Nairobi National park is set to increase its wildlife ecosystem in size after 49,000 more acres were added to its previous 29,000 acres bringing it to a total of 78,000 acres.
This is after the International Livestock Research Institute (ILRI) and Swara Plains Conservancy declared 32,000 and 15,000 acres of land respectively for wildlife conservation in Machakos County.
The government has also added 2,000 acres of land from Sheep and Goat Ranch to Nairobi National Park whose title will be under the Kenya Wildlife Service. This will provide a wildlife corridor to interconnect Nairobi National Park, Swara and ILRI conservancies.
CS for Tourism and Wildlife, Najib Balala, yesterday handed over registration certificates to the two conservancies at a colorful ceremony held at the Swara Plains Wildlife Conservancy in Machakos County.
“I wish to take this opportunity to sincerely thank the two conservancies on behalf of the government and the people of Kenya for this wonderful gift that will ensure our unique biodiversity thrives for posterity. This will be an essential wildlife corridor, for the animal population in Nairobi National Park,” the CS said.
The CS added that Nairobi National Park is not big enough to meet the ecological requirements of its wildlife populations throughout the year.
“On the Northern side, we are looking into acquiring 1,500 acres of land to extend the Nairobi National Park to Ngong Forest. We hope that all this will enable Nairobi National Park to be listed and declared a world heritage site,” the CS said.
The C.S also officially inaugurated the task force on wildlife corridor connectivity between Nairobi National Park and the Athi-Kapiti Plains.
“Their work is crucial and I expect that this task force will in the next three months clearly indicate where we will create a corridor to enable wildlife to migrate freely from Nairobi National Park to SwaraKapiti plains,” he added.
