Jumbo 3200 km walk to raise awareness

First Lady Janeth Magufuli is expected to receive a team of 12 trekkers undertaking a 3200 kilometres ‘East Africa Grass-Root Elephant Education Campaign,’ covering Kenya, Uganda and Tanzania on foot. 

The trekkers, including 11 Kenyans and three Tanzanians shocked the Arusha Regional Commissioner, Mr Daudi Felix Ntibenda who flagged off their entourage last week by telling him that the total journey of 3200 kilometres will be accomplished on foot. 

First Lady, Mama Magufuli, will be receiving the Arusha-Dar-es-Salaam leg of the campaign Journey on the 7th of July 2016 at the  Saba-Saba grounds during the climax of the National Trade Fair. The trekkers are expected to reach Dar on Wednesday the 6th of July. 

 The East Africa Grass-Root Elephant Education Campaign Walk was flagged off by the Kenyan First Lady, Mrs Margaret Uhuru Kenyatta earlier this month, when the team led by Mr Jim Nyamu, the Executive Director for the Elephant Neighbours Center, took off from Nairobi for the first trek heading to Arusha. 

The trekkers entered Tanzania and received  at Namanga border by the Longido District Commissioner, then trekked along the leeward side of Mount Meru into Engarenanyuki, through Arusha National Park and arrived in Arusha City more than a week ago. 

From the 22nd of June the trekkers  started  their walk from Arusha to Dar-es-salaam through Kilimanjaro and Tanga Regions, targeting to take 15 days along the way and eventually reach the city on the 6th of July.

Speaking in Arusha  the walk coordinator, Mr Nyamu said the trekking event across the three East African countries was being conducted to raise awareness of the value of elephants and rhinos, to help mitigate human-elephant conflicts, and to promote anti-poaching activities.

Nyamu's team intends to walk more than 3200 kilometres over 135 days, with the campaign journey on foot starting from Nairobi to Dar-es-Salaam (via Arusha, Moshi, Tanga and Coast regions) and after Dar, head to Bukoba via Morogoro into Kampala (Queens Elizabeth National Park and Jinja), and then back to Nairobi through Busia, Kakamega and Nakuru, route.

As they trek the 3200 kilometres , sometimes through thick bushes and remote landscapes, the AMREF Flying Doctors will be providing assistance in form of air rescue should there be an emergency situation, that is according to Ms Catherine Ochola Oyugi the company’s Sales and Marketing Manager.

The walk which will take the team through the three East African countries of Kenya, Tanzania and Uganda is going to set record of being the longest, toughest and most daring campaign initiative to be attempted in the region yet.