Africa is large. Africa is beautiful. Africa is inspiring. All Africa deserves to be visited. But in this most amazing continent, one country plays a special role in conservation, biodiversity, human development and the history itself of tourism: Kenya.
As many in Kenya like to remember, the word itself “safari” is a Kiswahili (the lingua franca of Kenya) term that derives from the Arabic and means to undertake a journey, often a long, adventurous, uncertain walking trip, where luxury life and spartan life march together and new sights are seen and new routes are opened.
The first commercial safaris were born in Kenya and East Africa soon after 1900. They were mostly hunting expeditions. A century later, in the same birthplace where it started, the modern safari (of course only photographic) is becoming a new experience and is taking a leading role in conservation, not only providing life-changing experiences to visitors but also contributing dramatically to the protection of both land and people.
Kenya has all the ingredients that make a safari right: the very abundant wildlife, the inspiring landscapes described by many authors and travellers, the cultures of its communities who are still proud of their heritage, the well-oiled wheels of a tourist industry that has tradition, pride and a long record of customer service, the always warm welcome that everybody who arrives in Kenya feels is extended to visitors of all nations. Additionally, there is another ingredient that makes Kenya the right place where to start your African adventure: it is here that, empowering the people on the ground and the communities of landowners, new and sophisticated conservation strategies are shaping the way that land and wildlife are protected for the future generations.
On a planet where biodiversity is at risk, wildlife species are disappearing and climatic change puts livelihoods at risk, Saruni Basecamp pioneers in Kenya the new spirit of the 21st-century safari: not only a journey of discovery but an active participation in protecting land, humans, fauna and flora, in what we call the web of life.
