‘Our rhinos are just like big dogs and I’ve seen them shed tears’
Sarah Marshall meets the conservation heroes who help protect the incredible, endangered stars of Channel 4’s new wildlife documentary set in Kenya’s inspirational Ol Pejeta Conservancy
It’s hard to believe a rhino can feel anything through its thick, leathery armour, but when caretaker Joseph Wachira gave his docile dependent a tickle, I swear the 1.5-ton animal smiled. Soft and pliable, like an underbaked pastry, the skin was like nothing I had imagined; then again, patting a wild animal whose mood can swing like a pendulum was not a scenario I had visualised either.
Raised in a zoo, Najin is a northern white rhino living in a protected enclosure at Kenya’s Ol Pejeta Conservancy. Endangered even by rhino standards, she is one of the last two animals of her kind, protected and looked after (along with other vulnerable species) by a dedicated team of rangers, vets and caretakers whose stories are told in Secret Safari: Into the Wild – a new, sixpart Channel 4 documentary that begins on Tuesday.
The conservancy, set in the shadows of Mount Kenya on the Laikipia Plateau, is best known for being the home of Sudan, the last male northern white rhino. Affable but sexually ineffective, he would eventually succumb to injuries sustained from a previous life in captivity, without producing an heir.
His death in 2018 was a chilling wakeup call, typifying the brutal reality of extinction so many of our world’s species face. But, as I learned on my tour of the rhino enclosure, a pioneering IVF programme, using Sudan’s frozen sperm and several surrogate white rhino mothers, means that all hope is not lost.
These rays of hope are constantly cast by Ol Pejeta, a sanctuary for many threatened species. A protected area the size of the Isle of Wight, it accommodates East Africa’s largest population of black rhinos, along with a plethora of charismatic predators and vulnerable herbivores. Given the often overwhelming challenges of habitat loss, wildlife conflict in communities and sophisticated poaching syndicates, it is a full-time job to manage their survival, as Secret Safari: Into the Wild shows. Its episodes document the emoAlthough
Using Sudan’s frozen sperm and several white rhino surrogate mothers means all hope is not lost
tions, dangers, treats and rewards of working in a conservancy that has become a blueprint for managing wilderness areas – as well as the lives of the animals themselves. There are stories of a black rhino trying to protect her newborn calf from predation; of a young ostrich learning to rear its first flock; and of an impala defending his harem of 50 females against rival suitors.
Most impressive of all, however, are the tales of staff working at Ol Pejeta. Here, some stars of the series share their experiences, detailing the thrilling highs and traumatic lows. When the time comes, you too can visit the conservancy and witness their life-affirming work first-hand.
starts at 8pm on Tuesday on Channel 4. For more information, see: olpejetaconservancy. org /secretsafari
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