Walking with Maasai is a non-profit organisation established by and for the Maasai communities in the Olorte region of southern Kenya. As a business venture run by the Maasai, income generated will go directly back into the community to improve facilities and to assist those who most need support. The business model also aims to create much needed employment opportunities. We didn’t experience all the projects that were underway, but we did spend a few days at their remote eco-camp.

For sustainability the eco-camp aims to remain small in size, and will eventually consist of just 6 permanent safari tents set on wooden decks and a lounge overlooking the Loita Hills and the Olkeju Arus river and gorge. When we were there the camp was still in development, but there was already an intimate atmosphere as you made your way along trails through the bush to each tent. While all the tents are in close proximity to one another, they have been carefully placed to allow for maximum privacy. Even though the tents are furnished and very comfortable, the camp itself definitely has a rustic feel, and you really get a sense of living in the bush without the restrictions of fences and other barriers. This can feel somewhat unnerving when you are told buffalo may move through the camp at night, but any nerves I had soon faded as the camp staff imparted some clear instructions on the best way to get around the camp after dark. In the end we had no close encounters, but we did hear the distinct sounds of elephants late one night.

While bathroom facilities are not usually an area I take great interest in, these bathrooms were architecturally excellent! Each tent has access to an outdoor bathroom located close by. A curved wall of branches leads you into a secluded inner circular area with a dry toilet and an enclave with a hot water ‘bucket shower’ (although this may be a solar powered system now). It is secure and private, but allows enough space to really feel like you are out in the open, with the vast blue sky as your roof!

There is an outdoor kitchen next to the ‘boma’- a large communal area encircled by a fence of intertwined branches. At the centre is a large fire where we ate and socialised. Here the staff cooked our meals right on the fire, and I can safely say they did an amazing job. The experimental ‘pot-lasagne’ was one of the best I’ve ever tasted!

After taking a refreshing dip in what I can only describe as a magical little lagoon tucked away at the foot of the hill the camp sits on, we made our way into the surrounding bush on a ‘walking safari’ under the care of local Maasai guides. Unlike more traditional safaris where you are constrained to the confines of a jeep this was a refreshing way to stretch the legs and explore the bush. We were able to get a close look at different animal tracks and follow ancient elephant paths through the dense bush land. Our guides also took us to see a young elephant that had been killed the day before by poachers. This was a very confronting experience, the carcass had been colonised by thousands of maggots and the stench was thick in the air. It was a grim reminder of the prevalence of poaching in the area. I can only hope that initiatives like Walking with Maasai and other innovative community programs will have the potential to create, and continually develop, alternative income opportunities other than poaching.

With mixed emotions over the rotting elephant carcass and all it represented, we were suddenly pulled to our senses as we finally got that close encounter with some buffalo. Luckily we were in the safe company of our guides who made sure we passed clear of them, avoiding any potential danger. As the adrenalin passed we set off at a steady pace away from the baking sun and entered the cool shade of denser forest. Soon we came to a secluded lagoon inhabited by two large hippos. It was exhilarating to be standing right at the edge of the lagoon with nothing between us and the hippos wading through the water. From here we continued to snake our way up a trail out of the forest passing the occasional band of feisty baboons until we reached a vast plateau revealing a Maasai community. This was home to our guides and a great place to relax and drink some chai. The community is remote and it was a privilege to have been afforded a moment, albeit a brief one, to experience the daily motion and rhythm of Maasai life.

For more information on Walking with Maasai check out their website and facebook page

But in the last couple of years, things have started to look much brighter. Spurred by incremental improvements in the cost and efficiency of solar power, LED lights, and batteries, social entrepreneurs from India to sub-Saharan Africa are now able to offer electricity for lighting and other basic household uses at prices that even the very poor can afford. One such success story is that of the Indian company Mera Gao Power, which was recently featured in an article in the Guardian. Households that sign up with their village-based, solar-powered micro-grid, the Guardian article explains, “receives two LED lights and one mobile-charging point in their home at a cost of 25 rupees [$0.47] per week. The setup cost is an additional one-off payment of 40 rupees [$0.75]“. Another similar venture that has gotten much attention lately is Eight19, whose business model similarly relies on inexpensive solar power and, in addition, allows customers that have paid off their first investment to upgrade to larger units.

These developments not only bring much-needed light and electricity to poor households around the world — it may also fundamentally reshape the very model by which access to electricity is extended to communities previously relying on inefficient, unhealthy and expensive forms of energy such as biomass and kerosene. Historically, electricity access has nearly always been provided, subsidized or facilitated by governments, which were able to shoulder the large upfront costs of coal plants or hydroelectric dams, and supply the electricity at low or negative return to less developed regions. Active government involvement (together with rapid urbanization) explains, for example, the rapid electrification of countries like Brazil and China. The flip side of this is that in places where governments are either unable or unwilling to extent electricity access — due to e.g. limited finances, corruption, or an urban bias in development efforts — people have simply been left without it. As Center for Global Development senior fellow Charles Kenny writes, “Governments have done an absolutely dismal job of rolling out access to modern energy.” Witness for example much of sub-Saharan Africa or rural India today. Some communities have relied on relatively expensive diesel generators, but for the most part, off-grid electricity generation — including clean forms such as solar power — have historically been prohibitively expensive, especially in terms of their upfront costs, to scale up to a level of several hundred million people.

Mera Gao Power and Eight19 demonstrate that the key technologies for off-grid electricity generation and lighting have now become affordable enough to change that. In so doing, they have the potential to shortcut the need for large-scale (but not always forthcoming) government involvement, whilst at the same time leapfrogging fossil fuels and thus putting communities on the path of clean energy. Such is the power of technological innovation to spur human development — something that would not come as a surprise to CGD’s Charles Kenny. In his book “Getting Better” he argues that whilst we still don’t quite know how to effect economic growth in developing countries, what has proved to work is to make welfare-enhancing technologies cheaper. The spread of cell phones, immunizations, demand for education, the germ theory, and so forth, is what largely explains the extraordinary improvement of human well-being (measured by e.g. the Human Development Index) over the last century even in Africa, which has barely seen any economic growth at all. Global divergence in income terms has proven not to preclude convergence in welfare terms.

If the story about cheap, off-grid solar power sounds familiar, it is probably because you have heard it before — in the case of cell phones. Until the last two decades, most people in the world lacked phones altogether. The infrastructure and upfront costs involved in rolling out landlines were too expensive for many states to provide, especially in rural areas. But then cell phones came along. Within less than 15 years, they have spread to near ubiquity across the developing world, bringing with them huge benefits for individuals and communities. What we are currently witnessing in off-grid electricity generation might to some degree — provided further progress in efficiency and cost — replicate this example of bottom-up adoption of a welfare-enhancing technology. To facilitate this, development efforts might need to focus less on top-down deployment and more on innovation, with the goal of making modern energy sources cheap enough not just to compete with fossil fuels, but to become affordable for those that today rely largely on biomass and other low-quality sources of energy. We’re not there yet — solar power is still too inefficient to power larger household utilities like washing machines or fridges, and distribution in rural areas is often difficult. But in the villages where Mera Gao Power and other start-up providers of off-grid electricity operate, the dark night now offers a glimmer of hope.

What you will need

- 36 Solar Cells
- 60ft. of Tabbing Wire
- 15ft. of Bus Wire
- Rosin Flux Pen
- Tube/Roll of Solder
- Good Soldering Iron
- 2×4 Pressure Treated Plywood or Marine Grade Plywood
- 2×4 Plexiglass
- 2×4 Pegboard
- (two) 1×2x10 Pressure Treated Plywood or Marine Grade Plywood
- Sander and Sand paper
- Staple Gun or Stapler
- UV Protector Sealant
- Paint Brush or Roller
- Transparent Silicone
- Caulk Gun
- Digital Multimeter
- Crimping Pliers
- 2 Wiremold Strips
- 20 Gauge Copper Wire (Red and Black) – Large Roll
- Tile Spacers
- Mending Plates
- Power Drill
- Drill Bit
- Vapor Barrier – Ex. Slygard 184 or EVA

A rocket stove achieves efficient combustion of the fuel at a high temperature by ensuring that there is a good air draft into the fire, controlled use of fuel, complete combustion of volatiles, and efficient use of the resultant heat.

A rocket stove’s main components are:

- Fuel magazine: Into which the unburned fuel is placed and from where it feeds into the combustion chamber

- Combustion chamber: At the end of the fuel magazine where the wood is burned

- Chimney: A vertical chimney above the combustion chamber to provide the updraft needed to maintain the fire

- Heat exchanger: To transfer the heat to where it is needed, i.e. the cooking pot.

The fuel magazine can be horizontal where additional fuel will be added manually or vertically for automatic feeding of fuel. As the fuel burns within the combustion chamber convection draws new air into the combustion chamber from below ensuring that any smoke from smoldering wood near to the fire is also drawn into the fire and up the chimney. The chimney should be insulated to maximize the temperature and improve combustion. From the chimney the heat passed into a suitable heat exchanger to ensure the efficient use of the generated heat.

For cooking purposes the design keeps the cooking vessel in contact with the fire over the largest possible surface area by use of a pot skirt to create a narrow channel which forces hot air and gas to flow along the bottom and sides of the cooking vessel. Optionally baffles guide hot air and flame up the sides of the pot. For space heating purposes the heat is transferred to a heat store which can in some cases be part of the structure of the house itself. The exhaust gasses then pass out of the building via the chimney.

The design of stove means that it can operate on about half as much fuel as a traditional open fire and can use smaller diameter wood. They are insulated and raised from the floor which reduces the danger of children burning themselves. Some more recent designs are self feeding using gravity to add fuel to the fire as required.

Information from Wikipedia

Please note: The diagrams and technical information presented here is the work of the NGO Practical Action. For more information on clay pot refrigerators and many more innovative appropriate technologies visit Practical Answers.












Click here to see the clay pot refrigerator technical diagram

Step-by-step instructions:

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Hard to find aren’t they?
If you have been lucky enough to find one, then join Much Better Adventures as they build a word of mouth travel guide for the adventure community.

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As well as your suggestions, the travel guides are being put together by a collection of voluntary ‘ambassadors’ – skiers, surfers, climbers, cyclists, trekkers, divers and locals in adventure hot spots around the world. Know an area well? You can become a muchbetter ambassdor. Help create the full muchbetter guide, get featured and earn money.

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International Day of Climate Change was celebrated in Booni, Chitral, Pakistan, through the facilitation of Destination Management Organization (DMO) Chitral and 350.org. The theme of the day was ‘Breaking of Booni Glacier, Its Relation to Climate Change’. As many as 500 people from different walks of life participated.
The day has had significance for the people of Booni as they have recently witnessed a flood destroying their valuable property and causing them major health problems, psychological twists and infrastructure disruption.

The objective was to join the worldwide communities in highlighting climate problems—breaking of the glacier, untimely melting of snow, frequent floods and unpredictable climate conditions—in the Hindu Kush Mountains.
To begin with, speeches highlighting the prospects of climate change in the Hindu Kush Mountains were delivered. Mr Sadruddin, the principal of Orion School of Learning (OSL) impressed upon the participants to save the Booni village by protecting the natural environment. This challenge could be successfully tackled by offering environmentally-friendly education/values to children within the family right from their childhood. In turn, this will make the task easier for teachers, once they are admitted to schools. He also said that ecology/ natural biodiversity had to be included into the curriculum of government/ private schools as a compulsory subject from class 1st. Meanwhile, teachers need better capacity training regarding the natural environment.

Mr Shams Uddin, the Coordinator of DMO Chitral and the key organizer of the event, upheld that nature has the characteristics quite like those of a loving mother. Nonetheless, the difference is that ‘mother’ along with her children is dependant on ‘mother nature’ for healthy life. Nature feeds us with a variety of cereals, fruits and vegetables. It provides us with oxygen and clean water to mention a few. Bearing this in mind, we have to take great care of nature, the manifestation of which could be the adoption of environmental-friendly manners and values by the entire society.

Mr Uddin maintained that the natural beauty of Chitral is an asset, which we can market to attract more tourists. Unfortunately, climate change/ global warming is going to erode the base natural resources and environment. From the tourism standpoint, climate change that destroys the surrounding natural environment—a valuable tourism product— is even a greater loss.

Advocate Amir Akber Khan, himself a social worker, said that we did not have to lose time waiting for another catastrophe to happen. We have to stand united to tackle the future floods in the following ways: First, proper canalization of the stream bed is greatly important; Second, ‘as charity begins at home’, there has to be a coordinated fundraising campaign in the Booni village. “In order to save the village from further destruction, we have to contribute a sizable amount of funds so we can canalize the stream bed and construct protective walls along the stream line”, he said. Meanwhile, grazing on the Booni Gol rangeland needs to be restricted forever. These problems must be dealt with by the local community, we should not expect government and NGOs to play a role in this regard. He concluded that the breaking of the Booni glacier was something that people would never forget, and which would serve as an ‘eye-opener’ for the local communities.

The students arranged a theatrical performance centering on the Booni flood and its aftermath. The play they enacted depicted social, political and cultural complexities in times of crisis and highlighted the helpfulness of modern technology. For instance, mobile phones were used as an instrument of an Early Warning System (EWS) by volunteers high up in the Booni stream. Similarly, they highlighted how some individuals had remained oblivious towards the enormity of natural disasters and their impacts. Likewise lack of medical care and the non-existence of portable water that led to widespread water-born diseases, was effectively highlighted. Further, women’s drudgery of fetching water from long distances for cattle and their households constituted an interesting component of the play.

The students sang songs of nature and the serene beauty of the Chitral valley, its lakes, snow-capped peaks, forest, alpine meadows, flowers, medicinal herbs, fruits and crops, all of which sustain our livelihoods in a suitable climate range. The singers mourned the loss of valuable bird species from the ecological chain. Such birds used to live when most of the participants were young people. It was indicated that climate change has been responsible for the migration and extinction of the bird species.

‘Don’t turn my heaven into hell’ was the theme of a poetic session. The student poets creatively couched the issues of climate change into poetic language. They appealed to the sentiments of the audience to keep the natural environment from being degraded into a sort of ‘hell’ by becoming unbearably hot. Further, funny anecdotes related to nature were shared with the participants. Pieces of engaging wit were skillfully blended into making the cause of climate change more motivating. It must be noted that Khowar poetic sessions have been used as an effective campaign tool to critically analyse local politics, poverty, corruption and forced marriage.

A placard bearing group of parents and students walked through the Booni village spreading the message of International Day of Climate Change amongst the villagers.

The participants of IDCC in Booni, Chitral, northern Pakistan, put forward the following recommendations:

• That there has to be an effective fund raising campaign by the local communities to save Booni from the catastrophe of natural calamities in the future. To this end, every household has to contribute a sizeable amount even if they have to sell some of their livestock.

• The environmental-unfriendly practice of over-grazing on Booni Gol rangeland by the nomads with as many as 6000 goats and sheep has to be halted forthwith.

• Standard research work by reputed glaciologists and environmental scientists is what the participants recommended to properly evaluate, understand and establish authentic baseline data on the deteriorating condition of the natural environment in the mountains of Chitral.

• In order to protect Booni from the spillover of mud-flood in future, check dams need to be constructed in the side valleys high up in the Booni Gol rangeland.

• Protective walls have to be constructed at different points where the flood has already broken into villages. However, such protective walls have to be technically sound with their foundation deep into the ground.

• Deforestation of juniper, birch and shrubs in the Booni Gol rangeland has to be immediately stopped and plantation on a wide scale has to be undertaken by communities and students.

• The bed of the Booni stream needs to be canalized to provide permanent course for the water. This way materials that the flood deposited all along the stream bed, could be washed into the Mastuj River.

• There have to be awareness raising seminars, workshops and conferences on climate change and its impacts on the mountainous communities of Chitral.

• Last but not the least; the participants thanked the organizers of International Day of Climate Change, which the local community so urgently needed.

I have now been working with this community and the Kamak Maki project in some capacity for about a year and a half from Quito, and this past spring I spent 3 months living there and working full time in the promotion of the project. Kamak Maki is a family and community project that started about 10 years ago with the idea to develop an interactive center of the Kichwa culture with respect to its history, myths, beliefs, ancestral knowledge, and relation to the environment. In the past 3 years, it has grown drastically to include an extensive ethnocultural museum, medicinal plant garden, animals of the region in danger of extinction, restaurant of typical food, and small shop selling local crafts made by community members. Members of Kamak Maki believe that it is a space that promotes co-existence and co-living in the Amazon jungle through community based tourism, without altering social ties nor inherent value of the community and its practices. The hope is to demonstrate that the conservation of culture is not static and that with planning and adequate control, ancestral knowledge can be preserved in the long term. Its location about 15 minutes from the tourist port town of Misahualli has been a major reason for its success, allowing mostly Ecuadorian tourists from all over the country to take a canoe down river and have a one-hour tour of the site. However, Kamak Maki also now has cabins for tourists to stay overnight and can offer multiple-day tours that more thoroughly explore the Kichwa culture and various activities available in this beautiful region of Ecuador.

From spending time in the community and working with the members to promote the project, I’ve learned so much about the importance of preserving this valuable cultural knowledge. Whether it is speaking the Kichwa language, knowing what medicinal plant is used for stomach pain, moving the wooden bowl correctly when panning for gold on the river banks, or making the traditional chicha drink, it is a knowledge that connects the current community members to an ancestry and culture that goes back centuries. This type of knowledge isn’t learned in school, and in fact while there exists a small local school in each community in that area, pursuing a structured education is only more recently being seen as important. Most adult community members have only completed grade school, but they are encouraging their children to continue to high school and beyond because of the improved opportunities available to those with a formal education. However, apart from math and reading taught in school, all of the local children also know the Kichwa language, the uses of medicinal plants, and the typical dishes and how to cook them. It is something passed down in everyday life and not learned in a classroom; it is a familiarity with how things are done from the older generations.

Further, ancestral knowledge includes seeing how life in this region is so strongly connected to nature in various ways. For example, heavy rains up river can produce floods that affect agriculture or transportation, as using canoes to travel across and along the river is still a common form of getting around. Or, a few days of strong sun without rain can dry up a pond that is growing tilapia fish to eat and sell. In addition, ancestral beliefs dictate the future—hearing the singing of a particular bird means there will be visitors or tourists the following day, or seeing certain images in one’s dreams can predict good or bad outcomes in real life. While it sometimes seems that people in this community have drastically altered their way of life to incorporate modern influences, a deeper look shows that it is truly a mixture of old and new practices and beliefs, and not a complete taking over from outside pressure. It is true that most people in the community have cell phones, participate in a money-based economy and eat various foods not part of their traditional diet. However, it’s apparent that the ancestral connection to nature and utilizing what nature provides also so strongly dictates their way of life.

For many of us when we travel, we are looking for something different than what we know in our everyday lives; we are wanting an escape, a vacation, an adventure. We want to learn something about another culture and experience a different way of life than our own at home. And I think that is exactly what community tourism can offer. It provides an opportunity to not only visit another country, but it opens our eyes to another way of living. For those of us that live in urban areas such as bustling cities with a fast-pace lifestyle, community tourism sites like Kamak Maki bring us back to nature and remind us of its importance. The communal knowledge in Kamak Maki is something that can be lost if not preserved and taught to future generations, and educating tourists about these cultural practices is one way to keep it alive. The tourists who visit are not only contributing economically to support the community and its tourism project, but are learning about the inherent importance in a connection to nature and the cultural ancestral knowledge that lives on in current generations.