Restoring Kazakhstan’s Golden Steppe has helped saiga antelope rebound from about 20,000 to 4.6 million.
Restoring Kazakhstan’s Golden Steppe has produced one of the largest wildlife recoveries on record. Saiga antelope numbers have climbed from roughly 20,000 in the early 2000s to about 4.6 million in 2026. The Altyn Dala Conservation Initiative has led this work since 2006.
Altyn Dala means “golden steppe” in Kazakh. The initiative has helped protect 5 million hectares of grassland, an area larger than Denmark. It is also bringing back wild asses and wild horses that vanished from the region long ago.
The saiga is a small antelope with a large, flexible nose that filters dust and warms cold air. Its herds migrate hundreds of miles across the steppe, a vast, dry grassland with few trees. By the early 2000s, those herds had nearly disappeared.
After the Soviet Union collapsed, poaching surged across Central Asia. Hunters killed saigas for meat and for male horns, which sold for traditional medicine in Asia. Within about a decade, the population crashed by more than 95%.
Five partners joined forces in 2006 to reverse that decline. Kazakhstan’s Committee for Forestry and Wildlife works with the Association for the Conservation of Biodiversity of Kazakhstan. Fauna & Flora, the Frankfurt Zoological Society, and the Royal Society for the Protection of Birds bring international support.
Their first priority was stopping the killing. Ranger teams and aerial patrols now cover the saiga’s range. Sniffer dogs and customs training help catch horn smugglers at the border.
Next, the partners needed to know where the herds went. Since 2009, researchers have fitted saigas with satellite tags to map their migrations. That data shows which areas need protection and when.
New reserves followed the herds. The most recent, Bokey Orda-Ashiozek in western Kazakhstan, covers about 657,000 hectares. Wildlife corridors also link reserves through private land, under joint plans with landowners.
The strategy faced its hardest test in 2015. During the spring calving season, more than 200,000 saigas died within weeks, over 60% of the global population. A 2018 study in Science Advances linked the deaths to a bacterium that turned deadly in hot, humid weather.
Because poaching was under control, the surviving herds could rebuild. Aerial surveys each spring tracked the comeback. The 2024 count found about 2.8 million saigas, and the 2026 count reached roughly 4.6 million.
That is about 230 times the low point. In December 2023, the IUCN Red List moved the saiga from Critically Endangered to Near Threatened. The Kazakh association’s director, Vera Voronova, called it one of the most successful land mammal recoveries ever recorded.
Restoring Kazakhstan’s Golden Steppe means rebuilding the full community of grazing animals, not just one species. Kulan, a wild ass native to Central Asia, disappeared from the Torgai steppe more than 100 years ago. Scientists consider them a keystone species, since their grazing and movement help shape the grassland.
Reintroductions began in 2017, and partners aim to establish about 100 kulan in the region. A recent group traveled 2,139 kilometers by road from Altyn-Emel National Park. After a year in an acclimatization pen, the animals went free in August 2025.
Przewalski’s horses are following the same path. Considered the last truly wild horse species, they vanished from the wild by 1969 and survived only in zoos. In Kazakhstan, they had been gone for about 200 years.
Przewalski’s horses returning to the wild are part of restoring Kazakhstan’s Golden Steppe after about 200 years. Photo by Wijs (Wise) on Pexels.
The first seven horses arrived at the Altyn Dala reserve in 2024. More followed in 2025 from Prague Zoo and Hungary’s Hortobágy National Park. In May 2026, five of them left their pens and began roaming free.
Officials plan to bring 40 to 45 horses by 2029, enough to sustain the herd. A stallion named Galvan wears a GPS collar so rangers can follow his movements.
Local support makes these gains last. The initiative runs education programs in rural schools and has published children’s books about steppe wildlife in Kazakh. Restoring Kazakhstan’s Golden Steppe depends on the next generation valuing these animals.
Recovery has also created new tensions. Farmers in several regions report that saigas damage crops and compete with livestock for pasture. Authorities are now studying how to manage herd sizes without undoing two decades of conservation.
Roads, railways, and fences still break up migration routes. Wildfires and farm expansion put pressure on ground-nesting birds. Restoring Kazakhstan’s Golden Steppe will require balancing people and wildlife for years to come.
Twenty years ago, the saiga seemed headed for extinction. Today, millions roam the plains, joined by wild asses and horses returning after a century or more. Restoring Kazakhstan’s Golden Steppe shows what patient, well-coordinated protection can achieve.
