"It is a protection established on private land by a private individual or by an organization for the purpose of preserving wildlife."
Private Reserves, which make up 36% of KWCA members, own or manage leased or owned land. The area under control can be managed by individuals or families, non-profit organizations or companies. The most popular ways to manage private reserves in Kenya include leasing the land to conservation ONG, private non-profit companies or private for-profit companies. Some are managed by the owners themselves.
Each protection determines the structures of the board of directors, staff employment, fundraising, financial sustainability, transparency, costs and the power of political lobbying. It should be emphasized that the governance approach is contextual and determined by various other factors.
In Kenya, private reserves are mainly found in Laikipia (9 of which cover 156,494 hectares), Nakuru (15 of which cover 49,013 hectares) and Taita Taveta (25 of which cover 358,337 hectares).
Laikipia Nature Conservancy (36,500ha) and Ol Pejeta Wildlife Conservancy and Rukinga (34,398ha) are the largest private reserves in Kenya, while Lentolia Farm (44ha) is the smallest private reserve in the country.
OL PEJETA CONSERVANCY
The Ol Pejeta Conservancy is a non-for-profit Wildlife Conservancy in central Kenya, Laikipia County. It is located at the Equator, at the foot of the Aberdares Mountains and Mount Kenya. The Ol Pejeta Conservancy works to preserve wildlife, provide a refuge for great apes and generate income through wildlife tourism and complementary businesses to reinvest in community conservation and development.
It is also home to the two remaining northern white rhinos in the world, which were relocated there from the Czech Republic's Dvůr Králové Zoo.
The illegal wildlife trade is a multi-billion dollar industry. In 2013, the Kenyan government passed a new Wildlife Act, which promised tougher penalties for those involved in the trade, particularly ivory and rhino horn smugglers. Kenya's harsh stance towards wildlife crime is reflected in Ol Pejeta's anti-poaching units, which are at the forefront of wildlife protection.
SOLIO RANCH
The Solio nature reserve is a small jewel set in the heart of Kenya. A small wonder that, however, makes you imagine what this land must have been only a few decades ago. Forty-five square kilometers at the foot of Mount Kenya which have been fully preserved. The ranch is a privately owned fenced protected area, geared towards the conservation of rhinos.
Due to poaching, access to the area is rightly complicated: each car is checked, each passenger must show documents, fill in and sign a declaration, leave their data. Three gates to overcome and small tents of armed rangers within the reserve protect the rhinos from unscrupulous poachers who kill them just to take their long horn.
The area is a succession of low gentle hills covered with thick bushes, while on the valley floor there is a wonderful forest of yellow-trunk acacias, the “fever trees”. In the green meadows, small families of white rhinos graze quietly. They are imposing in their size, the horn on the snout of some is longer than a meter.
LOISABA CONSERVANCY
Loisaba is a 56,000-acre wildlife ranch located in the northern part of Laikipia, Kenya, East Africa. The two permanent rivers and abundant permanent springs make Loisaba attractive to wildlife throughout the year.
Loisaba is also part of a bigger story that extends far beyond borders. It is located on the western edge of one of Kenya's most important elephant movement corridors. Maintaining this land is an approximately 15 million acre landscape of neighboring community lands intact and functioning for the wildlife, livestock and northern pastoral people of Kenya.
The mission is to protect and enhance the diversity, abundance and critical habitat of wildlife in the Loisaba landscape while simultaneously supporting sustainable livestock production and improving the lives of neighboring communities. Both tourism and livestock bring income to the land in order to be self-sufficient and provide over 200 jobs for local communities.
LEWA WILDLIFE CONSERVANCY
Lewa Wildlife Conservancy acts as a model and catalyst for the conservation of wildlife and its habitat. It does so through the protection and management of species, the initiation and support of community conservation and development programs and the education of neighboring areas on the value of wildlife. For local communities, Lewa represents much more than the wildlife it protects.
For those people close to the Conservancy, Lewa offers the opportunity to maintain their traditional lifestyle in a modern and sustainable context through progressive grazing and forestry campaigns.
For families living on its borders, Lewa offers better livelihoods through adult education and microcredit programs for women, community-run water projects and access to health care in its four clinics. For thousands of children in local schools, Lewa opens the door to a future with more choices than previous generations.
OL ARI NYIRO CONSERVANCY
As with many Laikipia border safari reserves, Ol Ari Nyiro Conservancy began as a ranch and later transitioned to wildlife conservation under the auspices of the Gallmann Memorial Foundation. The reserve is located on the western side of Laikipia and covers approximately 100,000 acres. The landscape includes the impressive Mukutan Gorge, rolling hills, grasslands and forests of indigenous relics, the only one of its kind in the area. The abundance of water in the reserve is attributed to 62 artificial lakes, the Mukutan River, waterfalls and natural springs, some of which are hot springs.
Effective land and wildlife management makes Ol Ari Nyiro Conservancy home to an abundance of diverse species, including one of Kenya's largest populations of Cape buffalo on private land, giraffes, elephants, antelopes, zebras and large predators, such as lions, cheetahs and leopards. More than 400 bird species have been recorded in the reserve, including 85 species listed as vulnerable and endangered, further confirming the benefits of effective resource management. Smaller threatened species also thrive in the reserve, including many rare insects, reptiles, and amphibians.
UNCONTAMINATED WILD NATURE
