PAULA KAHUMBU
Winner: 2011 National Geographic Society/Buffett Award for Leadership in African Conservation
June 2011
Paula Kahumbu, executive director of the Kenya Land Conservation Trust and WildlifeDirect, and
chairman of the Friends of Nairobi National Park, was coached and mentored by paleoanthropologist
and conservationist Richard Leakey, who remains one of her closest allies and supporters. Born and
raised in Nairobi, Kahumbu entered into conservation at the height of the elephant poaching in the late
1980s. Her introduction to conservation was to measure Kenya’s entire stockpile of ivory. That work
literally went up in smoke in the spectacular ivory bonfire of 1989 — a powerful international statement
that the country would not tolerate the effects of the international trade in ivory on Kenya’s elephant
herds. A decade later, Kahumbu joined the Kenya Wildlife Service (KWS) and became one of the most
vocal advocates against the increasing calls for renewed international trade in ivory. She is best known
for her passionate and forceful speeches at two CITES conferences where she headed the Kenyan
delegation.
Kahumbu started the Colobus Trust and introduced colobus bridges or “colobridges” across the busy
Diani highway — an innovation that has become a tourist attraction and has been expanded and been
exported to other countries where primates and other arboreal animals need to cross roads. She ran the
Colobus Trust while conducting her Ph.D. research on elephants in the Shimba Hills at the Kenya coast,
all while singlehandedly raising her curious and adventurous 2-year-old son, Joshua. The Trust still saves
monkeys, and Josh is all grown up and working for the U.S. Navy.
After attaining her doctorate from Princeton University, Kahumbu returned to KWS briefly before joining
Bamburi Cement. There she launched the environmental subsidiary Lafarge Eco Systems and published a
world-best-selling children’s book about a baby hippopotamus that was adopted by a giant tortoise after
he was orphaned by the 2004 Indian Ocean tsunami. The true story was so compelling that over 1
million copies of “Owen and Mzee” (Scholastic Press) have been sold and the book is now in 27
languages including Japanese, Spanish, French, German, Czech, Chinese and Kiswahili (translated and
locally published by Jomo Kenyatta Foundation Press). The Kenya Postal Corporation produced a
commemorative stamp in a series about unusual animal relationships.
Kahumbu is well known in Kenya for her infectious passion for conservation and animals. She believes in
the development of Kenya, but not at the cost of the environment. She is currently spearheading a
campaign to ensure that the infrastructural developments of Nairobi do not compromise the wildlife of
Nairobi National Park, which would destroy one of Nairobi’s most important assets. Her conviction is
that the park is integral to the value of the city, and she has persuaded many organizations, including
KWS, International Livestock Research Institute, African Wildlife Foundation, the Wildlife Foundation,
African Conservation Centre, The Friends of Nairobi National Park, The Kenya Land Conservation Trust,
WildlifeDirect, private land owners and many others, to conduct an ecosystem-wide wildlife census that
will help guide the decisions taken by the Ministry of Transport regarding the controversial Greater
Southern Bypass.
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Kahumbu has used her education and passion to be a champion of the environment and to shine a light
on others who are doing incredible work — like William Kimosop who is trying to open up a hiking trail
across the rift valley that will connect communities and conservancies and save the Greater Kudu, or
Anthony Kasanga who saves lions in the Mbirikani Group Ranch near Tsavo. Most Kenyans don’t know
much about conservation, but Kahumbu is changing that. She is one of Kenya’s top bloggers and
tweeters, and through WildlifeDirect she has created Africa’s largest wildlife blogging platform that tells
stories from the field. She recently launched a partnership with Screaming Reels Production in which she
presents the documentary series “Wildlife Sentinels.” The Wildlife Sentinels are news stories from the
conservation frontline that explain issues like the ivory trade, poaching, and human-wildlife conflict
through real-life stories.
The National Geographic/Buffett Award for Leadership in Conservation in Africa that Kahumbu has just
won is given to one African conservation leader every year by the National Geographic Society and
Howard Buffett, president of the Howard G. Buffett Foundation, which focuses on humanitarian and
conservation issues. “The award is the greatest accolade I have ever received for my work,” Kahumbu
said. She will be presented with the award and a cash prize of USD 25,000 on Tuesday, June 21, 2011, at
a ceremony at the National Geographic Society in Washington, D.C. Kahumbu has also been named a
National Geographic Emerging Explorer for 2011.
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