Mkomazi Matatu

 

On Thursday 8 February 2007, over 200 people gathered at the Porchester Hall in West London for Mkomazi Matatu, a dinner and dance to raise money for a new Environmental Education programme in the Mkomazi Game Reserve in Tanzania.

 

Tony Fitzjohn, OBE set the scene with a moving presentation about the importance of the project, what it needs, and why. Schoolchildren from Notting Hill had decorated toy buses, which formed the centrepieces for each tables, and a nice visual reminder of what the event was all about.

 

After a delicious three-course dinner, catered for by Party Ingredients, an auction packed full of some spectacular lots – including African safaris, a signed Peter Beard picture, sailing in the Baltic Sea and fishing trips – set the fundraising well on its way. Nana Tsibou and the Supa Hi-life band provided entertainment until the raffle draw when, much to the envy of the other guests, two lucky people won a safari to the unspoilt outer reaches of Northern Tanzania’s best safari destinations (flights included), thanks to the generous support of Nomad Tanzania, Natural High Safaris and Kenya Airways.

 

A fantastic night was had by all. Thank you to everyone who supported the event, particularly: the Mkomazi Matatu Committee, all those who donated the auction lots and raffle prizes, Natural High Safaris and Nomad Tanzania, Tusker beer, Whitley Neill gin, Party Ingredients, Chester Zoo, The George Adamson Wildlife Preservation Trust, Kenya Airways and Elephant.co.uk.

 

The party raised over £20,000 for Mkomazi’s Environmental Education programme, with a further £4,500 each for Tusk Trust and Save the Rhino to be spent on projects worldwide.

 

Mikomazi's Environmental Education programme aims to link schoolchildren with conservation, change local communities' attitudes towards wildlife and habitat protection, and reduce wildlife crime.

Led by a full-time Environmental Education Officer, the programme will be based around a specifically converted bus (Matatu) that can bring local schoolchildren into the Reserve, as well as acting as a mobile classroom and cinema, visiting communities and schools around the Reserve's boundaries.