This archive report was first published on 28 December 2019.
Published on December 28, 2019, the Kenya Wildlife Service (KWS) has announced that the Koroga Festival Love Edition will proceed as planned at Hell's Gate National Park in Naivasha on February 14-15, 2020.
Environmentalists and conservation activists, led by WildlifeDirect CEO Paula Kahumbu, have expressed concerns that the event, co-organized by Capital FM and Naivasha Love Festival, may disrupt the park's core conservation efforts and affect the habitat of wild animals, particularly birds.
“Let us speak out against the KWS hosting Koroga Festival inside the national park. Hell’s Gate is an important bird area, the Koroga Festival will seriously disturb one of the largest and most important vulture colonies in Africa. Vultures are already in extreme crisis due to poisoning and habitat disturbance. If this festival goes through we will start on a slippery slope of the DisneyPark. KWS as the custodians of the parks are responsible for managing them for biodiversity protection. Anything that threatens the core mandate should be rejected,” Kahumbu stated in a Facebook post.
However, KWS has allayed the fears of the activists, stating that the park has designated sites for hosting events where security and disturbance to the conservancy are minimized.
“The park has sites designated for hosting events where insecurity and disturbance of wildlife is minimised. We also have clear regulations for the event organisers including timing, noise levels and clean up after events. As guardians of Kenya’s national parks, we reassure the public of our utmost commitment to maintaining the ecological integrity of these conversations and recreation facilities,” read part of KWS statement.
Capital FM, the organizers of Koroga, have also confirmed that they will abide by KWS guidelines to ensure the conservancy is not put in danger.
