It was with great sadness that the Ol Pejeta Conservancy had to announce the loss of Morani, our tame black rhino on Saturday August 9th 2008. Morani was a fantastic draw for our visitors and helped educate them about the plight of black rhinos in Africa, and what must be done to ensure their survival.

We have buried Morani under the Ol Pejeta Conservancy tree and will be putting a rock cairn in tribute to him there. Any visitors wanting to visit this are more than welcome and will be allowed to leave their vehicle to walk around.

Now in Morani’s absence and in memory of him, we are compelled to continue educating our visitors about black rhinos and our work to conserve these highly endangered animals. We have thus come up with a plan for the Morani complex and information centre as outlined briefly below:

Phase 1:

A black rhino named Baraka, currently being held in another boma will be transferred to the Morani complex. Baraka is a wild rhino who has lost sight in both eyes and thus sadly cannot return to the wild. Baraka will replace Morani as an ambassador for the species, however he will NOT be able to replace Morani in terms of good nature and willingness to allow visitors a “hands-on” experience. It is for this reason that we have devised a plan to create a feeding platform from which visitors will be able to feed Baraka three times a day. This plan is about to be implemented and will take at least 2 months before completion. We will make an announcement upon its opening!

Phase 2:

It has always been the Conservancy’s plan to construct a number of holding pens (bomas) for rhinos. These are intended to facilitate re-introductions and for providing care to any rhinos that are in need (a sort of rhino hospital!). These holding pens, although designed specifically for rhinos, will be capable of holding a number of other species as well. The plan now is to construct these at the Morani complex and allow visitors access to them via a series of walkways. This will take approximately 4 months before completion.

In the meantime, the recently redesigned Morani Information Centre remains open and provides comprehensive information about how a modern wildlife conservancy works.