Borana Conservancy
Borana is located at the foot of Mt Kenya just North of the equator, resting on the Laikipia Plateau. The Conservancy is nestled between an arid landscape to the north and ancient indigenous forests to the south. This 32,000-acre conservation area is home to both Black and White Rhino and a wide variety of other endangered species. We are a non-profit conservation organisation dedicated to the sustainable conservation of wildlife, habitat and building local livelihoods.
For more information on the past year’s conservation efforts please see our conservation newsletter.
The Lewa-Borana Landscape
In 2013, a founding population of 21 Black Rhino were introduced to Borana Conservancy. Once they were settled and had established their territories, the fence between Borana and neighbouring Lewa Wildlife Conservancy was dropped forming one continuous landscape.
This ecosystem, known as the Lewa-Borana Landscape, allows the wildlife free rein over 90,000 acres of intact African wilderness.
Together with Lewa, this environment hosts a thriving community of over 200 rhino (both black and white), making this one of East Africa’s largest continuous rhino habitat.
Mission
Our mission, in partnership with our neighbouring communities is to provide a sustainable ecosystem for critically endangered species, including black rhino, elephant, lion, reticulated giraffe and Grevy’s zebra. Our holistic approach commits tourism, livestock and other commercial enterprises to building local livelihoods and enhancing ecosystem integrity. Borana has assisted the funding, development, marketing and management of community-owned conservation initiatives like Tassia, Oreteti and Il N’gwesi and we work collaboratively with the Kenya Wildlife Service to ensure that our neighbours are not adversely affected by human wildlife conflict.
Through the Borana Education Support Programme we invest in primary,
secondary and tertiary education through contributions to bursaries,
faculty and facilities.
Our mobile clinic administers thousands of services in our surrounding neighbourhoods – focusing on health education, family planning, HIV aids counselling, anti-natal care and immunisations along with every day curatives.
These initiatives are supported by our local employment policy whereby Borana Conservancy provides employment, pensions and health insurance to over 400 members of our immediate community.
Sustainability on Borana Conservancy
Borana Conservancy aims to become carbon neutral over the next three years. All of the properties have made substantial steps in this direction over the past year. The Conservancy has an energy management plan with time-bound targets in place and our carbon footprint is measured on a monthly basis. This will help guide us with future targets and to monitor our energy usage.
This is complemented by a comprehensive recycling centre at the Borana Conservancy HQ which allows for all properties to responsibly sort all waste and substantially reduce landfill. Ensuring that we are providing the most sustainable environment for both staff and visitors.