Rhino Ark was formed in 1988 by the conservationist and engineer, Ken Kuhle, in response to the threat of extinction in the Aberdares of the Black Rhino, which, was being ruthlessly poached for the sake of its horn.

The initial aim of the project
Rhino Ark was set up to assist The Kenya Wildlife Service (KWS) in the financing of a fence to be built along the Eastern Salient of the Aberdare National Park , at the point where it bordered directly onto farmland.

• To stop wildlife marauding onto farm land outside the fence
• To protect the farming communities and their crops that border the fence.
• To curb illegal log extraction.
• To promote harmony between wildlife and local farmers.
• To prevent illegal entry into the Conservation Area.

• One in three Kenyan's livelihood is dependent in some way upon the rainfall, rivers, forest and wildlife of the Aberdares - one of the nation's largest mountain range.
• Five out of Kenya's seven largest rivers flow north, west, east and south providing hydro power and water to millions of farmers and seven of Kenya's twelve towns.
• The people of the nation's capital, Nairobi - over 2 million - are entirely dependent on water from the Aberdares
• Over 30% of the nation's tea production and 70% of its coffee is grown on its foothills and high slopes
• Over one million farmers living on its lower slopes depend upon its rich soils and rainfall.
• It is one of the largest indigenous forests in East Africa .
• Its wildlife is profuse. It is the home of several thousand elephant, and buffalo, forest antelope, leopard, the rare and endangered giant forest hog, the largest known number of the highly endangered bongo and over 270 species of birds.
• It is one of the surviving strongholds of the Black Rhino in a truly wild habitiat.
• The Aberdare National Park within the 2,000 square kilometres of the of the Aberdare Conservation Area is one of Kenya 's prime national parks. It is the place where Britain 's Queen Elizabeth stayed on the night she became a monarch.
• Two world renowned game lodges - Treetops and The Ark enable thousands annually to see Black Rhino and hosts of other wild animals in this natural habitat and at very close quarters.