British rancher shot dead by cattle herders in Kenya

By Magdalene Mukami

NAIROBI, Kenya (AA) - The British owner of a safari ranch in Kenya has been shot dead by pastoral herders, a police official said Monday.

South African-born Tristan Voorspuy was killed while inspecting lodges on the Sosian ranch in Laikipia county.

His body was discovered on Sunday when he did not return from a horseback inspection of the property following reports of an arson attack on one of the lodges.

“A search was conducted which involved aerial surveillance and that was when we spotted his injured horse,” a local police officer told Anadolu Agency by telephone. The officer spoke on condition of anonymity due to restrictions on speaking to the media.

“His body was later recovered by a team which was searching the ranch on foot. It is very sad. We believe that pastoralists searching for pasture carried out the attack.”

Pastoral clans in northern Kenya have in the past been willing to kill over grazing land and a recent drought has heightened the violence.

So far this year, more than 30 people have been killed in inter-clan feuds linked to grazing lands in the region.

Many pastoralists see the large tracts of land inhabited by white ranchers as being their ancestral property.

The drought across east Africa has left as many as 3 million people in Kenya facing starvation, leading to further conflict between the cattle herders, ranchers and police as they seek food for their animals.

The Star newspaper said Voorspuy, a father-of-two and a former cavalry officer in the British army, ran a company called Offbeat Safaris.