Last of Nine Giraffes Rescued from Disappearing Island

Relief and elation emanated from the rescue team as the last female giraffe stepped tentatively off the custom-built barge and on to dry land.

Her steps marked the successful conclusion of an ambitious rescue effort, which started in December 2020 and led by the local community, that saved nine Rothschild’s giraffes from a disappearing island in Kenya’s Rift Valley.

Water levels in Lake Baringo have been rising for some time, but in 2020 the rate of rise increased – flooding lakeshore homes, businesses, and threatening the lives of a small group of Rothschild giraffes on Longicharo Island, in Ruko Community Conservancy. Initially moved to the conservancy in 2011 in a bid to reintroduce Rothschild’s giraffe, also known as the Baringo giraffe, back to their endemic range, the animals have been under community stewardship here for almost ten years.

Back then, no one predicted that their peninsula home would one day become a shrinking island. Ruko Community Conservancy was established after the Il Chamus and Pokot communities, seeking an end to years of conflict, came together to form a community conservancy that would provide a platform for collaborative governance, peace, equitable benefit sharing, and conservation. It was registered in 2006, and is wholly owned by the communities.

Ruko is a member of the Northern Rangelands Trust – a network of community conservancies across northern Kenya.

“Ruko is an example of how much peace is linked to everything else – conservation, livelihoods, business, gender equality, governance, it all starts with peace,” says Rebby Sebei, manager of Ruko Community Conservancy .

Their peace-building efforts were so successful, that in 2011 the Kenya Wildlife Service granted permission for eight Rothschild giraffes to be moved to Ruko for a community-led conservation initiative – the first of its kind for giraffes in Kenya. But as rising water levels cut off their peninsula home from the mainland, Ruko rangers had to supplement the giraffe’s food as natural browse became scarce.

Not only was this financially unsustainable for Ruko, there were also fears that nutritional deficiencies were affecting the breeding potential and overall health of the animals. Realising a rescue effort was inevitable, the community set aside 1,770 hectares of the 44,000-hectare Ruko Community Conservancy to build a new giraffe sanctuary on the mainland.

The building of the sanctuary provided employment to many local labourers and will employ dedicated sanctuary rangers to monitor the giraffes. Approval to move the giraffes to the purpose-built sanctuary on the mainland was granted by the Kenya Wildlife Service (KWS), and the rescue mission started in December 2020 with the first giraffe, Asiwa, being moved without incident.

This set the tone for the rest of the moves, and one by one the giraffes were floated to safety on a custom barge. Ruko rangers worked hard to get each animal accustomed to the barge beforehand, leaving their favourite treats (mangos) on board every day to get them used to the idea of getting on and off the vessel voluntarily.

In December, one of the females still on the island, Ngarikoni, gave birth to a calf who rangers named Noelle. Ngarikoni and Noelle were two of the final animals to be rescued, due to the sensitive nature of moving such a young giraffe.

The giraffe in the mainland Sanctuary are thriving – with the rangers reporting that they have never seen their giraffe look so healthy and happy. There is no need for any food supplementation here, which is set to save the Conservancy a lot of money and ensure healthier animals. With nine giraffes (one male) safely on the mainland, Ruko and the Kenya Wildlife Service are looking to the future.

“KWS is keen to grow the numbers of Rothschild giraffe in the country. The management of Ruko Sanctuary in collaboration with the local community has done a commendable job in efforts to conserve this rare species. Indeed Ruko Sanctuary is a model conservation initiative worth replicating elsewhere” says Dr. Isaac Lekolool, Senior Veterinary Officer for the Kenya Wildlife Service.

The long-term plan is to introduce other giraffe from elsewhere in Kenya, in order to build up a genetically healthy population of giraffe in the sanctuary – which has a carrying capacity of around 50 animals - that can eventually be released into the greater Rift Valley ecosystem.

“The Ruko community buy-in to this project has been so strong, they see the many opportunities that can come from the Sanctuary, and it shows that community-led conservation in Kenya can balance the needs of the Kenya’s wildlife, with the needs of our people,” says Aloise Naitira, Baringo County Conservancies Director for the Northern Rangelands Trust.

True to the holistic community conservancy model - the Ruko giraffe sanctuary will be linked to community livelihoods and development projects. Opportunities for eco-tourism, post-pandemic, are numerous, and the community have ideas about offering unique walking safaris for visitors. An airstrip close to the Sanctuary is under construction to ensure accessibility.

Even when the giraffes were on the island, the conservancy welcomed about 500 guests annually to see them from boat tours, which provided a market for local entrepreneurs and youth groups around the island to sell beaded items and other wares. Any tourism earnings received from conservancy entry fees are split 60: 40 with 40% funding conservancy operations and the 60% split equally amongst the two communities in the region for healthcare and education. Since the conservancy’s inception over 300 bursaries have been provided to schoolchildren from both communities.

The Ruko grazing committee also has plans to open up allocated sections of the giraffe sanctuary for grazing during harsh droughts if needed. Ruko Community Conservancy is one of the 39-member community conservancies supported by the Northern Rangelands Trust, its operations and the giraffe sanctuary are supported by the Baringo County Government, the United States Agency for International Development (USAID), The Nature Conservancy (TNC), the Embassy of Denmark in Kenya and Somalia through DANIDA, the European Union, San Diego Zoo Wildlife Alliance, Save Giraffes Now, the Sidekick Foundation, Ernie and Diane Burgess, the Withey family, St Louis Zoo, The Born Free Foundation, Soysambu Conservancy.

About Ruko Community Conservancy

Ruko Community Conservancy is a community-based organisation, created to support the management of community-owned land for the benefit of household livelihoods and for the conservation and protection of natural resources, particularly the Rothschild’s (Baringo) giraffe. It is home to the Il Chamus and Pokot communities, who work to build strong governance and peace structures, grow diversified local businesses linked to conservation, implement community-led development programmes and manage natural resources for people and wildlife alike. Ruko is one of 39 community conservancy members of the Northern Rangelands Trust.

About KWS

Kenya Wildlife Service (KWS) is a state corporation that was established by an Act of Parliament (Cap 376), now repealed by WCMA (2013), with the mandate to conserve and manage wildlife in Kenya, and to enforce related laws and regulations. KWS undertakes conservation and management of wildlife resources across all protected area systems, including community conservancies in collaboration with stakeholders.

About NRT

The Northern Rangelands Trust is a community conservancy membership organization that works for 39 community conservancies across northern and coastal Kenya. With support from principal donors USAID, The Nature Conservancy, DANIDA, and the European Union - NRT and the community conservancies are transforming lives, building peace and conserving natural resources. This indigenous movement is empowering communities to develop locally-led governance structures, implement rangelands management and wildlife conservation programmes, identify and lead development projects, and manage sustainable businesses linked to conservation. Their success has helped shape new government regulations on establishing, registering and managing community conservancies in Kenya.