Wilderness trekking safari, Kenya

The Leroghi Mountains Conservation Fund was set up in November 2002 by our company together with the Faull family. We work under the auspices of the UK conservation organization, the Wilderness Trust and the local Samburu Wildlife Forum.Our aim is to develop and promote a series of simple local community-based conservation and development projects in association with our trekking safaris.

Like many pristine forested mountain ranges in Kenya, the Leroghi Mountains are under threat from overgrazing of cattle, sheep and goats, unsustainable charcoal burning, and most worryingly, the ill-advised honey gathering techniques of local children and young men who, ignorant of the sustainable harvesting techniques of their ancestors and tribal elders, are clear-felling 200-year old trees in the forest in order to collect about $30-$40 worth of honey from the hives within.One of the drawbacks of modern "development" is that with the subjects currently taught in school under the modern Kenyan education system, the local children learn little of the things which their ancestors were taught by generations of tribal elders, i.e. the importance of living in harmony with nature.

The objective of our initiative is to provide basic education and involve the local people fully in the preservation and sustainable utilization of the wonderful natural resource that is the Leroghi Mountain range - and that they benefit both financially and socially from their efforts. It is our aim to focus our attention on realising the value of a pristine forest as a continual source of :

• Sustainable firewood
• Watercourse protection; where the roots of the mature trees provide soil stability and preserve the natural watercourses for the benefit of the local tribespeople and their cattle (especially in times of drought)
• Wild honey; with simple education initiatives to foster an understanding of the fact that in practising sustainable honey harvesting techniques which do not involve felling ancient trees, there will be a renewable supply of honey for many years from the same tree

The people are also faced with a real threat from wild animals. Elephants marauding among crops and leopards (and occasionally lions) attacking livestock are real problems. In order to move away from the current situation where these increasingly rare wild animals are shot by the desperate farmers and livestock owners - or by the game department, we wish to provide funding for better fencing and livestock enclosures so that the wild animals are deterred from becoming a nuisance. If the local people can also come to understand that visitors to this area are partially here to enjoy sightings of wild animals - and that the local people benefit financially from these visitors - then with better fencing/livestock enclosures, they will in time adopt a different attitude to the wildlife.

We are in the process of developing a number of small-scale environmental education and reforestation projects in association with the local Samburu communities of Baua and Poror, specifically involving the local young people and primary school children. These will be financially supported by a contribution made by us on behalf of every client who joins one of our a trekking safaris and by the generous additional contributions made by several of our recent clients.Our ethos is to "leave only footprints" on our trekking safaris and we hope that through our joint efforts with the local Samburu communities, these unique forested mountains will remain for the benefit of future generations of Samburu children and trekking visitors alike.