Dear Giraffe Friends,

An exciting update about a new SGN project: Empaash Oloirienito Conservancy! 🦒

SGN and the Empaash community during a visit in 2024.

Empaash Oloirienito Conservancy is a 3,200-acre community owned wildlife conservation area located approximately 50 minutes outside of Nairobi, Kenya. This is an important area to focus on because of its proximity to Nairobi which makes it convenient for tourism and because of its beautiful land and manageable size.

The community has been actively seeking ways in which wildlife – such as the endangered Masai giraffe – and people can coexist, a dream of one landowner, Mr. Lamaikai, which is now becoming reality.

A new giraffe calf at Empaash spotted during the community ranger training.

Empaash is a new conservancy that is starting from scratch in terms of conservation initiatives. As a first step, last week SGN kicked off our new joint work with Empaash with a 10-day community ranger training program where we hired specialists from Kenya Wildlife Service to lead the training. This program is necessary, because the conservancy has had no trained rangers. In fact, they have relied on a handful of volunteers to walk the conservation area.

Over the course of the training, the six new rangers learned important aspects of wildlife monitoring, such as navigation, data collection, ecology, first aid & safety, and community engagement. These rangers now have the skills needed to properly and safely protect not only the giraffe but all wildlife that call Empaash home. This training is especially key right now, because there has been an increase in giraffe poaching activities in the area.

The new Empaash community rangers being trained by KWS on key aspects of wildlife conservation.

We are so proud of these new Empaash community rangers. A huge thank you to all of our Giraffe Friends and partners for standing tall with us and helping to ensure programs like this are possible!

Sincerely,

Kayla Walisch
Chief Operating Officer

One Man’s Last Wish

Mr. Lamaikai, an 87-year-old landowner within the conservancy, expressed his final wish to preserve the land for conservation purposes. In his will, he stipulated that the land, totaling more than 800 acres and jointly owned by his family, should remain undivided for at least 60 years to support wildlife conservation efforts. He implored his son, Peter, to collaborate with neighboring communities to establish a registered conservancy aimed at protecting wildlife.

This land now forms the 3,200-acre Empaash Olorienito Conservancy.

Mzee Lamaikai Ole Matura