The month of May has brought with it huge rain storms and ample game spotting, creating exciting opportunities for research and a sigh of relief from all of us and the community at large. It is just about possible to watch the grass grow and our ecosystem monitoring team has been working hard to capture the changes across the landscape. Game appears to be recovering exceptionally well from the drought as our last set of transects revealed high numbers of new young within the zebra, wildebeest, and giraffe herds. We have also been lucky enough to locate some of our resident lions, finding a kill and recording their movements as the rains change the herbivore distributions. A few notable sights from this week include running into a pair of Honey Badgers one evening, as well as getting some quality time with an older male elephant as he grazed through the new plant growth.

The center has also recently acquired a motorcycle to increase mobility and aid in carrying out research in some areas. It has been a source of entertainment at camp this month teaching everyone to ride, and of course deciding what colour helmet you look best in! Albert was even able to strap on the pin frame to zoom off to count all the new grass sprouting up!

Community Scout Training

March 22^nd marked the official launch of the very first African Conservation Center Community Scout Training Program. The six week program is being held at the Lale’enok center, housing 35 scouts based in areas ranging from Mount Susua, Siana – Mara, Rombo – Oloitoktok, and our own Conservancy’s Group Ranches Shompole and Olkirimatian. The course is an intensive program in discipline, wildlife management, and team building. From 5am fitness training to lectures from KWS officials the course provides a wide range of exposure and skill building necessary for each of the men to be leaders upon returning to their respective conservancies. The course not only provides a standard of excellence in conservancy management for across the country but is an opportunity for members from different conservancies to meet and discuss the wide range of issues that affect many areas in Kenya. It has been a refreshing change of pace at camp and we are excited to host the team for the next 6 weeks!

Lale'enok is formally open! A glorious event where over 70 VIPs from across Kenya as well as over 150 local community members were present to witness Mr. Jaco Mebius, the Senior Policy Adviser for Environment, Water and Sanitation to the Royal Netherlands Embassy, officially open the centre. Representatives from the Ministry of Environment and Mineral Resources, the Ministry of State for National Heritage and Culture, the National Museums of Kenya, the newly formed Taskforce for drafting the Legislation Implementing Land Use, Environment and Natural Resource Provisions of the Kenya Constitution were all present and the feedback was extremely positive from all fronts. The press, who were present in full force, have done a great job with publicising the event on local TV stations over the past few days. What seems to be the main take-home message from the day was the relevance of the centre from so many angles; from what the new constitution stands for (devolution of
responsibility and ownership to the community level) to biodiversity conservation efforts built on an evidence-based approach, local capacity development, support of local women's enterprise and much more..... Lale'enok's community-based philosophies stole the day.