Maasailand Preservation Trust

Our dog unit was born in 2006 when two bloodhounds were donated to us by Tusk Trust. They have since become a key part of the Mbirikani Community Game Scouts program and added greatly to the program’s success. For more information on the MCGS please have a look at the MCGS’s introductory blog. The Bloodhounds quickly proved what a fantastic conservation tool they are and continue to do so again and again.

Bloodhounds track by following a the trail of scent which is given off as the skin cells we constantly shed decompose. Each person’s scent is different and the dogs rely on this and the strength of the scent to identify the route taken. The ease of this varies with climate, most notably moisture. Our dogs track in the most arid of terrains of any Kenyan unit and this makes their noses ever the more sensitive.

Bloodhounds were historically bred in France where they were used for tracking game across vast areas of land as part of a hunt. As time moved on and parcels of land became smaller and smaller they were moved on to tracking poachers. Recently they were brought to the African Continent where they proved their worth by tracking over large distances. In comparisons to solely human teams they are almost incomparable. They can cover an area of ground that would take a human team a several hours in a fraction of the time and can even track over open ground where there are little or no visible signs. This has made them a fantastic anti-poaching tool as well as acting as a great deterrent once the community is aware of their presence.

Our dog unit, Delta Mobile, is one of only a handful in Kenya. The team travels far and wide to help out in a variety of situations. Though their primary goal is to combat Rhino poaching, recent operations have involved tracking game-meat poachers, livestock and property thieves and even children lost in the bush. The unit is made up of three handlers, two highly skilled Bloodhounds and one companion dog. Delta Mobile is always on standby and is called to the scene to combat any issues where tracking is required. They can operate at such speeds that they often catch up with fleeing poachers!

Below is an introduction to the members of Delta Mobile:

Bosco is a first generation Kenyan Bloodhound bred on Ol Jogi Ranch in Laikipia. He was donated to MPT in 2006 alongside his sister, Judy. They were both trained in part in Laikipia and in part by Patrick Stanton at the Ride Kenya stables. Bosco is now three and a half years old and trains 6 days a week. Bosco is an extremely successful tracker, following trails as much as 24 hours old. We are very proud of him as he currently operates above a 95% success rate. He has a great character and lives to sniff!

Drastic is a slightly older Bloodhound Foxhound cross. He was recently donated to us by Fieldready Bloodhounds in the UK. We are all very happy to have him here and he is really settling into his new surrounds well. He is currently under a strict training routine getting him ready to work alongside his new friend Bosco.

Maureen is what we call here a “shenzi” or what you may call a mutt! She was a street dog in Nairobi and was rescued by the KSPCA, where we found her. She was brought in as a companion for Bosco when his sister, Judy, died of Trypps in April. She is a very excitable young dog and is really happy with her new life. Probably because we learned that for the first month she was being fed the same sized portions as Bosco, despite being a quarter of the weight!

The bloodhounds would be unable to function without support from their handlers, to whom a great deal of credit goes. A tracker dog relies heavily on a handler who understands the dynamics of not just scent, but tracking too. This is essential in guiding and controlling the dog whilst they operate at high speeds through thick bush. Three of our Community Game Scouts have been specially trained as handlers. They are Mutinda, Marsaria and Kilitia. Marsaria and Kilitia are both local Maasai warriors from the Mbirikani Group Ranch, where as Mutinda is an ex-Wakamba poacher who was arrested by our MCGS in 2002. After proving that he had changed his ways Mutinda joined the MCGS where his knowledge and experience prove invaluable to Delta Mobile and the MCGS.

If you are lucky enough to come visit us, the team will gladly take you out for training and you can see if you can outwit them. But for now stay posted for more news from Delta Mobile!

We would also like to take this chance to thank Pirjo I for a very much appreciated donation. Asante sana!

The MPT Team

On Sunday afternoon the Chyulu Hills recieved the first rain we’ve had in months. It was only 4.5mm but this afternoon’s rain was more than had fallen in the previous 12 months! Unfortunately it was not nearly enough to undo the damage done by what has been described as the worst drought in living memory but at least it is a start.

We had a beautiful and surreal view of this from the plains whilst we were out filming for a documentary being made on our Bloodhounds. It started as a big Cumulo Nimbus cloud built over the southern end of the Chyulu Range. The cloud started to flow off the hills and down to Oltiasika where we saw rain fall and thunder and lightning. This heavy storm created a massive dust storm as the strong wind blew off it. Below is a picture of the dust rising over 25 kilometers away.

The filming carried on as this dramatic scene escalated and before we knew it a dust cloud rolled across the plains off the hills and towards Amboseli NP moving at over 40 miles an hour.Below is a picture of it as it was about to obscure Kilimanjaro from view.

This was a spectacular sight and everyone was so awestruck watching it that before we knew it the cloud was upon us. Dust storms are a regular occurrence during the rains but this one was much larger than the norm.

Richard Bonham, Chairman and founder of MPT was up in his plane at the time and reported it reaching a high of 10,000 feet! Once the dust storm passed and we were safely back home we were treated to the most spectacular sky and shortly after this the rain started to fall. Let us hope that more rain come soon.

The MPT Team

When the Maasailand Preservation Trust began back in 1991 it employed just six Community Game Scouts as its first members of staff. Trained, uniformed, equipped and able to respond to any threat to people or wildlife, there are now five operational Mbirikani Game Scout Units, containing many dozens of men. These men are nearly exclusively all local residents of the Group Ranch, ready at a moment

We will continue to post our introductory blogs over the next few weeks but we also want to keep you updated on the latest news from MPT. Here is a little update for you on how the drought is affecting us here:

As you will have heard from blogs such as the recent one by our neighbours the Lion Guardians, Kenya is currently in the depths of the worst drought it has seen in several decades if not longer. Here in the Amboseli-Tsavo ecosystem the last two rains have completely failed and the pressure this has put on the ecosystem is taking its toll on both wildlife and people. Below is a recent aerial photograph of an elephant herd we were called into check on. A mother an calf were reported in a very poor condition and our Community Game Scouts responded. The calf was so weak that in the end the CGS had to help him to his feet. Thankfully this story ended well with the mother finding water at a near by watercourse and being able to produce enough milk. The next morning we flew in to check that they had made it back to their herd. But for evidence of just how bad this drought is just look how little grass there is!

Normally at this time of year there should be a good few inches of grass when all that is left is the completely dehydrated clumps you find. These unsurprisingly offer practically no sustenance for grazers, wild or domestic. Below is another aerial picture, this time of two Maasai herders and their shoats.

This lack of grazing has put an added pressure on the ecosystem had a marked increase on the mortality rates of many species. Most notable are the large grazers such as bufallo, zebra, eland and wildebeest whose carcassases are so numerous that we fear we are looking at a >50% mortality (death) rate in the hardest his species. Below is a picture of Warthog drinking from one of our waterholes, just look how dry the background is!

The drought has also made other threats such as bush fires a very worrying presense. There have been several of these recently and as part of our CGS duty they have been out fighting them. Below are some pictures of a recent fire fighting excercise.

This time footprints were found at the sight of the start of the fire.