Our planet has changed drastically over the last hundred years. The idea of “wilderness” as we traditionally think of it does not actually exist any longer the way it used to. Where humanity used to be the exception, the exception has become the norm. Our species has spread to the farthest corners of the globe, colonizing and modifying the land every step of the way. To put things into perspective, when Bob Dylan released his first album, in just a single human lifetime, our planet’s population has more than doubled. That’s twice as many people living on it and using up its finite resources.

As beautiful and vast as Africa still may be, I often struggle with the thought that even here in this magical land, few places remain truly wild and undiscovered. Even those giant tracts of protected land are all accounted for, with every single square kilometre existing on somebody’s radar. But without places like Lewa Wildlife Conservancy who ensure the protection of these lands, even these spaces would quickly turn to farms or grazing lands for human purpose, pushing most other species out of existence. Because of this, the value of these conservancies is quite simply immeasurable.

They are our direct link to our origins in the wild, and our last bastion of hope from the total human modification of Planet Earth. 

-Martin Buzora