LEWA-BORANA
Two conservancies. One connected landscape. One purpose.
I watched the sun slip behind the horizon from Pride Rock—the very outcrop that inspired The Lion King—as the landscape unfolded in golden silence.
The fence between Lewa and Borana came down in 2013. Two conservancies, adjacent, sharing the same philosophy — it made more sense to remove the barrier and let the land be what it had always been: one unbroken ecosystem.
I arrived after the rains. The grass was short and green, the light clean and white, and across the plain I could see the dark shapes of rhinos moving slowly through midday heat.
I knew the history of what it had taken to have rhinos here at all — the decades of protection, the anti-poaching patrols, the decision after decision by landowners and communities to choose this future over a more immediately profitable one.
The Lewa-Borana landscape is what conservation looks like when it succeeds. That is not a simple thing to sit with. It is also not a thing you forget.
The Lewa-Borana landscape is one of the most important refuges for Grevy’s zebra in the world. Lewa Wildlife Conservancy has been a central partner in the Grevy’s Zebra Trust’s population recovery programme, and the numbers here have grown significantly over the past decade as a direct result.
Standing among Grevy’s zebra at dusk on the Lewa highlands — fine-striped, alert, occupying a narrow slice of the world they evolved for — is one of the specific images I carry from this landscape.
These are animals whose world has been reduced dramatically over decades. The fact that it has stabilised and grown here is the result of sustained, deliberate work — and that history is present in every sighting.
Other Animals & Species Facts
Lewa-Borana holds both black and white rhinos — Lewa is one of Kenya’s most significant rhino sanctuaries — as well as lions, leopards, African wild dogs, elephants, reticulated giraffe, and Beisa oryx.
The birdlife is rich: secretary birds, Verreaux’s eagles, and a wide range of raptors use the open grassland and rocky outcrops throughout the day. Over 350 bird species have been recorded across the landscape.
Lewa Wildlife Conservancy has been involved in rhino conservation since the early 1980s and has relocated over 160 rhinos to other conservancies across Kenya.
Lewa’s black rhino population represents approximately 14% of Kenya’s entire national black rhino population — one of the most significant single-site contributions to the species’ survival.
The removal of the fence between Lewa and Borana created a connected landscape of approximately 90,000 acres — large enough to support viable predator territories and meaningful wildlife movement.
LEWA-BORANA LANDSCAPE
Together, Lewa Wildlife Conservancy and Borana Conservancy form a connected landscape of approximately 90,000 acres — one of the most significant protected areas in northern Kenya.
Lewa, designated a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 2013 as part of the Mount Kenya landscape, has been at the forefront of rhino and Grevy’s zebra conservation for forty years. The partnership with Borana has expanded the range available to predators, elephants, and the Grevy’s population — allowing the landscape to function at the scale its species require.
The Lewa-Borana landscape is a living argument for connected conservation: proof that removing the boundaries between well-managed properties creates something greater than the sum of what either could achieve alone.
The rhinos at Lewa-Borana exist because of the rangers. That is not a general statement about conservation. It is a specific, daily fact. Every black rhino on this landscape has a ranger who knows it by name, by movement pattern, by the shape of its ear and the direction it favours at dusk. Every one of those rangers is out before first light, on foot, moving through terrain that offers no particular comfort and no guaranteed safety.
I have spent time in the field with the rangers here. What strikes me most is not the dedication — though that is real and absolute — it is the knowledge. These are not guards. They are naturalists, trackers, and observers who have spent years learning a single landscape with a depth that most of us will never achieve anywhere.
When I photograph alongside them, I see what they see. A disturbed patch of grass. A track in dust I would have walked past. The particular stillness that means a rhino is close, not moving, aware of us.
The rhino is there because the ranger is there. That relationship — unheroic in the day-to-day, enormous in its cumulative effect — is the reason Lewa-Borana holds one of the most significant black rhino populations on earth. Some of the most important images I carry from Lewa-Borana are of the people who make the animals possible.
Ranger Facts
Lewa Wildlife Conservancy employs over 180 rangers drawn from local communities across northern Kenya — one of the largest ranger forces of any single conservancy on the continent.
Rangers at Lewa operate 24-hour patrols across the 90,000-acre landscape, supported by aerial surveillance, sniffer dogs, and a real-time data system that tracks both animals and patrol coverage.
Lewa’s anti-poaching record is among the most consistent in Kenya. Not one rhino has been poached on the conservancy since 2013 — a result attributed directly to the ranger programme and the community relationships that support it.
The Lewa ranger programme prioritises local employment: the majority of rangers come from the communities bordering the conservancy, creating an economic stake in the wildlife they protect that runs far deeper than a salary.
Lewa and Borana didn’t merge by accident. It took forty years of people choosing the land over everything easier.
field notes
TRAVEL WITH INTENTION
Lewa-Borana is a natural part of the northern Kenya circuit — alongside Ol Pejeta, Solio, and Loisaba — or pairs with Samburu for a journey built entirely around community and private conservation.
My knowledge of this landscape makes the difference between a safari and something you carry forward for the rest of your life.
BORANA LODGE
SAFARI COLLECTION
Borana Lodge is one of Kenya’s most considered conservation properties.
Built on a working cattle and wildlife ranch, the lodge has been at the forefront of Kenyan private conservation for decades — integrating livestock management with wildlife conservation in a model that has influenced operations across the region.
Eight cottages, entirely solar-powered, with a management approach built around the landscape rather than imposed upon it. Proceeds support community water projects and the Laikipia anti-poaching unit.
The lodge feels like the conservancy itself: unhurried, purposeful, and entirely comfortable with what it is. That is not an easy thing to achieve, and it is the main thing I look for when I choose where to stay.
LEWA
The Lewa-Borana landscape sits in the foothills north of Mount Kenya — rolling hills, open grassland, and cedar forest on the higher ground. At 5,500 to 7,000 feet elevation, the air is cooler and cleaner than the lowland parks.
The views of Mount Kenya from the Lewa plains, on clear mornings, are among the most extraordinary in the country. The mountain occupies the eastern horizon in a way that makes the landscape feel oriented toward something — as if the land itself knows where it stands.
“Borana Conservancy is proud to report zero poaching incidents in over 10 years.”
Borana Conservancy
