Responsible Tourism: Reforest Nsefu
In 2007, Robin Pope Safaris realized that it was time to address the issue of carbon emissions. We spent quite a bit of time corresponding with various carbon credit companies and finally realized that this was not the kind of solution we were looking for. We then decided that since quite a few carbon credit companies use tree planting projects to get their credits that we would start our own tree planting initiative, from here the Reforest Nsefu project was born.
The Reforest Nsefu project is not only focusing on sequestering carbon emissions, but also reforesting the Nsefu area, where both Nsefu and Tena Tena camps are located. We are working with Kawaza School and Nsefu School to create local nurseries. The hope is that the children will get involved with the project and this will offer them an opportunity to learn about trees and about conservation. We are planting a variety of fast growing indigenous trees for the reforestation portion of the project (some of these will be purchased from a local nursery and most will be grown from seed at the RPS nursery and the 2 school nurseries). For the carbon sequestration portion of the project, we will plant some slow growing indigenous trees as well as fruit trees (which will not only help the environment, but will also have a nutritional benefit).
The first 200 trees were planted in July 2007 and we hope that the plantings will continue for many years to come.
For updates on the Reforest Nsefu project, and for a list of tree species we have planted, please visit the Reforest Nsefu pageon the Kawaza Website.
