Kenya National Parks & Game Reserves

About 8% of the Kenya’s land mass is protected area for wildlife
conservation. Protected areas are gazetted landscapes/seascapes that
have been surveyed, demarcated and gazetted either as National Parks
and/or National Reserves. In Kenya, Protected areas embrace various
types of ecosystems namely: forests, wetlands, savannah, marine, arid
and semi-arid. The protected areas comprise of 23 terrestrial National
Parks, 28 terrestrial National Reserves, 4 marine National Parks, 6
marine National Reserves and 4 national sanctuaries. In addition KWS
manages over a hundred field stations/ outposts outside the protected
areas.<br />As noted above protected areas in Kenya are categorized either as
parks or reserves. The distinction between the two categories is: in
parks there is complete protection of natural resources and the only
activities allowed are tourism and research. On the other hand in
reserves, human activities are allowed under specific conditions. These
activities are for instance fishing in marine reserves or firewood
collection in terrestrial reserves.  It is worth mentioning that a lot
of Kenya’s wildlife lives outside Protected Areas, this is because most
of the protected areas are not fully fenced, and hence wildlife moves in
and out of these areas in search of pasture and water during certain
periods within the year. When they move out of the protected areas, they
interact with people on private and community land causing human
wildlife conflict. This therefore requires that KWS embraces a strategic
partnership with communities living in wildlife areas.