It’s hard to pick one favorite part from our “revenge” travels through Africa. Over the past 4 months, we’ve traveled through 9 different countries, climbed Africa’s highest mountain, and spent countless days on safari—meeting endangered rhinos, gangly giraffes, majestic lions, and one giant silverback gorilla named Mark.
But though we’ve collected a lifetime of memories, we’ve also been moving quite quickly, sometimes crossing whole countries in a matter of days. That’s why we decided to wrap up our trip with a volunteer project, both to give back and spend the final weeks of our four-month vacation based in one place.
This brought us back to the Greater Masai Mara in Kenya, where we signed up to spend 3 weeks volunteering on a private wildlife reserve. Tom and I already visited the Masai Mara National Reserve—a sprawling savannah reaching from southwest Kenya all the way down to Tanzania—earlier in our travels, where we witnessed millions of zebra and wildebeest crossing the plains during the “Great Migration.”
This time around, we traveled to a private conservancy just north of the national park in Kenya, which was founded in 1961 to protect the lions, leopards, cheetahs, elephants, zebras, wildebeest, and giraffes who call this beautiful region home. Our project specifically focused on tracking the conservancy’s big cats, many of whom have traveled north from the national park to establish prides in the reserve, which — unlike the government park — is owned by a collective of Masai families.
Established in 2010, the conservancy has become a win-win for tourists, wildlife, local landowners, and the environment, which once suffered from overgrazing. Now Naboisho, as the conservancy is known, has been transformed into a lush green garden of Eden, beckoning animals back in droves.
The arrangement also benefits the Masai themselves, a nomadic tribe that needs money and education to thrive in the 21st century. Now elders can collect a monthly salary from leasing their land to luxury lodges — finally earning enough to build community schools and send their kids to class.
Tom and I start our days quite early, sometimes leaving at 6:30 to 7am to begin counting animals first thing in the morning, when wildlife is most active. We’re specifically looking for lions, leopards, cheetahs, elephants, hyenas, jackals, vultures, and eagles, whose numbers help determine the health of the whole ecosystem. A sudden decline in certain animals, for example, could reveal an increase in poaching, which has pushed Africa’s elephants to the brink of extinction.
Other human-animal conflicts occur when local farmers poison lions, leopards, and cheetahs (usually by lacing their kills) in a short-sighted effort to protect their herds. Sadly, such conflicts ripple throughout the ecosystem, killing the cats as well as the vultures, hyenas, and other scavengers who feed on leftover prey.
Twice a week, we also conduct “transects,” which is a way to estimate the total number of animals living within the reserve. These numbers — which include counting all the wildebeest, zebras, antelope, warthogs, baboons, and giraffes grazing within fixed one square kilometer zones — are then transferred to a team of biologists studying wildlife found in the 50,000-acre reserve.
In between game drives, we also do conservancy work — like collecting litter, weeding out invasive species, and building fences to stop the erosion that follows heavy rains —and play with kids attending a local school built using money generated from the conservancy project.
Regardless of our morning agenda, we’re usually back at camp by 1pm, when the soaring midday heat imposes a savannah-wide siesta. Back at camp, we’ll have lunch (and maybe an afternoon nap) before heading back out into the reserve at around 4:30-5pm.
During these evening game drives, we’re looking cheetahs, leopards, and lions—those nocturnal creatures who spend their days napping—right as they wake up and begin surveying the plains for their next meal.
Tom and I have already seen lots of big cats in Africa, including leopards lounging in trees, coalitions of cheetahs, and countless scenes seemingly lifted straight from The Lion King. But Naboisho seems blessed by an unusually large number of big cats, which — according to our Masai project manager, Jane — what could be Africa’s largest population of lions.
Many of these resident felines even have names, like lionesses Jesmina and Akila, mothers to three cute, playful cubs; an 8-year-old cheetah named Kuahidi; and Nolari, a 10-year-old leopard who stashes her kill up high in the trees, where it can be shared with her equally nimble son.
Other prides include Ilkisiusiu, a pride of about 30 lions led by the Rongai Boys, a coalition of three male lions from the nearby Masai Mara Reserve. About three years ago, the nomadic young males (who are either brothers or cousins) left their families and traveled north into the conservancy, where they took over a pride of female lions.
Now this breakaway pride has grown into one of the conservancy's largest, leaving the Rongai Boys (named for the part of the Mara where they were born) sharing the gargantuan task of guarding their territory from other nomadic male lions prowling nearby.
But though Naboisho’s big cats are the main attraction, the conservancy is teeming with an array of animals. This became clear on our very first day, when we saw scores of lions, cape buffalo, and even a serval, a rare African cat.
Even on days when we don’t count many lions, cheetah, or leopards--which remain very wary of people, making them difficult to spot--we’re still treated to vast herds of wildebeest, zebras, and lithe gazelle, wallowing hippos, curious giraffes, bat-eared foxes, owls, mongoose, and colorful birds.
Nor does it hurt that Tom and I arrived right at the end of Kenya’s short rains, which means (because there’s plenty of food to eat) babies are being born across the savannah. Now grazing elephants welcome little ones into growing herds, warthogs have piglets in tow, and last year’s lion cubs have been upgraded to babysitting duty.
Just before we left, we watched a gangly newborn giraffe—so young his umbilical cord was still attached—take his first wobbly steps. We’ve also found baby zebras are adorably prone to the “zoomies.”
Best yet, we’ve been able to enjoy these special moments without lots of traffic, which isn’t the case in public reserves, which are open to any guide with a truck and a tourist license.
Now whenever we spot big cats—something that, in a national park, would have caused a traffic jam—we’re joined by just a few trucks carrying tourists from the handful of lodges operating in the conservancy. This relaxed VIP vibe works both for the animals—who don’t need dozens of trucks following them around—and for us volunteers, who can enjoy the wildlife in peace without millions of trucks in the way.
Regardless, Tom and I have no regrets about our brief foray into “voluntourism,” which felt like the perfect way to conclude our Africa adventures. Not only did our 3-week project provide an opportunity to learn more about Masai culture and promote wildlife conservation, it proved the perfect place to relax and recharge before heading back home. (We even celebrated Tom’s 40th birthday by swapping our budget tent for one night in a luxury lodge).
Above all, the project allowed us to spend more time in Kenya, a beautiful country we can’t wait to come back to. It’s only fitting, then, that nobody says goodbye in Africa, according to our Nairobi-based guides. Instead, locals simply say, “see you next time.”
By Jen Swanson