Hartebeests roamed parts of North Africa and the middle east in plenty for the first half of the 20th century. Today there are estimated to be around just 360,000 hartebeests existing in over 25 African countries, including Kenya. Eight subspecies are known; the red or Cape hartebeest, the Lelwel, the Lichtenstein's, the Swayne's, the western, the Coke's, the Tora, and the bubal subspecies. 

The International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) declared the bubal subspecies extinct in 1994. However, many sources report that they were killed off in the 1940s. The Tora subspecies are listed as Critically Endangered while many of the other subspecies are confined to protected areas. Their decline has been due to hunting and habitat encroachment. 

Although Ol Pejeta is mostly known for rhino conservation, we are also a sanctuary for other endangered species - among them hartebeests. We are home to an estimated 180 Jackson's hartebeests, which are a hybrid between the Coke and Lelwel subspecies. Predation by our high density of lions and spotted hyenas have been the main factors causing the decline of Ol Pejeta's hartebeest population. To mitigate this, our team moved a herd to a 2,000-acre predator-proof enclosure in 2018 to allow for breeding and give them a chance for survival. High parasite loads from other grazers in the area, which hartebeests are quite sensitive to, has however hindered their recovery. 

Ol Pejeta’s ecological monitoring team has been working over the last 15 years to collect data on the exact predation pressure facing the Conservancy’s hartebeest to continue with the efforts towards their recovery. They have also been studying the diseases and internal parasites that are transferred between herbivores to understand how to prevent and help defend against transmission. 

Some of the steps we are taking to protect our hartbeest population are:

• Regular monitoring of hartebeest to identify herds, their demographics, and survival rates
• Pushing herds into predator-free areas to encourage breeding
• Clever placement of cattle bomas to shift lion hunting to areas with a focus on zebra 
• Manage stocking densities of other species and grazing pressure by other herbivores within the predator-free enclosures 

The population has remained relatively unchanged over the last five years, which of course is better than a decline. The challenge now is to find a balance between predator activity, prevalence of diseases, and herbivore densities across the conservancy. Using the extensive data we have collected, we can hopefully start to recover hartebeest populations not only on Ol Pejeta but across Africa as well.