MAASAI MARA, Kenya: At dawn in a village in Kenya’s Maasai Mara wilderness, zebras rouse themselves and head away from the huts where they like to sleep as protection from lions.
Bernard Kirokor, 21, recounts watching an elephant give birth across from his village a few days earlier, showing a video of the mother protecting the newborn, its trunk poking up like a periscope to sniff for danger.
“The wildlife are our neighbors and we love them,” he said, as the villagers milked the herd of cattle gathered around their huts.
The village lies in the Nashulai conservancy, which prides itself on how the local Maasai community and their cattle continuing to live alongside the lions, elephants and giraffes for which the region is world-famous.
Community conservancies emerged in the 2000s to protect wildlife corridors, with locals pooling their individual plots and pulling down fences so animals could roam freely.
To make it pay, locals often leased their land to tourist companies and moved away.
Nashulai, which means “co-existence” in the local Maa language, was founded in 2016 with a determination to keep its 6,000 people in the conservancy.
It prides itself on being the first that was formed, owned and managed by local Maasai without help from an outside tourism company.
“We don’t want to create conservation refugees. The Maasai have lived with the wildlife for the longest time possible. Why do we have to move them because of conservation?” Evelyn Aiko, Nashulai’s conservation manager, said.
Nashulai earns money through a college in the conservancy, training locals to become rangers and tour guides, and study programs with universities.
Its model has earned international recognition, including the United Nations Development Programme’s Equator Prize in 2020 and a Collective Action Award from the Rights and Resources Initiative this year.
Connectedness
The system of conservancies has changed radically over the past decade, with almost all now embracing the idea that people should stay living in them, albeit with limits on development.
“A lot has changed in how they are governed,” said Eric Ole Reson, chief programs officer at the Maasai Mara Wildlife Conservancies Association.
“As we extended into more areas, with more settlements, we could not keep moving people,” he said.
This was important in Nashulai from the start.
“There was a present and clear danger of losing the cultural connectedness to the land... which contains all our stories for living, this land where the bones of our ancestors are buried,” said founder Nelson Ole Reiyia.
Nashulai is run by a council of elders who decide on grazing and conservation areas.
“It revives their old tradition of stewardship and their connectedness to the land and the wildlife,” said Ole Reiyia. “It has really given them a lot of pride.”
Lacking commercial tourism investors, Nashulai relies on donors for more than half its funding and faces many pressures.
One is climate change, as unpredictable rains make it hard to plan cattle-grazing and keep the area habitable for wildlife. The team is responding with regenerative programs like tree-planting.
The other threat is wealthy tourism operators next door. Last year, a fifth of Nashulai’s landowners were enticed into leasing their plots to tourist camps and moving away.
‘Not one-way’
But Maasai landowners across the region now play a very active role in managing conservancies across the region, sitting on joint boards with the tourism companies.
“It’s not a one-way system where someone dictates the payments,” said an expert who has helped negotiate the deals, but requested anonymity due to the sensitivity of the subject.
“These negotiations go on for years and then they get renegotiated,” he said. “If people aren’t happy they’ll tell you about it.”
Many Maasai landowners have signed new leases in the last couple of years as the original deals expired, he said, so “clearly many people feel they have benefitted.”
Kenya conservation areas evolve to keep Maasai and wildlife together
https://arab.news/5fja5
Kenya conservation areas evolve to keep Maasai and wildlife together
- Community conservancies emerged in the 2000s to protect wildlife corridors
- Locals pooled their individual plots and pulled down fences so animals could roam freely
Why some women choose Galentines over Valentines and how they might celebrate
- O’Sullivan is one of many women who find it empowering to focus on female friendship rather than relationship pressures
- Other ways to mark Galentine’s Day include going to a play, hiking, karaoke, playing cards or just having coffee
Christie O’Sullivan of Trinity, Florida, has spent 21 Valentine’s Days with her husband, but her favorite celebration was one spent with a girlfriend before she got married.
They took the day off work, got massages, and went out for cocktails and a fancy dinner.
“For me, it was 10 out of 10. That whole day was intentional,” said O’Sullivan. She remembers it as empowering “on a day that’s usually filled with pressure to be in a relationship, or sadness because I wasn’t currently in one.”
Galentine’s Day became a pop culture phenomenon with a 2010 episode of the TV comedy “Parks and Recreation” that celebrated female friendships around Valentine’s Day. Amy Poehler’s character, Leslie Knope, gathered her gal pals on Feb. 13.
“What’s Galentine’s Day? Oh, it’s only the best day of the year,” said Knope.
Honoring female friendships can happen any day of the year, of course. Whether on Feb. 13 or another day, here are some ways to create a fun-filled experience:
Making it a party
Chela Pappaccioli of Franklin Lakes, New Jersey, has been hosting a Galentine’s Day bash at her home for the last three years. She has a bartender and a DJ hired, and this year invited 45 of her nearest and dearest. So far, she has 34 confirmations, and is assembling gift bags for her guests to take home. There are no men allowed “unless the bartender happens to be male.”
The event may be extravagant, but Pappaccioli says it’s worth it.
“It’s an escape to just be with your girls, be silly, do something fun and just focus on the friendships you’ve created and enjoying each other’s company,” she says.
Learning how to do something new
Liz Momblanco of Berkley, Michigan, who describes herself as a “serial hobbyist,” invites her friends to take classes like cookie and cake decorating, calligraphy and stained glass.
“I enjoy learning something new and having a shared experience,” said Momblanco, who has attended day retreats for women that offer activities like floral arranging, yoga or a cold plunge.
Marney Wolf, who runs the retreat company Luna Wolf, says providing an opportunity for art and creativity builds community.
“It bonds you, whether it’s the smallest thing or really deep. You watch these grown women turn into almost like a childlike kindergarten response like, ‘Oh my gosh! Good job! You’re so talented!’ That little lift is the easiest thing to do,” she said.
Filling a Valentine’s void
Wolf takes care to schedule Galentine’s-themed retreats near Valentine’s Day because some women don’t have someone to spend Feb. 14 with.
“I know it can be a really lonely time for people and I think some take it for granted,” she says.
Pappaccioli said a couple of divorced friends come to her party, and “even if you’re married it can be depressing because your husband may not be doing what you want or your boyfriend may not support you in the way you want,” she says.
“It’s nice to know that you don’t need that. You can still celebrate the holiday, but turn it around a little bit and celebrate the relationships you want to.”
Creating different kinds of bonds
Galentine’s Day get-togethers can forge new friendships. And spending quality time with a friend provides an opportunity to put the phone away, avoid distractions and build memories.
O’Sullivan is a social media strategist for businesses but appreciates that her bestie Valentine’s Day was without cellphones.
“We could be fully present — no photos, no texts, no nothing,” she says.
“So while that means there’s no actual record of that day occurring, it also means the details became a core memory without it.”
Some celebrate Galentine’s Day by just going out for coffee or playing cards. You might go with a group of women friends to a play or museum, or take a hike or a workout class.
Other ideas include thrift store shopping, country line dancing, roller skating, karaoke, junk journaling, and getting manicures and pedicures.
