History
Timothy Jackson first stayed on Soysambu Ranch in the year 2000, his first-ever visit to Africa, he stayed with the then farm manager Renaldo Retief. This visit on Soysambu Ranch was one of several stays on different farms in the Rift Valley, a wonderful way to be introduced to Kenya. In 2018 when Timothy started forming the relationship with the Artists for Conservation Foundation, Soysambu, now a Conservancy since 2007, was one of their benefactors, mainly pioneered via one of their member artists, Guy Combes.
In the creation of our first fundraiser safari for Artists for Conservation Foundation based on Timothy’s proposal to their Foundation in 2018, out of the US$6,800.00 raised in 2019, US$2,500.00 went towards the purchase of one more Boma, protecting the cattle of Soysambu, from predation by Lions. We filmed this safari, and you can see the film on our AFC Artists for Conservation Foundation page. Lions had not lived on Soysambu for a very long time, but had recently escaped from Nakuru National Park, and were killing up to 30 cows a month, with the Boma’s this has been reduced to about 1 or 2 a month now. This is an everybody wins model, where cattle, people, and wildlife benefit. See this trailer showcasing the Boma Project and Soysambu in this film produced by Will Richardson below, this film will be on tour soon, and the feature film will be shown here once the tour is complete.
Here at Jackson’s African Safaris, we hope to continue our passion to raise money and donate to Soysambu via our fundraiser safaris with Artists for Conservation Foundation and anyone staying in the area, when booking specific accommodation, we can negotiate to give a full 10% of what you pay back to Soysambu Conservancy, rather than into our own pockets. Do explore the Soysambu Conservancy website, and read all about their ongoing projects, as well as enjoying the film trailer. Please do contact us if you would be interested in visiting Soysambu Conservancy. In Trust & thanks, Timothy Jackson
YouTube Film Trailor: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-nlrDrT-9jQ&feature=youtu.be
Read about Soysambu on Wikipedia:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Soysambu_Conservancy
Website for the conservancy: https://soysambuconservancy.org/
About The Boma Project at Soysambu Conservancy – Written by Guy Combes.
The Boma project was started by Guy Combes, Kat Combes, and Guys friend Jamie Kirkaldy who set up the manufacturing workshop. A boma is a traditional cattle enclosure, used for centuries by the Maasai, and consists of a circular enclosure of impenetrable thorn and scrub branches secured to the ground. The cattle are moved in at night and kept watch by a herdsman. It’s a tried and tested method that has been successful for millennia, but now with modern technology and materials, we have found a way to improve on it.
The cons of a traditional boma are that they cause a scar on the landscape that can take decades to heal. The soil within the boma becomes so denuded with overuse, that it remains visible long after the pastoralists are gone. Predators also become familiarised with them being in the same place, and the risk is greater of attack.
Our solution is a mobile boma, made of several steel and mesh gates, which can be staked into the ground in any suitable location; their size can be modified to suit the size of the herd (the cattle need to be packed in tight, because if they are loose and panic, the risk of injury is greater); they can be moved to a new location before the soil is denuded AND after it has been richly fertilized with manure; predators are less likely to familiarise themselves with the location. They are an all-round win-win solution to the situation.
Each boma costs US$2500 – US$3,000.00 to produce, and our goal is to have around 40 to accommodate the roughly 5000 head of cattle on Soysambu. We have 20 so far with the funds raised from quickdraws and donations, so we are halfway to our goal. The boma project is one of many at Soysambu that urgently requires funding. For each Artists for Conservation Foundation fundraiser safari (link to page), we hope to build one more boma.