Kenya Adventure

Meet as a group at Toronto International Airport. Depart on your overnight flight to Kenya.

Welcome to Nairobi! Arrive at Jomo Kenyata International Airport. Meet your Evolve Tours Director, excited to spend the next two weeks together. Transfer to Ol Pejeta Conservancy, the largest black rhino sanctuary in East Africa, and into our tented lodge accommodation at Ol Pejeta Wildlife Camp. Relax, sleep and get accustomed to the jetlag.

(Schedule may vary due to flight arrival times, if case of an evening arrival time, stay at a secure lodge on the outskirts of Nairobi)

After a quick survival Swahili language session, depart Ol Pejeta into the rural community land on the Rongai River with plenty of time to acclimatize to the 2000 m altitude. Mt. Kenya shines to the East and to the North and West, Laikipia peels out through classic African landscape. Visit the surrounding community, see how a local shamba (Swahili word for small farm) protects crops from wildlife and get a feel for Kenyan life. Finish the day learning all about traditional bush craft from our Maasai Warriors. Try your hands at spearthrowing, making a fire with two sticks and other cultural activities.

The hard work starts today! This is your opportunity to assist the community in the areas where they need the most help, this could be building a new school or toilet block, teaching English or sports or tree planting in the grounds. Evolve is not especially interested in supporting a “stand-alone” community service activity, such as painting classrooms. While such an enterprise may have some value to the participants’ community, by itself it rarely meets our expectations for our clients. However, there are some projects that would not be accomplished without the manual labour, expertise or funding of the visiting group of students and teachers.

However, it is important to note that we only undertake these projects if several key conditions are met:

1. The project accomplishes a goal that comes from the local community.
2. The project adds to the quality of life for a broad spectrum of the local residents.
3. The project has some sustainable, long term impact.
4. It is very likely that the project would never likely be accomplished without the assistance of the visiting participants.
5. The participants have a clear understanding of the nature of the project and agree, in so far as possible, to work to complete it while in the country.

Wildlife Safari

Learn through participation about the history of conservation in Ol Pejeta Conservancy; the uniqueness of OPC’s land use approach –Wildlife/human integration and other income generating enterprises. Key species of concern and the various programs adopted in managing these species. Students will gain understanding of the environment in which OPC operates – the opportunities and challenges and how these are addressed.

Chimpanzee Sanctuary Visit:

Interactive visit on the status of the chimpanzee population(s) and the threats facing these primates with a visit behind the scenes in order to understand the demands of care giving, i.e. challenges of maintaining a healthy population of chimps within a semi-captive environment – i.e. supply of food, enrichment, chimps health checks, etc. Get involved behind the scenes assisting in the sanctuary.

A visit to the endangered species boma and information centre:

Recap on Ol Pejeta’s mission – various aspects of the conservation talk above brought to reality by use of props and diagrams within the centre. Showcase various techniques of wildlife capture and translocation.

Baraka and Northern White Rhino Boma: Highlight on the plight of the black rhino and Northern White Rhino and the current undertakings to address these challenges. Showcase the importance of wildlife enclosures, holding pens, fences and the various fence designs that enable effective management of wildlife species. Get up close to the biggest and most endangered rhinos on the planet.

Late afternoon, we finish the day with a game drive in search of the Big Five!

After breakfast, we head off for a morning of rock climbing. Our climbing wall  in Ngare Ndare is a thing of beauty. Looking out over the Laikipia Wilderness and across onto Lewa Wildlife Conservancy, you couldn’t ask for a better view whilst sailing down a rockface. After lunch, we head off to the canyon pools and waterways passing under leafy ageless canopies. Scramble into the refreshing pools and swim beneath the white water falls or follow the course of the stream up and around in the knee and waist deep waters. Discover our modest leaps for fancy and novice canyoneers with a closed circuit of jumps and series of pools. The small canyon journey is a profoundly refreshing and exhilarating adventure. One you will for a long time remember. Evening return to Camp for a hot shower and well deserved barbecue!

Travel to Nairobi. We’ll have dinner at a pleasant restaurant before being driven to the airport for departure.

Arrive home in Montreal, after an incredible trip to Kenya together.