Charitable Objectives:
We have chosen to be a simple fund donating trust for two reasons:
- The relief of poverty and protection of the environment in Kenya through training, awareness and education.
- The provision of family planning and basic healthcare services to enhance the empowerment of women and wellbeing of their families.
- The planting and management of trees and the protection and restoration of forests, other habitats and their species.
We have chosen to be a simple fund donating trust for two reasons:
- To enable us to form rigid agreements with chosen charities who will spend the money we donate exactly as we specify.
- To avoid the duplication of resources and concentrate the much needed financing to organisations who already operate in line with our charitable objects.
Our mission
Tristan was perhaps best known for guiding his riding safaris as an adventurer. Yet he was also a passionate agriculturalist, naturalist and conservationist. It was in conservation that he channelled endless energy, including the formation of a consortium to buy Sosian Ranch in 1999 and subsequently to rescue it from desertification. With financial input, good management, dedication and patience, he and the other owners restored it back to natural health, adding 24,000 acres of sustainable land to the animal haven that Laikipia is famous for, whilst also providing long-term employment and education to local communities through effective tourism, cattle ranching, and wildlife/habitat care.
Tristan spent more than 30 years crossing Kenya’s savannah country by horseback, road and air, witnessing the habitat loss and deterioration taking place, which has led to a dramatic decrease in biodiversity and wildlife. Recent studies confirm this trend, with Kenya's wildlife thought to have fallen to one third or less since the 1970s. One of Tristan's main concerns was the threat that unsustainable human population growth posed on the country’s greatest natural heritage, its parks and conservancies. In a letter that Tristan wrote just before he died he said:
Tristan spent more than 30 years crossing Kenya’s savannah country by horseback, road and air, witnessing the habitat loss and deterioration taking place, which has led to a dramatic decrease in biodiversity and wildlife. Recent studies confirm this trend, with Kenya's wildlife thought to have fallen to one third or less since the 1970s. One of Tristan's main concerns was the threat that unsustainable human population growth posed on the country’s greatest natural heritage, its parks and conservancies. In a letter that Tristan wrote just before he died he said:
‘...in roughly 1900 a census put the population at 2 million in what was to become Kenya . At independence (1963) a survey revealed roughly 7 million. A census in 2010 produced 40+ million and it is safe to say there are now 50 million and will be 100 million in 20 years.... Sadly Laikipia in Kenya is one small example of the greatest challenge mankind has yet faced. What chance for the wildlife and tourism yet alone ourselves in the long run?’
A fast growing poverty-stricken human population in rural Kenya requires resources to live and grow food, which puts enormous pressure on the land. An agriculturalist as well as a naturalist, Tristan saw the need to help people living, often in marginal areas, save their biodiversity through education and support.
Our mission, therefore, is to promote this message. We will fund recognised charities that share this mission to create a harmonious coexistence of animals and humans in the landscape. We believe that education, female empowerment and choice amongst local communities is key to sustainability. Wildlife has the best chance of survival when communities, who have been the wildlife custodians for millennia, can enjoy once more its value and benefits.
Our mission, therefore, is to promote this message. We will fund recognised charities that share this mission to create a harmonious coexistence of animals and humans in the landscape. We believe that education, female empowerment and choice amongst local communities is key to sustainability. Wildlife has the best chance of survival when communities, who have been the wildlife custodians for millennia, can enjoy once more its value and benefits.
What we aim to do.
As a fund-donating trust we will avoid overheads and operational costs, and simply enhance chosen charity projects. This will enable the charities to be as effective as possible within their often limited means. The first charity we will support is CHASE Africa with its mobile clinics that offer free primary healthcare and family planning. Furthermore, CHASE supports educational facilities and the planting of trees. The pragmatic approach that CHASE takes is an excellent example of Tristan's and the Trust's vision to help conservation and local communities develop together to create a more sustainable Kenya.