The Mt Kenya forest reserve is set to host the second Mountain Bongo refuge site after Ragati-Chehe Mountain Bongo Conservation Trust entered an agreement with the Kenya Forest Service (KFS).
The Ragati-Chehe Mountain Bongo Conservation Trust will establish a 63-acre reintroduction site for the critically endangered antelope within Ragati-Chege Forest in Nyeri County, after receiving a Special Use License from the KFS.
The initiative is spearheaded by Rhino Ark Kenya Charitable Trust, Mt. Kenya Trust, Ragati River Management and Mara Elephant Project, and an ex-officio Canadian partner – the Wilder Institute Calgary Zoo.
This comes a year after the Meru Bongo & Rhino Conservation Trust, successfully reintroduced 17 mountain bongos from Florida, USA, into the wild in Marania forest in Meru County.
In Nyeri, the agreement grants the Trust permission to establish and manage, a dedicated Mountain Bongo Refuge over the next 15 years.
“This agreement represents an important step forward in restoring the mountain bongo to its rightful place in Kenya’s forests,” said Susie Weeks, Chairperson of the Ragati-Chehe Mountain Bongo Conservation Trust.
Ms Weeks is also the executive director of Mt Kenya Trust.
She added, “The Ragati-Chehe refuge and Mountain Bongo Reintroduction Site will provide a secure, well-managed environment where conservation science and wildlife protection can thrive…”
The planned refuge centre will support a range of conservation activities, including wildlife recovery, habitat protection, community livelihoods and employment, environmental education in forest-adjacent schools, as well as forest monitoring and research.
The Kenya Wildlife Service’s veterinary monitoring unit will support mountain bongo recovery along every step of the journey, and the site will also include a research house, ranger accommodation, a viewing platform, and wildlife enclosures for housing mountain bongo.
Kenya Wildlife Service indicates that there are less than 100 Mountain bongo left in the wild making it to the IUCN Red List of threatened species.
Mountain bongos were historically found in thick forests within the Aberdare, Mt Kenya, South West Mau, Mau Eburu and Cherangani hills.
More than 400 mountain bongo are currently living in zoos worldwide.
