Where Giants Walk: How Habitat Protection is Creating Space for Elephants and Pangolins to Thrive
A Shared Sanctuary
Earlier this month, The Pangolin Project’s monitoring team recorded something extraordinary: over 100 elephants, including 20 newly born calves, peacefully roaming two conservation lease parcels in the heart of the Oloisikut Conservancy. Among the herd - quiet, unseen, and equally significant - a Giant Ground Pangolin has been recorded. Likely, moving undisturbed beneath the same forest canopy.
This is not just a coincidence. It’s conservation in action.
These shared safe spaces, protected through long-term leasing agreements with local landowners, are offering refuge to two of Africa’s most iconic and most endangered species. The drone footage taken by Mara Elephant Project’s (MEP) ranger team, though brief, captured a smaller portion of the larger herd- offering a glimpse into how forest protection creates sanctuary for elephants above ground and pangolins below.
Two Giants, Two Stories
The African Elephant is perhaps the most iconic symbol of wild Africa -intelligent, deeply social, and increasingly squeezed by expanding farmland, retaliatory killings, and conflict with human communities.
The Giant Ground Pangolin, by contrast, is nocturnal, shy, and virtually unknown - yet no less threatened. This critically endangered species is Kenya’s rarest mammal, facing extinction from habitat loss and electrocution by electric fences.
They couldn’t be more different.
And yet, they need the same things:
Safe, connected habitat
Freedom to move without threat
Communities who value their survival
By protecting the forests of Nyekweri, the Pangolin Project and Mara Elephant Project protect both the loud giants and the quiet ones.
How Monitoring Builds Protection
Our ability to protect wildlife depends on our ability to see it, and in landscapes as complex and fragmented as Nyekweri, that takes innovation.
Thanks to support from Mara Elephant Project, drone technology has helped verify herd movement patterns, calving behaviour, and habitat use - even when the elephants disperse before the drone arrives. That dispersal, in itself, tells us something: these animals are highly mobile, and they’re choosing leased land as safe space.
Meanwhile, The Pangolin Project’s over 70 camera traps and expanding ranger patrols are capturing rare and previously unrecorded behaviour - not only of pangolins, but of elephants, giraffe, red-tailed monkeys, and over 50 other species.
“Once they (Elephants) are in the forest, you can’t see them. The forest provides their sanctuary too. You will notice this when you look at the brilliant drone footage”
Whether in the air or on the ground, monitoring helps us track what matters and act before it’s too late.
Leased Land is Working
Since 2023, The Pangolin Project has helped secure over 5,000 acres of land through conservation leases. These agreements, made in collaboration with Kimintet, Oloisikut and Olorien Conservancies, allow landowners to retain ownership while committing to wildlife-friendly land use.
What does that look like in practice?
Electric fences are deactivated or modified to protect both pangolins
Habitat fragmentation is reduced, allowing safe passage for migrating herds.
Communities benefit financially, while maintaining cultural ties to the land.
And most powerfully - wildlife is choosing to stay and….return.
These parcels aren’t just holding space. They’re regenerating hope.
We asked our partners at the Mara Elephant Project (MEP) what it takes to protect elephants in fragmented forests and what drone data tells us about the path forward.
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“At MEP, conflict mitigation is determined by the speed with which we respond, and the community plays a critical role in this process. We keep open lines with communities through a 24/7 hotline number, innovative channels such as the Virtual Ranger, and rangers who are all from the local areas and easy to reach. The community ensures we receive timely reports, which trigger fast response from our teams using tools like drones to move elephants away safely. We also prevent raids by training farmers on when and how to report early signs and by promoting elephant-friendly farming practices among the local farmers.”
MEP Deputy CEO Meshack Gaga
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“Drones give us eyes where boots and vehicles cannot access, particularly in dense and difficult terrains. They are a quicker and cost-effective way to monitor elephants across vast areas. In minutes, we can size herds, their composition, and spot injuries with zoom, work that would take hours on the ground. This helps us in initiating any required interventions in a timely fashion. Drones have become an everyday tool for safe monitoring and HEC response.”
MEP Deputy CEO Meshack Gaga
Image taken by Anthony Wild
Claire Okell adds:
“You can’t overstate how important this forest is and our partners like MEP. Once the elephants or the pangolins are inside the leased land, they’re protected. This is their nursery. Their safe haven. These lease areas are proving what’s possible when we protect habitat together.”
Together, This Is Possible
In a time when conservation can feel fragmented and overwhelming, stories like this remind us: connection is not only possible, it’s powerful.
Two giants. One sanctuary. Two partners.
With every lease signed by the Pangolin Project, every drone flight logged by Mara Elephant Project, and every patrol conducted, we take one more step toward a future where elephants and pangolins both have the space they need to survive and thrive.
As always, this work is made possible by the landowners who trust us, the partners who stand beside us, the communities who call Nyekweri home and you - who donate and make safeguarding sightings like this possible.
“In a time when conservation can feel fragmented and overwhelming, stories like this remind us: connection is not only possible - it’s powerful. Two giants, one shared sanctuary. And with every lease signed, every drone flight logged, and every ranger patrol completed, we get closer to a future where pangolins and elephants alike have the space they need to thrive.”
Help Power the Patrol to safeguard these habitats
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Website: https://maraelephantproject.org/
