On Higher Ground - Memories Of A Bike Ride Through Ladakh

When Will It End?

This last week has been a nightmare for many conservationists and nature lovers in Kenya. Apart from the now common announcements of illegal ivory being intercepted, and elephants being treated from spear attacks, we have had to face the full extent of a failing system.

Mohawk, a lion named for the shape of his mane, was killed. A day later we had the confirmed information that another lion, Lemek, was also killed. Furthermore, there is still no conclusive information on one (or two) other lions that have been suspected to have left the Nairobi National Park which was the home of both Mohawk & Lemek.

I feel a great amount of outrage and sadness over what is happening at the Nairobi National Park. Having lived in Nairobi all my life, I have grown up with this treasured natural space. The park is a haven of peace, tranquillity, and adventure. It is a place where one can simply soak in a tonne of knowledge about animals, and watch them as they gracefully live out their lives. 

But the park, which has been vulnerable to the burgeoning city on all its borders, is now perhaps on its last fight for survival. If we fail to wake up and save this park now, it will be gone forever, and all we will have left is a bitter sweet memory. I know that I am unwilling to be part of the generation that lost the park for the rest of humanity! 

Why would we want to save this park? If the simple reasons of preserving a natural haven, and fostering knowledge and preserving fauna and flora are not enough there are plenty others. 

The National Park is a unique selling point for our country. There is no other such park that can be found in the entire world within a city. Please take a minute to read that again. We often say this with pride, but do not give it enough emphasis. Here is some perspective: The total land area of the earth is approximately 148,940,000 km2 . The Nairobi National park is approximately 117 square kilometres. As Kenyans, we have saved that tiny little piece of land to preserve our natural habitat. And this tiny little piece of land attracts people from across the globe because of its dynamics. 

The National Park is also the site of a prolific historic event – the burning of ivory. July 19th, 1989, Kenya burned 12000 kilograms of stock pile ivory, at the park, to ensure that it could never be sold, and to ensure that the demand for ivory would not grow. True, we are still grappling with poaching, but the National Park is symbolic and plays a significant role in declaring Kenya as a country that values its wildlife. For years, Kenya has been a household name in the realm of positive and successful conservation. Sadly, we are quickly losing that reputation. Too many historic and conservation areas are being compromised in the name of development (that is just a cover for impunity) 

Tourism contributes a significant amount to Kenya’s GDP. Let me iterate: A pretty large portion of our National GDP comes from visits to our National parks and reserves, beaches, mountains and historic sites. The Nairobi National Park has and continues to be one of the most popular tourist attractions in the country. That is a bottom line: If they go, so does a significant amount of the country’s income. Many would argue that with development and greater business opportunities, any deficit can be balanced. I am not an economist, but I do have enough common sense to realise that this is a ludicrous argument. Currently, Kenya is losing out to neighbouring countries, not only in the tourism industry but in other businesses as well. Again, impunity, security concerns, and the difficulty in doing setting up business in Kenya have contributed to the same. To me the risk of visiting a place, time and time again, and enjoying what it has to offer, is smaller than the risk of establishing a big business that could collapse. Do I believe that we can still have investment in the country? Yes, I do. I believe in Kenya, and I believe Nairobi is one of the grandest cities in the world. However, do I think it is enough to ignore the money brought in by tourism? Hell, no. And why should we want that to be the case, anyway? It is our service industry and great tourist attractions that makes us such a special country, and a special people!

As humans we have a responsibility to live in harmony with the world around us. But we seem to be under the impression that we need to be the only species left on the planet. We are also ignoring the fact that it is very unlikely that we will survive a world with no natural resources and no other participants in the food cycle. We are going to be the first species that is destroying itself. We need to change this, and change it fast. 

The Nairobi National Park is the perfect place to start. It is the perfect embodiment of coexistence. We must save this park at all costs. If we don’t we are saying that we do not value life. 

In the last decade the threat to the park has increased many folds. In 2012, a growing number of human-wildlife conflict led to 6 lions from the park being killed. As a regular visitor to the park the consequences of this killing was apparent: lion sightings reduced, people visiting the park often left disappointed, and for many months Nairobi National Park had dipped into a not very exciting zone. 

But then, the park and the animals in it recovered. More and more people were getting familiar with the park animals, particularly the lions. They had names and identities. Slowly they became friends. If you visited the park, the possibility that you could identify some of the lions was exciting and personal. With the growing availability of social media, the lives of these beautiful cats become a part of our day to day living. I was more likely to know what Mohawk was doing on a particular day than knowing what some of my human friends were doing. As my understanding of the lions grew, I also came to have a deep respect for these lions and their ability to survive: The bypass was being constructed and was taking over much of their park; migratory paths were blocked off, restricting movement and prey. But these cats survived, matured, and had brilliant stories to share. 

Human wildlife conflict is unfair on wildlife. We always approach the situation with the human aspect taking priority. If someone’s cattle are attacked, we compensate the owner. But, if a lion is killed, why don’t we compensate by giving them more space? If a human is attacked by an animal, there is an immediate concern and care for the human – again there are compensations, bills, empathy. If an animal is killed by man, there is sadness for a few and nothing more. The odds are against the animal. What gives us the right to decide that a human life has priority over a wild animal’s? What makes this divide even worse is the fact that a lion (or other wild animal) really doesn’t attack out of spite or a need to kill. It is simply being itself – and either defending itself from danger or doing what it instinctively knows. With a few exceptions wild animals only attack when threatened or extremely hungry. If we assume that as humans we kill these animals to safeguard ourselves, we are essentially saying we are incapable of superior thought and action – We should then be savages, and not tearing after development because we are incapable of anything but instinct. 

Sadly though, it is rarely the case that a wild animal is killed by man as an instinctive action. It is as deliberate as murder. It is a selfish, self-glorifying, and short sighted act that will cost us dearly. We have people who hunt animals in the name of conservation, but in reality this is a thrill seeking hobby. In other cases we have people who hunt animals and kill them because they think it displays bravery. Then, there are those who do it because they are protecting their own. How mistaken are each of these acts?

There are approximately 20,000 lions left on the planet. In 2013, at least 600 legal lion trophies originated in Africa. Add the number of illegal and uncounted lion deaths, and we could easily be talking of 1000 dead lions in a year. What does this mean? This means, that should the trend continue, we could be in a world without lions in 20 years or so. I might be overstating the case here, but with the way the human race is annihilating the world’s resources, it really isn’t shocking! 

For someone like me – a lion-free world is one that I don’t want to live in. And with the above statistics in my mind it is imperative that the pattern changes – every lion counts! And that is one of the main reasons that I am horrified and absolutely disgusted that we have lost two lions in a span of 48 hours! 

Let us start with the murder of Mohawk. Yes, it was murder – cold blooded murder. KWS botched this one up big time. To be honest, I have always been proud of KWS and have applauded many of their conservation efforts. Sometimes, I have overlooked the times when they have had to make compromises – for the greater good, or so I believed! I still applaud them for their efforts.

However, I think KWS has failed themselves, Kenyans, the world at large, and me, where the Nairobi National Park and particularly Mohawk is concerned. 

They failed themselves because when they shot Mohawk they failed to live up to their mandate. Their primary concern should have been Mohawk. End of story. They should have done everything possible to ensure that he was secured and the explanations from KWS on their decisive act to shoot Mohawk are becoming more ridiculous, minute by minute.

They failed Kenyans because they did not protect our interests. There was nothing to suggest that Mohawk would have gone a killing spree. Even if he had, it would have been as a result of a mess up that the people and KWS created – by crowding and hounding him. They failed Kenyans even more by not accepting the fact that they made a mistake! That for me was as low as they could go. 

They failed the world at large when they were unable to stand up for the National Park and demand in no uncertain terms that its area is unobstructed by any kind of development or intrusion. They failed the world by not addressing the situation of insecure fences, and lion escapes. They have failed the world over the last few years, over and over, by allowing impunity to take precedence over the safety of the park and all its creatures.

And they failed me, and other nature and animal lovers like me, when they shot Mohawk over and over again, because they killed a friend! They failed us because as residents and citizens of this country, they did not do their duty by me. I am unwilling to listen to excuses of lack of funding, or uncontrolled situations. This is not the first time a lion has strayed from a park, and this will not be the last… I can say confidently that this should have been handled better – we have seen it being done better. There was no excuse for this disgusting conclusion. I demand compensation on behalf of the lions that cannot speak! I call for immediate action and restoration of the park boundaries! This should be the priority on every single person’s mind! It is time we move beyond our narrow selfish wants – and really work for the greater good! 

The nightmare of course didn’t end with the murder of Mohawk. Again, witless humans decided that they would kill more lions. We lost Lemek – a two and a half year old male. If this was a two and a half year old human who was killed simply for revenge, the world would be up in arms! Did KWS fail again, by not heeding warnings? Did KWS fail again by not managing the situation? Yes, they did. But so have the people who killed that lion.

We claim to be progressing, and yet our greed and short sightedness blinds us so much we cannot save the bounty of our land! It disheartens me and I am often close to giving up the fight. But then I look into a lions eye, and I know I will never stop wanting to preserve a life for them!