Located 160km north of Nairobi, Solio Reserve is the premier place in Africa to see black and white rhino in the wild, but these precious animals are at the heart of a bloody poaching battle. The previous night, armed rangers who patrol the park’s 48km-long electric fence saw three men with tools and guns try to enter the reserve – and the previous month they discovered poachers cutting a hole in the fence near where a pair of cheetah makes their den. On both occasions, the rangers won out, but it was an unsettling reminder that the battle for the survival of one of Africa’s most endangered species is far from won. The problem is so rampant in central Kenya, where breeders have made in-roads into breeding rhinos in captivity on private reserves, that during the monthly full moon cycle, when poachers are not reliant on torches or headlamps for light, the rhinos need to be protected 24 hours a day. Tragically, in 2012 Solio lost at least 12 out of around 220. “Solio represents the heartbeat of rhino conservation in Kenya,” said Felix Patton, the reserve’s rhino monitoring coordinator. “Because of that, the poaching pressure is ever present – so there is a need to bring in more income to sustain the rhinos’ security and habitat. More importantly, though, we need to change the poacher’s attitudes – because the real value of rhino horn is completely misunderstood.