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Mountain Lioness Initiative
Guide Licence Training Scholarships.
From March 2020 Robertson Outdoor Bursary will be working in partnership with Exodus Travels Foundation, to sponsor 30 women over the next 3 years to complete their guide training. This exciting initiative which we are calling our Mountain Lioness Scholarship - was inspired by female guide Lucia Kivoi, nicknamed “lioness”, because of her pioneering spirit as a Senior Guide. She is a previous ROB awardee who helped to spearhead the acceptance of female porters on Kilimanjaro. Through her unrelenting determination and courage to mentor other women on the mountain and aspire them to achieve the same career opportunities open to men and to enable them to realise financial independence for their families.
The modules taught over a three-week period, which include Mountain Ecology, First Aid Emergency Care and Wilderness Rescue help women to gain their Guide License (an essential requirement for anyone wanting to guide in Mt. Kilimanjaro National Park).
A film 'Ngumu' meaning 'tough' which has been the inspiration for the creation of the Mountain Lioness programme was commissioned by Exodus Travel last year. “Ngumu” is the local Swahili word for“tough” and is a very appropriate description for the courageous, trailblazing female porters who defy social stigmas to work alongside their male counterparts and climb to the top of Africa’s highest mountain, Mt. Kilimanjaro.
There has also been an article highlighting the initiative published by the Daily Telegraph newspaper and you read more about it here: