HWEC -Hirola Wildlife Education Centre,

The Hirola Wildlife Education Centre, located in North-Eastern Kenya, is an inaugural conservation education centre in the North-Eastern region of Kenya. The centre is dedicated to creating awareness on the plight of the critically endangered Hirola antelope and other unique species like the Somali giraffe, Grevy’s zebra, gerenuk, and Beisa Oryx.
Under the Hirola Wildlife Education Centre, our conservation education to communities is driven by these pillars:

School Programs

School going children get to visit the Hirola Wildlife Education Centre to learn about conservation. While at the centre the children enjoy in-class sessions on conservation as well as outdoor fun games, nature walks, game drives and bush camping. We also conduct school visits where we our conservation education teams visit our partner schools for in-class teaching, formation and empowering of the school wildlife clubs and school tree planting programs.

Herders for Hirola

This program is a network of Somali pastoralists (herders, conservation groups, and local scouts) working to raise awareness on the plight of the hirola. The program started with 20 herders from Galmagalla, Sangailu, Ijara, and Bura trained in hirola and general wildlife ecology and conservation. Through the training, the herders educate fellow herders on the plight of the hirola antelope and recruit more herders to support hirola conservation by advocating for its conservation and reporting new hirola sightings outside current hirola strongholds. Every two weeks, HCP staff meet with the herders to get reports and their views on wildlife, human-wildlife conflicts, community awareness, and livestock issues.

By 2027, we aim to include 2,000 pastoralists, continuously improving the program to support livelihoods and ensure a secure future for wildlife alongside local communities in Kenya.

 

Village meetings and village wildlife cinema

To disseminate our work, we hold regular meetings with local elders and community members to share the plight of the hirola and also disseminate findings from our ongoing work. Additionally, in January 2016, we launched a mobile wildlife cinema program, delivering a new platform for wildlife education. Since the launch, we have received great feedback on the use of wildlife films in these villages. Through these films, the communities have come to appreciate conservation as a form of land use and are eager to participate in our efforts to save the hirola antelope from extinction.

#WorldHirolaDay

We established and celebrated the world's first hirola day on 12th Aug 2015.

This date coincides with World Elephant Day in an effort to connect the two species. Besides World Hirola Day, HCP celebrates other key conservation events such as Ranger’s Day, World Giraffe Day, and World Wildlife Day.

Through these events, we are able to unite  communities, highlight conservation progress, and raise awareness about the plight of Hirola.

Quick Contact

P.O. Box 1774-70100,
Garissa, Kenya

©  2025 Hirola Conservation Program.