The recently completed Ol Pejeta Conservancy annual wildlife aerial census shows a steady increase of wildlife throughout the Conservancy.

Taken from a low-flying aircraft moving at a constant speed and altitude, the annual census process aims at assessing wildlife population trends, as precise wildlife numbers are difficult to determine by any method.

From this count it may be possible to surmise that Thompson’s gazelles, common zebras and impalas are doing well, but that buffaloes and elands are doing relatively poorly possibly due to the drought conditions witnessed over the last two years; however it is really too early to establish real trends across the Conservancy.

Furthermore aerial counts are not dependable for all species; in particular they are unable to establish realistic figures for predators which tend to recede under dense canopies during the day or nocturnal species. For example, while our predator-monitoring team has established lion numbers at around 50 in the Conservancy, the aerial count only spotted one.  We also know that the Conservancy holds close to 35 cheetah, a pack of wild-dog, upwards of 60 spotted hyena and numerous leopards. To estimate population sizes of those species, the Conservancy uses standard methods.

Other figures resulting from the census included 209 elephants, 165 giraffes, 4427 Burchell’s zebras, 174 hartebeests, 27 ostriches and 151 waterbucks.

In general wildlife populations continue to prosper on the Conservancy and Ol Pejeta continues to be one of the best wildlife destinations in Kenya.