FOC Elephant and Rhino Watch Program

Since 1982, Friends of Conservation has been monitoring the elephant and the black rhino  population in the Masai Mara National Reserve. Unfortunately, the elephant and the rhino populations have been in decline caused by heavy poaching and it has just been in the last few years that their numbers have been increasing.

To help future generations learn more about the Elephant and the Black Rhino, FOC has started the Elephant and Rhino Watch Program within the Mara schools Conservation Clubs. The goal is to increase the knowledge of the Maasai children through nature-based field trips into the Masai Mara National Reserve on the importance of  elephants and rhinoceros. Although the children will learn about other endangered species while on their field trips, the focus is on these two endangered animals. The FOC Projects Officer will accompany the students into the Reserve in FOC’s 28 seat bus.

Upon their return to the Conservation Club, the students will have club activities that further promote education about the endangered elephant and  black rhino. In addition, school children are educated about the environment where they live and learn to see what is around them. They can take steps to avoid confrontations and can learn to spot potential poaching activities. When one saves the habitat for as large an animal requiring as much territory as the elephant and the rhino, many other species benefit, and an eco-system is preserved.