Kenya and Costa Rica - Comparing Environmental Policies in 16 Countries - page 196

imported livestock as well as for sport. Besides shooting, their cultivation
of tea, coffee, and flax removed habitat for animals. Finally, government got
into the function of “game control.” The colonial Game Department killed
thousands of animals to prevent damage to crops, livestock, and fences by
hunting on Crown Lands. Hunting on private lands was under the con-
trol of the settlers. During this period of the “White Hunter,” Africans
began to find employment as guides, trackers, and gun bearers. The Game
Department routinized its operation with white wardens and rangers,
and Africans in subordinate positions. The department required licenses,
and the fees were able to support half its expenses. Taking ivory or rhino
horn required a special fee. “Vermin” could be shot on sight. This category
included zebras, baboons, and at one time, lions. In addition to regulating
big game, the department protected the settlers' farms. It poisoned small
animals, a function usually performed by its African employees. The depart-
ment officially recognized a role of game preservation. Poachers smuggled
ivory, horn, and leopard skins out via the Italian colony of Somalia. This
led first to a treaty with Italy, and in 1933 to the international Convention
on the Preservation of Wildlife negotiated in London (a predecessor of the
Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species). The depart-
ment paid little attention to hunting by Africans. 6
An early Game Department employee was George Adamson, whose wife
Joy won international fame when she raised a lion cub, Elsa, then returned
her to freedom. Her topic and movie Born Free publicized Kenyan wildlife.
In the 1930s Kenya had enjoyed literary renown in Europe and America.
Ernest Hemingway published The Snows of Kilimanjaro in 1936. Isak
Dinesen published Out of Africa in 1937, telling of her life establishing
a coffee plantation. Louis and Mary Leakey wrote frequently, starting in
1931, of their archaeological digs discovering ancient humans. Louis was
born in Kenya of missionary parents, and as a boy joined the Kikuyu tribe.
In the late 1930s the colonial government added another dimension:
parks. The model was the national park system in the United States. Other
countries in the British Empire, like Canada and Australia, had national
parks by then. A Kenya-born settler, Melvyn Cowie, took the initiative.
Crown Lands and game reserves were organized as parks. Although World
War II delayed implementation, the first was created in 1945 outside of
Nairobi on the Athi Plains within sight of the capital city. It is home to the
black rhino as well as lions, giraffes, and gazelles. During the 1930s it had
been designated a game reserve, where hunting was not allowed, although
farming and grazing were allowed. People who lived there, chiefly the