OUR STORY
The Zizibow Story
Zizibow was born in 2022 from a gap we couldn't stop noticing. As a family safari company, we kept bumping into the same problem: there was no products genuinely good to send a family before they travelled, or to point a child towards once they landed, that actually understood Kenya rather than just slapping a giraffe on a mug.
Beautiful safari merchandise existed. Products that educated children, celebrated Kenyan culture, and supported the communities we work with on the ground did not. Not in one place. Not done well.
So we built it ourselves.
Zizibow is Kenya's one-stop safari shop, a carefully curated collection of books, games, puzzles, bags, plushies and gifts, all designed with a purpose. Every product has to earn its place against three things: does it teach a child something real about Kenya? Does it get them genuinely excited for the adventure ahead? And does making and selling it do some good - for the artisans who create it, the communities around us, and the wildlife we all love?
If a product doesn't clear all three, it doesn't become a Zizibow product.
OUR FOUNDER
Hi, I'm Chania!
Chania Tundo grew up in Kenya, with the bush, the wildlife and the extraordinary landscapes of East Africa woven into everything she knows and loves. As the founder of The SAFARI Company, a luxury family safari operator built on the belief that safaris should be extraordinary, personal and perfectly designed, she has spent years watching families fall in love with Kenya for the first time.
But she kept noticing something. The children arrived excited and left changed, and then had nothing to take that feeling forward with them. No book that really captured Kenya. No game that brought the bush to life on a long-haul flight home. No gift that felt truly Kenyan rather than generically African.
Zizibow was her answer to that gap.
Built around her belief that the love of wildlife starts young, and that the right product at the right moment can turn a child's first safari into a lifelong passion - Zizibow is personal, purposeful and proudly Kenyan. Every product reflects what Chania has seen, loved and learned across decades of living and travelling in this remarkable country.
Community
How we support
At Zizibow, doing good isn't a footnote - it's built into every product we make.
Our handcrafted bags, baskets, bracelets and accessories are made by the Ushindi Gill Women's Group, based in Gilgil, Kenya. Ushindi means victory in Swahili, and watching these remarkable women craft beautiful products with such skill and dedication feels exactly like that. Through Zizibow, they receive sustainable income, community support and the dignity of meaningful, recognised work.
Our plushies are handcrafted by Kenana Knitters, a women's empowerment organisation working with women in rural Kenya - every stitch a product of generations of craft and care.
Our beaded bracelets are made by talented female artisans whose work empowers them and their families through sustainable income.
When you buy from Zizibow, you are not just buying something beautiful. You are investing in the women who make Kenya extraordinary, and in a way of doing business that we believe the world needs more of 🩷