Africa remains an area of vast biological wealth and importance, and is home to many endemic endangered and critically endangered species.  In many locations, this biological bounty co-exists along side very poor human communities.  This combination creates one of the largest global challenges to survival for species, as often this leads to conservation efforts being undermined due to exploitation of natural resources by local communities with few other options and little understanding of the ramifications.

One area that has addressed these issues and now stands as a global model for successful community based conservation is Lewa Wildlife Conservancy in Kenya. In late January, Adam Keniger, a Tropical and African Animal Keeper, participated in a Ulysses S. Seal Grant Program project in the Lewa region.  He assisted and observed the Conservancy’s multifaceted approach to community support, participated in the tracking of lions in an ongoing predator-prey study, and collected firsthand stories, testimonials and photographs of people who live among the animals in the Lewa region.  This project goes to the heart of the Minnesota Zoo’s conservation goals – it connects people, animals and the natural world.

In an unstable region with an impoverished population, Lewa has demonstrated that not only is conservation success possible, but it can indeed positively impact the lives of people in an entire region in a massive way.  Clean water, safe livelihoods, effective and subsidized education, microcredit programs for women, and co-operative grazing ventures are among the myriad of benefits that communities reap from the success of conservation initiatives by Lewa.  The Conservancy is home to five communities of people and more than 500 species of wildlife including the largest remaining population of critically endangered Grevy’s Zebra on earth, a significant number of critically endangered Black Rhino and more than 170 other IUCN Red List at-risk species.