Kenyan Kids on Safari is a great programme where Kenyan children are provided with the opportunity to join tourists and other visitors on a safari experience in Kenyan reserves. Most Kenyan children have never had the experience of a game drive and they miss out on viewing wildlife due to the high cost of safaris. Many rangers and employees’s children who live at the safari camps and lodges have also never been on a safari. The Kenyan Kids on Safari programme encourages visitors on safari to invite one or two local children, from either nearby schools or villages, to join them on various safari game drives for the day.
The programme has successfully started in Maasai Mara and more recently in Samburu, where I am very proud to be a volunteer to help get the programme going. In December 2008, Todd Cromwell who started this programme and is also a friend and donor for Ewaso Lions,visited us in Samburu to network with the tourist establishments and provide selected lodges/camps with digital cameras and print stations for the children to use when they accompany tourists on a game drive. At the end of each game drive, the children would go back to the lodge where selected photos they took would be printed, giving them the chance to remember this memorable safari and the wildlife they saw.
Teaching the kids how to use the cameras
Children watching and taking photos of the elephants
During Todd’s visit we arranged for children from Samburu Intrepids Camp to be taken out on a game drive. 6 children were taken out and were taught how to use the cameras. The drive was fantastic! We were fortunate to see Nabo, one of the main Samburu lionesses, and lots of elephants including a mating pair! The kids were taught about wildlife and conservation and overall, they had a great experience.
Below are a few photos that 2 of the kids, Saruni and Elvis, took during their game-drive experience
My name is Saruni Lesabouwa. I am 16 years old and go to Kipsing primary school, where I am in class 7. Our school is located in Isiolo District. It was my first time to be in a car! Not only to be in a car, but also to be on a Safari where we managed to see the following animals: elephants, gazelles, buffalo, lioness, impala and ostrich.
It was my first time to hear the lion roar and also be that close to a lioness and elephants. I know that a buffalo is the most feared animal in Africa, but today I was happy to have seen it very close that I can even take a picture. I love Stephen, Todd and Doriana for the guiding and above all for the camera which made me feel special. Thank you all again and my thoughts will be with you.
My name is Elvis Lenamunyi from Gir Gir primary school. I am 9 years old and in class two. While I was playing with other kids, I received good news from Doriana of Intrepid that I was selected to be among the children who will be taught how to use the cameras and later to go for game drive! I am extremely happy. I never believed what I heard; I thought it was a dream! The session of Camera Handling started and I was very excited since I have never even handled a camera any other day. Doriana was my teacher but first I thought I will not know anything. I was shown how to put the camera on and off and from there I could see some people who were in front of the camera on the back of the camera display.
The game drive started. On the way, Stephen, the Intrepid naturalist, kept on talking about plants and birds which seemed to me impossible for a person to know them all by their names! I manage to know the Kenyan Green Hart Pepper Bark tooth brush tree in English, which is called Enkikee Ngige in Samburu, and some birds. After a few minutes, we saw lioness, elephants, guinea fowl, antelopes, buffalo and even dik diks. I managed to take 111 pictures of all the animals I have seen. Later I found that I was the only one who took more than 100 pictures. It was very interesting, and I wish I could do this every day. I loved the whole trip and I am very happy with the Kenyan Kids on Safari program.
To date, 16 cameras have been distributed in Samburu at 3 different camps, Samburu Intrepids, Samburu Serena and Sasaab Lodge. Kids are being taken out often and are getting to see what Samburu has to offer!
For more information on Kenyan Kids on Safari, please visit their website.