Conservation Efforts

Caring About The Communities that Care about Big Cats

We identified that in our area no progress will be made for conservation without taking the communities that live in the closest proximity to wild places into consideration.

Coincidently but not surprisingly, these communities are a) the poorest in the country, b) the ones with least access to health care, c) the worst performers in the formal schooling system (i.e the least educated.)

That combination of poverty, poor education and poor health in the closest proximity to wildlife is a deadly set of circumstances for conservation. In addition we have identified that large intact ecosystems remain vaiable because of the great predators (big cats in particular.)

A second danger in these circumstances then is that we have poor, uneducated, unhealthy communities living cheek to jowl with some of the most dangerous animals in Africa and those animals are vital to the ecosystems they inhabit, the people inhabit and the parks and concessions that have the greatest potential to generate income that will undo or reverse the three key negatives (education, wealth and health.)

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The Big Cats of the World need help. Great Plains is stepping up to that Challenge. Will you join us?

Over the past 50 years African lions have declined from 450,000 to around 20,000 as a result of human conflict: retaliation, safari hunting, commercial poaching for their bones and skin as well as the disappearance of their habitat and prey. Today over two-thirds are not protected in national parks and NONE have official CITES protection. We could see extinctions of lions within 10 years. These precious animals remain in viable numbers in very few places now and need our help. The film The Last Lions highlights this, and the associated campaign is taking action to stop the decline, and reverse it.

GET INVOLVED:

For each guest’s four night stay at one of Great Plains Conservation’s Botswana (Zarafa, Selinda or Duba Plains) and Kenya (ol Donyo or Mara Plains) camps, we will donate $25 per person per night to the National Geographic Big Cats Initiative. We encourage you to match our commitment and help curb the decline of Africa’s big cats by making your own donation to the Big Cat’s Initiative: www.bigcatsinitiative.com or www.causeanuproar.com

Community Outreach


Kea and the Itireleng members showing their wares in front of their work space

Great Plains has a strong relationship with two communities which border our reserves in Botswana. This relationship includes the employment of community members in our lodges and encouraging craft development in these areas.

Over the past year we have been developing craft skills within Gudigwa village located on the north-western boundary of the Selinda Reserve. Our project co-ordinator Kea Supang has been working with 25 women and a few men from the area producing various crafts. They have named the group 'Itireleng” meaning “make for your self”. The first skill shared and used was making handmade paper using recycled paper and elephant dung. This is a transportable skill that does not need much material and which the members of Itireleng could make at home as well as at the work space and shelter built for the group. Ladies in the group were also taught the art of beading and started creating beaded jug nets and have since expanded the skill to produce table-sized food nets. Other products produced make use of traditional skills and use natural materials to make table mats and wall decorations. All these products are available for sale in the lodge curio shops.

Kea has now moved to Seronga village north of Duba Plains where she has started forming another group. The group is slowly growing and have already started sewing net bags for use in the lodge laundries as well as making handmade paper  and handmade cards using recycled paper and elephant dung.

We look forward to continued growth in both groups and continued skill development to increase the number of products produced by these groups. Potential projects in the area include developing hospitality focused skills in the communities through workshops as well as environmental education through involvement in local school's wildlife clubs.

THE GREAT PLAINS FOUNDATION

Great Plains Conservation is a conservation company. As wildlife numbers decline, habitats shrink and pressure from agriculture and livelihood strategies increase, we are in a position to do more. And we want to encourage others engage as well. And so in 2010 we formed "The Great Plains Foundation", specifically so our guests and broader circle of friends could contribute to the various conservation efforts in which we believe and offer support.

THE BIG CATS INITIATIVE

In our generations time we have seen declines in all of these species by 90-95%. At this rate we will start losing lions and tigers within 12 years. Cheetah and Jaguars will follow alongside leopards before our children can experience the joys and rewards of experiencing one of the planets greatest gems "looking into the eyes of a big cat."

CAUSE AN UPROAR - ISSUES IMPACTING BIG CATS

Retaliatory Killings: Conflict between livestock herders and big cats have left the animals vulnerable to retaliatory slayings.

Illegal Hunting: Some hunters target big cats to fuel a market for illicit products.

Loss of Habitat: As human populations increase, the amount of natural hunting ranges and habitats for big cats declines.

MARA NORTH CONSERVANCY

The Mara North Conservancy (MNC) is a partnership between eleven member camps and more than 800 Maasai landowners. The aim is to create a best-practice, world-class conservancy with long term commitments to the environment, wildlife and local communities.  MNC consists of approximately 30,000 hectares (74,000 acres), effectively increasing the size of the Masai Mara National Reserve by 20%. This area is a key dispersal zone for the annual “Great Migration” and supports an extensive variety of additional species. The most recognizable include lion, cheetah, leopard, buffalo, hyena, elephant, crocodile, wild dog, giraffe, hippopotamus, and over 450 bird species.

BIG LIFE FOUNDATION

Big Life Foundation recognizes that for the Maasai residents of Mbirikani Group Ranch and the Amboseli-Tsavo ecosystem as a whole, the cost of living with wildlife exceeds the benefits. Big Life therefore seeks to better balance the economics of everyday life for the local community and resolve human-wildlife conflict whenever possible. By contributing to the success of the Maasai people and their pastoral way of life – through economics, education, and ecology – the Foundation, working in close collaboration with local stakeholders, seeks to stabilize and sustain the Amboseli-Tsavo ecosystem and its irreplaceable biodiversity.

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