I was lucky enough to work in the wardrobe on that film and my now-husband Robert was involved in the second unit. The Mara is the setting for one of the world's grandest wildlife spectacles, in which about 1.6 million wildebeest, zebra, and gazelle migrate northward to greener pastures. It is both a wild landscape and a cultural treasure, home to an extraordinary variety of animals and the Maasai people.

The Mara is also a place of complexity and change. This month, I would like to delve into its story a little deeper — and share more about our work there.

– Angela Sheldrick

The Maasai Mara is one of those rare places that exceeds its own reputation — the undulating plains, lions draped over kopjes, and elephants moving through golden grass. It is certainly one of the more important ecosystems in Kenya, a landscape of extraordinary biodiversity and deep cultural significance.

And yet the Mara, like so many of Africa's great landscapes, faces pressures that cannot be ignored. Agricultural development is shrinking wild spaces; unregulated tourism is straining what remains; and as boundaries tighten, human-wildlife conflict inevitably follows. The decisions made now will determine what this landscape looks like for generations to come.

The pressures are real, if not always visible. Farmland and grazing slowly advance on the ecosystem's edges, fragmenting the corridors wildlife depend on for seasonal movement. Where wild land gives way to settlements, human-wildlife conflict follows — a challenge felt on both sides. And poaching, particularly snaring for bushmeat, remains a persistent threat to the balance of the landscape.

Tourism, too, requires careful stewardship. The Mara's popularity is a testament to its magic, and the vast majority of those who come here do so with real respect for the landscape. High tourism standards are not incidental to conservation here; they are part of it. When you experience the Mara, it is not hard to understand why people keep coming back.

The Mara is a landscape of exceptional beauty. At quieter times of year, wildlife moves through a gentle, golden light. Come migration season, the plains pulsate with movement as a million wildebeest sweep through. There is nothing else like it — and it is worth every effort to protect.

Our commitment to the Mara runs deep. Our SWT/KWS Mara Mobile Veterinary Unit has been a constant presence since 2007, attending to more than 2,300 wild patients over that time, including over 690 elephants and 250 lions. In 2025, we invested in the foundations that keep this work going, upgrading and rehabilitating our SWT/KWS Mara Headquarters.

In the field, our first and foremost goal is to save wild lives and maintain nature’s balance. But when fate requires intervention, we answer the call. Through the decades, we have rescued more than 30 orphaned elephants from the Mara. These include some recent additions: cheerful Olomukyak, even-keeled Talek, roguish Pardamat, the impossibly spoiled Kipekee, and our little sprite, Kaikai. While many are victims of natural or unknown causes, the primary cause reflects wider threats in the landscape: human-elephant conflict. We support the on-the-ground teams addressing this at its root, while providing a family and a wild future to the orphans left behind.

One of the most consequential threads of our Mara work concerns another species navigating existential pressure: the black rhino. These are animals that came perilously close to disappearing from Kenya altogether, and their recovery requires vigilance at every level. The Mara is one of just two remaining indigenous eastern black rhino populations that live unfenced, with many crossing freely between Kenya and Tanzania. Protecting the black rhinos who call this landscape home requires partnership, innovation, and vigilance at every level.

To that end, our Aerial Unit and SWT/KWS Mara Mobile Vet Unit supported an extensive rhino monitoring exercise led by the Kenya Wildlife Service, the Maasai Mara Reserve, and the Footprint Trust. In February 2024, our fixed-wing aircraft and helicopter dedicated nearly 60 hours of flight time to the task, covering 6,500 kilometres. In total, 13 black rhinos were darted, given unique ear notches to aid visual identification, and fitted with LoRa (long-range network) GPS transmitters. We returned in February 2025, logging 83 hours in the sky and flying more than 8,000 kilometres, to fit 14 more black rhinos with LoRa GPS transmitters. Thanks to this two-year initiative, more than three-quarters of the Mara’s rhino population are now ear-notched and identifiable.

In order to make this data actionable, we funded an EarthRanger training programme for Maasai Mara National Reserve staff. This comprehensive course equipped them to use the new LoRaWAN (long-range, wide area) network, so the Mara's rhinos can be monitored in real time, around the clock. Already, these efforts are paying off: The Mara's black rhino population is steadily growing, with a current population of 57.

Effective conservation is a patchwork of partnerships. In 2018, we partnered with the Mara Elephant Project to establish an Anti-Poaching Team in the Mau Forest, protecting a local elephant population of around 650. The team made such an immediate difference that a second was soon added. Years on, those rangers continue to demonstrate what a sustained ground presence can achieve.

The Mara's big cats have faced growing pressures of their own, from human-wildlife conflict to the intensifying impact of tourism. In 2023, we donated two fully equipped four-wheel drive vehicles to Narok County through the Mara Conservancy, dedicated to predator surveillance with a particular focus on the reserve's vulnerable cheetah population. Field teams reported an immediate difference in their ability to monitor predators more closely and respond to incidents far more quickly.

In 2025, we donated a further four monitoring vehicles, widening the focus to predator protection across the reserve and to monitor migratory crossings. In an effort to reinforce all the dedicated work being done to protect black rhinos, we also donated a customised Land Cruiser for rhino monitoring. In landscapes of this size, mobility is essential — and these seven vehicles go a long way in furthering conservation.

Underpinning all of this is infrastructure — the less visible but absolutely essential scaffolding of effective conservation. In support of the Maasai Mara Reserve and their expanded ranger contingent needed to protect the Mara's growing rhino population, we contracted the construction of a new building at Keekorok, and refurbishment of the warden's house and old ranger barracks. Together with the rehabilitated veterinary headquarters, this represents a meaningful investment in the foundations of Mara conservation, ensuring teams in the field have bases befitting their important work.

The challenges facing the Mara are real, but so too is the progress. Rhino numbers are growing and more of the population is known and monitored than ever before. Rangers and scouts are embedded in the landscape, backed by innovative technology and aerial support. Predators are being tracked and protected. And through it all, this incredible landscape and the animals who call it home endure. The Mara has always inspired a sense of wonder. Our task — and our privilege — is to make sure it continues to do so.