Imagine watching, from the seat of your safari vehicle, a herd of elephants casually grazing in the evening light. The sound of branches cracking, the chomp, chomp of the elephants chewing, the smells of the African plains are all around you… and then a plastic bag blows past. Litter in Kenya’s wilderness areas is not only unsightly (we would all far rather see a litter of lion cubs than litter from a dustbin!) but also, as our mobile clinic staff are discovering, dangerous to members of the surrounding communities. So this month, a clean up operation was launched by Ol Pejeta staff, and overwhelmingly supported by over 200 community members, who turned up to help collect trash.
Ol Pejeta’s mobile clinic provides health care on the doorstep of people that would otherwise have to travel half a day to get medical attention. Recently, clinic staff have noted that a high number of people they treat are suffering from diseases caused by unclean and unsanitary surroundings. Also, it has been noted that some of the litter from surrounding villages makes its way into Ol Pejeta.
So, on Saturday the 21st March, around 40 members of staff from Ol Pejeta started a clean-up exercise – making their way from an area of the conservancy bordering Debatas and finishing up at Debatas Shopping Centre. The group from Ol Pejeta was joined by at least a 100 students from the neighboring Ewaso Nyiro Primary School, who used the opportunity as a chance to learn more about environmental health.
Overall, a staggering 200 community members showed up to help in the clean up, which is a real testament to the good relations Ol Pejeta strives to create with surrounding communities. After cleaning up the area, our Tourism Education Officer- Joshua Wambugu took some time to speak to the members of the community about the importance of keeping the area clean – for wildlife, for tourism, and for community health.
This clean up was the precursor to a long term plan that will see the Conservancy collaborate with community leaders and representatives to create a long term waste disposal plans, such as the building of waste pits, in order to work towards a greater, cleaner Laikipia.