The Kenya Wildlife Service in Kajiado is providing fuel for boreholes in several parts of Kajiado to mitigate the effects of the ongoing drought on residents and wildlife.
KWS senior Warden in Kajiado, Vitalis Ochola noted that the exercise is part of their corporate social responsibility and is aimed to create a good rapport between the organization and the residents.
“Most of the areas that we are providing with fuel are those with several cases of human-wildlife conflict. By providing the fuel for the boreholes, the community and the wildlife get to use the water making it a win-win situation,” said Ochola.
Due to the ongoing drought, the residents have not been able to get water from the streams and rivers as they have all dried up. This makes them fully depend on borehole water which is quite expensive given that they use fuel to operate.
Some of the boreholes which KWS provides fuel for include Lesoit, Oloosuyiani, Olokejeleseki, Olomanie, Ololepo, Ngatataek, Enoosampurmpur, Elerai, Karero, and Kisima. KWS also pays the electricity tokens for Oltepesi and Ilooshon boreholes.
To ease human-wildlife conflict, the residents have created alternate routes for the animals to access the boreholes and leave the water storage tanks ajar to enable the animals to drink the water with ease, especially jumbos who are common in the area.
With this initiative, Ochola notes that cases of human-wildlife conflict have reduced in the areas as farms and water pipes are not destroyed by the wildlife.
On how the ongoing drought is affecting wildlife in the county, Ochola notes that a few animals have died, especially the herbivores. “Giraffes particularly are the most affected as the wires used for fencing end up choking them as they try to access the pasture in the fenced off areas,” said Ochola.
William Suyianka, a resident in Ngatataek is grateful to KWS for providing the fuel saying that the water will go a long way in helping them endure the ravaging drought.
“Livestock is our only source of livelihood and we used to sell sheep to buy fuel for the borehole, with the ongoing drought, the animals can’t fetch much at the market. This means our pockets are dry. Getting food for our own consumption now is hard so we thank KWS for at least providing us and our animals with water,” said Suyianka
By Diana Meneto
