Q1 2025 CEO Report

We began 2025 by focusing on training. All of Mara Elephant Project’s 20 drone pilots received a refresher training from Expert Drones Africa (EDA) on advanced drone operations at HQ. This is a training we hold annually to boost our licensed drone pilots’ capacity and help them adapt to ever-changing field operations.

MEP also hosted the 4^th cohort of rangers participating in the Training of Trainers (ToT) program supported by the Basecamp Explorer Foundation–Kenya. Twenty-eight rangers representing 22 conservancies across the Mara landscape undertook both theory and practical lessons aimed at enhancing their skillsets in their daily operations. These rangers join their fellow 90 Mara rangers, already trained to lead on the frontlines of conservation, elevating the overall level of skills for Mara rangers.

MEP launched an exciting new project in the Loita Forest, which will bolster our protection efforts that are ongoing in the area. Due to the increased human activities, the forest faces significant threats stemming from the ongoing shift from communal to private title deed ownership, with 42% of the forest already subdivided. MEP is working with the community to conserve the subdivided sections of the forest. Despite having individual ownership of the land, the community is still seeing the need to conserve the forest, and the support of the LGT Venture Philanthropy Foundation and other stakeholders will enhance the Loita Forest protection and conservation.

We responded to a rare case of a baby elephant in need of rescue. A community member received quite a surprise first thing in the morning when he discovered a young elephant calf amongst his herd of livestock. Alarmed that the mother was nowhere in sight, he called MEP to respond. After a joint search effort with our rangers on the ground and I was the air with the KWS, the mother was discovered dead of natural causes. We now needed to get the calf to the Sheldrick Wildlife Trust (SWT) elephant orphanage for immediate care. The 2-month-old calf was airlifted to an airstrip where the SWT professionals were on the scene to take him to the orphanage. He’s now under expert care, and there’s hope for his future survival.

In the first quarter, there were two collaring exercises in Kenya I participated in with Kenya Wildlife Service (KWS) and the Wildlife Research and Training Institute (WRTI). The first was a re-collaring of bull elephant Lempiris and in February, a female elephant in a herd of 120 was identified in the Mosiro area as an ideal collaring candidate based on the levels of human-elephant conflict in the area. In response, on Valentine Day, KWS, WRTI and MEP deployed the helicopter alongside KWS Vet Dr. Njoroge and successfully collared the new female, aptly named Roho, which is Swahili for ‘heart’. Her real-time movement data will enable MEP rangers and partners to develop more impactful HEC mitigation efforts by gaining a better understanding of how the mega-herd is using this complex space.

The Mara Elephant Project has been supporting the Tanzania Wildlife Research Institute’s (TAWIRI) elephant monitoring efforts in Tanzania with the deployment of satellite tracking collars since 2018. This cross-border collaboration protects elephants that oftentimes call both Kenya and Tanzania home. In April, Elephant Conservation Organization (ECO), a MEP incubation project, supported TAWIRI and Tanzania National Parks alongside Six Rivers Africa and deployed new Savannah Tracking collars on four elephants in the Kagera area. Their movements help to inform the deployment of resources to mitigate human-elephant conflict.

More exciting progress out of Tanzania. ECO officially launched a vet unit in partnership with TANAPA and Six Rivers Africa in Tanzania near Mkomazi National Park. Replicating the MEP Method into ecologically significant landscapes that contribute to the protection of elephants and their habitats is a key objective for the organization, and MEP is doing this in Tanzania by supporting ECO’s efforts to treat injured wildlife. I was invited to join ECO team members during the official launch, alongside other partners, all presided over by District Commissioner Kasilda Mgeni. The event was a great show of collaboration and enthusiasm for the equipment, technology, and training being provided to support the vet unit, which will play a crucial role in safeguarding Tanzania’s wildlife and supporting TANAPA’s conservation efforts.

MEP rangers jointly with the KWS Intelligence Unit successfully arrested two ivory suspects in the first quarter and seized three pieces of ivory in two separate operations. The first suspect was intercepted while in transit with a piece of ivory weighing 47 kg (104 lbs.), and in another operation, a suspect was arrested for having two pieces of ivory that weighed 32 kg (71 lbs.). MEP’s intelligence, along with our government partners, prevented ivory from leaving the Kenyan borders.