Ever since the 3^rd of March was declared the World Wildlife Day, Kenya has joined the rest of the world in commemorating this important aspect of our earth. We were not left behind this year as a weeklong Wildlife Festival was put in place running from the 28^th of February to the 7th of March.  The week was marked with several different events focusing on various species, various regions with the aim of raising conservation awareness and educating the masses while having a good time.

  Kicking it off was the Ndovu Zetu concert on the 28^th. Ndovu zetu is Swahili for ?our elephants? and as it implies, the event was meant to raise awareness on the high rates of elephant and rhino poaching taking place in our country and the East African region as a result of the ivory trade. The event was open to the public and drew a large crowd making it successful in the raising awareness bit.  Proceeds from the event are to be used in funding ongoing and future conservation projects.

  The 1^st and 2^nd of March were marked by a Great Zebra and Giraffe Count at the Nairobi National Park. This was an event where researchers liaised with the public in a procedure dubbed ?Citizen Science?. Members of the public took game drives through the park taking pictures of the zebras and giraffes they saw and the Scientists used pattern identification software to distinguish the different stripes and marks on the different animals. The data was then used to get an average number and find out the stability of both the species.  More information on the process can be found here. They used the opportunity to educate the civilians on the importance of conservation and dangers wildlife face such as the zebra photographed below which the photographer thought had escaped a predator but had in fact been injured in a snare. The wildlife services dispatched a unit to attend to the wounded animal. This date was also marked with a road show through the city to inform the people on the event that would be taking place on the next day.

  On Wildlife day, the Kenyan President, H.E Uhuru Kenyatta made a loud statement to the world on his stand against poaching when he set ablaze 15 tonnes of ivory confiscated from poachers. His actions mirrored those of his predecessors former president Mwai Kibaki who set 5 tonnes on fire in June 2011 and even earlier in July 1989 where then president Daniel Moi set 12 tonnes of ivory on fire. It was a wonderful way to commemorate World Wildlife Day, African Environment Day and Wangari Maathai Day (Nobel Peace Prize Laureate on her conservation efforts).

  The rest of the week was marked with bird walks on the 4^th, outreach programmes to schools by relevant authorities on the 5th, sports events on the 6th and an elephant naming ceremony at Amboseli National park on the 7^th.

  The festival was planned and run by a number of organizations such as Kenya Wildlife Service Nature Kenya and Stand Up Shout Out among others. It was a great success in terms of raising awareness, involving the masses, raising funds and showing our intolerance for destruction of our wildlife. On to the next one?

Photo Credits: Stand up Shout Out

Event Details: Nature Kenya