Community & Wildlife Conservation

Supporting local communities impacted by the global pandemic

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SUPPORTING COMMUNITIES & PARKS

The Community & Wildlife Conservation was founded in April 2020 when Covid hit the world and specifically in Kenya and its Tourism Industry. At Mara Bush Camp & in conjunction with Sunworld Safaris, through the Community & Wildlife Conservation, we have since then supported local communities surrounding our parks & reserves in different ways. Not only through food donations that were needed due to lack of income to sustain communities/parks and therefore the possibility of increased poaching and the bushmeat trade. After donating to 3,500 families, we realized the urgent need to show children and youth the value of their very own wildlife

“We can only protect what we love and what we come to love!”

The best way to teach children to protect our wildlife is to take them out on game drives and show them “Jeannie’s Bush Cinema”, a Mobile Cinema that we carry across the country to villages and poor communities (surrounding our parks) to showcase wildlife movies and speak to the villagers on Human Wildlife Conflict. The interest is GREAT and both children and adults alike LOVE it and are in turn more sensitive to understanding wildlife and its behavior.
We are donating $5 per PERSON for every guest (non-resident) booked on Ground Package at Mara Bush Camp for the Community Wildlife Fund, starting July 2021.
Find out more and how you can support our projects:

Local Community

Indigenous to the Mara is the local Maasai community. Our employees consist of 60% of the Maasai Community. We further train young Maasai or youth from other tribes also in various positions in the Camp. Some we may retain in-house after than. A bed night fee is paid for every guest who stays at Mara Bush Camp and Private Wing and this is paid to the local community on a monthly basis.

Ol Malaika Home

Ol Malaika Home is a wonderful initiative by Kim De Witt. This home located near Sekanani Gate, saves young Maasai Girls from childhood marriage and female genital mutilation. Many of these girls have been through traumatic experiences and often have run away from their home, seeking safety at Ol Malaika. In our efforts to promote responsible tourism through Corporate Social Responsibility, we encourage our guests to visit their traditional Manyatta and hear about the “Maasai Way of Life” as well as listen to traditional songs / dancing on a Sunday or during the Kenyan Holidays. Guests can also plant indigenous trees on their compound and it is the girls’ responsibility to water them and look after their growth.

Community Shelf

We have a community shelf where we sell various goods that are produced by different local communities that we support. E.g. Eclastic Product by Michela Consiglio: Lovely jewellery made from old CD’s or plastic bottles by local women – 20% of this revenue goes to support the Daphne Sheldrick Wildlife Trust. We also sell Pencils made out of newspaper (Treewise pencils), branded Mara Bush Camp Metal straws and upcycled safari jackets along with local artifacts produced by Maasai women.

Gift Bags

All our gift bags are fabricated by a street children programme in Kibera Slums, Nairobi.

Sanitary Pads

Re-usable sanitary pads can be purchased at Mara Bush Camp/ Private Wing for Maasai girls by our guests in our camp shop.

Food Donations

During these tough COVID times, Mara Bush Camp conducted distribution of basic food items (maize meal, beans, lentils, rice, sugar, tea leaves, and milk) including soap / sanitizers/ masks to help the local communities. We start by supporting women to distribute food as we believe they are the ones taking care of their families. Homesteads are identified according to need, by the local District Officers and we choose the surrounding communities in / outside the reserves / conservancies and parks. Food is purchased from the local villages nearby to support local suppliers and to distribute directly through our coordinated Safari vehicles & guides.

Water is Life

A local well is in the planning for one of the Villages and shall be concluded within the period of 2021. Supported by one of our repeat clients.

Weekly Maasai Markets

An upcoming idea is to hold weekly Maasai markets at our camp where women from traditional Maasai Villages can display their artifacts for our guests to purchase. This will happen when we have more guests again return to Mara Bush Camp / Private Wing to make it viable for the women.