The Ecotourism and Sustainable Tourism Conference (ESTC) 2013, was held in Kenya, in September at the Safari Park Hotel and Casino. The event is a brain child of The International Ecotourism Society (TIES), which is a non-profit association, committed to promoting responsible tourism practices that benefit conservation and communities worldwide. This is the second time that the conference is being held in Kenya; with the first being in the 90’s, Kenya is actually the birth place of TIES.

 Some of the attendees at the conference were global ecotourism thought leaders, with keynote presentations by Costa Christ, Editor at Large of National Geographic Traveler, Dr. Munir Virani, Africa Programs Director, The Peregrine Fund, and Mr. Jochen Zeitz of the Zeitz Foundation and creator of The Long Run Initiative. Also in attendance were representatives from renowned pioneering eco-lodges.

 During the first day of the conference, The Winners of the 2013 Eco-Warrior Awards announced during a colourful dinner dubbed Kenya Night held on Tuesday 24th September 2013. Launched by Ecotourism Kenya in 2005, the Eco Warrior Awards honour creativity within the tourism industry in Kenya and is meant to inspire innovative actions to protect the environment and integrate local people into the business of tourism. We would like to take this opportunity to congratulate the following members for emerging winn

Ecotourism Enterprise of the Year 2013: Lodge – Severin Sea Lodge

·       Ecotourism Enterprise of the Year 2013: Tented Camp – Elephant Pepper Camp

·       Eco-Rated Facility of the Year 2013: Sanctuary Olonana.

The Association took an active role in the organizing of the Conference, with Our Admin Officer, Leah Ng’ang’a representing the organization in the Local Organising Committee and also at the judging of the awards. Our C.E.O, Mike Macharia on the other hand was the MC at the Kenya Night.