Kenya Wildlife Service director William Kiprono said that records do indicate that there s an increase in the number of elephants from 34,000 as they were two years ago up to 35, 720, in spite of the fact that there is still the problem of poaching in the different parts of Kenya. According to him, the measures put in place to stop poaching are bearing fruit.
Unfortunately, the number of tourists visiting parks has dropped by half due to fears of insecurity and this something that will greatly affect the revenue, so he said while in Eldoret.
He said there a re parks that received more than 60,000 visitors last year but this year have not been able to attain half that number. But the good news is that there is an increase in domestic tourism, locals visiting the parks are increasing.
Besides the cases of insecurity at the Coast that caused panic among tourists, the problem of Ebola virus in West Africa has had negative impacts on Kenya’s tourism because some visitors do not know the differences in distance between the two parts of the continent. So despite the increase in the Jumbos, the business is still being challenged.
He said Kenya’s wildlife sector remains one of the most unique in the world and KWS will work with communities and counties to support the sector.
