A massive mural of a rhino welcomes you at Kifaru Primary School in Nairobi's Umoja Estate, where the pupils are settling down after their lunch break in the school yard.

A few hours earlier, and more than 9,000 kilometers (5,590 miles) away, the Chinese government had announced a reversal of its 25-year ban on the use of rhino horn in traditional medicine.

Read more: China ends 25-year ban on rhino horn trade

The news came as a blow to pupils and staff at the school that prides itself on working to save the mighty herbivorous mammals that are native to Africa and some parts of Asia.

At a school called Kifaru, or "rhino," saving the mighty beast seemed a natural thing for the pupils to want to do.

Pupils and rhinos meet

"It's the wrong step towards the environment. Rhinos are rare animals in most countries in Africa and the world at large. If we keep on poaching rhinos then the next generation will have nothing," Moses Kuol Malual, a former pupil at Kifaru Primary told DW.

"Most countries in Africa depend on tourism for their income."

In 2011, environmental activist Sam Dindi began working to raise awareness at schools in Nairobi and Kisumu, a port city on Lake Victoria, about the plight of the endangered species.

Dindi found Kifaru Primary a perfect model for his rhino education platform because of its name. "I first began by taking the students to Nairobi National Park. This is because some of the students had never seen a real rhino," Dindi says.

"I told them to be ambassadors of the animal when they return to school. They now understand what a rhino is and its importance."

The park, located a few kilometers from central Nairobi, includes one of Kenya's key rhino sanctuaries. Rhinos can be seen roaming an area of the 29,000-acre (11,700-hectare) park. At the end of 2017, Kenya was home to 1,258 rhinos, including 745 black rhinos, 510 southern white rhinos and three northern white rhinos.

Rhinos are often killed for their horns, which buyers believe contain medicinal qualities although it consists primarily of keratin – a substance found in human hair and nails.

Critically endangered

Three of the five species of rhino are listed as critically endangered. Their numbers have been decimated by the poachers who are after rhino horn, which is used in traditional Chinese medicine or as a supposed aphrodisiac.

Read more: Relentless rise in rhino slaughter

Rhino numbers declined in Africa during colonial times, when the animals were hunted for sport and meat. The demand for rhino horn has since shifted to Asia and the Middle East, where one kilogram can fetch up to $60,000 (€52,700) on the black market.

Sudan, the last northern white rhino 'A very old man' in rhino years Sudan was unable to stand up in the end. He was treated for age-related complications that led to degenerative changes in muscles and bones combined with extensive skin wounds. Veterinary experts took the decision to euthanize the animal." At the age of 45, Sudan was a very old man, well over 100 years old in human equivalent years," said the charity Helping Rhinos.

Sudan, the last northern white rhino Under constant watch Rhino horns are used in traditional Chinese medicine and for dagger handles in Yemen. A poaching crisis in the 1970s and 1980s wiped out northern white rhino populations in Uganda, the Central African Republic, Sudan and Chad. The last wild population was in the Democratic Republic of Congo, but that succumbed to fighting in the region. At Ol Pejeta, Sudan was constantly under armed guard.

Sudan, the last northern white rhino Out of Africa Given the danger that Sudan he would have been in when so much younger, he was among a group of northern white rhinos who were taken to a safari park in Czechoslovakia in the 1970s.

Sudan, the last northern white rhino A hopeful return Sudan and a group of other northern white rhinos were moved back to Africa in 2009 in the hope that the move, in particular grassland at the Ol Peteja Conservancy in eastern Kenya, would give them more favorable breeding conditions.

Sudan, the last northern white rhino Fading fast The death of the only other northern white male, Suni, of natural causes in October 2014, further emphasized the need to urgently come up with alternative solutions for breeding.

Sudan, the last northern white rhino Will they be the last? Sudan eventually lived at Ol Peteja with the only other two members of his subspecies — his daughter Najin, and his granddaughter Fatu. Because of myriad health complications that mean the two cannot bear offspring, any future northern white rhino would have to be carried in pregnancy by southern white rhino female surrogates. However, their eggs would be used. Author: Richard Connor



Rhino conservation efforts have seen some spectacular successes, according to the International Rhino Foundation. Ten years ago, roughly 20,800 rhinos roamed the earth, while the number is up to around 29,500 today, it said.

In a policy directive on October 29th, the Chinese government said it would allow the use of rhino horn and tiger bones for "medical research" or "healing." The horn would have to be sourced from rhino raised in captivity, excluding zoos, it noted.

Beijing's lifting of the ban could roll back efforts to save the animals, the Kenyan government and wildlife conservationists have warned.

Watch video 01:32 Share Last male northern white rhino dies Send Facebook google+ Whatsapp Tumblr linkedin stumble Digg reddit Newsvine Permalink https://p.dw.com/p/2ucd6 World's last male northern white rhino dies in Kenya

China could trigger poaching spark

International trade in rhino horn has been illegal since 1977 under the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Fauna and Flora (CITES).

"The pronouncement of China is against the international goodwill to protect endangered species," said Kahindi Lekalhaile, director for public affairs at the Africa Network for Animal Welfare. "Banning the trade of the rhino horn both domestically and internationally was appropriate as a precautionary principle to avert the extinction of any remaining species of rhino in the world."

Lekalhaile warned the move could "actually trigger a poaching spark in Africa and Asian countries."

The head teacher at Kifaru Primary, Rose Mwanga, is adamant that rhinos have to be protected by all means. "They are being killed in large numbers and their numbers do not increase that quickly. Not many people know that."