Africa

Kenya conservation work

Black rhino and zebra

Kenya is a country of diverse, rich habitats, home to many endemic and threatened species. It is also home to diverse peoples, with long traditions of living alongside wildlife, but often facing high levels of poverty.

ZSL works with local and national partners to conserve flagship species such as elephants and black rhino, and less well-known species. ZSL has worked with the Kenya Wildlife Service to conserve black rhino since 1989. Over time, ZSL’s involvement in Kenya has grown, and we are now engaged with many more conservation projects to protect threatened wildlife across the country.

 

Why we are there

Over the past 30 years, Kenya’s wildlife has declined significantly. This a result of illegal poaching (especially rhino and elephant), as well as habitat loss and degradation. The growing human population puts pressure on protected areas and wildlife corridors, leading to unsustainable use of natural resources and increased conflict between people and wildlife. Combined with growing impacts from more frequent droughts, this has affected livelihoods and increased poverty amongst rural Kenyans reliant on the environment for their wellbeing.

 

How is ZSL helping protect Kenya's wildlife?

 

Flagship species conservation

In thirty years of close collaboration with the Kenya Wildlife Service, ZSL has provided technical support and training to establish and support wildlife health programmes, patrol-based and camera-trap monitoring, habitat assessments, rhino translocation, intensive protection zones, and strategic planning for protected areas and critically endangered species, such as the black rhino, wild dogs, cheetah, elephant and hirola.

We have deepened our engagement with conservation projects through the country office we established in 2016. We are also pioneering innovative rhino impact investment to mobilise resources for conservation.

 

Community conservation

Increasingly, ZSL is engaging Kenyan communities in conservation. We have established new partnerships with local organisations that support and represent local communities around the Tsavo national parks. Together we are working to improve relationships between communities and park rangers and managers; to find new, sustainable ways of generating income and investing in livelihoods; and to engage local people as ‘community guardians’, protecting wildlife and crops.

 

Conservation monitoring, training and technology

ZSLs Clarine Kigoli with the Grevys Zebra Trust Samburu scouts on training patrol
ZSL
ZSL's Clarine Kigoli with the Grevy’s Zebra Trust Samburu scouts on training patrol

Kenya’s ability to address threats is held back by a lack of resources and capacity. ZSL is working with various partners to improve conservation action and ecological monitoring effectiveness, through new technologies such as SMART and Instant Detect. ZSL has trained over 500 rangers in the use of SMART, and supported 16 partner organisations to implement SMART across 20,036km2 of conservation areas in Kenya. We have even delivered SMART training to Samburu warriors.

ZSL’s EDGE programme is also working to educate new conservationists in Kenya, while ZSL also works to influence international policies to protect Kenya’s species and disrupt wildlife trafficking networks.

 

Protecting extraordinary places

Kenya’s renowned wildlife and diverse ecosystems depend on protected areas for survival. More than 8% of Kenya’s land area is formally protected. These areas not only conserve endemic and threatened species, but sustain the growing tourism industry, vital for Kenya’s economy and a major source of employment.

The Boni-Dodori forest is one of Kenya’s last remaining coastal forests, home to unique species, including the rarest of Africa’s forest antelopes: Aders’ duiker. Political insecurity meant the forest’s biodiversity was poorly understood, but ZSL worked with partners to complete the first rigorous camera trapping assessment, discovering a new species of elephant shrew in the process.

ZSL has long worked in the Tsavo Conservation Area to protect the iconic black rhino; we are expanding our work to support local organisations and communities, to ensure that conservation benefits people as well as wildlife.

 

News and blogs

Counting lions in Tsavo (2019)

Tracking black rhinos in Tsavo (2018)

A Kenyan woman in conservation (2018)

A day in the life of ZSL’s Kenya country manager (2017)

Using conservation technology to monitor African wild dog (2017)

Largest ivory burn in history to take place in Kenya (2016)

 

Project information

Key Species

  • Black Rhino, Critically Endangered
  • African Elephant, Endangered
  • Hirola, Critically Endangered
  • Ader’s Duiker, Critically Endangered
  • African Wild Dog, Endangered
  • Cheetah, Critically Endangered

People involved

ZSL’s Zeke Davidson and Raj Amin are two of the conservationists working on our Kenya projects

Clarine Kigoli is our global SMART user council representative and implements the technology across Africa from our Kenyan office

Moses Wekesa is our Field Manager in the Tsavo Conservation Area, and leads a team of 6 full time monitoring and implementation personnel

Steven Masau and Peter Karanja are our newest members heading up our community conservation programme

 

Partners & Sponsors

ZSL works alongside:

These projects are funded by grants from:

Publications

PDF icon Kenya Annual Report 2018 (8.63 MB)

PDF icon Kenya Annual Report 2017 (7 MB)

Aders Duiker
ZSL and KWS

Protecting the Boni-Dodori Forest

The Kenyan coastal forests are globally recognised for their wealth in biodiversity and endemism. The Boni-Dodori forest marks the northern end of this unique system and is among the most fragile ecosystems in Kenya. The Boni-Dodori National Reserves were established in 1976 and covers over 2000km2 and is one of Kenya’s last remaining coastal forests.

Yet, the area’s importance was only recognized very recently due to its political insecurity and inaccessibility. It still remains primarily intact but is at great risk from forest degradation and threats of development. Urgent action is needed to preserve it, while allowing it to be used in a sustainable way by the indigenous communities.

Conserving the rare Aders’ Duiker

Aders’ duiker, Cephalophus adersi, is the rarest of Africa’s forest antelopes, endemic to the forests of East Africa. Until recently, it was known only from several other coastal locations in Kenya, but was sighted for the first time in 2004 by a ZSL and Kenyan Wildlife Service (KWS) team in Dodori forest. A rapid survey was undertaken by ZSL, KWS and Whitley Wildlife Conservation Trust (WWCT) in 2008 to establish its distribution. Results of the survey even suggested the Boni-Dodori forest was a stronghold for the Ader’s duiker population, and so a globally important area for its conservation.

The Aders’ duiker is threatened by habitat loss and fragmentation, and hunting for bushmeat. Population estimates show that over the last 20 years the number of Aders' duikers has fallen by around 80% from 5000 individuals to around 1000.  

Camera trapping in the Boni-Dodori

Boni-Dodori is a priority area for research and conservation efforts, and ZSL are working with KWS to carry out more in-depth surveys of these forests. Boni-Dodori's biodiversity needed to be understood before action could be taken to protect it. In 2010, the ZSL and KWS (Kenya Wildlife Service), with partners WWF and Whitley Wildlife Conservation Trust, set up camera traps in three locations around the Boni-Dodori region and in Arabuko-Sokoke Forest National Reserve. Just under 63,000 images were collected, revealing 40 mammal species, including a potentially new species of giant sengi (Macroscelidea).

These findings have fuelled plans for a wider conservation project that aims to continue developing our understanding of Boni-Dodori’s biodiversity, train Kenyan scientists and forestry staff to study and manage the area, and to raise awareness in local communities of its importance. Ultimately, preserving  the valuable coastal forest ecosystem without impinging on the livelihoods of the local communities.

Partners

Black RhinoProtecting Kenya’s Flagship species

Kenya is renowned for its wildlife and diverse ecosystems protecting many endemic and threatened species. It has a number of protected areas covering more than 8% of its land area which has helped develop the growing tourism industry. Wildlife viewing drives Kenya’s tourism, vital for its economy and major source of employment.

ZSL is supporting The Kenya Wildlife Service (KWS) in its mission to conserve, protect and manage Kenya’s biodiversity. KWS is the national wildlife agency responsible for the conservation and management of Kenya’s wildlife and stewardship of its national parks and reserves. 

ZSL and KWS have worked closely together for over 20 years. ZSL has provided technical support and training for a number of flagship KWS programmes. Since 1989, ZSL has established, advised, built capacity for and supported wildlife and livestock health programmes, patrol-based and camera trap monitoring, intensive protection zones, and strategic planning for protected areas and critically endangered species, including the black rhino, forest elephant and hirola.

Conserving the Black Rhino in Kenya

The Critically Endangered black rhinoceros is one of the world’s most endangered mammals, due to rampant poaching. Kenya has significant numbers of these animals, making it central to the global conservation effort. Rhinos, like other large charismatic herbivores, require large areas to support populations. As a result, they act as ‘umbrella species,’ because the successful conservation and protection of rhinos within an area benefits the many other smaller species there.

Between 1970 and 1990, the number of black rhino in Kenya fell from over 20,000 to just 350, due to the high level of poaching. In response, ZSL, KWS and partners have invested heavily in the conservation of this natural treasure since 1993. The focus has been moving rhinos from high-risk areas into secure confined sanctuaries. The increased protection in sanctuaries minimised poaching levels, allowing the population to begin rising slowly. The rhinos’ breeding potential could also be maximised by relocating animals when the maximum population was reached in a particular area.

In Africa, the black rhino is critically endangered, having suffered a catastrophic decline, both in numbers and in the extent of their range. Poaching for the illegal demand for rhino horn continues to be the major immediate threat for all rhinos and an upsurge in poaching over the past few years has put increased pressure on survival of the species.

Through the support of the Royal Foundation and Google Global Impact Awards, ZSL is working with KWS to find innovative ways to fight illegal poaching including Instant Wild and SMART. Through the Newman’s Own Foundation ZSL is supporting the development of a new rhino sanctuary in Tsavo East National Park, while continuing to support KWS efforts in the Ngulia Rhino Sanctuary and Intensive Protection Zone in Tsavo West National Park.

ZSL are working in Tsavo to test a new financing mechanism, the Rhino Impact Investment project, which will look to raise significant funding for rhino conservation AND help to support and secure rhino populations in key priority areas. 

Project information