The Ape Escape From Nairobi National Park
Over 200 years ago much of the Nairobi region was swamped with a variety of diverse animals from Buffalo to Lions. Since inhabitants began settling in the area, the city has gradually expanded forcing much of the wildlife to leave the region and head for greener pastures. The wildlife that remained in the region were captured by wildlife authorities and housed in the Nairobi National Park which was established in 1946. Although 90% of the wildlife stays confined within the National Park boundaries, due to the region containing so many large trees, many arboreal species have continued to move throughout a large area, including several of the parks primates.
Although you would only expect to see primates alongside all the other wildlife Kenya has to offer on a Kenya safari, where they are contained within various National Parks scattered across the country, you would be surprised to find them in local housing estates around the entrance gates to the Nairobi National Park. This is a very unique occurrence as the majority of National Parks throughout Africa where people regularly choose to venture out on a African safari are also self-contained yet are not in close proximity to a city and therefore there is minimal contact with human life.
The primates that reside in the Nairobi National Park don’t seem to be startled at all by the presence of humans or the fact that they spend most of their time by the busy roadside. it seems there is a definite ‘Ape Escape’ from the National Park everyday where primates go looking for more interesting foods in the local neighbourhoods. Primates here are much more used to the presence of humans than primates for example on Mt Kilimanjaro in Tanzania or on Mt Kenya. This kind of lifestyle however does have its potential downfalls as they not only run the risk of being killed by traffic, but also by humans should they get to close. A conclusion to this could be that the primates feel safer outside of the park, where they are away from predators such as Leopards but they are intelligent enough to traipse back into the park at night when life outside near the roadside can be extremely treacherous.