Had you visited Kuku Group Ranch in Kenya in 2016 you'd have seen strange half craters dotted across an otherwise bare expanse of red soil. Almost sculptural, they weren't a work of art, but they were a work of beauty nonetheless. Each semicircular pit - known as a bund - had the power to rejuvenate barren land.
Fast forward six years, and the landscape is lush, green and barely recognisable. The Maasai community living in this part of southern Kenya dug over 150,000 bunds, with support from NGO Justdiggit, which applies nature-based conservancy techniques to bring life back to arid places.
Each bund captures rainwater - creating in essence a large puddle. Pooled rain nourishes seeds lying in the soil, allowing them to germinate. Plants then prevent the soil from degrading further,…
You're reading a preview of
The Simple Things (Digital) - 1 Issue, August 2022