A simple gift: local conservation

Not surprisingly, most of my (and my gardening companion's) giving is to conservation and environmental organizations.

But a recent opportunity to directly support the efforts of a young local birder in Kenya, organized by the birding blog 10,000 birds, touched me directly. We've met a number of local guides in reserves and natural areas in different parts of the world who have enriched our understanding of those places, and who usually worked extremely hard to learn more about their natural heritage and to support their families. Severin Constantin (behind the teacher carrying bananas), in the Amani nature preserve, a biodiversity 'hotspot' in Tanzania, had learned about the natural history of the reserve from scientists working there, and was saving money to establish a small egg-producing flock of hens with his fiance, in addition to his guiding work.

So I was glad to support Dominic Kamani's research survey work through the efforts of Charlie, Mike, and Corey (and the Nature Blog Network), summarized in a recent post about local conservation efforts.