Nairobi National Park is a national park in
Kenya. Established in 1946, the national park was Kenya's first. It is
located approximately 7 kilometres (4 mi) south of the centre of Nairobi, Kenya's capital city, with an
electric fence separating the park's wildlife from the
metropolis. Nairobi's skyscrapers can be seen from the park. The proximity
of urban and natural environments has caused conflicts between the animals and
local people and threatens animals' migration routes.
Still, despite its proximity to
civilisation and relative small size for an African national park, Nairobi
National Park boasts a large and varied wildlife
population. Migrating herbivores gather in the park during
the dry season, and it is one of Kenya's most successful rhinoceros sanctuaries.
History
Colonists arrived
in the area where the park is located in the late 19th century. At this time,
the Athi plains east and south of what is today Nairobi had plentiful
wildlife. Nomadic Maasai lived
and herded their cattle among the wildlife. Kikuyu people
farmed the forested highlands above Nairobi. As Nairobi grew—it had 14,000
residents by 1910—conflicts between humans and animals increased. Residents of
the city carried guns at night to protect against lions. People complained that
giraffes and zebras walked on and ruined their flower beds. Animals were
gradually confined to the expansive plains to the west and south of Nairobi,
and the colonial government set this area aside as a game
reserve. Settlers from
Nairobi including Isak
Dinesen, author
of Out of Africa, rode horses among gazelles, impala, and zebras in this reserve.
The conservationist Mervyn
Cowie was born in
Nairobi. Returning to Kenya after a nine-year absence in 1932, he was alarmed
to see that the amount of game animals on the Athi plains had dwindled.
Expanding farms and livestock had taken the place of the game. He later
recalled this place as a paradise that was quickly disappearing. At this time,
the area that would later become Nairobi National Park was part of the Southern
Game Reserve. Hunting was not permitted in the reserve, but nearly every other
activity, including cattle grazing, dumping, and even bombing by the Royal Air Force was
allowed. Cowie started to campaign for the establishment of a national park
system in Kenya. The government formed a committee to examine the matter.
Officially opened in 1946, Nairobi
National Park was the first national park established in
Kenya. Maasai pastoralists were removed from their lands when
the park was created. Cowie was named as director of Nairobi National Park and
held this position until 1966. In 1989, Kenyan President Daniel arap Moi burned
twelve tons of ivory on a site within the park. This event improved Kenya's
conservation and wildlife protection image.
Geography
The park covers an area of 117.21 square
kilometres (28,963 acres) and is small in comparison to most of Africa's
national parks. The park's altitude ranges between 1,533 and 1,760 metres
(5,030 and 5,774 ft). It has a dry climate. The park is the only
protected part of the Athi-Kapiti ecosystem, making up less than 10% of this ecosystem. The park
has a diverse range of habitats and species.
The park is located about 7 kilometres
(4 mi) from the Nairobi's centre. There is electric fencing around the
park's northern, eastern, and western boundaries. Its southern boundary is
formed by the Mbagathi River. This boundary is not fenced and is open to the Kitengela Conservation Area (located immediately south of the
park) and the Athi-Kapiti plains. There is considerable movement of
large ungulate species across this boundary.
The fence that separates the park from the city runs
along a highway leaving the airport, this is one fact many Kenyans are proud of
– this park is the only natural safari park that has a city scape background
that can be seen from almost any part of the park, as seen in the picture below
of the giraffe and the sky scrapers.
Flora
The park's predominant environment is
open grass plain with scattered Acacia bushes.
The western uplands of the park have highland dry forest with stands of Olea africana, Crotondichogamus, Brachylaena hutchinsii, and Calodendrum. The lower slopes of these areas are grassland. Themeda, cypress, Digitaria, and Cynodon species are found in these
grassland areas. There are also scattered yellow-barked Acacia xanthophloea. There is a riverine forest along
the permanent river in the south of the park. There are areas of broken bush
and deep rocky valleys and gorges within the park. The species in the valleys
are predominantly Acacia and Euphorbia candelabrum. Other tree species include Apodytes dimidiata, Canthium schimperiana, Elaeodendron buchananii, Ficus eriocarpa, Aspilia mossambicensis, Rhus natalensis, and Newtonia species. Several plants that grow on the rocky
hillsides are unique to the Nairobi area. These species include Euphorbia brevitorta, Drimia calcarata, and Murdannia clarkeana.
Fauna
The park has a large and diverse
wildlife population. Species found in the park include Cape buffaloes, baboons, eastern black rhinos, gazelles, zebras, Tanzanian cheetahs, Coke's hartebeest, hippopotami, leopards, Masai
lions, elands, impala, Masai giraffes, ostriches, vultures and waterbucks.
Herbivores, including wildebeest and
zebra, use the Kitengela conservation area and migration corridor to the south
of the park to reach the Athi-Kapiti plains. They disperse over the plains in
the wet season and return to the park in the dry season. The
concentration of wildlife in the park is greatest in the dry season, when areas
outside the park have dried up. Small dams built along the Mbagathi River give
the park more water resources than these outside areas. They attract water
dependent herbivores during the dry season. The park is the northern limit for
wildlife migrations in the dry season. The park has a high diversity of
bird species, with up to 500 permanent and migratory species in the
park. Dams have created a man-made habitat for birds and aquatic species.
The David Sheldrick Trust runs a
sanctuary in the park that hand-rears orphaned elephant and rhinoceros calves,
and later releases them back into secure sanctuaries. Orphaned and sick animals
are brought to the sanctuary from all over Kenya. The sanctuary is located
close to the park's main entrance. It was opened in 1963. It was set up
by Daphne Sheldrick after the death of her husband David Sheldrick,
the anti-poaching warden of Tsavo National Park. Nairobi National Park is sometimes called Kifaru Ark, which means "Rhinoceros
Sanctuary". It is one of Kenya's most successful rhinoceros
sanctuaries, and it is one of only a few parks where visitors can be certain of
seeing a black rhinoceros in its natural habitat.
Conservation
Mervyn Cowie oversaw the development of
several of Kenya's national parks and designed them with human visitors in
mind. This emphasis helped to make tourism Kenya's
primary industry. However, it exacerbated problems between the human population
and wildlife. Farmers living next to the parks did not have input into the
establishment of the parks. Locals received very little benefit from the game
animals. Livestock is threatened by lions, and some landowners think that
Kenya's wildlife is not good for them. In 1948 188,976 people lived in Nairobi,
and by 1997 the city's population had grown to 1.5 million. The park is under
pressure from the city's growing population and need for farmland. People live
right next to the park's boundaries, which creates human-animal conflicts. The
human population also creates pollution and garbage. Effluent and
industrial waste from factories located along the park's northern boundary
contaminate the park's surface and ground water systems.
Treaties with the Maasai in 1904 and
1911 forced them to give up all of their northern grazing lands on the Laikipia escarpment
near Mount Kenya. Some of the people that lost land there were resettled in
the Kitengela area. The Maasai's pastoral life did not create any conflicts
with the wildlife. Today the Kitengela's former Maasai group-ranches have been
privatized and some of the land has been sold to farmers. Houses, cultivated
plots, schools, shops, and bars are found on the Kitengela plains. Some of the
park's revenues have been used for community projects in order for the people
living on the Kitengela to benefit from the presence of the national park. Many
Maasai landowners have formed the Kitengela Landowners Association, which works
with the Kenyan Wildlife Service to both protect the wildlife and find benefits
for the locals.
The park and the Athi-Kapiti Plains are
linked by the migrations of wild herbivore populations. The plains to the south
of the park are important feeding areas during the wet season. Before the
city was established, herds of animals followed the rains and moved across the
plains from Mount Kilimanjaro to
Mount Kenya, a migration as great as the migration that takes place on
the Serengeti. However, as the city grew the park became the northernmost
limit of the animal's migration. Migrating animals can reach their southern
pastures by travelling through the part of the Athi plains called the
Kitengela. This land is very important to their migration routes, but growth in
the human population and the accompanying need for land threaten to cut off
this traditional migration route from the park to land further south. The
park's migratory species are also threatened by changing settlement patterns,
fencing, and their closeness to Nairobi and other industrial towns. These
activities fragment their ecosystems and occupy their habitat.
Tourism and education
Nairobi National Park is the main tourist attraction
for visitors to Nairobi. Visitor attractions include the park's diverse bird
species, cheetah, hyena, leopard, and lion. Other attractions are the
wildebeest and zebra migrations in July and August, the Ivory Burning Site
Monument, and the Nairobi Safari Walk and animal orphanage. Inhabitants of
Nairobi visit the park and thousands of Kenyan children on school field trips
visit the park each week.
The park's Wildlife Conservation
Education Centre has lectures and video shows about wildlife and guided tours
of the park and animal orphanage. These tours are primarily, but not
exclusively, to educate schools and local communities. There has been criticism
about animals' housing, and they now have more spacious housing in a more
natural environment. The Kenya Wildlife Service has created a Safari Walk that
highlights the variety of plants and animals that are in Kenya, and how they
affect Kenya's population