Nairobi National Park, which a few months ago celebrated 75 years of activity as Kenya's national nature reserve, is one of the peculiarities to be protected and has its own precious uniqueness: it is the only habitat of wild animals in freedom in the world within a metropolis.
We have already talked about the associations that work for the conservation of this small but significant patrimony and of the Italian honorary rangers that follow step by step the vicissitudes, the problems and the adaptation to the needs of the modern age and the exponential growth of Nairobi.
From this point of view, the involvement of the local population, who live in direct contact with the park and live on its margins, is very important.
On March 19, we of Malindikenya.net were inside the park, meeting the association Friends of NNP and the group T3 Kenya, which are responsible among other things to organize Clean Up to clean up the areas of the park close to the urban belt and to raise awareness among the neighboring population on the recycling of waste that otherwise, inexorably, are pushed inside, polluting the places where all kinds of animals in the park may come into contact.
We were also able to verify the excellent work promoted by a group of conservationists and nature lovers, including four Italian honorary rangers of KWS, Olga Ercolano, Massimo Vallarin, Annabella Francescon and Elisabetta Levis, who have raised funds to build a barrier of plants between the park and the new bypass, the Southern Bypass, and thus protect the wildlife and nature of this historic lung and reference point for residents and tourists in the capital.
In recent days, the praiseworthy activities carried out have been joined by the initiative of Elisabetta Levis, who, in addition to being an Honorary Warden of KWS and a professional safari guide, is a co-founder of the Italian Association of African Experts (AIEA).
Elisabetta accompanied 60 Maasai women who live in the areas surrounding the park on safari by bus in Nairobi National Park.
"This educational trip served to show them the marvelous nature of their country with its wild animals, but from another point of view: that of conservation and not that of the danger threatening them and their livestock. As you know, in Kenya the main reason for poaching is not the lucrative one but the one due to the conflict between man and animal".
It's a problem that particularly affects areas close to all national parks and reserves, as local communities, with crops and livestock, press and often invade or get too close to wildlife areas.
"Unfortunately, sometimes it is human beings who become victims of this conflict - explains Elisabetta - but, much more often, those who suffer with their lives are elephants who are killed with spears and arrows by farmers and lions that are poisoned by breeders.
The KWS, for years has been making many efforts to educate the communities that live in these areas and, the Nairobi National Park, is one of these areas where the balance between humans and animals is very fragile. Just as it is important to bring school children on safari to talk about conservation, it is equally important to bring women and the elderly, who are the ones who, in turn, will contribute, along with education, to educate young people".
An intelligent and targeted initiative that, through the direct involvement and culture of the environment, creates the awareness that must start from the foundations of our society, also because not always from the top come such flattering signals, as evidenced by the case of the Nairobi-Kampala railway line that cuts the park in two and depresses it not only aesthetically. Go ahead, and it is nice to see Italians often in the forefront for the preservation of the beauty of this country.