Tsavo Trust

14/08/2026

Why do so many African animals live in herds?

The simple answer is often said to be “safety in numbers”, but the science of group living is considerably more complex.

For some species, larger groups improve the chances of detecting predators or reduce an individual’s risk of being targeted. Buffalo can take this further through collective defence, while mixed groups of gazelles, zebra and other herbivores can benefit from information provided by entirely different species.

For elephants, group living has another important function. Long-lived family structures allow knowledge and experience to be shared across generations. Giraffes, meanwhile, demonstrate a very different strategy, forming flexible social groups that repeatedly separate and reform.

There are costs too. Larger groups can mean greater competition for food and mates and increased opportunities for disease transmission. Each species has therefore evolved a social system that reflects a different balance between the advantages and disadvantages of living together.

In this week’s article, we explore the science behind animal herds, including collective vigilance, the dilution effect, mixed-species groups, social learning and why there is no single ideal herd size.

Read the full article in the news section of our website.

There is no single explanation for why African animals form herds.For some species, collective vigilance and reduced predation risk are particularly important. For others, groups provide collective defence, reproductive opportunities, assistance with raising young or access to information that no in...

14/08/2026

Zebra sightings in Kamungi Conservancy went from an average of one in 2019 to nineteen in 2025. Impala went from three to thirty-eight. Buffalo from one to seven. Vulturine guineafowl from eleven to nineteen.

Did the wildlife change or did the people counting it get better?

Seven years is long enough for observers to learn the ground. Better eyes can produce higher numbers without extra animals. So we asked the dataset.

Kamungi has been counted 77 times between 2019 and 2025 by Kamungi scouts, Kenya Wildlife Service rangers. The method has stayed deliberately stable, same three routes, same protocol, wet season and dry.

Then there is dik-dik. They hold territories. If better observers explained the rising numbers, dik-dik should have risen too. They went from an average of 69 per count to 79. Broadly stable. That is useful. The increases elsewhere are not simply better counting.

These are encounter rates not population estimates. hey show that wildlife is being recorded far more often than in 2019, an encouraging sign of Kamungi Conservancy's growing value as a wildlife corridor and buffer on the edge of Tsavo.

The elephant figures show why. In the wildlife-friendly zone, average sightings rose from three in 2019 to nine in 2025.

That is the point of a community conservancy, wildlife gets space, while people living alongside it have a reason to protect it.

Kamungi is owned and governed by more than 505 member households. After seven years of counting, there is evidence this edge of Tsavo is working, and the numbers are still holding.

A culture of conservation.

12/08/2026

Today is World Hirola Day.

The hirola (Beatragus hunteri) is the rarest antelope in Africa and the last surviving member of its entire genus. If it goes, the branch goes with it. Fewer than 500 remain anywhere in the world.

The one in Tsavo East National Park is the only population established outside the species' native range in the 1960s as insurance against extinction. The February 2025 census, led by WRTI with Tsavo Trust support and funded by Re:wild, estimated 80 hirola across the park in 11 distinct herds. The population appears stable, with breeding recruitment visible in the age structure. Calves and sub-adults were confirmed in most herds.

The same Team Tembo teams that log Super Tusker sightings and track black rhino collect the hirola data. One set of vehicles, one set of people. 170,743 kilometres covered by ground monitoring teams last year alone.

The threats are specific and manageable, predation by lions in the hirola range and encroachment by invasive Opuntia stricta. Both are documented and both can be acted on when the data supports it. That is what continuous monitoring makes possible.

The most famous elephants and the rarest antelope in Africa are looked after by the same teams.

Our thanks to Re:wild, to WRTI and to KWS.

12/08/2026

37 Tuskers. 🐘
More than anywhere else on Earth.

Right now in the Tsavo ecosystem:
🔹 10 Super Tusker bulls
🔹 24 Emerging bulls
🔹 3 Iconic female Tuskers

The most critical number? 24 emerging bulls.
In 2012, there were only six. Today, that number has quadrupled. The gene pool isn’t just being preserved it is actively recovering

Since late 2012, the Big Tusker Project operated jointly with the KWS has monitored and protected these legendary giants:

📍 3,786 Big Tusker sightings over 13 years
📍 229 sightings in 2025 alone (an average of 0.63 every single day)
📍 9,411 flight hours & 1.1 million km flown by aerial reconnaissance in support of KWS

The result of over a decade of dedicated joint protection? 7 consecutive years with zero known Tuskers lost to poaching.

Today, on , we celebrate hope, recovery, and the guardians keeping Tsavo wild

10/08/2026

Today is World Lion Day.

Tsavo's lions are unlike lions anywhere else. Prides here can exceed 20 individuals. Males mostly maneless. All adapted to dense Commiphora scrub across a landscape twice the size of Wales.

Kenya's 2025 National Wildlife Census, led by the Kenya Wildlife Service and the Wildlife Research and Training Institute, estimated 448 lions in the Tsavo Conservation Area above the age of one of a national total of 2,512. Tsavo remains one of only ten remaining lion strongholds on the African continent.

Keeping them there is the job that never stops. What Tsavo Trust contributes:

▸ The science that guides conservation decisions. For the third-year running, we are supporting the Wildlife Research and Training Institute's Spatial Capture-Recapture survey in the southern sector of Tsavo East, the sector that holds around 70% of the ecosystem's lions. The 2026 field season commenced 1 July.

▸ De-snaring across the landscape. In 2025 our seven joint KWS & Tsavo Trust de-snaring teams recovered and destroyed 1,346 wire snares. Bushmeat snaring kills lions directly and depletes the prey base they rely on. Every snare removed matters.

▸ Community-led conservation in Kamungi. On the northern boundary of Tsavo East National Park, our long-term work with Kamungi Conservancy reduces the human-wildlife conflict pressure that puts predators at risk. The 10% Fence program, HWC response, community engagement and livelihood support are all part of that model.

Long-term work needs long-term partners. Since 2021, Tsavo Trust's lion conservation work in Tsavo has been made possible through support from the Lion Recovery Fund of the Wildlife Conservation Network, sustaining both the science and the field presence behind it.

Our thanks also to the Wildlife Research and Training Institute, the Kenya Wildlife Service, the Tsavo Simba Research Project and our supporters.

07/08/2026

The recent deaths of 15 elephants in the Amboseli ecosystem have been deeply concerning for conservationists across Kenya. While investigations are still ongoing and it would be inappropriate to speculate on the final cause, the incident serves as an important reminder of the complex challenges facing elephant conservation today.

Many elephant populations spend much of their lives moving beyond the boundaries of protected areas. Family groups follow seasonal resources, while young bulls disperse across the landscape to breed with unrelated herds. These natural movements are essential for maintaining healthy populations, but they also increase the likelihood of encounters with people, crops, roads and other human activities.

Modern elephant conservation has therefore evolved far beyond tackling poaching alone. Today it requires understanding and managing a wide range of threats, including human-elephant conflict, habitat fragmentation, environmental contaminants, disease, drought and climate change. Long-term monitoring is essential for identifying emerging threats, understanding how elephants use the landscape and making informed conservation decisions.

In this week's article, we explore how elephant conservation has changed over recent decades, why monitoring is more important than ever, and how science is helping secure the future of one of Africa's most iconic species.

Read the full article in the news section of our website.

The recent deaths of fifteen elephants in Kenya's Amboseli ecosystem have prompted concern among conservationists and wildlife authorities

07/08/2026

How a school with no internet ends up with a working computer lab. Step by step.

This is one of the questions we are asked most often about the Digital Literacy Programme, so here is the whole process, plainly.

First, the power. Most of these schools have no reliable grid connection. Power solutions come first, with hybrid solar systems, because nothing else works without them.

Then the server. ARES is a ruggedised offline educational server, built for exactly these conditions. It stores a full library of learning material, revision content and lessons on the device itself. It serves that content straight to the classroom wirelessly, with no internet connection needed at any point. Every school in the programme has one.

Then the classroom. Laptops and projectors connect to the server locally. A whole class can work through the same material at the same time, on a compound that has never had a stable connection.

Then the teachers. This is the part that decides whether any of it lasts. Teacher training and ongoing technical support come with the resources. Hardware without training is just hardware. More than 150 teachers have been trained so far.

The programme has grown every year since it began. It started in 2023 with one school and 20 laptops. We added four more schools in 2024, two in 2025 and two again in 2026. Today it runs across nine schools with 210 laptops, 12 projectors and 9 ARES servers, reaching over 2,500 students.

The results are visible at Misuuni Secondary School, which has improved its KCSE mean grade every year for three years running, from 4.386 in 2023 to 4.986 in 2025. In 2025, 46% of its students qualified for degree or diploma programmes. Misuuni's ICT teacher Victor King'oo introduced Computer Studies at the school and later pursued an ICT degree himself. Other schools now travel to use their computer lab.

Alongside the digital work, our scholarship programme supported 13 students through secondary school in 2025. Five sat their KCSE examinations that year. Every one of them went on to higher education: one to university, two to college and two to TVET institutions.

We are asked why a conservation organisation supports schools with digital literacy. The answer is straightforward. The families living closest to Tsavo's wildlife are the ones who will determine whether it survives the century. Their children's skills, qualifications and choices are not separate from conservation work. They are the foundation of it.

Our thanks to ARES NGO, the Eagle Foundation, the Haller Foundation and the International Elephant Foundation.

Which school in the Tsavo landscape should we look at next? Tell us in the comments.

🔗 More on our community work: tsavotrust.org

31/07/2026

Why do animals leave home?

Dispersal, the permanent movement away from an animal's birthplace before reproducing, is one of the most important processes in wildlife ecology. It reduces inbreeding, maintains genetic diversity and allows populations to remain connected across landscapes.

Different species have evolved very different dispersal strategies.

Young elephant bulls leave their maternal family groups, carrying genes between unrelated herds while females remain with their family for life. African wild dogs disperse in same-sex sibling groups before joining unrelated groups to establish entirely new packs. Male lions often leave with their brothers to form coalitions, while female lions remain with their pride. Male spotted hyenas leave their natal clans, whereas females inherit their mother's social rank and stay for life.

Each strategy reflects the species' social organisation, ecology and reproductive biology. There is no single solution. Evolution has shaped dispersal to suit the needs of each animal.

The bull pictured here is one of Tsavo's iconic Super Tuskers. Beyond their extraordinary tusks, mature bulls play an important role in elephant society. They contribute valuable genetics through dispersal and provide social experience that helps shape the behaviour of younger males.

Understanding how animals move through the landscape is essential for effective conservation. Protecting wildlife is not only about safeguarding the places where animals live today, but also ensuring they can safely reach the places where future generations will begin.

Follow the link to learn more.

Dispersal plays a fundamental role in maintaining healthy wildlife populations. It prevents inbreeding, promotes genetic diversity, allows animals to recolonise suitable habitat and enables populations to recover after local declines. For conservationists, understanding how and why animals disperse....

31/07/2026

Today is World Ranger Day. Over 65 percent of Tsavo Trust staff come from Kamungi Community Conservancy, on the northern boundary of Tsavo East National Park between Mtito Andei and the Athi River. Our rangers were recruited from those communities, trained for three months at the Kenya Wildlife Service Law Enforcement Academy, and deployed alongside KWS rangers on ground they grew up on. That matters more than it sounds. A ranger from here knows the paths and the seasons. Knows who belongs on a piece of land and who does not. And stays long enough for that knowledge to be worth something.

"Our rangers are the reason Tsavo Trust works. They are from these communities, they know this ground, and they stay in the work. Today is for them, and for every KWS ranger we work alongside."
— Richard Moller, CEO

Last year our ground teams covered 13,443 kilometres of Tsavo on foot and 138,043 kilometres by vehicle. Our seven joint de-snaring teams with KWS found and destroyed 1,346 snares, and recovered 53 elephant tusks. Arrests for illegal wildlife activity fell from 119 in 2024 to 60 in 2025. Seven years now with no known Tusker poaching.

The day is also for the KWS rangers we work beside. In 2025 our support to the Service included 1,200 ranger uniforms.

World Ranger Day was set up to honour rangers killed and injured on duty, and to recognise those still doing the work. Both are worth stopping for.

On 19 September, four of our team will run 21 kilometres carrying 22 kilograms in the Wildlife Ranger Challenge, alongside ranger teams from more than 60 organisations across Africa. They are training on top of a full job.

To our rangers, thank you. To everyone who backs them, thank you as well.

Donation page here and in the comments if you would like to support them: https://wildlife.rangerchallenge.org/campaigns/tsavo-trust-2026

29/07/2026

Meet the Tsavo Trust team taking on the Wildlife Ranger Challenge 2026.

Sgt Joshua Kitavis
Cpl Morris Muema
Jackson Makau
Alex Shikari

Four of our rangers, from Kamungi and the communities bordering the Tsavo Conservation Area, started their campaign this week with the Big Quiz for Rangers. Twenty-five questions, timed, one attempt only. That is them in the photo, mid-quiz.

It is not the picture most people have of a ranger team. No kit, no vehicle, no bush. Four men around a laptop, leaning in, arguing out an answer between them.

There is a good reason the quiz comes first. Ranger work is knowledge before it is endurance. Wildlife law, to the standard that holds up in a courtroom. Reading a track and knowing how old it is. Recognising what a snare was set for. First aid, hours from the nearest clinic. Navigation after dark. Get any of it wrong and the consequences are not abstract.

Two of the four carry rank, which means the newer members of this team are learning from men who have been doing this a long time. That is how the work passes on.

Press-up and sit-up challenges follow through August. Then on 19 September they join more than 170 ranger teams across Africa to run 21km carrying 22kg of kit. That weight is not a gimmick. It is close to what they already carry on an ordinary patrol day, so the race simply asks them to go the distance under a load they know well.

Organised by Tusk and the Game Rangers Association of Africa, the Challenge began in 2020, when tourism revenue collapsed and ranger jobs across the continent were suddenly at risk. Rangers were facing redundancy while the threats they manage carried on exactly as before. Since then the Challenge has raised over $25 million and supported 11,500 rangers in 24 African countries.

Six years on, Joshua, Morris, Jackson and Alex are on the start line for Tsavo. They patrol the same landscape their own families farm, working in support of the Kenya Wildlife Service.

Last year our team ran at Lewa and finished 66th out of 104 teams in 3 hours 11 minutes. This year they are back. Back them too.

If you would like to support them and rangers across Africa, the link is below.

https://wildlife.rangerchallenge.org/campaigns/tsavo-trust-2026