The following is a piece I wrote a few months back for the BBC (see the
original article here, but note that due to licensing reasons people in
the UK will not be able to view this: on conservation and private conservancies in northern Kenya. I'll shortly be heading back to East Africa and South Sudan in order to work on some similar projects for the BBC and other media outlets.
The Future of Conservation in Kenya
The bejewelled and feather-dressed Samburu tribesmen must have laughed all
the way home when Italian journalist Riccardo Orizio gathered them together a
decade ago and told them of his plans to turn a couple of lumpy granite
outcrops in the heart of Samburu country into a luxury game lodge overlooking
the searing, acacia-speckled plains of northern Kenya.
Several years and one luxury lodge later, nobody is laughing. The
Saruni Samburu Lodge is so perfectly
designed that its permanent tents virtually meld into the rocky bluff on which
it is located. And these tents have stone bath tubs, open-air showers,
terraces, designer furnishings, heavenly beds and views overlooking a
little-visited corner of the northern savannah lands that are quite simply out
of this world.
For many years conservation -- and safaris -- in Kenya
meant visiting one of the nation’s famous government-run national parks or
reserves, such as
Amboseli
National Park and the
Masai Mara National
Reserve. Saruni Samburu, though, sits in the middle of the 384sqkm
community-owned and -managed
Kalama Community Wildlife
Conservancy, one of a growing number of privately-owned wildlife reserves
in Kenya.
According to the
Kenya
Wildlife Service, up to 70% of Kenya’s wildlife lives outside of
the protection of the national parks and reserves. So many people believe that
the future of conservation in Kenya
lies in this new breed of private reserves -- there are at least 15 such
conservancies in north Kenya
alone. Some of these, such as Kalama, are owned by the local community and are
located on former communal cattle grazing land. Others are owned by private
individuals and are often located on former cattle ranches. Together they are
changing the face of conservation and tourism in Kenya.
Such protected land is not just good news for wildlife though; they are also
bringing about huge benefits to local people. The land on which these reserves
lie was often used for livestock grazing. In the past, wildlife was seen mainly
as a nuisance and a danger, but over time people realised that wildlife could
attract foreign tourists, which in turn translated into dollars for the
community.
Investors such as Orizo, who were willing to construct luxury
tourist lodges, were needed to build the essential infrastructure. Much of the
money generated through tourism is pumped straight back into the community,
which means that the locals have a vested interest in the survival of wildlife
on their lands – a fact that is not always true in the state-run national parks
and reserves. The final icing on the cake is that tourist numbers are generally
limited to the capacity of one or two lodges – meaning wildlife watching is
undisturbed by streams of other safari vehicles.
One of the first, and certainly one of the finest examples of this kind of
community-based conservation is found just a short way to the south of Kalama,
at the
Lewa Wildlife Conservancy (LWC).
Although Lewa has luxury lodges, stunning scenery, astounding wildlife and has
hosted Prince William, they would rather focus on their community and
conservation projects. Founded in 1995, LWC is a non-profit organisation that
relies on tourism-generated money and donations. Today it has an annual
operating budget of around $2.5 million, about 70% of which is ploughed
directly back into healthcare, education and various community projects for the
surrounding villages, while the rest funds further conservation and security
projects.
The conservation effort at Lewa -- which is a mixture of classic habitat
preservation, stringent security measures (the rhinos have their own security
guards at all times) and the use of the latest technology to enhance the
knowledge of a species and its breeding patterns -- has been astounding. And
20% of the world’s Grevy’s zebras, 12% of Kenya’s black rhinos, a rare
population of aquatic sitatunga antelope and sizeable populations of white
rhinos, elephants and buffalos thrive here. Of the predators, there are small
but growing populations of leopards and lions. Lewa has been so successful that
it is being used as a model for private conservation throughout East Africa. For a visitor this means not just the
near-guaranteed opportunity to see all the “big five” (lion, buffalo, elephant,
rhino and leopard), but that joy also comes with the knowledge that your money
is helping the local community.
Lewa might be one of Kenya’s finest wildlife viewing areas and Kalama might
offer one of the most luxurious and chic safaris, but for a true East African
wilderness experience look no further than
Kitich
Camp in the Matthews Mountain range. These dramatic mountain slopes, which
rise up out of the semi-desert to the north of Kalana and Lewa, are carpeted in
misty forests and support a wealth of wildlife, including elephants, lions,
buffalos and what might be Kenya’s
largest wild dog population. The mountains fall under the protection of the
Namunyak Wildlife
Conservation Trust, another community-run conservation area that was
established in 1995 by the mountains’ Samburu people.
Today, it is one of
Kenya’s
most successful community conservation programs and and this accomplishment has
seen animal populations rise dramatically. It acts as a vital corridor for
elephants migrating across barren northern Kenya and it is one of the few
places in the country where wild dog populations and Grevy’s zebra are
increasing.. And the Kitich Camp itself is arguably the most remote camp in Kenya; staying here is a true wild Africa experience. Elephants pass through almost daily --
coming so close to your tent at night that you can hear them breathing -- and
passing lions are not unheard of either.
With private conservancies starting to pop up all across Kenya, the
Samburu, Maasai and other pastoralist communities are laughing again. This time
though, it is due to the joy that they have finally found a way of combining
their traditional lifestyle, conservation and the demands of the modern world
into one happy, wildlife-filled bundle.
