OL PEJETA WINS ANOTHER GLOBAL AWARD
Information received during the week is all good news about Ol Pejeta, the combined conservancy and cattle ranch on the Laikipia plains outside Nanyuki. The Global Federation of Animal Sanctuaries handed Ol Pejeta a ‘Standards of Excellence Award’ during a recent meeting in the UK, recognizing the Sweetwaters’ Chimpanzee Sanctuary, located on the sprawling estate, for its achievements in providing a secure habitat for the chimps which of course were relocated there as none have their original ‘home’ in Kenya.
Veterinary health care in particular caught the attention of the judges, and Ol Pejeta’s senior supervisor for the Sweetwaters Chimpanzee Sanctuary Dr. George Paul in fact had come to Uganda a while ago to study the health care efforts by vets on Ngamba Island, Uganda’s own chimpanzee refuge and sanctuary in Lake Victora not too far off the Entebbe shores.
Ol Pejeta has established itself as a major force in Kenyan conservation circles, alongside such other illustrious names as Lewa Downs, and the December 2009 relocation of a small breeding stock of the rare Northern White Rhinos to Ol Pejeta catapulted the conservancy into the global spotlight. Over 100 Eastern Black, Southern White and the four Northern White Rhinos share the 80.000+ acres estate with elephant, buffalo, zebras – including the very rare hybrid cross breeds only found in this part of the country – giraffes, plenty of different species of plains game but also predators like cheetah, leopard and lions, coexisting with the cattle herds as a result of extraordinary measures taken by Ol Pejeta to protect livestock overnight and keep them mostly in areas of the estate where they do not ordinarily ‘clash’ with the big cats.
Ol Pejeta offers ‘regular’ accommodation vis a vis Serena’s Sweetwaters Safari Camp, the former ‘Kashoggi House’ but also at a more remote part of the conservancy the Porini Rhino Camp and two other very small private tented camps. Self catering accommodation is available on the estate with prior bookings and those can be done via www.olpejetaconservancy.org.
Entrance fees are now applicable for visitors but as Ol Pejeta offers all of the Big Five in a very concentrated area and has a well maintained track network, besides which walking safaris are possible from for instance the Porini Rhino Camp, it has become an absolutely ‘must visit’ location for visitors to the wider Mt. Kenya and Aberdare Mountains area.
‘Magical Kenya’ – manifested here at its best.
