Hemingways arranges excursions with local expert bird guides, as well as sundowner trips on the Hemingways traditional dhow.
The Kipepeo Project butterfly farm was set up in 1993 to help farmers earn money from the nearby Arabuko-Sokoke Forest and its unique biodiversity. This compensates in part for the damage that elephants and baboons cause to farmers' crops, and helps to alleviate poverty in the area Kipepeo become economically self-sustaining and in 2001 was formally handed over to our project partners, the National Museums of Kenya.
Kipepeo (Swahili for butterfly) is a community based enterprise that supports the livelihoods of people living around Arabuko Sokoke forest in coastal Kenya, East Africa. This provides an incentive for their participation in the conservation of a forest with high biodiversity and endemism.
Kipepeo seeks to demonstrate the tangible link between conservation and livelihood. Farmers who live next to the forest collect tiny butterfly larvae (caterpillars) from the Kipepeo Project. They raise the caterpillars on leaves from forest trees; a very small, sustainable harvest. When the caterpillars change into pupae (the resting stage in the life of a butterfly), the farmers sell the pupae to Kipepeo.
The Project then ships the pupae to live butterfly displays in Europe and North America. The butterflies hatch from their pupae soon after arrival.
Kipepeo Project is open every day of the year to visitors. It is located within the grounds of the Gede Ruins National Monument, about 20 km south of Malindi in Coast Province.
