Olare Motorogi Conservancy

Just north of the Maasai Mara National Reserve, the Olare Orok Conservancy is a conservancy developed jointly with the local Maasai Community. It is renowned for its pristine environment and big cats. It is a relatively new concession and has changed the way most members of the local Maasai community view tourists. The Maasai landowners here have agreed to give up a large part of their grazing lands through the year in exchange for a guaranteed income from the controlled number of visitors who choose to take their safaris on Olare Orok’s 133 sqkm of bush and savannah.

In 2012 Olare Orok joined with the neighbouring Motorogi Conservancy to the north to form the Olare Motorogi Conservancy, a single tourism and conservation area managed by the same warden and rangers. The two conservancies are unusual for their highly focused conservation work and success of the integration of tourism into the local community. They set some benchmarks for sustainable Mara tourism with one tent per area of 3 sqkm and no more than 12 tents in a camp. Payments from safari travellers benefit directly to the Maasai landowners, who in turn are allowed to use the conservancies’ grasslands when drought is causing hardship for their herds.