LEWA – As nations mark World Wildlife Day, conservationists in Kenya are warning of shrinking wildlife spaces in the east African country that generates substantial revenue from wildlife tourism.

While conservation efforts over the past two decades have led to the recovery of many threatened species, the animals are losing wide swaths of habitat because of threats stemming from climate change and destructive human behavior, activists warn.

But they also cite an opportunity in what are known as wildlife corridors — strips of land connecting areas that would otherwise be separated by human activities. By allowing free movement of animals and reducing incidents of human-wildlife conflict, such corridors support the growth of wildlife populations.

One conservation group that is trying to create such corridors is Lewa Wildlife Conservancy, which lies about 260 kilometers (160 miles) north of Nairobi, the Kenyan capital. Lewa is owned by a nonprofit that has acquired more land in recent years in a bid to connect Mount Kenya forest preserve to rangelands in northern Kenya. The sanctuary is home to 14% of Kenya’s remaining black rhinos, in addition to other mammal species ranging from lions to zebras.

An annual wildlife census was underway when the AP visited Lewa, where animal numbers have been going up over the years. The census involved the manual counting of each animal, with both ground rangers and aerial teams participating in the dayslong effort.

“All this is an effort to ensure that we undertake the responsibility of accounting for every species that is found on Lewa, especially the most critically endangered ones and the threatened ones,” said Dominic Maringa, head of conservation and wildlife at Lewa. “We make sure it’s a full census.”

Lewa’s elephant population increased from 350 individuals in 2014 to over 450 in 2024, according to figures provided by the conservancy. Similar growth was seen among white and black rhinos, a major draw for visitors.

But rising wildlife populations strain ecosystems and need to be matched by stronger efforts to protect habitats and create new corridors, Maringa said.

“As conservationists, you have to be looking at these trends, relate them to climate change, relate them with people and human-wildlife conflict,” he said. “Maybe you are enjoying seeing a lot of elephants or buffalos. But at the end of the day what does that mean? You have to make sure you think ahead of the population.”

Kenyan authorities report wildlife population growth trends across the country. Figures from the wildlife authority show that elephant numbers have grown from around 16,000 in the late 1980s to nearly 37,000 in 2024. Black rhinos have increased from fewer than 400 in the 1990s to over 1,000 today. Critically endangered Grevy’s zebras now number over 2,000, while lions have grown to approximately 2,600.

But that success is threatened in some areas by growing human populations: Kenya’s population has grown from 22 million in 1989 to over 55 million in 2025.

Kenya Wildlife Service, or KWS, is encouraging conservancies such as Lewa and private landowners to open up wildlife corridors for free animal movement, with translocation efforts also underway to redistribute animals from crowded ecosystems into less populated areas.

KWS, in a recent statement, cited the Tsavo-Amboseli ecosystem, an expansive protected area in southern Kenya that hosts key elephant migration routes, as “increasingly under pressure due to human activities affecting the free movement of wildlife.”

Similarly, the wildlife corridor known as Kitengela, which connects Nairobi National Park to the grasslands of southern Kenya, has faced fragmentation due to human settlements and infrastructure development.

Beside climate change, rapid urbanization driven by population growth is a major factor in the shrinking of wildlife corridors, according to KWS.

There is also the additional problem of wildfires, with Kenya Forest Service reporting over 180 wildfires that have damaged more than 1,358 hectares of vegetation across the country since the beginning of this year.