Manda Conservancy

The Manda Conservancy protects and restores 2,600 acres of globally critical habitat on Kenya's Manda Island — a remnant of the Coastal Forests of Eastern Africa, one of the planet's recognised biodiversity hotspots and among the most threatened ecosystems on the continent. More than 40% of the region's plant species are endemic, found nowhere else on Earth.

After [XX] years of restoring the grasslands that once sustained large herbivores, wildlife is already returning to the landscape. The land now supports more than [XX] water buffalo, [XX] troops of baboons, and camera traps have captured [X, Y, and Z] across the Conservancy. The longer arc of the work extends habitat recovery further and prepares the ground for the phased introduction of reticulated giraffe and [X, Y, and Z] — species that were once native to the island. Throughout, the ancient baobabs that dot the landscape are tended as living landmarks of the ecosystem they anchor.

The Conservancy works alongside local communities, Manda Bay Lodge (co-owned by Manda Projects), and partners to turn the restoration into local livelihoods — cleared invasive species, for instance, are processed into natural charcoal and sold in the surrounding area. By pairing active habitat restoration with long-term stewardship, Manda Conservancy safeguards one of the last intact fragments of a forest ecosystem that is disappearing almost everywhere else it was once found.