We work to safeguard Kenya’s largest wildlife refuge, which encompasses Tsavo East and West National Parks and is home to Kenya’s largest elephant herds, numbering more than 12,000 individuals.
- Location
- Tsavo
- Size
- 60,000 sq. km
- Environment
- Lava flows, comiphora woodland, savannah, swamps and lake Jipe.
- Species
- An abundance of wildlife including: Elephants, Black Rhino, Oryx, Gerenuk, Kudu, Zebra, Eland, Gazelles, Buffalo, Lion, Leopard, Cheetah, Painted Dogs and Hirola (Hunter’s Hartebeest), and also more than 500 recorded species of bird.
- Threats
- Ivory and bushmeat poaching, livestock incursions, charcoal burning and habitat loss and conflict over resources.
- SWT Projects
- SWT/KWS Anti-Poaching Operations, SWT/KWS Mobile Vet Units, Aerial Surveillance, Orphans’ Project, Saving Habitats, Eco Lodges and Community Outreach.
- History
- David Sheldrick was the founding Warden of Tsavo National Park between 1949 and 1976. In that time he built Tsavo into a world famous Park known for its red-dusted elephants and diverse wildlife, for it is here that the Northern and Southern populations meet. Tsavo is home to Kenya's biggest elephant population, and while poaching tragically decimated the elephants in the 1980’s reducing numbers to just 6,000 the population has recovered to around 12,000 today, with the northern sector of the National Park seeing a resurgence in elephant numbers since 2004 thanks to the launch of our Ithumba Reintegration Unit, and the ongoing surveillance and protection afforded to this area once more.