Kenneth Kuhle, who died aged 66, was a farmer, engineer and conservationist of note. Well known for the dynamism and energy he brought to all the projects with which he was involved, his most enduring legacy will undoubtedly be the founding of the Kenyan charity, Rhino Ark, whose aim was to raise funds to fence the Aberdare National Park thus protecting both the black rhino as well as the crops of the community living around the edge of the Park.

Ken was born in Kenya on 20 May 1938, the son of a Dane, Claus Kuhle and his English wife, Peggy. His father was the livestock manager on Marula Estate, near Naivasha and earned the princely sum of £15 per month.  After the war, spent in Nairobi & Salisbury, Rhodesia, the family returned to Naivasha, from where Ken went to Nakuru School

At the age of 12, Ken was sent to Sevenoaks School in England, he wouldn’t return to Kenya again for five years and only saw his parents once during those years; such were the problems of long-distance travel and funding. On the day of his return to Kenya at seventeen, his mother was widowed. Ken stepped in and helped run the family farm in Molo for a year before heading back to England to attend the Royal Agricultural College at Cirencester. He graduated from Cirencester, in 1958 and returned to Kenya to run his mothers farm, which was eventually sold in 1961.

Kenneth moved into tea estate management between 1961 and 1972.  It was during this time that his flair for engineering became apparent. He designed and built 2 tea factories in Subukia and Kiambu, and, more importantly, designed and patented an innovative tea drier which was to present him with the opportunity to move out of farm management and set up his own Nairobi-based engineering company.

During this period Kenneth met and married Judy (nee Sherwood), they had 2 sons, Nicholas and Christopher

In 1972, Kenneth started K Kay Engineering Services Ltd with 6 employees, primarily to manufacture tea and coffee machinery. The company was successful and expanded rapidly.  Whilst running this company Ken represented the Kenya External Trade Authority, was Chairman of the Metal Working Enterprises with the Kenya Association of Manufacturers and was appointed to its Executive Committee in 1982.  After the sale of K Kay Engineering Services Ltd in 1986, Kenneth’s life changed markedly with his separation from Judy and the final departure from home of his 2 sons to follow further education and career paths which kept them away from Kenya.

Ken Kuhle founded Rhino Ark, a charitable trust in Kenya whose key annual event was the weekend Rhino Charge, a hair-raising offroad orienteering event intent on fencing the Aberdare Forest in order to protect wildlife and protect the valuable crops of the local inhabitants from being trampled and eaten by the wildlife. In 2000 Ken and his wife Lois left Kenya and relocated to South Africa where they took over the Pumula Game Lodge in KwaZulu Natal, and turned it into Milimani Game Sanctuary, also inheriting two Bengal tigers rescued from a bankrupt Egyptian circus travelling through Mozambique in 1996. Milimani also became the first official release site of tortoises in South Africa. In 2005 the sanctuary became subject to compulsory purchase, and Ken and Lois had to leave. As they began arrangements for the move, Ken died suddenly of a heart attack.