Rhino Ark was established in 1988 as a charitable trust to help save Kenya’s Black Rhino population in the Aberdare ecosystem. The rhino were under severe threat from rampant poaching for their highly valued horn. At that time, wildlife would often invade the farms bordering the park, destroying crops; occasionally resulting in human fatalities. The resulting fear and aversion towards wildlife worked in favour of poachers who got easy access to the protected area, since the local communities saw no value in protecting either the wildlife or the forest habitat at that time.

Rhino Ark was formed specifically to assist the Kenya Wildlife Service (KWS) in building an electric fence along sections of the Aberdare National Park on its Eastern Salient area which has the highest concentration of wildlife and borders directly onto farmland. The scope of the initial project then evolved into a much more ambitious task of protecting the entire Aberdare Conservation Area with the electric fence.

Today, Rhino Ark Kenya Charitable Trust is a leading Kenyan conservation organization that develops and implements practical solutions to the challenges affecting Kenya’s mountain forests, also known as water towers and their threatened natural habitats in order to secure their ecological integrity.