•In this study, 350 tourists visiting Oljogi conservancy in Laikipia were surveyed. This conservancy receives both international and local tourists round the clock.
•Much as the black rhino is a magnet for tourists arriving in Kenya, they also are the preferred target species of poachers as well.
Image: File
It has taken 20 years of relentless work by stakeholders to pull the black rhino back from the brink in Africa, with their numbers having doubled from a historic low 20 years ago to 5,455 in 2018.
In Kenya and according to the National wildlife census 2021 report, the future of the black is of critical importance to the government.
It is a species of conservation concern following a dramatic reduction in their population in the 1970s and early 1980s from approximately 20,000 as a result of the illegal trade in their horn to fewer than 400 animals in 1987.
Kenya has the third largest population of rhinos in Africa after South Africa and Namibia, having a total rhino population of 1,605 of which 853 are black as at the end of 2020.
This clearly shows that the black rhino continues to be critically endangered, and to bring the numbers up to even a fraction of its earlier population estimates would be a bigger feat.
Poaching and trafficking of rhino horn continue to plague the black rhino and threaten its recovery. In Kenya, for example, there has been an increased number of rhinos killed by poachers for their horns, according to Kenya Wildlife Service.
This has reduced the number of black rhinos in Kenya, with the surviving rhinos confined to conservancies across the country.
Much as the black rhino is a magnet for tourists arriving in Kenya, they also are the preferred target species of poachers as well.
Our recent study -Wildlife Conservation, Visitors’ Preferences And Habitat Conditions For Wildlife Tourism At Oljogi Conservancy – suggests that the black rhino is the most viewed animal in Laikipia county which has a high number of conservancies for wildlife.
The study is published in the International Academic Journal of Social Sciences and Education.
It shows conservation of black rhino is a driver for the creation of economic opportunities for the people of Laikipia county and the neighbouring areas.
In this study, 350 tourists visiting Oljogi conservancy in Laikipia were surveyed. This conservancy receives both international and local tourists round the clock.
We asked the tourist to indicate the animal that they most preferred to view within the conservancy, 75.5 per cent of the tourists indicated that they preferred to see the black rhino.
We rephrased the question and asked them why they preferred the specific animal they watched within the conservancy.
The tourists indicated that the black rhino was unique and scarce, and they felt privileged to watch it. The endangered species was preferred to species of least concern.
The responses were similar with a range of tourists preferring to see the rare species conserved within Laikipia county.
Our statistical analysis of the respondent surveys indicated that the government and the communities across Laikipia preferred to get involved in the conservation of endangered species like the black rhino.
This has led to an increase in the number of conservancies (both protected and unprotected), and in turn enhanced the flow of tourists within the country.
We sought to gain more insight into the reasons why the black rhino was preferred and conserved within Laikipia county. We asked the respondents whether the habitat conditions in Laikipia conservancies made it easy for conservation of the black rhino.
Nearly all respondents attributed the optimal habitat conditions for rhino conservation within the county.
This in turn enabled good viewing of the rhinos for tourists they affirmed. It seemed that our survey respondents had a soft spot for free-ranging black rhinos despite the risk of poaching faced by the hapless animals.
How can we keep the tourists coming to our conservancies and increase revenue from tourism especially the attraction of the black rhino in Laikipia county?
Why is the black rhino the most preferred and how can it be accorded the best protection within the conservancies and parks around the county?
Even when there is great benefit accrued from wildlife, poachers continue to take them down, more so the black rhino, according to a an earlier, separate study.
The black rhino population in Kenya has plummeted contrary to the efforts to conserve them in Kenya.
There is a dire need for the stakeholders to come up with a better conservation strategy need for the black rhino.
It is unclear how this onerous task can be accomplished, but it will be something worth doing for this charismatic species.
Cosmas Nzomo is the logistics manager at Mpala Research Centre, Kenya, and a post-graduate researcher at Kenyatta University.