A recent census has revealed a 72 per cent increase in the number of elephants within the Maasai Mara Conservancy and the Tsavo-Mkomazi ecosystems. According to an aerial count by the Kenya Wildlife Service, there were 2,493 elephants at the Maasai Mara ecosystem compared to 1,448 recorded in 2014. Releasing the results at the KWS Headquarters, Director General, Kitili Mbathi attributed the increase in the population to stiff penalties on poaching, increase of rangers and equipment. “Over the past three years we have seen a serious decline in the level of poaching of elephants and rhinos and this has come

The Maasai have a deep connection to their land and livestock; whether because, as Samau Ole Soit points out, for grazing cattle which provide their staple food -milk and meat or for cultural values and prestige amongst folks. For these reasons, Ole Soit and his sons have for years kept hundreds heads of cattle on his 150 acre plot in Pardamat area of the Maasai Mara. “We have drastically reduced the number of livestock in the recent past,” states Ole Soit who explains that “grazing areas have shrunk and almost everyone has fenced their plots because there is less grass

On the 28th of March 2010 when several hundreds of local Maasai landowners were formerly signing a 15-year lease to create the Mara Naboisho Conservancy, 41 year old Kimemia Ole Taek was not one of them. The development of Naboisho Conservancy is not something that just took place over night. Instead it was the result of extensive discussions between community leaders, conservationists and tourism investors. Yet, Ole Taek whose extended family owned several hundred acres of land in Naboisho was hesitant: “My family members looked up to me for advice on where we would resettle and graze our cattle. I

For 5 years, Johnson Soit has been teaching at a local primary school in the Maasai Mara relishing his role in a career he has cherished since his childhood. Then in November 2015, he was elected to Chair the Pardmat Conservation Area Committee, a responsibility that would see him become the head of 850 community land owners who have come together to conserve a critical area in the central greater Maasai Mara. “We are here because of our commitment to work together to protect this vital piece of land,” stated Johnson in late December 2016 as he led 58 land owners