Samson Parashina
Maasai Wilderness Conservation Trust – Kenya
Samson Parashina, a Maasai warrior, son of a local chief and respected safari guide, has shown amazing commitment to developing sustainable green economy models for Kenya’s Kuku Group Ranch, land communally owned by the Maasai community. He is a respected safari guide while leading the Maasai Conservation Wilderness Trust (MCWT) with his extensive knowledge of the wilderness, wildlife, and culture. In 2012, Samson was one of six people in the world to receive the prestigious Champions of the Earth award from UNEP. He is also a community trainer in environmental management and runs a number of training and education forums for women’s groups, elders and Maasai warriors on wildlife-human conflict mitigation and conservation.
He was born, raised, and educated in the Kuku Group Ranch near Loitokitok in the Rift Valley, and first become aware of the concepts of conservation during a field trip to Tsavo National Park in second grade. Upon completing high school, Samson heard about Campi ya Kanzi, an eco-tourism lodge in the Chyulu Hills, the famed green hills of Africa. He started working here as a waiter for the guests but soon taught himself the skills required to be a wildlife guide.
The world increasingly relies on many traditional communities like the Maasai to protect the ecological treasures that exist within the land that they own. But the incredible wilderness and wildlife of Africa’s grasslands and the famous culture of the Maasai people both face daunting threats to their long-term survival. The fate of both rests with the Maasai themselves as they work to figure out how to benefit from their incredible natural resources while preserving them.
MWCT’s efforts are focused on the Maasai communities and landscapes of Kenya’s Chyulu Hills, within the world-famous Amboseli-Tsavo Ecosystem. This is Hemingway’s “Green Hills of Africa”, deep cloud forests on hills over the savannah teeming with wildlife and Mount Kilimanjaro rising out of the plains. The Maasai communities of this area own all of the land between the protected National Parks and within their land lie critical wildlife migration corridors and habitat reserves, forests that are carbon sinks and rivers and springs that supply the fresh water not only to this ecosystem but to more than seven million people in Kenya, including the second largest city.
“The Maasai have been here for centuries. They must adapt to a changing climate. By creating new green jobs and protect the flora and fauna to create a future for the generation to come.”
Article: Earth Changers
Website: Maasai Wilderness
Twitter/X: https://twitter.com/ParashinaSamson
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/samson.parashina/
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/MaasaiWildernessConservationTrust
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/samson-parashina-808b64155/
Video 1) Interview
Video 2) UN Champions of The Earth 2012
