Nairobi's famed National Park threatened by railway

Nairobi National Park, a vast wildlife reserve where lions, hyenas and giraffes roam at will against a backdrop of skyscrapers, is in danger of losing out to the expanding city.

A young lion looks towards the Nairobi city skyline from the national park. Animal lovers fear a proposed elevated railway will endanger the animals on the reserve. Tony Karumba / AFP

NAIROBI // It is a scene that has long delighted visitors to Nairobi, the only capital in the world with a wildlife reserve in its back yard. A unique urban conservation site, the Nairobi National Park is a vast wildlife reserve where lions, hyenas and giraffes roam at will against a backdrop of skyscrapers, just seven kilometres from the heart of town.

But now landscape is in danger of losing out to cityscape. Nairobi, one of Africa’s fastest growing and economically advanced cities, is planning to build a Chinese-funded railway line across east Africa’s oldest national park.

Urban projects have steadily nibbled away the edges of the 120-square-kilometre reserve, with new roads laid, power lines strung across its south-east corner, a pipeline dug underground and clouds of dust blowing in from nearby cement plants.

Worse still, recent housing estates obstruct a key wildlife migration route on the park’s southern flank leading to Kenya’s other famed nature reserves, such as the Maasai Mara.

“In the 70s and 80s about 30,000 wildebeest came to the park every year. Nowadays, only about 300 come back regularly,” said Sidney Kamanzi, who heads the Friends of Nairobi National Park group.

The latest threat to the park is part of a gigantic rail project — currently at the heart of a legal battle — which critics claim could do untold harm to the citywide sanctuary that is also home to zebras, crocodiles, hippos, rhinos, antelopes, buffaloes and hundreds of bird species.

Under the scheme, an elevated rail line will run across six kilometres of the park perched on pillars between eight and 40 metres (24 to 120 feet) tall.

“Chunks of the park have been taken away little by little, but there has never been anything like what they propose now. The consequences will be disastrous,” said Mr Kamanzi.

Kenya, which sees itself as the economic heartbeat of East Africa, decided in 2013 to upgrade its national railway network to link traffic from the region’s leading port, Mombasa, to Nairobi, and then on to regional neighbours Uganda, Rwanda and South Sudan.

A 483-kilometre first section from Mombasa to a terminal east of the Nairobi National Park is to be completed in late 2017. The line is said to be Kenya’s largest infrastructure project since independence. But it is the second stage section linking Nairobi to Naivasha in the Rift valley, around 100 kilometres north-west of the capital, that is seen as most problematic to the park and the 150,000 visitors it welcomes every year..

To avoid the high cost of buying land near the reserve, the authorities decided on one of seven possible options — to cut through the sanctuary despite loud objections by some environmental groups.

Initially opposed to the idea, the state-run Kenya Wildlife Service has finally come out in favour, with KWS chairman, world-renowned anthropologist Richard Leakey, saying the costs of skirting the park would have been far too high.

“My personal choice was that the park and the railway should be separate. However, the cost of going around and the implications to our economy and the taxpayer made no sense and we are trying to do the right thing for Kenya,” said Mr Leakey.

Kenya Railways hopes to begin work on the elevated track in January. It would last 18 months and be organised in three stages to avoid having to completely cut off half of the park during construction.

The rail authorities have promised to camouflage pillars, reduce noise pollution and maintain and freedom of movement for the animals.

But angry sceptics have taken the case to the country’s environmental court on the grounds that there was no effect study. The court has ordered the suspension of the stage two works pending a decision.

“The park is small and therefore fragile,” said Paula Kahumbu, who heads Wildlife Direct, a non-profit group. “We don’t want this affair to turn into an issue pitting economic development against conservation, because the two can coexist.”

But other activists are worried the railway could spell the end of the iconic site.

“If the railway (line) is authorised, it could create a precedent that could mean the death of the park,” said Sidney Quntai, who heads the Kenyan Coalition for the Conservation and Management of Fauna.

“Today it’s a bridge (elevated track), but what will it be tomorrow?”

* Agence France-Presse