Maasai Safari & Lamu Island vacation
This trip can be tailormade to create a unique vacation for your individual requirements by travel experts with intimate knowledge of the destination. It is a more luxurious trip that will suit those who enjoy immersing themselves in new cultures and environments before relaxing in comfort in some of the best and most characterful local accommodation! Quality and value are the hallmark of these trips.
How this vacation makes a difference
Environment
The local Maasai communities have set aside the Selenkay Conservancy and more recently the Ol Kinyei Conservancy as reserves for wildlife. As a result of the establishment of the Conservation Areas, wildlife numbers have recovered significantly in recent years and elephants are now seen frequently after an absence of nearly 20 years.
Selenkay Conservation Area lies in the heart of Maasailand, well off the beaten track. It has not been visited by tourists until very recently. The animals are truly wild and tend to behave more naturally than those in the parks, which are often habituated to the presence of vehicles.
The Ol Kinyei Conservancy is also a venture with the local Maasai community in a pristine part of the Maasai Mara wilderness area. The 20 sq kms Conservation Area lies adjacent to the Mara Reserve on land rich with game, but which has received little benefit from tourism and left unprotected would be seriously under threat of falling under cultivation or succumbing to the environmental degradation that has occurred already on the Mara periphery.
Community
The Maasai communities own and lease the Conservancy land and also receive direct monetary benefits for each and every tourist that stays at Porini camps. This is used to fund community projects such as schools and water supplies.
Employment opportunities have also been provided for the local Maasai people in both conservancies as game rangers, trackers, and camp staff. Apart from the management and Head Cook, all other staff in the camps and Conservation Areas are members of the local community.
The 70 kms of roads in the Selenkay Conservation Area were constructed using local labour so that members of the community gained employment. Forty scattered Maasai homesteads have a family member earning an income from working in Selenkay.
Kipungani Explorer enjoys a uniquely harmonious relationship with the residents of neighbouring Kipungani Village. Half of the lodge’s staff come from the village, from where they also buy all seafood and materials for repairing their bandas and boats. Since 1999, Kipungani Explorer has helped to completely rebuild and equip the Kipungani Primary School through a charitable ‘twinning’ with a London Nursery School. Explorer guests have also contributed the salary of an extra teacher and helped to launch an annual prize-giving day. The lodge is currently working on a plan to start a second school in Mpakatoni, from where several other staff members hail.
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