For more than twenty years, Ol Pejeta Conservancy has been a beacon of hope for the conservation of the critically endangered black rhino. However, in the past few years, something both extraordinary and challenging has unfolded. As of 2025, our black rhino population stands at 183, with 17 calves born this year alone. It’s an incredible milestone… and a warning sign too. We’re now pushing hard against ecological and territorial limits.

Black rhino population comeback in Kenya didn’t happen by accident. In the 1970s, the country had nearly 20,000 individuals. By the mid-1980s, relentless poaching had wiped out almost the entire population, leaving fewer than 400 animals nationwide. Kenya has fought its way back from that cliff, and today the country holds roughly 1,000 black rhinos, a remarkable turnaround – but still a fraction of what once existed.

Ol Pejeta has played a major part in this resurgence story. With more than 180 black rhinos, the largest population of any sanctuary in East and Central Africa, we’ve created one of the safest, fastest-growing strongholds for the species. 

Between 2011 and 2018, poaching devastated parts of the East African region, but the last eight years at Ol Pejeta have seen zero poaching incidents thanks to stronger security, better-trained rangers, community partnerships, and tighter surveillance. That stability has allowed our rhinos not just to survive, but to rebound and thrive.

This success, however, comes with a hard truth. Black rhinos are solitary and fiercely territorial. Every new calf is a conservation win but also another mouth to feed, another territory to claim, another pressure point on the land. We’ve now exceeded what was once considered our sustainable carrying capacity. Past estimates placed 120 rhinos as the upper limit for our 90,000 acres. We are well past that number. When space runs out, the consequences aren’t subtle; territorial fights, injuries, stressed mothers, reduced birth rates, ecological strain and potentially, deaths.

Ignoring the threat of overcrowding isn’t an option. It risks undoing of a lot of what we’ve fought for: the security investments, ranger trainings, infrastructure, the species population growth, benefits to the community, the recovery from the poaching era.

To manage this responsibly, Ol Pejeta is taking bold, forward-looking action. A major pillar is the Kenya Rhino Range Expansion initiative, which aims to open up more rhino habitat across the country, reconnect fragmented landscapes and build new rhino-ready spaces. We’ve already taken steps locally including the expansion into the Mutara Conservation Area, giving rhinos more room to disperse while staying connected to the wider Laikipia–Samburu ecosystem.

This year, we made another significant move, successfully translocating 10 Eastern black rhinos to the newly established Segera Rhino Sanctuary, a vast 50,000-acre landscape designed to give them space to roam and thrive. It was our second back-to-back translocation. In 2024, we moved six black rhinos to Loisaba Conservancy to help establish a historic rhino population 50 years after the last one was lost in the 70s – a milestone for the entire region. These moves, done in partnership with Kenya Wildlife Service (KWS), are strategic steps to reduce congestion, minimise territorial conflict and strengthen genetic diversity across Kenya’s rhino strongholds.

Ol Pejeta’s growing rhino population is proof that protection, science and community partnerships work but it also reminds us that conservation doesn’t stop at success. We must ensure every calf born today grows into adulthood in a stable, sustainable ecosystem.

Kenya’s National Black Rhino Action Plan 2022–2026 lays out an ambitious vision for continued population growth. This hinges on expanding habitat, scaling translocations and strengthening ecological monitoring and partnerships. No single conservancy can shoulder this alone.

True success is not just about increasing numbers. It’s about safeguarding the future of black rhinos and the people connected to these landscapes to ensure these species have enough wild, connected, safe spaces to roam in well into the future.