Click here to make a donation

Do you fly abroad? Help to offset the effects of this - click here to learn how.  Image courtesy: Karen Livescu
 
Friends of Conservation
Kensington Charity Centre 
Charles House
375 Kensington High St
London  W14 8QH
Tel: 020 7603 5024
Email: focinfo@aol.com

Schools Programme

Every year our wildlife clubs attract some 1,300 children from 26 schools in the Mara area. The clubs offer the children a wide range of activities such as nature walks, tree planting, guided trips into the Reserve and ‘grow your own lunch’ schemes. Each school joining the FOC clubs is donated a ‘book box’ packed with books on the environment, wildlife and their national heritage. 

We hope to double the number of schools involved in the programme and ultimately to develop an environmental package that can be incorporated in to the national curriculum.

Communities Programme


We believe that if we help to support the alleviation of poverty through diversifying environmentally sustainable income generating activities, communities themselves will not only be able to reduce destructive practices carried out on the environment but also be encouraged it to be seen as a financial asset. This in turn will encourage the conservation of the natural resources and wildlife. 
Through our community centre at Talek, we are working with a number of women’s groups to develop skills in bee-keeping, medicinal plants and alternative fuels. The honey produced through a community group’s hive, is sold to lodges on the Reserve as well as nearby towns. 
With Base Camp Explorer, an eco-tourism lodge built close to our centre at Talek, we have instigated an ‘Arts and Crafts’ project. This builds on the traditional skills Maasai women possess in leather and beadwork and supports them with design, quality control, group management and market access for their products. At present five women’s groups involving more than 200 members participate in the project and many more women would like to join. The women are not only able to take away an improved skill, but also a small wage that enables them to begin to improve their lifestyle. 
FOC continues to campaign for sound tourism practices inside the Masai Mara National Reserve and aims to educate tourists and tour operators to respect Kenya’s fragile ecosystem for the benefit and enjoyment of others. FOC has developed the ‘Safari Code’ ‘Beach Code’ and the ‘Traveller’s Code’ and is striving to have these principles adopted worldwide to promote tourists’ critical role in wildlife conservation.

If you would like to support FOC’s forestry work in Kenya, please click here.

Friends of Conservation © Copyright 2005, Registered Charity 328176 | Site Map | Website by Karen Raftis