NNP #1: Ivory Burning Site
The cache, a small green-topped tube, is hidden at this important historical site in the Nairobi National Park, just south of the city.
Note: as the cache has been muggled twice in different locations, please take extra care not to be observed when retrieving and replacing the cache - this may be a challenge as this is a well-visited popular location . . . some patience may be therefore be required to wait a little for a suitable quiet period to complete your activities!
Enter the Park via the Main Entrance off Langata Road at S 01 20.048 E 036 46.774 (entrance fees for adults/children are KES 500/300 for citizens, KES 1,200/600 for Kenya residents and USD 50/25 for visitors). Parks maps are available if required.
Nairobi National Park is a unique ecosystem by being the only protected area in the world close to a capital city. The park is located only 7 km from Nairobi city centre. The savannah ecosystem is comprised of different vegetation types. Open grass plains with scattered acacia bush are predominant. The western side has a highland dry forest and a permanent river with a riverine forest. To the south are the Athi-Kapiti Plains and Kitengela migration corridor which are important wildlife dispersal areas during the rain season. Man-made dams within the park have added a further habitat, favourable to certain species of birds and other aquatic biome.
Major wildlife attractions are the Black rhino, lion, leopard, cheetah, hyena, buffaloes, Giraffe, zebra, wildebeest, elands and diverse birdlife with over 400 species recorded. Other attractions include the Ivory burning site Monument, Nairobi Safari Walk, the Orphanage, various viewpoints and picnic sites and the walking trails along the river at the hippo pools.
Ivory burning site
On 18 July 1989, the former President of Kenya Daniel Arap Moi set fire to a 6m high pile of 2,000 elephant tusks weighing 12 tons and worth $3 million worth of ivory - the entire stockpile from 4 years confiscations from poachers in a highly publicised event to demonstrate commitment to save the African Elephant from mass slaughter and extinction due to the lucrative ivory trade. He said ‘. . . to stop the poacher, the trader must also be stopped and to stop the trader the final buyer must be convinced not to buy ivory’.
The site has commemorative plaques and a small sculpture to record this event.
Before the twentieth century, elephants were not pursued as they are today. Although there was interest in the ivory trade, it was not until the growing European and international markets in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries that elephants were sought after. In the past there was a great scholarly and cultural interest in acquiring ivory.
However, with this growing interest also came the decimation of the vibrant elephant population. In order to protect the elephant, national parks and reserves have been established to reduce the threat from hunters and poachers. The African Elephant Conservation Act of 1989 was also enforced to ensure the conservation and protection of the African elephant. Government-condoned public burning of ivory in Kenya has become a symbolic display that the ivory market will not be condoned.
Kenya has conducted two such burns of government-held ivory. The first one was in 1989 by retired President Daniel arap Moi of its own ivory and again in 2011 by President Mwai Kibaki under the auspices of the Lusaka Task Force Agreement (LATF).