Kenyans are the future of our priceless landscapes, wildlife and cultures for the world.

I just had a dream in which someone standing on the horizon said to me "Paula, don't ever forget the power of words".

Two weeks ago a policeman excused a matatu that rammed me with the words "Madam, but it's our culture" Many of my friends agreed that the behaviour of our matatu's is not our culture, but to be honest, we have allowed certain words to be used to create or define a world that we live in, in Kenya. We say things like "I am not late, I'm running on Kenyan time" or "All police are corrupt" and "Our politicians are in it for themselves" and worse "there is no hope for the future of Kenya" We even back up these irresponsible statements with evidence - The Aga Khan Foundation reveals that 52 percent of Kenyans are willing to be corrupt to make it in life.

someone close to me wrote this sentence

"What matters is what you think... and believe... about yourself"

Well, if we believe that we are corrupt, lazy, late and all that, then we will certainly be all of that.

How can we change this narrative? Well it's all in words because, words create the world. This became apparent to me in a recent training in which many American trainees said they had come to work in Africa because Africans were poor, sick, uneducated, etc etc. For them, they were here to help and they were hugely frustrated, they found it impossibly daunting to make a difference in a world that was to them impossibly hard to work in and succeed.

Why does the world see us Africans as poor, helpless, sick and uneducated? I think it's because we have not only allowed that narrative ot pervade our language, but we have played into it and even added to it.

What if we described Africa in words that create a new world? To me, Kenya is country of unlimited wildlife bounty. Our people are the defenders of our wildlife wealth, and our country has the worlds highest concentration of local indigenous and international committed wildlife experts who are people of honor who are the role models for children around the world like Winnie Kiiru Judi Wakhungu Katito Sayialel Soila Sayialel Norah Njiraini Akeem Lemaiyan Robert Obrein Cynthia MossJoyce Poole Iain Douglas-Hamilton Raabia Hawa Jim Justus NyamuJackson Looseyia Dickson Ole Kaelo Sopia at Masai Mara, Daphne Sheldrick, Angela Sheldrick, Richard Bonham, Richard Moller, Ian Ian James Saunders Jagi Gakunju Jonathan Scott Edwin at Lewa, Tom Lolosoli Tom Lalampaa Daniel Ole Sambu Dino J. Martins Bea Bi KaranjaLizzy Karanja Philip Muruthi, Richard Turere Charles Oluchina Munira Onyango ... the more I look the more I realise that the list is massive... it includes all our scientists, tour guides, rangers, wardens. donors, children... and all those people in grass roots conservationists around the country. The photo above is the NTV Wild crew (NTV  cameraman Fidel and camerawoman Janae, Director Justus Tharao and host/News anchor Smriti Vidyarthi, and myeslf - Co- Producer, as well as naturalists, Moses and Brian who run the two sides of the Mara Reserve, Jackson Looseiya a naturalist and host of the globally renown BBC Big Cat TV show ..all of us were in the Mara to shoot an episode for our series NTV Wild, the first ever broadcasting of wildlife documentaries made in Kenya, to a Kenyan audience. NTV Wild is a partnership with my organization WildlifeDirect, the Kenya Wildlife Service, and the NTV broadcaster. The picture illustrates just shows how diverse the community of conservationists are. What it does not adequately reveal is the overflowing passion and commitment. While in the Mara I became hugely present to how incredibly lucky we are to live in a country so wealthy in people with such expertise, and innovative ideas.

We must acknowledge that we have some of the most priceless landscapes, wildlife and cultures on earth, and they are worth more than any Eiffel tower or Empire State Building, speed trains or oil rigs.

This extraordinary natural richness of Kenya is the world that I live in, and I am jealously protecting it for future generations, not just for Kenyans, but for the world.

NTV Wild Talk (a hard hitting discussion program) airs on Tuesday at 10 pm and documentaries made in Kenya and Africa are broadcast on Saturdays at 7.45 on NTV. They can also be viewed online via NTV live.