our mission
Keeping with the commitment of The Long Run’s 4Cs – Conservation, Community, Culture and Commerce – we collaborate with the local community via the Kicheche Community Trust to support traditional and sustainable ways of living that are in harmony with wildlife and the environment.
All guest donations and bednight contributions to the Kicheche Community Trust are channelled into projects impacting its conservancy communities. These then have a significant impact on women’s empowerment. The Trust’s efforts and passion evolve around four pillars: Education, Health and Family Care Community Empowerment, Environment and Conservation.
We are very active in all conservancies where our camps are located.
education
Through the trust, we have built and maintained several school classrooms, sponsored primary school teachers, supplied thousands of curriculum school books & school stationaries. We have also provided bursaries to more than 65 students, in primary, secondary and other study programs.
The Trust sponsors students to the Koiyaki Guiding School on annual basis and has employed several graduates as guides and trainee guides at our Kicheche Camps.
Personal hygiene and menstrual health education have been a great need in the community. Due to this, the Kicheche Community Trust has currently trained over 150 girls. We also support the girls with reusable sanitary towels and menstrual cups, to help prevent monthly school absence.
health & family care
We support the local CMF clinic in Aitong, Masai Mara and have over the years donated many medicines, medical books, a maternity ward, a dental ward, a water pump, water tanks and upgraded the existing solar power
system. Kicheche Mara Camp and the Kicheche Community Trust contribute annually towards the free Aitong Medical Camp events, which enables our volunteer doctors to treat close to a thousand patients yearly, half of them women.
At Kicheche Laikipia Camp, in Ol Pejeta, the Trust has been supporting the Nanyuki Childrens’ home. This orphanage is in constant need of support. Currently, they have about 75 kids in residence, the majority preschool and nursery children.
community empowerment
We have a wide range of revenue earning projects and self-help groups that aim to better the lives of the local communities, thus developing an environment where members have more power and influence over what matters to them.
Within the Maasai Mara, Kicheche supports local women’s advancement by providing them with revenue earning opportunities that transform their lives. Women from nearby communities have benefited from clerical and storekeeping training. In fact, one beneficiary even went on to start a thriving vegetable and fruit vending business. The Trust also holds HR workshops for the youth to better their job searching skills. Language and computer training classes are held too.
The Trust works with a Maasai women self-help group of 18 ladies who, apart from supplying our giftshops with their artisan work, have also learned to use re-usable materials like toilet rolls, magazines, and newspapers to make wonderful Christmas crackers. Inside you will also find a small gift package made by them. The proceeds benefit the women directly.
environment and conservation
As wildlife conservation champions, Kicheche Community Trust is constantly at the forefront of working with locals to secure wildlife habitat and manage the conservancies better. It has donated predator free bomas to the
communities through a small housing group.
Your week’s safari with Kicheche conserves 18 acres of wildlife habitat annually by funding community leases through your conservancy fees. This ensures the health and biodiversity of this fertile yet delicate ecosystem. In the communities around our camps, 1580 Masai families directly benefit from Wildlife Conservancy land leases. We regularly support wildlife and anti-poaching projects like Mara Predator Project and the Mara Elephant Project.
We are at the onset of becoming carbon neutral with the launch of our local reforestation project. Kicheche values environmental conservation and offers you an opportunity to travel with a zero footprint.
how we work
Kicheche donates $5 per bed night to support Kicheche Community Trust. Guests can also directly contribute to support a particular project(s). The Kicheche Community Trust allocates all funds to projects, no admin fees are withheld.
In addition, donated equipment is very useful such as pens, pencils, paper, paint, exercise books and the like. If you wish to donate an item, please check the list here.
Kindly refrain from sending any donations unannounced by postal services. Sadly the expenses on the receiver’s end often supersede the value of the donation itself. If you would like to donate goods kindly contact us so we can recommend the most cost effective solution.
exclusive, authentic, INSPIRING
kicheche experience
Voices
what our clients say
The Kicheche safari experience at both camps Kicheche Laikipia and Mara, has been first rate, the managers, the green ethos, the staff, the food, the guides, the relationship with the conservancy and its animals & people…everything has been simply wonderful and unforgettable.
Parfect family - U.K
Kicheche is just right – a tonic for the mind and soul. Loved every moment of it, the management, the guides, ambiance is all “just appropriate” for a fantastic & different experience to city life.
Udaya & Hardev - India
We really enjoyed Hudson’s talk on Kicheche Foundation, the Maasai people and ongoing projects. Bravo!
David & Jane - USA
Find us on social media
