The story of our Masaai-guide Jacob

My Name is Jacob Loserian Mollel, I am born in 1967 at Monduli Juu village in Maasai land. I attended my primary school at Enguiki from 1976 until 1982. After completing my studies I didn’t pass exam to join high school, but I took a training of 2 years as carpenter. I have spent most of my childhood at home, going to school. And back home, every evening, Saturday and Sunday,  I helped my parents to look after our domestic animals in the bush.

Apart from my traditional way of life activities like looking after cow, sheep, donkey and goats, I have also worked in the Tanzanite mining south of Arusha. Tanzanite is a very expensive mineral and it was hard work; after a few years of this hard work I decided to go back home.

I am a married man and with my wife Judika I have 4 children: 2 boys, Benjamin and James, and 2 girls, Leah and Laura. In my village I am one of the few men with only one wife. Most Maasai men and friends of mine have more than one wife.

Safari-guide.

I have a little to explain about my tourism involvement; one day when I was at home a mzungu (white person) and an African guy came in my village, looking for a good area for walking safari. After agreement between the chairman of my village and these guys, they said that they needed maasai -warriors who can work as night guard. I was the first one appointed and another one more so we went down-town to start a new life in the city. After a few years of working in the night and as a walking-safari guide, I was able to pay for my guiding-college for one year and I awarded the diplomas of Zoology (study of mammals, Ornithology (study of birds) and Botanical (study of plants): “Flora and Fauna of Eastern and Southern Africa”. In general I work as a safari guide for  20 years now.

After many years of working in tourism industries, I got a strong feeling that I could start my own tour business and deliver the high standard of service for an affordable price. My ambition is to create a good  and solid business that can maintain a good life not only to my family but also to a large community of people who live nearby me and far away from my continent.

To start I bought a car with a loan and I started to hire it to different tour companies, but I didn’t stop, I started to make a website and name it AFRICAN WILDCATS EXPEDITIONS. I picked up this name because I love the African Wildcat, a small cat that is very rare to see; I saw one for the first time in the Serengeti park after many years of driving in those endless planes, so please follow me for a Great expedition searching for WILDCATS.  My point was to increase my income but it didn’t work like I wanted, so I shared my plan with my best friend JOHN JOEL SUNGARE. I told him that I had started but had stuck so we needed to look for an investor. He said that he had a friend from the Netherlands and he came out with the suggestion to share some ideas with him. It didn’t take long Steef and Astrid Somers to agree to invest in the company and up to now they have done a lot to promote African Wildcats Expeditions in the Netherlands; a BIG HUG to Steef and Astrid.

Tanzania it is a good country with many resources especially National Parks, Game reserves and the Ngorongoro Conservation Area. To attract tourists they have to bring down costs, e.g.  park fees, so more tourists will come and the country will develop better.

Of my visit to Europe in September, to the 50+fair in Holland, I expect to learn more about European culture and also to introduce Tanzania and African Wildcats Expeditions ltd. so we shall be the first choice for the tourists.