allAfrica.com: Kenya: Lodge in the Wilderness Spots a Touch of Class (Page 1 of 1)

While working with the Kenya Wildlife Service (KWS) to re-populate Tsavo East National Park with the almost extinct Black Rhino, Anthony Russell had a revelation.

Since KWS had to go outside the park to get grass for the animals, there was a tug of war with local people. He suggested that they could start paying for the grass. And the idea of The Art of Ventures was born.

The 50-year-old's vision was to create an eco-tourism lodge that would not only help conserve the environment, but also uplift living standards of the local community.

The first lodge is Shompole (place of red-ochre), located 120km south of Nairobi on the slopes of the Nguruman escapment, overlooking the Great Rift Valley and Lake Natron on the Tanzania border.

he lodge is divided into Little Shompole and Big Shompole. The former is made up of two villas perched on higher ground. They are also more exclusive, with a swimming pool and kitchen, while Big Shompole has six villas. The lodge is about 30 minutes flight from Nairobi or a three hour drive.

"I have created a Mara and Amboseli," says Mr Russell, the managing director, "it is a five star camp. The days of bandas are gone, people want chic destinations."

He said that the lodge would not succeed without the help and support of the local community. The land the lodge sits on is a group ranch of 140,000 acres, owned by 2,000 registered members, which in turn supports over 10,000 people.

The lodge was built in 1999, using mostly local materials and the local residents provided labour, which was part of their contribution to an 11 per cent ownership of the property. It is now worth Sh198m.

Mr Russell, or Ole Sungura to local people, is a Kenyan of British origin. He was born and raised in Kenya and educated in the UK. He is a designer by profession. His father came to Kenya as a hunter and Russell junior followed in his footsteps.

For the last 20 years he has worked as a safari guide, manager of game ranches and as a professional hunter. Shompole has seen its share of celebrities from the music, fashion, film and literary world, even the second richest man in the world, Bill Gates. Others include Hollywood actor Dan Aykroyd, who was there to raise Sh2m for a dam in a charity music event called Rock the Rift held in July 2006.

The journey of Shompole Lodge has been long. Mr Russel was approached by the community, through an introduction by the then local councillor John Lengio, to enter into a private-public enterprise. The people took the business plan to their area MP, Prof George Saitoti, and took his advice to enter into a 15-year contract with the Art of Ventures.

Armed with only a concept, Mr Russel went to Los Angeles, US, and met a high profile personality who contacted Christina Kim, the founder of the Dosa Fashion House, and persuaded her to visit Shampole, then a mere a camp. She loved it so much that she in turn told the then editor of Vogue magazine, Suzy Forbes, of Shompole's marvels.

Mr Russell said they had to build three rooms in a hurry for Forbes and her team and in return Shompole got covered by the magazine. In fact, the place got eight pages of coverage. That was in 2000. Soon the international press came calling.

The lodge's management charges Sh26,400 a night, and half the rate for residents. It is fully booked until August next year. Apart from its popularity Shompole has won many awards, the most recent being the UNDP Equator Prize.

It is awarded every two years to projects that address poverty reduction and sustainable use and the environment. The community has collected about Sh14m in conservation fees since December 2001.

And the success of Shompole whetted other communities' appetites for such partnerships. Currently, there are more than 200 proposed eco-tourism sites looking for investors or donor-funding.

"Man is part of ecology, but you first protect the man then make him understand why he needs to protect the rest of ecology," said Mr Russell. It took him six years to convince the community that wildlife can be beneficial. But he had to be sensitive about it because there was a Maasai cultural aspect to deal with.

They detested lions and would kill then for fear that the big cats would attack their livestock. They also feared that the human-wildlife conflict would increase. Mr Russel explained to them that a pride of lions was more likely to hunt for other wild animals than go for weaker animals such as livestock.

They gradually understood his point of view. The conversancy, which occupies 35,000 acres, has experienced a 35 per cent increase in wild animals with 54 lions, up from six. Even with the rise in wildlife numbers, Mr Russel said the human-wildlife conflict is down 35 to 40 per cent.

Despite the success, the conservancy is near a porous border with Tanzania and the number of poachers is growing.

The tourism industry is projected to rake in Sh60bn this year, but it was not always this way. Art of Ventures opened its doors at a bad time. in 1999 the tourism industry was at one of its all times lows. But, Mr Russel said, with the support of local people and the UN they were able to keep doors of the lodge open and still continue paying conservation fees.

The fee helps the community with projects such as school bursaries, security and infrastructure. The lodge cannot employ everybody in the community, which means there have to be auxiliary businesses like bee keeping and animal husbandry.

Mr Russel also worked with women to come up with hand made furniture and jewellery. He started with 10 women and the number has since risen to more than 250.

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