Community Projects

This project is the brainchild of Karl von Heland and Eva Hamilton in memory of their late son Peder von Heland. The family and friends formed a trust fund through which they funded the construction of a youth training centre at the local Siana Boarding Primary School.

Thanks to its large capacity, the Ministry of Education identified the centre as an examination centre for the Mara division. It also hosts community training seminars and workshops — young Maasai men attend carpentry and masonry courses in the hope of working in local camps and lodges as first-class fundis.

The trust has also built a library at Ololaimutiek School and provides scholarships for young women. We encourage guests to donate; all contributions go towards keeping students in school, paying teachers and buying books and equipment.

Maasai girls still face many challenges, from early marriage and female genital mutilation to violence. The girls' Rescue Centre is based at Siana Boarding School and was set up to protect Maasai girls at risk of these illegal practices.

Visiting the Rescue Centre is a rewarding and memorable experience for our guests. As the centre relies solely on donations, any contribution is hugely appreciated — it is even possible to sponsor a girl through her schooling. A number of the girls are in education thanks to the generosity of previous guests.

We are now working to build a large kitchen and dining hall at the secondary school for girls, to be used primarily by the Rescue Centre, and we still need help to finalise the educational kitchen for vocational training in cooking and housekeeping.

The Mara–Serengeti ecosystem contains about 40% of Africa's remaining wildlife. In the last 50 years Africa has lost about half of its mammals; to stop further loss we must learn to co-exist with wildlife. Most of this ecosystem is community-owned land outside the reserves, and since 2004 the size of protected land has doubled thanks to the formation of conservancies.

Entumoto has been a driving force in establishing the Mara Siana Conservancy. With the formation of conservancies, Maasai landowners receive a fixed annual lease plus an occupancy lease in return for staying off this land — a direct benefit from tourism and the preservation of wildlife.

This is our way of giving an alternative form of income to the local community. We pay the Maasai families with an interest in the conservancy, employ mainly local staff, train young Maasai and engage with the schools.

The Siana Boarding School opened a new department in 2017 — a secondary school for Maasai girls from the area. This is a great achievement, as these girls would normally be married at a young age instead of getting an education.

Entumoto has promoted this project in many ways and we have built a large assembly hall at the premises with sponsorship from our guests and owners' families. The building functions as a dining hall and kitchen, and includes a section for vocational training in housekeeping and cooking, primarily for the girls at the Rescue Centre next door.

We place an emphasis on hiring largely local Maasai staff, and we support our employees if they wish to develop further — through guiding schools, cooking programmes and other training.

We also offer internships to students from local schools to further their development and experience, including aspiring guides, cooks, fundis and security staff.

The Maasai are renowned all over the world for their beadwork. We have partnered with the local women's co-operative who supply the camp's gift shop with an array of beautiful handmade bead products. Any purchase made by our guests goes directly to the individual women of the co-operative.

We dedicate ourselves to preserving the landscape around us, and our camp functions in the most eco-friendly way possible. We have our own water filtration plant with crystal clear water, enough for the camp and for the waterholes serving the wildlife, and we use only environmentally friendly liquids and cleaning materials.

Our organic vegetable garden reduces transport to and from Nairobi, with the added advantage of wonderfully tasty produce. Hot water to the tents and kitchen is solar powered, solar battery systems generate electricity with a back-up diesel generator, and all electrical fittings are low-consumption products.

We are developing the idea of electrically powered safari vehicles — we would be the first in the Maasai Mara. Our policy is to keep up with and use the latest eco technology.

We are always looking to expand our social responsibility and have identified projects we hope will improve life in the local Maasai community. We intend to further extend the Rescue and Youth Training Centre, and would like to start projects that encourage pupils to clear rubbish from local villages in return for improved food.

The Mara region is set aside for wildlife, but the local Maasai must also be able to co-exist and develop alongside conservation. We try to engage in projects with this delicate balance in mind.