To the south it borders on the Shimba Hills National Reserve, to the north on the Mwaluganje Forest Reserve.The sanctuary was formed in the early 1990s as a cooperative project between the people of the surrounding Mwaluganje community, United States Agency for International Development, the Born Free Foundation and the Eden Wildlife Trust.
In addition it is a valuable source of revenue for the local people, through monies generated by eco-tourism and gate entrance fees.
Some of the revenue generating activities include creating paper from elephant dung, bee keeping (honey products), butterfly breeding and biofuel.A multitude of problems led to a gradual standstill of tourism activities in the two last decades: beginning with a reduced attractiveness due to the translocation of 150 elephants to Tsavo East to reduce human-wildlife conflicts (2006), along with poaching, illegal logging and the closure of the Traveller's Camp inside the area (2012).
The road network fell into decay, and since Covid, the main gate has de facto remained closed.
An announcement has been made by the Aspinall Foundation in 2021 that 13 African elephants are to be relocated here from Howletts Wild Animal Park in Kent, UK - but so far it has remained that way.