31/07/2026
Meet Saimalo Erik.
He is 28, a Samburu guide at Saruni Basecamp in Kenya’s Mara Naboisho Conservancy, and a graduate of the Wildlife Tourism College of Maasai Mara. In this video he explains, in his own words, why the animals around him matter.
Saimalo was filmed by Thais Corral, who runs Sinal do Vale in Brazil and travelled to Kenya to spend time at Saruni. She arrived expecting an extraordinary safari. She left, in her words, convinced she had experienced “a living classroom of regeneration.” What stayed with her most was meeting Saimalo. When she asked about his future, he smiled and said, “I want to do this work for life. I want my children to enjoy the same animals and ecosystems we see today.” For Thais, that is what regeneration really means: not simply restoring ecosystems, but restoring the human capacity to care for them.
None of this would have happened without the community. Thais (Sinal do Vale) first met the Saruni Basecamp team at one of our annual gatherings, where an initial connection turned, years later, into an invitation to visit. It is exactly the kind of thing The Long Run exists for: bringing our members together across continents, so that a conversation in one landscape can change how someone sees their own.
🎥 Saimalo Erik, in his own words. Link in bio for the full story.
