The latest ‘Mountain Dispatches’

We are immensely proud that our very own Edwin Kinyanjui, Mount Kenya’s Senior Community Wildlife Officer, has once again been recognised for his outstanding dedication to conservation winning the Disney Conservation Hero Award for 2017! He was nominated by Hilde VanLeuwee of the World Conservation Society (WCS). Edwin worked with Hilde when she was carrying out elephant surveys on Mount Kenya between 1999 and 2001.

Edwin has never looked back, realising then that he wanted to help protect animals who have no voice. Hilde and Edwin found themselves working together again this year, with further elephant surveys carried out by WCS and partners.

As the country continues to suffer from much lower than average levels of rainfall, it is imperative that we all work together to put stronger mechanisms in place for long-term resource security and protect forests from unsustainable exploitation. The Trust continues to improve its outreach and increase collaboration with partnerships to protect and rehabilitate the forests.

Thank you for your support!
The Mount Kenya Trust Team

Rhino Ark and partners have been working tirelessly to facilitate the development of a corridor, which bisects the land between two protected areas in Nyeri County, the greater Aberdare Conservation Area and the Mount Kenya National Park and Reserve.

The project’s main objective be to substantially reduce human-wildlife conflict among communities between these protected landscapes, where elephants continue to migrate. The corridor would be unprecedented, linking two vital water towers afro-montane forests, and a population of almost 8,500 elephants.

After several months of community forums and stakeholder meetings, landowners are now coming to the table. Case studies such as the Mount Kenya-Ngare Ndare and the Eburu-Naivasha have been used to highlight the benefits wildlife corridors.

The proposed route for the corridor is shown below, with GPS fixes for elephant movement between January and March 2017. Credit: Space for Giants