Into the Wild #9

By Adam Bannister

A safari at House in the Wild is about much more than just animals. Of course, the animals are what everyone travels across the world to see, but ultimately it is the connections made along the way. We invite you to celebrate the different cultures and experience a slice of life in the wild.

From the second you arrive you are enveloped by warmth and energy. The biggest smiles, the most genuine enthusiasm and a complete eagerness to share and please. Kenyans are renowned for their inbuilt hospitality and can do attitude.

I think being located outside of the Maasai Mara National Reserve, and inside one of the conservancies heightens this and makes it feel more real. Our conservation focus is about making space for people, livestock and wildlife. Our guests are immersed in this and they leave not only with amazing memories, but also with amazing friendships.

Here at House in the Wild, we are part of the broader mara community and the future of conservation lies in the hands of the communities bordering on the more formally protected areas. Community driven conservation is key and by using eco tourism as a force for good, we are working together hand-in-hand to secure these fragile landscapes for future generations.

So, whilst we know that when you come and join us you will see plenty of animals, we invite you to immerse yourselves into the human side of conservation. We invite you to visit our Mara Training Centre, meet some of the founding women from the Enonkishu conservancy, chat with them while you do some maasai beadwork, plant a tree, learn about the livestock / wildlife interface, get involved in our conservation activities and to talk with our team about what it is like to live amongst the animals.

To celebrate our team, and to thank them for all the hard work they do, we made the decision to close the lodge for a night – and treat all the staff to a surprise party: sodas, music, volleyball, dancing, some speeches and of course a delicious nyama-choma (barbeque), followed by game drives for all in the afternoon. We have an amazing team and some of the staff here have been working here since it was a bean-farm, and some have known the owners since they were children. We are ‘The Wild Family’ – a close knit group of individuals who love what we do. And we are riding on a high… Come see for yourself.