Impact

The work on the ground

Restoration measured not in seedlings distributed but in trees still standing years later — and in the communities that keep them alive.

The Nine-Acre Homestead Forest in Western Kenya

A nine-acre urban forest

My rural family home in Western Kenya sits on nine acres of urban forest grown over decades — a private woodland that began as a handful of seedlings and now shelters birds, shade and soil that the surrounding ridge has otherwise lost.

Rows of indigenous tree seedlings in black planting bags under shade netting at a Kenyan nursery

The largest tree nursery in Bungoma County

I co-led a nursery that propagated more than one million seedlings — all donated to the community, including 5,000-seedling packages for schools across five functional tree categories.

100 acres restored on the South Coast

In 2006 I acquired 100 acres of degraded farmland 50 miles from Mombasa and regenerated it into indigenous forest — more than 90,000 seedlings planted alongside expansive natural regeneration. The forest now supports beekeeping, agroforestry, and community partnerships, and planting continues as a prototype for the surrounding community.

Restored indigenous canopy and open glade on the 100-acre South Coast forest — South Coast Canopy Returning

Vetiver grass planted in rows along an eroded riverbank to stabilise the soil

Rehabilitating the Ramisi River

Along the Ramisi River adjacent to the forest, I am piloting riverbank rehabilitation that restores ecological function and protects the marine ecosystems of the Indian Ocean at Shimoni by mitigating wanton erosion.

Tea tasting table with rows of porcelain cups of brewed black tea and loose leaf samples

A tea sommelier's palate

During my corporate career in the tea industry I became a tea sommelier — a natural evolution for someone raised in a part of rural Kenya where tea is a daily staple, and a discipline that sharpened how I read quality all the way down a supply chain and back to the soil.

From the field

Photographs from the sites

Young trees establishing in an open plantation under blue sky — Young Stock Establishing

Restored woodland canopy on Kenya's South Coast — South Coast Canopy Returning

Vetiver grass rows holding a sandy riverbank above the water line — Vetiver Holding the Ramisi Bank

Community members planting vetiver slips along an eroded riverbank — Riverbank Rehabilitation in Progress

Mature indigenous trees behind a stick fence on the homestead forest — Homestead Forest, 25 Years On

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