What began in 2020 as a response to a surge in illegal ostrich egg trade has grown into a pioneering community-led program — and the results speak for themselves.
In 2020, an escalation of illegal trade in ostrich eggs threatened the Masai ostrich (Struthio camelus massaicus) in southern Kenya. Community members and school youth responded by identifying, adopting and monitoring ostrich nests through every breeding season.
Today, 237 juvenile Masai ostriches have been safeguarded and the illegal egg trade has stopped in the area. Students trained in ostrich ecology collect daily data on eggs laid and can now tell the average clutch size, how long juveniles take to emerge from the nest and how the local population is changing.
"The students know the nests better than anyone. They count the eggs every day."
We are now scaling the program into the larger Magadi wildlife ecosystem and the nearby Amboseli landscape. Adopt a nest to be part of the next chapter.