In 1914, Will Powys left Somerset, England and relocated to Kenya. After serving with the East African Mounted Rifles, he was employed by Galbraith Cole as a farm manager on Kekopey Ranch. This ranch bordered Lake Elementaita in the Great Rift Valley, approximately 80 km (49.7 mi) southwest of Laikipia. Following a disease outbreak in 1919, Will moved several thousand sheep from Kekopey to a small spring in the Il Pinguone Valley, which is now known as Suyian Conservancy, where he settled for five years.
During those five years, he established his headquarters at the Pinguone Spring in the northern end of what is now Suyian Conservancy. The site of his mud and wattle buildings still exists today. Eventually, Will was able to acquire his own land on the northwestern slopes of Mount Kenya, where he lived happily with his wife, Elizabeth, and their three children: Charles, Rose and Gilfrid.
In 1963, Will purchased Suyian Ranch, then known as Pinguone. Shortly after, his son, Gilfrid, moved to the property to manage livestock. The earliest stock return figures from 1968 showed 2,955 cattle, 8,235 sheep, and 1,371 goats. Will passed away in 1978 at the age of 90, but Gilfrid dedicated his life to Suyian. When the wool industry collapsed, he oversaw the transition of Suyian from a purely sheep-focused ranch to what it is today: a ranch breeding Boran cattle and serving as a haven and sanctuary for wildlife. Plant collector, pilot, rancher, and so much more, Gilfrid was a prominent and much-loved figure in Kenya. He truly lived life to the fullest, right up until his untimely death by an elephant in 2017. A simple cairn on Suyian’s rugged escarpment marks his final resting place. Gilfrid’s wife, Patricia, and their two daughters, Anne and Marian, both live on Suyian, and through them and their children, the family’s relationship with the land continues.
Conservation has been at the core of Suyian for many years. While the cattle herd remains a fundamental element of the business, stocking numbers are kept deliberately low, and their movements and grazing patterns closely monitored to enhance rangeland productivity. Livestock grazing is essential for maintaining the nutritious quality of the grasslands for wildlife, making the two highly complementary. This principle underpins one of Suyian’s core beliefs: that the land should be conserved to protect the unique environment and wildlife it supports, while also producing food and supporting local communities. This co-dependency is critical for sustainable conservation in the Laikipia context, both ecologically and politically.
