Our Lion Kids programme started in 2009 through the support of our friend Todd Cromwell’s Kenyan Kids. Initially, the programme involved taking children on safaris into Samburu National Reserve to give them a positive wildlife experience. Surprisingly, many children who live just on the edge of the Reserve have never even been inside.
Shivani introduces the upcoming KKOS Camp to students at Lpus Leluai Primary School.
More than 100 children have been taken on safari through this programme. We give the children digital cameras and binoculars so they can take their own photos, which we later print for them, so they share and remember their experiences in the Reserve. To date, Sasaab Lodge and Samburu Intrepids have supported this programme, and children from Sasaab village, Lpus Leluai, and Kiltamany Primary schools have benefitted from these safaris.
In 2013, we are initiating a new and exciting experience for children in Samburu. This month, we will hold a Lion Kids Camp in Westgate Community Conservancy. From April 17—20, children will be taken on bird walks, game drives, watch wildlife films and documentaries, and participate in workshops and sporting events. On the final day, four local primary schools will participate in a Wildlife Drama competition.
Children from the four schools were selected to participate through a creative competition with the theme “Conservation and Conflict”. Seven children with the best artistic entries from each school were invited to participate in the Camp. The results from the creative competition were fantastic – we had lions made out of beans, birds made out of sand and much more!
> Read more about Lions Kids here.
Here are some of the winning entries from the creative art competition:
Children submitted entries into the art competition in order to get a spot in the Lion Kids Camp.
A lion made of beans! One of the entries for the art competition.
The following is a winning poem by Antonella Sainety:
Lion my best friend
Lion my friend I pitty you
Lion my friend I love your nature
Lion my friend I like your beauty
What can I do lion
What best fit you lion
Where better keeps lion
Why are you in danger
Sad to hear people complain
Sad to hear people hunting you
Sad to hear dead lions
Sad to miss lions in Kenya
Hoi lion extinctions!
Lion extinction hurts my heart
My ears
My brain
My spirit
And destroys the environment
Hoi lions bring benefits!
To students
To teachers
To parents
Hoi – conserve Lions!
Lions my heritage
The splendour of my country
The beauty of my mother land
Hoi Conserve lions for future generations