Tsavo Wildlife & Community Programme

Tsavo

OVERVIEW

Camp Tsavo is situated in the heart of Rukinga Sanctuary, a superb, privately run conservancy offering volunteers extraordinary experiences and activities. But more importantly, it has turned thousands of acres back to wildlife conservation from previously degraded and overgrazed landscapes, devoid of wildlife and offered significant, tangible benefits to the local communities that live along its boundaries.

Our projects have helped to improve the productivity of the landscape and provide employment and financial support to thousands of families, as well as contributing to the preservation of Africa’s natural and cultural heritage. Our volunteers have created waterholes for wildlife, planted thousands of trees, and worked to improve the lives of several communities that border the sanctuary by building classrooms, stopping erosion, supplying fresh water to children and supporting a women’s group.

What ARE THE MAIN ISSUES?

Poverty
Frequent droughts – lack of water for wildlife and people
Habitat destruction
Wildlife poaching
Human wildlife conflict
Lack of access to resources for people

PROJECT TIMELINE

2008:

Renovating classrooms - Renovation of 8 classrooms at Sasenyi primary school (borders the sanctuary) including painting walls, plastering, re-flooring and creating educational artwork for the walls
Marungu Hills tree nursery - Support Marungu hills conservancy to expand their existing community tree nursery that specialises in commercially valuable species. The nursery is now twice the size with three times the stock that is regularly sold to the community
Acacia removal – Cleared acacia from 15km of road to improve access around the sanctuary
Airstrip maintenance – Cleared camp airstrip and improved water catchment to dam for wildlife
Environmental Education workshop – Introduced an Environmental Education workshop to Sasenyi Primary School
Wildlife monitoring – started ongoing project to monitor wildlife in the sanctuary

2009

Built 2 classrooms - Construction of 2-classroom block at Sasenyi Primary School
Educational materials – Built 50 desks and provided hundreds of text books to Sasenyi Primary School
New kitchen – Built new kitchen for pupils at Sasenyi Primary School
Erosion control - Large-scale erosion control to secure school grounds and buildings. Includes backfilling gullies and digging a large channel around the compound to channel rainwater away from school foundations
Mwakaramba repair - Restoration of Mwakaramba water tank as a water supply for up to 1000 elephants
Improving waterholes - Repairing and deepening two dams and natural water holes, reinforcing dam walls and digging inflow channels
Imani Women’s group – Started partnership to support their income generation activities. The group is situated on the edge of the sanctuary and provides emotional, educational and financial support to women in immense poverty and lagging behind in development issues. Volunteers helped to fence the compound to improve security, build a kiln for firing bricks and completed the expansion of an elephant dung mushroom house
Aloe vera project – Introduced Aloe vera to the local community as an alternative income generating crop and provided training on the production of aloe-based products
Anti-poaching rangers station – Built a two-room block in the middle of the sanctuary for anti-poaching rangers to stay in, allowing them to patrol the sanctuary more effectively.
Snare elephant – Started construction of life-size wire elephant sculpture as a way of safely disposing of over 1,000 snares that had been removed from the sanctuary, whilst increasing awareness among the community about elephant conservation.

2010

Community hall refurbishment – Repaired and improved the community hall for Imani Women’s group so that they have a suitable meeting place and can generate an income by hiring the hall out for community functions and events.
Built 2 classrooms – Building a new nursery classroom block for Itinyi Primary School, on the border of the sanctuary. Constructed a second classroom block at Sasenyi Primary
Improving waterholes - Repairing and deepening two natural water holes and digging inflow channels
Second anti-poaching rangers station – Started building another rangers station at the other end of the sanctuary to improve protection for wildlife
Indigenous tree nursery – Developing an extensive indigenous tree nursery as part of our reforestation programme
Energy Efficient Stoves – Built 3 large institutional energy efficient stoves for Sasenyi Primary to reduce fuel wood consumption
Ongoing sanctuary maintenance – Removal of invasive plant species, wildlife monitoring, clearing and repairing roads

2011

Imani Women's Group – Provided over 10,000 litres of water storage for the group land and completed security post. Assisted with poultry programme and various other small income generating activities
Sasenyi school improvement – Completion of major erosion control programme, started new classroom ablution block. Provided 30 new school desks, supported feeding programme for 600 students for two months and completed water security project including provision of 30,000 litres of water storage
Itinyi school improvement - Completed an office/store for nursery school and provision of 30 desks and chairs for the nursery class. Built 2 large institutional energy efficient stoves to reduce fuel wood consumption and constructed septic tank for new school toilet block
Improving wildlife waterholes – Repairing and deepening natural waterholes and digging inflow channels as well as construction of a permanent water trough for elephants
Indigenous tree nursery – Ongoing development of an extensive indigenous tree nursery as part of our reforestation programme
Ongoing sanctuary maintenance – Removal of invasive plant species, wildlife monitoring, clearing and repairing roads

YOUR ROLE AS A VOLUNTEER

Project work will vary depending on the needs of the sanctuary at the time but may include:

Conducting wildlife counts at waterholes and monitoring poaching activity as part of our ongoing conservation work
Sanctuary maintenance and improvement to maximise the sanctuary’s potential as prime wildlife habitat
Working on various water projects for the benefit of people and wildlife
Learning about the issues surrounding human wildlife conflict from a wildlife expert and working on ways of reducing this conflict
Making Elephant Dung Paper that can be sold to visitors
Tree planting
Ongoing road improvements to enable anti-poaching patrols to access all areas of the sanctuary
Supporting the income generating activities of Imani Women’s group that may include construction, farming, reforestation, animal welfare, or arts and crafts
Developing and running environmental education workshops with the local school to teach them the value of conserving their wildlife
View wildlife such as elephants, zebras, giraffes, cheetahs, lions, wild dogs, hyenas, warthogs, buffalos at close quarters on this private sanctuary

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Tsavo Wildlife & Community Programme

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