Loisaba Aerial Census
Earlier this year, an aerial census was carried out across Loisaba Conservancy and Mugie Conservancy to estimate wildlife populations, and to form a basis for population trends in order to influence wildlife management.
Transects were flown using Loisaba’s Piper Super-Cub aircraft, and any wildlife that was present within the aircraft mounted guide wires was counted.
A total area of 424km2 was covered over a total flight time of 8 hours. At Loisaba (230km2), a total of 2,341 individual animals were counted, with a species density of 10 individuals per km2.
The number of individual species of key herbivores counted are shown below:
In addition to the pictured herbivore species, five lions were counted along the transects. The on-going lion census activity has so far identified 36 individual lions at Loisaba Conservancy, which equals to one lion per 6.4km2!
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