The Ministry of Tourism has launched the Tembo Naming Festival at Amboseli National Park in Kajiado County.

The festival will allow members of the public to adopt elephants which they can have named after them at a cost of between Sh100,000 and Sh500,000.

The “foster parent” will then be given priority in choosing the elephant’s first name. The second name will be a Maasai name based on the animal’s profile, history, role in the family and physical attributes such as the state of its tusks.

While speaking on Citizen TV, Cabinet Secretary Peninah Malonza said Kenyans now have an opportunity to play a key role in the conservation of elephants as Kenya will join the rest of the world in commemorating World Wildlife Day.

The initiative is aimed at creating an environment where human-wildlife conflict can be minimized and promoting human-elephant co-existence.

She added that the Maasai elders will be in charge of the naming process due to their extensive knowledge of how animals interact with humans.

“They have lived in the community for a long time and are familiar with animal behavior. They will be able to describe their background and behavior, including whether they are destructive or polite,” said Malonza.

“After the adoption, Kenyans will be able to access information about the elephant. As you know, these animals travel long distances, from Somalia to Tanzania, and we will continue to track them.”

The theme of this year’s World Wildlife Day is “Partnerships for Wildlife Conservation.” The event will also include a tree planting exercise at Amboseli National Park.

Currently, Amboseli National Park has over 3,000 elephants. Kenya as a country boasts over 34,000 elephants, and the number has been gradually increasing at an annual rate of 2.8 per cent over the last three decades.

Remarkably, there has been a 96 per cent decline in poaching with 11 elephants poached in 2020 compared with 386 elephants in 2013.