British rancher killed in Kenya land invasions

SA-born former Guards officer mowed down by armed herders

ABRITISH man has been shot dead on his ranch in central Kenya, with an official blaming heavily armed herders responsible for land invasions in the area.

Thousands of herders – some armed with spears, others with AK47s – have invaded private ranches and wildlife parks with their livestock, slaughtering animals and destroying property in Laikipia, as they go in search of pasture in the drought-stricken country.

Tristan Voorspuy, a 60-year-old British citizen who was born in South Africa, had gone to inspect damage on his 9 700ha Sosian ranch caused by the raiders when he was killed on Sunday.

According to reports, two cottages on his property had been torched.

“It is true the Sosian ranch director was shot dead while going to inspect damage at his ranch,” government official Jacob Endung said on Sunday.

“He was riding on his horse when he was felled by bullets. The horse was also shot and is lying there.”

Endung said police had been unable to access the area due to the high number of raiders, but had flown over the area and seen the body.

“These people are dangerous, they don’t spare anyone,” he said.

Voorspuy spent several years in the British Army before moving to Kenya and founding a company specialising in horseback safaris, according to his website.

He and several other shareholders also restored the once-derelict Sosian ranch.

In January, herders swept into the nearby 17 600ha Suyian ranch, burning thatched huts for tourists.

Elephant, lion, buffalo and zebra have been slaughtered by the herders who come with tens of thousands of livestock, and black and white landowners alike speak of invasions, fear and siege.

The reasons behind the invasions are complex.

While some point to the drought gripping the country, and a spike in human and livestock populations, others say the looming election in August and long-running land gripes have sparked tensions.

The media has reported that votes are being offered in exchange for land grabs.

A former British Army and Household Guards officer, Voorspuy was the most prominent victim to date in the campaign of land invasions, which many white farmers believe represents a politically motivated land grab in one of the country’s most important conservation areas.

After Voorspuy, who was regarded as one of Kenya’s finest horsemen, failed to return after riding out to inspect the damage, a white farmer from a neighbouring ranch flew over the area and spotted his badly injured horse.

A tracker later found and identified Voorspuy’s body but it has yet to be retrieved because the area is still patrolled by large gangs of armed warriors from Kenya’s Samburu and Pokot ethnic groups.

Ostensibly, the invasions were triggered by a drought that forced Samburu and Pokot herdsmen to abandon denuded pasture to the north and east of Laikipia and drive their cattle on to the carefully husbanded ranches.

As many as 20 Kenyans have been killed, among them workers on white-owned farms.

Some white ranchers have been shot at and one black rancher was wounded last year.

The government’s response has been muted, although two small police operations have been mounted against the invaders in the past month, including one last week on Sosian. Both failed.

Voorspuy, who is survived by his wife Lucinda and two adult children, bought the Sosian ranch with six other shareholders in 2005.

He is credited with turning land that had been badly degraded into a successful wildlife conservation project.

Known as an engaging raconteur and intrepid riding safari guide, Voorspuy was a central figure in white Kenyan society.

He lived at Deloraine, perhaps the country’s best-known colonial farmhouse.

Built by Lord Francis Scott, the uncle of Princess Alice, Duchess of Gloucester, it has hosted the Queen Mother and the Duchess of York.