nothing but

You’ve all heard it before. “Take nothing but pictures…leave nothing but footprints“. If you subscribe to this way of thinking then a socially responsible photographic safari might be for you. To tell you the truth, it wasn’t the “socially responsible” part of the trip that attracted me as much as the “photographic” part but when you get to Kenya, you will understand why this should be an important aspect of your travel there.

With our visits to community development projects such as those in Kibera, and schools and orphanages supported by Give International, this trip qualifies as one that is sensitive to the welfare of the people we visited. What some on our trip may not have realized is the degree to which each of our stops along the way was carefully selected to meet the threshold test of being socially responsible. Eco-tourism is big business and Big Business is right in there but the places we stayed at were all Kenyan-owned. Our first two stops, the Samburu Lodge and Sweetwaters Tented Camp, are Serena Properties which has practiced a socially responsible philosophy for over a decade. You can read a little more about their eco-program here. It includes strict adherence to architectural building and design; use of local materials and labour; and promotion of traditional crafts through cultural villages and programs on their properties. They also work with the local community (where their employees live) to improve education, roads, healthcare and water supplies.

The Samburu Lodge was one of my favourite places on the trip; the other was our last stop, the Karen Blixen Camp, seen here in today’s posting. Although the camp carries the Karen Blixen name, it has no connection with the woman made famous in the book and movie “Out of Africa”. However it is run by a Danish couple who are committed to being environmentally friendly and protecting the Maasai Mara through the Mara North Conservancy. You can read more about their commitment here. Different from a game reserve, a conservancy basically rents the land from the local Maasai landowners and works with them to manage, preserve, and protect the environment and wildlife. The camp is run on solar power and has its own waste water treatment facility that recycles the water. Two things I loved about our stay here, the outdoor shower and the fact that we did not have stick to any roads as we went on our game drives. There was a real feeling of freedom, African-style.

Our safari was organized and led by Ryan Snider, a Canadian who grew up in Kenya. He is involved in more than 30 development projects in Kenya, Tanzania and Uganda while he works on his PhD which focuses on the relationship between ecotourism and sustainable development amongst the Maasai. If you have an affinity for animals, nature or people, this is the kind of safari for you. You can leave feeling confident that you’ve done your part to preserve the land and to sustain life for Kenya’s people and wildlife.