Dear MEP Champion,
Fourteen years ago, Mara Elephant Project was born out of a need to address the rise in elephant poaching in Kenya. As the renewed demand for ivory increased and the current capacity couldn’t keep up with enforcement, MEP filled the gap by hiring, training and deploying community rangers to support our government partners. MEP connected the dots between enforcement capacity and elephant protection; a theme that remains at the heart of the organization still.
“Mara” in Maa, the language of the Maasai people, means “dot”, which is what the iconic trees throughout the region look like; dotted across the landscape. It’s also fitting that our name contains this key word.
Someone asked me the other day, ‘if not MEP, who else is going to do it?’ As I thought about the answer to that question, I realized that they are correct. We are always striving to undertake activities that fill the gaps between two objectives previously disconnected.
Mara Elephant Project is connecting the dots for conservation, and in 2025, there are four key dots MEP focused on connecting.
The Loita Forest is a key connection point between ecosystems and to protect this vital elephant habitat, we connected the dots by bringing together the community, government and stakeholders to declare that preservation and livelihoods can go hand-in-hand. MEP is now paying people to protect their parcel of forest land and MEP rangers are bolstering their efforts by offering support.
People need to make a living and wildlife need to roam free. MEP is connecting elephant-friendly farming practices that empower people to earn a living with the need for wildlife to pass through. MEP now has five community farming collectives that are growing wildlife-friendly crops like rosemary and are taking advantage of the commercial relationships we’ve established to sell their crops, and the additional training and supplies to feed their families.
This year, MEP more effectively responded to mitigate human-elephant conflict (HEC) incidents by connecting new technologies and a modern conservation approach to HEC mitigation response. We now have 22 drones, and 29 rangers and researchers trained to operate them. Drones are now deployed to mitigate more than half of the HEC incidents MEP responds to and they have increased not only the ranger’s effectiveness, but also their safety.
MEP alongside our government partners has been tracking individual elephant movements since 2011. It wasn’t until we mapped the ecosystem changes like fences, settlements and roads that those elephant movements started to really tell a story. By continuously tracking elephant movements and mapping landscape changes, MEP can leverage data to connect resources with areas where wildlife and communities are most at risk. This year, MEP has collared seven new elephants, all in areas where resources are needed to address connectivity loss.
MEP has developed a strategy for creating linkages between the dots, much like we are investing resources to keep the ecosystem connected.
Like a release valve, when pressure becomes too much, it’s going to combust. In other words, an elephant needs to be able to get from one place to another, and people need to have a good quality of life, so protecting open spaces and connecting them while promoting coexistence relieves the pressure on the entire ecosystem.
As I reflect on this year, I remain in awe of the amazing team at MEP. I still firmly believe that you don’t have to be the smartest person, you just need to work with very smart, dedicated people. Not only do I have a big team of those people in Kenya, but I also have all of you that support MEP as we connect the dots for conservation.
