5
Somak Supporting
Loigero Primary School
The Loigero Primary School is located close to the
entry gate of the Masai Mara and serves the Masai
community of Talek. The school stems from small
beginnings, when its founder, Jacob Nkumum,
taught small groups of boys under an acacia tree.
Classes were regularly interrupted by the
surrounding wildlife such as lions, cheetahs, and
sometimes by the wildebeest migration. It has been
15 years since the school was founded and it now
has permanent buildings with 14 classrooms and
13 teachers who educate over 488 boys and girls
who attend the school.
It is thanks to the donations and support of local
and international businesses, including Somak,
international charities and tourists that the school
continues to thrive. The school is now able to offer
a meal for every pupil, and the next phase is to
build a dormitory so that pupils from neighbouring
communities can also attend the school.
The Born Free Foundation
The Born Free Foundation was founded by Virginia
McKenna OBE and Bill Travers following their starring roles
in the classic film ‘Born Free’. Today, led by their son Will
Travers, Born Free takes action worldwide to protect
threatened species and stop individual animal suffering.
Somak Holidays are working to help the Born Free
Foundation to build lion-proof bomas which protect and
save the lives of both lions and livestock in Kenya. We
have launched two fantastic new itineraries which offer
the chance to meet the local communities who are
benefiting from the lion-proof bomas and to help the
fundraising efforts in order to build more. See page 11.
Community Outreach Projects
Stay at Porini Camps (see page 10) and you will be
supporting the Community Outreach Projects which
concentrates on three core areas: Conservation,
Education and Water. Porini Camps pledge to
support the communities from which they lease
conservancy land. They have improved access to safe
water with the provision of water tanks; each village
now has a 2000 litre water tank. The project now
raises funds towards the cost of the ongoing water
deliveries. Porini Camps support the families of Ol
Kinyei with a Bursary Fund, which alleviates the
financial burden of the children’s education. The
bursary assists students in covering essential costs to
enable them to complete important stages in their
education, which is a crucial step in guaranteeing a
solid career path.
