From all of us at Koiyaki Guiding School, many thanks for all your tireless support. We hope you had an excellent Christmas and wish you all the best for 2011.

Koiyaki Guiding School and Wilderness Camp are eagerly awaiting the registration certificate from the Ministry of Higher Education which will be the first step to confirming their affiliation to Narok University College. This registration certificate will also enable the School and Wilderness Camp parcel of land to be registered as a community holding with a legal title deed.

The Koiyaki community have been lobbying for this issue to be resolved over the last year and this will be an important step to enable this community project to continue accessing donor funding.

The graduation date for the present group of students in residence has been set for 11th June 2011.

The School is linked with an intern programme organised through Basecamp Foundation where foreign students can spend time at the Guiding School networking different skills with the students and the greater community. It is hoped that this programme will contribute approximately USD20,000 to the School budget.

Koiyaki Wilderness Camp lease matured in October and negotiations are in hand for the renewal of this lease through an open tender system so as to obtain competitive commercial bidding for the continuity of this lucrative contract.

Naboisho Conservancy, on which the School is situated, is now registered as a community conservancy modelling itself on the successful Olare Orok Conservancy (www.oocmara.com) which was registered in May 2006. Naboisho will have a tourist bed allocation of approximately 132 beds and will be underwritten by 5 safari operators as well as the Koiyaki Wilderness Camp.

Time Magazine has  published a travel piece from a visit to Rekero
Visit Time to read more

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

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.

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.