Lewa Wildlife Conservancy: An Introduction

The first place we stayed was at Lewa Wildlife Conservancy. The fact that I was traveling with someone who used to work here was quite fortunate; I got the benefit of enjoying it as a tourist, as well as having someone who knew the place inside and out! He could rattle off statistics about Lewa for me, and ensured that I was well informed before I arrived. I'll do my best to provide a synopsis about Lewa (with some help from my friend Wikipedia!).

Lewa Wildlife Conservancy is located in northern Kenya. Formed from a former Cattle ranch in 1995, it covers over 62,000 acres (250 km²).

The Conservancy is home to a wide variety of wildlife including the rare and endangered black rhino,Grevy's zebra, and marshbuck. It also includes the big five (lion, leopard, elephant, rhino, and African buffalo). Lewa holds over 12% of Kenya’s black rhino population and the largest single population of Grevy’s zebras in the world (approximately 350 individuals).

The Conservancy is also home to the Northern Rangelands Trust, an innovative partnership with a number of communities to the north who have given their land for the preservation of wildlife. Lewa has its own education program that helps develop schools and students.

The forces behind this organization have been instrumental in developing highly effective conservation efforts throughout Kenya. If you're interested in learning more about Lewa Wildlife Conservancy or Northern Rangelands Trust (NRT), please visit any of the links below.

http://www.lewa.org/
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lewa_Wildlife_Conservancy
http://www.nrt-kenya.org/