Vipingo Ridge have been planting indigenous coastal trees since 2006, when the sisal farm was identified as a potential future community development.

From 2006 to 2009 the project was particularly rewilding focussed, with an estimated 35,000 trees planted during this intensive period of establishing the estate. As well as planting the trees, collecting seeds and creating the nursey, the team also focussed on supressing the non-native species. This work continues to this day.

In restricting the invasive species these indigenous saplings have flourished, with some of these trees now over 60-feet tall. The landscape of Vipingo Ridge has been transformed by these pillars of the returning coastal ecosystems.

Community planting of indigenous trees

he Kenyan Government declared Monday 13th November 2023 a public holiday to mark National Tree Planting Day, aiming to plant 100 million trees. This forms part of a wider goal to plant 15 billion trees in 10 years

For the long weekend our team of gardeners and volunteers jumped into action to put together a program to identify a suitable location and to plant out many of our nursey saplings. We also supported a number of our coastal growers by procuring some additional species as well.

Our plan was to bring tree planting to all of our stakeholders, encouraging our team, residents and homeowners to participate in creating a new future forest. We identified an 8m deep and a kilometre long area to plant with native trees.

Community support from the Vipingo Ridge homeowners and residents

Our generous homeowners engaged with the tree planting initiative with enthusiasm. Some were able to join us in person to plant their trees, and many sent in funds to support the program.

Overall 80 trees were planted in the new forest in the name of the Vipingo Ridge homeowners. We thank everyone for their support.

Kenya native coastal trees

There has been much interest in the varieties of coastal trees we planted, so here’s a list of the trees that were planted this weekend:

An important team activity

At Vipingo Ridge the engagement of our team is very important to us. We also aspire for all of our team share our focus on the environment and conservation efforts. We encourage personal development to learn about our surroundings. One of our volunteer homeowners (Vicki, pictured) took time with the team to explain more about the sights and smells, medicinal properties, ecological benefits of the trees they would be planting.

It is well documented that it is good for mental health to get out of the usual routine and do something mindful, like planting a tree. With this thought process, we invited our team to take a few minutes out of their busy working day to commune with nature and to make their mark on Vipingo Ridge by planting a tree. This was a fun team activity and we thank them for their enthusiasm and positive camaraderie.

Successful tree planting weekend

In total we had aimed for 100s of trees to be planted as part of the public holiday program, and were able to plant just over 300 trees - a fantastic achievement.

We thank our hard working gardeners, volunteers and supporters for making this activity so successful. We will continue to water and nurture these trees, as they grow to create a new forest habitat at Vipingo Ridge.

Why not take a look at our tree planting golf event? Or learn more about our rewilding program.