The rumble of a Land Cruiser’s diesel engine as it trundles along miles of red dirt roads, rocks pinging off its metal underbelly. This is an adventure lover’s lullaby. It was early evening and we had been tracking big game for hours in a little-known safari destination next door to the Maasai Mara National Reserve, one of Africa’s most famous offerings. Plump warthogs ran across the rutted track. Herds of giraffes, each a dozen strong, grazed lazily on acacia leaves, expertly maneuvering around three-inch thorns with their comically long tongues. The radio crackled as drivers informed each other of a cheetah hunt.
Forty-five minutes by dusty road from the famed green plains of the Maasai Mara is Naboisho Conservancy, one of the most recently established preserves of its kind in Kenya. It was created in 2010 through a partnership between Saruni Basecamp, an organization working with local communities to protect this complex ecosystem, its renowned wildlife and the vibrant local culture, and the Maasai people who have called this area home for four centuries.
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