KENYA’S
HIGH SPEED
RAIL LINE
Critics call it the “Wall,” a 133 km earthen rampart that will carry high speed trains and cut through the Tsavo Conservation Area. Wildlife corridors are supposed to give elephants and other wildlife a passageway through the concrete gauntlet. But migrating animals will also have to pass through a maze of pipelines and construction debris along the ever-expanding Mombasa highway. In a continent with half of the world’s projected population growth, it’s Kenya’s first big scuffle for land between wildlife and infrastructure development.
“Kenya’s new high-speed rail line will disrupt the migration routes of the 11,000 elephants”
To see how Tsavo’s 11,000 elephants will react to the new barrier, ten tuskers were darted and collared by Kenya’s Wildlife Service and Save the Elephants. The data will give scientists a real-time map of how elephants handle the disruption of ancient migration routes on their passageway to the future.
Zebras are now lost in a junkyard that was once their pristine backyard.
Watch this NTV feature to see if Kenya’s new high-speed railway will disrupt the country’s biggest elephant herd.
Website by Appropriate. Photos by Andrew Tkach.
