Protecting A World Heritage Site From Destruction

Mount Kenya is much more than Africa’s second-highest mountain. Its forests, moorlands, rivers and wildlife form one of Kenya’s most important ecosystems and a vital water source for more than 3.5 million people across ten counties.

The ecosystem supports elephants, various antelopes including the critically endangered mountain bongo and more than 80 endemic plant species found nowhere else on Earth. Its forests regulate water, store carbon, support biodiversity and sustain communities living around the mountain.

Yet this ecosystem is under increasing pressure. Agricultural expansion, settlement and infrastructure are fragmenting habitats, while illegal logging, charcoal burning, poaching, bushmeat hunting, wildfires and encroachment continue to threaten forests and wildlife. As natural habitats become increasingly fragmented, opportunities for human-wildlife conflict also increase.Protecting Mount Kenya therefore requires more than responding to individual threats. It requires a sustained presence on the ground, every day.

Conservation in Action

Mount Kenya Trust (MKT) was established in response to a conservation crisis. In 1999, a Kenya Wildlife Service and UNEP aerial survey documented extensive destruction of the Mount Kenya and Imenti forests.More than 25 years later, MKT continues to protect and restore this landscape through an integrated approach centred on People, Wildlife, Forests and Water.

At the heart of this work are our ranger teams Working alongside the Kenya Wildlife Service (KWS), Kenya Forest Service (KFS), conservation organisations and local communities, MKT’s rangers provide a consistent conservation presence across some of Mount Kenya’s most remote and vulnerable areas.

Their work is preventative, responsive and increasingly data-driven. Rangers patrol forests and moorlands, monitor biodiversity, deter illegal activities, maintain firebreaks, respond to wildfires, protect restoration sites and conduct anti-poaching and anti-bushmeat operations. They also support human-wildlife coexistence by monitoring wildlife corridors, responding to conflict and helping communities address threats along protected-area boundaries.

Teams Protecting Mount Kenya

• Joint Wildlife Patrol Team (JWPT) - Established in 2008, the JWPT brings together MKT community rangers and KWS rangers, operating from the Ruthumbi patrol base. The team conducts patrols and wildlife protection activities within one of Mount Kenya’s important forest areas.

• Horse Patrol Team - Formed in 2011 the team rides hardy Ethiopian ponies, to reach areas of forest and moorland that are difficult to access by vehicle.Their base camp in located near the moorlands of Marania. Camping patrols enable rangers to remain in remote areas for extended patrols, increasing the time and area they can cover.

• Imenti Patrol Team (IPT) - The IPT  was formed in  2017 to protect and monitor the Imenti Forest Reserve, an area that has experienced historical pressure from logging and charcoal burning. They have a base camp at Imenti . Rangers patrol the forest, monitor threats and help safeguard areas undergoing indigenous forest restoration.

• Marania Wildlife Guards (MWG) - Established in 2003 & our oldest operating team, the Marania team includes former poachers and loggers who have transformed their knowledge of the landscape into a conservation asset. Working alongside KWS, they undertake multi-day patrols to deter poaching, bushmeat hunting and other illegal activities.Their base camp is located at CEFA

• Fencing Teams - The Narumoru fencing team was established first in 2000 to help manage the Mount Kenya Electric Fence. Today, MKT’s fencing work also includes maintenance of the Elephant Corridor infrastructure at the  Kamiti, Marania, Lower & Middle sections. Fencers conduct regular inspections and repairs, helping maintain the boundaries and wildlife movement routes that support safer coexistence between people and wildlife.

Protecting More Than Wildlife

Ranger work extends beyond patrols. Along Mount Kenya’s rivers—including the Timau, Ontulili, Ngusishi and Teleswani—teams conduct riparian patrols, support restoration and clean-up activities, and promote protection of these critical water systems. Rangers also monitor wildlife movement through key corridors and respond to human-wildlife conflict. These connections are increasingly important as development fragments natural habitats.

MKT supports the Mount Kenya–Lewa wildlife corridor, helping maintain connectivity between important habitats. This is particularly significant for wide-ranging species such as elephants and for the critically endangered mountain bongo, which depend on connected and secure landscapes.

Holistic Conservation 

The future of Mount Kenya is closely connected to the people living around it.Twenty-seven communities live along the forest edges of Mount Kenya, with many households dependent on agriculture and natural resources for their livelihoods. Conservation cannot succeed without working alongside these communities. MKT works with communities, government agencies and conservation partners to reduce pressure on natural resources, address human-wildlife conflict, support restoration and build local ownership of conservation.

This approach recognises that protecting Mount Kenya is not simply about keeping people out of protected areas. It is about creating conditions where people, wildlife and forests can coexist over the long term.

Your Support 

The work of a ranger begins long before a threat is detected. Rangers need to be able to reach remote areas, communicate with their teams, remain in the field and respond effectively when situations change & donor support helps make this possible. Funding contributes towards the equipment, communications, training, patrol resources and field support that enable our teams to maintain a continuous presence across the ecosystem.

That support translates into practical conservation action: more effective patrols, faster responses to threats, better monitoring of wildlife and habitats, and greater capacity to protect areas undergoing restoration.Every patrol is an opportunity to detect a threat before it becomes irreversible. Every observation adds to our understanding of the ecosystem. Every response helps reduce risk for people and wildlife.

Looking Ahead

This first update provides the context for the work your support makes possible. In future updates, we will take you closer to the field, sharing ranger activities, patrol results, wildlife and habitat monitoring, community engagement and tangible examples of donor support in action.

Thank you for standing with Mount Kenya Trust and with the people who work every day to protect this extraordinary ecosystem.

Together, we can sustainably conserve Mount Kenya—for wildlife, communities and generations to come.