It’s prize time for our brightest young Wildlife Warrior Club members. The winners of the Water Conservation Essay Competition at Esiteti Primary were awarded a trophy for their efforts. Each member of the team also received a school bag, a solar scientific calculator, a geometry set and a Certificate of Participation from the UN.

The team were taken out on a game drive in Kitirua Conservancy, bordering Amboseli National Park, by guide Juma Patrick from Tortilis Camp. The six students had a wonderful time and enjoyed their tasty treats as well. They saw several herds of elephants, zebra and of course the odd warthog and giraffe, and they even spotted a lesser kudu – a rare and exciting sight!

These game drives are so important for these children, helping to shift their perception of wildlife. For many young Maasai and of course others living around these conservation areas, wildlife is little more than a  threat and a hassle; elephants rip up their uncle’s maize crops; hyena take their chickens; baboons black their path home from school and steal their mother’s bread. To be taken out in a game drive vehicle by a professional guide with a  passion for wildlife helps them to learn to value the wildlife, to see the animals as a wonderful asset as opposed to a danger and an inconvenience. They start to understand what these tourists are doing here and why they come, and they begin to develop a passion for wildlife that shifts their view of the world and encourages them to respect the natural world around for its intrinsic value.

Land & Life would like to thank Elewana Collection for its ongoing support of the Wildlife Warrior program, not only here at Esiteti but also at all the other properties where busy staff make time and put in effort to give these students a memorable experience and a leg up into a  brighter future.