Kora park to be sanctuary for lions

Wildlife conservationists have embarked on plans to turn the entire Kora National Park into a lion sanctuary to shore up the big cats’ numbers.

The sanctuary is meant to promote the vast park as an exclusive tourist destination in memory of renowned British conservationist George Adamson, who used to rehabilitate orphaned lions in the region.

KWS assistant director in charge of Eastern conservation region Simon Gitau said the lion numbers were declining rapidly, hence the need to revive Adamson’s efforts.

“The lion sanctuary will help restore the declining lion population in the country by creating a pool where other game parks can draw from to restock their numbers,” Mr Gitau said on Saturday at the 25th memorial of George Adamson held at the Kora wild.

The British wildlife conservationist put Kenya on the global conservation map through his pioneering work in rehabilitating orphaned lions in the 1970s.

He and his wife Joy Adamson are best known from her best-selling book Born Free and the film of the same title, which are based on the true story of Elsa, the orphaned lioness cub they had raised in Mwingi and later released into the wild.

The memorial service organised by KWS was aimed at celebrating Adamson’s conservation efforts and to devise ways of getting a new generation of Kenyans to carry on his legacy.

He was shot dead by Shifta bandits on August 20, 1989 at the age of 86 and is buried at a site in the park known as (Kambi ya Simba) in Tseikuru District, Kitui County.

Joy Adamson was killed nine years earlier in January 1980.