The mowana (baobab) trees throughout Botswana are struggling to survive and thrive because of human impact on elephant migration leading to overfeeding on these generous but sensitive trees. This species is essential to the ecosystem and needs to be protected while respecting and honoring the elephants.

This project brings together an organic solution created through research, indigenous practices and ancestral knowledge and an education program that I’ve spent years developing for local schools. By training local young people to be able to use this approach to protect mowana trees, we will not only help the trees and elephants thrive better together but also plant the seeds for a new generation of local conservationists.

To become self-sustaining in our conservation and education program we want to share what we are doing and learning with a broader population through conservation tourism. We want to offer an authentic, local conservation safari experience rooted in our traditional ways and understanding.

Ujubee currently has several emergent opportunities to extend research in national parks across South Africa. They have also identified immediate interest and needs to spread practices and awareness directly amongst national parks guides and staff.

The combination of both of these has the possibility to establish a model that can shift both day-to-day and long-term decision-making and policy around bees, not only in these specific sites but also as it spreads to other locations. This merges a decade of existing Ujubee work with the urgent current need for a vision of effective change.

This project will document the process and give people the opportunity to directly learn and support this key moment in this work as it unfolds.

10 years ago, we had a lot of grass around our home that needed lots of water, fertilizers and weedkillers to look good. When I mowed, I disturbed all kinds of more than human beings who were trying to live their lives. Newly sprouting aspen shoots were regularly mowed down. When I pruned, raked, weeded and “beautified” the yard, I unknowingly disturbed habitats, disrupted insects, removed birds’ favorite dead branch perches, destroyed shelters and nests in the fallen leaves…… all for the sake of an “aesthetically pleasing standard” of the American suburban neighborhood.

So, a few years ago, we stopped. We decided to let Nature manage herself and see what would grow and thrive and what would not. We support all of Nature’s beings regardless of whether humans have assessed them as desirable or undesirable, beauties or weeds, assets or pests.

Our yard is now a Certified Wildlife Habitat by the National Wildlife Federation. https://www.nwf.org/CERTIFY

The sense of wonder and connection we feel amidst the activity and music of the abundant, diverse wildlife is life giving.