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Starting Young: Lion Kids Camp 2014
When it comes to educating people about the value of wildlife in Kenya, it helps to start young.
Most children in northern Kenya have only had bad experiences with wildlife. Some of them have seen elephants chasing thir friends, or the remains of a camel after a lion attack, or a hungry leopard stealing their goat. They rarely have the opportunity to experience what so many visitors pay to see in Kenya’s famous parks and reserves.
The children are the future rangers, wardens, tour guides and field officers of Kenya.
This is why Lions Kids Camp is so important.
Lion Kids Camp
Each year, The Safari Collection in partnership with Ewaso Lions, puts on the Lion Kids Camp in north central Kenya’s Samburuland, a four-day camp for local children that combines wildlife education, game drives, art competitions, and lots of fun for everyone.
The 2014 Lion Kids Camp took place at Westgate Community Headquarters and was a roaring success.
This year, the Westgate Community selected three schools to take part and two new schools from outside the conservancy entered Lorubae and Girgir, both located in Archers post but serving the Kalama Conservancy Community.
Ewaso Lions put together an activity-packed four days, filled with exciting adventures and plenty of opportunity for our young environmentalists to learn and grow. Following last year’s camp, we increased the length of the camp by one day to include more of the activities most enjoyed last year.
Day 1
The Westgate children arrived bright and early for the registration process and the pre-camp questionnaires were started as this is a vital part of assessing the performance of the camp for the future and guiding us on any changes we should implement.
While we waited for the other children, we played some great games, did wildlife puzzles and modelled plasticine into different animals. It’s evident that the feedback from last year’s camp has filtered through and the children generally seem less apprehensive and more participatory already.
Once we completed the formalities of registration, splitting everyone into their groups and introducing them to their team leaders, we got started. Sasaab Lodge has the Wild dog team and Daniel our silver level head guide is the team leader.
We started with the mammal and bird ID presentations, followed by a quick lesson in camera and binocular use before heading off on a bird walk.
We left the children very excited about the full day game drive into Samburu National Reserve the following day and for a second year in a row – absolutely desperate to see lions!
Day 2
This day started very early with the game drive into Samburu National Reserve. The children were very excited and chatty as they jumped in the cars!
We had an incredible day in the park after being welcomed by the warden of Samburu, Gabriel Lepariyo. Almost immediately, we saw two beautiful lionesses – Nadala and Naserian – right on the banks of the Ewaso Nyiro.
From there we headed straight to an area where we knew lions were feeding on an elephant carcass and found Nanai, Nabulu and their cubs. The icing on the cake was seeing Lguret nearby too.
For more than 20 kids, this was the first lion that they had ever seen and they were enthralled. They giggled, they watched, they laughed and they stared at the lions whispering “Simba, Simba”.
One car was lucky to see a leopard and others had a special sighting of a caracal. Other than the fantastic carnivore sightings, we saw over 300 elephants, Grevy’s zebras, and much more. We returned to camp exhausted, after a brief stop at Save the Elephants and Samburu Lodge, thrilled by the day’s sightings.
Day 3
The following morning we headed out to the Grevy’s Zebra Plains in search of this beautiful endangered species, together with the team from the Grevy’s Zebra Trust (GZT). Rains had failed in this area and so there were very few zebras around, however the GZT team kept the kids entertained with games and activities relating to the behaviour and conservation of the Grevy’s and Jeneria from Ewaso Lions held a classroom lesson “learning about lions”. The afternoon was spent preparing for the drama competition the following day, and the day ended with a visit to Sasaab and a showing of “African Cats” – a big highlight for the children.
Day 4
Early the final morning, we took the group through the Core Area of Westgate Conservancy. With a sunrise as the backdrop, we chatted to them about grazing issues, challenges in conservation, the importance of core areas and more. It was a beautiful morning, with clear views of Mt Kenya, and we were surrounded by elephants, it was perfect.
We returned to camp for the finale – the drama competition and the theme was: “How do animals, plants and people rely on each other for survival?” The presentations were of a very high standard and hilarious. We had elders, women and warriors from the community present as well and it was great to see such a large crowd enjoy the performances.
The costumes were creative and well thought-out – especially for the Grevy’s Zebra Trust team. It was a great afternoon attended by special guests from the region. What an incredible way to close our second Lion Kids Camp.
HOW YOU CAN HELP
To support this event next year or for more information on helping with other projects, please contact: Ali Allport ali@thesafaricollection.com
We would like to thank everyone who participated in this event to make it such a success. This camp was funded through the generous donations of Sasaab clients, and we would especially like to thank Livia, Samantha and Sophia, who gave up their birthday money towards the running costs of this camp.
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