Kenya - Mara Elephant Project Isiah the Elephant

In the Sand River Region, people live with elephants passing through, and these elephants (as part of their role as ecosystem engineers) are often destructive (see pictures below from this area). In cases where people are trying to farm crops, elephants will often raid them. There have been recent cases in this area where elephants have killed people, and the people have retaliated by killing elephants. We are partnered with Mara Elephant Project (MEP), which is researching the routes elephants are taking so we can better protect the elephants and the people who live in this area. Their ranger teams also respond to mitigate conflict between humans and elephants throughout the Greater Maasai Mara Ecosystem.

Recently some of you supported the Mara Elephant Project (MEP) and the Kenya Wildlife Service’s GPS collaring of a bull elephant in the southern part of the Sacred Forest of the Lost Child (Naimina Enkiyio).

Thanks to you, he will now be monitored 24/7 by MEP for three years to ensure his safety. Moreover, his movements will hopefully help us better understand how elephants connect from the Maasai Mara into the Forest and the Rift Valley beyond so together we can preserve these movements and better support the people affected by them.

Those who sponsored him touchingly decided to name him Isiah after Isiah Lekaluwesi, who many of you knew.

Isiah was part of one of our Kenya Camp crews for 18 years and sadly passed away a few years ago because of stomach cancer.

He had the best sense of humour and knew exactly how to make everyone laugh. He was incredibly kind and much loved. We all miss him very much.

We are moved that Isiah will ‘live on’ through this bull, and we are so grateful to all those involved for making this possible.

We look forward to following his progress and keeping you up to date about it!

Pictures thanks to wildlife photographer Gurcharan Roopra who captured the collaring operation.