Chyulu Hills luxury safari lodge, Kenya
How this holiday makes a difference
Environment
through the Great Plains Foundation.
The Great Plains Foundation is about playing a vital role in what we believe is a tripartite partnership - imagine a triangle between communities, conservation and commerce. Conservation of the earth is the core of this relationship; but the shift in perspective is from seeing it merely as some host for our sustenance to seeing it as a mutually beneficial partnership. This positions conservation then as a necessity and not a luxury.
Like many partnerships, if one partner feels its working harder than another, then dissatisfaction develops. And it is with that understanding that we strive to find equal partnership among all stakeholders. Firstly we have conservation of the land, and wildlife. Then, we add communities, who in many cases, have lived in harmony with wildlife as neighbors for centuries; however, where this harmony erodes wildlife suffers. It is in these areas, where the partnership needs to be nurtured because without community involvement conservation fails. Finally, when we add the third prong of commerce, we must do it with some prudence. We do not believe that every inch of land has to pay for itself. Aldo Leopold put it succinctly, “to insist that wildlife pays for itself is like burning the furniture to keep the house warm.” We believe that the “if it pays it stays” philosophy is flawed.
Rather, we believe that some marginal or vulnerable areas need a light footprint type of tourism to engage communities, generate some economies and conserve land. We refer to this as Conservation Tourism and we evaluate it not only on grounds of return on investment but on the other two prongs as well. We look at projects that advance communities and conservation as much or more than by quantifiable measure. This is the prime objective of The Great Plains Foundation. Ultimately, we are all a part of this system, not apart from it, so our actions have a ripple effect for which we as a species is solely responsible.
We invite you to follow The Great Plans Foundation’s work, become involved and share ideas and contacts. This is a global venture. Should you be in a position to support one of its projects, The Foundation is a USA-registered 501(c)3 foundation eligible for tax deductable donations.
Community
is through the work of our Maasiland Preservation Trust (MPT)
The MPT employs at least 65 local men as fulltime community game scouts. Each scout is in uniform and trained, linked to headquarters via radio communication, equipped for camping and patrols, and receives vehicle support. These men are deployed in various operating units to (a) combat poaching activities, (b) protect a rare black rhino population (between 12 and 15 individuals) still living in the wild, (c) resolve human-wildlife conflict, (d) keep river systems flowing, (e) provide general security, including anti-stock theft and protection of the indigenous forests, and (f) facilitate operation of the Predator Compensation Fund (PCF).
The threat to local wildlife of the game-meat trade (poaching) cannot be overstated. In the past eight years, MPT scouts have retrieved more than 5,000 wire snares and arrested more than 350 poachers, yet further manpower is required to address this ongoing and worsening crisis.
Human-wildlife conflict is the greatest single threat to sustainability of the Amboseli-Tsavo ecosystem. Predators killing livestock; elephants damaging crops and threatening human life; and wildlife, livestock, and agriculture competing for limited water sources are principal causes for conflict requiring ongoing and immediate attention.
Education
MPT’s Wildlife Scholarship Program has to date sponsored in excess of one-hundred students in primary, secondary, and tertiary education through contributions from individuals. A contribution of $US 800 sponsors a student for a full year. Virtually all of these students return to their home areas to provide leadership and much needed skills and services.
MPT has facilitated the establishment of two primary schools and one boarding school on Mbirikani Group Ranch, providing education to in excess of three-hundred students per year. In addition MPT has constructed classrooms and renovated facilities for other schools on the ranch.
MPT sponsors seven government-certified teachers’ salaries annually and provides teaching aids, schoolbooks, sports equipment, and other educational materials for the benefit of local Maasai students.
An environmental education initiative, Environmental Scouts Program (modeled after the Boy Scouts of America), supplements inadequate government-based teaching curricula, and is aimed at local primary students in recognition that ultimately and without question the future sustainability of the Amboseli-Tsavo ecosystem will be determined by today’s children. The challenge, of course, in the meantime is to stabilize and sustain the ecosystem until education can bear fruit.
Field Research and Lion Guardians
Working in collaboration with a team of field research scientists and graduate students under the banner of Living With Lions, led by Dr. Laurence Frank of the University of California at Berkeley, the conservation model incorporates a lion collaring and population study dimension with socio-economic research and synergistic conservation projects as developed.
Within the MPT conservation model, Living With Lions in early 2007 began to manage and extend a collaborative program called Lion Guardians (LG). The project employs young warriors on MGR who would otherwise have little chance of receiving wages and trains them to monitor lion movements across the group ranch in conjunction with scientists, using sophisticated tracking equipment, and to provide community services to minimize human-predator conflict, such as assisting in finding lost livestock before they are killed by predators, or helping to build better protective thorn fences around livestock enclosures. The Lion Guardians program also employs specially-produced films in the local Maa language to improve animal husbandry and further reduce conflict.
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