Islander pilots zoo program in Kenya: Ecotourism seeks to preserve culture, land

Published 6:27 pm Monday, November 24, 2008

Day after day, Sharon Loosmore welcomes field trips to the Woodland Park Zoo. As a docent, it is her job to introduce children to the zebras, elephants and giraffes, tell stories and teach the children about life in the animal kingdom.

After eight years of volunteering, the Islander and former teacher finally got to take a field trip of her own.

The Natural Waterholes and Dams Restoration Project in the Maasai land of eastern Kenya is one of 26 conservation programs the Woodland Park Zoo participates in worldwide. Its goal is to restore natural waterholes that were originally made by elephants and have been used by wildlife, livestock and the land’s people for decades. According to the Maasai Association, a non-profit humanitarian organization based in Kenya and Bellevue, most of the waterholes have eroded completely, with more disappearing every year as a result of a shortage of rain brought on by unexplained climate change.

“It’s very important to restore them so that wildlife don’t overgraze the areas,” Loosmore said.

She got to see the landscape with her own eyes in November with a small group of docents that traveled to southeastern Kenya to be the “guinea pigs” for an ecotourism program the Maasai tribe is launching to support the maintenance of their traditional way of life in an ever-changing world.

They stayed in the Maasai community at the Merrueshi Group Ranch, a cluster of Western-style cabins that will serve as a base for safari excursions to the Amboselli and Tsavo West National Parks, where visitors can see lions, cheetahs, elephants, water buffalo, monkeys, baboons, giraffe, zebra and “the entire gamut of hoofed stock,” Loosmore said.

Her group tested out the accommodations and gave the Maasai feedback on how to make things comfortable for their Western visitors. Her favorite touch, in addition to the good food, she said, were the Thomas the Tank Engine curtains they had hung in her cabin — upside down.

As a zoo docent on her first trip to Africa, Loosmore said it was thrilling to see the animals she knew so many stories about roaming free in their natural habitat. But the true highlight of the trip came as a surprise to her.

“It was really about the people,” Loosmore said. “They were so amazing.”

The Maasai are a colorful tribe known for their fierce warrior tradition, often photographed and ogled by many a traveler and National Geographic reporter.

Standing guard with spears outside the camp keeping watch for lions, they made her feel safe. On safari trips, their escorts shared their knowledge of the savanna and made them laugh with silly pranks and playful antics. Female elders invited the guests into their homes to share and compare life in Kenya and the U.S.

“What struck me was how proud they are,” Loosmore said. “Proud of their heritage, their accomplishments, their artwork — proud of their world.”

Before going to Kenya, Loosmore had often heard stories of the Maasai from her friend Kakuta Ole Hamisi, a Maasai warrior who has been living in the United States for the past 10 years studying international development. She met the 30-something-year-old (the Maasai don’t count birthdays like we do, Loosmore said) when he was a student at Evergreen State College in Olympia and working at the zoo on a semiannual basis in the African Village installation.

Now working toward a master’s degree at the School for International Training in Vermont, Hamisi founded the Maasai Association to empower his people to preserve their culture and make informed decisions on matters affecting their future. The organization has overseen the creation of the first and only primary school run exclusively by the Maasai people in Kenya, and is working on a high school project so that the students can continue their studies beyond the primary grades. Children from Medina Elementary School bought 20 cows and 34 goats for their Kenyan counterparts to use as currency for school fees. Visiting high school students from Seattle and Bellevue began construction of the Maasai high school.

Loosmore said the Woodland Park Zoo’s future trips to Kenya will be open to the public, and anyone can donate a cow or goat through the Maasai Association’s Web site.

“It has to be so hard to see your culture go through so many changes, and to face it head on,” Loosmore said. But she saw both the drive behind their mission and their capacity to achieve it when she visited the primary school the Maasai Association completed. Inscribed above the door, the inscription summed it up: “Be the agent of change — not a victim of change. Together we can do it.”

On the Net: www.zoo.org, www.maasai-association.org, For more information, e-mail sharon@loosmore.com.