By Rob Dodson on Oct 13, 2010:
An historic day, marking out the new Mombasa Road Wildlife Corridor. This 2.3km stretch of road will be left open and undeveloped between the Tsavo East National Park boundary in the north and Jojoba, Rukinga and Wangalla Ranches in the south.
Pictured above from left to right…. Laurian Lenjo, Wildlife Works Carbon Community Officer. James Kilonzi, Committee Member of the Marungu Hills Conservancy Association. Samuel Eregai, Wildlife Works Ranger. Eric Sagwe, Wildlife Works Head Ranger. Patrick Kabanya, Maungu Council of Elders representative. Cllr. James Mboga, Marungu Ward. Paschal Mulonzya, Wildlife Works Accounts Manager and Lucien Kisozhi, Wildlife Works Ranger.
Now that the land has been officially demarcated, the Marungu Ward Councillor Mr James Mboga (pictured at the centre of the first photograph) will apply for permission for sign boards to be erected at either side of the corridor, alerting traffic to be vigilant and drive carefully through the corridor. Wildlife Works Carbon will assist with funding the construction of the signboards and the revenue collected through the sale of carbon credits from the land inside the corridor will be distributed through the Marungu Hills Conservancy Association.
In the future it might well be necessary to either bridge or tunnel under the increasingly busy highway to allow the wildlife dispersal flow to continue between the park and the ranches, but for now this important step forward will allow land to be left open as Maungu continues to spread and land is allocated between the park and the ranches.
The southern boundary of the wildlife corridor is marked as trucks and cars speed past on the busy Mombasa-Nairobi highway.
