The Kenya Wildlife Service (KWS) has put up 13 tourism camps for lease to private investors as part of a wider plan to boost revenue from its key assets.

The State agency on Tuesday invited bids from investors to develop and manage tourism sites in selected national parks where it operates.

These sites up for lease include the Daraja la Mbao site (Amboseli National Park), Kisembe site (Nairobi National Park), Rangers site (Nairobi National Park), KWS Club House site (Nairobi National Park) and Sebastian restaurant site (Nairobi National park).

Others are Southern Bypass Sites (Nairobi National Park), Fig Tree Site (Meru National Park), Mulika Site (Meru National Park), Tusk Camp Site (Aberdare National Park), Ndololo Site (Tsavo East National Park), Patterson Site (Tsavo East National Park), Kanjaro site (Tsavo West national park) and River Hippo Safari site (Tsavo West National Park).

Conservation fees

A lease is a contractual arrangement where the user of the asset pays the owner for a certain agreed-upon period.

KWS in its 2019–2024 strategic plan, indicated that it targets growing total revenue to Sh12 billion annually by 2024 through an array of strategies, including asset leases, aircraft hires, and review of conservation fees every two years.

The call for asset leases by KWS comes a fortnight after the Privatization Authority invited consultants to guide the sale of a Sh671million government stake in five top Kenya Development Corporation (KDC) controlled hotels, including the Kenya Safari Lodges, Mt Elgon Lodge Limited, Golf Hotel Limited, Sunset Hotel, and Kabarnet Hotel.