Audacious, was the first reaction to a new initiative by Kenyans United Against Poaching (KUAPO), a group of conservationists, seeking to use local traditional knowledge for wildlife conservation in the country.

“It is too late now to hark back to some golden age when Kenyans lived in a sort of Garden of Eden with an unspoilt environment teeming with animals,” said Jake Grieves-Cook, a former chairman of the Kenya Tourist Board.

But KUAPO will hear none of this. “We believe that traditional African thought systems, conservation ethics and cultural practices promote co-existence in a way that Western conservation practices do not,” said Salisha Chandra, who co-ordinates KUAPO.

Chandra believes that in their purest form, African thought systems focus on respect for life, environment, culture and people. “It is this foundation of respect that binds and equalises us and one of the basic foundations we must build upon if we are going to save our wildlife in Kenya.”

Formed in early 2013, KUAPO brings together players in the tourism industry, community groups, artistes, media personalities, civil society and the general public and international friends of wildlife whose main interest is stem poaching in Kenya.

One of its flagship projects has been to work with the judiciary, the office of the Director of Public Prosecutions, the National Police Service, Kenya Wildlife Service, Kenya Revenue Authority and other law enforcement bodies.

“However, our most exciting effort has been the attempt to deploy African traditional conservation ethics to the conservation practices embraced in Kenya,” said Chandra.

For almost two years now, Chandra, who works in Amboseli but lives in Nairobi, has been co-ordinating KUAPO in reviving the potency of African traditional practise in saving wildlife and other natural resources from poachers. She says that her group is determined to use this almost lost knowledge in inculcating respect for nature, which KUAPO believes could help save wildlife.

But this has not been easy in a country where communities view their own traditions with disdain. “We have been accused of trying to use voodoo magic to fight poaching,” said Chandra.

KUAPO’s first stop was in Taita/Taveta County where members worked with the Njavungo Council of Elders on a 10-days exercise, traversing the county, educating the public in the old ways of living in harmony with nature.

Operating under the banner of Tamaduni Za Kiafrica Zaboresha Uhifadhi (African traditions and culture make conservation better) this was an exercise with a difference. It involved reminding the people how the Taita community traditionally related with wildlife. The Njavungo elders then crisscrossed the county to teach the same to different groups, and explianed the perils of destroying wildlife and nature.

The “training” commenced on August 11. Chandra said KUAPO will be taking this initiative to most of the communities living with wildlife in the eight wildlife regions.

“What we did in Taita/Taveta is but one small step, one we hope will lead us closer to realising our vision.” She said the organisation believes that the future of wildlife conservation in Kenya and elsewhere in the region lies with “actively involving communities that live with wildlife and that have borne the brunt of wildlife conservation practices for all the years.”

To make inroads, KUAPO has been seeking out grassroots organisations that uphold the same values, ethics and overall vision as the organisation. In Taita, they identified and recruited the Tsavo Pride and Amara Conservation, two non-governmental organisations that have been working in the region for many years.

The two NGOs teamed up with the Njavungo Council of Elders and KWS personnel and taught traditional conservation education in Bungule, Buguta, Miasenyi, Kajire, Mwashuma/Godoma, Maktau, Manoa, Landi, Kishushe and Mbulia areas of the county in their 10-day programme.

The sessions involve re-introducing the age-old practices to participants in protecting wildlife and the environment, the traditional penalties imposed on those who broke this “law.”

The session then moves on to list how the community destroys resources through illegal charcoal burning, poaching, overgrazing, and mining; and the direct and indirect benefits of wildlife and a healthy environment.

KWS personnel explain their role and specifically address issues related to human-wildlife conflict in the county as well as the penalties enshrined in the new Wildlife Conservation & Management Act 2013. 

The participants are encouraged to ask questions and later gather and record seeds of indigenous trees for replanting or give tips on known poachers. “These actions helped us to gauge the impact of the programme on the community,” Chandra said.