Our Blog

A few years ago, Amara’s executive director Lori Bergemann was given the great honour of being made part of the tribe in Taita Taveta County. She was named MALEMBA (a Taita name meaning Green Leaves) by the Taita Taveta county council of elders “NJAVUNGO”. She is now a member of the big families. NJAVUNGO are […]

In a matter of months, the world has been transformed, thousands of people have already died and hundreds more have fallen ill from corona virus that was previously unknown before appearing in a city in China. For millions, who have not even caught the disease, their entire way of life has been changed by it. […]

Time does fly! When we look back at our journey with trees and with all you readers, it brings us immense joy that more & more tree-lovers are not only asking about indigenous trees but also trying to plant a few. We would like to thank all of them for their love and support! I, […]

In our efforts to reduce waste, we have often heard people say that the “real” problem is the people who throw their garbage on the sidewalk and out their car windows. Of course, we agree that we should change this behavior, but the truth is that littering is not the only problem. We need to […]

We at Amara Conservation believe that a big number of Kenyan children have never seen an elephant before or even the most common of wildlife species due to the associated costs of visiting National Parks in Kenya. For this reason, Amara, together with Purdue University students arranges free field trips into Tsavo East and West […]

Education is the most critically important tool in enabling humankind to survive in all sorts of environments and circumstances. The United Nations Education Science and Culture Organization (UNESCO) backs this idea by asking all UN member states to stand firm in supporting children to go to school so that they can become active participants of […]

Family is strength for each of us. We all need each other whether close relative or close friend. One family cannot live alone without the other families. We all want to live in a place where there is security, unity, freedom of movement and peace. If insecurity arises in an area we will all want […]

Many humans prefer to live in a place close to markets for food, easy access to hospitals when we are sick, and close to banks for money, along with other commodities that we need. We tend to forget a very crucial and natural free gift from God that gives us life. Trees are often recognized […]

Our forests are home to critical wildlife habitat. When our forests are threatened, it also threatens the homes of all the diverse wildlife habitat that live there. Natural disasters, urbanization, and agriculture are just a few of the common causes of deforestation. But as deforestation continues to rise, the animals that call it home start […]

The Tsavo West National Park is a section of one of the largest wildlife conservancies on the planet, as well as one of Kenya’s largest wildlife national parks. It is well-known for its resident population of Red Elephants as well as the tale of the Tsavo Man-eaters. Unfortunately, most of the communities bordering these parks […]

A few weeks ago, the world’s last male Northern White Rhino, Sudan, died at Ol Pejeta Conservancy in Kenya. With Northern Whites preyed upon to near-extinction, Sudan’s death left just two known alive — Najin and Fatu, his daughter and granddaughter. The news, greeted with unsurprising sadness in the conservation world, played out differently in […]

One practical observation we’ve seen as Amara is how traditional communities always include elements of long-term thinking. The catch-phrase is being aware of how every decision will affect the generations to come, but it’s really more than that, it’s about thinking of how everything will affect the planet and what people sometimes call their “future […]

There are those in our midst who understand wildlife biology and are expert in their biomes and ecology while others are at home in fields such as sociology, political science, and law. Some of us come to wildlife activism with no other training than a firm conviction that it is the right thing to do—to […]

Predictions for our changing climate paint an alarming picture—rising sea levels, changing weather patterns, and increased incidences of natural disaster e.g., the latest hurricanes in USA and Caribbean nations all threaten to greatly impact human life. While climate change impacts everyone, degrading resources and increasing instability will most greatly affect the lives of rural poorer […]

Natural disasters have always made man feel helpless in spite of technological advances, for example earthquakes, floods etc. Apart from the trail of death and destruction of human property this leaves behind, it also causes widespread destruction of ecological habitats with lasting effects on the populations of several species. The consequences vary from loss of […]

Kenya’s Park boundaries were gazetted beginning in 1948. After Independence in 1963, the Kenyan Government put rules in place to stop people from entering the National Parks and the Game Department was set to uphold those laws. Prior to this time, in most places, care for the wildlife and environment had been under the control […]

We cannot brush aside problems that are linked to the environment, like internal conflicts, desertification, corruption and poverty. For a moment, we may assume that some of these issues do not concern us, but they do because we do not live in isolation. The international community must know that developed countries bear different responsibilities from […]

Snakes are among the most feared creatures on earth. Despite their colorful appearance and ecological importance, some snakes’ venom can kill in minutes. The fear is however magnified by lack of knowledge about snakes. The fact is, a majority of snakes are non-venomous thus not harmful to humans. Out of about 400 snakes species in […]

Climate change is threatening the livelihoods of thousands of Kenyans, and one of the hardest hit communities is the Maasai. Traditionally, the Maasai are herders, who keep large herds of cattle for subsistence. The Maasai are a Nilotic ethnic group of semi-nomadic people inhabiting southern Kenya and northern Tanzania. They are among the best-known local […]

Our natural heritage is being threatened by human activities, forests are disappearing at an unprecedented rate, and lakes, rivers and water catchments are being polluted. Our landscapes are being disfigured through day-to-day human activities like quarrying, sand mining, and brick- making along rivers. Our efforts to protect what is left of the biological diversity in […]

Happy New Year to you, and fabulous 2017 from all of us at Amara Conservation. As I sat here this morning opening the mail, I came across this unsolicited donation. What a nice surprise that from seeing us in action 2 years ago this family member was moved enough to send us this donation from […]

We just came across this mix of the programs we made during our radio training program with RadioActive UK. Have a listen! Radio Tsavo is a community based Radio Station- an idea that Amara Conservation had when recognizing the communities in remote areas in Tsavo lack access to a lot of information. Unlike other media […]

Human-wildlife conflict is a complex issue that is rarely easy to solve. This is particularly true for Mbulia in Taita-Taveta County, Tsavo Kenya. Being, many incidents of human-elephant conflict are recorded every year, undermining food security and destroying the lives of many people as well as injuring and killing wildlife. Small subsistence farmers, who are […]

Elephants are a keystone species. They create and maintain the ecosystems in which they live and make it possible for a myriad of plant and other animal species to live in those environments as well. The loss of elephants gravely affects many species that depend on elephant-maintained ecosystems and causes major habitat chaos and a […]

Elephants play an important role in maintaining biodiversity. They can be best described as the “Architects of the savannah”and natures constant gardeners, moving great distances foraging which open up dense bush land creating grasslands for grazers. Their knocking over of trees creates microhabitats for smaller creatures like reptiles and insects, which in turn provides food […]

This month, Amara welcomed John Carver to Kenya, visiting us in the field for the first time, he had an eventful and interesting trip around Kenya. John is an entrepreneur who has been involved in many successful for-profit and non-profit companies, and is on the Board of Directors of Amara USA. He has been a […]

A huge number of Kenyan children have never seen an elephant before, or even the most common of wildlife species due to the associated costs of visiting National Parks in Kenya. For this reason we at Amara together with Purdue University students arranges free field trips into Tsavo West National Parks, encouraging children to for […]

The practice of burning ivory dates back to July 1989 when Kenya’s then-President Daniel arap Moi ignited a pile of 12 tones of elephant tusks and helped change global policy on ivory exports. After that, the trade was banned under the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species. By burning Ivory, Kenya is protesting the […]

Our co-existence with the wild has not been all rosy. HWC has been in existence for as long as people and lions have shared land. The intensity varies with time and place, but it has always been there. It’s an inevitable part of living alongside predators. On the other hand, whenever people are determined enough, […]

Lets face it; the media can get us down at the best of times and especially when it comes to conservation. Poaching, especially of elephants and rhino in African continent attracts the attention of media, the sad reality is thousands of other species are also dying on a daily basis through the bush-meat trade as […]

Community Conservancies can be more profitable than farming. This depends upon where they are located and what they offer. I personally feel radical measures should be adopted by the County Government of Taita Taveta in order to stop the rampant cases of Human-wildlife conflict. One of the best measures is setting up community conservancies or […]

We work to conserve unique wildlife and critical habitats and promote sustainable livelihoods through environmental education and capacity building working with rural communities in East Africa. Our guiding value is the autonomy of indigenous communities; our awareness that each community is unique and must find its own solutions to the problem of sustainability. Amara’s role […]

One thing that keeps coming up in the press here in Africa, if not in a lot of places worldwide, is the issue of deforestation in Kenya. It’s a huge problem here where many rural people need wood for fuel, and contributes enormously to drought, amongst all the other harmful effects of loss of trees […]