Luxury and Conservation in Africa's Cradle of Humanity

RIFT VALLEY, Kenya--Nov. 14, 2007 — -- The first thing you notice when visiting Southern Kenya's Shompole Lodge is that you are literally in the middle of nowhere. The only way to get there is by a four-seat chartered plane. Your airport is a large strip of dirt where brush has been cleared, alerting wild animals in the area to beware, this area is for humans.

Your taxi is a large, green, four-wheel drive truck and your driver's "uniform" is made up of colorful scarves tied around his body with long earrings in his ears. Only it's not his uniform, he's from the Maasai tribe, so it's his everyday attire. As you look around and take in the incredibly open blue sky, the lush mountains to your left and the dry flat land surrounding you for miles, you realize that you're not in the middle of nowhere, but perhaps in God's country.

Welcome to Kenya's Great Rift Valley, considered by many to be the cradle of humanity. This part of the valley, called Shompole, borders Tanzania and is home to lions, wildebeests, buffalo and other African wildlife. About 2,000 Maasai also live here. For many years, the Maasai and the wildlife didn't see eye to eye, says John Lengio, the local Maasai leader.

"Sometimes we used to have lions killing cows, eating them and by doing so people would become angry and they want to kill them," said Lengio. "Maasai were proud of killing wildlife, especially the strong like buffalo and lions."

The results were disastrous. Seven years ago, overgrazing, deforestation and destruction of the ecosystem left the community on the brink of poverty.

That's when Anthony Russell, a renowned Kenyan architect and luxury safari operator, stepped in. Russell approached Lengio with a unique business proposal. He would make the community business partners in a new Shompole luxury lodge, if it would be responsible for conserving the wildlife.

"When I came here and explained to the locals this is what we can do together, they said 'we have no money so how can we be partners in business with you?'" said Russell. "The idea was, no, you don't have money, but you have natural resources on your ranch."

Russell and Lengio quantified those resources at Nairobi prices and the Maasai community became initial shareholders in the lodge, owning 11 percent with the option of buying up to 80 percent at any time. The community also gets to keep the daily $40 conservation fee that guests pay.

Once the deal was done, Russell and the Maasai community began building their business — his design, and the communities' conservation effort. The first challenge for Lengio and Russell was convincing the community that it could have conservation without giving up its traditional lifestyle of herding livestock or being warriors.

"The way I interpreted that to our Maasai partners was to say, this is your second cow," said Russell. "Your first cow is your life stock. Keep that, that's traditional use that's really good for you. Let's now go to your second cow, which is your wildlife."

They set aside one area just for conservation and used local Maasai men as the rangers. In seven years, the area has seen a huge increase in wildlife; the lion population, in particular, has gone from five to more than 50. The increase in wildlife means more tourists, which means more money for all.

"Right now in Shompole, people can tell wildlife is more beneficial then a cow," said Lengio. "The benefit comes to pay our community rangers, scouts other benefit we have received since the lodge started are the bead work. Many ladies, like 300 right now, [make] beads and get money from the bead work, with the use [of the money] at last to buy some clothes for the children and take them to school."

When it came to designing the lodge, Russell says, the task wasn't easy. "It was an extremely beautiful area, but it's a very harsh area. So the challenge was to bring something that was in line with the harshness but very, very comfortable for the clients."

There are eight tented private rooms in the Shompole lodge, each placed strategically on the side of a mountain overlooking the valley plus two luxury suites in "Little Shompole" located in a lodge higher up on the mountain with more expansive views. Even though the rooms are "tented," this isn't a mountain man's idea of camping.

The tented ceiling is made of local materials, as is all the furniture. Each room includes its own small "cooling pool," a king-size bed, couch and stone shower, all facing the spectacular view of the valley. The design is the ultimate in both privacy and openness to the wild, says Russell.

"It's very, very simple in that there are elements of the outside that meet the inside," he said. "I purposefully left big areas of simplicity or serenity open with elements of water running through it. Now this creates a sense of well-being and it also creates a sense of happiness and contentment here."

The customers, who have included such high-profile clientele as Microsoft's Bill Gates and designer Donna Karan, aren't the only people that the lodge has brought contentment too. Since Shompole lodge opened, the local Maasai community has made more than $400,000 in revenues and conservation fees, and this is the first year the lodge has broken even. That money has been used to build schools, supply the village with fresh water and provide better housing.

Last month the U.N. Development Program awarded Shompole Lodge with the Equator Prize, one of the highest honors in eco-tourism. While there are many eco-friendly luxury lodges in Kenya, the program singled out Shompole for being unique in combining grass-roots conservation with business.

"It's what we call 'oleic,'" said Russell. "'Olurika' is a three-legged stool. It's an African stool and it has three legs and that's what we call community, conservation and commerce. We've brought commerce to this community, and they are conserving it."