Mount Kenya Three Peaks Challenge for the Horse Patrol Team

Conservation in Action – this phrase comes to mind when reading the latest initiative taken by the Mount Kenya Trust. Read on and find out what you can do to assist and support conservation efforts centred around the Mt. Kenya area!

Mount Kenya Three Peaks Challenge
In support of the Mount Kenya Horse Patrol Team
Please Support this cause!
At the end of this month and into early April members of the Mount Kenya Trust team and friends are going to be joined by the Kenya Wildlife Service (KWS) Mount Kenya National Park and Reserve’s Senior Warden and Chief Mountain Rescue Officer, and kindly and competently led by guides from African Ascents, in an attempt to summit the three peaks of Mount Kenya to raise funds for the Mount Kenya Horse Patrol Team.

The Mount Kenya Horse Patrol Team (HPT) was formed in late 2011 through a partnership between KWS and MKT, with key support and infrastructure donated from Kisima Farm and Tusk Trust. The team currently consists of five Community Wildlife Officers, employed locally from the farmlands bordering the protected area. These men ride a group of ten hardy Ethiopian ponies, which are well suited for high altitude conditions and rough terrain found on the mountain. The team currently operate in an area of northern moorlands that, before establishment of the HPT, was a hotspot of poaching and other illegal activity including hardwood logging. Since the HPT started to patrol this area, illegal activities within the area have reduced considerably – notably patrol data shows a 75 per cent decrease in poaching incidences between 2013 and 2015. The team also plays a key role in monitoring the elephants that use the area and seasonally migrate in and out of the reserve through the Mount Kenya Elephant Corridor.

The team undertaking the trek will consist of the following:

Edwin Kinyanjui – Senior Community Wildlife Officer at the Mount Kenya Trust
George Mwenda – Community Wildlife Officer for the Mount Kenya Trust
Gwili Gibbon – Programme Officer at the Mount Kenya Trust
Lorian Campbell Clause – Chief Fixed Wing Pilot at Tropic Air
Jamie Manuel – Security Officer at the Northern Rangelands Trust
Henry Van Der Does – Logistics Manager at Space For Giants

We will be joined below the main peaks by the following, who will be leading/joining us for the technical accent of Nelion and Batian:

Tom Gregory – African Ascents
Julian Wright – African Ascents
Michael Spencer – Remote Medical Kenya
Martin Dyer – Kisima Farm
Simon Gitau – KWS Senior Warden Mount Kenya
George Ombuki – KWS Chief Mountain Rescue Officer Mount Kenya
The Challenge
29th March
HPT Base to Crater Camp – relatively short but uphill walk through the tree line, accompanied by the Horse Patrol Team and other MKT staff members.

30th March
Crater Camp to Major’s Camp – long but beautiful walk through the northern moorlands, up towards the satellite peaks of Sendeyo and Terere. Camping at Major’s Camp in a spectacular bowl of rock.

31st March
Major’s Camp to Simba Tarn – steeper walk through glacial valleys, including the Hobley Valley, entering the alpine zone and camping at 4560m beside Lower Simba Tarn.

1st April
Simba Tarn to summit Lenana then down to Austrian Hut – an early start to summit Point Lenana (4,895m), the highest point reachable by foot, then on down to Austrian Hut where we will meet the rest of the team who will be joining us for the technical climb.

2nd April
Austrian Hut to summit Nelion/Batian and down to Mackinder’s Hut – starting before dawn to be at the bottom of the 450m rockface for first light. 5 to 8 hour climb to Nelion (5,188m) via the southwest ridge, then, weather and time depending, onward across the ‘Gates of the Mist’ to Batian (5,199m) and then down to Mackinder’s Camp.

3rd April
Mackinder’s Hut to Naromoru Met Station – walking out through this regularly used route, past an area damaged by fire and down to the Park Headquarters.
This fundraising campaign aims to raise GBP £20,000 through sponsorship via an online JustGiving crowdfunding page and via MPESA. 100% of the funds raised will be used to expand the HPT and extend the area they can cover.

If we raise the full amount funds be used to undertake the following:
1. To construct further stable blocks at the HPT base to house the additional horses that have been offered to us, but that we cannot currently stable – GBP £1,500
2. To employ four new Community Wildlife Officers for two years, boosting the number of personnel in HPT from five to nine – GBP £12,000
3. To construct two satellite camps with stable blocks to act as outposts for both the HPT and KWS and MKT foot patrol teams, further expanding the range and effectiveness of these teams – GBP £5,000
4. To equip the HPT with handheld radio units – GBP £1,500
Mount Kenya Trust Horse Patrol Team
Watch our short video about the Mount Kenya Horse Patrol Team by clicking on the image above!
Click here to support the 3 peaks Challenge via Just Givingand find out more!
To donate Via MPESA:

  1. SIM application
  2. Choose MPESA
  3. Choose Pay Bill
  4. Enter business no. – 329142
  5. Enter account no. – mk3p & your name
  6. Enter amount
The Horse Patrol team at work.
Left: The team assist with fire fighting in the dry season. Right: the team remove a snare from a Zebra.
color-facebook-48.png Mount Kenya Trust
color-facebook-48.png African Ascents
Copyright © 2014 Mount Kenya Trust. All rights reserved.

Our mailing address is:
PO Box 690
Nanyuki 10400
Kenya
Email:
sweeks

Physical Address:
We have moved from Nanyuki Airstrip to Turaco Farm please click here to request a map to our new offices

Directors: Jeremy Block; Martin Dyer; Martin Forster; Levi Wendo Miheso; Susannah Rouse; Tarsem Sembhi; Don Smith; Maj Gen Peter Waweru; William (Bongo) Woodley

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ATCNews: 

Prof. Dr. Wolfgang H. Thome is the founder and publisher of ATCNews, Eastern Africa’s leading aviation, tourism and conservation news blog of its kind. Wolfgang has over 48 years of experience in the tourism, aviation and conservation fields in Kenya, Tanzania and Uganda, covering all aspects of safari-, hotel- and air-operations. 

The Managing Editor of ATCNews is Mrs. Esther C. Goossens.

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