Mwaluganje Elephant Sanctuary
Mwaluganje Elephant Sanctuary (MES) is a community-owned elephant park, a conservation area for elephants and Encephalartos cycads in Kwale County, Kenya.
Location
[edit]It is located 45 km southwest of Mombasa and is adjacent to the Shimba Hills National Reserve. The sanctuary was formed in the early 1990s as a cooperative project between the people of the surrounding Mwaluganje community, United States Agency for International Development, and the Born Free Foundation and the Eden Wildlife Trust.[1]
Ecotourism
[edit]MES is an example of ecotourism, as well as community-based-conservation efforts, both of which are very recent trends in conservation management. In this community-based program, the local people have leased their privately owned property to a community-based trust.
The trust manages the sanctuary for the conservation and preservation of the elephants. In addition it is a valuable source of revenue for the local people, re through monies generated by eco-tourism and gate entrance fees. The area is off the Shimba Hills escarpment in Kwale County and is on the migratory route leading to Tsavo East National Reserve.[2] Some of the revenue generating activities include creating paper from elephant dung, bee keeping (honey products)and biofuel
- ^ "USAID Helps Kenyans Develop Community-owned Elephant Sanctuary". USAID. 12 April 2007. Retrieved 2008-08-17.
- ^ "Volunteer abroad - Camp Mwaluganje". Camps International. Archived from the original on 2007-10-15. Retrieved 2008-03-24.
. 3.
References
[edit]04°16′S 39°22′E / 4.267°S 39.367°E
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