One of the women on our 2018 “Women With a Purpose” trip shares an emotional description of the beauty of Kenya and its people. Watch her testimonial.

3 spaces left for “Women Travel with a Purpose” to visit Father Henry and his schools, September 23-30, 2019.

• Meet Father Henry, and the children he has rescued off the streets of Nairobi, Kenya.
• See the Big Five, Africa’s Wildest Wildlife, in its natural setting of the African Savannah.
• Call Sonia on 949 402 7828 or Jim on 949500 0094 to book your place.

Check out the  itinerary here. 

The children love to perform. See their video below.

Here are some photos from last year’s trip.

Join us by contacting Jim Holden: (949) 500-0095, or Sonia Marsh (949) 402-7828.

See you in Kenya!

The post An Emotional Description of the Beauty of Kenya and its People appeared first on Holden Safaris.

Welcome to Our New Club “Women Travel With a Purpose”     WE NEED YOUR FEEDBACK Which of the following 5 Safaris interest you the most? Village Visits, Schools, Community Interaction Wildlife Conservation, How to Alleviate Poverty Culinary Safaris, learning how to cook African dishes and visit to Spice markets Flower Safaris with botanists and guides explaining the conservation of the Cape flora Gorilla Trekking in Rwanda Please e-mail SoniaM@HoldenSafaris.com with your answers. Any other ideas.   We still have room for one single or two people sharing on our “Women Travel with a Purpose” to Kenya trip from September 30th to October 7th, 2018. The price is $6,952/person sharing, or $8,547 single. All is included except for the international flight. Here is the digital itinerary for you to see all the places we’re visiting. Click on the link to view details.TRAVEL WITH A PURPOSE – EXCLUSIVE ITINERARY SPECIALLY PREPARED FOR WOMEN’S GROUP     Mark your calendar for our next “Women Travel with a Focus” meeting on Tuesday, August 28th from 5-7 p.m., in the same room. Address: ClubHouse 2, Los Olivos Room, 24112 Moulton Pkwy, Laguna Woods, CA 92637. Call Sonia @ 949-402-7828 or e-mail SoniaM@HoldenSafaris.com to reserve your seat. LOOK OUT FOR FURTHER UPDATES   MAP LINK We can also design Safaris for families, couples, or singles. Call me at 949-402-7828

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Is it possible that the world’s largest land animal, with skin as tough as wrinkly leather, can actually be afraid of honey bees?

Despite the two-inch thick skin of a pachyderm, elephants are vulnerable in the sensitive, soft fleshy areas of their eyes, mouth, and trunk. Just the sight and sound of a swarming beehive, drives them crazy.

“Of course, a bee’s stinger can’t penetrate the thick hide of an elephant. But when bees swarm – and African bees swarm aggressively – hundreds of bees might sting an elephant in its most sensitive areas, the trunk, mouth and eyes. And they hurt.”  Independent UK news.

The Elephants and Bees Project run by Save the Elephants, a nonprofit conservationist group, has proven extremely successful at protecting African elephants while helping the local human community for more than a decade. So why are elephants a threat to the local communities? The main reason is they love to raid the corn fields during the night, and farmers confronting elephants in the dark are often left with no choice but to throw stones and fire crackers or shoot bullets into the air to try to scare them away. This confrontation leads to heightened aggression and some elephants will charge and attack. These negative incidents often lead to terrible injuries or deaths of both people and elephants.

Dr. Lucy King heads a team of conservationists working on The Elephants and Bees Project; a project to alleviate the human-elephant conflict in Kenya. Conservationists from Save the Elephants, the Disney Conservation Fund, and local Samburu tribesmen in northern Kenya noticed a patch of trees destroyed by elephants; all except for one. That single tree had a bee hive in it. So in order to be certain that elephants are scared of bees, the conservationists placed sound recordings of bees close to the elephants, and microphones to record the rumbling sounds of the elephants. They wanted to check if elephants actually communicate with one another when they hear bees. Almost immediately, the elephants started shaking their heads and making a unique rumbling sound to ward off other elephants.

“Thanks to this discovery, Save the Elephants, now builds wire and beehive fences at a cost of about $975 for a one-acre farm – roughly one-fifth the cost of an electrified fence,” King says. Over a course of three years, beehive fences have stopped 80% of elephants from entering farms. Not only does the farm get protection against elephants, but they also get a modest new source of income from a twice-a-year honey harvest. This honey is sold in Kenya, and you can help support Save the Elephants, by going on a Safari in Kenya.

Special honey made from the “Elephant and Bees Project” in Kenya.

The post I Bet You Didn’t Know This Fact About Elephants appeared first on Holden Safaris.

On a recent trip to Kenya with Holden Safaris, I was fortunate to visit a Maasai manyatta (village) with our driver guide, James, a Maasai chief, who took us to his own village. Here we experienced an authentic Maasai village without the commercial aspects.

James our Holden Safaris Masai guide, with Sonia, Annabella and Jim Holden

As we stepped out of our jeep, James, our Maasai guide, greeted the men from his village adorned in their red-checked blankets, and chunky, bright, beaded necklaces, bracelets and earrings. At first, the young male warriors started their “jumping dance” ritual. Do you know why they do this? If so, I’d love to read your answer in the comments section below.

The women stood in line, facing forward, and I was asked to join them and clap my hands as they sang and we all swayed to the rhythm of their music.

At the end of our performance, I had the honor of receiving a wedding necklace, like the one below, offered by the matriarch of the village.

The matriarch led me to one of the mud huts, and I kept wondering how I would make it to her narrow- arched entryway without stepping into the numerous mounds of cow dung.

I could barely see inside the hut, despite it being early afternoon. A small porthole allowed a smidgen of ventilation and light to enter the kitchen area. I imagined the entire hut with clouds of white smoke as they would light a fire to cook their meals. The “mattresses” were made of long, skinny sticks and a thin blanket on top. There was no privacy, and James informed us that families are divided with teenagers in one room and young children in another, all sleeping on a “mattress”. Only the mud walls and open doorways separated the rooms. James pointed to another space, this one even smaller than the three bedrooms, and said, “This is where they keep their three calves at night so they don’t get stolen.”

I was shocked that nothing much had changed since I visited a Masai village in 1996, so I researched some facts and read:

“The majority of Maasai women in Kenya are destined to live a life of poverty and cultural oppression. Just one generation ago, less than 20 percent of Maasai women in Kenya enrolled in school. Today, even with free primary school education in Kenya since January 2003, only 48 percent of Maasai girls enroll in school, and only 10 percent of girls make it to secondary school.” According to a non-profit called The Maasai Girls Education Fund. 

There are economic, cultural and physical barriers that prevent Maasai girls from receiving an education:

They include:

1. Economic incentives for early marriage, such as cattle and cash dowries
2. The belief that the biological family does not benefit from educating a daughter, since the girl becomes a member of her husband’s family when she marries, and they will reap the benefits
3. Family and peer pressure for early marriage, as women are valued by the number of children they have
4. Fear of early pregnancy, which is a disgrace prior to marriage and lowers the bride price, which perpetuates the practice of early marriage,
   and finally
5. The distances that a girl must walk to the nearest school make it unsafe, and even impossible for a nursery-school-age child. (According to the Maasai Girls Education Fund.)

This September 30th- October 7th, I’m leading a trip called, “Women Travel with a Purpose,” which will also include a visit to the same Maasai village with James. I hope you will want to join us on this exciting and educational adventure to Kenya.

We have designed a special Safari that includes learning and making a difference. Part of the proceeds will benefit the African Child Foundation. Please check out all our daily activities by clicking on the following link below.

WOMEN TRAVEL WITH A PURPOSE

Not only are we interacting with orphans in a school in Nairobi, but we’re also visiting the Maasai women and children, and learning more about their village life.

Please contact me if you would like more information about this and other Safaris. We are almost full, but plan to run this trip again in 2019.

Sonia Marsh-Safari Consultant and Blogger for Holden Safaris.

E-mail: SoniaM@HoldenSafaris.com

The post Let’s Travel to Kenya and Learn About The Maasai Women appeared first on Holden Safaris.

• 80% of all travel decisions are made by women, and there has been a 230% increase in the number of women-only travel companies in past six years.

In the July 2017 issue of Travel and Leisure magazine, I found an interesting article on this subject called, “The Big Idea: Wander Women.” There is definitely a trend for:

• Women travelers to focus more on personal growth, as well as having fun

• Women who want to feel engaged in social responsibility

• Women who want to make lasting connections in the places they visit

Hope to hear from you soon as we only have room for ten women on this exclusive Safari.

Call Sonia Marsh: 949-402-7828. or E-mail: SoniaM@HoldenSafaris.com

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