On 10 August 2025, three suspects were arrested in a sting operation conducted by Kenya Wildlife Service (KWS) rangers and the police. The suspects were transporting four pancake tortoises to a buyer in Marimanti trading centre, Tharaka-Nithi County. According to John Wambua, KWS Assistant Director in charge of the Eastern conservation area, they were arraigned in court on 11 August 2025.
The sting operation came in the wake of KWS unveiling a National Recovery and Conservation Action Plan for the Pancake Tortoise (Malacochersus tornieri) in Kenya (2025-2035) at Chiakariga, Tharaka-Nithi, on 16 May.
Kenya’s exquisite little pancake tortoise, locally known as kobe kama chapati, faces extinction due to habitat loss, land clearance for agriculture, poaching for the illegal pet trade and potential impacts from climate change.
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| Source: Kenya Wildlife Service | |
These unusually soft-shelled, beautifully patterned, relatively agile creatures are endemic to Kenya’s arid and semi-arid landscapes, where they can be found in the crevices of rocky outcrops, hills and koppies. Wambua told ENACT that the animal’s Kenyan habitats were Tharaka-Nithi, Meru, Embu, Samburu, Laikipia, Isiolo, Kitui, Mwingi, Tana River and Marsabit counties.
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Habitat of the pancake tortoise (Malacochersus tornieri), Kenya
 Source: author compilation |
This tortoise species exhibits a low reproductive capacity, with females laying only one egg per clutch per season. Their recruitment rate (number of new tortoises added to the population, whether by birth and maturation or migration) is low, as is the survival of juveniles in the wild, especially given the numerous egg and juvenile predators present in the natural habitats for the species. The pancake tortoise is red-listed as critically endangered by the International Union for Conservation of Nature and international trade is restricted under the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES) Appendix I listing. Despite this, the tortoise is still poached and traded illegally in Kenya.
Protecting the species is complicated by two challenges. As indicated on the map, it has a widespread habitat. It is often found in community and private lands outside national parks and national reserves, making collaboration with local communities essential for its protection. In addition, national population size estimates, breeding, feeding, movements, home range, genetics, and distribution are yet to be fully established to aid conservation planning.
Abraham Mugambi, a Marimanti community leader involved in the campaign to save the pancake tortoise, said a group of people who are not from the area was responsible for paying desperate youths to poach the tortoises. The community intelligence system, he disclosed, had established that the illicit tortoise trade dealers offered almost US$100 for a tortoise. They are, however, now on high alert.
The buyers smuggle the animal out of the country, primarily to Europe and North America, where its exotic characteristics make it a treasured pet in private homes and zoos.
International illicit wildlife trafficking networks also supply exotic meat and pet markets in Thailand and elsewhere in Asia with endangered and threatened species, including the pancake tortoise.
To formulate the recovery and conservation plan, KWS partnered with Turtle Survival Alliance through the Lewa Wildlife Conservancy, National Museums of Kenya and Northern Rangelands Trust to establish the National Pancake Tortoise Technical Steering Committee.
Over a span of two years, the committee conducted a baseline study (collecting data available in the public domain and from the literature), stakeholder mapping and consultations at multiple sites, as well as community and technical validations. The plan was developed after considering all this information. It was finally approved by KWS’s management and board of trustees and the Tourism and Wildlife Ministry, and subsequently launched.
Media reports say the strategy aims to protect and restore vital koppie habitats, train local ‘tortoise guardians’ to lead conservation efforts, target wildlife trafficking networks, boost scientific research and population tracking, and create eco-tourism opportunities to generate local income.
Mugambi told ENACT that, already, ‘Our young men, elders, and women have been taught about the threats the species face and have been informed to alert the chief or elders in case they see any stranger or anyone looking for the tortoises.’
KWS Director General Erustus Kanga, speaking during the launch of the plan, called on county governments in regions where the tortoise is found to designate protected habitat zones. He asked them to allocate funding for public awareness campaigns, and establish county-level wildlife monitoring and enforcement units focused on the species.
‘This action plan isn’t just about saving a tortoise,’ he said. ‘It’s about protecting a living emblem of Kenya’s natural heritage – a species that defies nature’s norms yet now depends on our protection. With females laying just one egg per year, every individual is critical to the species’ survival.’
‘We’re not just launching a document,’ added Peter Nyawira of Lewa Wildlife Conservancy. ‘We’re building a coalition – counties, communities, scientists and policymakers – for one small tortoise that tells a bigger story about our disappearing drylands.’
The efforts by KWS and its partners will hopefully usher in a decade of evidence-driven scientific and community understanding of the pancake tortoise and its habitat, establish collaborative conservation interventions that work with communities, and curb its poaching and illicit trade.
The stakeholders involved in implementing this ambitious 10-year plan should scale up community awareness forums on the ecological and touristic value of this unique tortoise, and mobilise resources from international conservation bodies to support habitat rehabilitation and restoration efforts.
It is equally important that law enforcement agencies collaborate with KWS, communities and private landowners to curb the illicit pancake tortoise trade. Community-embedded intelligence gathering and the speedy prosecution of arrested poachers would boost such efforts.
Halkano Wario, ROCO East Africa, and Noor Ali, investigative journalist
