By KARI MUTU

More by this Author

Last year, the International Union for the Conservation of Nature sounded the warning bell on the falling population of giraffes.

Giraffes are easy to spot because of their height.

“So people assume the population is doing well. But it could be the same few individuals you are seeing,” said Arthur Muneza, the East Africa co-ordinator for the Giraffe Conservation Foundation.

GCF is based in Namibia with offices in 14 African countries, and is the only organisation dealing solely with giraffe conservation.

Over the past 30 years, giraffe populations have declined by almost 40 per cent across Africa.

The reticulated giraffe of Kenya, Ethiopia and Somalia has decreased by up to 77 per cent. The Nubian giraffe has gone down by almost 97 per cent. The numbers of Masai giraffe, the most common in the region, has halved in three decades.

“As far as we know, there is no wild population of giraffe in Burundi,” says Muneza.

Giraffes are threatened by shrinking habitats caused by expanding human populations, land fragmentation and infrastructure development.

Poaching and snaring for bush meat and traditional medicines remains a challenge. “Giraffe bones, marrow and brains are erroneously believed to cure HIV and Aids. Tails are used as a sign of power in some cultures or as fly whisks,” Muneza said.

Uganda has about 2,100 threatened Nubian giraffes, the largest population in East Africa. Most are found in the northern area of Murchison Falls National Park.

In addition to monitoring, de-snaring, and tsetse fly removal, conservationists are translocating the giraffes.

“This is to increase the range and genetic diversity of the population,” says Muneza, who participated in the translocation (pictured) together with the Uganda Wildlife Authority in August.

Community members in Loisaba and Namunyak conservancies of northern Kenya are being trained in photographic mark recapture to identify giraffes. Community rangers are gathering knowledge on traditional beliefs and the use of giraffe products.

The West African giraffe is an example of a conservation success story. Historically found across north and west Africa, 17 years ago they were down to about 50 in Niger only.

The government of Niger then initiated a national giraffe conservation strategy, “working with local communities to create incentives for giraffe conservation and reducing human-wildlife conflict,” says Muneza.

There are now about 400 giraffes in West Africa. Kenya is introducing a national conservation strategy to harmonise giraffe protection.