Loisaba

_______

The Loisaba Story

Loisaba is a 58,000 acre wildlife conservancy and working ranch located in Northern Laikipia, Kenya, East Africa. The two permanent rivers and abundant permanent springs make Loisaba attractive to wildlife throughout the year.

The previous owners the Ancilotto family, who bought the land in the early 1970’s, managed it as a low impact cattle ranch and tourist destination with a vision to keeping this wilderness intact for wildlife and future generations. Count Ancilotto achieved this largely by leasing the land in 1997 to a group of young Kenyans and an American Investor who created the Loisaba brand and managed it as a successful conservation, tourism and ranching business until December 2014 when, supported by generous donors, The Nature Conservancy and Space for Giants facilitated the transfer of ownership of the property and operating companies to the Loisaba Community Trust.

The Loisaba Community Trust, together with it’s partners, continues to ensure Loisaba remains a catalyst for community development, a hub for wildlife research, and a world-class ecotourism destination offering unique opportunities for guests to become part of the Loisaba story both during their visit and for years to come.

Loisaba is also part of a larger story that extends well beyond its borders. It sits on the western edge of one of Kenya’s most important elephant movement corridors. Keeping this land, and a 15 million acre landscape of nearby community lands intact and functioning for wildlife, livestock, and northern Kenya’s pastoralist people is being achieved largely through creating community conservancies boarding Loisaba.

As we work together to protect this vital piece of land, we believe Loisaba is a model for integrated conservation and social impact that catalyzes peace and security across the Ewaso Ecosystem for people and nature in perpetuity.

thumbnail of Loisaba Map 2023

Our Location

Loisaba Conservancy is located in Northern Laikipia, Kenya.

Loisaba is a critical piece of the larger landscape connecting Laikipia to Samburu and Isiolo counties helping to ensure that a well-used wildlife and livestock movement corridor is protected. Importantly it serves as a keystone property in the landscape bringing community conservancies and privately managed lands together, by providing both a physical and institutional connection Loisaba increases the potential for greater stability and resilience in the entire socio-ecological Ewaso ecosystem.

Our Mission

Our mission is to protect and enhance critical wildlife diversity, abundance and habitat in the Loisaba landscape while concurrently supporting sustainable livestock production and improving the lives of neighbouring communities.  Both Tourism and Livestock bring revenue to the land, in an aim to being self-sustainable and offer over 300 jobs to local communities.

©Photo by Ami Vitale

Our Core Values

Loisaba Conservancy’s core values are:

  • Respect for traditional pastoral values, livelihoods and grazing areas
  • Belief that strong local democracy in community lands is paramount to success
  • Recognition that wildlife and livestock can and need to co-exist
  • Belief that conservation can pay and bring benefit to local communities
  • Support of an inclusive workplace that promotes diversity
  • Commitment to achieving credible, measurable results

Our Key Strategies

  • Protect critical wildlife habitat within Loisaba
  • Expand the scale of community conservancies in the landscape
  • Create a sustainable business model for Laikipia
  • Ensure regional grazing stability that starts at Loisaba
  • Enhance regional peace and security
  • Be a model for catalyzing collaborative partnerships and science

Our Environment

Sustainability: power, water and soil is managed to maintain their productive capacity for long term sustainable outputs. At our headquarters and tourism facilities, solar power systems are in use providing 24 hour green energy.

Waste Management: our waste is managed in an environmentally sustainable and ecologically efficient manner through the use of BioBox and Reedbed water recycling systems. A Community Cooker based at our headquarters allows us to manage combustable waste efficiently on site.

The Wildlife

The conservancy is a haven for more than 260 bird and 50 mammal species.  Alongside the more common wildlife, Loisaba provides critical habitat and a migration corridor 800 elephants, large herds of buffalo, dozens of the endangered Grevy’s zebra, towers of endangered reticulated giraffes and the beautiful greater kudu. Our cat population is thriving, with over three lion prides on Loisaba at one time and numerous leopards and cheetahs. To top it off the African wild dog, thought for many years to be extinct in the region, are once again being sighted regularly and often denning on Loisaba.

©Photo by Silverless

Job Vacancies

Vacancy: Loisaba Community Enterprise & Livelihood Programme Coordinator

POSTED ON: 09 November 2023

Please click on this link for more information and to apply: https://jobsboard.site/vmn8x/mmrand4y

Our Partners

Through board positions and memorandums of understanding, Loisaba works closely with the organisations below. Our relationships extend to collaborative wildlife research projects on reticulated giraffes, leopards, lions and elephants, a livestock to market programme and support for our neighbouring communities.