Sabaki Estuary Wetsand Marathon Preparation in Top Gear
By Julius Mwabonje
Email, thecoastnewspaper@gmail.com
Preparations for the first ever Sabaki Estuary Wetsand Marathon are in top gear as conservationists seek to raise awareness against pollution from Athi River into the Indian Ocean in Malindi subcounty.
The Marathon, being organised by Progress Welfare Association of Malindi (PWAM) – a community organisation that conducts monthly clean up in the resort town – is set for November this year. It shall bring together conservationists, hoteliers, business people, schools among other stakeholders.
As part of the preparations, this weekend the organisers are planning a walk after the monthly clean up that will begin at the Malindi main roundabout to Casino.
The plan is to go to the Sabaki estuary and walk from there in order to raise awareness of the oncoming marathon.
Effue Opiyo, the chairperson of Malindi Green and Blue, said the Sabaki Estuary Marathon is the first to be done in Kilifi County and was important to the whole world.
“This marathon is important because of bringing awareness against pollution from the river all the way from Nairobi down to River Sabaki,” she said.
According to her the marathon is to raise awareness to people to value the ecosystem including beaches, oceans and aquatic life in nature.
She said their aim was for all those people living in Nairobi and upjcountry to stop dumping waste in Nairobi River as it affects negatively to those living downstream including humans and the sea lives.
“The reason we are bringing this is so that people can minimise plastic pollution in the river as that waste ends up in the Ocean,” she said.
The chairperson said the marathon was also important as it would bring different stakeholders together both from Kenya and the world.
“We need to show the world that Malindi is rich in ecosystem, we have one of the oldest coral reefs here a symbol of what the aquatic life means to us,” she said.
Fatma Shee, the secretary of PWAM and representative of Sentry Response security service, called on all conservationists and stakeholders to join them this Saturday, July 11, 2026 as they walk for a cause to raise awareness on the marathon.
She said after the clean up they will board buses to Sabaki estuary so as to show the world the crucial ecosystem and the value of protecting it.
“I urge you to turn out in large numbers we need to make people know that there is something happening on 28th November,” she said.
Majid Swaleh the Chairman of Kenya National Chamber of Commerce and Industry in Kilifi County said there was need for the world to know that it was wrong to pollute the river upstream as the effects were bad downstream where the river connects with the Ocean.
He said when the Ocean is polluted its as a result of the waste being dumped upstream and goes all the way to the Indian ocean.
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