The Last Tenth – Saving the Kordofan Giraffe

At the beginning of the year, Raj and I were commissioned to travel to the incredible Zakouma National Park in Chad, alongside the Giraffe Conservation Foundation and African Parks to film and photograph the first GPS satellite tagging of critically endangered Kordofan Giraffe. During the week long operation, eight giraffe were tagged as part of a wider Twiga Tracker project to better monitor their activity and provide data to help aid their ongoing conservation.

Zakouma is one of Africa’s most astounding tales of resurgence and hope – it is also a last stronghold for the Critically Endangered Kordofan giraffe, supporting about 60% of the 2,000 individuals that remain in the wild across their range in West Africa.

Africa’s total Kordofan giraffe population declined by 90% over the last 30 years, resulting in them being listed as critically endangered, but in Zakouma their numbers are rising and African Parks remain committed to their continued protection.

Through their partnership with the Chadian Government, which began in 2010 they have overhauled law enforcement and worked extensively with communities to restore security to the landscape. Zakouma has since transformed into a safe haven where wildlife numbers are increasing for the first time in decades, people are visiting and communities are benefitting from stability and new economic opportunities, living proof that where safe places can be created, both people and wildlife can thrive.

Below is the film we shoot and produced for these two incredible conservation organisations.