Sended on: 02/18/2010

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Dear friends,
Here is our quarterly newsletter: should you like to not receive it again, please reply with "remove" in the subject.

About the Camp

Where to start? We have been silent for a while. We decided to spend Christmas in Europe, first time in 13 years!
We escape our African paradise for the white Alps.

Here are the Chyulu on the day we left, and here is where we went...

Lucrezia loved skiing, and so did Jacopo. As much as we loved our holidays, it is extremely nice to be back at home.

And finally the rains arrived...

We found our paradise green as we have seldom seen it. Amazing how Nature is resilient. Months of drought.... and look how good long rains have transformed our landscape:

Gerenuk in the Arpakai plains

Giraffe next to Longido

A nice herd of elephants near Arpakai

Long grass in the plains, a fest for the zebras

The beauty and the beast...

Vogue came to write a story about Campi ya Kanzi. You can read it here:
http://tinyurl.com/yfvoyzv

Luca has had harder safaris to take care of.... You can see him suffering here....

Who really suffered was Antonella, seeing Louis Vuitton bags, Hermes blankets and amazing clothing, not purchasable by her (OR LUCAS!) credit card!

On safari

Images speak better than words... Here are few of Lucas favorite shots taken in early December:

Zebras in the mist

Rainy day

Come and visit us

Things seems to get better and the economy crisis nearly over. But these are still tough times. In order to make your safari holiday more affordable we still have very appealing offers. Stay one week and will pass you a 30% discount. A week at Campi ya Kanzi will therefore cost $415 per person per day, instead of $595 (total discounted cost for the week for one person: $2,905. Add $700 conservation fee) A week at Kanzi House will cost your group (Kanzi House accommodate up to 10 guests) $5,000 per day, instead of $6,900 per day (total discounted cost per week for a group of up to 10 guests: $35,000). Add $200 conservation fee per person per day.

Voluntourism and interns

Have a look at how you could come and stay with us, while helping the camp and/or the Trust. Read it here: http://www.maasai.com/Voluntourism.asp

New website

We have reviewed our website, with new photos and a great deal of information. Have a look at it at www.maasai.com

Magnificent World

Roberto is a friend of Valentino and Paola, who come often visiting us. He donated some books and medicines to our school.
This is what our daughter Lucrezia wrote to thank him.

Dear Roberto,
thank you for sending us a lot of medicine, I hope you will come to visit us in this magnificent World. I chose the word magnificent because there are so many lions and zebras, elephants, baffalos, warthogs, hartebeas, wildbeasts, bushbuck, dik dik and a giraffe with a very long neck. I live in the wild savana with all kinds of mysterious things. I like it here because there are no buses, no motorbikes and no lorries, no snomke and no taxies. But I like Italy because there is snow, restorants, pizzas, marry-go-rounds. I miss my family very much. I like Valentino and Paola very much, they brought us presents. Antonella my mother, Paula and me went walking on a very long walk, we saw giraffes wildbeasts zebras and hartebeasts. Where do you live? What is your favourite food? My favourite animals are horses and my favourite food is spagheti.
We're all waiting for you in this magnificent world.
From Lucrezia

About the Trust

The NY marathon not only was an enlightening experience, but an extremely successful fundraising. Thank you, thank you, thank you to all of you who have supported Edward, Parashi, Sunte, Samson and Luca.
It has allowed us to cover for all MWCT operating costs.

The Trust now employs 170 Kenyans, running our conservation, education and health programs. We are proud and happy to let you know that Simba Project is thriving. Not a single predator has been killed in 2009. A great success, looking at the rate lions and other predators are disappearing elsewhere.

Even if we successfully secured our operating budget, we need help to pay for some crucial equipment: a car for the conservation programs, a motorbike for the Simba Project, more satellite collars to monitor our growing lions population, some GPS to better manage Simba Project...
Should you like to help, please be in touch with Luca: lucasaf@iwayafrica.com

Farewell to a friend

Last week a friend who was very dear to all of us at Campi ya Kanzi left this World. We think of him in the green savannas of the hunters paradise, where there is no drought but elephants by the thousands...

Julian McKeand was a legendary hunter and conservationist. He pioneered camel back safaris in Kenya. He loved the Maasai and Maasailand.
Julian and his wife Jane have spent at Campi ya Kanzi every Christmas but one, since we opened.

Julian was an inspiration to Luca and to all the Maasai of Kanzi.
We spent many safaris together; we checked new walks, new places for a picnic or a sundowner. We talked about the past and the future.
We were bonded by our common love for the wilderness and the wildlife, about our desire to see Maasailand preserved.
Campi ya Kanzi and MWCT would not be what they are, without Julians sharing his experience with us.
We will miss him badly; it is still hard to believe he is not longer with us.

Ciao Julian...

With all our best, Luca, and the Campi ya Kanzi team

Join us with a click
http://en-gb.facebook.com/people/Campi-Ya-Kanzi/100000144253793

http://campiyakanzi.blogspot.com/  

http://twitter.com/campiyakanzi  

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see our webcam at www.maasai.com

follow us, eco warriors at www.maasaimarathon.com

Keep supporting our efforts and we will keep accomplishing a lot together. See here below what your donation will do.

What your money will do:

A donation of...	can....	for...
$50	Buy stationery for 10 kids at a primary school	1 year
$60	Buy a new desk for two students	5 years
$100	Pay the salary of a kindergarten teacher	1 month
$150	Pay the salary of a game scout	1 month
$250	Pay the salary of a teacher	1 month
And more money can....
$350	Buy one radio collar to help us track and protect lions	2 year
$500	Buy and install a new pit latrine for a school or a family	10 years
$500	Pay the salary of the coordinator of the Trust	1 month
$550	Buy medicine, needles, antibiotics	3 months
$600	Buy a hand held radio for the game scouts	Ever
$750	Pay for a pupil at secondary school	1 year
$1,800	Pay a game scout for 1 year	1 year
$1,800	Buy all the books the school needs	1 year
$2,500	Pay the salary of a doctor	1 month
And MUCH more money can....
$10,000	Build a waterhole to draw more wildlife and elephants into the reserve
$25,000	Buy a second hand Land Rover for helping the dispensary and the scouts
$35,000	Yearly fee for the Maasai landlords for 5,000 acres Kanzi conservancy
$40,000	Build a volunteer house, to help the school and dispensary
$50,000	Buy a Land Rover ambulance, to let the doctor serve the entire community
$95,000	Run Simba Project for a year

The Maasai Wilderness Conservation Fund (www.maasaifoundation.org) is a US 501 c (3) nonprofit corporation that has supported the Maasai Wilderness Conservation Trust with grants for wildlife conservation, medical and educational projects. Your donation will be directed to the sector, project or program you choose.