The following are excerpts taken from Peter Luck’s (Campion School) blog. Campion was part of a composite team made up of fives schools (Stanground, Stonehenge, Banbury and Woodford Lodge). Quite a handful for Leo Biles who was their expedition leader and by all accounts did a fantastic job (as did all the teachers and students [...]

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A while ago we blogged about the summer season in Tanzania so those of you who have been following our project diary will have heard about our new Camp Tanga on the ocean front in Tanzania. Pamela Allard, our local program coordinator and the rest of the staff have certainly had there hands full as its never easy to get a new operation going but from all the feedback we have been receiving, we know that Camp Tanga is everything we meant it to be. I asked Pam to put a few words together on what’s been going on in Tanga…

The mangrove planting was a great success!  We planted over 1200+  mangrove seedlings in an area that was in need of mangrove  reforestation right in front of the camp! The students worked side by  side with the villagers chosen from the village who have been trained in outplanting seedlings.  The reforestation will hopefully provide  new breeding grounds for many different kinds of marine life, and help  prevent continued erosion.  It was a great day.  The only casualty was  a shoe that got sucked of into the deep mud while collecting the seedlings.

We are also actively involved with seaweed planting and harvesting. During spring tides we are out in the shallows tying lines with the seaweed farmers and offer many hands to help do a very labour intensive job, that allows these women to provide some income into their households.

During the neep tides, we offer assistance onshore  preparing the lines that hold the seaweed, as well as working to build  a boat for the group to use!  This boat will better enable them to  carry more seaweed from the harvesting areas. We are working side by side with a local ‘fundi’ or craftsman to build the boat in traditional ways that have been used for hundreds of years.

On days when the tide isn’t perfect for farming or mangrove planting  we help the villagers where they are in their homes, preparing and plastering houses using mud and other local materials.  We have learned and offered assistance in preparing local palm thatch for roofs in the area, or for income generation for the households  preparing them.  We are improving cooking and sanitation by building fuel efficient stoves and digging garbage pits to better dispose of  rubbish in the community.

We are also spending time at the secondary school, building two  classrooms and spending time with the students after construction, engaging in a variety of sporting events. After work, there is usually a pick up game of football on the village  pitch just near the camp.

We have a had a blast this season and looking forward to keeping Camp Tanga growing from strength to strength. This is just the beginning..

(Lots more pictures of Camp Tanga HERE)

Not so long ago, this 80,000-acre piece of land was home to a slowly failing cattle ranch. Overgrazing of cattle turned the fields to dust, poachers slipped on and off the ranch with ease, and squatters settled in, farming and building mud and thatch huts along the ranch’s critical rainwater basin.

Then in 1998 Wildlife Works took over the management of the ranch. They immediately moved the cattle from the land, began unarmed patrols to remove any snares set for wildlife, and worked with the local community to peacefully move the illegal squatters onto more prosperous farmland located outside of the wildlife corridor.

In only a few short seasons, the wildlife began to return; elephants first, then ungulates and then finally the predators, and Rukinga Sanctuary is now a healthy and balanced ecosystem with an abundance of wildlife that can live in relative security.

There’s very little to say when we have a series of spectacular shots, (most of which have been taken by Peter Luck, a teacher from Campion School) so I will let these pictures tell their own story about the red soils of Tsavo…

It takes a thousand wire snares to make this elephant, it takes one to kill it…

With over 80,000 acres to protect, the rangers are critical to the survival of this fragile ecosystem. Last year, we built one rangers post and this year our teams are assisting to lay the foundation of another.

And the view from above…

And just one good reason why we do what we do…