The Zeitz Foundation
ROAR AFRICA's connection to the ZEITZ Foundation — and to Segera Conservancy, its flagship property in Kenya's Laikipia region — goes back years and runs deep. It is a partnership rooted in a shared belief: that luxury travel and genuine conservation impact are deeply intertwined.
Set across 50,000 acres of Central Kenya, Segera operates as proof of concept that every guest visit helps fund rhino reintroduction, community employment and the replanting of a landscape. When ROAR AFRICA brings guests to Segera, we are not simply offering an exceptional safari. We are inviting them into a living model of what responsible travel can look like.
The Foundation — and the Philosophy Behind It
The ZEITZ Foundation was established by Jochen Zeitz with a clear and ambitious mandate: to demonstrate that conservation, community, culture and commerce can reinforce rather than undermine one another. These four principles, known as the 4Cs, form the intellectual and operational backbone of everything the Foundation does.
In 2009, the Foundation launched The Long Run (https://www.thelongrun.org/), a global network of nature-based tourism businesses committed to living the 4Cs philosophy in practice – many of which are supported by ROAR AFRICA. Segera was its founding member and model property. The Long Run has since become independent, now operating as the world's largest business-led movement for nature-based sustainability, with member properties (https://www.thelongrun.org/our-members) across more than 40 countries, safeguarding over 23 million acres of land, protecting more than 30,000 plant and animal species, and touching the lives of 750,000 people. While The Long Run now stands on its own, both organizations continue to work closely together, with Segera remaining its founding and flagship example of what the model can achieve.
The 4Cs working method:
Conservation: Thriving ecosystems and biodiversity are integral to the survival of people and our planet. Safeguarding this biodiversity is vital.
Community: It is the right of every person to have their basic needs met. Enhancing the well-being of communities is a fundamental obligation of all.
Culture: Celebrating cultural diversity and commonality nurtures understanding and fosters connections. Respecting cultural difference is crucial for our shared future.
Commerce: Sustainability must be central to business — not peripheral to it.
The Segera Rhino Sanctuary — A Homecoming Fifty Years in the Making
In Central Kenya's Laikipia region, black rhino populations declined by a staggering 96% over the last 20 years. The species is now categorized as critically endangered.
In May and June 2025, the ZEITZ Foundation and Kenya Wildlife Service made history. Working together with support from figures including actor and conservationist Robert Redford, who was first introduced to Segera by ROAR AFRICA founder Deborah Calmeyer, 21 critically endangered eastern black rhinos were translocated to Segera, returning the species to its ancestral home for the first time in over half a century.
"Every so often, something extraordinary happens that fills me with gratitude — not that we can turn back the clock, but that we can at least slow its ticking."
– Deborah Calmeyer, CEO and Founder, ROAR AFRICA
The founding population is now thriving. Territories are firmly established, behaviour is calm and confident and Segera's first rhino calf is expected, a milestone that speaks to how settled and secure the animals have become.
Phase Two will expand the rhino range into Southern Segera and the neighbouring El Karama Conservancy, creating ecological connectivity through to Ol Jogi — ultimately growing the sanctuary to 130,000 acres and placing it at the heart of a larger vision to create one of the most significant connected rhino landscapes in the world, eventually spanning up to 840,000 acres. The initiative directly supports Kenya's national target of 2,000 black rhinos by 2037.
All-Women Anti-Poaching Academy
Segera is also home to Kenya's first all-women anti-poaching ranger academy, a programme that is rewriting who gets to protect Africa's wildlife. The ZEITZ Foundation established and funds this initiative, training women from surrounding communities as professional rangers and placing them on the frontlines of conservation at Segera. In 2021, their story reached a global audience through Ranger, a documentary released on Apple TV and Amazon that brought the world inside this groundbreaking programme. ROAR AFRICA was proud to amplify that moment — because “When Women Rise, Wildlife Thrives”.
The Tree of Life Reforestation Initiative
Segera's conservation work extends beyond its wildlife. Since 2020, the ZEITZ Foundation has planted over 1.85 million indigenous Acacia trees on Segera, with more than 300,000 planted in the past year alone. The goal: 3 million trees by 2030.
The results are measurable. Canopy is returning. Soil health, verified through recent independent testing, is improving. Water cycles are being restored. And critically, the tree nursery and planting program is operated entirely by women from surrounding communities, providing employment and livelihood in one of the country's most rural areas.
ROAR AFRICA has contributed to this initiative directly. The Tree of Life reforestation programme is the largest of its kind on private land in Kenya and it is growing season by season.
