Looking into Tsavo West from Mbulia HIll
We have worked in the Mbulia area of the Taita Hills since 2005 – a place ranked as the highest in need of protection by Kenya Wildlife Service (KWS) due to human wildlife conflict and being the most critical habitat for elephants during the dry season. This area is home to over 700 elephants, who have naturally claimed it as their home. People living on the land has created human-elephant conflict – many people and elephants died unnecessarily!
Here drought is severe and frequent. People are often only able to grow food crops when the rains are good, and when they manage to do so, the elephants come in and eat them. People are at risk, elephants have to be killed to protect human lives – both elephants and people lose their lives and livelihoods – continuously.
In an effort to mitigate the problem, Amara has held education programs promoting an understanding of why it is important to conserve the area. We believe in the power of information. The Mbulia residents requested our leadership in finding a way to improve their livelihoods, while protecting the environment. We held a capacity building workshop, and the representatives decided that setting aside a large part of the Mbulia Group Ranch, which is jointly owned by about 2,000 individuals, into a conservancy would be the best way for all of the landowners to benefit. They came up with this decision themselves, as a result of their newly gained knowledge of conservation, because they truly understand the impact of protecting the wildlife. This is evidence of a drastic change from how they felt about wildlife before we started working with them.
To help make this dream become a reality, Amara found an ecotourism company who is not only committed to the environment, but also to the community members in surrounding areas. The conservancy and lodge will provide a revenue stream and jobs for people – it will give a strong boost to local incomes.
It’s an exciting day for Amara, and for the Mbulia Conservancy! Thanks to some very generous Amara donors, we were able to purchase a Toyota Pickup for the Conservancy so the game scouts can begin their work of patrolling the land. Until now, they have been struggling with a couple of ancient Land Rovers that break down daily – now they will have reliable transportation to carry out their work.
We are not typically able to, or in the business of, purchasing items for others, but this was extremely important, so we made an exception. Amara has been involved with these people for so long we really want to see this work. We want to do everything we can to help, and the donation of a vehicle is critical to the conservancy, wildlife, and community projects.
We want to thank our special donors for making this happen, and wish the Mbulia Group Ranch Lodge & Conservancy the best of successes!
