| Summary: | Open strip mining for cement production, out of fossil coral limestone has left hectares of man-made quarry, a stone desert at Bamburi near Mombasa. A rehabilitation programme initiated in 1971, started with a Casuarina plantation and fish pond culture. Later on, the production of humus assisted by introducing millipedes created soils, which enabled the planting of other trees and the creation of a forest. Simultaneously, intensive Tilapia tank culture was developed to a pilot commercial scale. A small nature trail has also been set up with tortoises, hippopotamus, crocodiles, waterbucks, antelopes, and numerous other wild animals as well as plenty of birds. A small herd of oryx and elands is also successfully reared while snail, earthworm and wild fowl production experiments are under way. The principes adopted here constitute a very impressive example of how man can correct the environmental damage he is making, and that reafforestation and rehabilitation programmes can be effective under near desert like conditions.
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