The Tana River, Kenya’s lifeblood, strains under development and drought
Every morning, Abdu Hajy, 65, takes his canoe out into the murky waters of the Tana River Delta to fish. He’s been following the same routine, in his hometown of…
Translating the barcode of wildlife into action
One might assume that the biggest challenge in managing an ambitious, multinational initiative like the Barcode of Wildlife Project (BWP) stems from the cross-cultural dimensions of the enterprise. But the…
African bush babies gain a new genus
Galagos have a reputation among scientists for being one of the more mysterious primates, in large part because they're so tough to study. Endearingly known as bush babies, they stick…
Scanning the barcode of wildlife
An ambitious global initiative, the Barcode of Wildlife Project unites research biologists, investigators, prosecutors, and members of law enforcement in partner countries in using DNA barcoding to combat wildlife crime.
Increasing tree cover threatens world’s most endangered antelope
Expanding tree cover might sound like good news for wildlife. But for the hirola — the world’s most endangered antelope -- trees may have spelled doom, according to a new…
Despite delays, Kenya and Tanzania continue to push against illegal logging
LUNGA LUNGA/HOROHORO BORDER POINT, Kenya/Tanzania - Along the porous, 477-mile border between Kenya and Tanzania, small-scale timber smuggling is commonplace. A group of woodcarvers who have done business for the…
As forests in East Africa disappear, so does an industry of artisans
LUNGA LUNGA/HOROHORO BORDER POINT, Kenya/Tanzania - When Festus Tola first arrived in Lunga Lunga on the Kenyan side of the border with Tanzania, he encountered thousands of artisans just like…
Cheetah populations crash as fastest-animal disappears from 91% of its range
The world's fastest land animal is speeding toward extinction across much of its range, reports a study published in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. The study, which was…
Home for the holidays: Chimp exits war-torn Iraq, lands in Kenya
Against all odds, a young illegally trafficked chimpanzee held in a tiny cage at a private zoo in war-torn Iraqi Kurdistan has been rescued, and has arrived safely at a…
Cash-strapped rhino groups turn to crowdfunding, with little success
There’s probably only one thing left that can save the Bornean rhino (Dicerorhinus sumatrensis harrissoni): cutting-edge, high cost in vitro fertilization (IVF) technology. This subspecies of the Critically Endangered Sumatran…
An East African border town struggles with growing pains
NAMANGA BORDER POINT, Kenya/Tanzania - In Namanga, a town on the border between Kenya and Tanzania, it’s hard to know where one country stops and the other starts. While a…
In a border town, a favorite African fuel has an uncertain future
NAMANGA BORDER POINT, Kenya/Tanzania - Juliette Hizano remembers when the police arrived. In the early morning of October 14, about 20 Tanzanian and Kenyan officers came to kick Hizano and two…
Nations come together to save Kenya’s disappearing coastal forests
WITU, Kenya – Dense green foliage flanks the dusty, heavily potholed road in Witu Forest, a protected area on the Kenyan coast about 75 kilometers from the city of Lamu. Comprising…
Youth, women, indigenous group pay the price of logging in Kenya
ven with two grades to go before completing high school, Vincent Kiptum has already figured out how to deal with a problem troubling his village in Kenya’s Rift Valley: truancy…
From ‘Silverbacks’ to Systems Leaders: Rethinking African conservation leadership (commentary)
Conservation efforts in Africa, and many other parts of the world as well, need to prioritize leadership development as a focal strategy. Leadership development opportunities need to be made accessible to individuals who need them most - which often means ensuring they are locally customized and available to those who cannot afford to decamp to academic settings overseas for extended periods of time.
Field Notes: Scientist seeks long-term stress trends in Africa’s hyenas
oop: picking it up and studying it is one way scientists determine stress levels in animals. But it is not an ideal tool: “I quickly learned that interpreting fecal hormone…
Ivory poaching kingpin gets 20 years in jail
On Friday, a Kenyan court sentenced Feisal Ali Mohamed, an ivory poaching kingpin, to 20 years in jail. Mohamed was found guilty of dealing in ivory worth $433,000 (or 44…
Bridging the Gap between Land and Space
The United Nations/Kenya Conference on Space Technology and Applications for Wildlife Management and Protecting Biodiversity aims to expand the use of space technology in conservation.
Reducing human-wildlife conflict in the blink of a light
Invented independently by a US game bird farmer, a young African herder and an Australian sheep farmer, disruptive lights can dissuade lions and other predators from attacking livestock.
Conservation today, the old-fashioned way
Other stories in Mongabay's Conservation, Divided series: Part 1: Has big conservation gone astray? Part 2: How big donors and corporations shape conservation goals Part 4: Conservation's people problem Epilogue: Conservation still…
Kenya’s forests squeezed as government pressures environment groups
t age 70 Ngai Mutuoboro may not possess the vibrancy of his youthful days, but he can still pack a punch when it comes to environmental conservation. The elder from…
Kenya to burn more than 105 metric tons of ivory
Tomorrow, Kenya will set fire to more than 105 metric tons of elephant tusks, representing several thousand dead elephants. This ivory burn is believed to be the largest-ever destruction of…
Kenya aims to reverse deforestation, plant 20 million new trees
Kenya suffered severe deforestation from the 1970s to the 1990s, mainly for charcoal and timber production. Forest destruction is still a problem in the East African country. Of Kenya’s 30,000…
Local communities rush to save Kenya’s only lowland rainforest
Concentrated in the Congo Basin, lush Guineo-Congolian rainforests stretch across Africa's midsection, from West Africa down to northern Angola and eastward towards the Great Rift Valley. But only one small…
Aquaculture comes to Lake Victoria, but will it help wild fish?
or the past ten years Kenya and Uganda have been engaged in a fierce tussle over Migingo Island in Lake Victoria. A low slab of rocky land less than the…
Nganyi: The tiny forest in Kenya that predicts the weather
The Nganyi forest shrine in Esibila village, in Western Kenya may not appear on any geographical map as an important icon. But the forest, which lies on just one acre…
From buying tech to building it
WildTech asks Dr. Henrik Rasmussen of Savannah Tracking about shifting careers from biologist to engineer.
2015 was the worst year on record for rhino poaching in Africa
2015 was yet another deadly year for rhinos in Africa as at least 1,305 animals were killed by poachers. According to TRAFFIC, a UK-based non-profit that monitors the wildlife trade,…
Click to like this: Is Instagram a hub for illegal ape deals?
n September 9, I arrived back in Mombasa, Kenya, after an investigative mission to Dubai and Egypt for the independent conservationist Karl Ammann. No region of the world makes it…
Tracking imperiled elephants with cutting-edge technology: an interview with Iain Douglas-Hamilton
Integrating a suite of technologies can help protect wild elephants and monitoring grazing by domestic livestock, and improve human-wildlife relations.
