Named after a hill in Tsavo, built for the people who live near the wildlife
Ndara is a hill and a ranch in Tsavo, dry country where elephants and families use the same water. That is where the questions in this business started. Not in a conference room in Nairobi.
Fifteen years in vehicles, offices and camp kitchens
We started out guiding and then running operations for a Nairobi tour company. We watched good trips get sold badly and bad trips get sold well. We watched conservancies sign leases they could not read, and camps put a leaf on the brochure while burning a generator all night.
Ndara exists because the fix is usually in the design of the trip and the terms of the deal, long before a guest arrives. Selling more safaris does not solve it. Advising the people who sell them does.
We audit the parts of a lodge guests never think about, from water use to where the linen is washed. We also hire and train from the areas we work in.
Five working rules
Land first
If a plan costs the ecosystem more than it returns, we say so in writing.
No commissions
We are paid by the client only. No kickbacks from camps, agents or suppliers.
Local pay, local rank
We push for senior local staff, not only local staff at the bottom of the chart.
Plain language
Reports a camp manager and a conservancy chair can both read without a translator of jargon.
Show the workings
Every number we publish comes with where it came from and when we took it.
Day rate or fixed scope, your choice
Audits and sprints are quoted as a fixed fee with travel listed separately. Retainers are monthly. Community conservancies and small operators with fewer than five staff pay a reduced rate, and we keep two of those slots open every year.
Details
Registered in Kenya, based in Karen, Nairobi.
Field work across Kenya, Tanzania, Uganda, Rwanda and Zambia.
Working languages, English and Kiswahili.