“A very warm welcome to the new look 2021 Chake Community Conservancy website! I am sure that wherever you live, anywhere in the world, you will agree with me that this last year has been like no other! At Chake we have watched the disaster unfurl with terrible sadness. As I write this, I see the number of Covid deaths in the USA has just topped 300,000. An unbelievable figure! Covid has cursed Kenya too, and many have died but thankfully none of our Chake community have become infected. But we miss our foreign visitors keenly! Before the pandemic nature-based tourism was the lifeblood of many economies and employed 21.8 million jobs worldwide. 1.6 million of them were in Kenya! Tourism revenue also supported many communities living next door to wildlife and conservation. This is especially true in our Conservancies. (See our activities). Fortunately, our natural assets and our wonderful wildlife have weathered this storm and as the new year dawns we believe that we can face it with confidence. Covid-19 was not the first zoonotic pandemic to emerge in recent years. Ebola and HIV-AIDS made the jump from primates to humans in damaged tropical forests in Congo. And as a medical man I saw the dreadful impact of HIV-AIDS. It has killed over 33 million, Kenya was especially brutally affected and even now in Chake we are caring for HIV orphans although thanks to our Chake community education efforts and better healthcare the spread is curbed, Covid however has been a true wake up call to the dangers of destroying nature. The world is not fully awake but the voices are ever louder and more difficult for sleepers to ignore! The UN Sec General in his recent speech on World Biodiversity Day stated “Humanity is waging war on nature! ... Nature always strikes back and it is already doing so with growing force and fury.” His words have since been echoed by many other world leaders. And, as scientists state, we are in now as I write this, entering our planet’s Sixth Extinction. More than one million species could become extinct in the coming decades. This is not an asteroid killing dinosaurs. It is humanity waging its war. And not against an enemy. We are waging war on our best ally! Nature! But the UN leader also added “Making peace with Nature is the defining task of the 21st century. It must be the top, top priority for everyone, everywhere.” Making peace with Nature is our philosophy at Chake. We work to stop human/wildlife conflict, we teach poachers other, better ways to make a livelihood rather than Law breaking and killing, we plant trees for our community and our wild neighbours, we think the time for a new Post-Covid recovery is now! “ But what can I do?” A lot of people see depressing news or watch a heartbreaking David Attenborough documentary and think this! The answer is ‘lots!’ By helping us restore a damaged forest, by ‘adopting’ a tree, you may be thousands of miles away and feeling powerless but you are directly helping change the future for the better, sowing seeds of hope and giving valuable work to our vulnerable community members. By equipping our rangers, you are fighting extinctions. It is you keeping the animals safe and your ranger warm and dry on the cold night patrols. By sponsoring a bee hive you are keeping elephants away from crops and sweetening our meals with your honey. And, of course, pollinating plants! You don’t have to buy land here to protect it. It is ours. And with your help we vow to continue to protect it! If you are a scientist, an agricultural extension worker, an IT teacher or specialist and want to come here physically, of course you are most welcome (see How to Help section). But anybody, anywhere, can help us make this new decade what the UN has called The Decade of Action! Thank you for visiting this website. We hope you enjoy your ‘virtual visit’ to our Chake home! And that you will stay with us virtually in the months to come. We will update. The doors will always be open. And feel free to share the contents! Best of all, of course, we look forward to welcoming you physically when happier times allow! Karibu! You are welcome!” Charles Kinara Founder, Chake Community Conservancy

We’re in it for the ‘triple win’! Win for the ecology Win for the community Win for the economy

Lights

Trees

Hives

Sustainable Communities

Wildlife Orphans

Wildlife Widows

Jobs

Livelihoods

Adventures

Sustainable Communities

Healthy Wildlife

Quality habitat

Conservation

Education

‘Chake’ means ‘theirs’ in the Kiswahili tongue. This name recognises that ownership of the conservancy is shared with people and wildlife. The community want to live in better harmony with nature and are opposed to the hunting and poaching of wildlife, preferring to benefit from flourishing wildlife through sustainable ecotourism and responsible farming practices. Chake (pronounced Cha-Ke) stands for: C - care for H - human and A - animals K- Kenya E - education Over the years the area had become deforested from unsustainable use as fuel. Since January 2020 members of Chake have raised over 3,500 tree seedlings in their nursery and planted them out to serve simultaneously as habitat and food for wildlife, erosion control, shade trees, windbreaks and for watershed improvement. We seek funding for these operations. Contribute To Chake Conservancy GOFUNDME

Learn about Chake Rangers

Chake Conservancy added to map courtesy of africaGeographic.