For decades, sightings of elands, lesser kudus and African wild dogs made Samburu National Reserve one of Kenya’s premier wildlife destinations. Alongside elephants, Grevy’s zebras and other iconic species, these animals helped define the reserve’s unique biodiversity.
Today, however, conservationists warn that many of these species are disappearing as expanding human settlements, habitat encroachment and climate change continue to reshape northern Kenya’s fragile ecosystem.
Wildlife experts say populations of several species have declined significantly over the past decade, with some becoming increasingly rare in areas where they once flourished.
David Daballen, Head of Field Operations at Save the Elephants (STE), attributes much of the decline to human encroachment into critical wildlife habitats and migration corridors.
“Human activities, particularly encroachment into wildlife spaces, have significantly disrupted the movement of these animals,” Daballen told The Standard during a tour of Samburu National Reserve and the Oldonyiro Wildlife and Livestock Corridor.
As communities expand in search of livelihoods through urbanisation and agriculture, traditional wildlife routes that have existed for generations are increasingly being blocked. Conservationists say this has heightened the urgency of restoring and protecting key migration corridors.
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One of the most affected areas is Oldonyiro in Isiolo County, where the rapid expansion of the trading centre has narrowed a vital migration route linking the Samburu and Laikipia ecosystems.
“When elephants or other animals such as Grevy’s zebras migrate between the lowlands of Samburu and the highlands of Laikipia in search of food and water, one of the main routes they have used for generations passes through what is now Oldonyiro town,” Daballen said.
“That route has become one of the biggest bottlenecks for wildlife movement.”
The African wild dog illustrates the scale of the challenge. Listed as Endangered on the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) Red List, the species has suffered dramatic declines across Africa. Conservation organisations estimate that only about 1,400 mature individuals remain in the wild, while the species has disappeared from more than half of its historical range. It also remains highly vulnerable to diseases such as rabies transmitted by unvaccinated domestic dogs.
In Samburu, Daballen says sightings of African wild dogs have become increasingly uncommon.
“Buffaloes, elands and lesser kudus are also becoming rare. Wild dogs are occasionally seen, but not as frequently as before,” he said, adding that prolonged droughts and changing habitat conditions have forced many animals to move elsewhere, while others have died.
Buffaloes, which depend on dense vegetation and permanent water sources, have been particularly affected because Samburu’s semi-arid ecosystem increasingly struggles to support their needs.
According to Daballen, several species virtually disappeared from the reserve more than a decade ago, reinforcing the need to reconnect fragmented habitats through protected wildlife corridors.
To address the problem, Save the Elephants has partnered with the Wyss Academy for Nature, the Isiolo County Government and local communities to secure the Oldonyiro Wildlife and Livestock Corridor against future development.
“The corridor is now protected by law and has been adopted into the new town plan,” Daballen said, describing it as a major milestone in safeguarding one of northern Kenya’s most important migration routes.
He noted that growing human settlements around protected areas, combined with climate change, are intensifying competition for food and water, forcing elephants and other wildlife into farms and settlements, thereby increasing cases of human-wildlife conflict.
“We have to tell people that the solution is with us. We need to be open-minded, discuss these issues and work together instead of ignoring them,” he said.
Daballen believes education and sustained public awareness campaigns are essential to reducing conflict. He called for greater media engagement through television, radio, digital platforms and newspapers to help communities better understand wildlife behaviour.
“Our experts monitor wildlife movements and generate scientific data that governments at both county and national levels can use to make informed conservation decisions,” he said.
Save the Elephants has been using that data to support the establishment of wildlife corridors, which allow wildlife to move safely between ecosystems in response to changing environmental conditions.
“Science shows that elephants make deliberate decisions about where they move. Many have shifted their range because of increasing human pressure, habitat loss, food shortages and hostility from people,” Daballen said.
Consequently, there is a need for safe passage for these animals, as well as livestock, when migrating in search of water and pasture.
In view of this, the County Government of Isiolo is implementing the proposed Oldonyiro Local Physical and Land Use Development Plan (2024–2034) to address insecurity, manage human-wildlife conflict and guide sustainable development.
Christopher Lesoito, Oldonyiro Ward Administrator, confirmed the ongoing process.
The plan, he said, was developed by the County Government of Isiolo in partnership with the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), the Wyss Academy for Nature, Save the Elephants and the Grevy’s Zebra Trust.
“The plan seeks to balance economic development with conservation by protecting critical wildlife habitats and migration corridors over the next decade,” he told The Standard.
In a November 2025 gazette notice on historical land injustices, the National Land Commission (NLC) mandated that future local management and physical land-use plans should provide for the identification, demarcation, and official gazettement of migratory corridors.
For conservation groups, the Oldonyiro Local Physical and Land Use Development Plan (2024–2034) provides a statutory basis for safeguarding wildlife movement routes. Instead of relying solely on voluntary conservation agreements, these corridors would be integrated into the official spatial planning framework, enabling future development decisions to account for ecological connectivity.
“This is expected to reduce habitat fragmentation and support tourism, biodiversity conservation and community resilience in northern Kenya,” Daballen said.
Gazetting and demarcating the corridor has been a 10-year undertaking.
“So it hasn’t just come. It took many people’s time, partners, a lot of money is required, and a lot of commitment has been put there,” he added.
Now that it has been gazetted as the first such joint wildlife-livestock route, Daballen believes it is a critical facility for wildlife, livestock and people, and, above all, one that will contribute to prosperity.
“It’s the first one of its kind, an elephant corridor that has gone through an urban centre, where it can actually be a tourist attraction,” Daballen noted.
“And I believe that this is the first corridor that is going through community land and has been accepted by the community, the government and everyone,” he said, noting that it could set a good example across East Africa and perhaps even other parts of Africa and the world.
Benjamin Loloju, the Corridors Manager at STE, said the establishment of the corridor involved extensive engagement with the community. He explained that the routes serve a dual purpose because they are used by elephants, other wildlife and livestock.
“The pastoralists need to buy the idea because they use the same corridors as they migrate from one area to another in search of water and pasture for their livestock,” he said.
According to Loloju, STE and its partners have secured three corridors around Oldonyiro.
“We have worked with the communities to ensure the corridors have been demarcated with beacons along the route so that no one will live right inside,” he noted.
Because of the rapid expansion of Oldonyiro town, the corridors have been allocated a width of between 30 metres and 50 metres. Loloju explained that this was the space available, but said it would enable wildlife to move.
“Elephants are huge animals, and always need to move from one area to another for survival, for food and water.
“So this is why it’s very important to have these corridors available for the animals. Otherwise, if you block this, then it’s a problem for all wildlife, not elephants only,” he pointed out.
However, the most important aspect is to engage local communities because they have historical knowledge of their landscape. This knowledge often matches tracking data, which STE has been using for the past 30 years.
“So apart from those two approaches, the historical knowledge and the tracking data, we also do participatory mapping and data collection, which is jointly shared with the communities, who then agree to leave space for the corridors,” Loloju noted.
Kenya’s journey in wildlife conservation and management reflects a dynamic interplay between ecological realities, governance evolution and social transformation. From the communal stewardship of the pre-colonial era to the exclusionary colonial regime, and from the centralised post-independence structures to the devolved and participatory framework of the 2010s, Kenya’s conservation architecture continues to evolve.
Maintaining landscape connectivity through corridors ensures that Kenya can develop without undermining its environmental foundations.