Rodgers Oloo Magutha did not choose his passion: it imposed itself on him.
With a black kite perched on his head and pigeons flying around his modest home, his mission seems obvious. Since his childhood near Lake Nakuru National Park in Kenya, Rodgers has found his way: saving injured birds and restoring their freedom.
Growing up just steps from Lake Nakuru, one of Africa's birding gems, left its mark on Rodgers forever. As a child, he sneaked into the park to observe flamingos, storks and kites. "I came here to see the birds, to listen to the water", he remembers. "That’s where it all started. "
What was only a child's curiosity became a vocation: to save, care for and free birds in distress. In nearly two decades, Rodgers has rescued more than 20 different species, from black kites and barn owls to marabouts and African piebald crows.
In Kenya, birds are dying by the thousands due to human activities, collisions with power lines or loss of their natural habitat. People like Rodgers are filling a critical void but they need training, licensing, legal safe havens according to Paul Gacheru, conservation expert at Nature Kenya.
Rodgers dreams of opening a bird sanctuary, a safe, legal place adapted to their needs. In the meantime, he continues his work in the shadows, guided by the same wonder as when he was a child, he watched the birds fly away from Lake Nak
