22-year-old environmentalist Truphena Muthoni is in the process of breaking her own Guinness World Record of hugging a tree for 48 hours. The wildlife activist is now in her second day of the 72-hour tree-hugging marathon, which she says is a silent protest against deforestation.
Truphena Muthoni began her three-day tree-hugging marathon on December 8, 2025, an event that was flagged off by the Nyeri County Governor Mutahi Kahiga, who Truphena says has been instrumental in motivating her to break her world record.
In an interview with a local YouTuber during her first 24 hours of the marathon, Truphena revealed that she does not eat nor sleep in her hugging marathon, saying that she had trained for it months prior.
Muthoni revealed that she was supposed to do the tree-hugging marathon at the Amazon in Brazil, but she received frustrations from the Ministry of Environment that made her do the marathon in the country.
"I was to do this marathon in Brazil, but injustices happened at the Ministry of Environment, and I was blocked from going to Brazil," the environmentalist claimed.
The young environmental activist says that her tree-hugging marathon aims at advocating against deforestation and the protection of animal rights.
She says that she chose the silent protest as a neutral way to connect with people's humanity, aiming to reach people's conscience to protect wildlife.
"The importance of this peaceful protest is that it bypasses all differences, because during the other protests we hear stories of goons, but this one bypasses all stories and triggers humanity," the activist said.
Truphena claimed that the tree-hugging process itself is therapeutic, reinforcing her call for environmental conservation across the world.
The activist has pledged to honor the visually impaired in her last 24 hours of the tree-hugging exercise, saying that she will dedicate 3 hours by staying blindfolded to honor the blind.
"When I clock 48 hours, I will stay 3 hours blindfolded as a tribute to people living with disabilities and their vulnerability to climate injustice," Truphena Muthoni said.
Earlier in the year, Truphena Muthoni secured a place in the Guinness World Records for hugging a tree for an incredible 48 hours at Nairobi’s Michuki Park on Saturday, February 1, 2025.
