Ranchers train their guns on KWS

By MACHARIA KAMAU

A row is simmering between Kenya Wildlife Service (KWS) and private game ranchers over their participation in wildlife conservation.

Some investors in wildlife conservation say KWS has stood in their way to set up small to medium-sized game ranches, which they say could ease human-wildlife conflict and degradation of national parks and game reserves.

But the State corporation mandated to conserve and manage wildlife maintains it has to ensure private ranchers operate within the provisions of their licensing.

The ranchers claim wildlife rearing is the only option they have in utilising their land due to wildlife traffic on their properties.

"Farming on my land in Tsavo is not viable because wild animals damage crops and kill cattle," says Gerald Thuo, proprietor of Tsavo Snake Park.

"As a result, this limited options on how to utilise my land."

The park has been cleared by the National Museums of Kenya and issued a licence to operate a nature park and private zoo by the Ministry of Tourism, but Thuo says KWS had repeatedly confiscated his animals.

KWS cited bad living conditions for the animals as well as the facility being a danger to both the local population and tourists.

Head of Communication at KWS, Paul Udoto, said any rancher who has been shut down or has had their animals seized may have been engaging in illegal activities or acting contrary to the provisions of their licensing.

KWS shut down a snake and reptile farm that was located in the outskirts of Naivasha early this year, citing illegal activities – including illegal exportation of some of the snakes and chameleon species — as well as poor living conditions for the animals.

Samuel Mwangi, the farm operator, however, said the reasons given by KWS for the closure of his park were not true and that he had provided better conditions for the animals than those under government care.

But Udoto told Financial Journal actions taken by KWS cannot be out of malice as the private parks offer partnerships needed to compliment KWS’ limited resources and land, which he said are not enough to manage the country’s wildlife.

"It would be against our policy to say we are an impediment to efforts by communities and even private landowners who want to participate in conservation efforts," he said.

"Land set aside by the Government for wildlife and conservation is not enough to hold the country’s wildlife and that is one of the key reasons we encourage individuals and communities to participate in wildlife conservation."

KWS assists communities and private landowners living in areas with large population of wild animals interested in undertaking conservation activities.

Such efforts include a decentralised licensing regime and advisory services.

"We have made it easy for those who want to keep wildlife by decentralising our licensing services," Udoto said.

He says KWS has formed a unit – the Community Enterprise Development – which is specifically meant to help in building capacity of communities and private landowners to establish and manage viable nature-based enterprises.

Tourism and wildlife stakeholders have urged the Government to license more orphanages to ease wildlife encroaching on human settlements.

Recently, the Government announced a 15.1 per cent growth in tourist numbers to 313,691 in the first quarter of the year, up form 27,424 in a corresponding period last year.

Tourism Minister Najib Balala attributed the growth to the economic recovery of Kenya’s traditional tourist source markets.

Ministry of Tourism expects the industry to maintain the growth momentum throughout the year, with arrivals for the entire year projected to be at least 15 per cent more than the 1.1 million received last year.

Parks termed as premium – like the Mara and Lake Nakuru National Park - attract large numbers of tourists, to the detriment of the ecosystems in these parks.

Stakeholders want the Government to implement friendlier policies that promote community-based conservancy parks to help divert tourist traffic from national parks and reserves.

Ecotourism Kenya Chief Executive Officer Kahindi Lekalhaile Financial Journal in a recent interview that concentration of tourism activities in national parks was the main cause of their degradation.

"The value of our national parks is diminishing fast as a result of over-concentration of tourist activities around these areas, which affects ecosystems," he said.

"In parks like Masai Mara, for instance, animals don’t hunt like they used to do before due to tourist traffic."

"There is need to rethink our approach to conservation and this would entail embracing community conservancy to decongest traditional parks," he says.

"The move will help ease traffic in natural parks and open marginalised parts of the country."