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LEWA WILDLIFE CONSERVANCY
The Lewa Wildlife Conservancy is a 62,000-acre wildlife sanctuary
situated on the northern slopes of Mt Kenya. It consists of
five extremely diverse ecosystems: Open savannah, Acacia forest,
rocky gorges and ravines, Mountain forest and, our backbone,
the Lewa swamp.
This all supports over 440 species of birds and more than
61 different mammals, including some rather rare exotic and
endangered ones.
Lewa now holds 34 black and 33 white rhino.
It is one of the last three remaining habitats
of the aquatic sitatunga.
Lewa also boasts an ever-increasing population of reticulated
Giraffe, 25 % of the worlds remaining Grevy’s
zebra population and Lewa also hosts a pack of elusive
wild dogs.
Founded by Alex Douglas in the 1920s, Lewa was run as a cattle
ranch until the early 1990’s.
For
more information about Lewa Wildlife Conservancy,
visit their excellent web site.
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By the mid 1980s poaching had reduced the elephant population
from 200,000 to around 60,000, and the Black rhino population
from 20,000 to less than 400 and its survival was dubious.
In 1983, thanks to Anna Mertz and the Craig family the Ngare
Sergoi Rhino Sanctuary was established on the western
end of the cattle ranch. It was obvious after ten years that
the rhino needed more space, territories started to overlap
and fights broke out amongst the breeding males.
In 1993 The Craig family spearheaded by the eldest son Ian
formed The Lewa Wildlife Conservancy, the
first NOT for Profit Conservation program in East Africa.
The whole area was fenced and a conservation easement was
attached to the title and a board of directors was set up
to make all decisions concerning the new sanctuary.
It was obvious that fencing was not the answer
and that game corridors had to be kept open.
A 20-metre gap in the northern boundary allows for the natural
migration of the elephant herds and other animals if they
so wish. This however added a new dimension: Human
/ Wildlife conflict. |
Due to this conflict
it was essential to have the involvement and co-operation
of the local communities or there would be no wildlife.
To combat this problem, Lewa employed a former Kenya
Wildlife Service warden James Munyugi who exerts
all his time and energies in community awareness and development
programs. Lewa also embarked on an education program.
Up until recently those wishing to educate their children
would have to pay in the region of 400 to 600$ per year. This
may not sound a lot, however when your yearly income is less
than this and you have between 3 to 7 children it puts this
basic need out of reach.
So by assisting five of the local schools and furthering
this with bursaries (sponsored education) right through to
university, we have gone along way in educating the population
as to the benefits of wildlife and ensured its safety at least
through the next generation.
Further details on this and other community conservation
work can be found on the Community
page.
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