From a forest-to-town walk that turned into a collective act of stewardship, to a life-saving elephant intervention, to new research and partnerships strengthening coexistence, Mara Elephant Project ended the year by doing what conservation requires most: showing up, together.
MEP hosted Linda Msitu Day in early December. The event included a 10 km walk from inside the forest to Entasekera, where a collective clean up took place, 12 new waste management bins were installed, and indigenous trees were planted in key gathering points around the town. It was also a space to highlight how activities that are not forest friendly, such as logging and destructive cultivation, threaten the forest, and how Linda Msitu aims to slow these activities while strengthening sustainable livelihoods for participating landowners. More than 400 participants attended, representing three key communities engaged in Linda Msitu and a broad coalition of partners and leaders, including 13 community-based organizations.
Importantly, the day also welcomed community leaders beyond the current Linda Msitu area, including the Council of Elders, long recognized for using cultural leadership to conserve the forest and for having been custodians of Loita before land demarcation. The event was a rallying call for the preservation of the ancient forest, which the community and stakeholders resolutely answered. As the forest preservation project moves into the new year, fostering this collective sentiment, and expanding enrollment of landowners as we work to double the acres under Linda Msitu in 2026, is critical to its continued impact.
Two bushmeat busts occurred within days in December, a month that experienced one of the highest levels of bushmeat seized all year. MEP rangers collaborated on the operations with Kenya Wildlife Service (KWS) and Oloisukut rangers, laying the ambush on one suspect’s motorbike transporting 25 kg of bushmeat. After the successful seizure of the impala meat, the team regrouped and, just days later, arrested a suspect for bushmeat poaching, seizing another 24 kg of impala meat. MEP rangers are working on the frontlines day and night to ensure that all wildlife is safe and secure.
On December 15, MEP’s research team deployed to Naboisho Conservancy to support rangers and the KWS / Sheldrick Wildlife Trust (SWT) Mobile Vet Unit in responding to a young female elephant suffering from a snare injury. The snare was wrapped around her mouth and ear, and the team led by Dr. Njoroge successfully removed it and treated her wound.
The MEP ‘Lima’ ranger team monitored two large herds of elephants in one day in the Mosiro area. The first was a herd of 30 and the second was a herd of 40, which included collared elephant Indy. Monitoring elephants on the ground in this area is very difficult because of the terrain, and they are often shy or aggressive. To get the visuals needed to note any injuries or herd demographics, drones are deployed to give our rangers an eye in the sky to monitor large herds at a safe distance to ensure their safety.
MEP rangers monitored Nancy Q, a recently collared elephant, moving with her family herd of nine in an area experiencing accelerated landscape change. Her tracking was made possible through the support of Nancy McHugh, whose legacy is now directly contributing to elephant protection. And fittingly, Nancy Q’s movements are already helping inform MEP’s on-the-ground efforts undertaken with KWS and the Wildlife Research and Training Institute to promote coexistence in the Mara.
In December, MEP carried out elephant monitoring activities across the Mara, one standout moment: Ivy, one of the collared subjects (individual 3 in our ElephantBook database), was successfully re-identified with a new calf while moving with her herd in Mara North Conservancy.
Our coexistence work continued to expand. Four new women groups were onboarded into MEP’s out grower program. Representatives from two Osiligi groups, a Oltarakwai group and Naretoi group gathered at the MEP experimental farm to learn what participation entails, to reduce human-elephant conflict while protecting both livelihoods and wildlife.
Finally, on December 9, Dr. Iain Douglas-Hamilton, founder and president of Save the Elephants (STE), passed away at age 83. To MEP, Iain’s impact is deeply personal and foundational. Through STE, he was instrumental in launching MEP’s elephant collaring and monitoring work alongside KWS in the Greater Mara Ecosystem, an early collaboration that shaped the strategic approach MEP continues to build on today. We remain committed to advancing the partnership Iain helped develop over 15 years ago, carrying forward the standard he set: rigorous science, deep respect for elephants, and unwavering belief in long-term solutions.
