Dickson Ritan who is the senior park warden said that they will be transferring six hundred buffaloes from Lake Nakuru National Park to Tsavo East and West national parks next month and so far the assessment and other logistics have been completed.
Ritan said that the park can accommodate between 700 and 1,000 buffaloes but now the number has highly increased to more than 4,500 in the last two years and this increase of buffaloes as well as other grazers in the park has greatly interfered with the ecosystem. But once they are relocated, there will be enough space in the park for those that will remain.
This comes at a time when the park is under threat from some weeds like the Sodom apple, Lantana Camara and Maritas Thorn which have reduced the grazing fields significantly so all those animals can get enough grass. And also the frequent flooding has also reduced grazing land, he added.
He said the spread of the weeds has interfered with the growth of plants that most animals feed on and animals especially the grazers have been pushed to the interior of the park. Animals like buffaloes have moved from their original grazing land due to floods though management has been able to find measures of eliminating the weed though it is such a slow method which having men uproot it. Kenya Wildlife Service cannot allow chemical methods due to their adverse effects.
