Storyteller: Wang Bingchen, officer of the Monnet Railway project of China Railways CCCC First Navigation Engineering Bureau Co., Ltd.

The 480 kilometer-long Kenya Monnet Railway, which connects Nairobi, the capital of Kenya, and the largest port in East Africa Mombasa, is one fruit of the Belt and Road Initiative. Just 20 meters from the railway you can see tall shrubs, clear puddles, and black and white striped zebras.

The train passes Mombasa. [Photo/Xinhua]

Animal near the railway [Photo/vcg.com]

Construction has been tricky and tough since a quarter of the railway is inside the Tsavo National Park, one of the largest wild animal parks in the world.

To support the massive work of subsurface construction, at least 22 pits were dug over areas ranging from 30,000 square meters to 240,000 square meters. Prompt restoration was accomplished by the builder, Tianjin- based central enterprise CCCC First Navigation Engineering Bureau Co., Ltd., to prevent the pits becoming desertified.

"Not only did we restore the pits, but in the animal gathering area, we also shaped some shallow pits into natural rainwater storage pools to allow animals to safely drink," said Li San, manager of the pit recovery project. "To make sure to match the migration in rainy season，we devoted really a lot of energy to designing the routes after considering animal habits and heights. In order to make these culverts looks natural and familiar for the animals, plants were used which blend perfectly with the surrounding environment."

Workers at construction site [Photo/Xinhua]

"The Kenya Environmental Protection Agency evaluated our environmental protection construction highly at the end of August 2016 when the project was accepted."

Monnet Railway represents, in Wang's eyes, is not only a construction product by Tianjin workers, but also an expression of their wish for economic prosperity in Kenya and their best regard for the country's grasslands and animals.