Saiwa, home of the rare De Brazza’s monkey and Sitatunga

What you need to know:

  • The smallest national park was created in 1974 specifically to protect the habitat and preservation of the Sitatunga.
  • Saiwa is located near Kitale in Trans Nzoia County. It is close to Mt Elgon National Park, which is also worth visiting.
  • The vegetation is a mixture of forest and swamp habitat with tall bushes and reeds along its marshy edge.

Any visitor on an expedition to the North Rift region should consider visiting the Saiwa National Park, home of rare semi-aquatic antelopes only found in East Africa and parts of Central Africa.

The smallest national park, covering 2.9 square kilometres, was created in 1974 specifically to protect the habitat and preservation of the Sitatunga. It is managed by the Kenya Wildlife Service.

Saiwa is located near Kitale in Trans Nzoia County. It is close to Mt Elgon National Park, which is also worth visiting.

The vegetation is a mixture of forest and swamp habitat with tall bushes and reeds along its marshy edge. There are five watch towers overlooking the swamp from which visitors can view the Sitatungas.

The national park is accessible through the Kitale-Kapenguria highway, where one branches off a murram road, just past Kipsaina trading centre or the Kitale-Kachibora road through Maili Saba.

The shy antelopes prefer to come out of their hideouts early in the morning, late in the evenings or after a drizzle to start grazing on the papyrus reeds.

The male Sitatungas are brown and larger than the females, which are reddish-brown. They also have twisted horns and will use them when provoked to fight for dominance.

The Sitatunga stands at 1.5 metres (five feet) and have shaggy, waterproof coats. They are also good swimmers and hide under the water, with just the tip of their noses protruding, whenever they sense danger.

“We have developed a comprehensive tourism infrastructure and protected the park by fencing it, because the Sitatunga is an endangered species, in a bid to attract more tourists,” said Mrs Esther Cherop, the deputy park warden. She said the park had embarked on public awareness after members of the local community started cultivating along the swamp.

ENDANGERED ANTELOPES

The endangered antelopes are also found in King’al Swamp in Nandi County and Lewa Conservancy in Meru.

The area has also become famous after Deputy President William Ruto elected to do his thesis for his doctorate studies at the University of Nairobi’s School of Biological Sciences on the impact of human activities on riparian reserves at Saiwa Swamp. He is expected to graduate in December with a PhD in plant ecology.

The park also hosts animals such as the black-and-white colobus monkey and the rare De Brazza’s monkey, as well as 372 species of birds, including Ross’s turaco and the blue-headed coucal.

Other animals include otters, genet cats, mongooses, bushbucks and grey-crowned cranes, a threatened bird species.

De Brazza’s is an Old World (family of primates) monkey endemic to the wetlands of East and Central Africa. It is one of the most widespread African primates that live in forests. The black-and-white colobus is loosely related to the brown colobus monkeys of the genus Piliocolobus.

Within this tropical wetlands and mosaic riverine forest, sedges and acacia woodlands with fringing dense rushes and grass beds, bird life is abundant.

Water birds include the lesser jacana, grey heron and the African black duck while the forest shelters the Narina trogons, the collared and orange-tufted sunbird, the yellow bishop and Hatlaub’s marsh widow bird. The swamp is mainly fed by rivers Kapenguria and Sinyerere.