Sacred Nature Initiative (SNI)
We founded the Sacred Nature Initiative in 2021 as a non-profit based on three pillars: Inspire - Educate - Conserve, to try to help reconnect people to nature in the face of the Climate Crisis and catastrophic decline in biodiversity. In the last 50 years, Earth has lost 68% of its Wildlife, 85% of Wetlands, due to humans. Animals, birds, and fish populations have plummeted more than two-thirds in less than 50 years due to rampant deforestation and over-consumption by a human population that reached 8 billion in August 2022. Prior to the Covid-19 pandemic in early 2020 - we were due to set off on safari to Tanzania in March 2020 when the travel industry began to close down - we had intended to launch SNI with a series of Events world wide targeting initially 10 capital cities including Nairobi, London and Washington, DC and partnering with local conservation organisations at each venue. As Angela says, everyone has a Sacred Nature, and we wanted to build on this idea by amplifying our message both locally and globally.
We are only just getting back on course now that the pandemic has retreated to some degree with vaccines offering some form of protection from the worst of the virus. Our hope is to have Exhibitions and associated Events in mid-2023 in Santa Fe, New Mexico where our son David and his wife Tori live who are part of the Big Cat Family engaged with us on the SNI. And there are plans for Exhibitions in 2023/24 at the Nairobi National Museum, Woodson Art Museum in Wausau, Wisconsin, and World Bank Headquarters in Washington DC.
We recently completed a Promotional Video for Narok County One Mara Brand campaign under the SNI brand.
October 2023 will see the publication of the Sacred Nature Safari Colouring Book (Bradt) featuring 51 of our pen and ink illustrations. A percentage of the profits will benefit the SNI. We continue to work closely with the Kenya Wildlife Trust’s Mara Predator Conservation Programme (MPCP) and are proud to be Ambassadors of this innovative and effective operation. Their work is featured in Lion: The Rise and Fall of the Marsh Pride (BBC/PBS) and we very much hope that you will support the MPCP in their vital community campaign to reduce conflict between humans and wildlife. There have already been significant gains in preventing loss of livestock by focusing on causes of conflict. This has involved helping the community to create predator-proof livestock enclosures using wire fencing and recycled plastic posts, reinforced metal entrance gates, and solar powered flashing lights to frighten away predators at night. This has led to a massive reduction in loses. However the problem of cattle being brought illegally inside the Reserve at night - and sometimes during the daytime - is still one that is ongoing and needs solutions through the coming together of the local community and all other stakeholders to agree measures that will ensure the well being of both people and wildlife. This is only possible if the natural environment is managed in a sustainable fashion.
