The African Conservation Fund

On May 2, the African Conservation Centre presented eight Global Positioning System (GPS) units (Garmin e-trex) and eight bicycles to the South Rift Association of Land Owners (SORALO) for the purpose of resource monitoring by the communities' game scouts in Kenya's South Rift Valley. 

The communities in 14 private Maasai landholdings, known as "group ranches," in the southern Rift Valley have come together to form the South Rift Association of Land Owners (SORALO), whose aim is to coordinate land-use planning among members, with the ultimate goal of protecting a broad landscape and opening up a southern tourist circuit.

SORALO's landholdings are extremely important for conservation because they contain the highest diversity of vertebrates anywhere on Earth, and they connect two critical protected areas: Amboseli National Park and the Masai Mara National Reserve.

As a whole, the region is one of the most important wildlife reserves - a combination of private and national - anywhere in the world, protecting migratory landscapes for elephants, wildebeest, zebra, rhino, lion, cheetah, and more. As a tourist circuit, the region has the potential of lifting the economic standards of the people through tourism-related incomes.

For the last 15 years, the African Conservation Centre - the Nairobi-based partner of African Conservation Fund - has worked with local communities in Kenya to secure wildlife dispersal areas outside protected areas. In recent years, ACC has encouraged and indeed seen communities set aside conservation areas on their land as well as create new eco-tourism enterprises.

But it is not enough to set aside land for conservation, it is also vital that security for wildlife, tourists, people and livestock is ensured. It is also vital that resources such as water, wildlife, and rangeland conditions are monitored on a regular basis to facilitate decision-making for conservation management. In this regard, the role of community game scouts is crucial.

The presence of game scouts in these areas has greatly reduced poaching, snaring, wildfires, and environmental degradation in general. Community game scouts have worked closely with Kenya Wildlife Service (KWS) rangers with a high degree of success and this has led to reduced response time by KWS to human-wildlife conflict incidences.

The purchase of the GPS units and bicycles were made possible by a grant from the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service.

If you are interested in helping to support game scout programmes throughout the South Rift Valley, donations may be made online on our website. Visit our Get Involved page and select your amount now. 

Photo, top and bottom: Game scouts and community leaders try out the new bicycles at ACC offices. Middle: James N'dungu, deputy director of African Conservation Centre, along with Kenya Wildlife Service Assistant Director presenting GPS units and bicycles to SORALO officials. (Photo credit: African Conservation Centre)