The Giraffe Centre holds an annual national environmental competition for students from January to March. This year over 4,500 entries were submitted. Winners are taken on a week-long safari across Kenya, visiting places like Ol Pejeta and Lake Nakuru National Park. The Centre also trains teachers on funding projects that promote sustainable development and environmental conservation. In collaboration with NIC Bank, over 5,000 tree seedlings were planted and will be donated to a school to encourage forest restoration.

1. The mandate of Giraffe Centre
is Environmental conserva-
tion, changing mindsets. This is
changing mindsets in both tour-
ism and environmental conser-
vation. The aim is to embrace
practices that will be progressive
with the aim of posterity. One
of the ways we encourage the
change, is by allowing students to
participate in an annual environ-
mental conservation competi-
tion. The competition challenges
students to express their thought
on a theme, that is environmen-
tally inclined, through Essays,
Artwork and Photography. This
competition starts from January
1st to March 31st every year.
So far, it has been over 20 years
since its inception. This year,
over 4,500 entries were submit-
ted for consideration from which
the winners are feted with a one
week Safari across Kenya. Some
of the places the winners visit
include Ol Pejeta, Thompson
falls, Lake Nakuru National park,
Elsamere Conservation Centre
among other awesome places.
Upcoming Events
Giraffe Centre 2019 National Environmental
Competition.
It starts on the 1st
of January 2019 to the 31st
of March 2019

2. African Conference on
Sustainable Tourism Con-
ference (ACoST)
There are so many interest-
ing tour destinations across
africa. That means several
tourism stakeholder. This
conference seeks to bring all
the stakeholders of tourism
together, share thoughts and
ideas once every two years.
The stakeholders are given
a chance to share research,
probe the current tourism
environment and have a
discussions with industry
leaders and partners.
This year’s theme was
“Building Communities,
Saving Nature” . Great dis-
cussions on the same were
met. One of the presenters
pointed out that we need to
look at sustainable Tourism
- for survival for the future
days.
Importantly, a majority of
the speakers were looking at
the communities around the
tour destination and realised
that the tourism practices
being used are not effectively
supporting the local com-
munities.
Some of the topics and papersn
presented in the conference in-
clude:
1) Trends and Innovations in Sus-
tainable Tourism.
~by Dr. James MacGregor
2) The Role of Personal and Prem-
ises
Hygiene in the assuage of Food
Safety
In Selected Hotels within Eldoret
Town
~Dr. Isabella Cheloti Mapelu
3) Tourism and Rural Develop-
ment
~ Ms. Judy Kepha-Gona
Training Teachers.
We know and believe that
the key to changing mind-
sets towards environmental
conservation is through the
schools. One of the ways
we support the schools is
funding projects that drive
sustainable development.
One way of makind sure
that the funds are effective-
ly used, we train the teach-
ers of the schools about the
same. One of the delivera-
bles is a detailed report of
the project. We also visit
the schools to have a feel of
how the project as affected
the students and the com-
munity around the school.

3. 5000+ tree seedling
Back in July, Giraffe Centre in collaboration
with NIC bank came up with a brilliant idea to
plant an over 5000 tree seedbed. These trees
will letter on be donated to a school apon eval-
uation.
The school will be trained on a whole school
approach toward the success of the trees. The
idea is not just planting trees. It is more than
just planting the trees. It’s about encouraging
students to take care of the trees till they are
fully grown. It’s about effectively and respon-
sibly increasing the forest cover of the country
to above 10%.
It is believed that if the young fully under-
stood the importance of the trees to nature and
them too, they’ll do all to make sure they are
well protected. So, after the trees are at a level
to be planted, they will be taken to the selected
school. The progress of the trees are carefully
monitored to their maturity. What an awesome
school it will be with 5000 trees on their com-
pound taken care of by the students. A lasting
legacy that is.
Africa has rich history and nature, so beautiful that it
gives hope to the beholder. From the
Ankole cows of Uganda to the hot springs of Lake
Magadi. How about you make a date to these places
on your African themed diary from our Giftshop for
1,750/=