Mwaluganje Elephant Sanctuary is a community-owned elephant reserve in Kwale County, Kenya. It is a protected area for elephants and Encephalartos cycads, and it is also a community-owned elephant sanctuary.
Location
It is located 45 kilometers southwest of Mombasa and borders the Shimba Hills National Reserve on the Kenyan coast. Born Free Foundation and the Eden Wildlife Trust collaborated on the establishment of the sanctuary in early 1990s as part of a cooperative project involving the people of the surrounding Mwaluganje community, the Born Free Foundation, the Eden Wildlife Trust, and the United States Agency for International Development (USAID).
Ecology-based conservation activities, such as ecotourism and community-based conservation, are examples of recent trends in conservation management, as are community-based conservation efforts. In this community-based program, residents have leased their privately owned property to a community-based trust, which leases the property back to the owners.
The sanctuary is managed by the trust, dedicated to the conservation and preservation of elephants. In addition, it provides a crucial source of income for the local community, primarily through ecotourism and gate entrance fees, which earn a significant amount of money. Located near the Shimba Hills escarpment in Kwale County, this area serves as a migratory stopover for animals traveling to and from the Tsavo East National Reserve. Some of the revenue-generating operations include the production of paper from elephant dung, beekeeping (which produces honey products), and biofuel production.