• Tourism and Wildlife CS Peninah Malonza said a baby elephant will be named at a cost of Sh100,000 and a tusker Sh500,000.
• It is not clear how much the event aims to raise.
Image: HANDOUT
Elephants in the Amboseli ecosystem will on Friday be named in an effort to champion their conservation.
The drive will be undertaken during Magical Kenya Tembo Naming Festival, a programme geared towards conserving jumbos in the country.
The naming will coincide with the commemoration of World Wildlife Day. World Wildlife Day gives an opportunity for the world to reflect on everyone’s responsibility to protect the magnificent diversity of life on the planet.
Tourism and Wildlife CS Peninah Malonza, who will preside over the event, said a baby elephant will be named at a cost of Sh100,000 and a tusker Sh500,000. It is not clear how much the event aims to raise.
The CS said elders from the Maasai community will lead the naming exercise.
“We will have the naming of baby elephants, tuskers, and even family. The money will go towards conservation, getting things like water pans and boreholes done in the national parks,” Malonza said.
She said the move is aimed at creating awareness of the co-existence of humans and wildlife.
Malonza said some wildlife dispersal areas and corridors have been blocked, hurting wildlife.
In 2021, Sh16.5 million was mobilised during a similar naming exercise.
The naming targeted to raise Sh100 million within the financial year 2021-2022.
Corporates and individuals were allowed to adopt and name select elephants after donating funds towards the initiative.
The elephants that were named included baby elephants (2020-2021), the big tuskers and twins.
The population of African Savannah elephants has plummeted by at least 60 per cent over the past 50 years, resulting in their classification as "endangered" in the latest update of the IUCN's "danger list".
The Amboseli ecosystem is home to about 1,800 elephants with the highest population found in the Tsavo national parks of 14,000.
In recent years, elephant poaching has reduced significantly, leading to a surge in elephant populations in Kenya.
Kenya's first national wildlife census in 2021 indicated the country was home to 36,280 elephants, representing a 21 per cent growth from 2014 when poaching was at its peak.
This year's naming of jumbos and planting of trees come at a time when drought is ravaging various parts of the country.
The government has embarked on implementing Sh98 million in interventions aimed at salvaging the iconic species from the ongoing drought.
The CS further said during the elephant naming event, trees will be planted to increase forest cover.
She said trees will be planted near Ol Tukai Lodge and rangers from KWS and lodge management will take care of them.
The state is seeking to enhance the country’s tree cover to 30 per cent by 2032, an initiative that requires Sh600 billion.
The 15 billion national tree-growing and restoration campaign was launched in December 2022.
The aim is to restore 10.6 million hectares of the degraded landscape for improved biodiversity and climate change mitigation and adaptation.
Malonza said her ministry seeks to plant one million trees in the next one year.