By: Katie Shaw, Conservation Social Scientist
Convincing people to change their attitudes and behaviors toward snakes can be quite challenging, which is why we need conservationists who share the same passion for snakes and other reptiles as the staff of The Wild Snake Project in Kenya. While I was already in Kenya to teach one of The Living Desert’s Building Community Conservation Success workshops, I took the opportunity to meet with our partners at The Wild Snake Project and explore the beautiful area where they work.
The Wild Snake Project developed an educational snake curriculum and has been teaching students from communities around the region about the importance of snakes and ways to coexist with them. They bring students to a beautiful eco-camp for a weekend of instruction and nature walks. Staff members Mirthe and Dixon were kind enough to give me a tour of the camp, and as soon as their feet hit the ground upon arrival, they were looking for snakes to show me. Dixon was quickly looking under rocks and logs, eager to share with me the creatures he is so passionate about. While we weren’t lucky enough to see any snakes, we did see a couple of other amazing reptiles, including chameleons.
There are numerous venomous snakes in the region, and without knowing proper preventative measures or identification techniques, people often kill all snakes out of fear. However, snakes play an important role in maintaining balance in the ecosystem. Further, the region hosts unique species found only in Kenya, such as the Kenya horned viper. In addition to teaching local children and adults about snake awareness, The Wild Snake Project staff also conducts biological research to monitor snake populations and do habitat restoration so that snakes and other reptiles can thrive in healthy ecosystems.
The Living Desert helps support The Wild Snake Project by assisting with evaluations to assess the efficacy of the educational programs and learn important ways in which to expand or revise the curriculum for future students. The Wild Snake Project works in collaboration with the Wild Nature Institute, a long-time partner of The Living Desert so that snake education also reaches students in northern Tanzania. Between the two organizations, staff have collected data from hundreds of students who have participated in the programs. The Living Desert will help with the analysis of this data to ensure that students continue to learn about snakes in a way that is both entertaining and impactful to ensure the long-term sustainability of these important species.
