Unlike its neighbor - Tanzania, Kenya has allowed private
individuals to run wildlife conservancies.
75% of Kenya's spectacular wildlife is outside National Parks on
private and community land. This is so because conservancies
involve entire communities in preserving wildlife and thus the
communities benefit from revenue sharing. This simply has
encouraged eco-tourism" with more and more private
conservancies being formed around the country. Wildlife
conservancies encourage high income, low impact tourism and to
this end only environmentally responsible lodges and camps are
allowed to operate within the conservancies.
Through private conservancies, new areas for tourism have been
opened up, therefore bringing revenue to struggling conservation
areas and marginalized communities.
The conservancies support local schools near the camps and other
small community projects.
Lodges and camps located
inside conservancies employ and train staff from the local area
and use environmentally friendly best practices to manage the
properties including - solar panels for water heating and
inverter power, rubbish disposal, etc
About
Wildlife conservation
Wildlife conservation is the discipline
involved with analyzing and protecting the Earth’s biological
diversity, which is the variation of life forms within a given
ecosystem. Biodiversity on the Earth today consists of many
millions of distinct biological species.
Wildlife conservation is the process of
individuals and organization to protect and preserves these
species through conservation education, preservation of habitat
and management of fish and wildlife.
These groups strive to change attitudes
toward nature and to protect natural areas and wild populations
of plants and animals, including endangered species. They also
work to promote more efficient use of the Earth’s resources and
energy to reduce pollution.
Conservation involves both environmental
and wildlife preservation and involves setting aside natural
resources to prevent damage caused by contact with humans or by
human activities, such as logging, hunting and poaching.
Human influence over the earth’s ecosystems
has been so extensive within the last 100’s of years resulting
in many wildlife species facing extinction.
Over population of humans has been the main
threat causing mass agriculture, deforestation and overgrazing.
An endangered species is a population of an organism which is at
risk of becoming extinct because it is few in numbers and/or is
threatened by changing environment.
Majority of wildlife conservancies in Kenya
are locally run. The major wildlife conservancies in Kenya are
to be found within the Masai Mara Game Reserve Ecosystem and in
Laikipia on the northern frontier districts of Kenya.
Laikipia Conservancies
It is exclusive in nature and the
outstanding quality of lodges and camps offer even more serene
beauty. Laikipia offers an extraordinary ecosystem with massive
wildlife populations, and even more a home to endangered
wildlife species in Kenya. Laikipia is without doubt one of
Kenya's premier safari destination.
Branded as Kenya’s high country,
Laikipia’s vast plains extend from the slopes of Mount Kenya to
the edge of the Great Rift Valley and the edge of Kenya's
northern rangelands. Forming part of the 50,000km² Ewaso
ecosystem, Laikipia is greater than all of Kenya's game reserves
and national parks except Tsavo.
Laikipia is wild, diverse and
scenically an impressive landscape offering visitors seclusion,
independence and space. The ecosystem supports a great variety
and numbers of wild animals. Wildlife densities in the Laikipia
and Ewaso region rank second to the internationally renowned
Masai Mara ecosystem. ......Click
here to read more on Laikipia Conservancies.
Masai Mara
Conservancies
The
Masai Mara is a terrain that is constantly changing with verdant
green lands stretched across the plains progressively becoming
blonde waves of long crimson oat grass. Soon the visiting herds
of wildebeest mow down this natural canvas for another
painting.
Without any fences, this ecosystem stretches across the entire
Masai Mara all the way down to Southern Serengeti. One morning
you can wake up to a herd of five hundred elephant making their
way slowly through the Ol Punyata swamp, the next day they're
gone.
The
Mara story can be told over and over again, but today a
different and more alluring story is told of the successful
wildlife conservation efforts supported by the local communities
and managed privately not only to preserve this Kenyan heritage
but also support various community projects.
Kenya