Source: www.kws.org

By Gichuki Kabukuru

One year since the World famous Lake Nakuru National Park was re-branded in pomp and gallantry as an ornithologists paradise; Kenya’s unique Rift Valley Park, recently received yet another feather/medal to its already colorful lapel.

This time round, the first ever re-branded Park in Kenya received a bevy of beaus to act as its customer care team. This move, seen by many as the turning point of a new leaf in the way tourists are handled at the KWS park entry gates, set the tempo a notch higher in the way tourists will be received and directed at all KWS gates country wide.

“From the improvements and the refurbishments that Lake Nakuru National Park received during and immediately after it was branded last year, the Park has recorded considerable gains in terms of visitation and revenue generation,” avers a candid Salome Gachago, the Ag. Marketing & Business Development Manager.

According to madam Gachago, “the new-look LNNP is now considered by many as a more visitor friendly facility, and this is courtesy of the improvements injected during the re-branding period. The roads were redone, the banda’s refurbished and the parks' security improved in line with our target of making KWS a world class conservation and tourist facility”.

The customer care team which was unveiled during the celebrations marking one year after LNNP was re-branded, was a follow-up call in which many people had requested that all KWS gates needed a fresh look and part of this was the redeployment of the rangers with more visitor friendly personnel to handle tourists at the Parks.

“This unique move was designed in such way that all the gate rangers would then be moved back to their core mandate of providing visitor and animal security, while the gates be handle by a more professional and friendly team,” a genial Madam Gachago revealed.

Explaining traits of the new-look LNNP one year after it was re-branded as an ornithologist’s paradise, Gachago notes, “together with the customer care team, we also unveiled the KWS Customer Charter, a unique document that clearly enumerates our commitment to better customer service and high standards in all our tourist oriented areas.

“All these,” a candid madam Gachago states, “are espoused in our 2005 – 2010 Strategic Plan which aims at making KWS a World-Class organization in line with the ISO 9001 Certification Standards/benchmarks, which we are optimistic of accomplishing by February 2008.”

Lake Nakuru National Park famous for its over 1.5 million flamingoes and a plethora of over 500 other bird species, is also home to such animals as the endangered Rhino, Rothschild’s giraffe, buffaloes, waterbucks and baboons not forgetting Zebras and much more.

Situated some 160 Kilometers as the crow flies North West of Nairobi, the water front Park found at the heart of the Great Rift Valley, and which was gazetted in 1968, is one such unique place that you can not afford to miss.

At $40, per person, Lake Nakuru National Park is a nature galore that simply awaits you!