Balambala Residents Protest Revival of Rahole National Reserve.

Garissa, Kenya.

Residents of Balambala in Garissa County are protesting plans to revive the Rahole National Game Reserve, saying the move could block their access to the Tana River and threaten their pastoral and agricultural livelihoods.

The renewed demarcation exercise by the Kenya Wildlife Service (KWS) has sparked unease among communities living around the proposed reserve, which lies about 92 kilometres north of Garissa town along the Garissa–Modogashe road.

The 1,270-square-kilometre reserve, contiguous with Kora National Park to the west, was first gazetted in 1968 but has remained largely inactive following decades of community resistance. Locals fear the planned revival could reignite long-standing tensions with wildlife authorities.

Speaking to Frontier Eye, former Balambala MCA Idriss Bilal said residents have previously suffered at the hands of KWS rangers who, he said, often accused herders of encroachment near Meru and Kora reserves.

“Our people have painful memories of KWS operations in this region. Many herders were harassed or killed, and their livestock seized. Reviving Rahole will only reopen those wounds,” Bilal said.

He added that the proposed boundary would cut off communities from the Tana River corridor, a crucial water source for both people and livestock in the semi-arid area.

Community elder Hussein Hassan Abubakar told Frontier Eye that residents prefer a community-managed conservancy model that allows pastoralists to coexist with wildlife while protecting their access to grazing land and water.

“We are not opposed to conservation, but it must be inclusive. Locals should be engaged as rangers and partners in protecting wildlife, not treated as intruders on their own land,” he said.

Residents have identified Sikley, Danyere, Korahey, Mudey, Kone and parts of Balambala town as areas that would be most affected if the boundary demarcation proceeds.

Mohamed Horrow, a resident of Balambala, said the reserve boundaries would also encompass land under the Rahole Irrigation Scheme, which supports rice farming along the riverbanks in Jarajara.

“This amounts to strangling the community economically at the expense of protecting wildlife,” he said, warning that agriculture, already scarce in the region, would be severely disrupted.

According to residents, senior KWS officials from Meru National Park and the Garissa KWS Station recently visited the area to inform the community of plans to erect concrete beacons marking the official boundary of the Rahole National Reserve. The visit has heightened tensions, with locals vowing to resist the exercise.

Garissa-based human rights activist Khalif Abdi said that the project would face sustained opposition if communities are sidelined.

“Benefit-sharing is key to the success of any protected area,” he said.

“Conservation must not come through intimidation or exclusion. Communities must be fully involved in planning and management,” Khalif added.

The Rahole National Reserve, located along the northern bank of the Tana River, serves as a corridor for migratory species from Meru National Park and is home to diverse wildlife species. It is administered by the Kenya Wildlife Service.

Despite its ecological significance, the reserve has long been a flashpoint between conservation authorities and local pastoral and farming communities who depend on the land for survival.

Efforts to get a comment from KWS were futile at the time of going to press.