LION KIDS CAMP SOLIO: DAY 3

The Ewaso Lions Kids Camps is an inspiring program designed to educate children who live alongside wildlife about the importance of conservation in their communities. Find out more in the introductory post here.

We started very early, giving us time to reach Richard’s house as the family were waking up and preparing for their day. Nina started her filming as they enjoyed their morning tea, and then we followed Richard on his journey to school, meeting his friends and boarding the Solio cars to start his Lion Kids Camp adventure.

After a hot cup of tea and snack, we went through the pre-camp questionnaires and the presentations, before heading out on our first game drive.

Interestingly, some of the children in this group have experienced wildlife already, and there is already a level of understanding of the importance of conservation, which we did not see with the Honi Primary school children.

We were very lucky to see a large pride of lions very early on and the children were thrilled by this––even the ones who had seen lions before. We also had wonderful rhino viewing, large herds of buffalo and masses of plains game all with babies. Again, we were lucky with the weather and the rain stayed away for the most part. We found a lovely spot for our picnic lunch in full view of a herd of water buck and zebra.

Lucy the female teacher is an absolute inspiration to these children, singing songs about “Solio and Safari”, the importance of the environment, and really helping us to make the whole experience allot of fun for the children.

She has boundless energy and managed to make a song out of every learning experience, she generated an energy that was palpable. It is teachers like Lucy that can really help us make a difference and drive this conservation message forwards. It is vital that we continue to support her and follow up to make sure that she has the tools and support to keep the momentum going when the children are back in school.

Lucy is a gem and people with her level of enthusiasm are hard to find. Nina and Khaled filmed a final interview with Richard again at the end of the day and he was on a real high, intoxicated with the enormity of his experience.

See the rest of the Lion Kids Camp Diary here.