Tag: kicheche

The Mara Conservancies: a Conservation Framework

Posted on by James

It might seem strange to head out on game drive, spend some time viewing a lion pride sleeping int he shade, then drive round the corner and bump into a Maasai herdsman out walking with his cattle.
Yet that is the reality in much of rural Africa – the co-existence of wildlife and people. And if it is to be a peaceful and productive one, conservancies are an excellent way to maintain it.

The last thirty years in Africa have seen the evolution of the conservancy concept, which has spread fast.
Conservancies in Kenya in particular are regarded as a way of involving local communities with wildlife conservation. The purpose of a conservancy is not the same as a nationally protected reserve like a park, and they do not replace these area, instead they complement them.

Conservancies provide a range of local values, including clarifying and firming up local land tenure over pasture and grazing areas, improving security – both for wildlife and land-owners – through networks of community scouts and communications infrastructure and law enforcement bodies, and “providing a legal structure for communities to enter into third-party joint ventures with tourism investors in order to generate revenue from wildlife”.

Conservancies in Kenya are represented by Kenya Wildlife Conservancies Association “who work with landowners and communities to sustainably conserve and manage wildlife and their habitat outside formal protected areas to perpetuate Kenya’s heritage.”

Whereas historically wildlife has been seen as a nuisance by both pastoralists and farmers (livestock gets killed by predators and elephants raid crops), and the establishment of restricted wildlife areas as prohibiting access to good grazing grounds, the establishment of conservancies essentially sees local landowners and local communities benefitting from tourism dollars whilst still maintaining many land-use rights, and ultimately coming to see wildlife as a positive.

Kicheche Wildlife Camps, who operate in three conservancies that border the Maasai Mara (Naboisho, Olare Matorogi and Mara North) have this to say about their trust in the conservcancy system:

Keeping with the commitment of The Long Run’s 4Cs – Conservation, Community, Culture and Commerce – we collaborate with the local community via the Kicheche Community Trust to support traditional and sustainable ways of living that are in harmony with wildlife and the environment.

All guest donations and bednight contributions to the Kicheche Community Trust are channelled into projects impacting its conservancy communities. These then have a significant impact on women’s empowerment in particular.  The Trust’s efforts and passion evolve around four pillars: Education, Health and Family Care Community Empowerment, Environment and Conservation.

With an ever expanding number of conservancies across Kenya that provide safe havens for wildlife as well as invaluable corridors for its free movement between established protected areas, the system seems to be the way forward in areas where it can be implemented…

 

 

 

3 of Africa’s Best Hidden Safari Gems

Posted on by James

One of the hardest things about choosing a safari destination is simply wading through the huge amount of choice you get given. Literally hundreds of lodges and camps spread all over the continent, from desert to mountaintop and everything in between.

Yet every now and then a really special place pops up on one’s radar, somewhere that immediately gets you thinking about a return visit.

We’ve picked three that we’ve come across on our own travels that we simply cannot recommend strongly enough…

Kicheche Valley Camp

There are few safari camps out there that give you an overwhelming feeling of “Yes!” when you walk onto the deck for the first time. Kicheche Valley Camp is one of them.

Tucked discreetly between two acacia-covered hills in the Naboisho Conservancy of the eastern Maasai Mara in Kenya, the camp has a wonderful simplicity to it that instantly draws you into a slower pace of life. Zebras graze within metres of your tent, lions (of which there are plenty in the area) roar in the distance at night, and the camp staff’s warm smiles and enthusiasm for their work are clearly genuine.

Kicheche have a number of offerings in the area (Bush, Mara and Valley Camp), but Valley has to be our favourite; the intangibles there make it evident that nothing is forced, everything is done at your pace, the food is excellent, the drinks are cold, the accommodation makes you feel like are part of the environment instead of excluded from it – whilst still being incredibly comfortable – the guides are excellent, and of course, the wildlife viewing is utterly spectacular.

For those looking for a wildlife destination in East Africa that ticks all the boxes, but most importantly the one about feeling at home, look no further than Kicheche Value Camp.

Notten’s

Neighbour to some of the biggest name lodges in the South African safari industry, Notten’s has been quietly in operation since the 1980s, conducting Big 5 safaris with their own special brand of charm and hospitality.
As part of the Sabi Sand Reserve, Notten’s boasts just as high a density of big game as any other lodge in the area, with a particularly high number of leopards and lions calling the area home. The Sabi Sands is in fact home to the densest population of leopards yet recorded in Africa.

Notten’s has a family feel to it; it is family run and many of its staff have their own families living and working there. This is reflected in the warm welcome that everyone receives, and the level of repeat business that Notten’s can boast (among the highest in the greater reserve) is testament to this fact.

Whilst other destinations close by might be better known, it is Notten’s that will have us going back time and time again.

Nxai Pan

When the Okavango Delta, a world-heritage site and one of the most sought-after safari destinations in Africa is only two hour’s drive away, it’s hard to compete.

Yet Nxai Pan offers a completely different type of safari experience, a highly concentrated one that is difficult to find anywhere else on the continent.
Set in the vastness of the greater Kalahari Desert, the pan itself – and accompanying pans to the south – offer an incredible open reprieve from the surrounding scrubland.
Short grass plains and salt pans stretch as far as the eye can see, presenting incredible game viewing opportunities.

Water is everything here, and with only one or two permanent water sources in the dry season, incredible concentrations of wildlife – most notably elephants – are to be found coming to slake their thirst each day.

Nxai Pan is a unique ecosystem that will leave you in awe at its scale. Baobabs dot the area, and a trip to this part of the world would not be complete without a day trip to the world famous Baines’ Baobabs just to the south.

Although open year round, the game-viewing at Nxai Pan tends to be seasonal in response to water availability, so be sure to connect with one of our travel consultants to find out about the best time to visit.

And with the Okavango just a short safari stone’s throw away, this reserve offers the perfect place to incorporate into the wider Botswana safari circuit…

 

Kicheche Safari Camps: Hidden Gems in a Huge Landscape

Posted on by James

Kenya’s Maasai Mara ecosystem is subdivided into a number of areas; the Mara Triangle in the west which forms the edge of the grasslands where it rises up into the Oloololo escarpment, the Maasai Mara National Reserve, which has its own private camps and is where public vehicles can access too, and on the norther edge, a number of conservancies, which operate in conjunction with local communities and traditional pastoralists.

All sections are unfenced and open to each other, allowing free movement of wildlife.

Although not receiving as much press as the sectors to the south, the northern conservancies boast just as spectacular game viewing, if not more so, as well as operating with far fewer vehicles in a sighting. And it is in these areas, prolific with wildlife, that you find the Kicheche camps.

Valley Camp in the Naboisho conservancy is tucked discreetly away in acacia woodland on a hillside, and it is not uncommon to see 20 different cheetahs in a week’s stay here. In the west, Kicheche Mara Camp is in the Mara North conservancy, where world-famous Leopard Gorge is to be found and where so many iconic wildlife documentaries have been filmed.
And in the middle sits Kicheche Bush Camp, set back in the tree-line alongside an expansive grassy plain. This is the lurking ground of the leopard Fig, who featured prominently in the National Geographic Documentary “Jade Eyed Leopard”.

All three camps are small enough to retain that sense of intimacy with guests, in which you don’t feel like a number, but part of things. Valley and Bush Camp have only six tents each, while Mara Camp is only slightly bigger with eight.
Many of the guides have been with Kicheche for well over a decade, and their experience shows in their intimate knowledge of the area. This is especially true when it comes to photography, and Kicheche is ultimately a photographer’s dream. Open skylines, an abundance of wildlife, lion numbers like you wouldn’t believe… combine this with the specially adapted Kicheche photographic vehicles and guides who understand everything from backlighting to depth of field, and you couldn’t ask for anything more, except maybe a memory card or two, as yours are sure to fill up given the prolific number of photographic opportunities.

Kicheche gets it right in the “feeling”; that intangible sense that you are somewhere that you ought to be. That synergy of all the smaller details that can seem so formulaic on paper yet is so difficult to achieve in reality. It’s the staff, the accommodation, the wildlife, the setting. It’s all of them yet none of them.
It’s an ever-elusive element that very few destinations produce, yet Kicheche have, through their own secret formula, got it right…