Masingini forest is also called the lungs of Zanzibar (Unguja), it is located on the highest point of Unguja and consists of hill ridges with steep gullies in between. A tropical forest with monkeys and many species of birds.
Unfortunately, the land around the forest has been released for construction and there is now a proliferation of housing construction going on. With it the pressure on the forest increases, despite the fact that it is prohibited, many trees are cut and animals are stolen from the forest.
Many of the students at Kawa Training Center come from the area near Masingini Forest. Kawa has been doing Outreach programs here for a few years to make youth aware of career opportunities in tourism. This area has both the forest and the famous Spice plantations. Many youth of the area become Spice Tour Guides but without much knowledge of the subject itself hence Kawa tries to help these youth with a good education and thus more knowledge but also more opportunities to guide elsewhere and to generate more income. Of course, Kawa always has the environment high on its agenda, so our graduates are guides that are aware of nature and its protection.
We (Panda Juu and Kawa) have come up with a plan to create a buffer zone between the forest and the growing residential areas by purchasing land on the border of the forest. We have the idea to restore the land to its original state and leave it alone except that we use it for nature education and eco-tourism activities
We have devised a model in which travellers compensate their flight locally, with that money we can buy land, restore more forest to its original state, create more awareness, etc. We expect this to be a success as there are around 500,000 tourists fly to Zanzibar every year and we have a good network with hotels and Tour operators, locally and internationally.
TUI Forest Project Zanzibar
June 2023 the two year project agreement was signed between TUI Care Foundation and Kawa Foundation. Bluebikes has a part in the project creating sustainable tours in and near the project.
They will be walking Tours, Cycling tours (obviously) cultural tours and others. We work close together with the surrounding 13 communities.
Visiting the Project
Tree planting Tour
The tours are still being developed at this stage but we are already welcoming guests to the forest and you are welcome to donate to the project inorder to compensate you Carbon footprint.
Forest Protection Unit
We have prepared 26 bicycles, hey are painted green and they are for the Forest protection Unit. Two young people from each of the 13 surrounding communities will be offered a position as a Junior ranger in the Forest protection Unit, they will patroling the forest borders on their bicycles and observe and monitor any people and wild life going in and out of the forest. They will report directly to the Masingini Forest Rangers.
Read more about the project on the Kawa Foundation website.