Environmentalists are unhappy over Kenya Wildlife Service plans for Nairobi National Park (see P23).
The KWS Draft Management Plan 2020-2030 has proposed a "facelift" to the park “to improve its attractiveness”.
Some elements such as controlled burning and a predator-proof fence may be controversial but have a certain environmental logic.
But the Plan also proposes the creation of a high-end hotel inside the Nairobi Park and that definitely is a bad idea.
Over the last 10 years, the KWS has facilitated the steady encroachment of the Nairobi Park through the SGR viaduct, the Southern Bypass and the access road to the Inland Container Terminal.
These projects were forced through because of the overriding national interest.
But there is no such imperative for a new five-star lodge inside the park. There are already plenty of good hotels close to the park.
The only logic is to generate revenue for KWS but that will not happen because it is a parastatal with all a parastatal's problems.
Nature does not need a "facelift" from this hotel. Whatever KWS does, it should not build a new hotel in Nairobi Park.
Quote of the day: "God has cared for these trees, saved them from drought, disease, avalanches, and a thousand tempests and floods. But he cannot save them from fools."
John Muir
The American environmentalist was born on April 21, 1838
