The Olderkesi Conservancy is a 7,600 acre piece of land set aside by the Olderkesi Community as a Conservation area in southern Kenya, immediately adjacent to the southeastern boundary of the Maasai Mara National Reserve (MMNR) and on the border with Tanzania. Olderkesi Conservancy is part of the greater Serengeti – Maasai Mara Ecosystem, crossing into Tanzania and covering approximately 30,000 km2.
The particular piece of land that the Olderkesi Conservancy occupies is vitally important to the greater ecosystem and comprises multiple types of habitats, including grasslands, riverine valleys, forests, and woodlands. It’s a haven for many species of wildlife, not to mention a route for the great wildebeest migration. It’s also home to the Maasai – a very independent people who still value tradition and ritual as part of their everyday lives. Historically, the Maasai are semi-nomadic pastoralists, placing huge importance on their herds of cattle, but also living alongside wildlife in harmony, with lions and wildebeest playing an important role in their cultural beliefs.
Olderkesi is one of the last of the communal areas to undergo sub-division in the Mara region, as mandated by the Government. The Olderkesi Group Ranch has 6,650 members who represent the head of each family and jointly own the Conservancy through the Olderkesi Community Wildlife Trust.
The Cottars Wildlife Conservation Trust (CWCT) has been working in partnership with Secluded African Properties Wildlife and Community Trust (SAWCT) and the greater Olderkesi Community to secure this important ecological landscape and to improve the lives of the community members. To date, the tourism partners have collected lease fees on behalf of the community and supported the community through projects that have included building schools and bridges, providing medical and ambulance services, employing security scouts from the community, building water troughs for cattle, providing bursaries, the establishment of environmental clubs, and Human Wildlife Conflict mitigation efforts. In return, the leased land is to be left alone, free of settlements, farming, and uncontrolled domestic livestock grazing and exists to create safe habitat and passage for wildlife. In addition to managing the Olderkesi Conservancy, we aim to scale up the area under conservation by leasing strategic areas within the Olderkesi Group Ranch from landowners and managing the new areas on their behalf.
