Visitors sit in the reed thatched hut, hoping to see the rare Sitatunga.

(Photos courtesy of Lewa wildlife conservancy)

A deep ridge cuts across the terrain, scarring the land. Across the ridge, a lone lioness sits gracefully on a high branch of an acacia tree. Caught staring, the cat stands, stretches languidly and climbs down and disappears into the horizon.

Then something dramatic happens that catches us unawares. Out from the scar in the earth, a tawny cat appears.

The sun’s rays catch its back, sprinkling gold rays on the cat’s coat. It is followed by two other lionesses stealthily climbing out of the gorge and never once turning to look at us, slink into the open plains following the first feline.

It’s one of those beautiful sky-blue days, where the air smells so good and the scenery is simply picture perfect. In the distance, rising sky-high, the granite and snow-glazed peaks of Mt Kenya stand in a powerful stance.

The high terrain of the mountain slopes show patches of forest mingled with dusky wheat fields. Then the land falls dramatically from the highlands to the low lands interspersed with hills and mountain ranges, where the rains are irregular and water is at a premium; where the grasses scorched dry from the ceaseless rays of the sun turn into rich tones of greens during the rains and wild flowers bloom in a profusion of colour for only a few weeks.

Set in this dramatic landscape is Lewa Wildlife Conservancy, which is not only a safe haven for some of Africa’s wildlife but is also a pioneer in its work with the wildlife.

"Nobody can own enough land to accommodate elephants," says Ian Craig, whose family has owned Lewa since the 1920s when his grandfather came from South Africa in an ox-wagon. Hanging on the wall at the charming Lewa Safari Camp is an unusual framed picture.

At first, it looks like some sort of a diagram but it’s the different colour dots which weave a really interesting story of the land use philosophy behind Lewa and the adjoining lands. The different colour dots are elephants - each colour for a specific elephant which is fitted with a collared GPS and is monitored as it moves across the land, mapping out its migratory patterns.

There are a few things that led to Ian turning the land into a wildlife sanctuary. In the early 1990s, as the human-wildlife conflict progressed from bad to worse and the profits from cattle ranching dwindled, there had to be an alternative to the land use pattern.

With only 15 inches of rain a year, there wasn’t much water to go into farming. But the worst scene was when Ian came across a herd of elephants which had just been massacred for their ivory. It was a brutal sight, one which influenced the decision to turn the land into a sanctuary for wildlife.

In the early 1980s, the Craig family was approached by Anna Mertz, a wildlife conservationist who saw the rhino numbers dwindling. Her plan was to establish a rhino sanctuary and in 1983, the Ngare Sergoi Rhino Sanctuary was established at Lewa with 5,000 acres.

Twelve rhinos were brought in. In 1995, Lewa Wildlife Conservancy was formed incorporating Ngare Sergoi Rhino Sanctuary. "We always had wildlife on the ranch," explains Ian as his red-lipped secretary hops around the boss (it’s actually a possessive red-billed hornbill bird). The solution lay in the wildlife which would pave the way not only for wildlife conservation but also tourism and working with the communities as partners.

"This is like an information centre," points out Peter Kiyaa, our guide. We’re looking

at a huge dung pile which Peter explains belongs to a white rhino. White rhinos have a smooth dung, and black rhinos have coarse dung. The difference in the dung lies in the eating patterns of the two species. The broad-lipped white rhino is a lawn mowing grass-grazer. The hook-lipped black rhino has a coarser diet of leaves and shrubs.

"For a rhino this is an important source of information. It can tell whether the inhabitant of this rhino territory is on heat," explains our guide who is a local Laikipia Maasai from the neighbouring ranch.

No sooner have we seen the midden, than we come across a pair of white rhinos. Profiled against the horizon, it’s easy to tell these are white because of their posture - white rhinos have their heads facing down while the black rhinos hold up their heads and hence their backs are straighter. But then again white rhinos are bigger than the blacks and more docile ones.

However, black rhinos are rarer than the white rhinos and are also slow breeders. At the waterhole, a black rhino with her calf come to drink water in the company of Grevy’s zebras and the reticulated giraffes, animals of the northern sphere.

In the 1970s and the 1980s, huge populations of the black rhino were wiped out to meet the demand in North Yemen for rhino horn dagger handles. From almost 20,000 in the early 1970 before the poaching era, two decades later there were a mere 350 left in Kenya. Thankfully, the population is increasing but the demand for the rhino horn is still there.

Driving past the rhinos, we chance upon two rangers on foot patrol. "The rhinos are always under surveillance, night and day," explains Ian. Most of the rangers are people from the nearby communities. "If a rhino has not been seen for two days then there’s an air surveillance launched in search of it," he continues.

In the haze of the heat, fine white stripes pattern the landscape. They are so fine that from a distance, they are almost invisible. This kind of pattern blending in with the environment is called disruptive camouflage. "Do you know that there are more black rhinos in the world than Grevy’s zebras?" asks Ian.

Elephants enjoy their meal as tourists watch.

I always thought that zebras were common. But in the arid lands, where their habitats are restricted and poaching has taken its toll, the Grevy’s zebras are indeed a rare breed and Lewa Wildlife Conservancy can boast of having at least 25 per cent of the world population. Just recently 20 were translocated to Meru National Park where there were only two left after the park was devastated from years of poaching.

Thankfully now with proper management and security in place and support from wildlife organisations, Meru National Park is now taking its pride of place as a safe haven for wildlife. Even Mokora the white rhino who was born there and taken to Lewa after his mother and the other five rhinos were shot dead in one night by poachers has been returned to Meru.

To the eye, it looks like an idyllic scene of the herd of Grevy’s zebras grazing but when you host 25 per cent of the world population then you have to be acutely aware of their environmental needs and Ian goes on to explain. "We have a scientifically based management programme of grasslands which combines a burning programme and monitoring of the other grazers for the available grass, so that we can optimise the breeding capacity of the Grevy’s and at the same time not over-stock the land."

We drive on. It’s beautiful landscape of flat savannah grasslands interspersed with hills and ridges, acacia forests and swamps. The next day, we venture out to sit in the thatched reed hut in search of the only aquatic antelope, the rare sitatunga but it eludes us again. There are, however, plenty of birds to keep us company.

On a hot day like this, a huge elephant herd is enjoying a romp in the swamp. The dots in the picture frame back at the camp now make sense. "Before the elephants used to moved in a single file between Samburu in the north and Lewa because it was a danger zone. Now since the conservation programme started, you can see them spreading into Il Ngwesi, Tassia and into Lewa because they feel safe," explains Peter.

Our next stop is Il Ngwesi, the neighbouring community ranch which belongs to the Il Ngwesi Maasai and which forms the greater conservation area, unfenced to allow the pachyderms to follow their migratory routes following the rains. "The conservancy came about because we had to find ways for the wildlife and the communities to both benefit from the land," states Ian.

Fact File

Stay at Lewa Safari Camp under the canvas tents in elegant comfort. It’s small, so there are no huge crowds. There’s a nice swimming pool if you can bear the cold water and the food is great and for Kenyan residents, there are some great bargains on offer.

Contact: Email - lewa@swiftkenya.com <mailto:lewa@swiftkenya.com> or visit the website www.lewa.org <http://www.lewa.org> tel/fax: +254-164-31405

It’s interesting to see the work at Lewa Wildlife Conservancy. There’s a research and monitoring station. Wildlife conservation is a dynamic field and field observations help gather vital data for the better management of the wildlife.

Elephant ranges are huge, sometimes as much as 2,000 kilometres. An important area for the elephants to forage in is the Ngare Ndare forest joining Lewa. The government has given Lewa the responsibility to look after the forest which increases the acreage of the conservancy to 55,000 acres of wilderness.

The profits from the conservancy go towards the schools, research and the running of the conservancy - everything from salaries to maintaining the roads.