Rhino Sanctuary in Lake Nakuru National Park has seen population increase from 400 to 1,7000 since 1987.
2026 Kenya
Some 150 years ago, more than one million black and white rhinos lived in the African savannah. Today, there are just over 22,000 on the entire continent.
This morning, my travel group saw three of them. Within the first 30 minutes of our game drive through Kenya’s Lake Nakuru National Park, we watched an adult female and an adolescent male move around at a leisurely pace in the distant bush.
Not ten minutes later, we came upon an adult male eating his way toward the road – and us. He came within 15 – 20 feet of our Land Cruiser on his way to get a drink at a small watering hole.
It was an emotional moment. One that makes you stop breathing and start crying. The animal is so fierce, so magnificent, it’s hard to believe that they came so close to being killed off – all for the horns.
In 1987, when Lake Nakuru National Park became Kenya’s first Rhino Sanctuary, there were 400 black and white rhinos. That’s right, four hundred.
Thanks to intensive protection, specialized sanctuaries such as Lake Nakuru’s, and translocations, the total population of Eastern Black Rhinos and Southern White Rhinos has “rebounded” to over 1,700 rhinos.
I was fortunate to see these creatures up close as part of tour of The Secret Gems of Kenya, organized by a woman with vision, courage and determination.
Jen Gurecki, of Reno, Navada, founded a non-profit organization nearly 20 years ago to support women in a rural community in southeast Kenya. She called it Zawadisha, which means to give a gift in Swahili.
Gems offers the kind of travel I am committed to: Traveling with a Purpose. So here I am.
“You’re not just having the time of your life, though you definitely will, you’re also spreading the love to local communities and supporting Zawadisha’s mission,” Jen says.
It’s only day five of a 12-day trip, and I feel we have been doing exactly that.
In the hectic Central Business District of Nairobi, Jen took us to a little-known gem created by a group of West African importers. For hours, we ogled traditional artifacts from Ghana, Malawi, Cameroon, The Ivory Coast, and Nigeria before making up our minds.
The next day, she took us to Elmenteita Weavers in Naivasha, Kenya, where Samson demonstrated his craft on a room-sized loom. Their shop was filled with exquisite hand-woven wool rugs of all sizes and beautiful woven cotton textiles. When Samson rang up my purchase, I was moved by how little it cost.
Gems is one of two annual trips to Kenya Jen leads. The other is Cycling Safari, a 15-day bicycling trip through the Maasai Mara to the beaches of Diani on the Indian Ocean.
When traveling with Jen, you’re learning something, giving something, and – as these things go – taking away even more.
