State banks on community conservancies to save endangered rhino species

The State will support community-driven wildlife conservancies to increase the numbers of endangered species, with priority given to rhinos.

During the World Rhino Day national celebration at Elsa Ground in Isiolo on Monday, Wildlife Principal Secretary Sylvia Museiya said communities with wildlife conservancies in their areas were among those reaping significant benefits from tourism.

Museiya noted that communities living around the Maasai Mara National Reserve and operating their own conservancies earn an average of Sh45,000 per household each month.

World Rhino Day is marked globally on September 22.

In Kenya, which is home to two rhino species—black and white—the day is dedicated to celebrating all five remaining species in the world: the Black, White, Greater One-Horned, Sumatran, and Javan rhinos.

The theme for this year's event was: "Standing Together for Rhino Conservation."

The PS, who represented Wildlife Cabinet Secretary Rebecca Miano, noted that the northern tourism circuit, which had nearly the entire rhino population in the country in the early 1970s before numbers nose-dived due to massive poaching, now has about 1,500 rhinos in three counties: Laikipia, Meru, and Samburu.

Isiolo, which had the highest number of rhinos in the early 1970s, currently has none.

Of particular concern, however, is that most of the remaining rhinos are found in electric-fenced private wildlife conservancies, such as Ol Pejeta in Laikipia. In Meru, they are located in the KWS-managed Meru National Park.

However, according to the PS, there is strong hope for rhinos to return to their natural habitats—through community-based wildlife conservancies.

Samburu County has taken the lead by establishing the first such sanctuary in East Africa when Sera Conservancy was set up in 2015.

Sera, in partnership with the Northern Rangelands Trust (NRT), benefited from the relocation of rhinos from the Lewa Downs Wildlife Conservancy. Today, it hosts tourist lodges and a game reserve where visitors can engage in on-foot rhino tracking.

“Laikipia has 28 conservancies, and if you visit Il Ngwesi, tourists pay a lot of money just to see the rhinos. The communities there benefit immensely from the revenue generated through tourism,” she observed.

The State, impressed by the successes in counties like Laikipia and Samburu, will support other counties seeking to pursue similar paths.

To protect these rare animals, Kenya was among the first signatories to the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES).

Other protocols include the Lusaka Agreement on Cooperative Enforcement Operations Directed at Illegal Trade in Wild Fauna and Flora (LA), and the Convention on Migratory Species (CMS).

To domesticate these international conventions, Kenya enacted the Wildlife Conservation and Management Act, 2013, which provides, among other things, a strong legal foundation for rhino conservation and sets out stringent enforcement measures against wildlife crime.

“To further strengthen conservation, Kenya is reviewing the Wildlife Act—now the Wildlife Bill 2025—which seeks to address emerging issues in wildlife conservation, align with the Wildlife Policy 2020, and harmonise Kenya’s obligations under the CITES, CMS, and Lusaka Agreement,” said Miano.

Among the efforts to take rhino conservation to the grassroots level, the State has envisioned the Black Rhino Recovery and Action Plan, aimed at expanding the rhino range to areas where they once thrived in the 1970s.

“We will continue sustaining and strengthening anti-poaching efforts, maintaining intensive and accurate rhino monitoring systems (ear notching, microchipping, DNA profiling), and mobilising sustainable financing mechanisms to support rhino conservation in the long term by partnering with local communities,” said the CS.

According to the 2021 National Wildlife Census Report, Kenya is home to 1,605 rhinos—the third-largest population in Africa, behind South Africa and Namibia.

These include 853 black rhinos, 750 southern white rhinos, and only two female northern white rhinos.

“This is a result of concerted efforts undertaken by the government, partner states, conservationists, and communities surrounding wildlife reserves and sanctuaries,” Miano stressed.