James Obuoyo

Founded in 1995 from the then Ngare Sergoi Rhino Sanctuary, the Lewa Wildlife Conservancy serves as a catalyst for conservation across northern Kenya and beyond. Lewa envisions a future where people across Kenya continue to value, protect and benefit from wildlife. This future depends on communities being able to derive their day-to-day livelihoods in ways that are compatible with thriving wildlife habitat. As a result, Lewa invests heavily in the livelihoods of its neighbours through programmes in education, healthcare, water, micro-enterprise, youth empowerment and more. These programmes have enabled the Conservancy to build strong relationships and goodwill within the neighbouring communities and ensured that people and wildlife both benefit from Lewa’s conservation efforts. As a catalyst and champion of this model that puts people at the centre of conservation, Lewa has influenced and supported the conservancy management for both private and community lands across northern Kenya. Lewa is also a unique entity in that it is a privately managed conservation area, owned and run by Kenyan people, for the benefit of local communities and Kenyans at large. For the last three decades, Lewa’s innovative practices have resulted in thriving black rhino habitat and population, which in turn creates a robust ecosystem for a multitude of species including the endangered Grevy’s zebra, elephant, lion, cheetah, giraffe and more. Lewa also practices a tourism model that has a low impact on the environment but is maximised to support a proportion of its running costs. The Conservancy also hosts the annual, world-famous Safaricom Marathon.