Living in East Africa is an artist’s paradise.  I am surrounded by nature that offers daily inspiration in creating new colors and designs in every piece of our collection. Many of you know that the Peony is one of my favorite flowers, but when you are surrounded by this much beauty, how can you have just one favorite?   I delight in the small plants and their flowers whose delicate structure, intricate patterns, and shocking hues keep me on my knees for hours admiring, studying, and sketching.   One that is a particularly lovely, and we have several varieties is the Saintpaulia, or  African Violet. As you may have guessed, they are native to Tanzania and East Africa. I remember that in the states April is the month of rain, much needed sustenance to feed beautiful plants that provide colorful blooms.

The African Violet inspired me to create an  Earth Day Collection that reminded me of the gifts we are so lucky to enjoy and why we must all do our part in our own little way to preserve such precious resources.  Since everything we do at The Leakey Collection has a purpose, it is with  great pride to unveil “Mothering The Earth”.  Four  Zulugrass strands in beautiful hues of blues and greens that  symbolize our strong belief in caring for our precious, natural resources. For every Earth Day Set sold on this site, we will donate $1 to the Earth Day Network,  as well as plant a tree in Kenya and teach sustainable gardening.  We hope you will join us in your commitment to our planet by proudly wearing this year’s collection, designed exclusively for you. Better yet…snap a photo of it on your wrist and upload it to our facebook page so I can share with the women, who hand bead our designs with so much love.

We love the recent interview with EcoBold featuring our co-founder Katy Leakey.  We loved the question asking Katy “Wine or Chocolate”? Which question did you find the most interesting?

If you had the opportunity to interview Katy, what would you ask her?

NewBeauty’s store launch in Fred Segal,  Santa Monica Thursday night was a rockin’ affair.  Hundreds of people turned out for a fun evening of great music, delicious food, and perused the greatest skin care and cosmetics the industry has to offer.  It was great fun to meet people and share the Marula TLC story, let people try it and talk up the best oil skin care on the market!  We thoroughly enjoyed ourselves and by the look of the success so did everyone one else.

It was a stand-off between Eva and Mara.

Mara takes position

Mara Holds her ground

GAME OVER!

Eva, a Kongoni (hartebeest), showed up in camp yesterday evening and literally moved right in.  She came into my office just now and began to eat paper and all sorts of things.  When she discovered the Zulugrass hanging on a T-stand she really  went to town.  She knocked over the display and then casually walked out as if she wasn’t to blame.

She is the most amazing animal we have ever known. It is as though she was raised from birth among people.   She is in here with me as I write this, a huge presence in my tent.   I call her and she follows me like a dog. If I walk away too quickly, she comes running after me to catch up.

I hope you will check back for more of Eva’s adventures at Camp Leakey.

Katy & Philip Leakey were keynote speakers at the  ITC’s World Export Development Forum in Montreux, Switzerland a few years ago.  WEDF  is one of the most influential global forums on trade and export issues for developing countries and  is organized every year by the Geneva-based International Trade Centre (ITC).

Here is a clip of an interview with Katy that took place at that event, talking about Fair Trade.

To find out more on Fair Trade practices visit the Fair Trade Federation.

FLOP IS BACK!  Naturally he returns when I’m off working NYGift! For new comers to our blog Mr. Flop, a wild zebra, adopted our camp living with us for more than a year during the drought that ended in 2010. When the rains finally arrived in January of that year he and the resident herd of zebra (which snubbed each other) pushed off to greener pastures.  Our resident herd returned about 6 months ago, but not Mr. Flop.

We were sure he was dead; he was fairly ancient, battered, and worn as zebras go so it was a real shock for Philip when he wheeled the car into camp and almost ran into Flop standing smack in the middle of the whole operation.  For two weeks now Mr. Flop follows Philip and the men around camp while they work, hanging out under trees munching grass and snorting in conversation every once in a while.

Mara, our cat, doesn’t quite know what to make of Flop so follows him around.  The image is just too funny; Philip trailed by the ever faithful battered old zebra followed by the ever curious cat!  I can’t wait to get back and photograph the craziness.  My father thinks we should give Flop his own facebook page.  What do you think?

No one has ever captured the story of Philip Leakey as well as David Brooks did in his recent opinion piece in The New York Times,   The Question Driven Life. We hope this will give you an inside glimpse of the man who we adore and who  inspires us to learn one thing every day. Philip and Katy  are a combined force of inspiration that makes everyone around them  proudly saying…yes we are part of this.

Philip and I have been awakened many mornings around 4 A.M. by families chattering as they walk two days to drink a Dixie cup of water distilled from the Carissa plant.   They are all traveling to the same place – Loliondo.

In Loliondo there’s a faith healer named Babu Ambilikile Mwasapile. Babu has said God revealed a tree to him that has a medicine inside. By boiling the roots of the tree (called “mgariaga”) a drug is made that is said to cure cancer, AIDS, diabetes, Epilepsy, and asthma.

Hundreds of Maasai have crossed our camp to see him. New bus routes have opened up for travelers. Some Maasai are even earning up to $10,000.00 USN a week transporting people to Loliondo in the back of pickups!

Here is a video on the phenomenon:

What do you think about this? Would you go to Loliondo even if you didn’t believe in it?