February was a busy and impactful month for the Mara Elephant Project (MEP), marked by collaboration, innovation, and continued work to protect wildlife while strengthening communities across the Greater Mara Ecosystem. On February 7, MEP staff gathered at headquarters in the Maasai Mara for our first team-building session led by Impact Change. Rangers, researchers, and staff participated in friendly mini-sports competitions designed to strengthen communication and teamwork across departments.
“Team building is not a nice-to-have for us. It’s how we keep our departments aligned, reduce friction in day-to-day delivery, and make sure we show up as one team in the field and at HQ. It was good to see the full MEP team come together and focus on how we work as one organisation. The session reinforced how closely linked our roles are across departments and that our progress depends on stronger coordination, clearer communication, and shared accountability to deliver on MEP’s vision.”
– Deputy CEO Meshack Gaga
MEP also hosted the first 2026 cohort of our Training of Trainers (TOT) program, supported by the Saruni Basecamp Foundation. Rangers from 17 conservancies and conservation organizations across the Mara participated in three weeks of intensive training designed to standardize conservation skills and strengthen operations across the landscape.
MEP drones continue to support wildlife protection across the Mara. In February, our aerial team assisted veterinary teams in rescuing a 12-year-old female giraffe that had become dangerously entangled in wire fencing. The drone helped locate and guide the ground team through thick bush so the wire could be safely removed and the giraffe treated.
Our drones also logged 61.35 flight hours in February, helping mitigate 17 incidents, including guiding elephants away from community farms to reduce human-elephant conflict. MEP rangers responded after collared elephant Fitz was detected moving toward farms bordering the forest where he and his herd of 70 reside. Normally, when his GPS collar shows him approaching farmland, it also indicates that the rest of the herd is close behind. In this instance, rangers deployed a thermal drone to guide the elephants away from the farms and back to the forest. Rapid response and careful monitoring make coexistence possible for Fitz, his herd, and the people who share this landscape.
MEP teams responded to two injured elephants this month in collaboration with veterinary partners. One elephant, Individual #128, was found with a severely infected arrow wound in his foot. After being safely darted from the MEP helicopter, the veterinary team cleaned the wound and administered antibiotics. Follow-up monitoring shows encouraging signs of healing.
In a separate incident, a 6–7-year-old male elephant with a deep arrow wound was successfully treated in Naboisho Conservancy by teams from MEP, Kenya Wildlife Service (KWS), the Sheldrick Wildlife Trust (SWT) Mara Mobile Vet Unit, and Naboisho Conservancy.
MEP hosted a five-day drone camp for students from Nairobi, led by Image Ambassador Jeffrey Wu. Students learned about conservation technology and gained hands-on experience flying drones used in real wildlife protection operations.
We also trained five Narok County Forestry Department rangers and one Kenya Forest Service ranger as drone pilots to support security operations in the Maasai Mau Forest.
Community programs continued to grow in February. At the MEP Coexistence Farm, 86 women were trained to establish kitchen gardens and received sukuma and spinach seedlings, while 100 tree seedlings were distributed for habitat restoration.
MEP also launched its 2026 conservation education program, reaching 624 students across 12 schools in the Greater Mara. Activities included tree planting, environmental education through the Tales of the Savanna book drive, and community clean-up exercises that removed over 1,500 kg of waste.
