Thanks to Mara Elephant Project’s generous supporters including How Many Elephants, fifteen MEP rangers attended a passing out parade (graduation) after receiving advanced training at the Kenya Wildlife Service (KWS) Law Enforcement Academy. MEP rangers Lesikar, Melami, Dickson, Gloria, Brendah, Daniel, Benson, Stanley, Maitoyo, Alex, Latiff, Raymond, Fancy and Willy have returned to the Mara to pass along their new skills in the field. In November, MEP increased our aerial capacity after receiving three Mavic 3T drones with thermal capabilities generously donated by Elephant Cooperation and Romagecko Kenya Limited popularly known as ‘Rob’s Magic’. These drones significantly enhanced our capabilities and efficiency in monitoring and mitigating conflict, especially at night.
On Giving Tuesday, we celebrated the people that protect elephants and the ecosystem they share and thanks to your support we met our $50,000 match. The 2023 giving season came to a successful end and MEP exceeded our $500,000 in December goal. Thank you to everyone who got behind this campaign and made it a success. We’re lucky to have you in our herd.
We launched our first ever merchandise collection with partner Imani + Kids. Each product is handcrafted in Kenya and features custom elephant designs. Your purchase supports MEP’s work to protect elephants and their habitats and Imani’s work to break the generational cycle of poverty through the transformation of women. Shop the entire collection here.
MEP is immensely grateful to all the photographers that submitted 222 total entries in The Greatest Maasai Mara photo competition to support our efforts in 2023. Thanks to them and the Angama Foundation, MEP received a $3,000 donation.
MEP participated in the #IvoryBelongsToElephants East and Central Africa walk, which ended in Nairobi after a 3,200 km journey across Kenya, Uganda, Rwanda and DRC Congo. In December, we partnered with The Maa Trust to host 27 students from 11 different schools for an elephant educational experience.
Finally, the 2023 UltraMARAthon took place on December 2 and over 300 runners joined the race through a very muddy Mara. The MEP relay team brought home the bull winning the marathon with a time of 3 hours and 21 minutes, officially cementing us as the fastest rangers in the Mara. A special thanks to all of the runners, volunteers and sponsors that made this possible all to support MEP, Africa Mission Services (AMS), Mara Conservancies, and other conservancies working to protect the Mara’s wildlife and local communities surrounding this beautiful landscape.
