Quiet Progress Across the Conservancy: Loisaba’s First Quarter of 2026

The first quarter of 2026 at Loisaba Conservancy has been defined not by dramatic headlines, but by steady, determined progress across conservation, community partnerships, and wildlife protection.

From four newly collared lions and expanded elephant monitoring to a full quarter without a single poaching incident, the months between January and March reflected the kind of long-term conservation work that often happens quietly, but matters deeply.

This quarter also marked an important milestone for the conservancy itself: Loisaba officially became a member of the International National Trusts Organisation (INTO), joining a global network dedicated to protecting places of cultural and natural significance. The recognition connects Loisaba to conservation partners around the world and opens new opportunities for collaboration, knowledge exchange, and advocacy.

Rhino Protection: Precision Behind the Scenes

On 15 March, Bhoke, a seven-year-old southern white rhino, shed a cracked section of her anterior horn. What followed demonstrated the coordination required to protect one of Africa’s most vulnerable species.

Loisaba’s Rapid Response Team, Delta Team, and rhino monitoring unit — supported by drone surveillance — successfully recovered the horn fragment on 21 March before transferring it to the Kenya Wildlife Service in Nanyuki two days later.

Another rhino, Edwin, required veterinary treatment later in the month after developing a wound on his right hind limb. Veterinary teams from KWS and Loisaba treated him on 30 March, and he continues to recover under close observation.

Meanwhile, conservation infrastructure continues to strengthen behind the scenes. Newly deployed LoRa tracking devices and five additional camera traps positioned along the Suyian boundary corridors are improving the team’s ability to monitor rhino movements and habitat use in real time.

Tracking Lions Across the Landscape

February and March were also significant months for lion monitoring efforts across the conservancy.

Four lions — Wiseman, Naomi, Octopussy, and Emilio — were successfully collared as part of ongoing predator research and conservation work. Each operation involved chemical immobilisation, GPS collar fitting, blood sampling for disease surveillance, and treatment of minor injuries where necessary.

All four lions recovered smoothly and returned to their territories shortly after the procedures.

The data gathered from these collars now feeds directly into EarthRanger, providing conservation teams with a more detailed understanding of lion movements, territorial behaviour, and interactions across the landscape.

By the end of March, Loisaba’s estimated lion population stood between 35 and 40 individuals. Fifteen lions have now been individually identified, with seven currently collared — a significant increase from the nine identified individuals recorded at the beginning of the year.

Restoring the Rangelands

Efforts to control invasive species also accelerated during the quarter.

More than 83,000 invasive Opuntia plants were cleared as part of Loisaba’s ongoing rangeland restoration programme. Though often less visible than wildlife monitoring, habitat restoration remains one of the most critical aspects of long-term ecosystem health.

Removing invasive cactus species helps restore grazing areas, improve biodiversity, and protect wildlife corridors relied upon by both livestock and wild animals.

Elephants Confirm a Critical Wildlife Corridor

Loisaba’s elephant identification programme, relaunched in June 2025, continues to reveal the scale of wildlife movement through the region.

By the end of March, the programme had catalogued 345 elephants, including seven newly identified individuals recorded during the month.

These records reinforce what conservation teams have observed for years: Loisaba serves as a critical wildlife corridor linking the Laikipia-Samburu ecosystem. The movement patterns of elephants across the conservancy continue to confirm the importance of protecting connected landscapes rather than isolated habitats.

Conservation Through Community

Community partnerships remained central to Loisaba’s work throughout the quarter.

In March, 53 community members travelled to Narok for a cultural and conservation exchange programme focused on Maasai traditions, sustainable tourism, and land restoration practices.

Later that month, Loisaba hosted neighbouring Turkana, Samburu, Maasai, and Pokot communities from Mouwarak Posta for a day of traditional dance, speeches, and thanksgiving.

These gatherings reflect a core principle behind conservation at Loisaba: long-term protection of the landscape depends on long-term relationships with the communities who live alongside it.

Education initiatives also continued to expand. Thirteen new scholarship students joined senior secondary school this quarter, while the conservancy’s school lunch programme now supports 4,631 students every month across ten schools.

Quiet Land, Watchful Eyes

Perhaps one of the quarter’s most significant achievements was also the simplest to state: not a single poaching incident was recorded between January and March.

That outcome reflects countless hours of ranger patrols, wildlife monitoring, surveillance coordination, and community cooperation — much of it unseen by visitors, but all of it essential.

At Loisaba, conservation is rarely one dramatic moment. More often, it is the accumulation of small, disciplined actions repeated every day: tracking a lion’s movements, clearing invasive plants, supporting a student’s education, or walking another patrol route before dawn.

And together, those actions continue to protect one of Kenya’s most important landscapes.