Nairobi — The pastoralists invested in protection of elephants and other wild animals and the harvest was handsome. They reaped from the high number of tourists who flocked their ranch. Not any more.

The wrath of an elephant in June 2000 is now haunting more than 600 beneficiaries of the Il Ngwesi Group Ranch in Laikipia East District.

A British tourist, Mrs Wendy Susan Martin, visited Il Ngwesi Lodge and spent a wonderful night.

The following morning, Mrs Martin and her colleague decided to jog in the forested Yiari valley, which borders Mukogondo Hills.

Unknown to the unaccompanied tourists, they had ventured into a route commonly used by wildlife and they encountered a calving elephant.

The irritated animal charged at Mrs Martin and inflicted serious injuries on her. She was saved by a game ranger who scared the animal. But by then, the tourist had sustained serious injuries and was in a coma.

She was treated at local hospitals and abroad.

Three years later, Mrs Martin sued Il Ngwesi seeking compensation for body injuries and last month, a Nairobi court awarded her Sh105 million.

Following the award, hundreds of families that have relied on Il Ngwesi for their survival for the past 11 years, are now facing a bleak future.

They are spending sleepless nights fearing that their treasured Sh20 million lodge and the expansive land where it sits, could be auctioned to compensate the tourist.

Since the community conservancy project was initiated, the pastoralists stopped relying entirely on livestock and many children who previously engaged in herding went to school.

They take pride in having utilised their earnings from the ranch to build primary schools, improve infrastructure, provide water and prevent banditry and cattle rustling.

Carry the burden

But they are now scared following rumours that Il Ngwesi Group Ranch land, which covers 16,500 acres, would be auctioned to raise the compensation.

Last Monday, they invited Tourism and Wildlife minister Morris Dzoro to hear their plight.

Hundreds of residents attended the meeting at Lokusero Primary School in Mukogondo Forest.

But the minister neither turned up, nor sent a representative, prompting the attendants to direct their anger at the Government. Speakers told the meeting that they had been assisting the Government to conserve wildlife and it was unfair for them carry the burden of compensation resulting from the attack.

Il Ngwesi ward councillor Morris Kisio said they would drive away wildlife from their farms and kill some in protest before the auction.

"Our people have been killed by wild animals and we only get Sh30,000 per person as compensation. How come we are now required to pay a huge amount of money to a tourist injured by an animal owned by the State?" posed Mr Kisio.

An official of the ranch, Mzee Kipsoi Kinyaga, said the community could not be convinced that wildlife conservation was beneficial to them if the Government failed to intervene.

"What is the need of providing our land for the animals to graze, protect them from poachers and the reward you get is being told to pay more than Sh100 million?" Mzee Kinyaga asked.

Representatives from 10 community conservancy groups spread across eight districts in northern Kenya attended the meeting to express solidarity with Il Ngwesi. Councillor Jarson Ngoricho, who represented Borana Conservancy in Isiolo District, said the Kenya Wildlife Service should take liability for any injury inflicted on a human being by a wild animal.

"We don't own the animals but we have allowed them occupy our land. If the Government does not pay the Sh105 million compensation to the tourist, we shall drive the wild animals out and start grazing our animals on the land," Mr Ngoricho told the meeting.

Community conservation programmes were introduced a decade ago with the aim of reducing human/wildlife conflict and boosting tourism.

Communities were expected to benefit from wildlife by conserving flora and fauna in their midst.

Il Ngwesi pioneered the programme as a pilot project in 1996 and following its success, it was replicated in eight more districts.

The Northern Rangelands Trust has been spearheading the campaign to encourage the pastoral communities co-exist with wildlife. Since its inception, cases of banditry and poaching which was common in early 1990s have reduced.

Locals have benefited through improved structure, provision of water, health and education facilities as well as direct employment in the lodges established in the middle of the forest where animals roam freely.

According to Northern Rangelands Trust community development manager James Munyugi, such conservancy projects cover a total of 1.5 million acres and employ 350 people.

It is only in those areas that endangered animal species like the black rhino, African wild dog and the grey zebra can be found.

Il Ngwesi ranch has a lodge with seven cottages and generates an annual income of Sh10 million. Among the 14 lodges in the region, it is the only one fully owned and managed by the residents.