Yusuf Ole Petenya, left, secretary of the Shompole Community Trust, a Maasai  foundation in Kenya's southern Rift Valley, was featured this week in an international news story by Associated Press writer Chris Tomlinson.

"A million tourists a year spend more than $580 million to see and photograph lions, elephants, gazelle and other wildlife on this East African country's savannas," Tomlinson wrote. "But the revenue is not enough to protect the animals.

"Only 8 percent of land in Kenya, a country twice the size of Nevada, is set aside for wildlife. The rest is privately or communally owned and studies show that most of Kenya's wild animals live there." The studies cited by Tomlinson are primarily done by our partner, the African Conservation Centre, which has been a strong supporter of the Shompole Community Trust since its inception.

New! Show your support for community-based conservation in East Africa with one of our unique and eye-catching beaded logo hats. Members of the Enkongu Engare Women's Group at Isinya (north of Amboseli National Park) are decorating our embroidered logo hats with bright Maasai beads, both front and rear. Choose Maasai red or Amboseli tan - no two hats are exactly alike, so yours will always be unique. We've also added some stylish beaded leather cuff bracelets. Click here to shop now.

A team of scientists from African Conservation Centre, Save the Elephants, and Kenya Wildlife Service placed a GPS collar on a young elephant nicknamed Lorna on 4th of July 2006 (link to original news item) at Congo woodland near Oloibortoto in Kenya's southern Rift Valley. Yesterday African Conservation Fund received an update on Lorna and her herd from African Conservation Centre ecologist Ken Mwathe - much has been learned in the last eight months, including new information about conservation needs.

African Conservation Centre ecologist Ken Mwathe reports from Kenay on a workshop that took place at Kenya Wildlife Service Safari Walk on 7th and 8th February 2007: The Cheetah & Wild Dog National Conservation Strategy Workshop was attended by about 50 participants from Kenya and also from the eastern African region, notably Uganda, Ethopia, Sudan, Tanzania (and from Botswana and Zimbabwe).
 
The first day focused on expert presentations on the two species with regard to their status, ecology, distribution, and conservation tools. The participants also got a chance to discuss the regional strategy which had already been developed, in order to better inform Kenya’s national strategy development process.