News from Kenya reveal that Kenya Wildlife Service , operating under the mutual agreement they have with the Republic of South Sudan has seen 39 wildlife officials graduate to senior wildlife officers after undertaking their initial course from the KWS Wildlife Training College in Manyani, Tsavo West. The KWS chief executive Dr. Julius Kipngetich was also present during their graduation and he encouraged regional teamwork to be able to protect those very important wildlife resources for the development and expansion of the tourism industry and preservation of biodiversity.
He added that it is in records that Kenya is very good at preserving wildlife that is why Kenya will do all it take to have Southern Sudan also tries to copy and follow Kenya’s example so that they can attract tourist too who may find it very easy to fly from Southern Sudan to Kenya for wildlife tours and hence expanding the Kenya tourism industry in the long run. Hopefully the 39 officials trained will put into practice what they have been trained in like the anti-poaching and wildlife security operations so that they can help improve on wildlife conservation and the entire tourism industry in the country, Julius added.
Deng, a representative e from the South Sudan Embassy appreciated the Kenyan government for all the help that they provide to South Sudan and mentioned that this kind of training they are providing is some way of improving the human resource skills as well as skills transfer so that there can always be some one to handle a particular section even when the current officials are out of office. This will be very instrument in the development of south Sudan’s tourism sector and be able to grow like East Africa’s. Deng also said that it was unfortunate that there has been 21 years of political instability in southern Sudan something that greatly destroyed the wildlife conservation sector as majority of the parks were neglected and they got destroyed and yet some these park had high population of particular animals for example the Boma National Park and the Sudd Wetland and Southern National Park near Congo have the highest populations of Kobs and Topis, buffalos, elephants to mention but a few although they have also reduced in years.
He then advised the graduates to train their fellow officers who have not had the opportunity to go through the academy. There are about 126 wildlife officers who have received the training both at the KWS Institute, Naivasha as well as the Law Enforcement Academy in Tsavo West National Park. They released their very first group 60 officers in 2009 and the Wildlife Conservation and Management field is among the identified areas of cooperation between South Sudan and Kenya and the two countries hope for the best results.
Gorilla tracking news