Toto means “baby” in Swahili, and this camp is small and intimate – just four suites, with space for a maximum of eight guests, embedded into a patch of forest along the Ntiakiatiak River in Kenya’s Masai Mara game reserve.

A walkway leads up from ground level into the foliage, connecting rooms to a communal space with sumptuous brown leather sofas, a library, and a wooden deck dotted with dining tables and a fire pit looking out over the river and the plains beyond.

Great Plains was founded in 2006 by famed filmmaker/explorer duo Dereck and Beverly Joubert, who have spent the best part of their lives chronicling and protecting wildlife in Africa. While they initially used film as a way of illuminating the rapid decimation of wildlife, particularly large predators, they recognised that more immediate action was necessary.

Dereck likens conservation to a bush walk: “You have to look down or you’ll fall on your face, and you have to look up at the horizon, otherwise, you are going to get lost. So when we define conservation, we look down at what we have to do today, like saving wildlife and moving animals around, anti-poaching, protection and preservation, but we also have to look at the horizon and the future as well. And for that, we work with communities, giving them education, schools and clinics.” High-end, conservation-focused tourism is another important tool, allowing the Jouberts to protect vast swaths of land while channelling the economic benefits back into the communities around them.

Photos Courtesy of Buluu Poppy