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JULY 2015
with limited access to schooling, healthcare and
employment. Lionswere regularly huntedbywarriors
who regarded the cats as anuisance.Wildlifepoaching
was endemic. Forestsweredaily cut for firewood.
While theMaasai appreciated the value of the land
as aplace onwhich to graze cattle, what they hadn’t
appreciatedwas how valuable itwas not only to tourists
but to conservationists, whowouldpay the community to
lock in carbonusingplants, protectwater in their
cloudforests and create energy from sunlight. “Whatwe
havehelped to show them,” Luca explains, “is that it is
alsopossible, while generating funds from a tourist camp,
tobepaid for protecting the area’swildlife, forests and
water, thereby creating a sustainable circle.”
Theproject hasbeenhailedaswhatUN spokesmanand
Hollywoodactor EdwardNorton calls, “totallyvisionary.
What Lucahasdone is go to theMaasai and say ‘Your
economic futurewill be securedbyusing your natural
assets in a sustainableway: linkingwildlife and tourism,
forests and carbon credits, landscapes and solar power.’
As a conservationist, he is years aheadof his time.”
Walking and talkingwith theMaasai in the area, it’s clear
that the camp– and theBelpietros–have considerably
changed their lives for thebetter. In a little village in the
valley, they nowhave a school withnew classrooms, and
51 teachers across the regionpaid for by the charitable
trust (theMaasaiWilderness ConservationTrust) set up
by Luca andheadedby EdwardNorton.
There’s a clinic, with adoctor, nurse and lab technician,
and an ambulancedonatedby aCanadian guest. An army
of 100 game scouts patrols the area, removing snares and
arrestingpoachers.Water is pumped fromwells using
power from solar panels. And, in a remarkable turnaround,
thewarriorswhoonce killed lions as a signof their
manliness havebeen trained as Simba Scouts: to track
the creatures and thenwarn cowherds that thebeasts
are about. Anydomestic animals that are killedbywildlife
are compensated for.
While the lookof the camp is similar tomany others–
handsome colonial-style interiors, lit by lamps at night,
withdelicious Italian cuisine and comfortable tentswith
THEADVENTURE
TheMaasainow
haveaschoolwith
newclassrooms, and
51 teachersacross
theregionpaid forby
thecharitable trust
