TUI Forest Kenya
Taita Hills Wildlife Sanctuary covers approximately 28,000 acres and straddles the Southern Tsavo West National Park. As an important dispersal and migrating corridor for wildlife between Tsavo East National Park and Tsavo West National Park, it’s also an ecologically important and highly valued tourism recreational area.
Prolonged droughts over the past decade and particularly in the last two years have caused severe degradation, with the Sanctuary’s management estimating that 70% of the area is characterised by soil erosion and vegetation loss.
Additionally, the Bura River within the Sancturary has been affected by siltation and subsequent loss of stream channelling, which has had a major impact on downstream forest productivity and ecological services, has suppressed tree growth and caused early tree mortality.
TUI Forest Kenya plants new trees and supports local people to build thriving livelihoods through community managed tree nurseries and the creation of forest-based tourism experiences. It includes the local planting of 40,000 native seedlings, the restoration of 242,812 m2 of forest, the involvement of 1400 people in nature-based tourism experiences and 720 local people in restoration and conservation activities.
UI Forest Kenya involves growing and planting 40,000 native trees on two sites, each covering an area of 121,406 m2, totalling to 242,812 m2, with one of the sites being an important riparian area near the Sanctuary’s river. This includes building and maintaining seven community-run nurseries and training nursery technicians on different aspects of nursery management and provision of equipment such as secateurs, grafting knives and spray pumps.
In addition, seedlings from the nurseries are purchased and planted in the Sanctuary, enabling community members to earn income and improve their living standards. The planting activity also involves tourists visiting the Sanctuary and offers them an experiential tourism opportunity through a “leave a green footprint” campaign.
TUI Forest Kenya also establishes a new solar-powered electric fence and maintains an existing fence to deter tree seedling destruction by wildlife in the area. Newly built water tanks ensure adequate and constant water supply for tree seedling viability and training for ten rangers in ecological monitoring helps to improve the protection of endangered species.
Overall, 720 people are actively involved in restoration and conservation activities, including seed and cutting, collection, plant propagation, reforestation campaigns, maintenance and construction of ecotourism facilities, boosting local livelihoods.
Project Partner
The Taita Taveta Wildlife Conservancies are a constellation of a total of 33 conservancies located within the Tsavo Conservation Area (TCA) Ecosystem and have formed the Taita Taveta Wildlife Conservancies Association (TTWCA). The TCA is made up of Tsavo East National Park, the Tsavo West National Park, the South Kitui National Reserve, and the Chyulu Hills National Park in south-eastern Kenya, the Mkomazi Game Reserve in north-western Tanzania, and the surrounding group ranches and community lands collectively encompassing approximately 5.8 million acres (23,553km2) of the iconic Tsavo wilderness landscape.
