Visiting the Mara Elephant Project
Kicheche Mara Camp guests have the opportunity to experience first-hand, the complicated relations between poaching and Human- Elephant conflict in the Mara ecosystem. Kicheche have teamed up with Mara Elephant Project to showcase MEP’s important work: reducing the poaching levels, and minimizing the conflict and challenges to livelihood of the local community.
Mara Elephant Project will take 2 – 3 hours including an overview of the Project and programmes, explaining the GPS satellite tracking system and tracking some of the MEP’s collared elephants within reasonable proximity of their headquarters or Kicheche Mara Camp.
*A presentation of the project will take place in the new MEP operational office building on the property. It will last about 30 minutes long and will be given by a MEP staff member that’s available on site, after which there will be a Q&A session. This will be followed by a walking tour of MEP HQ to see an elephant collar up close and the snares MEP has collected over time, have a drone demonstration, see ranger housing, vehicles and the helicopter (if it’s at HQ).
*Tracking of one of the 23 collared elephants – MEP will give the Kicheche guide the elephant’s location and the visitors would be able to track this elephant on the way from MEP HQ. This would be after learning all about their collaring program. There are collared bulls in Mara North Conservancy so it’s quite an experience to see one up close and fully understand the collar after learning about it.
*If there isn’t a collared elephant nearby, guests will proceed on their game drive or drive back to camp depending on the day’s schedule.
*For children MEP will set up a collaring activity for kids where they can track an elephant collars signal on MEP HQ property.