Community-owned and managed, this growing enterprise on the slopes of Mount Kenya, on the northwest edge of the Lewa Nature Conservancy, combines local knowledge, business, and nature. Il Ngwesi Lodge - small but successful - is proving that switching from cattle herding to conservation can be good business for local communities; it is becoming a model for conservation-based enterprise throughout East Africa. Launched with the assistance of USAID's Conservation of Biodiverse Resource Areas Project (COBRA) in 1996, this community project has inspired a number of similar ventures throughout Kenya - as well as USAID's current Conservation of Resources through Enterprises (CORE) project.