Mount Kenya Trust Annual Round Up for 2019

It’s the little things citizens do. That’s what will make the difference. My little thing is planting trees.- Wangari Maathai

Training by an organisation known as ‘Working on Fire’ has been underway in December. Working on Fire provides management and firefighting training courses that enable governments, forestry operators and commercial landowners to protect, prevent and manage wild land and structural fires. Courses focus on instilling operational principles through theoretical and practical integration during the training.

The Elite Fire fighting teams (6 teams of 10 pax.) have been trained to cover both Mt Kenya and the Aberdares and are comprised of MKT, KWS, KFS, Rhino Ark and community members and employees of Kisima Farm who have helped a great deal in the past.

We have learned a great deal about how to improve our techniques and fire management and will continue to see expert advice and keep the fire teams motivated. Well done to the men and women who took part.

We are grateful to Ontulili Boys school for their facilities during the training in return for a donation and to Greystones Development Company for donating a sheep for the teams for the lunch provided after training.

In 2016 the elephant population in the Mountain Conservation Area was estimated at ~ 13,000 elephants of Kenya’s total population of around 30,000 elephants (Thouless et al., 2016).

The Aberdares and Mt Kenya host Kenya’s highest elephant population densities and flank Kenya’s most densely populated rural areas, with mostly small-scale farmers and some large scale horticulture and vegetable farms. The area in Kenya’s National Elephant Action Plan englobes the second largest elephant range, only slightly smaller than Kenya’s largest elephant range in the Tsavo CA.

With support from WWF and The International Ranger Foundation, Edwin Kinyanjui (Head Ranger), Enock Ochieng (Programmes Officer) and Humphrey Munene (Field Coordinator) attended the 9th World Ranger Conference held in Nepal!

Enock Ochieng presents the elephant corridor along with other work on habitat protection and human-elephant conflict to an audience of fellow elephant conservationists in South Africa.