About Us

Bora’ana Community Wildlife Conservancy (BCWC)

A Community-Based Organization (CBO) founded in 2019. This is a community-led conservancy that was born out of the dire need to conserve wildlife, especially the endangered reticulated giraffes, which have been a key target of poaching by the neighboring refugees from Dadaab Refugee Complex.

The conservancy, covering 66,136 ha, is located in the Goreale Ward, Shanta-Abak Sub-County, Garissa County, Kenya. The conservancy is home to diverse and unique wildlife species, including the critically endangered hirola antelope.

The conservancy has been operational for the last seven years since 2019. It has been formally registered with the ministry of social services as a community-based organization (CBO). The conservancy was created:

1. to mitigate human-wildlife conflict,

2. secure corridors and dispersal areas for wildlife,

3. enhance communities’ well-being,

4. resilience to climate change, and

5. Foster peace and sustainable development in the area.

BCWC has registered substantial progress in the last seven years, from being registered as a formal conservancy officially recognized by the Kenya Wildlife Conservancies Association (KWCA) to improving its governance structure and operations through a grant from the World Wide Fund for Nature–Kenya (WWF-Kenya).

Currently, the conservancy has 20 community scout rangers who undertake patrols on a daily basis to monitor wildlife. Through the support from WWF-Kenya, the conservancy excavated a water pan with a 6 million liter capacity that will provide water for the people, their livestock, and wildlife as part of its climate resilience initiative.

The conservancy’s works are guided by a clear strategy and operational policies. The major goal for the conservancy is to conserve the diverse flora and fauna found in the area, with specific emphasis on iconic species such as reticulated giraffes, gerenuks, ostriches, and Grant gazelles, among others, as a national heritage and for the benefit of the local community.

The organization designs and implements its projects through a participatory process to empower the local community and to entrench ownership of the conservancy and the natural capital therein.