Kenya’s diverse ecosystems include vast mangroves, estuaries, seagrass beds, coral reefs, and sandy beaches. Yet so often, we only ever think of Kenya as a picturesque representation of what “Africa” looks like in the Western imagination; open savannas, great migrations of territorial creatures, piercing golden sunsets...In this week’s episode, we are joined by Jahawi Bertolli who takes us underwater to learn about the endless worlds that exist beyond Kenya’s shoreline. These coastal ecosystems not only contribute to great biological diversity, but they are the birthing place of tremendous seafaring culture, coastal folklore, and social communities. As such, they too are navigating changing seascapes brought on by warming waters, overexploitation, and pollution. Jahawi shares with us how this part of the ocean is faring, the importance of community-based conservation, traditional ecological knowledge in East Africa, and how storytelling can be a conduit for rekindling intergenerational custodianship.

Jahawi Bertolli is a National Geographic Explorer, filmmaker, photographer, and music producer from Kenya specializing in wildlife and the underwater world. He strives to portray the beauty, power, and vulnerability of wild environments through his work, which has taken him around the world. His current focus is on telling African wildlife stories from the perspectives of the local communities, highlighting African storytelling. In 2019, Bertolli was awarded a Vulcan Visiting World Filmmakers scholarship from Jackson Wild Summit and was also the co-host of the annual Grand Teton Awards.

Focusing on stories of wild life, we extend our conversation with Jahawi into the realm of what our wild futures look like amidst ongoing development. We ask how development is changing life and landscape in Kenya, as sizeable and extensive infrastructure projects are created across the country, as well as the colonial origins and echoes of conservation. Typically, conservation continues to be foreign, large scale endeavors that remain completely divorced from local communities, often causing great harm. In response, Jahawi shares how conservation is deeply related to culture and the ancestral remembrance of knowing place, as well as how we can reshape conservation into a model of reverence and reciprocity. We invite you to take time this week to tune in to this ever-expansive episode of For The Wild.

♫ Music by Jahawi Bertolli, featuring songs from The First Rock project.

Episode References

East African Ocean Explorers
The First Rock
Bahari Yetu
How Kenya’s Push for Development Is Threatening Its Famed Wild Lands

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