On Endangered Species Day, Mara Elephant Project has an exciting announcement; we are expanding our endangered species protection efforts by bringing the Bongo Surveillance Project in house to support their worthwhile mission while they focus on growth and impact.
Bongo Surveillance Project (BSP) is the only dedicated wild mountain bongo antelope protection organization in the world. Listed as critically endangered on the IUCN Red List, the mountain bongo is only found in Kenya and is on the verge of extinction in the wild due to poaching and habitat loss. BSP aims to secure a future for the last remaining mountain bongo antelope in the wild and engage the community to protect the forests where they live.
Founded in 2003 by Mike Prettejohn, BSP’s eight rangers work closely with the Kenya Wildlife Service (KWS), Kenya Forest Service (KFS) and county government patrolling two of the four remaining bongo strongholds, the Mau Forest Complex and Aberdare National Park. The rangers focus on de-snaring, habitat protection and monitoring the bongo using their extensive camera trap network and DNA data from dung collection.
BSP also engages the next generation of bongo conservationists with a robust school program for children living alongside the forests. They prioritize community involvement to support their efforts to conserve the surrounding forests, minimize wildlife poaching activities and subsequently protect the critically endangered bongo.
Since inception, BSP has captured almost 80,000 wild bongo images on their camera traps and engaged more than 30,000 community members with their school and community development programs. Through these images they’ve confirmed some good news, the population is breeding; however, more needs to be done to secure their future.
MEP’s connection to this project is both personal and professional. CEO Marc Goss spent his gap year tracking mountain bongo in the Aberdares with the rangers and the experience was so impactful it guided him into a career in conservation. Operationally, MEP and BSP rangers have led many successful joint patrols in the Mau Forest to increase protection for both elephants and mountain bongo.
Given this connection, MEP is committed to supporting the BSP Trustees during this transformative time. We are focused on providing the BSP community rangers with the full MEP in-house training package and new equipment, implementing an instance of the EarthRanger software system to track their assets in real-time and adding capacity to oversee operations and development.
“Incubating BSP is an opportunity that has come full circle for me. These rangers are expert bongo trackers, most having monitored the population for years, and providing them with more support will only improve the chances of survival in the wild for this critically endangered animal.”
MEP CEO Marc Goss
Join us by supporting the collaborative protection efforts to ensure a future for endangered species.
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