been doing.

Head Ranger Muterian Ntanin leads his fellow commanders on parade at Manyani.

First a big congratulations to our Head Ranger, Operations Commander Muterian Ntanin.  Muterian recently completed his Company Commanders Training Course at the Kenya Wildlife Services Law Enforcement Academy in Manyani.  It's an honor just to be selected to participate in the training course, but Muterian not only did that but finished #3 in a class of 28 trainees.  The skills and leadership training he received at Manyani are invaluable, and his accomplishments and leadership have already inspired the rest of our Rangers to work hard and continue to improve.

A unit of MWCT Community Rangers standing proud at attention.

Our Rangers have also been increasing their patrol distances and making arrests more frequently, both of which are instrumental in deterring illegal activity around the area.  Our Rangers recently rescued an elephant from poachers and arrested three of them; later in the week they arrested four more poachers for illegally killing animals for sale as bush meat.  These arrested poachers are turned over to the Kenya Wildlife Services authorities, where they will face jail sentences and fine that were recently made much stiffer by the Kenyan parliament.  

The Gordon family from Chicago visited the Trust and brought vital supply donations.

Finally, we want to stress again the importance of MWCT's relationship with tourism partner Campi ya Kanzi to helping our programs grow and succeed.  Recently the Gordon family, tourists on holiday at Campi ya Kanzi, brought with them assorted supplies to donate to our Rangers, including two pairs of binoculars and a camera.  These donations are essential to the program's success; other needed items include GPS units, backpacks, water bottles, and rechargeable batteries.

An Inspiring Elephant Story

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.  

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.

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. 

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.

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.

Health Update - Outreaches and Visitors!

It's been a good month for the Health Program, with continued outreaches and education about the aims of our program aimed at helping the Maasai community understand how the Maasai Wilderness Conservation Trust functions and the different services available through our programs.

Lena and Sam prepare to see patients during a recent Health outreach.

We've also been thrilled to host a very important visitor for two weeks -- MWCT Development Coordinator  Kira Seibert was visiting from the United States!  As our lead publicity and development coordinator in America, this visit allowed her to get a much more personal, in-depth understanding of the aims and activities of the Trust.  After three weeks of Health outreaches, safaris, hikes in the Chyulus, meetings with Community Rangers, and much more she didn't even want to leave!

Kira seeing the Conservation Program's work close at hand.

This month in Oltiasika we also practiced some new techniques aimed at maximizing our impact in the short time we have available in each small community.  In addition to the regular seeing of patients by Sam and Felix, Lena spoke with Maasai about the importance of family planning  options and techniques while they were standing in line.  Furthermore, we're developing a plan to expand our Health outreach program by rotating our nurses around to the various dispensaries for a few days at a time, rather than just one or two days per month.  All of these improvements are designed to use MWCT's resources in more effective and efficient ways.

A child is examined during on of MWCT's Health outreaches.

Maasai Warrior Ageset Graduation Celebration

In early May MWCT had the great honor of witnessing a truly rare Maasai celebration, one that occurs only once every 15-18 years -- the graduation of a new age set into warriorhood.  The age set is a unique social structure found across East Africa in which Maasai of a similar age are grouped together.  They begin their warrior training together, and this year the most recent generation is graduating into morani.

A warrior carries the beautiful ceremonial horn that provided accompaniment to the singing and dancing.

The cerebration and ceremony last for four days, but we witnessed a special portion near the beginning in which the new warriors leave their previous boma (collection of households) and construct a new boma to live in for the duration of the ceremony.  There is also a ritual ceremony involving four white female cattle and one black male cow, seen in the photo below.

Warriors gather around the ceremonial cattle in the shadow of Kilimanjaro. 

After a short dance at the old boma the entire group walked around two kilometers to the new site, herding the five ceremonial calves and carrying the warrior group's flagpole.  This was followed by much singing and dancing by the warriors, which was quite the amazing spectacle.  The final part of the day's celebration involved starting a fire to signify the commencement of building the new boma.

Health Coordinator Lena Koh with Anne, a Maasai woman who does a lot of translating for the Trust.

In the end it was an amazing day, and one that almost no outsiders have ever been allowed to witness.  It is a testament to the partnership MWCT has built with the Maasai community of Kuku Group Ranch that we were allowed to view and record parts of the ceremony; we are very thankful for this.  Events like these are exactly the type of cultural heritage we're trying to help preserve, and it was gratifying to see it on such beautiful display.

Warriors gather around to start a fire at the new boma site.

MWCT Community Meeting

In late April MWCT hosted a meeting for all of its employees with the purpose of making sure everyone understands the aims and goals of MWCT's programs, how everyone is helping achieve these goals, and how it affects their communities.  Because we have a large number of employees and their individual tasks are often quite dissociated from the work of others in the Trust, we realized a meeting like this would be an excellent reminder of everything the Trust is accomplishing throughout the Maasai community.

All-employee meeting held in an Iltilal Village meeting hall.

Despite intense flooding due to heavy rains more than 50% of MWCT's 230 employees made it to the meeting in Iltilal Village, so it was a great success in that regard.  We began with short presentations on the Conservation, Health, and Education programs, and then opened the floor up for questions and comments.  Finally several community members told stories about how important the Trust was in their lives, and about the need to come together and be supportive of MWCT's activities.

Health outreaches like this one are one of many ways the Maasai benefit from MWCT's work.

The meeting was a great success because it allowed employees to get a true sense of the larger organization they are a part of, and to see the wide variety of ways the Trust is involved in the Maasai community on Kuku.  When our employees realize they are part of a wider group all working to improve the lives of the Maasai, they can travel home and spread this news to the rest of the Maasai.  Because it was such a good success, it was agreed we would hold a similar meeting every spring.

The kids at Kanzi Primary School also appreciate everything MWCT does!

Health Update - Donated Supplies, Langata, and More

MWCT's Health Program has been continuing its good work of late, with several exciting new developments.  Some of the best news we received recently was the donation of a large number of medical supplies!  Health Coordinator Lena Koh visited Toronto's Sunnybrook Hospital while on holiday and spoke with officials in the biomedical engineering department about MWCT's mission, and they were happy to help in any way they could.

Assorted of donated medical supplies from Sunnybrook Hospital's Biomedical Engineering Department in New York.

Sunnybrook was extremely generous, offering MWCT anything we desired from their surplus and misordered equipment.  Lena brought back a full suitcase of much-needed supplies, including surgical instruments and trays, stethoscopes, resuscitators, scalpels, speculums, nebulizers, wound dressings, hand sanitizer, gloves, and more.  Finally, the hospital offered to continue their aid in the future, and we will be receiving more shipments of these extremely needed items.

Lena discussing a collaboration with MWCT's Health Program with employees at Sunnybrook Hospital.

In other news, our new staff member at the Langata Dispensary has continued to expand the clinic's services since he began working earlier this year.  As a Clinical Officer, Wanyama sees patients with varying complaints, offers vaccines to children from the area, assists with outreaches by MWCT's Health team, and much more.  In only a couple months of work he has already helped the government nurse provide much more care than in past quarters, and we're excited to have him aboard as part of the MWCT team.

Support Yoga, Support MWCT!

MWCT is proud to announce a new partnership with a wonderful organization, Moksha Yoga.  Internationally known as the leading North American collective of accessible, socially and ecologically conscious hot yoga studios, Moksha just recently began it's third annual Grow Your Yoga challenge to bring together the global yoga community, celebrate and encourage life and vitality, and raise funds for a worthy cause.

Moksha is doing great things, and the Maasai Wilderness Conservation Trust couldn't be more excited to be the organization they've chosen to donate this year's funds to.  Over the next month Moksha is aiming to raise a total of $100,000 for MWCT while at the same time helping people live a healthier lifestyle - what a great combo!  See Edward talk more about Grow Your Yoga in this great video.

The Grow Your Yoga campaign (known in past years as Living Your Moksha) kicked off May 1st and will continue until May 30th -- it's not too late to get involved!  Just check the page for weekly updates, challenges, chances to win prizes, videos, inspiring stories, and much more.