Mara Elephant Project is proud to celebrate the inaugural World Female Ranger Day. Today, we shine a spotlight on MEP’s four female rangers: Caren, Fancy, Gloria and Purity. These four Maasai women are deployed in two ranger teams of six in the Mau and Loita forest areas, respectively, increasing protection for the wildlife, communities and habitat. Caren has had an amazing journey at MEP, joining in October 2019 from a recruitment that took place in the Mau Forest. She’s been patrolling with the second Sheldrick Wildlife Trust (SWT) Mau De-Snaring Unit that was deployed in January 2020 to combat illegal logging and bushmeat poaching inside this precious forest. pictured top left.
Caren during a patrol destroying a poacher’s camp found inside the forest.
Caren proved to be of top aptitude in her field medical package, which qualified her for additional training in Tsavo from Ranger Campus in early 2020 before the pandemic. She not only excelled but was noted as a “top 1%” recruit and earned many distinctions in the course, pictured left.
“Caren is what I call a one percenter. She’s a born instructor; I’ve seen five in my whole time with lead. I’d love to have more time with her in the future, she has a lot of potential.” Ranger Campus Director of Operations Boris Vos
This along with her leadership capabilities earned her a promotion in June 2020 to corporal and she now leads the SWT Mau De-Snaring Unit. In the last year, since June 2020, alongside government partners Kenya Wildlife Service they have arrested 90 suspects for illegal habitat destruction activities, destroyed 17 kilns and confiscated 56 bags of charcoal and 4,311 illegal posts, trees or timbers. They’ve also arrested eight suspects for bushmeat poaching and removed 182 snares and confiscated 39 kg of bushmeat.
“Caren has been an exemplary cadet and MEP is committed to continuing to support her to grow into a leadership role within the organization.” MEP CEO Marc Goss
Mara Elephant Project is proud to join the world in celebrating our female rangers on World Female Ranger Day.
