MAKE WAY FOR THE WILDEBEEST

From a low of just 400 black rhinos in Kenya in the mid1980s, their number has now almost doubled. However, they still face big threats from poaching and loss of habitat. ‘Bigger spaces with healthy, suitable habitats are vital for enabling black rhinos to breed and ensure population growth,’ says Dr Jenny Cousins, Regional Africa Conservation Manager at WWF-UK, who’s heading WWF’s Land For Life project. ‘Our work with Maasai communities to assist the development of community conservancies is helping increase available habitat and maintain connected landscapes for wildlife, while also supporting the livelihoods of local people.’

Space to roam is vital for rhinos, but the distance they travel is dwarfed by that of wildebeest, above. Every year, nearly

1.5 million of them trek around 800km across Tanzania’s Serengeti and Kenya’s Maasai Mara in search of fresh pasture. But this epic migration is under threat because of fencing erected by landowners. WWF is working to keep wildlife corridors open, which would also help local people who can no longer move their livestock to new grazing areas if land is fenced off due to private ownership.

‘The awe-inspiring sight of so many thousands of wildebeest thundering across the plains is an iconic image of Africa,’ says Dr Cousins. ‘We just cannot consign this to history. Our vital work in partnership with the Maasai people to maintain healthy and intact landscapes should give people and wildebeest the space to roam and protect these magnificent landscapes for many years to come.’