The large 90,000-acre Ol Pejeta Conservancy (OPC) is located between the northern slopes of Mount Kenya and the Aberdares Range. In late 2004, thanks to the interest and generosity of its President, Jon Stryker, the Arcus Foundation enabled Fauna & Flora International to purchase the property and support a five-year programme of development, including infrastructure and management capacity. At the end of 2005, ownership was transferred to the newly created Ol Pejeta Conservancy, which now benefits from the combined expertise, skills and ongoing support of Fauna & Flora International, the Lewa Wildlife Conservancy and the Arcus Foundation, as well as the representation on the Ol Pejeta Board of local political figures, community leaders and conservation groups.
The area includes a mosaic of open grass plains, wooded grassland, Acacia woodland and evergreen thicket. This productive mix of habitats supports elephant, giraffe, and plains game and also provides good habitat for white rhinos. It has already been assessed as highly suitable for northern white rhinos in particular, and the choice of OPC has been endorsed by the Secretariat of the IUCN/SSC African Rhino Specialist Group. OPC has a number of distinct advantages:
The Ol Pejeta Conservancy is less prone to drought and less vulnerable to poaching than other proposed sites.
It is close to the original range of the northern white rhino, and in particular to the historical range in Uganda, a former stronghold of the subspecies.
The location will facilitate any future translocation of rhinos to restock or reinforce white rhino populations in their former range.
The Conservancy has relevant experience and knowledge – it now holds the largest black rhino population in East Africa and is an important national resource for the restocking of other areas.
Much of the necessary infrastructure is already in place in the conservancy and is ready to accommodate the translocated white rhinos. Management of the rhinos in bomas will be extended progressively to paddocks and then to the larger secure and fenced conservation area at OPC. Adaptive management and breeding including inter-crossing with southern white rhinos can be achieved within these various areas depending on the conditions and control required.
Technical support will be offered by the Lewa Wildlife Conservancy, which is currently among the best protected and monitored of Africa’s rhino reserves. The rhinos will benefit from extremely high quality security, including 24-hour surveillance.
The Ol Pejeta Conservancy will work with Kenya's wildlife government body the Kenya Wildlife Service to achieve our vision to move the rhinos to a secure breeding sanctuary in Kenya.
There is an economic rationale for saving an animal that has the potential to contribute to sustainable development in Africa by generating tourist income. If the project is successful at Ol Pejeta Conservancy, the locally appropriate white rhino subspecies will be regenerated and can be widely reintroduced into former range states in East Africa – once security and management can be guaranteed. It is quite possible that Kenya Wildlife Service may decide in future to consider introducing northern white rhino adaptive genes into its white rhino metapopulation. If it does so, the Ol Pejeta Conservancy is well situated to facilitate this at very low cost.
