Protected in fenced Aberdare habitat
Black rhino
The Eastern Salient still holds one of Kenya’s most important black rhino concentrations, behind the fence that started Rhino Ark in 1988.
Black rhino (Diceros bicornis) browse thick Aberdare forest by night and need dense cover away from poachers and stray cattle. Numbers crashed here before the 1980s as ivory demand and habitat overlap grew.
The Eastern Salient covers 120 km² and holds the highest black rhino concentration in Aberdare National Park. Twenty-seven rangers are on duty there. Inside the fenced block, patrols focus on breeding females and designed dispersal routes. Monthly desnaring operations cost USD 300, and intelligence gathering costs USD 500 a month.
Rhino Ark and Kenya Wildlife Service are developing a dedicated black rhino sanctuary in the Eastern Salient, intended as Kenya’s first mountain-forest rhino sanctuary, adding intensive protection without removing the wider forest context.