Why you should visit Olpejeta Conservancy- 2024

Olpejeta conservancy  was originally founded in 1988 as a cattle farm, and has evolved into a wildlife sanctuary and a significant conservation area that safeguards endangered species.

Of all the parks and conservancies in Kenya, Ol Pejeta offers the greatest opportunity to see rhinos. It also offers the most activities, such as game drives, mountain biking, horseback riding, lion tracking, running with rangers, cycling, and community visits.

Ol Pejeta manages a community development initiative that provides funds for infrastructure, water supplies, and education to the surrounding towns.

THINGS TO DO IN OLPEJETA CONSERVANCY

LION TRACKING:

A few lions have been outfitted with tracking collars by Ol Pejeta to aid rangers in locating the prides.

The 360 km2 range is open for the lions to roam. Trackers have been fitted to assist rangers in protecting the animals from poachers.

Join a ranger between 06:30 and 08:30 or between 15:30 and 17:30 to locate the lions.On the first day of most visits to Ol Pejeta, lion tracking and the enclosure for endangered animals are usually combined into one morning and one afternoon activity.

WALKING SAFARI:

Unrestricted views of the park are available on a walking safari in the Ol Pejeta plains. If you’re courageous enough, stroll with park rangers and hear about their daily routines while you search the park for wildlife.

Walking safaris can be scheduled between 06:30 to 9:30 in the morning or between 15:30 and 18:30 in the afternoon.

GAME DRIVES:

Just three hours’ drive from Kenya’s capital, Ol Pejeta is the closest location to Nairobi where you may see the Big Five. This means you can easily take a day trip, a multi-day safari or weekend getaway from Nairobi.

The Big Five live in the reserve, along with other threatened and endangered species like Jackson’s hartebeest, Grevy’s zebra, Beisa oryx, and African wild dog. Giraffes, baboons, hippos, and hyenas live beside these. Ol Pejeta offers night drives as well, giving visitors the chance to see the nocturnal animals that prowl these grasslands.

VISIT CHIMPANZEE SANCTUARY:

The Sweetwater’s chimpanzee sanctuary has been home to orphaned chimpanzees since 1993 and has provided a natural environment to the non-indigenous species within an island on the park.

Chimpanzees that arrive at the sanctuary are nursed to health and released into the conservancy – and Ol Pejeta is the only place in Kenya where you can find these animals.

The sanctuary is open daily between 10:00 to 15:30,

You can view all the conservation experiences in Olpejeta via Olpejeta conservation experiences

HOME OF RHINOS:

The Ol Pejeta rhino sanctuary is home to two of the last remaining North American white rhinos and more than 165 critically endangered African black rhinos. Ol Pejeta’s success in increasing rhino numbers is well-known. The conservancy started with only four Eastern black rhinos at the end of the 1980s and now has a population of 165.

Olpejeta is working on saving the northern white rhinos. With the first successful rhino embryo produced in 2018, there’s a glimmer of hope for what’s left of the world’s only two females of the species. The rhino is now extinct on the planet and has never been seen again. Numerous efforts have been made to revive the species, but it’s only recently that we’ve begun to see some signs of success. Two female rhinos, Najin  and Fatu , are part of a project to collect eggs from both of them. The eggs will then be harvested from each of them, with the aim of creating pure northern white rhino blastocysts. These blastocysts will contain both the eggs and sperm from the two northern white rhinos. In the future, it’s hoped that the lab-created rhino embryo will be implanted into a southern white rhino that will act as a surrogate for the rhino, helping to bring the northern white rhino back from extinction.

BEST TIME TO VISIT OLPEJETA:

The peak months of Ol Pejeta are from June to October. This is known as the dry season. Generally, the later in the dry season you visit, the better your game viewing will be. There is a brief rainy season in November and December. This is a very beautiful time to visit as the plants are in full bloom and it is a great time to see the migrating birds. January to March is another dry season. The flowers will be in full bloom after the rains and this is a great time for photography. April and May is the long rainy season.

You can get view some of our safari packages to Olpejeta via https://saunterlandtours.com/kenya/