The Safari solution
Conservation model in Kenya helps boost local education and preserve culture
Modern safaris are working to improve Kenya.
Through the popular tourist adventures, Kenya is combining education, conservation and tourism to improve the country.
Decades ago, poaching was at its height, humans ate endangered game and agriculture was suffering from neglect and apathy. In the past decade, the Kenyan economy has grown 30 per cent, largely due to increased responsible tourism.
Through the unique national program implemented in the late ’90s called Parks Beyond Parks, Kenya has established a number of conservancies, which host private safari camps on land leased from the native Maasai warriors.
According to the Parks Beyond Parks handbook, the program’s objectives include professional land management that still preserves and strengthens the ecosystem while developing strong working relationships with the community — including securing fundraising for community initiatives — and providing secure lease incomes for landowners. Promoting responsible land use through tourism development, grazing and settlement is also a priority.
Mara North is one of the Parks Beyond Parks conservancies I visited on a recent trip to Kenya. It’s made up of 32,000 hectares of protected land in the west of the country.
Like other camps in the area, Kicheche is a private business owned by a hospitality company based in Nairobi that employs Maasai as part of the Parks Beyond Parks initiative.
They have a host to manage the camp and pay the native Maasai a monthly land lease fee. Kicheche also employs educated Maasai as safari guides, hospitality staff, drivers and guards on site. Kicheche has also established a community trust that directly funds Maasai education, hospitals, recycling centres and water wells.
Jimmy was my guide and driver while at Kicheche. He is 32 and married with two sons who live in a village hours north of the camp. As a native Maasai, he’s benefitted from the introduction of the Parks Beyond Parks program. Because of this innovative and contemporary program, he celebrates the decline in poaching, the maintenance of his culture, appreciation of wildlife and the availability of education.
Jimmy was a shepherd until he was 12 when the government insisted he walk the eight kilometres to school everyday.
“The Maasai didn’t take education seriously,” Jimmy explained. “The government used to command us to go to school and we would just run away. But now I am so happy that education is a priority — it creates much better citizens.”
Because of the conservancy programs, Jimmy’s two young sons started school at 3 years old in a school two kilometres from his house. They currently go to nursery school, and will continue to primary school, secondary school and finally, university, where they can study any subject they choose.
“My sons can go to university. They can have better lives. They don’t have to herd goats,” he says with a smile.
Over the past few years, Jimmy has also been taking part in educational offerings, specifically Guiding School, a program that capitalizes on his existing knowledge of trees and animals, and provides him with a recognizable and relevant qualification.
In order to guide at the Kicheche camp, students must have a silver level certificate, a qualification received after one year of guiding school and18 months of college practical experience.
Students can work toward a gold certification, which requires an additional three years of study focused on one particular animal.
In order to achieve gold, students must become experts on their particular animal and discover something new about the species. They participate in tracking, tagging, spending days observing on the savannah and often invite tourists to help them with their studies. The more information they can collect, the more comprehensive their conclusions will be.
“Yes. I want to study the cheetah,” says Jimmy with excitement when asked if he would be pursuing his gold level.
“Cheetahs are clean animals. They go for fresh kills and not carcasses. Their speed is so dramatic.”
The Parks Beyond Parks program does not come without pitfalls. For example, if tourism is down, conservancies (and therefore the Maasai) do not receive the funds required to operate their farms and villages.
Also, some Maasai are worried their long-standing culture will die: Educated Maasai children are forgetting native language, dress and songs, and some are not returning to their villages after university.
According to Jimmy though, overall life has improved for the Maasai, the wildlife and those in the private sector. In order to combat the Maasai’s concerns, traditional culture is being integrated into education and many students are returning to their villages as teachers.
Guiding has become a respected profession and Kenyans have a renewed appreciation for wildlife supported by the government.
Jimmy is happy with his job, the implementation of the conservancies and he is proud to be a Maasai. Natalie Preddie’s trip was paid for by Kenyan tourism board. She is a travel writer, editor and PR consultant in Toronto. You can follow her travel adventures: nattyponline.com and on Twitter @_nattyp or Facebook /theadventuresofnattyp.