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Our Urgent Appeal

Category: Uncategorized | Date: Aug 08 2008 | By: William

NO TOURISTS = NO FUNDING = NO PROTECTION FOR WILDLIFE

What is the Mara Triangle?

The Mara Triangle is the North-Western part of the world famous Masai Mara Game Reserve. It is managed by the not-for-profit organisation The Mara Conservancy, on behalf of the Trans-Mara County Council, Kenya.

Why is the Mara Triangle in trouble?

Our work is now threatened as a direct result of the collapse of tourism in Kenya. Due to lack of funds, all non-essential activities have been stopped since January, as well as the halting of the Cattle Compensation Scheme and regular night patrols by rangers.

We have been relying on kind donors to continue with crucial park operations, including de-snaring and anti-poaching patrols, to help meet our monthly shortfall of $50,000.

Why should I donate?

Your donation may seem like a drop in the ocean, but it is with thanks to donors like yourself that our work has been able to continue so far. The Mara Conservancy is widely recognised as an efficient conservation authority, and has seen considerable success in its management of the Mara Triangle.

What is WildlifeDirect?

WildlifeDirect allows people from across the world to support conservation groups by donating directly to work being done on the ground. When you make a donation on this page, 100% of your donation minus only a small bank fee, is given to the Mara Conservancy.

How do I know I am supporting good conservation?

Since its beginnings in 2001 The Mara Conservancy has been transparent in all its work, releasing monthly reports (available from here) that include everything from number of poachers arrested to total amount of revenue collected, and allow you to keep track of our work and be assured that your donation is being put to good use.

The proof is also in our results: since 2001 we have arrested well over 1,000 poachers, collected thousands upon thousands of wire snares, and seen an increase in the lion population.

Click here to read 10 Good Reasons for You to Support our Work.

If you should have any more questions please use the contact form on our website to get in touch with The Mara Conservancy directly, or click on the banner below to go to our website and find out more.

mara-triangle-website.jpg

30 Responses to “Our Urgent Appeal”

Colleen, on 08 Aug 2008

This is a great summary!

Dana-Phoenix Arizona, on 08 Aug 2008

I agree with Colleen - great summary. If only this stays on your Home page here, it makes sense for people to read about the Conservancy on your “own” website. Alot easier to maintain one rather than two website.

Frans, on 08 Aug 2008

just set up a little monthly donation, feels indeed as a drop in the oceans, but a lot of drops will fill it at the end…Just wish I could donate more.

It took me some difficulty to fill out the amount on this website, maybe someone need to check it out. Couldn’t get the amount in the correct box, tended to “jump” to the currency box. Maybe some others had the same prob and couldn’t work around it. Tried Firefox & IE as browser.

Anyhow, keep up the good work! We’ll be visiting the Mara next September, might run into each other!

Frans, on 08 Aug 2008

Oops, take back my previous comment on the boxes not working. Just read the page “How to donate” and that clarified it…

Sorry.

Christine, on 09 Aug 2008

Thank you for clarifying - it was confusing before to know the difference between Mara Conservancy and Wildlife Direct.

Well done on the new website. I agree with Dana - it makes sense to keep this information about donating here in one place, and everything about the Conservancy over on your website.

It would be nice to have an easy link back to your website.

William, on 09 Aug 2008

Thank you everyone. Admittedly I wasn’t too sure how we were going to do it with the two sites, but I think this works well. I will shortly put up some kind of link back to our main website.

Thank you Frans for your donation. It is quite confusing which is why we had to include the How to Donate page. WildlifeDirect say that they are currently working on a new design of the donation box.

There is also quite a lot of confusion between WildlifeDirect and its involvement with the work out on the field - I’m not sure if having their complete menu at the top of this blog helps things - but the service that they provide in getting donations from around the world to the bloggers is absolutely incredible.

Any suggestions on how we can further clarify or improve the site, please don’t hesitate in leaving a message. Thank you.

Paul, on 11 Aug 2008

Interesting. I’ve been donating to Wildlife Direct for over a year now, but I thought it was one fund that covered everything. It looks like I’m just donating to the Gorilla protection. So is Wildlife Direct the donation “handler” and do I need to choose specifically which area I want my money to go by donating on their site? I would like to donate to the Mara as well as the gorilla protection.

Sukuma Kenya, on 12 Aug 2008

Congrats to all of you in the Mara Conservancy for the amazing new site and transition. As far as independance and sustainability, I could not think of a better success to share and tell all that it is possible!

William, on 12 Aug 2008

Hello Paul, yes WildlifeDirect is purely a donation handler, and visitors to the website should choose who they make their donation to by donating on a particular blog.

If you donate on the frontpage of WildlifeDirect then you are making a donation towards WildlifeDirect’s administrative costs.

Thank you for your support, and I’ll bring it to WildlifeDirect’s attention that the way it works probably needs to be clearer on the main website.

Thanks again.

Paul, on 14 Aug 2008

Thanks William,

Now I understand why Wildlife Direct is so revolutionary! I’m overwhelmed at all the direct contact with different groups there are. Very exciting.

Alli, on 24 Aug 2008

You guys are doing awesome work! I hope the story on CNN helps you guys get some more donations, even if it seemed to have brought in a crazy. Great job and I wish you all well!!!

Jo Anne Jewell, on 31 Aug 2008

WOOOOOOOOOHOOOOOOOOOO! I am thrilled that you got that grant from US Fish &Wildlife, I know this will help a great deal. We are on our way in 8 days. Can’t wait to see you

Rafiki, on 31 Aug 2008

I am recommending your Blog as part of Blog Day 2008. Thank you.

Paula, on 01 Sep 2008

Just to add to Wills comment, WildlifeDirect is much more than a donations handler, we are a blogging platform for conservationists in the field in some of the most remote parts of Africa which gives those at the front lines of conservation a voice on a global platform. This raises global awareness about conservation issues on the ground in real time. Through WildlifeDirect.org we enable a global community of concerned people to interact with theses conservationists directly, and to donate and support these organizations directly. We provide this service free of charge to all our bloggers (no handling fee or overhead deductions are made by WildlifeDirect). We give all our donors an opportunity to support the overhead costs through a separate donate button on the home page as Will noted in a comment above. The network of blogs on WildlifeDirect.org is the largest community of African conservationist voices and the combined content from every blog creates a rich source of first hand news from the field which is what makes WildlifeDirect quite unique. During emergencies we also support our blogging partners with additional help by finding virtual volunteers to help them, and by writing grant applications. This year alone we have enabled five of our bloggers (including Mara Triangle) to receive additional funds by writing grant applications.

Dana-Phoenix Arizona, on 02 Sep 2008

Where’s a working donation button? The one at the right upper top of the page doesn’t work.

William, on 02 Sep 2008

Paula has taken it off and blocked our username and password.

Virginia, on 03 Sep 2008

Will, I don’t understand your last comment? What do you mean you have your username and password blocked?

William, on 03 Sep 2008

We’ve been blocked from accessing this page.

Dana-Phoenix Arizona, on 03 Sep 2008

Will - I sent an email to Paula and Mary. This is very upsetting about you being blocked and hopefully just a BIG misunderstanding. You all need donations coming to you!

Sukuma Kenya, on 03 Sep 2008

Yes, can someone explain what happened to the donation button???

Virginia, on 04 Sep 2008

I have been trying to leave another comment and it does not show up on the page. Something very strange is happening!

Paula, on 04 Sep 2008

Dear everyone,

Thank you for your concerns and observations.

As you all know the Mara Triangle have decided to move their blog to another site which is why the donation button on WildlifeDirect is not working. We apologise for the confusion on WildlifeDirect, we have left the blog up for now and hope to hear from the board of the Mara Triangle about their intentions regarding the blog on WildlifeDirect. We obviously hope that they will come back as we have all come to enjoy the frequent colourful posts. We will let everyone know on the blog what their final decision is. Meanwhile the Mara Triangle will continue to received funds raised to date and we are very proud to have been able to help raise over $150,000 through your donations on the blog and as well as a grant we helped to write to USF&W. Together with other partners, WildifeDirect was able to help the Mara Conservancy through the recent crisis.

Thankfully the tourism situation in Kenya and especially the Mara is much improved and the crisis caused by the collapse in tourism seems to be over for now.

Like you all, we look forward to having Kimojino, the other rangers and Will back on the WildlifeDirect Mara Triangle blog.

Kind regards
Paula

Paula, on 04 Sep 2008

Hi Virginia, I just checked the comment moderation queue and there were 4 comments for moderation - I didn’t see one from you in the queue or in the spam folder, so I’m not sure what happened :( , it’s rare for comments to ‘vanish’. …., could you try re- posting that comment? Paula

ALAN, on 04 Sep 2008

I may be missing something here. where is the donation boxes”on the right” as it says.
I have looked all over your site,and i know people have donated, but i can’t find these elusive boxes.
MASAADA!
ASANTE SANA
ALAN

Virginia, on 04 Sep 2008

Hello Paula, check on the Gorilla Blog, you will have 2 comments I have tried to leave early this morning, awaiting for moderation. I use Wordpress myself for my own blog, so sure they cannot vanish. As for the Mara situation, it seems like the tourism situation for them is far from normal, that means they desperately need the visibility and incoming money to keep up with the $50,000 a month. Where have they moved their blog to?

Dana-Phoenix Arizona, on 04 Sep 2008

Virginia - Use the ‘latest blog post’ link on the right side of this page - it will take you to the Mara Conservancy website.

Virginia, on 05 Sep 2008

Thanks Dana for the info!

paula, on 05 Sep 2008

Hi Virginia, you are right its not ‘normal’ (in Mara normal = seriously busy) but its no longer a crisis and the organization has reported that the shortfall at the end of may was less than USD 2,000. Tourism reports in Kenya also suggest that the situation is no longer a crisis, tourists are coming back and there were good bookings through the last three months. You can get the mara triangle monthly report through their blog. I do think that the MT should definitely put aside funds for future emergencies though - tourism is not very reliable in the long term.

Steve, on 12 Sep 2008

I think it’s really sad that we can no longer donate to the Mara Triangle. It’s clear from their website that they still need the donations…

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