Environmental clubs are in session again, and many of the children who attended our year-end conservation camps returned to their classrooms with new stories and a deeper understanding of nature and its value.
Conservation Camps: Botswana, Kenya and Zimbabwe
Together with Great Plains Conservation, we hosted 295 students for conservation camps near the end of 2025, during the school holidays. Across three countries, students joined us to learn about the ecosystems they call home, not only from textbooks but also through direct experience.
Conservation Camp – Kids Camp Okavango Delta, Botswana – Selinda Explorers Camp.
In Botswana, 60 students spent three days at Great Plains Selinda Explorers Camp. For some, it was their first time on a game drive. Some had never seen a wild dog, a wildebeest, or fully understood the fragility of a tortoise and the responsibility that comes with encountering wildlife. They learned about sustainability in practice, solar power, water processing, waste management, and saw firsthand how conservation and tourism intersect. Many experienced their first plane ride, made possible through partnership and collaboration.
In Kenya, 60 students from communities surrounding the Amboseli ecosystem participated in hands-on sessions designed to build environmental stewardship, connect students with mentors, teach the importance of ecosystems, boost local pride, and show tangible career paths in conservation within their own landscapes.
In Zimbabwe, in collaboration with Wildlife Conservation Action, conservation education sessions reached 175 students across 10 schools. These sessions focused on human-wildlife conflict mitigation and environmental protection. The schools then carried that knowledge back into their communities, hosting awareness events at local shops and water points and participating in monthly clean-up campaigns.
These are the joys of education when knowledge is shared, repeated, and lived beyond camp and an experience.
Conservation Camps – Kids Camp Okavango Delta, Botswana – Selinda Explorers Camp.
Conservation Camp – Kids Camp Okavango Delta, Botswana – Selinda Explorers Camp – Wildlife Ranger Boipelo giving a biodiversity monitoring demonstration to identify critical species under protection.
Our Community Liaisons and Biodiversity Rangers will conduct follow-up sessions and continue supporting teachers in environmental clubs and lessons throughout the year. The intention is not a once-off experience, but sustained engagement. Children share what they learn, around the fire, in classrooms, at home, and that knowledge spreads.
As one local community member shared:
“We are really grateful and happy for such beautiful training for our pupils to become better people and future conservationists of this ecosystem. We are happy and kindly continue doing this.” — Ole Shaangwa, resident from Kenya.
Conservation Camp – Kids Camp, Amboseli, Kenya. Ol Donyo
It is always encouraging to see the shift in perspective after camp, curiosity replacing fear, respect for nature replacing uncertainty.
Conservation education is long-term work and our long-term commitment. We take pride in strengthening our youth’s early understanding of nature, supporting teachers, and creating pathways for young people to see themselves within conservation efforts in their own communities.
We will continue building on this foundation in 2026.
