 | Center for Wildlife Management Studies
Kenya
Game Ranching Limited, 1985-2001
Kuku Bush Camp, 1999-2001
Kilimanjaro Bush Camp, 2001-present
National Park Site, 2001-present The first SFS programs in Kenya took place in the summers of 1981 and 1982 and focused on environmental factors affecting the survival of the black rhinoceros in Nairobi National Park and translocation efforts by the Kenyan Game Department in Meru and Amboseli National Parks. In 1983, SFS moved its summer programs to the Hopcraft ranch (Game Ranching Limited) in Athi River where it would remain for the next 18 years. In Spring 1985, SFS offered its first semester-length program, Wildlife Biology and Management. Courses included Introduction to Wildlife Biology, Peoples and Cultures of East Africa, Population and Community Ecology, Man and the Environment and an independent directed research project. For many years these research projects revolved around factors that were important to our location on a game ranch: ungulate ecology and management, cropping techniques, harvesting strategies, wildlife censusing and habitat analysis. In an effort to expand the Kenya program and research efforts to include a greater focus on community wildlife management and human-wildlife conflict, SFS began efforts to locate a community-based site off the ranch and in 1999, established a temporary camp (Kuku Bush Camp) on a group ranch in Masaailand near Mt. Kilimanjaro and the Tanzanian border. Students now had the opportunity for daily interaction with Masaai communities who were directly impacted by the wildlife in their area. The move occurred at an opportune time since1999 also marked the appointment of the first Kenyan Center Director, Dr. Simon ole Seno, a Masaai from Narok. In 2001 the move from Game Ranching Limited was finalized with the establishment of the Nairobi National Park Site (NPS) situated on the southern border of the park along the Mbagathi River. With access to both the park and private lands in the park's dispersal area, SFS students were able to access a broad range of perspectives on community wildlife management—from individual private landowners to local communities to government and non-governmental agencies. From the early 1980's through 2001 the Kenya program was consistently the most popular destination for SFS students. While the events of 9/11 temporarily diminished enrollments in all of our programs, the US imposed travel warning for Kenya which went into effect in mid-2003 has had a dramatic impact on enrollment at this Center resulting in the temporary closure of the Nairobi National Park site and a halt to the research that we had been conducting there. We echo the hopes of Paul Gathitu that more SFS students will be returning soon so we can pick-up from where we left off in 2003 and continue the important work we are doing in that region. SFS work in Kenya continues, however, at Kilimanjaro Bush Camp which opened its doors in the summer of 2001 and replaced the nearby Kuku Bush Camp as the base of SFS operations in Southern Kenya. Students have easy access to private farms, the Masaai group ranches of Kuku, Kimana and Mbirikani, and the Kimana Wildlife Sanctuary—all of which are within the Amboseli-Tsavo National Parks wildlife corridor and dispersal area. Current research focuses on developing guidelines for the management of the corridor in a manner that will ensure wildlife resource conservation and enhance the economic well-being of the communities in the area. In 2004, the Center began offering its Introduction to Swahili Language and East African Tribal Communities course, containing two distinct but integrated modules. The Swahili language module offers listening, oral and written practice of the Swahili language at a basic level of proficiency (beginner only), to increase students' communication and comprehension skills. The socio-cultural aspects of East African tribes module emphasizes understanding of, and direct contact and interaction with the native communities with which our Center for Wildlife Management Studies works, primarily the Maasai.
Also in 2004, the Center signed a cooperative agreement with The Amboseli Elephant Research Project, directed by Cynthia Moss. SFS worked in partnership to secure the future of the Amboseli elephant population through efforts aimed at establishing a balance between the needs of the elephant populations, other wildlife and local communities. In 2007, the Center launched its Field Practicum in Public Health and Environment at its KBC site. SFS partnered with several leading universities, including Boston University School of Public Health, Northern Arizona University Schools of Nursing and Health Sciences, and the Moi University (Kenya) Schools of Public Health and Medicine to respond to the environmental health issues extant among the Maasai. In 2007, the Center was awarded a grant in the amount of $52,009 from the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS) African Elephant Conservation Fund. This grant funded a year-long project entitled An Integrated Approach to Managing Elephants: Land Use Changes and Local Community Awareness in the Amboseli Ecosystem. In February of 2008, the SFS Center for Wildlife Management Studies, working in collaboration with Noomayianat Community Development Organization (NCDO), announced the successful petition to the European Union's Community Environment Facility (CEF) for funding to implement the Kimana Community Water Resource Conservation Project. The goal of this project is to facilitate improvement in the livelihoods of local communities on the Kimana Group Ranch through research and implementation of an integrated water resource management approach. SFS faculty and students will be involved in this project, which is funded for over two years until June 2010. During the spring semester of 2008, political unrest in Kenya necessitated temporarily moving operations, causing SFS to run its wildlife management program from the other side of Mount Kilimanjaro in Tanzania. Although the logistics were admittedly a challenge at the time, the semester’s success has now paved the way for the development of our Community Wildlife Management program through its expansion into Tanzania.
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