Five elephants in the Tsavo ecosystem have been observed crossing the standard gauge railway and the Voi-Taveta road.
They are tracked with advanced satellite radio tracking collars fitted on them last month. Save the Elephants, a conservation organisation, yesterday said monitoring animals along the SGR will help conservationists and engineers to understand how their movements are influenced by the project.
“It is an excellent precursor for future planning in wildlife-rich areas, where development is set to take place, such as on the Lamu Port Southern Sudan Ethiopia Transport corridor project in Northern Kenya,” it said in a statement.
Save the Elephants in partnership the Kenya Wildlife Service fitted 10 elephants with the tracking collars between March 15 and 17.
The SGR is being elevated and will be fenced off, cutting the home of the largest single elephant population in Kenya into two. Elephants cross in corridors beneath the tracks.
Wildlife movements will thus be entirely dependent on the SGR crossing structures put in place. The lobby said the movement will in the short term help in the design of the planned fence along the railway, enhancing elephants’ access to vital resources such as water, food and mates.
“The results from the long-term monitoring will also be used to inform the Kenya National Highways Authority of appropriate areas to build overpasses for wildlife on the Nairobi-Mombasa and the Voi-Taveta highways,” it said. “We will also be able to gauge how effective and sustainable the crossing structures along the standard gauge railway are and endeavour to protect them.”
Collaring was conducted mainly through aerial teams, with a KWS helicopter leading darting operation.