Projects & Activities

FoNNaP carries out a wide range of activities geared at assessing and protecting the biodiversity of  Nairobi National Park and its surrounding ecosystems.

We are a key link between the park’s protection — it’s living natural heritage — and the public.

Involving and informing members and the public on the park’s essential role in Nairobi’s future, as a global metropolis and economic powerhouse, are indispensable aspects of our activities. Our projects cover the following main conservation pillars:

Industrial factory emitting white smoke into the sky, surrounded by green fields and trees.

Save Nairobi National Park Campaign

The SaveNNP Campaign is a volunteer-led campaign spearheaded by FoNNaP that seeks to ensure that Nairobi National Park is protected and remains to serve its original purpose as a biodiversity conservation asset. The campaign was started at a time when different government projects were either planned or implemented inside Nairobi National Park.
Through the support of a consortium of partners, the campaign continues to remain committed to its course and is engaging different strategies with the Kenya Wildlife Service, the communities living south of the park, and other stakeholders, to better conserve Nairobi National Park and its larger ecosystem.

Past Engagements

  1. The Southern Bypass
    Members of FoNNaP instituted legal action against relevant authorities against the construction of the Southern Bypass through Nairobi National Park.

  2. Campaigns against the SGR Across NNP
    The SaveNNP Campaign led the Reroute the SGR Campaigns, which advocated for the realignment of the Standard Gauge railway away from Nairobi National Park. It planned and executed a series of peaceful protests and legal actions against the SGR passing through Nairobi National Park. Despite the railway having been built through the park, our actions helped elevate the railway throughout the park allowing wildlife and visitors to pass unimpeded beneath the tracks..

Current Engagements
The SaveNNP Campaign is currently working closely with different partners and the Kenya Wildlife Service to align the proposed Nairobi National Park Management Plan towards measures that protect biodiversity both inside and outside the Park while encouraging sustainable tourism.

The campaign regularly takes action against ongoing threats to the park, such as monitoring and reporting incidents of pollution.

A lioness walking on a dirt path in a zoo or park setting with trees, bushes, and a brick enclosure in the background.


Human Wildlife Conflict Mitigation Programme

FoNNaP has, for a long time, been supporting the installation of LED predator deterrent systems, often called Lion Lights, in the Athi-Kapiti wildlife dispersal area. The installation of these lights serves to reduce night-time predator attacks on livestock during the night, therefore reducing human-wildlife conflict in the dispersed areas of Nairobi National Park. The flashing lights are installed around livestock enclosures, where they give false alarms of human activity, thereby deterring predators.
One set of Lion Lights costs Ksh. 30,000.

If you would like to support this project, visit our donate button and choose Light Lights project on the option menu.

Member Activities

Since its inception in 1995, Friends of Nairobi National Park has been implementing citizen science game counts, tree plantings and park clean-up activities in partnership with the Kenya Wildlife Service. Game counts occur once every two months by our members, who are paired and each given a block within the park to record wildlife numbers during the exercise.

Game counts inform researchers on wildlife trends at both Kenya Wildlife Service and FoNNaP. The clean-up activity ensures the park is free of plastics and any other solid waste that might affect the biological diversity inside the park.

Please review Nairobi National Park wildlife trends over the years as determined by the game-count data. (Link accessed only with a membership number)

To participate in any of the above activities, one needs to be a member of FoNNaP. Please visit the membership page. and join FoNNaP. Thank You.

Close-up of a person's hand planting a young green plant in dark soil.
A man in a green shirt and hat speaking to a group of people outdoors on a sunny day, with flags and a truck in the background.

Education:

Bringing students into NNP from around Nairobi and surrounding communities serves to instill in future generations both an environmental awareness and a stewardship of Kenya’s natural heritage. Our children are the future of the survival of Kenya’s wild parks and reserves.

We have taken students from schools in local communities, informal settlements as well as established schools in the heart of Nairobi.

We are grateful to Hillcrest, Banda, and Brookhouse schools for their donations to support our educational programs.

FoNNaP also holds educational programs for the general public like our recent Snake Talk at the AFEW Giraffe Center. In the past we have had workshops and talks on subjects ranging from invasive species to endangered species.

Modern wooden house on a hillside with tall grasses, small trees, and a body of water, with mountains in the background during sunset.

Research Activities

FoNNaP is in the process of establishing a research wing that conducts research on various issues concerning the park and provides possible solutions both within and within the bordering ecosystem. The process will be done through collaborations with learning institutions and research and publishing collaborations. The Nairobi National Park animal trends over the years, as determined from the game count activities, can be accessed in our members’ section.