Mwagusi Safari Camp supports the Foxes’ Community and Wildlife Conservation Trust (FCWCT), a grassroots initiative of the Fox Family. The initiative aims at addressing multifaceted components of poverty and the environment. We have already removed well over 25000 snares and so far, planted 30000 locally indigenous forest trees (as at end of 2019). The project currently focuses on the facilitation of ongoing ecological monitoring by deploying locally trained anti-poaching units into the scarp forests of Mufindi. Venturing into the forests from four forward operating bases, patrol teams are adept at monitoring both human activities/impacts and the presence/absence of native wildlife. A heavy focus lies in the removal of snares and traps used in illegal poaching activities. Spatiotemporal data concerning illegal human activity and occurrence data of several mammal species are collected daily by patrol teams, contributing to a data inventory which may reveal annual trends in forest resource consumption (illegal human activity) and provides insight into the population dynamics of wildlife species. Ongoing monitoring provides a strong baseline for appropriate law enforcement and forest management practices; safeguarding the ecological and economic values that these forests yield to local communities and stakeholders.
