‘We said, there must be ladies’: the pioneering Maasai women ending all-male leadership of the land

Everlyne Siololo is a driver guide for Gamewatchers Safaris, which protects community land in the Mara Ripoi conservancy. Photograph: Edwin Ndeke/The Guardian

In the hot midday sun on the edge of Mara Ripoi conservancy in Maasai Mara, a group of women gather under the shade of a gnarled, old Balanites aegyptiaca tree, or oloireroi in Maasai.

The women listen keenly as Everlyne Siololo outlines some key benefits of belonging to the newly formed 5,500-hectare (13,500-acre) conservancy.