Conservation Corner

In historic fashion, Lewa Wildlife Conservancy and Borana Conservancy in the Northern Frontier District of Kenya are dropping the fence that separates them to form Kenya's largest private rhino habitat, which will be 93,000 acres where animals can roam freely.

The well-known Lewa Wildlife Conservancy was formed in 1983 as the Ngare Sergoi Rhino Sanctuary for the sake of rhino conservation at a time when populations were being decimated by poaching. It has become one of the most successful and well-known rhino conservancies in East Africa, while also thriving with unique species only found in the northern region like the reticulated giraffe, critically endangered Grevy's zebra, gerenuk, Beisa oryx and Somali ostrich.

Borana Conservancy has been in the Dyer Family for three generations and shifted its focus to wildlife conservation in 1992. Borana received a founding population of 21 rhinos in a relocation effort in 2013, some coming from Lewa where the population had outgrown the habitat. In total, the habitat will host approximately 88 black rhino and 63 white rhino, with room to grow. They predict the black rhino population will reach 100 in the next two years.

Visit Lewa or Borana on the 10-day Classic Kenya safari or 13-day Grand Kenya safari.

Image of black rhino on Lewa Wildlife Conservancy