Does a safari viewing wildlife in pristine wilderness without masses of other tourists present & which benefits the community who share the land with the wildlife tick a lot of your safari wishlist boxes? Jake Grieves-Cook, Managing Director of conservation & safari experts Gamewatchers Safaris & Porini Camps, tells us why a safari on conservancy land provides the most rewarding wildlife experience. Be prepared to make a difference.
‘The future outlook for wildlife in Kenya has greatly improved in recent years with the realisation that expanding the area of protected habitat for wild animals is vital if they are to continue to survive in their present numbers. The movement to establish new wildlife conservancies beyond the parks is an important and positive step in providing a safe haven in which wildlife can increase.
Gamewatchers Safaris & Porini Camps have been at the forefront of creating what they are calling the Conservancy Concept.
The Conservancy concept was developed as one of the solutions to stop the increasing losses of wildlife populations in Kenya outside the parks where previously a large proportion of wild animal species were to be found. The conservancies create new areas of protected habitat exclusively for wildlife on additional land adjoining the existing parks and reserves. However this cannot be done unless the communities who own the land to be set aside as wildlife conservancies can derive income and benefits from allowing this to happen which match or exceed alternative forms of land use.
The renowned elephant conservationist Cynthia Moss has written recently:
“The establishment of the conservancies in Kenya has been the single most successful conservation initiative since the creation of national parks in the 1940′s. Conservancies protect land for Kenya’s wildlife and even more important create sanctuaries of safety. In addition conservancies bring benefits in the form of direct payments and jobs to the people who share the land with wildlife.”
Some of the first people to organise wildlife safari tourism on Maasai community lands outside the parks were Willie Roberts with Paramount Chief Lerionka Ole Ntutu at Ol Choro Oiroua who formed an association in 1993 to allow Maasai landowners to earn an income from tourism on their lands and Richard Bonham who established a lodge on the community-owned Mbirikani Ranch. Earlier on, in Laikipia the Craig family at Lewa Downs and the Dyers at Borana also pioneered the development of wildlife conservancies on what had previously been cattle ranches and Ian Craig has worked with pastoralist communities in the Northern rangelands of Kenya to conserve wildlife within a vast area.
Building on their example, over the last twenty years we developed a new model of leasing large tracts of land from Maasai communities of Amboseli and the Mara in the areas adjacent to the parks in order to create new wildlife conservancies. These are then paid for by using the income from tourists staying at our Porini Camps and they also create livelihoods for the families of the landowners whose plots make up the conservancy.
Starting with 14,000 acres at Selenkay Conservancy in Amboseli and 8,000 acres at Ol Kinyei in the Mara (which subseqently expanded to 18,000 acres) , our model was based on a minimum size of 8,000 acres, exclusively for wildlife and with limits on the tourism density by setting a maximum on the number of tents and vehicles allowed in the conservancy. Following this we were involved in co-operating with other tourism partners and Maasai landowners to set up Olare Orok, Motorogi and Naibosho Conservancies based on our models. This has created a new conservancy movement that has led to more wildlife conservancies being established on similar lines, such as Mara North and Olderkesi.
Visitors who stay in the small camps within the conservancies have a very special safari experience as they can see all the wildlife in pristine wilderness but without masses of other tourists present. We have established a formula of no more than one tent per 700 acres and no more than twelve guest tents per camp in the conservancies which we have been involved in establishing: Selenkay Conservancy in the Amboseli eco-system and Ol Kinyei, Olare Motorogi and Naboisho conservancies in the Mara. This ensures a low-density form of tourism which has less impact on the environment and which provides a more intimate and rewarding experience for the visitor.
As the land is leased on a per acre basis from the individual owners whose plots have been put together to form the conservancy and with an annual increase in the rent, the landowners income is guaranteed, regardless of whether the actual tourist numbers fluctuate, so they are not dependent on having more tourists in the conservancy in order to have a growing income. That removes the pressure to over-develop tourist facilities and makes it possible to keep to the maximum of 1 tourist tent per 700 acres and 1 vehicle per 1400 acres.
For more information on the Conservancies in the Mara and where to stay choose a camp in one of the conservancies where tourism income goes towards the costs of leasing the land as protected wildlife habitat and help to make a difference.’
Deservedly Jake Grieves-Cook is one of the 2016 Safari Awards Best Contribution to Tourism nominees.
