The Sheldrick Wildlife Trust continues to support marginalised communities and schools in the Tsavo Conservation Area. Through our daily school lunch programme, which was established at the end of 2021, we provide supplies of rice, maize, beans and oil to eight local schools. Not only does this programme see positive effects in their attendance and performance but it also creates much goodwill in the communities and positive attitudes towards wildlife and conservation. During this reporting period food was distributed to 1,433 children in October only, with November and December being annual school holidays in Kenya.

With support from the Chantecaille Conservation Foundation, we are able to provide significant further support to another 68 schools, whereby 15,433 children receive a daily supply of 'uji'; a local porridge made of maize, beans, nuts with added vitamins. Every month the SWT purchases, collects and transports a vast consignment of over 25,000kgs of porridge and delivers it by truck to these schools.

With school holidays in November and December, our special school field trips took place in October, during which time 301 students and 20 teachers were provided an opportunity to visit Tsavo East National Park. These trips help to establish a positive connection between children and nature, which is critical for the long-term protection of wildlife.

We continue to support 12 children, from local communities bordering the National Parks, through secondary education. These sponsored students are currently in form 3, term two (Kenyan system of education). These are children from impoverished families bordering the Tsavo Conservation Area, within the age range of 15-18yrs. We pay their annual tuition fees, including a yearly boost for transport to and from their respective schools. At the higher education level, we finance university studies for three aspiring young adults from local communities in Tsavo. These scholarships are all for university places in Kenya; one student is in their first year and two students are currently in their fourth years.

In total, we manage 198 beehives and during November the Community Outreach Team focused on beekeeping efforts. They inspected and cleaned the hives, which was much appreciated by the inhabitant bees and it is hoped and expected that new occupations will yield farmers a good income of honey in the coming months. Together with local bee farmers, a thorough beehive inspection and maintenance exercise was conducted in multiple areas.

November marked the last month of community activities for the year, as schools closed for the long holiday period until 6th January 2026. Our outreach work focused on seedling donations, tree planting, and beehive inspection and maintenance. A strong emphasis was placed on propagating indigenous tree species to help restore degraded community and park landscapes affected by persistent drought and human activities. Across different community groups and locations, a total of 21,894 tree seedlings were donated or planted.