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Press and Articles
May 2009
Time Magazine has published a travel piece from a visit to Rekero
Visit www.time.com to read more
March 2007
Koiyaki – A Guiding Light
The all-new Koiyaki Guiding School and Wilderness Camp, located near the world-famous Masai Mara game reserve, offers members of the local Maasai community an opportunity to be trained to work in safari camps throughout the area, and to conserve the wildlife that shares their land. The Masai Mara is considered to be one of Africa’s most spectacular wilderness reserves, with an unmatched abundance and diversity of species. Every year the plains of the Mara are the backdrop for the incredible migration of over one million wildebeest from the Serengeti. But this area is also the heartland of the Maasai people, and they have shared the land with the wildlife for generations. For many visitors to this region, Maasai culture is of particular interest, often of greater interest than the reserve itself. However, in many cases, their guides to this area are not local Maasai. At present only a handful of the local people benefit from the tourism business, due to lack of training and skills. Most of the tourist camps in the Mara ecosystem employ a majority of staff from outside the area. The Koiyaki Guiding School aims to redress this situation, with the creation of a Wilderness Camp for tourists, and a specialized school providing localized training in bushcraft and skills necessary for conservation and management of wildlife and tourism. The camp is located in Koiyaki Group Ranch, which adjoins the northern boundary of the Masai Mara Game Reserve, at the northernmost end of the great Serengeti/Mara wildebeest migration route. The school was officially opened on July 12th 2005 by the Head of the Kenya EC Delegation, Dr Derek Fee. The Wilderness Camp will generate revenue from eco-tourism and the school will produce qualified field guides for employment within the Masai Mara ecosystem. The Guiding School aims to train local people to equip them with skills required in the highly competitive tourism industry. The detailed courses cover Anthropology, History, Customs, Natural History, Animal Behaviour, Environment and Wildlife Management, Camp Management and Cuisine, First Aid and Guest Relations. The complete training course consists of three eight-week terms, with an additional internship placement at a tourist camp in the Mara.
Excerpt from an article dated March 2007 on www.magicalkenya.com
June 2006
A Quiet Revolution – Condé Nast Traveller
While tourism has improved Kenya’s economy in the last few decades, those benefits haven’t always trickled down – even in the areas most popular with foreigners. In the Masai Mara National Reserve, famous among safari-goers for its annual wildebeest migration, 80% of the guiding jobs are held by outsiders. The Koiyaki Guiding School is trying to change that by training local Maasai, and Ol Seki Mara Camp is one of the school’s largest donors.
June 2006
Born to the Bush – Condé Nast Traveller
A school in Kenya is training local Maasai people as professional safari guides. Paul Miles was there on its first graduation day. The familiar image of a safari guide is that of a tough, khaki-clad white man. Now, a new generation of red-robed Maasai is joining the profession in Kenya. Among them are three women. “We are the ones who really know about this habitat and the animals,” says Micah Kaleku, one of 23 graduates of Kenya’s first school training Maasai to become safari guides. “All through my childhood I was among wild animals,” says 22-year-old Kaleku at the school’s first graduation ceremony. “Once I had to climb a tree to get away from a buffalo.”
Known for their red clothes and diet of milk and blood, the Maasai live in Kenya and Tanzania and are by tradition cattle-herders. They have become a marginalised group, thanks in part to the British colonial policy of displacing them to allow settlers to farm and, more recently, to the creation of national parks on Maasai lands. Today some work in tourism but do menial jobs and are therefore rarely seen by guests. Until now, less than five per cent of Kenya’s 2,000-odd certified safari guides have been Maasai.
Koiyaki Guiding School aims to improve that. The residential school is about 16km north of the Masai Mara National Reserve in remote acacia-dotted savannah where antelope and zebra graze. The Koiyaki-Lemek community’s school was started with the help of Ron Beaton, a third-generation Kenyan. He and his wife Pauline have been in the safari business since 1984, and they have trained and employed Maasai men as guides. By enabling more Maasai to become guides, says Beaton, the school will put wealth in their hands and create environmental awareness among their families.
There are just two full-time teachers and several visiting instructors but, according to the chairman of the Kenyan Tourist Board, Jake Grieves-Cook, the educational standard is “higher than at any other institution in Kenya”. The school premises are rudimentary. Students pay a fee of KSh5,000 for the year – “about the price of a cow,” says Simon Nkoitoi, the school’s administrator.
Among the three female graduates, Betty Maitau has already had five offers of employment. “My family is very impressed, especially as this is mostly a career for men,” says the 23-year-old. In polygamous Maasai society, it is rare for girls to receive an education. In her speech on behalf of the European Union, a major sponsor of the school, heather Elkins said to the audience at the graduation: “Now you see what girls can do. I appeal to you, please send your girls to the school.”
1May 2009
Time Magazine has published a travel piece from a visit to Rekero
Visit www.time.com to read more
March 2007
Koiyaki – A Guiding Light
The all-new Koiyaki Guiding School and Wilderness Camp, located near the world-famous Masai Mara game reserve, offers members of the local Maasai community an opportunity to be trained to work in safari camps throughout the area, and to conserve the wildlife that shares their land. The Masai Mara is considered to be one of Africa’s most spectacular wilderness reserves, with an unmatched abundance and diversity of species. Every year the plains of the Mara are the backdrop for the incredible migration of over one million wildebeest from the Serengeti. But this area is also the heartland of the Maasai people, and they have shared the land with the wildlife for generations. For many visitors to this region, Maasai culture is of particular interest, often of greater interest than the reserve itself. However, in many cases, their guides to this area are not local Maasai. At present only a handful of the local people benefit from the tourism business, due to lack of training and skills. Most of the tourist camps in the Mara ecosystem employ a majority of staff from outside the area. The Koiyaki Guiding School aims to redress this situation, with the creation of a Wilderness Camp for tourists, and a specialized school providing localized training in bushcraft and skills necessary for conservation and management of wildlife and tourism. The camp is located in Koiyaki Group Ranch, which adjoins the northern boundary of the Masai Mara Game Reserve, at the northernmost end of the great Serengeti/Mara wildebeest migration route. The school was officially opened on July 12th 2005 by the Head of the Kenya EC Delegation, Dr Derek Fee. The Wilderness Camp will generate revenue from eco-tourism and the school will produce qualified field guides for employment within the Masai Mara ecosystem. The Guiding School aims to train local people to equip them with skills required in the highly competitive tourism industry. The detailed courses cover Anthropology, History, Customs, Natural History, Animal Behaviour, Environment and Wildlife Management, Camp Management and Cuisine, First Aid and Guest Relations. The complete training course consists of three eight-week terms, with an additional internship placement at a tourist camp in the Mara.
Excerpt from an article dated March 2007 on www.magicalkenya.com
June 2006
A Quiet Revolution – Condé Nast Traveller
While tourism has improved Kenya’s economy in the last few decades, those benefits haven’t always trickled down – even in the areas most popular with foreigners. In the Masai Mara National Reserve, famous among safari-goers for its annual wildebeest migration, 80% of the guiding jobs are held by outsiders. The Koiyaki Guiding School is trying to change that by training local Maasai, and Ol Seki Mara Camp is one of the school’s largest donors.
June 2006
Born to the Bush – Condé Nast Traveller
A school in Kenya is training local Maasai people as professional safari guides. Paul Miles was there on its first graduation day. The familiar image of a safari guide is that of a tough, khaki-clad white man. Now, a new generation of red-robed Maasai is joining the profession in Kenya. Among them are three women. “We are the ones who really know about this habitat and the animals,” says Micah Kaleku, one of 23 graduates of Kenya’s first school training Maasai to become safari guides. “All through my childhood I was among wild animals,” says 22-year-old Kaleku at the school’s first graduation ceremony. “Once I had to climb a tree to get away from a buffalo.”
Known for their red clothes and diet of milk and blood, the Maasai live in Kenya and Tanzania and are by tradition cattle-herders. They have become a marginalised group, thanks in part to the British colonial policy of displacing them to allow settlers to farm and, more recently, to the creation of national parks on Maasai lands. Today some work in tourism but do menial jobs and are therefore rarely seen by guests. Until now, less than five per cent of Kenya’s 2,000-odd certified safari guides have been Maasai.
Koiyaki Guiding School aims to improve that. The residential school is about 16km north of the Masai Mara National Reserve in remote acacia-dotted savannah where antelope and zebra graze. The Koiyaki-Lemek community’s school was started with the help of Ron Beaton, a third-generation Kenyan. He and his wife Pauline have been in the safari business since 1984, and they have trained and employed Maasai men as guides. By enabling more Maasai to become guides, says Beaton, the school will put wealth in their hands and create environmental awareness among their families.
There are just two full-time teachers and several visiting instructors but, according to the chairman of the Kenyan Tourist Board, Jake Grieves-Cook, the educational standard is “higher than at any other institution in Kenya”. The school premises are rudimentary. Students pay a fee of KSh5,000 for the year – “about the price of a cow,” says Simon Nkoitoi, the school’s administrator.
Among the three female graduates, Betty Maitau has already had five offers of employment. “My family is very impressed, especially as this is mostly a career for men,” says the 23-year-old. In polygamous Maasai society, it is rare for girls to receive an education. In her speech on behalf of the European Union, a major sponsor of the school, heather Elkins said to the audience at the graduation: “Now you see what girls can do. I appeal to you, please send your girls to the school.”