Kitengela comprises an area of approximately 390 km2
(GOK, 2001) within
Kajiado District and is part of a larger rangeland ecosystem called the Athi-Kaputiei
Plains (a 2,456 km2
ecosystem). The study area corresponds to Isinya Division (one of
seven administrative units of Kajiado District). Neighboring Nairobi, a city with a
population estimated to be approaching 3 million, Kitengela is unique in that it supports a
large and long distance wildlife migratory community (Figure 1) that have lived
alongside the resident Maasai for centuries.
Nairobi National Park sits at the northernmost tip of Kitengela. This park is only
114 km2
in size, and is not large enough to support the twenty-four species of large
mammals that exist in this ecosystem. Wildebeest, eland, giraffe and zebra migrate into
and out of the park, accessing its water and abundant grass during the dry season and
moving south into the open pastoral lands during the wet season when the calves are born
(Reid et al., 2006). When Nairobi National Park was established in 1946, Kitengela
Plains and the Ngong Hills were declared conservation areas. However, Kitengela was
never formally gazetted.