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OL PAJETA'S SUCCESS IN PRIVATE CONSERVANCY
When Siva suggested a visit to Ol Pajeta, I thought he was preparing me for a weekend stay in a five star resort. As he was explaining about the place, initially I was a little disappointed and was not sure how the economics worked here.
Sensing the disappointment on my face, Siva assured that I would enjoy the stay there and my travel would be incomplete without seeing the other aspect of Likipia. The private conservancy, where wildlife conservation is done by the ranch owners. Minutes after my arrival at Ol Pajeta, I realised that Siva was right and I would have missed something, if I had not visited the place.
The concpet of private conservancy may be unheard in India, but it is thriving and has worked well in some places of Likipia district. There may be over 30 private ranch owners, who have taken up this initiative and some of them are really working well.
Visiting Ol Pajeta will undo the preconceived notion that wildlife is a boring, scientific study,
with a lot of human-animal conflict. In a ranch, sprawling over 325 sq kms, it has all the big fives -- giraffe, bison, lion, leopard and rhinos. There are cheetahs too. It has a world class tourism facility thus leaving no tourist disappointed. In addition, it has many diversified activities like a Chimpanzee rehabilitation camp, conserving Angola breed of cattle and ranching as well.
When Siva suggested a visit to Ol Pajeta, I thought he was preparing me for a weekend stay in a five star resort. As he was explaining about the place, initially I was a little disappointed and was not sure how the economics worked here.
Sensing the disappointment on my face, Siva assured that I would enjoy the stay there and my travel would be incomplete without seeing the other aspect of Likipia. The private conservancy, where wildlife conservation is done by the ranch owners. Minutes after my arrival at Ol Pajeta, I realised that Siva was right and I would have missed something, if I had not visited the place.
The concpet of private conservancy may be unheard in India, but it is thriving and has worked well in some places of Likipia district. There may be over 30 private ranch owners, who have taken up this initiative and some of them are really working well.
Visiting Ol Pajeta will undo the preconceived notion that wildlife is a boring, scientific study,
with a lot of human-animal conflict. In a ranch, sprawling over 325 sq kms, it has all the big fives -- giraffe, bison, lion, leopard and rhinos. There are cheetahs too. It has a world class tourism facility thus leaving no tourist disappointed. In addition, it has many diversified activities like a Chimpanzee rehabilitation camp, conserving Angola breed of cattle and ranching as well.It is an interesting combination of public-private partnership. According to Ol Pajeta marketing Manager Sandra, animals belong to government and the land belongs to the ranch. They just look after the animals, so that it is not hunted. Ol Pajeta hires and pays the forest rangers.
You literally, live amidst the animals here. The Serena group of hotels has put up tents and at sweat waters, where animals and the tourists are just separated by a trench, which has a small electric fencing. There are two water holes, where animals keep visiting to drink water.
Apart from the day safari rounds, the hotel also offers night safari, which is not extended in the national parks. There is a unique lion tracking programme, where visitors can spend the entire morning with Ol Pajeta predator research team and there is guided bush walks and bird watching across the park. Those who wish can also have camel rides inside the park.
If you can afford, you can also stay at the Ol Pajeta house, a mansion built by Adnan Koshigi, a multi-millionaire Saudi gun dealer. He had formerly owned the ranch for some years. There are seasonal tented camps, which include Ol Pajeta bush camp, Rhino Porini camp and Kicheche camp.
But, tourism is not everything h
ere. In 1993, there was a negotiated agreement between Ol Pajeta, Kenya Wildlife Service and Jane Goodall Institute to set up a chimpanzee sanctuary at sweat waters. Today, there are 43 chimpanzees, which are hosted in two separate enclosures, which is one of the main tourism attractions of the place.
Besides, there are 300 registered boran cows, which is being bred for quality beef production. They live in a separate enclosure, but graze in the wild. The Ol Pajeta is also conserving Angola breed of cow, which is on the verge of extinction. These are originally from Uganda and over 100 cattle are preserved for semen collection from these breed of cattle.
This does not mean that Ol Pajeta is not facing human-animal conflict. The Kenya wildlife service had to shoot down four elephants, which were habitual crop raiders. Recently, when another elephant began raiding crops in the nearby communities, the authorities were alarmed. A radio collar, with mobile phone sim card has been fixed to an elephant named Kimani.
As Kimani starts heading towards nearby farms, the rangers will get a SMS on their mobile phone on the location of the elephant. They will drive the elephant back to the forest. It has been four months since Kimani has raided any farm. The happy news is that the number of Cheetahs and Lions are increasing in Ol Pajeta.
But maintaining a private conservancy is not easy. Sandra, Marketing chief of Ol
Pajeta says that it takes around $4000 to take care of one chimpanzee per year. ``We also have programmes to adopt chimpanzee and raise funds through donations. Many research on animals are being carried out, which cost a lot of money,” she added –
Despite constraints, Ol Pajeta has proved itself to be a success story in private conservancy history of Likipia.
17-12-08
You literally, live amidst the animals here. The Serena group of hotels has put up tents and at sweat waters, where animals and the tourists are just separated by a trench, which has a small electric fencing. There are two water holes, where animals keep visiting to drink water.
Apart from the day safari rounds, the hotel also offers night safari, which is not extended in the national parks. There is a unique lion tracking programme, where visitors can spend the entire morning with Ol Pajeta predator research team and there is guided bush walks and bird watching across the park. Those who wish can also have camel rides inside the park.
If you can afford, you can also stay at the Ol Pajeta house, a mansion built by Adnan Koshigi, a multi-millionaire Saudi gun dealer. He had formerly owned the ranch for some years. There are seasonal tented camps, which include Ol Pajeta bush camp, Rhino Porini camp and Kicheche camp.
But, tourism is not everything h
ere. In 1993, there was a negotiated agreement between Ol Pajeta, Kenya Wildlife Service and Jane Goodall Institute to set up a chimpanzee sanctuary at sweat waters. Today, there are 43 chimpanzees, which are hosted in two separate enclosures, which is one of the main tourism attractions of the place.Besides, there are 300 registered boran cows, which is being bred for quality beef production. They live in a separate enclosure, but graze in the wild. The Ol Pajeta is also conserving Angola breed of cow, which is on the verge of extinction. These are originally from Uganda and over 100 cattle are preserved for semen collection from these breed of cattle.
This does not mean that Ol Pajeta is not facing human-animal conflict. The Kenya wildlife service had to shoot down four elephants, which were habitual crop raiders. Recently, when another elephant began raiding crops in the nearby communities, the authorities were alarmed. A radio collar, with mobile phone sim card has been fixed to an elephant named Kimani.
As Kimani starts heading towards nearby farms, the rangers will get a SMS on their mobile phone on the location of the elephant. They will drive the elephant back to the forest. It has been four months since Kimani has raided any farm. The happy news is that the number of Cheetahs and Lions are increasing in Ol Pajeta.
But maintaining a private conservancy is not easy. Sandra, Marketing chief of Ol
Pajeta says that it takes around $4000 to take care of one chimpanzee per year. ``We also have programmes to adopt chimpanzee and raise funds through donations. Many research on animals are being carried out, which cost a lot of money,” she added –Despite constraints, Ol Pajeta has proved itself to be a success story in private conservancy history of Likipia.
17-12-08
Ol Pajeta
1 comment:
Well done,must be a great experience I think we should meet up to get first hand information
Nayana joins me in congratulating you....
Balaji
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