Kenya: Four Conservancies Nominated For Global Awards In London
By Staff Writer
Four Kenya wildlife conservancies have been nominated for the World Responsible Tourism contest which will be sponsored by the Sultanate of Oman’s Tourism Ministry in September 2014, in London, UK.
Lewa Wildlife Conservancy is competing in two categories; the first being the best for wildlife conservation and the second concerns its engagement in fighting poverty within neighbouring communities.
The conservancy is well known globally as a result of being a favorite destination for high class clients including Prince William whose highly publicized proposal to Kate Middleton in 2010 took place.
Porini Safari Camps have also been nominated for the awards.
The Safari Camps is known for its multimillion ventures that have seen over 100,000 acres of farmlands neighbouring the world famous Maasai Mara Game Reserve consolidated to form conservancies employing 140 people from the local communities.
The Awards are organized by responsibletravel.com and the International Centre for Responsible Tourism (ICRT).
Segera Retreat, one of Kenya’s luxurious resorts, owned by Puma owner Jochen Zeitz has been nominated in the Best Cultural Heritage Attraction category.
Segera was voted as one of the best among the 33 new Hotels opening their doors around the world for high class clients by Conde Nast Traveller’s 2014 hot list that targeted 510 hotels in 400 cities in 93 countries.
Justin Francis, the founder of the awards and Managing Director of responsibletravel.com, while speaking about the Long-list, said each of the entities selected from the public nomination represent very different approaches to responsible tourism “that give a distinct flavor of the trends and new developments in responsible tourism.”
Prof. Harold Goodwin, the chairperson of the awards judging panel, urged the named finalists to put forward their “best possible case why they feel they can be credible and inspirational winners this year.”
In the category of Best Short Film, Basecamp Foundation’s Tourism in Kenya’s Maasai Mara Game Reserve shot within the 50,000 acre Naboisho conservancy; a film about the lives of local Maasai community members benefitting from tourism, is among the category’s favorite.
The wonder feature about Segera Retreat and Lewa Conservancy is their strategic positioning at the heart of the Laikipia Plateau, a very important migratory corridor within the Ewaso ecosystem that remains unscathed by human activity.
The 62,000acres Lewa conservancy was started by the late Delia Craig and it hit world headlines in 2010 when Prince William proposed to Kate Middleton while residing in an ancient log-cabin in the wild surrounded by rhinos.
It is also credited with bringing various communities in Northern Kenya to establish conservancies that have preserved over one million acres for domestic cum-wildlife use thereby enabling investors in the tourism industry establish multi-million lodges and camps.
The 4 Kenyan conservancies nominations for global awards comes at a time when tourism in the East African country is at its lowest following recurrent insecurity cases and attacks on tourists by Al Shabaab linked militia groups along the coast, leading to advisories from foreign consoles in the country.
In the recent past Africa’s tourism sector has been hit by tough times with the emergence of terror groups, targeting visitors by killing and kidnapping for ransom, hence leading to loses and mass job lay-offs for communities that relay on the industry.