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26 June 2020

Flavours of Natron – Maximising Income to Local Communities

By Sorcha Easson, Lake Natron Camp, Ngare Sero

The chefs at Lake Natron Camp have been cooking up a storm! Chef Axel Janssens, of Onsea House, has been at Lake Natron Camp on a collaborative training session. 

By bringing the local environment to the table gives guests an authentic connection to the area and a real sense of community. Ake Lindstrom, MD, says “So grateful to be on this evolving journey to maximise local incomes and give our guests an authentic connection to the environment.” Local fresh produce from patch to plate!

The vegetable garden was not only made to feed guests at Lake Natron Camp. Ngare Sero Food Security Project started when we noticed that a lot of children were not going to school, because there was simply not enough food. The children were made to stay home as tending to their household’s needs were deemed more important than an education. In order to increase the number of children going to school we needed to find a way of feeding the children for free to entice them back into school. The project empowers our local community by allowing growth in employment, education and independence within the community.

With help from various international school groups, we have managed to clear over 3 acres of land at the school where we have planted vegetables and fruit trees. We employ a full-time farmer, who manages the gardens. We have also built an educational garden for the school, and local Masaai mamas, to learn permaculture, which gives them greater independence and another potential source of income. 

In the last year alone, attendance at Ngare Sero School has increased by 18% from 530 to 640 children due to our food security project. As a result, we have built another classroom at the Ngare Sero School and are currently building another classroom at a school nearby as well as a shaded area for the children to eat. 

We have been using the permaculture area as a test bed for different vegetables and we are now at a point where we can grow ‘expensive’ vegetables to sell to the local camps generating a great source of income for the local community.

To find out about other projects visit www.lake-natron-camp.com