SUSWA CONSERVANCY

This is located in the Mt. Suswa area touching on both the Kajiado and Narok districts in the rift valley.  Suswa Kilet is a group ranch incorporated under the provision of the land act of Kenya law.  It lies astride Mt. Longonot in the north and Mt. Suswa to the south. The group ranch cascades the Mt. Suswa caldera to border with the Kedong ranch in the west.

 The major reasons for the formation of the Suswa Conservancy are to establish a community owned conservation area that promotes the sustainable utilization of biological resources in Karuka, Kisharu, and Mt. Suswa.  Also to develop interactive tourism activities in Suswa to encourage community participation in biodiversity conservation and to generate income.

SHOMPOLE CONSERVANCY

 The Shompole group ranch was registered in 1979 under the land representative act and is owned by the Loodokilani Maasai of the Magadi division of Kajiado district. The ranch covers 62,700 hectares with over 2000 registered members. It’s located in south eastern Kenya on the Tanzania border near Lake Natron, just right on the edge of Nguruman escarpment overlooking the Great Rift Valley.

 Shompole community trust undertook socio-economic activity within the ranch with strong emphasis on wildlife conservation, eco-tourism, and poverty reduction. This was to enhance the ecological integrity of Shompole and improve the local community level of income. These efforts led to improved levels of income, road networks, security of wildlife conservation and management, and the tolerance threshold between wildlife and people.

The ungulate species in the area are elephants, wildebeest, the cape buffalo, zebra, maasai giraffe, eland, grant's gazelle, impala, jackson hartebeest, gerenuk, oryx, waterbuck, and lesser kudu.  Primates include both vervet and black and white colobus monkeys, and olive baboons.  The areas carnivores include leopards, cheetahs, lions, spotted hyenas, stripped hyenas, bat eared fox, wild dogs, black back jackals, golden jackals, civets, genets, wildcats, and the white tailed, egyptian, and banded mongoose.   There is also a high diversity of birdlife and reptiles like the monitor lizard.

In this area there 13 scouts and their major challenges are:

  • ·      Human wildlife conflicts
  • ·      Subsistence poaching

 The scouts are equipped with radio communication and 1 land cruiser for patrols. The presence of 3 tourist facilities presents them with the opportunity to interact with tourists. The facilities are:

  • ·      Shompole lodge
  • ·      Loisiijo lodge
  • ·      Oloika guest house

OLKIRAMATIAN CONSERVANCY

 The Olkiramatian group ranch covers an area of 21,612 hectares and is located on the North West part of the Magadi division of Kajiado district. It borders Oldonyio Nyokie group ranch to the north and Magadi soda company concession area. To the south Olkiramatian is bordered by the Shompole group ranch and to the west by the Nguruman escarpment.

 The Ewaso ngiro forms an important source of water for both livestock and wildlife especially in the dry season.

The ungulate species in the area are elephants, wildebeest, the cape buffalo, zebra, maasai giraffe, eland, grant's gazelle, impala, jackson hartebeest, gerenuk, waterbuck, and lesser kudu.  Primates include both vervet and black and white colobus monkeys,  olive baboons, and bush babies.  The areas carnivores include leopards, cheetahs, lions, spotted hyenas, stripped hyenas, bat eared fox, black back jackals, civets, genets, wildcats, and the white tailed, egyptian, and banded mongoose.   There is also a high diversity of birdlife and reptiles like the monitor lizard. 

 This area is manned by 8 scouts and the major challenges here are:

  • ·      Human wildlife conflicts – presence of farms in the area

 Olkiramatian conservancy is well advanced because the scouts here are equipped with radio communication and 1 land cruiser for patrols. There are 2 tourist facilities, Sampu camp and the Resource Centre so the scouts interact with tourists and researchers.

 MAILWA CONSERVANCY

 The Mailwa group ranch is to the south east of the south rift and Amboseli national park. It’s approximately 930km and the conservancy area is 228km about 60% of the Amboseli national park. The group ranch has a membership of 1027 individuals. Mailwa is in the Namanga and Mashuru division of the Kajiado district and the conservancy falls within the Eluanata sub-location. Mailwa is easily accessible through an international road that connects Arusha, Namanga and Nairobi. The conservation area is owned and used communally during the dry season for grazing.

Much of Mailwa is arid and semi-arid, but it has several seasonal rivers which originate from Namanga and the Meto hills which come together and form the Namanga River that flows into Lake Amboseli.  The dominant ungulate species in the area are elephants, zebra, wildebeests, grants gazelles, lesser kudu, Maasai giraffe, and eland. Primates include vervet monkeys, olive baboons, and bush babies. The area's carnivores include cheetahs, leopards, hyenas, wild dogs, lions, silver back jackals, bat eared fox and mongoose species. There is also a high diversity of birdlife and reptiles like the monitor lizard and the red headed agama.

 4 scouts are based at the operating base and the major challenges here are:

  • ·      Environmental destruction through charcoal burning
  • ·      Bush meat through poaching
  • ·      Human wildlife conflicts