Dupoto Forest and Wildlife Association

The Dupoto Forest and Wildlife Association is a community based organisation in the Transmara district of Masai Mara, formed in 1997 with the aim of managing an ecotourism project that was started to both protect the Nyakweri forest as well as benefiting the community around it. It has more than 300 members and work in partnership with ESOK, the Ecotourism Society of Kenya, Transmara Development program and recently the Mara Conservancy who are all providing technical support. Dupoto Forest & Wildlife Association has empowered the community due to the benefits accrued from the ecotourism project, which are managed and shared among members. The world famous Masai Mara National Reserve, depends entirely on this forest as it forms an eco-system with animals like elephants moving in to the forest during dry seasons in September to  December, and lions, leopards and other cats migrate to the forest during rainy seasons when there is long grass in the park, making hunting difficult. Dupoto community are promoting eco-tourism activities e.g forest walks and camping in this forest, with the aim of generating some income to its members who are affected by human wildlife conflicts. Researcher and Trainer, Deidre Luzmore, visited the fantastic Nyakweri Forest. She was guided by a Dupoto member through the forest on a trail walk identifying wild boar spoors, numerous bird species and inspecting hyena sleeping quarters deep within one of the last indigenous pockets of tropical Forest in Kenya. Using GIS and
satellite technologies, she was able to estimate the size of forest remaining and the extent of deforestation in the last 30 years. She also assisted with marketing material for Dupoto Forest and Wildlife Association.

Community education officers developed propoor tourism projects through assisting women in bead making and providing a platform where they could sell directly to tourists. These officers worked in  partnership with a local tourism operators and supported over a 100 Maasai women by providing assistance in sourcing materials, design, quality control and marketing assistance. In addition, more than 200 bee hives owned by local women, produced honey which was sold to surrounding tourist lodges. After observing and listening to community education officers about the challenges they face, I became involved in a project to assist with GIS data capture which included locations of maasai villages, population, livestock numbers, schools, clinics and trading centres. Tourist lodge and tented camp locations were also captured. This project enable officers to visualise, with the use of maps, and make decisions about where to establish clinics, build schools and identify tourist camps to work with.