Inside Sentinels of Engaruka: A Story of Grasslands, Giraffes, and Community-Led Conservation

For more than 20 years, African People & Wildlife has partnered with communities to find ways of coexisting with elephants, lions, and other iconic wildlife. While these animals are important, there are also lesser-known stories worth sharing. Sentinels of Engaruka, our new short film, highlights one of these stories.

The film takes place in northern Tanzania’s Engaruka Valley and follows a pastoralist family alongside Masai giraffes. It shows how people, livestock, and wildlife work cross paths, sometimes quietly and sometimes facing challenges, to build a sustainable future.

At a time when climate change, invasive species, and land conversion are disrupting grassland habitat across East Africa, this film offers a rare glimpse into what communities are doing to adapt while preserving their way of life.

Why This Story?

The idea for the film originated from early conversations among APW team members, who sought to share a story that more accurately reflected the breadth of our mission and the deeper, longer-term partnerships that support people, wildlife, and ecosystems.

From there, it became a collaborative and iterative process. Staff working on community programs, rangeland planning, and wildlife monitoring sat down together, compared notes, and looked through our data for signs of something special. One area stood out: the Engaruka Valley, where sightings of Masai giraffes were unexpectedly strong, even in the face of long droughts and land pressure.

As the team learned more, they realized that this area brought together many aspects of APW’s work, including grassland restoration, wildlife coexistence, Indigenous knowledge, and community-led adaptation. The story that came out of this was about the land and the people shaping its future.

It's hard to believe that the film began development almost three years ago. Over two years of production, the film team spent extended time in Engaruka, renting a home in the community, hosting film nights, and spending long stretches with the families featured in the story. Their process included conversations with local elders and officials, as well as giraffe researchers at the Wild Nature Institute and historians and archaeologists familiar with Engaruka’s past. These layers helped the story take shape in a way that felt authentic and grounded.

Close to the Ground

Filmed entirely in the Engaruka Valley by director Hans Cosmas Ngoteya and his team from Ngoteya Wild, Sentinels of Engaruka centers on Baraka, a Maasai elder who raises cattle and navigates seasonal changes. His teenage son, Meheti, takes on more responsibility as grass becomes scarce, walking further from home and learning to make difficult decisions in real-time.

The story is built from the family’s perspective, including the women who support the household and the networks of neighbors working around them. One of these is Maria, an APW-trained savanna habitat monitor who provides the kind of insight that helps guide local grazing decisions. She is part of a bigger change in the valley, where data, tradition, and community discussions now guide how people manage the land.

The film captures the challenges people face, as well as the strategies they’ve created, on their own terms, to keep pastoralism viable and grasslands healthy.

Giraffes and Grasslands

Masai giraffes are always in the background, tall and watchful, moving through the same areas as livestock. In some ways, they reflect the land itself: they stay where there is balance and leave where there is not.

Originally, the film was going to be called "Twiga," the Kiswahili word for giraffe. As we followed the story, though, it became clear that the giraffes weren’t the main characters. They were part of something bigger. The real subject was coexistence. And that people and animals are acting as sentinels of this shared place. The new name stuck.

Masai giraffes are Tanzania’s national mammal, yet they receive far less attention than other iconic species. Nationwide, their numbers have declined by about 39% since the 1990s. Habitat loss and fragmentation continue to be major threats. Still, Tanzania holds the largest remaining population—about 28,820 individuals—making localized conservation efforts essential.

Unlike many wildlife species, giraffes don’t raid crops or threaten the monetary and cultural values of livestock. They browse trees, disperse seeds, and contribute to the health of savanna ecosystems. In areas like Engaruka, their success may point to something bigger, a sign that careful management of rangelands can support people and wildlife alike.

A Local Lens

The way the film was made demonstrates a key value of APW: conservation works best when it prioritizes local people’s knowledge, values, and leadership. Everyone on the team, from the director to the sound and lighting experts, built strong connections with the community where the film was shot. We’re excited to soon share the film in both Kiswahili and Maa.

This approach mirrors APW’s long-term work across northern Tanzania. From grazing plans and habitat monitoring to invasive species control and youth engagement, our programs are designed to build lasting capacity within communities in ways that support their decision-making about the future.

The Road Ahead

Sentinels of Engaruka is just now beginning its journey into the world. A preliminary round of screenings is scheduled to take place in the U.S. this fall, with a broader rollout across Tanzania planned for the end of the year. Additional opportunities for virtual screenings, community events, school programs, film festivals, and educational screenings are also in development.

If you haven’t yet had the chance to experience the film, consider this a small glimpse: you’ll travel from the loose soil underfoot to the wide skies above. Tall, sweeping views of the Rift Valley are paired with moments of close conversation and daily life. It’s a story that couldn’t have been told any other way, or in any other place. And like the dust of Engaruka that found its way into every camera bag and shirt pocket, we hope this story stays with you—settling in slowly, lingering for a long time.

To learn more, watch the trailer, and explore behind-the-scenes content, visit africanpeoplewildlife.org/sentinels.