Saving the Mountain Bongo in Kenya’s forest highlands

A new sanctuary could help restore populations of this critically endangered antelope species

(Mount Kenya Wildlife Conservancy)

Kenya has been at the centre of some of the world’s most notable wildlife conservation endeavours in recent years.

Now, in yet another feather added to its illustrious cap, wildlife enthusiasts in the country have embarked on a mission to save the critically endangered Mountain Bongo (Tragelaphus eurycerus isaaci) from extinction.

Kenya has set up the world’s first sanctuary to protect the rare antelope subspecies, whose population is estimated at less than 100. Concerns had been raised for years that despite being found only in the Kenyan wilderness, it was becoming an increasingly rare sight.

The location for this noble initiative is a 776-acre sanctuary in Nanyuki, at the foothills of Mount Kenya.

The sanctuary was officially opened by Tourism and Wildlife Cabinet Secretary, Najib Balala, alongside senior officials from the Kenya Wildlife Service (KWS), Kenya Forest Service (KFS) and the Mount Kenya Wildlife Conservancy (MKWC), a non-profit organisation.

Speaking while unveiling the sanctuary, Balala said that the Mountain Bongo is one of the country’s iconic wildlife species and as such, must be protected at all costs.

“The Mountain Bongo is one of Kenya’s most important iconic animals. It is a critically endangered subspecies and can only be found here in Kenya. That is why in July 2019, we launched the National Mountain Bongo Recovery and Action Plan 2019 – 2023, in partnership with the Mount Kenya Wildlife Conservancy, KWS and KFS. The opening of the Mawingu Sanctuary today is another critical step forward to help achieve these aims,” he said.

The critically endangered Mountain Bongo is one of the largest forest antelopes and is endemic to the equatorial forests of Kenya: Mount Kenya Forest, Eburu forest, Mau forest complex and even the Cherangani Hills.

This subspecies once roamed the region’s wild savannah in large numbers but has suffered unprecedented population decline since the 1950s due to poaching, live trade, predation, and disease, particularly the rinderpest outbreak in the 1980s.

A recent wildlife census report shows that the population of mountain Bongo is less than 100. According to the report, bongo repatriation from the USA was initiated in 2003 to establish a sustainable bongo population at the Mt. Kenya Game Ranch, now referred to as Mount Kenya Wildlife Conservancy (MKWC), from which multiple wild population recovery strategies could evolve.

The principal objective of this project was to establish an in situ captive breeding program, in a natural setting, as the first phase of several conservation steps required to reintroduce mountain bongos to the wild.

The mountain bongo is listed as Critically Endangered by the IUCN/SSC Antelope Specialist Group (IUCN, 2003) and listed on Appendix III of the Convention on International Trade of Endangered Species of Flora and Fauna (CITES), which allows limited trade on the species. In Kenya, bongos are accorded full protection under the Wildlife Conservation and Management Act, 2013.

The team at MKWC, in partnership with KWS and KFS, have been leading a breeding and rewilding programme that has taken nearly 20 years to bring the Mountain Bongo back into the wild. They released the first five Mountain Bongos from the programme into the recently completed Mawingu Mountain Bongo Sanctuary at the foothills of Mount Kenya. This 776-acre pristine natural forest provides a more extensive area to continue rewilding the Mountain Bongo in preparation for survival in the wild.

The long-term vision of the Government of Kenya’s Mountain Bongo National Recovery and Action Plan (2019-2023) is to achieve a population of 750 individuals in Kenya by the year 2050. The opening of the sanctuary represents a significant step towards achieving this aim.

“The habitat has to be highly protected and these are the highlands forest because what is the point if we rear them but we do not have the appropriate habitat in which to release them,” poses Mordecai Ogada, an ecologist.

With habitat loss, hunting and diseases being some of the challenges the mountain Bongos face, having them in a secure sanctuary could prove to be a way out to save them from being extinct.

The Bongos are the largest forest antelopes with a lifespan of 20 years in the wild.

This article is reproduced here as part of the Space for Giants African Conservation Journalism Programme, supported by the major shareholder of ESI Media, which includes independent.co.uk. It aims to expand the reach of conservation and environmental journalism in Africa, and bring more African voices into the international conservation debate.  Read the original story here.