Rhinos have become the face of extinction, but now there’s a small ray of hope

A rhino horn is worth up to £76,000 on the black market. Each rhino is effectively carrying a death sentence on its head, with an estimated 1,900 poached in the last three years across the African continent.  

The demand for rhino horn is driven by their use in traditional Asian medicine, and their scarcity only increases prices, fuelling the illegal trade. Rhinos have become the face of extinction, with only around 22,540 left in Africa. The population is at risk from drought, not only because it reduces the amount of food available but because it pushes people already experiencing poverty to take desperate measures to try and support themselves. 

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But no rhinos were poached in Kenya over that three-year period. A new documentary, Rhino, narrated by Tom Hardy, takes us to Borana Conservancy in central Kenya where the success of the species shows there is hope for its survival. The film follows the work of rangers like Ramson Kiloku, lead rhino monitor, who has an optimistic update on the survival of the species. Kiloku had this to say:

“I grew up in the forest where we have four among the Big Five [lions, elephants, leopards and buffalo]. All except only rhinos. My first time seeing lions and elephants, I can’t even remember. But once I came to see the rhinos, I was filled with the passion to take care of them. 

“After 21 rhinos were introduced at Borana Conservancy 13 years ago, we now have 66 rhinos. Since the beginning of this year, we have 10 newborns. We’ve never had such a number of new births like this year. The weather conditions have been good. We didn’t experience a long drought and the rhinos have been getting enough food. 

“We have 125 rangers on Borana, categorised into two groups: general security and the armed rangers, one for the day and one for the night.  

“I am general security and every day we have to track every rhino. Rhinos are territorial, so at least you have an idea that the rhino must be in that five square kilometre area. Every morning we go to the high points, look at the waterholes and also the roads. If there are any tracks crossing, you follow. We look for the oxpecker birds. Oxpeckers and rhinos have a symbiotic relationship. The oxpecker is removing ticks and getting food; the rhino is avoiding disease. Once you see oxpeckers flying, you try to spot where they land. 

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“Around five o’clock in the evening, we deploy the armed rangers on the high points where they can scan the area until in the morning. We have zero poaching for the last 11 years now. This is because of the relationship with the communities surrounding the conservancies. Nobody will approach us without the community reporting. The community is the fence before the fence. 

“The biggest threat to rhinos here isn’t poaching but other rhinos. Rhinos are fighting for courtship and territories, especially because the space is too small – Borana Conservancy is 32,000 acres – for so many rhinos. We have actually started moving rhinos to other conservancies. 

“I am optimistic about the future for rhinos in Kenya and we will keep seeing the number increasing. It proves that there is hope for species when they are protected.” 

Rhino is in cinemas now.

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