It happened just as Greg
“Jackal” Bows and I were on an extended walking safari through Naboisho in Kenya. Jackal had just been saying
how the lion population had been soaring in the area when the male lion, who
had been resting behind a bush less than twenty feet ahead of us, jumped out
and ran straight away into the bush.
“Did You Plan That, Jackal?”
“No, But I Wish I Had.” He Laughed.
Continuing our trek, Jackal and I followed our Maasai
guide, Denis, and were trailed by Colin, the manager of the
camp where we were staying.
We slowly climbed up from the valley floor through a wooded, rocky area and
into one of the massive plains that defines Kenya.
The wildebeest were
slowly making their way across the plains. There were too many impala and
Thompson’s gazelles to possibly count. Four large giraffe walked slowly by and
everywhere the scene was dominated by the huge sky of the Mara. The only sounds
were the wind and the occasional snorting of a zebra wondering what we were
doing there.
We were now walking through
the center of The Mara Naboisho Conservancy. Naboisho (pronounced na-bow-show
and the bow sounds like the weapon) is one of the newest of the conservancies
ringing the north of Kenya’s Masai Mara National Reserve. These conservancies
are now collectively protecting as much land as is in the national park — and
they are doing it in a way that is far more powerful and sustainable. This
partnership is truly positive for both the Maasai who live and breathe their
land and and also for the tourists who visit.
Earlier that day, I had
sat down and participated in the only board meeting of its kind in the world.
(I was invited as a non-profit
I co-founded is helping
Naboisho with a number of projects.) The board consists of three of the top
ecotourism operators in Kenya that run the camps here and three local Maasai
leaders.
Words like ‘community’ and ‘eco-tourism’ have been
cheapened by overuse which is a shame when you witness in person what they are
truly meant to mean. I listened as Dr.
Lars Lindkvist, a true visionary who has dedicated the recent years of his
life to not only this project, but many more like it around the area, talk
through the challenges and issues facing Naboisho.
Some were critically important — for example everyone
wants to expand the conservancy to the north to the protect the plains where
the annual migration extends — others dealt with charmingly minor but important
issues such as the color of one of the tire covers on a vehicle that had driven
through the area. The consensus was that it was too bright to be used here.
The Maasai own the land and always will as they
always have. But instead of the land being chopped up into literally more than
five hundred small plots, Naboisho has been saved for wildlife and the use of
six small safari camps. The Maasai also maintain some grazing rights to the
land for their cows, but in areas, and at times, that don’t impact either the
wildlife or the tourists who travel to see it. The Maasai are not only
retaining their land — they are keeping it as they wish it to be — open and
free.
The camps then contribute back to the community at
financial levels virtually unheard of in Africa. They also work with the
community to make sure that the Maasai are supported and empowered by helping
with everything from making money available for scholarships for gifted
students to helping provide water in times of drought.
I asked Sean Anderson, managing director of Encounter
Mara, one of the
five camps in Naboisho, how decisions were made with a board consisting of
an equal number of operators and Maasai leaders — as surely there must be
conflict at times between the parties.
“We Make Decisions
By Consensus. It’s The Only Way This Will Work.”
All too often the news from Africa is grim. It is
seemingly the continent of endless wars, terror attacks and, of course, ebola.
In fact, just as ebola showed up in the United States, I made my way to East
Africa which has been and remains ebola-free. But here in an area that could
easily have been lost forever, the story is positive — the future bright.
After our walk, five
miles up and down through the terrain, an experience you can only have in a
conservancy like Naboisho as you can’t walk in any national park, I went for a
game drive with Jackal and our guide Dickson.
We stopped as we watched
a lioness play with her three young cubs. We were the only car sitting with our
engine off in a small grassy area by one of the streams that runs through
Naboisho. I thought of all the times in parks all around Africa, when I had
been fortunate enough to see a scene like this, it was always ruined as five,
ten or more other vehicles pulled up.
Not Here. Not On This Night.
That evening in
Naboisho, there were less than seventy five tourists in total in the whole
conservancy. Even when every camp is fully booked, there are never more than
124 people roaming the 55,000 acres.
Eventually one other
safari vehicle showed up. The six guests were delighted to see the lioness and
the cubs. For them, whether they knew the story of how this place came to be or
not, I could clearly see that it was the moment of their trip in their faces.
One older woman held her
hands in front of her face in delight. The sun was setting over the hills to
the west. Zebra were making their way down the hill to the water. And the cubs
played and played and tumbled down the hill.
Our guide Dickson,
whispered back to me in Swahili.
“Tayari?” “Are You Ready?”
“Ndiyo” “Yes”
I was a bit surprised
that we were leaving so soon. It was such a perfect scene and moment, but
Dickson started the car.
After we pulled away, I
realized what Dickson, our guide, had wanted to do, and it made me smile. We
had had the chance to be there alone in this special place, as the sun was
setting in the quiet with the cubs. He was simply giving the other visitors the
same remarkable, truly once-in-a-lifetime opportunity.
Someplace else, I might
have insisted we stayed. But in Naboisho, a visitor quickly joins this
partnership. It’s impossible not to feel what a special place this is and to
want to be part of this collaboration that works so well. I was happy to drive
away and let someone else have their moment with the cubs.
As we headed up the hill
I remembered Sean Anderson telling me that in Maasai, Naboisho means ‘come
together.’
In this incredibly
important part of Africa, it most certainly is.
The Mara Naboisho Conservancy is
a 55,000 acre community partnership just north of the Masai Mara National
Reserve. There is more information here on both the conservancy and the six safari camps that support it.
Many of the photos in this
article were taken by Whitney Warren who was visiting at the same time
I was and graciously offered them for use.
