The African Conservation Fund

News from the South Rift Resource Centre

Tuesday, 26 May 2009

The development of the South Rift Resource Centre and its support team has been steadily gaining ground, with a lot of hard work from all parties.

First, the team is happy to announce they have a new web presence - their own weblog created by Christine Kovash, friend of researcher Paul Schuette. Have a look at their excellent site: http://southriftccr.blogspot.com/

One of the things you'll notice on the site is the new Uaso Ngiro Baboon Project (UNBP) Walk With Baboons opportunities with para-ecologist Joel Njojo, who is from the local Olkiramatian community. ACF's 2008 Adventure Safari Team was so impressed with Joel's natural guiding skills and knowledge of wildlife, they listed him as a top-five experience on their trip.

2008 Annual Report now available

Wednesday, 01 April 2009
Our 2008 fiscal year Annual Report is now available for download. Please click on the image, or here, to begin the download (approx. 1.5 megabytes). If you would like to request a print-quality PDF, please contact us (link on the menu bar above) via email. Thank you for your support in 2008 and we look forward to the coming year.

Faces of conservation: Meet Bill & Eva Yancey

Friday, 06 March 2009

In the first of our series of stories introducing you to our Faces of Conservation, we present our latest board chairman, Bill Yancey, and his wife, Eva. After half a dozen trips to East Africa, their passion for the places, wildlife, and people has only increased - so much so that they have dedicated a good deal of their personal time out from their busy lives to help community-based conservation efforts in Kenya and Tanzania. Swedish born and raised in Los Angeles, Eva is a dental surgeon, while native Los Angelean Bill is Assistant Dean and Director of UCLA's Continuing Dental Education and Alumni Affairs.

"After visiting Kenya and Tanzania for 4 months in my early years, I was anxious to take my wife there in the early 90s to see if she would be as charmed as I was. After our first visit together, it was obvious she was equally enthralled. Eva and I fell in love with the incredible wildlife, the varied landscapes, and the warm and friendly people. It's truly a life-changing experience. We have returned to Tanzania and Kenya almost every other year since then, and find that we enjoy it more and more each time. Over those years we came to understand that underlying the beauty and majesty of the wildlife and open landscapes, there are many challenges facing the future preservation of these things we love so dearly . . .

The faces of conservation - a global community

Sunday, 25 January 2009

As we look ahead into 2009 and beyond for the future of conservation in East Africa, we are buoyed by a great wellspring of hope. Kenya is on the mend, and so is America. Now is the time to invest in people more than ever, because it takes a global community to ensure the survival of the world's most important assets: its biological and cultural diversity. Join us as we introduce you in the next few weeks to the Faces of Conservation - the community that will lead us into the future . . . the all-Maasai land trust, South Rift Association of Land Owners (SORALO), Cincinnati Zoo and its Angel Fund, Miam University's Earth Expeditions, the people of the Olkiramatian community and their South Rift Resource Centre, and the dedicated staff of the Uaso Ngiro Baboon Project, to name just a few. We start below with an unlikely face - that of Tommy T, a tiny little cheetah who is carrying on in the footsteps of some formidable relatives who have raised over a million dollars for conservation through the Angel Fund.

Newest ambassador for wild cheetahs

Thursday, 22 January 2009
Meet Tommy T the cheetah - the newest member of Cincinnati Zoo's Cat Ambassador Program. Twelve-week-old Tommy helped us kick off a special program Wednesday night at the zoo, whose Angel Fund supports the South Rift Resource Centre and integrated research programs. Samantha Russell, a research associate and program coordinator for the Resource Centre in Kenya, presented a video and a slide show about the ongoing research and conservation programs for the unique area that harbors an astonishing array of mammals, including Tommy's wild relatives (you can follow Tommy T's life at his own blog, at CheetahDays.com).
Read more...

BaboonsRUs - Kenya research site goes online

Monday, 19 January 2009

After over 30 years researching primates at a Kenya field site, ACF Partner in Conservation Shirley Strum has entered a new site - on the web. In December Strum debuted her website, featuring unique watercolors and charcoal sketches by artist Deborah Ross. Named BaboonsRUs, to call attention to the core of Strum's teaching focus - that studying non-human primates teaches us as much about us as it does about them, the site is already attracting a lot of attention. African Conservation Fund assisted in setting up the site. Read about the history of the program and the ongoing research at BaboonsRUs, and also on our website, here.

Curious about Kenya? Come on safari in 2009!

Saturday, 20 December 2008

Curious about Kenya, the home of President Obama's father? Help us inaugurate our new safari program in 2009 - join us on a unique safari and meet many of the faces of conservation in East Africa. From the Maasai game scouts in Amboseli to the women's groups in Maasai Mara; the international researchers at the South Rift Resource Centre to the Samburu resource assessors at the Uaso Ngiro Baboon Project; and from the elephant team at African Conservation Centre to the rangeland experts with SORALO, you will come away with a deep appreciation for the land and the people who are dedicated to its preservation. Find out more on our website - we offer introductory safaris, self-drive adventure safaris, and custom safaris.

First Adventure Safari a huge success

Monday, 01 September 2008
In July and August, African Conservation Fund ran its first Adventure Safari on behalf of the land trust SORALO (the South Rift Association of Land Owners). SORALO is an all-Maasai organization created to help solve some of the most serious threats facing Maasailand today: land subdivision, rangeland health, the future of Maasai cultures, lack of income opportunities, and other cultural and environmental issues. In 2007, SORALO introduced the concept of the South Rift Circuit, a new safari route linking Amboseli and Maasai Mara along the borderlands of Tanzania-Kenya and entirely in Maasailand. (Most tourism occurs outside Maasailand, and thus local people do not benefit appreciably from the millions of dollars in income.)
Read more...