Lewa Wildlife Conservancy
A pioneering Kenyan conservancy
Located in the foothills of Mount Kenya, and a part of the Mount Kenya UNESCO World Heritage Site, Lewa Wildlife Conservancy is home to some of Africa’s most endangered and iconic species. The conservancy has spent the last three decades developing into one of Kenya’s leading sites for conservation innovation and excellence, with impact well beyond its boundaries on a national and even regional scale.
As a reserve spanning 61,000 hectares, the conservancy has been an African leader in endangered species protection and recovery. Lewa boasts roughly 11% of the total population of Grevy’s Zebra- a species endemic to Kenya and Ethiopia- as well as 14% of Kenya’s rhino population. Lewa is a regional leader in rhino conservation, home to one of East Africa’s key populations, and helping to spearhead rhino translocations to other parts of Kenya, including nearby community conservancies such as Sera.
A core part of Lewa’s approach is reaching beyond wildlife protection to create strong partnerships with local communities living alongside wildlife. Lewa’s technical expertise in wildlife protection, endangered species monitoring, and other facets of management are an important asset in supporting many of the community conservancies that are developing in northern Kenya, through collaboration between Lewa and Northern Rangelands Trust.
“Children are always eager to learn and this is the right age to champion the environment and nature to them. To ensure that the knowledge we pass along is also practiced in the classroom, we are training teachers as well on conservation education. This way, it’s not just the students but with their teachers as well.”
Along its boundaries, Lewa invests heavily in education, health, and other development initiatives that are designed to promote economic development in neighboring communities and reduce their dependence on natural resources. As a result, the conservancy has had a meaningful impact not only on the health of wildlife and biodiversity across the region, but also on the livelihood and prosperity of the neighboring communities:
Education
By building classrooms, dormitories, laboratories, boreholes, teachers’ houses, kitchens and libraries across three counties, Lewa is supporting 23 primary and secondary government schools with close to 10,000 children in attendance.
Micro-enterprise
Lewa’s women’s micro-enterprise program provides low interest loans to more than 1,800 women to enable them to run their businesses and improve their families’ livelihoods.
Conservation education
More than 5,000 children visit Lewa annually for a conservation education experience, which empowers them with knowledge to become stewards of their natural world.
Heathcare
Lewa’s four clinics provide affordable and accessible healthcare services to more than 50,000 people annually.
Water
Lewa’s 17 water programs ensure that 20,000 people have access to clean and safe water for both domestic use and farming.
A key part of Lewa’s business model is operating as one of Kenya’s top tourism sites
Lewa has developed a tourism infrastructure that creates jobs that incentivize people to protect and defend their native flora and fauna. Across Lewa and the lodges, approximately 450 people are employed in various capacities, with over 90% coming from the neighboring communities.
Ultimately Lewa understands that the future health of the wildlife depends on the wellbeing of the communities that the wildlife co-exists with. By focusing on nurturing a thriving ecosystem for both humans and wildlife, Lewa has become a leading model for successful conservation in Kenya.
Restoring endangered species
Lewa has worked to reduce human-wildlife conflict and eliminate the poaching of rhinos and elephants within the conservancy. It is estimated that there were 20,000 black rhinos in Kenya in the 1960s, but rampant poaching reduced that to only about 300 in just two decades. Since then Lewa has played a major role in the recovery of that population, which now stands at over 600 across Kenya.
As a result of human development across the region, elephant migration routes have also been threatened. Lewa worked with partners to build an elephant underpass that connects Mount Kenya to the savannah landscapes further north, ensuring that traditional migration routes are now protected from modern development.