Our Story
For over ten years, Nashulai has been tested by forces that might have brought it down. But our community has endured, proving that another kind of conservation is possible.
What began as a bold, community-driven idea has grown into a proven model of Indigenous-led regenerative coexistence. Our work has gained international recognition, including from organizations such as the United Nations Environment Programme and National Geographic, affirming the importance of what our community has built.
Today, Nashulai is more than a conservancy, and what we have built is not just a local success. It is a model for a different future, and a movement with the potential to transform conservation across East Africa and beyond.
A Different Beginning
For generations, Maasai communities have cared for the lands of the Maasai Mara, drawing on deep knowledge of its seasons, grasses, wildlife, and the relationships that sustain life here. But as land was increasingly divided and fenced, our community faced growing pressure on our ancestral land, our livelihoods, and the future we wanted for our children.
We believed there was another way. Rather than separate people from wildlife in the name of conservation, we came together to build a model of regenerative coexistence that would allow our community to remain on our land, restore the landscape, and create a future in which people and wildlife could thrive together.
On 14 July 2016, Nashulai was established as the first Maasai-owned, created, governed, and managed conservancy in the Maasai Mara. We started with a community, a shared determination, and a belief that conservation could work differently.
“Our community rose up to save this place and become its stewards for the generations to come. Do you think we don’t know how to do that? This is the land where the bones of our ancestors are buried.” — Nelson Ole Reiyia, Co-Founder
Ten Years Against the Odds
Building something different was never going to be easy. Over the past decade, Nashulai has faced serious tests, including the economic pressures of COVID-19, hardship within our community, and external pressures that challenged our ability to continue.
There were times when the future of Nashulai was far from certain. Yet our community kept going. We adapted, found ways to sustain our work, and continued to build on the belief of regenerative coexistence. that brought us together in the first place.
These years have tested more than our resilience. They have strengthened our experience, our ability to respond to challenges, and our understanding of what it takes to make regenerative coexistence work in practice.
Nashulai's story is not simply one of survival. It is a story of an Indigenous community building, testing, and strengthening a different model of conservation, even through hard times.
Living Proof That Another Way Works
At Nashulai, conservation is not about choosing between people and wildlife. It is about creating the conditions for both to thrive.
Our model brings together three connected priorities:
Conserve Wildlife. Preserve Culture. Reverse Poverty.
“Children need education and equality to thrive. It is a guiding principle for Nashulai. And the way our community has rallied on behalf of our beloved children is nothing short of amazing.” — Margaret Koshal Reiyia, Nashulai Director of Family, Gender and Education
These Are Not Separate Goals
Wildlife cannot thrive in isolation from the communities who share its habitat. Nor can conservation endure if the people living alongside wildlife are left without viable livelihoods or the means to adapt to changing conditions.
Across our 5,000 acres, we have worked to put this principle into practice. Our community has removed fences, reopened wildlife corridors, and returned to shared land use and traditional grazing practices. We are restoring the relationship between people, livestock, and wildlife while developing livelihoods that make conservation viable for our community.
Through land leases and other livelihood initiatives, we have developed ways for landowners to benefit from protecting wildlife and maintaining the ecological health of our land. Education, cultural storytelling, women's empowerment, and opportunities for young people are part of this same effort: building the conditions for our community to thrive on its ancestral land.
Regenerative coexistence is not just an idea we advocate for. It is an approach we have been putting into practice, learning from, and adapting over a decade of real-world experience. Our work continues, but we have built a foundation that others can learn from as they face similar challenges.
Beyond Nashulai
The challenges Nashulai has worked to address are not unique to our community. Across East Africa and beyond, Indigenous peoples and local communities are caring for lands that are essential to wildlife, biodiversity, and migratory corridors. Many face growing economic and climate pressures, alongside conservation approaches that do not always recognize their rights, knowledge, or aspirations.
Our experience offers another way forward.
What can be shared is what we have learned: how to bring communities together around a common vision, develop viable livelihoods that support conservation, strengthen local capacity, and adapt to environmental and economic change.
This work requires more than good intentions. It requires sustainable sources of income, practical incentives for land stewardship, education and training, access to expertise, and support that helps communities withstand difficult times. It also requires partnerships that respect local leadership and recognize communities as knowledge holders and decision-makers.
Nashulai is developing its role as a place where communities, conservation practitioners, researchers, and other partners can come together to learn, exchange knowledge, and develop practical approaches to regenerative coexistence. By connecting Maasai knowledge and experience, with contemporary conservation science and wider expertise, we aim to strengthen local capabilities and support new approaches that can work across different ancestral lands.
Nashulai but a small part of the transnational Serengeti-Mara Ecosystem, however it is among the most critical connecting corridor for migrating Mara Serengeti wildlife.
Image Credit: Mongabay News 2025
A Movement Whose Time Has Come
Our vision has always reached beyond the boundaries of Nashulai. We want to see more communities able to protect their ancestral lands, sustain their cultures and livelihoods, and care for the wildlife and ecosystems that connect us all.
Now, we want to take what we have learned further.
The next chapter is about building on what we have learned. We want to strengthen Nashulai's capacity to train and support others, develop new approaches to conservation and livelihoods, and build partnerships that help regenerative coexistence take root in more places.
We envision a future in which communities across East Africa and around the world can protect their ancestral lands, sustain their cultures and livelihoods, and care for the wildlife and ecosystems that connect us all.
Nashulai is more than a conservancy. It is a proven model of Indigenous-led regenerative coexistence, and a movement for a different future of conservation.
Ten years ago, we set out to do things differently. Today, we invite others to learn from our experience and help carry this work forward. Together, we can build a future in which people, wildlife, and the land thrive side by side, across East Africa and around the world. [not sure if this is repetitive?]
Come experience it. Learn from it. Be part of it.
Ashe oleng. Thank you.
