Guardians of two iconic African ecosystems

WHO WE ARE

A key force in Tanzanian community empowerment and conservation

The Friedkin Conservation Fund (FCF) is a non-profit organization focused on impactful philanthropic and conservation initiatives in Tanzania. Together with our affiliate companies, Legendary Expeditions and Mwiba Holdings Limited, we are driven by a commitment to safeguard Tanzania’s natural heritage for future generations.

We operate in one of the most biologically rich and culturally significant landscapes on Earth, managing three vast wilderness areas: Mwiba Reserve, Maswa Kimali, and Maswa Mbono. These areas represent an astonishing 8% of the entire protected network of the Greater Serengeti and Ngorongoro Crater ecosystems, measuring about 2,000 square kilometers or approximately 800 square miles.

In this position of privilege and responsibility, FCF serves as a key conservation force at the intersection of biodiversity and wildlife protection, and community empowerment.

Our vision

We envision a future where Tanzania’s natural landscapes and wildlife are protected, ensuring the survival of the Greater Serengeti and Ngorongoro Crater ecosystems for generations to come.

Our mission

Our mission is to protect and conserve this incomparable wilderness for future generations and improve our communities' social, economic, and environmental well-being. This can only be achieved by partnering with the local communities with whom we share this land, the Tanzanian government, and other stakeholders.

OUR LEGACY

Over three decades of commitment to conservation and community

Our journey began in 1994 with a vision that was ahead of its time: that successful conservation in Africa must go hand-in-hand with community empowerment and responsible tourism. Since then, we have grown into one of Tanzania’s most respected conservation institutions, overseeing some of the largest exclusively managed wilderness areas in East Africa.

For over 30 years, we have worked tirelessly to build trust, restore degraded landscapes, strengthen wildlife law enforcement, and invest in local communities. This legacy is not just measured in hectares protected or rhinos saved — it lives in the hearts of the rangers we’ve trained, the students we’ve educated, the women we’ve empowered, and the wildlife we’ve protected.

THE JOURNEY
OF THE MIGRATION

CALVING SEASON
DEC - MAR

RUTTING SEASON
APR - JUN

CROSSINGS SEASON
JUL- NOV

EXCLUSIVE–USE
PROTECTED WILDLIFE AREA (BUFFER ZONE)

VILLAGES THAT FCF WORKS
WITH, LOCATED ADJACENT
TO OUR PROTECTED AREAS

The buffer zones we operate in

FCF operates within three vast and vital tracts of wilderness, Mwiba Reserve, Maswa Kimali and Maswa Mbono, which lie along the southern and western boundaries of Serengeti National Park. Together, these areas span about 2,000 square kilometers or approximately 800 square miles, an area roughly the size of Luxembourg.

WHAT IS A BUFFER ZONE?

OUR ROLE

Guardians of three vital buffer zones

Mwiba Reserve and Maswa Mbono and Kimali are more than just protected wildlife areas — they form crucial boundaries or zones of transition (known as buffer zones) that separate the Serengeti National Park and Ngorongoro Crater Conservation Area from surrounding human settlements.

Together, the areas we oversee comprise 36% of all buffer zones surrounding the Serengeti National Park and Ngorongoro Crater Conservancy Area.

In today’s conservation landscape, buffer zones are where the future of wildlife will be decided. These transitional spaces between fully protected parks and human development provide wildlife with room to roam while minimizing conflict with surrounding communities.

FCF’s proactive management of these areas, which includes a range of conservation and community empowerment projects, ensures the protection of wildlife and people beyond park boundaries.

The power of connectivity in conservation

Ecological connectivity — wildlife’s ability to move freely between habitats — is essential for the survival of species, as, in isolation, populations face inbreeding and in some cases, extinction. In the face of expanding human populations and the resulting fragmentation of our wild spaces, we must reconnect broken ecosystems to ensure wildlife has the opportunity to thrive.

Buffer zones and wildlife corridors hold the key to ecological connectivity — reopening migratory routes and, in turn, ensuring gene flow and climate resilience particularly in wide-ranging species such as elephants, lions, and wildebeests.

We see the importance of ecological connectivity play out in the annual journey of the Great Migration. The herds continue to thrive, their movement unrestricted as they spill out of the Serengeti into neighboring buffer zones — and across the Kenyan border into the Maasai Mara.

Protecting one of the largest mammal migrations on Earth

As guardians of these vital buffer zones, we, by extension, play a crucial role in protecting the legendary Great Migration — one of Earth's greatest natural spectacles.

This epic journey spans over 1,000 kilometers and sees more than 1.5 million wildebeest accompanied by hundreds of thousands of zebras and gazelles traveling in a continuous circular route across the Serengeti-Mara ecosystem.

Our conservation efforts ensure this remarkable natural cycle continues for generations to come.

OUR WORK

Conservation

The preservation of this ecosystem, its fauna and flora, is at the heart of everything we do.

Anti-poaching operations

Our anti-poaching operations include aerial reconnaissance and ground patrols within the areas we manage. We also operate joint ground patrols within our areas with the Tanzania Wildlife Authority (TAWA).

Rhino Conservation

Relentless poaching has caused black rhino populations to decline by around 80% in just 50 years. We have joined forces with the Tanzanian government as well as other private stakeholders to support crucial rhino microchipping and monitoring initiatives. By microchipping rhino horns, we are able to track rhino movements in real-time, which is key to their protection.

Human-wildlife conflict (HWC) mitigation

HWC, especially conflict between farmers and crop-raiding elephants — which often results in tragic consequences for both farmers and elephants — is a serious concern in our areas.

Our Mwiba-Maswa Elephant Collaring Program, which we conduct in partnership with the Tanzania Wildlife Research Institute (TAWIRI), aims to mitigate HWC by tracking and monitoring elephant movements and identifying conflict hotspots. We have also constructed beehive fences around agricultural areas to deter elephants from raiding crops.

Supporting biodiversity

Maintaining a balanced and healthy habitat is the cornerstone of our conservation work, and we do this through ongoing habitat restoration projects. This includes the large-scale clearing of invasive plant species and erosion control. Another vital aspect of our work is securing sustainable water sources for wild animals during the dry season.

Research and monitoring

Through the funding and logistical support of research-based conservation projects, we work with TAWIRI and other stakeholders to monitor wildlife populations and protect endangered species.

Vulture tagging

Vultures worldwide are under threat, and to protect vultures in our areas, we’ve collaborated with North Carolina Zoo, Tanzania Wildlife Authority (TAWA) and Tanzania Wildlife Research Institute (TAWIRI) to protect these vital players in the ecosystem.
Additionally, we conduct vulture training courses to raise awareness of their role in maintaining and protecting healthy ecosystems.

OUR WORK

Community engagement

Community upliftment and conservation are two sides of the same coin. The well-being of Tanzania’s wild spaces is directly connected to that of the communities that live side-by-side with them. The road to safeguarding the ecosystems we protect is paved through education, economic empowerment and ensuring that our communities come to see the role protected wildlife areas can play in improving their lives.

Nourishing hungry minds

For many families in rural areas, education is not a priority — especially when children are needed to work or assist around the home. Our school nutrition program is changing this narrative by providing students with daily free meals, giving parents a compelling reason to send their children to school.

Currently, we provide 2,300 meals every day to students at schools. The results speak for themselves: at Makao Primary School, for example, absenteeism has dropped dramatically from 30% in 2023 to just 5% in 2024.

Education

Education is a powerful catalyst for breaking the cycle of poverty in rural communities. It opens doors to future opportunities, laying the foundation for long-term economic opportunities, laying the foundation for long-term economic transformation.

Our current education initiatives focus on reducing dropout rates and improving school attendance. These include our school nutrition program which provides meals to 2,300 students daily, providing bicycles to reduce travel barriers and environmental education programs aimed at inspiring the next generation of conservationists. We also offer scholarships programs to students, supply stationery, fund teachers housing and invest in essential infrastructure such as clean water access.

Beekeeping

Our beekeeping initiative focuses on establishing community-run apiaries and training community members in practical beekeeping skills so that the hives flourish. In just two years, the impact is clear: beekeeping has significantly boosted the household income of group members, setting them on the path to financial stability.

Beekeeping is also a pathway to empowerment for women in our communities. Today, 80% of the beekeeping groups we’ve established are made up of women.

Healthcare

Kafika House in Arusha provides holistic care to 700 children every year with a focus on treatable disabilities such as foot and facial deformities and other interventions that will enable children to participate in daily life. FCF ensures that children from our communities have access to this life-changing treatment by identifying children in need of care and arranging their transport to and accommodation in Arusha for treatment and follow up care.

We also fund the construction of doctors housing with the goal of attracting more doctors to remote areas, ensuring timely and consistent medical care for our communities.

Economic empowerment

Our economic empowerment initiative, which we conduct in partnership with Hand in Hand International, aims to empower 2,000 community members by equipping them with the essential skills to thrive in four economic areas including poultry, honey and its byproducts and sunflowers.

By actively involving our communities, we ensure that the economic opportunities identified resonate with their needs, challenges, and aspirations.

GALLERY

Our stories in images

Promoting food security

We’ve introduced sustainable school gardens in nine secondary schools to promote food security and self-sufficiency.

Protecting our vultures

FCF funds and facilitates a vulture tagging and monitoring initiative, including a training program for our field staff.

Our buzzworthy beekeeping project

Our beekeeping project is now generating sustainable income for local groups. More than 80% of these groups are made up of women.

Wildlife monitoring

Wildlife monitoring enables us to track animal movement, combat poaching and prevent incidents of Human Wildlife Conflict in nearby communities.

Bicycles for a brighter future

By donating over 400 bicycles over the past two years, we have helped students travel to and from school more easily and reliably.

Opening the door to opportunity

Education is a powerful catalyst for breaking the cycle of poverty and lays the groundwork for lasting economic transformation.

OUR IMPACT

Measurable impact makes for tangible change

Over the past year alone, our conservation and community empowerment initiatives have grown from strength to strength.

Elephants collared and tracked to reduce human-wildlife conflict.

194

Bicycles distributed to improve school attendance.

576

Students reached with conservation education.

1,264

Anti-poaching ground patrols conducted, deterring poaching across vast territories.

1,443

Kilograms of honey
harvested by our
beekeeping groups.

2,300

Meals provided daily to
schoolchildren across
the region.

+5,000

Hectares of invasive Whistling Thorn Acacia cleared to open up grasslands.

Annual reports

To learn more about the impact of our work, download your copy of our Annual Reports below.

OUR PARTNERS

Collaboration is conservation’s secret weapon

STAY WITH US

Add purpose to your journey

Our strategic partnership with Legendary Expeditions ensures that every safari becomes a story of impact. Guests staying at their world-class safari camps directly support our conservation and community programs through a built-in contribution model.

This is tourism as it should be: transformative, respectful, and regenerative.

To read more about the inextricable link between conservation and tourism, click the link below.

a difference

The coming years will define the fate of Africa’s wildlife. It will take an enormous amount of effort, commitment, and funding from both the Tanzanian government and the private sector to ensure the protection of Africa’s precious wildlife-rich areas for generations to come.

Book a safari with Legendary Expeditions and give your journey purpose.

Make a tax-deductible donation via Friedkin Conservation Fund. FCF is a Texas-based non-profit corporation registered as a501(c)(3) public charity in the United States. Accordingly, your donation is tax-deductible as permitted by law. Please consult with your tax advisor.

Get in touch

For more information on how you can help us make a difference, get in touch with our team via email.

CONNECT WITH US

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