THE MAASAI OF GREATER AMBOSELI
The pastoral Ilkisongo Maasai give greater Amboseli its distinct cultural richness. The Maasai people are the principal landowners of greater Amboseli and are the traditional custodians of the area's wildlife wealth which they refer to as "our cattle outside our bomas."
Ol Kanjau tented camp is leased from the Maasai people, who are also our nearest neighbours and who make up most of the Ol Kanjau Tented Safari Camp safari crew.
In the Maasai hospitality tradition all guests are called "lomong" or "news". Guests are thus the gift of new information and the Maasai welcome is as dependable as it is traditional and genuine.
Mike Rainy was taught to speak Maa by members of a Samburu family who made him an adopted member in the 1960's. He finds the Maasai language a lasting source of inspiration.
It is a guiding principle of his ecotourism philosophy that Ol Kanjau tented camp helps to balance and support the needs and conservation of wildlife and natural flora with those of the Maasai people and their livestock. The sustained and successful conservation of Greater Amboseli requires that Maasai people benefit as much from ecotourism as they do from their livestock.
