Prince honours ‘close friend’ killed with son in plane crash
THE Prince of Wales last night paid tribute to a “close friend” who was killed, alongside his son, in a plane crash in Kenya.
Mark Jenkins, a ranger, was killed when his light aircraft crashed as he tried to drive cows, camels and goats out of Tsavo National Park. His son, Peter, was a warden.
The Prince is understood to have found out about the tragedy as he attempted to process the fallout from the release of the Harry & Meghan Netflix documentary.
In a personal tweet from the Kensington Royal account, he wrote: “Yesterday, I lost a friend, who dedicated his life to protecting wildlife in some of East Africa’s most renowned national parks. Mark Jenkins, and his son Peter, were tragically killed when flying over Tsavo National Park while conducting an aerial patrol.
“Tonight, I’m thinking about Mark’s wife, family and colleagues who’ve sadly lost a man we all loved and admired. W”
The Prince first met Mr Jenkins on his gap year in 2001, when he spent three-and-a-half months in Africa, enjoying time on safari but also learning about game conservation, wildlife and the environment.
The pair struck up a friendship and had met a number of times since, with Mr Jenkins following the Prince’s work with the Tusk Trust, which aims to protect endangered species from the illegal wildlife trade.
Mr Jenkins came from a family of wildlife conservationists. During the 1950s, his father, also called Peter, who was based in Tsavo National Park – the largest national park in Kenya and one of the biggest in the world – was a leading figure in the effort to stamp out elephant poaching.
The Frankfurt Zoological Society (FZS) paid tribute to Mr Jenkins, who was described as a “lifelong conservationist and experienced bush pilot”.
It said he was killed while conducting an aerial patrol for the David Sheldrick Wildlife Trust.
“Passionate, principled, and strongwilled, Mark was never afraid to speak his mind and stand for what he believed in,” it said.
“He was a commanding presence and made an indelible impression wherever he went.”
Mr Jenkins worked as a project leader for the FZS since 2014, first at Tanzania’s Selous Game Reserve, and then at the Serengeti National Park until 2016.
He helped develop the Serengeti National Park’s aviation team by buying two Aviat Husky planes that were “dedicated to anti poaching and surveillance”. He was described as a “devoted” husband and father. He leaves behind a wife and another son.
The FZS expressed its condolences to his family and said they would miss “his warmth, hilarious stories and irreverent comments”.
The area where Mr Jenkins and his son were killed had been invaded by herders with their animals for pasture, causing conflict between authorities and the herders, according to a local newspaper.
Titus Karuri, coast regional police officer, said experts were investigating the accident. “Kenya Wildlife Service wishes to express our deepest sympathies and condolences to the families of the deceased,” he said.
In 2014, Prince William was involved in a scheme , tested at Tsavo National Park in Kenya, that deployed secret surveillance cameras around many of the world’s last great wildernesses in the hope of catching poachers.