As we celebrate Giving Tuesday and culminate this series of stories about our partners and projects on the ground across East Africa, we take a moment to step back from the focus of the spotlight to understand the scale and reach of the impact being accomplished through the purpose-driven support of Asilia and NawiriGroup.
Our story began with a handful of like-minded people who believed travel could be more than a journey. In the early 2000s, a few family-run safari outfits came together with a shared love of East Africa’s wild places and a belief that tourism could be a force for good for both nature and people. From those beginnings, Asilia has grown into a network of camps across some of the continent’s most extraordinary landscapes, and yet our purpose has never changed: to strengthen livelihoods, restore ecosystems, and help Africa’s great wilderness areas endure for generations to come.
Community-led Conservation
We have seen what happens when conservation excludes people. In the Mara, before the Mara Naboisho Conservancy was established, families were forced to choose between selling or subdividing their land. As fragmentation spread, wildlife numbers fell. Working together with landowners, we helped create a conservancy model that would keep land wild while generating steady income. Today, the Mara Naboisho Conservancy supports hundreds of households, corridors remain open, predators have returned, and the model has become one of East Africa’s most successful examples of community-led conservation.
Across East Africa, positive impact remains at the heart of everything we do, focusing on the issues that matter most to the people who live alongside the landscapes we depend on: livelihoods, governance, health, and education. Last year, as part of NawiriGroup, we contributed more than US$11 million towards nature protection and impact funding. Through Asilia Giving, guests add US$10 for every night they stay, matched dollar for dollar through our group profit. In total, each bednight in an Asilia camp generates US$20 for impact. Every contribution helps fund projects that are designed and led locally, supporting community priorities while strengthening the long-term protection and restoration of wild areas.
We work with a network of exceptional partners who make this possible. In southern Tanzania, we’ve supported Honeyguide Foundation for over a decade. Our funding has helped them build the governance systems that allow community-owned Wildlife Management Areas (WMAs) to function as viable businesses. Rangers trained through Honeyguide now patrol over 15,000 km² of wilderness in Ruvuma, linking the Selous to Mozambique’s Niassa Reserve. The WMAs they manage are now generating verified carbon credits through Carbon Tanzania. The revenue is already flowing back into villages, funding classrooms, clinics, and local infrastructure, proof that conservation can create direct value for the people who live with wildlife.
In Kenya, our long-term partnerships continue to strengthen the conservancy movement. We support the Maasai Mara Wildlife Conservancies Association, Kenya Wildlife Trust, Ol Pejeta Conservancy, and The Maa Trust, each playing a vital role in ensuring that benefits reach local families. Across the Mara, more than 700 landowners now earn lease payments through conservancies, while new ones are being established under the guidance of the MMWCA to prevent land fragmentation.
Education
A key element of our impact agenda focuses on education which creates opportunity and agency, giving people the freedom to shape their own futures. Last year we directly supported over 20,000 children, addressing educational needs through books, teacher training, and funding salaries of additional teachers to improve teacher-student ratios. Classroom desks were provided across 57 primary schools, marking a 73 percent increase on the number of schools impacted last year.
In total, our education support reached 75,000 students through our impact partners when we include projects we funded that supported sanitation and conservation education. We also funded 244 vocational training scholarships for secondary school leavers to continue their studies. Expanding access to quality education is essential for building resilient communities around the ecosystems we support. Education provides skills and opportunities, opening doors to a range of diverse livelihoods.
Impact at Scale
The breadth of our partnerships reflects the diversity of the regions we work in. From regenerative farming with The Green Economy and Lead Foundation in southern Tanzania, to coexistence projects with Lion Landscapes and Kope Lion in northern Tanzania, to women’s enterprises with The Maa Trust in the Maasai Mara in Kenya, each project combines local expertise with practical innovation. What unites them is a belief that communities have to benefit from nature protection, and that conservation succeeds only when people are active participants in it.
At Rubondo Island National Park, our presence as an anchor tourism partner contributes directly to the park’s funding through park fees, while our investment in community education and local business continues to widen the reach of tourism’s benefits. On the ground, poaching has decreased, new livelihood opportunities have emerged, and wildlife is thriving. The same story is unfolding across East Africa.
Impact at Asilia is part of our DNA and every guest who stays with us becomes part of that story. From scholarship funding, nature protection, or the income tourism generates for people locally, through employment or small business, each stay contributes to a network of change that reaches far beyond the boundaries of our properties.
From those first small family camps to today’s network across East Africa, our purpose remains unchanged. We believe in a future where people and nature thrive together, where travel strengthens rather than depletes, and where every journey plays a part in supporting local people and keeping Africa’s great ecosystems alive for the generations still to come.
We are proud of the difference we make in East Africa, and of the partners we support and work alongside in creating a positive impact. This Giving Tuesday, consider making a donation to Asilia Giving – the philanthropic arm of Asilia. Full donation amounts are used in support of our implementing partners, ensuring the longevity and reach of their programmes.
