Mid-Congress Tours

Rift-Valley View Point –Great Rift valley bird eye-view; farming activities – former large scale settler farms; dormant Mt. Longonot crater.

Marula Farm – This is a large scale farm specializing in dairy and beef production; Organic products – honey; horticulture for local and export market; 

Delegates will also have a brief history of the Delamere farm. Delamere was one of the early white settlers in Naivasha area and invested heavily in dairy and horticultural industries, a legacy that has continued till today.

KALRO Dairy Research Institue – KALRO’s cutting edge research in dairy production; Sahiwal breed satellite herd and research. This is one of the few pure Sahiwal herds outside its native Pakistan.

Nairobi National Park – “The World’s only Wildlife Capital” – was established in 1946 and is approximately 8Km from the Central Business District. The park is 117 square km in area. Wide open grass plains and backdrop of the city scrapers, scattered acacia bush play host to a wide variety of wildlife including the endangered black rhino, lions, leopards, cheetahs, hyenas, buffaloes, giraffes and diverse birdlife with over 400 species recorded.  Migrating herbivores gather in the park during the dry season, and it is one of Kenya’s most successful rhinoceros sanctuaries. The Delegates on this route will:- 

1. Have a game drive to appreciate the Savannah ecosystem; see variety of wildlife – including lions, elephants, buffaloes, giraffes; appreciate impact of the expansion of Nairobi City and the peri-urban settlements on the status of the national park and wildlife migratory corridors; 
2. Visit the Wildlife Conservation Education Centre to have lectures and video about Kenya wildlife and research; 
3. Have a Safari Walk that will highlight the variety of plants and animals native to Kenya, and their benefit to the country’s population; 
4. Visit the Animal Orphanage, founded in 1963 with the purpose of saving orphaned elephants and rhinos and releasing them back into the wild. The Orphanage hosts different type of animal species. 
   

ILRI LIVESTOCK RESEARCH – International Livestock Research Institute (ILRI). The ILRI campus is situated about 8Km from the Central Business District. ILRI’s research is directed to improving food and nutrition security through increased production and access to animal-source foods; stimulating economic development and poverty reduction through enhanced livestock value chains and increased productivity; improving human health through improved access to animal-source foods and a reduction in the burden of zoonotic and food-borne diseases; and managing the adaptation of livestock systems to climate change and mitigating the impact of livestock on the environment. Here delegates will get lectures on ILRI work on global livestock research and walk through the ILRI campus. Some of the facilities of interest include the,

1. Mazingira Centre As part of the Sustainable Livestock Systems program of ILRI, research at the Mazingira Centre focuses on understanding and managing the environmental footprint of agricultural production systems – primarily livestock systems – without hampering productivity. It aims to provide accurate context-specific information on the environmental impacts, particularly on nutrient cycles and greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions of current livestock, to enable predictions of intensification in these systems, and opportunities to mitigate and to adapt to climate change.
2. Biosciences Eastern and Central Africa (BecA-ILRI Hub) laboratory. The BecA-ILRI Hub’s mission is mobilizing bioscience for Africa’s development, by providing a centre for excellence in agricultural biosciences. This enables research, capacity building and product incubation, conducted by scientists in Africa and for Africa, and empowers African institutions to harness innovations for regional impacts in improved agricultural productivity, income, and food and nutritional security.
   

© ILRI Mazingira centre

1. Have a brief stop-over at Kitengela to appreciate land use changes – from pastoralism to other land uses, specifically urbanization, and its impact on wildlife dispersal areas 
2. Visit the Maasai Ostrich farm. The Maasai Ostrich Farm, which is East African’s largest commercial hub for ostrich farming, was established in 1991. It is located 45 kilometres from Nairobi on Athi River/Kitengela plains. Set in 200 acres of rolling grasslands, the Ostrich farm supplies Kenya and Overseas countries with Meat, Feathers, Skins and Livestock since 1991. Named after the Maasai ethnic group living in the area. Around 1000 birds of two breeds are maintained: the blue-neck or Somali ostrich and the Maasai ostrich, which has a pink neck and legs.
3. Visit Maasai Rural Training Centre (MRTC) at Isinya. The MTRC was set up in the early 60’s to assist the local Maasai people in a restocking project after suffering the consequences of years of severe drought that was followed by torrential downpours. MRTC serves mainly as a demonstration project to local farmers on how to maximize the use of their land within the constraints of modern farming methods. It also provides training in Ranch Management, livestock breeding programs, leather processing and promotes best practice in the use of locally available resources and environmental protection. 

© Maasai Ostrich Farm

The delegates will specifically visit:-

1. Visit the Kekenyoike pasture production and slaughter house (green production).
2. Visit Maasai clan that has integrated pasture production, beef production and marketing. The group runs a slaughter house which uses green energy and are now packing and retailing biogas from the slaughter waste.
3. Visit a traditional Maasai village. The undulating landscapes behind the hill is surreal and dotted with authentic Maasai homesteads. The layout of a Maasai village is also unique in that the houses are lined in a circular pattern with the cows shed in the middle. The homestead is surrounded with a thorn fence as well as the cow pen to keep the lions away from their livestock. The delegates will learn how the Maasai throw their clubs, make fire without match sticks and traditional archery.

The delegates will specifically visit:- 

1. Kyalo farm. This is a private farm owned by Wilson Kyalo and specializes in Dairy production in these arid area. The farmer built his dairy farm from one cow to 100 cows over 40 years. He is keep on breeding for increased milk production. As a result of Kyalo’s training and influence in the dairy industry, other dairy farmers have followed suit. 
2. Oziquest farm large scale commercial fodder production in the drylands supporting the small holder dairy system. 

The delegates will specifically visit:- 

1. ILRI Kapiti Ranch – Kapiti ranch is located in Kenya’s semi-arid lands (550mm average rainfall) at an altitude of 1,650–1,900m above sea level. The soils of the ranch are mainly black cotton (in the plains) and red cotton (in the ridges); and they support diverse savanna grasses: tussock-forming Themeda (commonly known as kangaroo or red oat grass); Panicum (switchgrass); Chloris (windmill or finger grass); Pennisetum (fountain grass); Cenchrus (African foxtail grass); Setaria (foxtail or bristle grasses); Acacia (whistling thorn); and Balanites trees. Though the ranch’s pasture is usually adequate for its livestock farming, during the dry season water continues to be a major constraint to efficient production. Four boreholes and nine water pans (the latter largely dependent on rainfall) currently supply the ranch with water. A new water pan has just been completed, opening up an area with good-to-excellent pasture.
2. Oziquest farm – large scale commercial fodder production in the drylands supporting the small holder dairy system. 

Kakuzi Farm – Kakuzi PLC is a listed Kenyan agricultural company trading on both the Nairobi and London Stock Exchange engaging in the cultivation, processing and marketing of avocados, blueberries, macadamia, tea, livestock and commercial forestry.

© Kakuzi Farm