On 12-13 June 2025, representatives of the Global Resilience Partnership (GRP) and Green Intelligence journeyed to Kenya’s Shompole and Olkiramatian areas of Kajiado County. The visit was hosted by South Rift Association of Land Owners (SORALO), which works across 30 communities that connect Amboseli to the Maasai Mara. Their mission is to keep this landscape intact for both people and wildlife by supporting pastoralism and strengthening community institutions.
John Kamanga, founding director of SORALO, opened the Thursday session by explaining the region’s ecology. Kamanga highlighted SORALO’s commitment to ensuring that conservation and local livelihoods go hand in hand. Too often, he said, development narratives treat farmers and pastoralists as threats. “If we make everybody an enemy, then we’re actually the biggest enemies of the environment.”
With the right guidance, local people can farm and graze in ways that “protect and even enhance ecosystems,” he argued. “If wildlife doesn’t support livestock, we don’t need it.” The conservancy acts as a dry season grass bank, to preserve pasture that herders rely on during droughts. Livestock generates far more income than tourism, it is the cultural values and grazing logic that protect wildlife.
Grass seed banks and rangeland restoration
The first site visit was to the Lenkobei Grass Seed Bank, a ten-acre women-led restoration plot on once degraded arid land. With support from SORALO the community fenced off the area, to keep out livestock, prepared “soil bunds” and planted native grasses. In the last season, the women harvested 456 kg of seed, earning about 262,000 KES (US$2,000). The women shared that this project has united them and boosted their confidence: “This success is attracting others. We now have about four requests from other women’s groups asking if they can do the same.” Beyond restoring pasture, Limbo Bay seed bank has built income and acts as an inspiration to others.
Simone Verkaart
That afternoon, the visit continued to the second site, a 35-acre former wasteland near Shompole now under regeneration after two years of community-led restoration. The community indicated that no livestock were using the land, it was completely barren, and they agreed to set it aside for restoration. Villagers fenced off the land, dug dozens of 3×7m seedbeds (“Soil bunds”), and sowed indigenous grasses. One community member pointed to the lush re-growth, noting that “All the negativity is out. Now here, it has completely made a total difference… It’s brought back what used to be there before.” A SORALO staffer explained that fencing and rest let the grass reseed naturally.
Simone Verkaart
Women played key roles at Lenkobei restoration sites. They harvested seeds, organised labour, and cared for the recovery. “When the women are involved, work becomes simple.” The site has become a demonstration plot for the whole region: villagers from neighbouring areas have visited and inquired about replicating it. As one elder grinned, “Before, we had to convince people. Now they are coming to us and saying, ‘Can we also do this?’ That is the change.” By dusk on Thursday, despite heat and scarce rainfall, it was clear that where people and nature cooperate, even very dry rangeland can bounce back to life.
Rotational grazing and shared landscapes
On Friday, the delegation visited the Shompole–Olkiramatian Conservancy where community leaders explained their rotational grazing calendar. Notably, the grazing zone overlaps with the conservancy reserve, turning a communal traditional practice into a deliberate resilience strategy. Community members emphasised that due to the long dry season, they intentionally protect the conservancy so “there’s something left when all else is gone.” Cattle enter these lands only when other grazing options are exhausted – first cows, then goats and sheep if needed. This multi-use model challenges the idea that wildlife areas must exclude livestock; instead, residents say livestock sustains wildlife: “Without cows, we wouldn’t preserve the wildlife. The land exists for people and animals alike—wildlife included.”
Simone Verkaart
We stopped by SORALO’s tree nursery at Lale’enok Resource Centre, where rows of seedlings were shade grown – part of an ongoing effort to diversify plant species. We met rangers, young Maasai trained and paid by SORALO, whose job is to patrol the conservancy to prevent illegal grazing and discourage poachers. This locally managed ranger patrol serves as a “visible sign of local governance,” one SORALO staffer noted. These eyes on the ground – drawn from the same villages – allow enforcement without militarisation. In effect, the rangers themselves become an early warning system, alerting elders when drought, disease or outsiders threaten the shared land.
Jeske Van de Gevel
The Lale’enok resource centre, which doubles as a meeting space – is owned by the Reto Women’s Group. The women – many of whom had helped build the centre – shared stories of change. As one noted about tradition, “It’s very different now. […] Some things are changing.” The fact that a community centre including its land is owned by Maasai women was itself a powerful milestone. “In our culture, women were not allowed to have authority or own land. Now, they even own land. It’s very unique,” the woman said.
Simone Verkaart
The women have reinvested their new status into livelihood and conservation efforts. Their beadwork business earned praise: “They make these beads… the best beadworkers in the country.” They also run a small grass seed bank, collecting fodder seed for sale. They have experimented with fruit orchards, solar lamp sales and beekeeping, though lack of market access remains a challenge. By Friday’s end, it was clear that women’s leadership is woven through SORALO’s work – from seedbank models to centre ownership – multiplying social as well as ecological resilience.
Lessons learned: Tradition, balance and empowerment
The visit to SORALO reinforced several key lessons about resilience in practice. First, the Maasai tradition of keeping a community grazing reserve – now formalised as the Shompole–Olkiramatian Conservancy – exemplifies an age-old drought-coping strategy. The community leaders repeatedly called it a “dry season grass bank”, an insurance policy against climate shocks. By resting this pasture most of the year and only tapping into it in the late dry season, the community preserves fodder exactly when it’s needed most.
Second, it is evident that livestock and wildlife can thrive together under adaptive management, rather than being in conflict. SORALO’s framing – that “without cows, we wouldn’t have the wildlife” – flips the typical conservation narrative. The grazers create conditions (and incentives) for protecting predators and migratory herds on shared rangeland. This symbiosis depends on flexible land use: when cattle must move with the rains, wildlife do too. In practice, shepherds and game animals follow parallel patterns, such that space is effectively shared. In interviews, community members made it clear that the value of wildlife (and occasional tourism) only endures if pastoralists’ needs are met.
Third, monitoring and local guardianship are vital. Maasai community rangers, accountable to village councils, patrol daily, track weather, fire, and poaching, and call elders’ meetings when needed. Their early-warning role combined with satellite mapping and vegetation monitoring, blends high- and low-tech vigilance to keep communal resources intact.
Simone Verkaart
Finally, women’s empowerment has multiplied the impact of restoration. By managing seed banks and savings, owning infrastructure, and diversifying income, Maasai women have become co-leaders in resilience. From the Lenkobei seed bank to Lale’enok Centre, women were celebrated as innovators and unifiers. As one staff member noted, projects led by women often surpass expectations: In Shompole-Olkiramatian, empowering women to manage land and enterprises has proven to be both just and practical.
Simone Verkaart
The visit to SORALO showed that resilience rests on reinforcing tradition rather than replacing it. The community preserves traditional practices even as they adopt new restoration methods. This balance allows people, livestock and wildlife to coexist, safeguards pasture for drought, and builds local agency. For this community, resilience means maintaining that collective ownership – so that the borehole doesn’t dry up, the grassbank lasts, and cattle co-exists with wildlife.
Photos and quotes used with permission from community participants.