If you’ve been following Mara Elephant Project’s most recent helicopter reports, then you know that our hangar for the Karen Blixen Camp Ree Park Safari helicopter is nearly complete. The hangar’s foundation was completed in December along with the apron and landing pad.
We started on the structure in January and now, the only thing remaining is to paint the door and the inside, which should be done by the first of March.
This hangar is vital to MEP’s operations for many reasons. First, keeping the helicopter out of the elements is extremely important for its lifespan. Second, the hanger can be locked, which greatly reduces the risk of non-qualified people interacting with it’s fragile exterior. Third, wildlife small or large could run into the helicopter if it’s left out causing major damage. Finally, the helicopter is worth $500,000 and the hanger is the best way to protect this vital investment.
The use of this helicopter allows MEP to cut to response time to human-elephant conflict situations significantly. Previously, the hanger was at Karen Blixen Camp, which greatly reduced the response time. Now that it’s at MEP HQ, we can deploy rangers quickly and strategically, evacuate hurt or injured people and monitor collared elephants.
A MEP supporter paid for this hangar and the money raised enables us to now focus on fundraising for the flying time for this vital tool in our HEC Toolkit. Our goal for 2017 is 300 hours of flying time, which will save countless elephant lives.
Please DONATE to help MEP complete their goal of 300 flying hours for this vital tool.
