And finally tonight, the populations of some of Africa's most iconic animals have been bouncing back thanks to decades of conservation efforts.

But activists are warning that climate change and human activity are shrinking their habitats.

Now a nature preserve in central Kenya is pushing to set aside more land to connect with other preserves to allow wild animals to roam freely.

At the Leywa Wildlife Conservancy, it takes planes, jeeps, binoculars, and a lot of patience to count the animals by hand.

Droni is what? It's zero.

Dominic Marenga is Lawa's head of conservation.

Each year his team conducts a census of the 60,000-acre sanctuary.

All this is an effort to ensure that we undertake responsibility of accounting for every species

that is found on L lower, especially the most critically

endangered ones, the threatened ones, and we make sure it is a full census.

A full census to track the growing population, including elephants.

Their pregnancies last nearly two years, the longest of any living mammal.

In 2014, there were 350.

By 2024, their population had grown to 450.

There's been a similar increase in rhinos.

In fact, the sanctuary is home to 14% of all black rhinos in Kenya.

It reflects a nationwide wildlife comeback. In the 1980s,

Kenya's elephant population was around 16,000. By last year, their numbers had climbed to 37,000.

But habitats are shrinking. Among the causes, climate change and urbanization, both spurred by a human population

boom. Now Kenyan wildlife officials are encouraging conservancies to create more of what they

call wildlife corridors, protected strips of land connecting large habitats like Lewa with other

range lands that would otherwise be separated by human activity.

...