"This plant is Masai deodorant,” chirps Cecelia, a confident 25-year-old
from the Masai Mara game reserve in Kenya, as she clamps a bunch of leaves,
freshly snapped from the leleshwa tree, under her arm. “It acts as a natural
detergent with similar properties to tea tree oil, so we rub it under our
arms to keep our sweat sweet,” she says.
The fragrance is powerful — not unlike bay leaves — but, fresh off the plane
and still adjusting to the temperature in the African bush, I am not tempted
to part with my roll-on. Cecelia, sensing my reluctance, pulls me towards
another plant. “This one I’m going to use in your facial,” she says.
And so begins my treatment at the Masai Wellbeing Space, a spa of sorts, run
by Cecelia, and attached to Saruni Camp, a luxury eco-lodge just outside the
famous Kenyan game park. On my botanical trail, one ear is tuned to Cecelia
as she dispenses advice on how to grind up acacia bark to make a soup to aid
digestion and what part of the greenheart tree can be used as a toothbrush;
the other ear is listening out for the buffalo and lions that wander freely
around the camp.
Cecelia is one of the 35 Masai working in the lodge — only seven employees are
non-Masai. She speaks fluent English and Italian as well as several African
languages, and a splash of Latin when it comes to plant names.
Trained at the Centro Benessere Stresa, a well-established spa in Northern
Italy, she merges European beauty techniques with Masai knowledge. I ask if
the treatments she gives to guests are anything like the ones that Masai
women give each other at home. “Women work hard. They might find half an
hour in the afternoon for themselves; the rest of the time they are
collecting water and firewood, cooking and caring for children,” she says.
It is even the women who build the home, usually a flat-roofed hut, called a manyatta,
traditionally made out of cow dung. The men have it easy: the traditional
occupation being the tending herds of cows.
So, no time for pampering? “On special occasions like a marriage, yes. But
massage and caring for our bodies is functional; it is not for pleasure,”
says Cecelia. “If a child is sick or unhappy, we take it out into the sun so
its limbs can relax and we massage it. A pregnant woman will also be
massaged on the back and legs. But if you are healthy, you do not need it.
Beauty is not important to us, it is not how our society values women.”
For the male perspective, I turn to William, a respected Masai guide at
Saruni. He is a disarming blend of traditional Masai and modern man-of-the-
world. Dressed in scarlet shukas — the trademark red cloths of Masai
tribes — he willingly throws his penny’s worth into the gender debate:
“Cecelia is right: the important thing for a man when he’s choosing a woman
is her family’s reputation and her health.” I spot a twinkle in his eye,
however, suggesting that there might be something else to it.
The great irony, of course, is that all the Masai women I see, whatever their
age, carry the kind of serene beauty that no amount of spa therapies and
me-time will guarantee. I ogle women in their sixties, with the figures and
complexions of teenagers. “Masai women carry on using their bodies, all day,
every day, through old age,” says Cecelia. When she first started working
with foreigners, she was shocked to find that many relatively young women
suffered from swollen limbs, water retention and excess weight.
As I strip for a massage and facial, I hope that my body isn’t too much of an
embarrassment to my culture. But my thoughts soon drift off, dwelling
instead on the teaming bush life surrounding the Wellbeing Space, which is
only a few minutes’ walk from the main lodge. It blends so completely into
the hillside that it came as little surprise to catch a couple of baboons on
the wooden veranda as we arrived.
The location and the Masai touches that Ce-celia sprinkles into the treatments
are its trump cards. At the end of my facial I get a compress, using the
leaves of an African relative of the sage bush soaked in water, and a good
walloping from a back de-stresser, made from olmurmura seeds packed tightly
into a cloth and attached to a wooden wand. For easing the sore backs of the
wood-bearing women, Cecelia says — I feel an uncharitable stab of relief
that even the bodies of these super-fit women let them down on occasion.
After my massage, I trot off to find Riccardo Orizio, Saruni’s Italian owner,
so he can tell me about the place’s impeccable eco-credentials. It was set
up two years ago, certified as an eco-lodge with bronze accreditation from
the Eco-Tourism Society of Kenya; for silver it would need to recycle its
“grey water” from showers and sinks. Each of the six bandas
— or cottages — has its own water tank covered by a solar panel. On the roof
of the workshop, providing the camp’s electricity, there are 26 photovoltaic
solar panels. All this impinges little on the needs of guests, except if
your safari style involves a hairdryer. During my stay, two American ladies
insist on one, which leads to a complicated swap to a separate generator for
the intense blast of electricity required. No doubt the buffaloes were
impressed with the two immaculate barnets that emerged that evening.
Then there are the community projects. When the camp was first set up it put
money behind a local hospital clinic as well as funding a car ambulance and
the training of midwives. The latest project it has supported, the Koyiaki
Guiding School, won last year’s Responsible Tourism Award for the best
poverty-reduction project. The new school teaches young Masai students to
become professional wildlife guides. The first batch of students graduate
this month; one will be employed as a guide at Saruni.
This close involvement with the Masai is what sets the lodge aside from others
in the area, especially the inclusion of women on its staff; the result of
lengthy negotiations with local village elders to convince them that
community-based tourism is here to stay and that they can benefit from it.
Guests at Saruni, consequently, gain a rare insight into the hidden lives of
Masai women: how else would you learn what to do if you lose your deodorant
in the bush?
In Brief
USP Soothe your body while salving your eco conscience - have
a massage by a local therapist overseen by baboons on the wooden veranda of
a private cottage hidden in an olive and cedar forest. The location and the
Masai touches that the therapist sprinkles into the treatments are its trump
cards.
AMBIENCE The spa of sorts is attached to Saruni Camp, a
luxury eco-lodge just outside the famous Kenyan game park. Treatments are
accompanied by the background noise of the teaming bush with one ear
listening out for the buffalo and lions that wander freely around the camp.
EXPERIENCE The Italian trained local therapist merges
European beauty techniques with Masai knowledge. At the end of my facial I
get a compress, using the leaves of an African relative of the sage bush
soaked in water, and a good walloping from a back de-stresser, made from
olmurmura seeds packed tightly into a cloth and attached to a wooden wand.
FOOD Learn how to grind up acacia bark to make a soup to aid
digestion on a botanical trail through the bush. The lodge cuisine has a
strong
Italian flavour mixed with Kenyan fish and vegetables. Melanzane alla
Parmigiana, and chilled carrot and ginger soup are on its favourites’ list.
IN CROWD Adventurous travellers from Western cities, and
married silver surfer couples enjoying flown-the-nest freedom.
WALLET WATCH Prices at Saruni Camp start from $300 (about
£168) a night per person. This includes full board, airport pick-ups,
safari drives and a complimentary massage. Kenya Airways (kenya-airways.com)
offer return flights from Heathrow to Nairobi from £396, including tax.
NEED TO KNOW Saruni Camp, Masai Mara, Kenya www.sarunicamp.com
Finding eco-spas
Look for local employees, says Justin Francis, the co-founder of the online
travel agency responsibletravel.com. “Too often I’ve arrived somewhere
calling itself an eco-spa only to have an Aussie girl give me a massage. Not
only will local staff give you a more authentic experience but you know that
the spa is supporting the local economy.” He recommends Banyan Tree Phuket
(banyantree.com) in Thailand.
Look for wider benefits to the community. Are beauty products made locally? Is
the food bought from local farmers? The more ways that the money trickles
down the better. About 95 per cent of the money paid to Adventure Lanka
Tours (adventurelanka.com), for holidays and spa visits in Sri Lanka, stays
there.
Ask if the spa has a responsible tourism policy. If it can’t produce anything
in writing, be sceptical.
