Focusing on the Tsavo communities for the past few years, we have carried out education programs with audiences of more than 200,000 people. While continuing in the Taita Hills, the Amara teams have also worked in outlying areas north, west and south of the Parks. We’ve shown films, held meetings, taken people on field trips to the Park and to other conservancies; met, talked and listened. We researched alternative livelihoods, micro-finance, and solving water problems. Amara bought seedlings and held tree-planting sessions.
We taught and we learned.
Solid confirmation of the success of our programs came with the decision by members of the Mbulia Group Ranch to set up a conservancy on their land bordering Tsavo East and West.
It is a compelling story.
This area was ranked highest in need of protection by the Kenya Wildlife Service (KWS) due to human wildlife conflict and it’s being the most critical dry season habitat for elephants.
The local people are very poor subsistence farmers living in dispersed settlements.
The leaders asked us to provide training for people to better manage their community organizations set up to improve livelihoods for the members. After our one-week capacity building seminar, the representatives from every group decided that the one thing that would help all the inhabitants was to set up a conservancy on their land.
They asked us to help them gain agreement from all the members of the group ranch. It took time, numerous meetings, enlisting support from key elders and leaders, more film shows, hours, days, months of discussions and debate.
The key is that the decision came from the people themselves, not from Amara.
What we gave was the information they needed to make this decision. We provided logistical assistance, getting people to different villages, transportation to the local District headquarters, help bringing in experts from the KWS and other community conservancies.
Amara then found an ecotourism company to invest in the wildlife conservancy who will lease the land giving a regular income to all members of the Group Ranch. They will build and run a beautiful lodge, employ local people and bring tourists to provide conservancy fees that will fund community projects: improved water sources, new businesses, improved schools… whatever the community decides.
They will run the conservancy so the wildlife have their habitat and stop human wildlife conflict; at the same time the community will benefit.
This once severely threatened ecosystem is now being made safe and will be protected forever.
What we do works.
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