Soysambu Conservancy
The Soysambu Conservancy was created in 2007 as an entity to conserve the flora, fauna and scenery of Soysambu Ranch, which is to the northwest of Gilgil, Rift Valley Province, Kenya. The Conservancy has taken a conservation lease over the ranch, which would be the portal to the proposed Nakuru-Naivasha wildlife corridor. The Conservancy is 48,000 acres (190 km2) and borders the Elmenteita Badlands in the south in the area around Mawe Mbili. On the west it shares a boundary of 12.1 km with Lake Nakuru National Park.
Soysambu Ranch has been farmed by Lord Delamere's family since it was founded in 1906. The current operations include a large beef herd, a hay baling operation and an agri-forestry enterprise among others. The owners had always cherished wildlife but had found the cost of securing it exorbitant. This partnership will enshrine public access, best management practices and provide a new business model for everyone in the area to benefit from. This is not so much of a lease as a complete paradigm shift for a previously privately operated agricultural enterprise.
Winston Churchill picnicked by the lake in 1908 after some pig sticking, Evelyn Waugh stayed for a spot of "corridor creeping" in the 1930s.Jomo Kenyatta came for a small picnic (only 300 dancers) in 1978 (shortly before his death), and Prince Amyn Aga Khan came for lunch in 2001. Part of Tomb Raider 3 was filmed on the northern lakeshore and Simon Combes grew up there and returned later to live there.
The conservancy covers the northern, western and part of the southern shores of Lake Elmenteita. This lake is the last breeding place in Kenya for pelicans, which nest on some rocky islands in the lake.
The pelicans feed in Lake Nakuru, 10 km to the west, and then feed their young with fish they have carried across in their beaks. They generally prey on Tilapia grahamii. Some have escaped into the waters of Lake Elmenteita, where they breed in the Kekopey hot springs.
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