The newly complete elephant corridor project reopens the historical elephant access route between the Ngare Ndare Forest Reserve and the Mount Kenya National Reserve. It is inevitable that the pressures of human population around the National Reserve boundary will result in Mount Kenya being fenced off over the coming years. Due to the increasing human wildlife conflict the Trust has recently completed fencing of most of the Western side of Mt Kenya over the last 10 years, and with the help of Rhino Ark we hope that we will be able to fence the Eastern side as well. In order to mitigate the effects of isolating elephants on the Mountain, which could include destruction of habitat in the long term, the Trust and its partners Kisima Farm, Marania Farm, Lewa Wildlife Conservancy, Ngare Ndare Forest Trust and KWS have completed the fully game proofed fenced corridor to enable movement from the Mount Kenya forests to the safety of the Ngare Ndare Forest Reserve and the conservancies and group ranches to the north.
Since the 1st of January several elephants have started to make use of the elephant underpass, which was the trickiest part of the corridor planning. In order for the corridor to work we knew we would need to get elephants to safely cross a busy highway. The construction of the underpass was costly but we have Virgin Atlantic and Richard Branson to help for their contribution to the project.
The Trust and its partners are incredibly proud that our hard work and vision has paid off. Save the Elephants, a well respected Elephant Conservation NGO have collared several elephants in the area and we are able to monitor their movement in real time. Most of these elephants have used the corridor or parts of the corridor at one time or another and now that the construction is fully complete we are confident they will use it on a regular basis. The Trust is extremely grateful for the owners of Kisima and Marania Farms who have not only generously allowed us to use their land for the corridor but have worked extremely hard to help make the corridor a success. We also gratefully acknowledge the incredible support of the entire Dyer family, Jamie Murray, Jonathan Moss and Anthony King.
Funding to date has come from Virgin Atlantic, the Dutch Government (via the Laikipia Wildlife Forum), The Nature Conservancy, Zurich Zoo, Rex Dobie, Terry Brewer and other individual supporters of Lewa Wildlife Conservancy. Safaricom has generously supported maintenance funds for the initial years of corridor operation.
July Elephant Corridor NewsSee: http://www.nation.co.ke/News/regional/-/1070/1050818/-/dy1v91z/-/
and: http://www.tourismupdate.co.za/NewsDetails.aspx?newsId=23049
