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The Sarara Foundation
In partnership with the Samburu community, TSF protects Northern Kenya’s keystone ecosystems through Indigenous leadership and community-driven conservation.
WHAT WE DO
Key Initiatives
Working together, our programs build economic independence and long-term stability, supporting a thriving future for communities and wildlife.
Mobile Healthcare Program
Delivering much-needed healthcare across Namunyak Conservancy through a mobile, community-based model – focused on maternal, paediatric, and emergency care.
Nomadic Education Program
Offering early learning rooted in culture and conservation, our pioneering program is a pathway to help future generations prosper and steward their own land.
The Milk to Market Program
TSF’s flagship conservation enterprise – turning locally sourced goat milk into a stabilising system for elephant survival, rangeland restoration, and women’s economic leadership.
The world's first Indigenous-owned African elephant sanctuary, which protects elephants and endangered species, improves orphan survival rates, helps reduce human-wildlife conflict, and supports healthy rangelands.
OUR MISSION
“We believe in the power of community – human and wild – to shape a future where people and nature thrive together. Our long-term objective is to develop a blueprint for community-led conservation, while fostering lasting solutions for the health of our planet and conservation worldwide.”
JEREMY BASTARD, CEO OF THE SARARA FOUNDATION
LOOKING AHEAD
Indigenous knowledge sits at the heart of our efforts, shaping sustainable enterprises and strategic collaborations.
TSF was built on a decades-long partnership with the Samburu – a community whose centuries of coexistence with wildlife reflects a deep respect for the natural world.
Thirty years of community-driven conservation across Namunyak have created a global blueprint for what is possible – one TSF is proud to fund, and we remain committed to ensuring prosperity for the Samburu and paving the way for community-led conservation worldwide. As this work deepens, we will expand into more wildlife corridors and key water catchments, strengthening partnerships, and reaching new community-owned conservation areas.
THE CHALLENGE
70% of Africa’s wildlife lives outside of national parks and reserves.
Most of its remaining biodiversity is shared by wildlife and Indigenous Peoples, and many of these keystone ecosystems serve as critical water towers and carbon sinks – making their preservation vital in the face of accelerating climate pressures.
Yet these systems are under mounting strain from desertification, declining water tables, and erratic rainfall – weakening rangelands, wildlife, and the pastoral livelihoods that depend on them. As conservation systems erode, social insecurity rises, compounded by land pressure and diminishing resources, which in turn increases human-wildlife conflict.
Rapid urbanisation, the loss of identity, and environmental degradation deepen cycles of poverty across already fragile landscapes.
In these landscapes, the futures of wildlife and people are inseparable.
THE LANDSCAPE
In the heart of Northern Kenya’s Mathews Range ecosystem, Namunyak Conservancy offers a rare and remote sanctuary.
Spanning 850,000 acres of wilderness – from open savannah and dry riverbeds to woodlands, ancient forests, and dramatic mountain peaks – this semi-arid landscape forms a critical watershed for the region.
Home to the Indigenous Samburu people, it’s also a haven for Kenya’s second-largest elephant population and one of its largest populations of reticulated giraffe. Supporting a diversity of wildlife – including endangered Grévy’s zebra, African wild dog, and leopard – the landscape sustains species such as gerenuk and greater kudu, alongside an abundance of birdlife.
As TSF continues to expand its reach beyond Namunyak, our impact now reaches across 1.2 million acres of Indigenous-managed wilderness.
HOW YOUR DONATION MAKES A DIFFERENCE
The Impact of Community-led Conservation
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Economic Independence for Women
As participants in the Milk to Market Program, more than 1,250 Samburu women generate independent income through the sale of their goat milk to Reteti Elephant Sanctuary. Since the program’s launch in 2021, over US$ million+ has been paid directly to the Milk Mamas.
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Future-forward Education
Since opening the first school in 2019, our community-led Education Program has brought best-in-class learning to more than 1,000 Samburu children, delivering culturally relevant education at the world’s first Nomadic Montessori schools.
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Lifechanging Healthcare
Focusing on maternal, paediatric, and emergency care, our Healthcare Program ensures vital community-based support to an area where patients previously had to walk extensive distances to access much-needed treatment.
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Improved Maternal Outcomes
Thanks to the Mobile Healthcare team and key partnerships, antenatal clinic attendance has become more consistent, folic acid and iron uptake has increased, and malnutrition has declined significantly.
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Advancing Elephant Conservation
As Reteti Elephant Sanctuary’s operating partner, we enhance its impact in elephant rescue and care, landscape-level conservation, and advocacy – and supported the rehabilitation and release of 23 orphaned elephants back into the wild.
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Conservation in Action
TSF’s dedicated Wildlife Rangers actively mitigate conflict between predators and livestock across Namunyak Conservancy, and their work includes extensive night patrols and raising community awareness of the importance of wildlife.
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Wildlife Restoration
Since the launch of Namunyak Conservancy three decades ago, TSF has helped oversee the return of a free-ranging population of almost 6,000 elephants to the Mathews Range. Browsing back once overgrown vegetation, they opened the way for more species to return.
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Endangered Species
Namunyak Conservancy protects one of Africa’s largest herds of reticulated giraffes (±600), alongside thriving populations of other endangered species. Lion numbers have increased significantly in recent years, which also reflects ecological recovery across the landscape.
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Rangeland Restoration
Strategic grazing management, settlement planning, and rangeland protection deliver real conservation gains and strengthen livelihoods, while the large-scale reseeding of degraded land through 10,000+ semi-circular bunds over the past two years keeps driving new growth.
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Community Leadership
In partnership with Namunyak Community Conservancy, TSF supports self-governance, builds local capacity, and enhances skills within the Samburu community, working to deepen local decision-making and stewardship of land and resources.
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Local Employment
We support the employment of over 200+ members of Namunyak’s Samburu community – the hands and hearts behind TSF’s programs on the ground – guiding their success through ancient knowledge and care for the landscape.
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Amplifying Indigenous Wisdom
By investing in relevant resources, education, and opportunity, we work to ensure that traditional Samburu knowledge informs modern climate solutions. By harnessing this deep understanding of nature and its guardianship, we help these enduring practices become blueprints for resilient, sustainable futures.
LEARN MORE & DONATE
Your support will echo through generations
Help provide community-led education, healthcare, and sustainable livelihoods to the Indigenous Samburu – and safeguard the extraordinary wildlife and landscapes they’ve protected for generations.
STORIES FROM THE GROUND
News from The Sarara Foundation
