“When I was a kid in the 1970s, we used to see them, but they were rare,” says former Kenyan environment cabinet secretary Prof. Amb. Judi Wakhungu EGH.
The intervening years were even less kind to the mountain bongo – a large forest-dwelling antelope with a handsome chestnut coat and glossy white stripes – and it is now regarded as Critically Endangered, with fewer than 100 individuals in a few scattered populations in Kenya.
Hunting with dogs and and loss of habitat have reduced this subspecies of its much more numerous lowland cousin to the verge of extinction.
But in late February this year, 17 mountain bongos were airlifted from a breeding facility in Florida to a dedicated 8-hectare fenced enclosure on the slopes of Mount Kenya, giving new hope that it can be saved.
Wakhungu, who helped facilitate the translocation that involved multiple partners from the Rare Species Conservatory Foundation in Florida and the Lewa Wildlife Conservancy to the Meru Bongo and Rhino Conservation Trust, which manages the animals’ new sanctuary, says you could immediately see how comfortable they were in their new home.
Indeed, says Charles Mayhew, founder and president of the UK wildlife conservation NGO Tusk, which was also involved, they clearly feel so comfortable that five of the 12 females are pregnant. “There is a suspicion that one or two of them were before they left, but I have also heard that the bull has been active since he got home,” Mayhew adds.
While these bongos will remain in the enclosure, it’s hoped that over time their offspring can be released into a much larger area around Mount Kenya where there are some remaining wild individuals. According to Wakhungu, poaching of bongos has been mainly removed as a threat, though human-wildlife conflict is still an issue that needs to be resolved.
Another important partner is the local community, which was consulted on the translocation. "They will be proud of their new residents and view them as an asset, something they will be keen to protect and ensure the success of,” says Wakhungu.
In time, perhaps, it will be possible to see wild mountain bongos again, both on the slopes of Mount Kenya, in the Aberdare Mountains to the west and in other upland areas of Kenya, when this chapter in their story will gain added significance.
In pictures: mountain bongo translocation
Prof. Amb. Judi Wakhungu EGH is a board member of Lewa Wildlife Conservancy.
Main image: Mountain bongo translocation. Credit: Lewa Wildlife Conservancy
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