Sustainability on Safari in Kenya

Monday, September 10, 2012: 10:45 AM-11:45 AM
#6 (Egan Convention Center)

Level of Course: Entry

The Masai Mara is the Kenyan extension of the Serengeti Plains in East Africa. It is a region characterized by low rolling hills, abundant grasslands, millions of animals and birds, and Masai villages. It is a poor, drought-prone region that hosts 5000 tourist beds and even more tourists in a typical day.  The Masai Community intends to double that amount.

In the Masai Mara, only one game lodge has addressed the critical balance of sustainable management to serve the Masai community as well as provide a world-class safari experience for tourists.

This talk will introduce the Basecamp Explorer Masai Mara philosophy of sustainable, minimal impact tourism that has qualified it as one of two gold eco-rated sustainable resorts in Kenya. The Basecamp Explorer Masai Mara is more than an ecological game lodge. It supports the local community by hiring more than 45 Masai, it provides water and power to the local village, a base for jewelry fabrication and an internet business, training in solar panel installation (for grandmothers), and supports the Green Warriors, local young men who direct villagers to conscientiously handle solid waste.

Guests at the unfenced game lodge enjoy a luxurious tented experience with Masai warrior guides, excellent food, eco-toilets, solar-powered electricity, solar-heated water, rainwater harvesting, and abundant recycling and composting.

Supporting actors in this presentation are the lions, leopards, hippos, cheetahs, rhinos, wildebeest, zebras, antelopes, eagles and other birds protected and allowed to roam the African savannah.

Author:
Robin Spencer, CHMM, REA