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The Colobus Trust and the South Coast Residents Association went to look the Baobab Beach Resort development again today. We were once again reminded of the momentous challenges we face when we discovered they were still working on the site digging up the old coral that makes up our bedrock with their huge rock crusher as seen continuing after the ban below.
This is more evidence that they have no care for our forest, or even Kenyan law. They were told by NEMA last week to halt all major works for two weeks whilst the Environmental Impact Assessment was undertaken. They were also told not to work on the beach. They had left a massive scar in the beach where they were working on the suspicious trench and were working on a beach wall. We discovered this because there is only one NEMA representative in the Kwale District who had inadequate time or funding to regularly come into Diani. Ironically, after visiting the site, we bumped into the daughter original developer (Mr England), Sandra Ruysenaars. She told us that when the initial building work was done it was all planned around the trees. They were the reason people came to Diani. Let us hope these days are not over. We have been shocked to see such a change in the mentality of developers in the last half centaury. Sandra burst into tears when we showed her photos of what had been done and said that her father would be “turning in his grave”. We are currently working on articles about this catastrophe to be sent to the East African Wildlife Society and Coastweek as well as contacting tour operators who support the Baobab Beach Resort. We have also sent an appeal to the headman of NEMA, who’s based in Nairobi, where we outline the problems in Diani. We hope this may persuade him to increase funding, and support of the laws, in our district and, ideally, the rest of Kenya. Please help us by emailing gwili@colobustrust.org with any further contacts within the media, conservation or tourism worlds. Even if you have already contacted them, we need to keep track of what is said on our behalf and want to keep a database of all those who have heard about our battle. Thanks so much for the support and help already received and keep it coming! Gwili Gibbon
4 Comments posted on "Baobab Beach Resort continue work despite NEMA ruling!"
Theresa Siskind St Petersburg FL on April 5th, 2008 at 9:16 am
Gwili, there is ENN ( Environmental News Network), they do press releases for environmental organizations, but the catch is, you have to be a member. I can still call on Monday morning, to find out what their fees are. They send out releases daily. If you want to email them, you can at dailynews@enn.com I will email today’s newsletter to you, to give you an idea. Just click on Submit News to find out more. I will also write a letter to this hotel, polite but firm, this morning. As for the Peace Corps, I know it takes time, but God knows, you qualify. I’ll call their US branch, to find out more for you, you are very busy as it is. The building and repair of these bridges, is an ongoing venture, so you really need volunteers. Perhaps, if anyone has contacts with universities, many college kids want to do something useful during their summer break, if we could get the word out about your need for volunteers, who knows. I’ll check back with you on Monday, after I’ve made my calls.
Gwili on April 5th, 2008 at 9:26 am
Brilliant. Thanks so much Theresa! You really are a star! Looking forward to hear of your progress on Monday.
Ann on April 8th, 2008 at 2:21 pm
i sent a pretty strong email to the Baobab Beach Resort website last week about this issue, but i don’t know if it will do any good. depends on how many complaints they got, total, i would think.
James on May 1st, 2008 at 2:34 pm
I have sent emails out to all our contacts in the tourism business in the states and Europe with a link to this post and a plea not to support tourism operations (like this one) that compromise nature for the sake of some more bed nights. I also noticed on traveladvisor.com several prospective clients discussing this hotel. they too got the link. Post a comment
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The Colobus Trust was established in Diani Beach, Kenya, in 1997 to save the endangered Angolan colobus monkey which was a frequent victim of roadkills. The Trust's trademark is Colobridges - bridges over the roads for save overpass. Gwili, a Welsh volunteer at the Trust reports on the day to day activities in an busy local primate conservation charity 
