Boots on the Ground: The Voices Shaping Elephant Conservation in Kenya
- EPI Secretariat
- 3 days ago
- 5 min read
Our friend of the month series for the year 2026 begins with a feature on Dibblex Lesalon, a storyteller and community-led conservation expert from Kenya (a member state of the EPI since 2015). Dibblex works for the Mara Elephant Project (MEP) as the Community Engagement & Outreach Coordinator, and he is the founder and host of the Boots on the Ground podcast, a platform dedicated to amplifying African voices for conservation, one conversation at a time.
To begin, could you briefly describe the work you do today?
My work currently entails conservation education, outreach activities, and working directly with communities across the Greater Mara Ecosystem to mitigate human-elephant conflict by disseminating information and knowledge on effective HEC reporting tools and techniques that aid rapid response from our ground teams.
Looking back, what was your childhood like, and did an early connection with nature play a role in shaping who you are now?
I grew up in Narok County surrounded by abundant wildlife species. Having come from a family that loves travelling, I was introduced to nature, wildlife, and people from a very young age. I was also very outdoorsy as a child, and I have very fond memories of exploring nature and being amused by it. Fast forward to my school days, I got the opportunity to study at Strathmore University, where I pursued a Bachelor of Science Degree in Tourism Management, a path that has cemented my passion for all things sustainability and community-led conservation initiatives to date.
At what point did elephants and conservation more broadly become central to your life’s work? What drew you into this space?
Having worked in the tourism and hospitality industry, I got the chance to work in very remote and wild places in Kenya, for example, the Lewa Wildlife Conservancy and the Maasai Mara, opportunities that gave me the chance to understand the direct interrelation between tourism and conservation and how they mutually go together. As a wildlife tourism-driven economy, Kenya boasts some of the world’s most iconic species, and elephants make a huge chunk of that pie. Fast forward to when I got the opportunity to serve as Communications Officer for the Mara Elephant Project; that is when I really got a first-hand experience and good understanding of the elephant as a species, their social structures, the threats facing them, and my contribution to sharing stories that directly tell of their significance in the larger ecosystem and why their conservation matters more than ever in the 21st century.
You’re deeply involved in fieldwork. Could you tell us more about what “boots on the ground” conservation looks like in practice and what inspired you to create this platform?
I love the fact that every day, I get to experience what conservation on the ground is like. Interacting with field teams, especially the rangers, the people working on the frontlines to ensure our wildlife and wild spaces are safe and secure, is what truly motivates me. Whether it’s attending to an elephant treatment, engaging in a collaring operation, or hosting visitors who are interested in learning about elephant conservation work, the work itself is very fulfilling. Boots on the Ground Podcast is a platform that I founded, having the same mindset and belief that stories, when told correctly, can and always do inspire hearts and minds towards collective action.
I created the platform to share stories of exemplary men and women across Africa and beyond who are on the ground, putting in the work, and getting their hands in the mud, spending hours away from their families to safeguard our shared biodiversity. I am grateful for the stories we have told and keep telling, and the youthful population across the African continent is now showing a lot of interest and potential that we are ready to take up the leadership mantle, couple technology and indigenous knowledge to ensure that conservation works and that our wildlife is surviving and thriving, local communities' livelihoods are improving, and that the wildlife economy is working and benefitting every player in the sector.
Your content strongly centers on wildlife conservation and storytelling. Do you see yourself primarily as a conservationist who communicates or a communicator whose mission is conservation?
Deep in my core, I’m driven by what I see daily, whether it is a snare that has been removed, charcoal that has been intercepted somewhere, or a poacher that has been arrested with a piece of ivory somewhere, and I feel the pain and therefore am driven by the urge to be the voice for nature. I would therefore like to believe that I am a conservationist who communicates. It is a very interesting space to be in since I am on the ground and interacting and meeting all these challenges directly in my line of work. The content that I share by bringing in experts, who are equally passionate and on the ground putting in the work, resonates well with my ideals and the values that I hold dear as a pro-conservationist.
A key part of conservation is community engagement. Do you feel progress is being made in winning the hearts and minds of the communities living around the Mara?
Conservation work is very daunting; sometimes you make one big step forward, and other times you make two steps back. The biggest challenge we now face is the human-wildlife conflict, and this touches the communities we work hand in hand with. The expansion of the human footprint has brought its fair share of challenges, and the headache facing a lot of conservation organizations is how to balance the needs of people and nature and ensure coexistence and a win-win situation for both parties. Community engagement is at the core of what we do.
What I have come to appreciate is that when communities feel seen, heard, and invited to serve and make decisions, it makes work very easy for all parties involved. Equal employment opportunities, gender equality, decision-making, and equal compensation are some of the things that communities care about, and if done correctly, everyone wins and our wildlife and wild spaces remain safe and intact. The Maasai community have long been conservationists since time immemorial.
With a thriving ecotourism business and a conservation model through the creation of community conservancies, community members across the Mara are reaping benefits from tourism and conservation. Are there challenges still facing communities? Yes, there are. Are there members of the community that still feel left out? Yes, there are, but I would like to argue that there is a lot of work still to be done; there is still a lot of fundraising to do to create more opportunities for our young people and to protect some of the threatened spaces, such as the Loita forest, from destruction. There is progress, and I believe that by working more collectively, we could achieve more and better.
The Mara, with its wildlife, people, and protected areas, is globally significant yet increasingly under pressure. Looking ahead 50 years, what is your vision for the Mara’s future?
Looking ahead, I see a vibrant, safe, wildlife-rich ecosystem where conservation and tourism activities are locally run and driven. A technologically and data-driven sector where young people truly understand what it means to protect and improve what our forefathers fought so hard to protect.