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JOHN YANG: And finally 
tonight, the populations 
of some of Africa's 
most iconic animals have

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been bouncing back thanks 
to decades of conservation 
efforts. But activists are

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warning that climate change 
and human activity are 
shrinking their habitats.

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Now a nature preserve 
in central Kenya is 
pushing to set aside more

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land to connect with other 
preserves to allow wild 
animals to roam freely.

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JOHN YANG (voice-over): 
At the Lewa Wildlife 
Conservancy, it takes planes,

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Jeeps, binoculars and a lot of 
patience to count the animals 
by hand. Dominic Marenga is

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Lewa's head of conservation. 
Each year, his team 
conducts a census of the 
60,000 acre sanctuary.

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DOMINIC MARINGA, Lewa 
Wildlife Conservancy: 
All this is an effort to 
ensure that we undertake

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responsibility of accounting 
for every species that is found 
on Lewa, especially the most

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critically endangered ones, 
the threatened ones. And we 
make sure it is a full census.

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JOHN YANG (voice-over): A full 
census to track the growing 
population, including elephants.

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Their pregnancies last nearly 
two years, the longest of any 
living mammal. In 2014, there

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were 350. By 2024, their 
population had grown 
to 450. There's been a 
similar increase in rhinos.

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In fact, the sanctuary 
is home to 14 percent 
of all black rhinos in

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Kenya. It reflects a nationwide 
wildlife comeback. In the 1980s,

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Kenya's elephant population 
was around 16,000. By 
last year, their numbers 
had climbed to 37,000.

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But habitats are shrinking. 
Among the causes, climate change 
and urbanization, both spurred

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by a human population 
boom. Now Kenyan wildlife 
officials are encouraging 
conservancies to create

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more of what they call wildlife 
corridors, protected strips 
of land connecting large

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habitats like Lewa with other 
rangelands that would otherwise 
be separated by human activity.

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They allow animals to move 
freely, reduce chances 
of human interaction,

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support wildlife population 
growth and boost tourism, which 
generates billions of dollars

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a year. Lewa plans to add 
more corridors to the ones 
they've already created.

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DOMINIC MARINGA: If you are 
in an enclosed ecosystem, the 
population will have to filter

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out one way or the other. And 
who are they going to meet 
outside? The farms, you know,

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retaliatory attacks. So 
you think ahead. Open new 
corridors. Connect your 
conservancy with others.

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JOHN YANG (voice-over): The Lewa 
Conservancy hopes that would 
help animals that have existed

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for millions billions of 
years thrive alongside 
humans for millennia to come.