The first visitors to Nyongoro

Nyongoro is the name of the Better Globe plantation in the north-eastern corner of Kenya, near the coastal town of Lamu. Kenya is currently conducting a large infrastructure program, which includes a major investment in turning Lamu into the main port for Kenya. That role is currently filled by Mombasa, and is vital, not just for Kenya, but also for the surrounding countries without a coastline of their own.

It is here, not far from the planned major transport routes, we are renting 23 hectares (57 acres) from the local population, mainly consisting of cattle farmers. Poverty is widespread, and roads in reasonable condition ends halfway from Mombasa on the coast in a small town called Malindi. Basically all roads north of Malindi and almost all the way east to Kiambere, are dirt roads.

It had rained shortly before we left for Nyongoro so we saw people along the way scoping up water from the puddles in the road into their yellow containers to carry home.

When we arrived at the planned plantation in the middle of nowhere, we started by walking straight into the jungle, guided by Jan Vandenabeele. He took us to a 7 hectares (17 acres) large area that had been cleared manually for planting of Mukau. This is equivalent to about 10 football fields and is only a fraction of the total plantation.

The nursery and various other buildings are constructed in another part of the plantation. This is also where they building the garage for the bulldozer sitting in the port of Mombasa awaiting transportation to Nyongoro as soon as customs papers and other documents are completed.

In Nyongoro we have access to water in the same manner as in Kiambere, and because of that and number of other reasons, Nyongoro is most likely where we can get started first with large scale and mechanized operations. The operation at Nyongoro follows the same basic principles as all our work in Africa. We have very strong local support as we create jobs and contribute to improving the living conditions of so many of the locals.

During our visit we met with leading representatives of those living in the area, and attended the customary speeches and various presentations. Two goats were grilled and eaten with varying degrees of appreciation of us musungos (whites) who are used to eating more thoroughly cooked meat.

We took the opportunity to plant a personal tree for everyone on the tour. The growing conditions here are fairly good, unlike many other parts of Kenya. It’s defiantly still a so-called “drylands” but it is greener than many other locations. It’s significantly windier here as Nyongoro is closer to the coast. That, and some other factors are creating new challenges for the design of the forestry and Better Globe is as usual on the forefront, developing methods and models for effective and safe forest management under extreme conditions.

Better Globe is also breaking new grounds by having a female chief of technology officer in Nyongoro. Phelister Riziki is a forest technician and Better Globe’s manager on-site. She has over 70 people reporting to her during the preparations of the 7 hectares (17 acres) they are currently working on, and it has reportedly gone very well. It might not sound strange to people in the western world, but this is in the middle of the jungle in a predominately Muslim area, and the general view of women in Africa is very different from the western view.

We were the first group of customers to visit this plantation and I am very happy and proud to have been here. All the different parts of Kenya and all the different operations have their charm, their challenges, and their personality. Nyongoro is definitely a plantation we will hear more about, as well as Better Globe. What we do makes a difference!

By: Lennart Göthe

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