A former British army officer has been shot dead in Kenya, police in the country have said.
Tristan Voorspuy was killed by pastoral herders on Sunday in Laikipia while inspecting some of his lodges, a local police official told Associated Press.
It follows a pattern of traditional herdsmen invading ranches in the area to seize pasture amid an ongoing drought.
Mr Voorspuy was the founder of luxury safari company Offbeat Safaris. Martin Evans, chairman of the Laikipia Farmers Association, said Mr Voorspuy was attacked while inspecting a lodge that had been set alight by so-called “land invaders”.
When he did not return by Sunday afternoon, an aerial search spotted Voorspuy’s injured horse but did not catch sight of the rancher, Mr Evans said.
A ground team later found his body by the ruins of the house.
Some officials have blamed the land invasions on a severe drought that has made poor herders desperate.
But ranchers say they are politically-motivated and part of plans to take over their land.
Some have accused local politicians of inciting the violence in the run up to the general election in August.
Mr Voorspuy, who was born in South Africa but schooled and raised in Sussex, was in the British army for six years, leaving in 1981.
After leaving the army, he drove a motorbike from London to Cape Town for nine months, looking for work in Africa.
He created Offbeat Safaris in 1990. Mombasa-based business Scenic Air Safaris posted a tribute on its Facebook page, saying: “Our thoughts and prayers go to his wife Cindy and family and to his friends and partners at Sosian Lodge and Offbeat Safaris. “A true officer and a gentleman.”
A Foreign Office spokesman said: “We are offering support to the family of the British national who has died in Kenya and we are in touch with local authorities.”
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