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USAID/ Kenya - Success Stories
›Generating Rural Incomes: Switching from Cattle Raising to Conservation and Tourism
›II Ngwesi Lodge: Linking Business and Nature, Laikipia, KenyaGenerating Rural Incomes: Switching from
Cattle Raising to Conservation and TourismIn Kenya, conservation is primarily focused on national parks and game reserves, which comprise eight percent of the country’s landmass. Through the Conservation of Resources through Enterprise (CORE) program, USAID and its partners help local communities learn to manage natural resources and implement enterprises that provide local benefits. The program provides training and technical assistance to community-based organizations (CBOs) to improve governance, financial accountability and transparency.
Ngwesi Lodge is an example of one small but successful CBO enterprise that has inspired a number of similar ventures throughout Kenya. Launched in 1996 (under USAID’s COBRA project), Ngwesi is a 12-bed luxury lodge surrounded by an 8,700 hectare conservation area. The conservation area, called Il Ngwesi Group Ranch, was previously overgrazed and badly degraded. Today, cattle are prohibited except during severe drought. From the lodge, visitors can spot elephant, buffalo, bushbuck, kudu and the occasional big cat.
In exchange for maintaining the conservation area, the 448 registered households in the CBO receive multiple financial and social benefits. Earnings from the lodge are dispersed as wages to employees and as dividends to members. About 50 community members work at the lodge. For these workers and their families, wages are secure and consistent. Earners spend them on activities such as building, savings and investment in microenterprises.
Il Ngwesi Group Ranch illustrates that switching from cattle herding to conservation can be good business for local communities.
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Il Ngwesi Lodge: Linking Business
and Nature, Laikipia, KenyaCommunity-owned and managed, this growing enterprise on the slopes of Mount Kenya combines local knowledge, business, and nature. Il Ngwesi Lodge-small but successful-is proving that switching from cattle herding to conservation can be good business for local communities; it is becoming a model for conservation-based enterprise throughout East Africa. Launched with the assistance of USAID's Conservation of Biodiverse Resource Areas Project (COBRA) in 1996, this community project has inspired a number of similar ventures throughout Kenya ¾ as well as USAID's current Conservation of Resources through Enterprises (CORE) project.
On land that was once overgrazed and badly degraded, Il Ngwesi Group Ranch today hosts an 8,700 ha conservation area surrounding a 12-bed, luxury lodge. Cattle are prohibited from the conservation area except during severe drought. From the lodge, visitors can spot elephant, buffalo, bushbuck, kudu, and the occasional big cat.
Occupancy rates at the lodge have been increasing steadily since the lodge opened its doors to visitors in December 1996 ¾ the Lodge hosted more than 1,000 visitors in 2000. Accordingly, earnings are growing: During its first year, the lodge grossed $US 40,000; it earned an estimated $US 85,000 in 2000.
The majority of these earnings fund community development for the nearly 450 participating households. Some are instead disbursed as dividends to group ranch members, or as wages to employees. About 50 community members work at the lodge. For these individuals and their families, wages are secure and consistent; earners spend them on such activities as building, savings, or investment into micro-enterprises.
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More about USAID/ Kenya
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Updated: Wednesday, January 9, 2002
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Last Updated on: July 19, 2004 |
