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Maasai Wilderness Conservation Trust

The Trust operates and funds a range of programs aimed at protecting wilderness and wildlife while partnering with the local Maasai community in the Chyulu Hills and gaining their active participation as stewards of nature. With dollars generated through ecotourism, the Trust builds schools and medical clinics, invests in women’s groups, and supports local business initiatives. As a strong promoter of wildlife conservation, the Trust supports wildlife protection with lion monitoring and tracking led by a group of young Maasai warriors, employing over 100 anti-poaching rangers, and a predator protection initiative that compensates local people when their livestock is killed by predators, reducing the motivation to kill big cats.

Deeper Africa travelers visiting Kenya directly support this work. Every safari we operate in the Chyulu Hills region contributes to the rangers, the schools, and the lion conservation programs on the ground — because the experience of seeing lions in the wild is inseparable from the effort to ensure they are still there for future generations.

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More Information

This short documentary introduces the work of the Maasai Wilderness Conservation Trust in Kenya’s Chyulu Hills. It covers lion tracking by Maasai warriors, anti-poaching operations run by over 100 rangers, community schools and medical clinics funded by ecotourism, and the predator protection program that compensates Maasai families when livestock is lost to big cats, reducing the motivation to kill lions in retaliation.

Lion Conservation & Wildlife Monitoring

The MWCT’s lion monitoring program is led by young Maasai warriors, men who grew up in the same landscape as the lions they now protect. Using both traditional tracking knowledge and modern GPS technology, these warriors map lion movements, territory, and population health across the Chyulu Hills. This matters beyond the hills themselves: the Chyulu Hills form one of the last intact wildlife corridors between Amboseli and Tsavo, meaning protecting lions here protects the wider landscape.

Anti-Poaching & Predator Protection

The MWCT employs over 100 anti-poaching rangers across the Chyulu Hills. One of the largest community ranger forces in Kenya. Monitoring elephants, lions, and other species across a corridor connecting two of the country’s most significant national parks. Alongside this, the predator protection program compensates Maasai families when livestock is killed by big cats, removing the financial incentive for retaliation and making coexistence with predators genuinely viable.

Community Development

But rangers alone cannot sustain conservation. The MWCT uses ecotourism revenues to fund schools and medical clinics, invest in women’s groups and local businesses, and create employment for Maasai men and women as rangers, guides, and conservation staff. When communities benefit directly from wildlife’s survival, they become its most committed protectors. The Maasai of the Chyulu Hills are not bystanders to this work, they are its backbone.

How Your Deeper Africa Safari Contributes

This is where travel becomes tangible. When you book a Deeper Africa Kenya safari, your trip directly funds lion conservation, anti-poaching rangers, and community schools through our partnership with the MWCT. Our Kenya & Tanzania Safari travels through the Chyulu Hills, the heart of this work. Every traveler who books with Deeper Africa helps keep rangers in the field, compensates families living alongside predators, and builds the schools that give the next generation of Maasai a reason to protect the wilderness they grew up in.

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Maasai Wilderness Conservation Trust

MWCT-funded community school in the Chyulu Hills, Kenya, built through ecotourism revenues from Deeper Africa safaris
Young Maasai girls in the Chyulu Hills, Kenya, supported by MWCT community education and development programmes
Maasai wildlife scouts tracking animals in Kenya's Chyulu Hills as part of the MWCT anti-poaching programme
Mount Kilimanjaro viewed from Kenya's Chyulu Hills, the landscape protected by the Maasai Wilderness Conservation Trust
MWCT anti-poaching scout patrolling the Chyulu Hills in Kenya, part of a 100+ ranger force protecting lions and elephants
Maasai warriors tracking lions in Kenya's Chyulu Hills as part of the MWCT lion monitoring and conservation programme
The Chyulu Hills landscape in Kenya — protected wilderness area managed by the Maasai Wilderness Conservation Trust
MWCT Simba Scouts removing wire snares in Kenya's Chyulu Hills as part of anti-poaching operations
Interior of an MWCT-funded school in the Chyulu Hills, Kenya, showing students supported by ecotourism revenues
Wildlife in Kenya's Chyulu Hills protected by the Maasai Wilderness Conservation Trust ranger programme
Maasai community members in Kenya's Chyulu Hills region, supported by MWCT conservation and development programmes
Maasai men in traditional dress in Kenya's Chyulu Hills, employed by MWCT as rangers and wildlife scouts
MWCT rangers and scouts at a briefing in Kenya's Chyulu Hills, coordinating anti-poaching operations
Landscape and wildlife in Kenya's Chyulu Hills protected by the Maasai Wilderness Conservation Trust
MWCT scouts tracking wildlife on foot in Kenya's Chyulu Hills, demonstrating traditional Maasai tracking knowledge
Wire snares confiscated by MWCT anti-poaching rangers in Kenya's Chyulu Hills during wildlife protection operations
MWCT anti-poaching rangers on patrol in Kenya's Chyulu Hills, part of a 100+ strong ranger force protecting lions and elephants
MWCT-funded nursery school in the Chyulu Hills, Kenya, providing early education for Maasai children through ecotourism

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