The LUMO Community Wildlife Sanctuary covers an area of 46,000 hectares in the
heart of the Tsavo Eco-system, in Taita Taveta district in southern Kenya. The
sanctuary, wedged between Tsavo East and West National Parks and Taita Game
Sanctuary , is a significant dispersal area for elephants and other species of
animals and a migration corridor for the elephants.
Three group ranches in Taita, Lualenyi, Mramba and Oza have come together to
form the LUMO Community Wildlife Sanctuary so as to exploit the natural
resources on their land sustainably. The sanctuary's 2,250 members benefit from
it, ensuring that the wildlife corridor between Tsavo East and West is
maintained.
The land surrounding LUMO consists of woody rolling savannah and remnants of
highland tropical rainforest. The soil is very fertile, and, with good rainfall,
farming is productive. However, in recent years reduced water yields, due to
deforestation and increased agriculture, is drying up the rivers, reducing farm
productivity in the lowlands, and increasing human-animal conflicts in the
highlands as elephants move up the sides of the Taita Hills in search of water.
LUMO aims to increase the area under wildlife conservation and maintain the
migratory corridor and dispersal area for wildlife in the Tsavo Eco-system, to
generate economic benefits for the local people through tourism based
activities, and to reduce the human wildlife conflict.
The area has a rich variety of flora and fauna. Key fauna resident in the area
include elephant, buffalo, giraffe, aardvark and lion, and antelope such as the
eland, oryx, dikdik and kongoni. It is also home to numerous birds.The habitat
includes the Mwashoti, Mwakitau and Ndola Hills and Lion Rock, which is an
important breeding site for lion.
