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Kenya: Nakuru Park Catches Fire
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The Nation (Nairobi)
23 February 2008
Posted to the web 25 February 2008
Noah Cheploen
Nairobi
Lake Nakuru National Park was on verge of total destruction Friday as a wild fire, which broke out on Thursday, continued unabated for the second day.
Kenya Wildlife Service employee uses twigs to put out a fire at Nakuru National Park yesterday. The fire, which started on Thursday at the Delamere ranch, spread to the park yesterday. Photo/JOSEPH KIHERI
A cloud of smoke billowed over the park as the raging fire threatened to consume the entire park.
The fire started at the adjacent Lord Delamere's Soysambu Ranch in Elmentaita where it destroyed more than 3,000 acres of pasture before spreading to the park.
Act of arson
Led by Mr Charles Muthui, the park's senior warden, rangers made frantic efforts to to contain the inferno and avert further damage to the wildlife sanctuary.
The cause of the fire is yet to be established but unconfirmed reports say that it may have been an act of arson.
Mr Muthui said the fire, which was being fanned by strong winds in the area, started at around 2 pm and eight hours later, Kenya Wildlife Society rangers and the ranch workers were still battling to put it out after it had spread to the park where it consumed large swathes of the dry bush-land.
The park, which is ringed by a solar powered electric fence, has a huge population of herbivores that is likely to be adversely affected by the loss of pastures.
It is home to such bulk eaters like buffalo whose population stands at about 3,000.
The Delamere Estate's security manager, Mr Jeff Mitto said that the fire had started at a section of the ranch known as Congreve.
The fire destroyed hundreds of pasture and standing hay worth millions of shillings at the ranch.
Soysambu Ranch has a population of more than 10,000 wild animals and about 6,000 high quality Boran beef cattle.
Mr Mitto told the Nation that the ranch has been struggling with frequent outbreaks of fire and regretted that it would hurt, "our economic activities very much". We have these fire outbreaks here almost on a daily basis," he said.
Mr Muthui last month appealed to people living in the neighbourhood of the Lake Nakuru National Park to avoid starting unneccesary fires.
Nakuru has been sitting on a time bomb since its only fire engine was burnt down by rioters when post-election violence hit the town a few weeks ago.
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The fire engine is yet to be replaced.
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