The Maasai Mara, a frontier of wilderness in Kenya, attracts a sizeable number of international tourists coming for a safari experience. For several decades, the reserve has served as a source of foreign exchange, thanks to the roughly half a million tourists visiting each year.

Wild giraffes wander in the Maasai Mara National Reserve in Kenya. [Photo: CRI/Jiang Aimin]

But the Narok-Sekenani Road, which connects the reserve to the main highway to Kenya's capital Nairobi, is in dire condition. It takes around three hours to cover the 82 kilometer stretch of road that locals jokingly refer to as "the washboard road" because of the bumpy ride.

In 2016, the Chinese engineering firm Wu Yi Construction Company was contracted to repair and rebuild the road, with the goal of reducing the drive time down to just 50 minutes. According to Kenya's Ministry of Transport, the new road will give a boost to the tourism industry and increase the economic potential of the country.

The unfinished new road (left) built by the Wu Yi Company, and the original road (right) in Maasai Mara, Nairobi. [Photo: ChinaPlus/Ge Anna]

Contrary to the popular myth that "Chinese enterprises only employ Chinese people", a majority of Chinese companies in Kenya have a local workforce. This is true of the Wu Yi Company, which has hired more than 400 full-time and 200 part-time local employees, whose incomes are well above the local average.

In addition to the construction work, Wu Yi has been focusing on fulfilling its social responsibilities by working with Non-Government Organizations so it can understand the needs of the local community. Its contribution to the local community has included volunteering to upgrading telecommunication infrastructure to offer local customers a better service at a lower cost. It has also built local reservoirs to solve water supply problems for communities, and supported schools to improve the education of local children.

One of the reservoirs built by the Wu Yi Company near Maasai Mara, Nairobi. [Photo: ChinaPlus/Ge Anna]

The past two years has seen obvious improvements in the livelihoods of local communities in Maasai Mara. Incomes have risen substantially, and wildlife has returned to local neighborhoods thanks to the reservoirs.