麻豆社

Meet the team who have witnessed the rise and fall of the Marsh Pride first-hand.

Simon Thomsett has been handling raptors since he was six years. In 1976, he rescued Rosy, a male Crowned Eagle in the Aberdares and Simon dedicated his life to his care. Since then he has rescued over three thousand injured, orphaned, poisoned and sick raptors.

In 1991 Simon began the Peregrine Fund raptor conservation and research work in Kenya. He has travelled to Madagascar, Ethiopia, Tanzania, Ivory Coast, Cape Verde Islands, India and Nepal, supporting and training dozens of academic students in raptor conservation, encouraging the rehabilitation of raptors including the art and science of falconry, and improving raptor veterinary practices.

Simon has appeared in several 麻豆社 and National Geographic documentaries. Having constructed 5 centres in protected areas in Kenya, Simon built a remote raptor centre on in 2014 where he now lives.

In 2015, along with Shiv Kapila and Sarah Higgins, he co-founded the as a means to not only conduct practical raptor conservation but also to ensure that the injured birds that will never be releasable are secure for their lifetime, which in the case of Rosy was 42 years.

Dr Paula Kahumbu is an ecologist committed to transforming conservation results in Africa and the world through science, advocacy and education. She is one of Africa’s best-known wildlife conservationists and is the CEO of .

The campaign with Her Excellency Margaret Kenyatta, the First Lady of the Republic of Kenya is Paula's brainchild. The campaign is widely recognised for its singular successes in advocacy and the engagement of the people of Kenya to support the protection of elephants.

She is the producer and presenter of Africa’s first wildlife documentary series made by Africans called which seeks to transform the conservation literacy in Africa by shining a light on the continents front line conservationists. The award winning series is broadcast on free to air channels and in schools across Kenya through the Wildlife Warriors Kids program which takes children on scientific wilderness expeditions.

Paula holds the title Order of the Grand Warrior (OGW) and is the Rolex NatGeo Explorer of the Year 2021, winner of the Whitley Gold Award 2021, and is a National Geographic Emerging Explorer.

Simon King was born in Nairobi when his father, John King, was working for the Forces Broadcasting Overseas. Perhaps Simon’s love of wildlife began in Africa. It certainly influenced his first career choice.

As a child he became an actor in his father’s wildlife drama, The Fox. Simon still recalls vivid memories of the discomfort of being dressed in knickerbockers and the delight of holding a fox! At the age of only 13 he teamed up with naturalist Mike Kendal to create a series of programmes entitled Man and Boy – his first foray into explaining the mysteries of nature to the general public.

Simon went on to create, film, direct and present many award-winning TV programmes and films. Some of the best known being Springwatch, Big Cat Diary, Planet Earth, Blue Planet and the Life series, plus more recently .

Jackson Looseyia is a conservationist and highly acclaimed safari guide with over 25 years of experience guiding in the Mara.

Having grown up in the area, he has a deep understanding of every nook and cranny in the Maasai Mara and intimate knowledge of the wildlife. Jackson has a special affinity with the Marsh Pride lions who he has followed since he was a child.

He has worked with 麻豆社 Big Cat Diaries and other wildlife documentaries. Jackson's passion is to help protect the wildlife of Kenya by educating people and showing them the animals in their natural habitat.

Jonathan is a writer, photographer, television presenter and conservationist who has been following the Marsh Pride of lions since he first came to live in the Maasai Mara in Kenya in 1977.

He was born in England in 1949, raised on a farm in Berkshire, studied Zoology at the Queen's University of Belfast (1968-72) before travelling overland through Africa in 1974. After two years in Botswana working with wildlife and developing his artistic and photographic skills he headed back overland to East Africa, re-acquainting himself with the wonder of the Maasai Mara and adjoining Serengeti in Tanzania that lie at the heart of a/the 25,000 sq km ecosystem. The Mara-Serengeti is the most spectacular wildlife habitat in the world, the same savanna Africa that Jonathan had fallen in love with as a child watching TV series such as On Safari with Armand and Michaela Dennis, and : the story of how Joy and George Adamson released a lioness called Elsa back in to the wild.

With his wife Angela, who is also an award winning wildlife photographer (and was the production stills photographer and game spotter for Big Cat Diary) they have written and illustrated numerous books documenting the lives of all three big cats as well as exploring the relationship between the Maasai people and the wild animals that they share the land with.

Jonathan and Angela are the recipients of multiple international awards for their books and photography and are Patrons or Ambassadors of a number of conservation and philanthropic organisations including the , , the , , and the . They founded the in 2021 to encourage everyone to reconnect to nature based on three pillars: to Inspire, Educate and Conserve.

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Michael is Community and Public Relations Manager for the .

He was born and raised in the Maasai Mara, Narok county, Kenya. He graduated with a Bachelor’s degree in Environment and Community Development from Kenyatta University and enrolled for a MA in Environmental Planning and Management at the University of Nairobi.

Michael joined (KWT) flagship projects: Mara Lion and Mara Cheetah Projects in 2014 and started working as a Chief Community Officer until 2018 when the two projects merged to form what is now Mara Predator Conservation Programme where his job title changed to Community and Public Relations Manager.

Michael’s passion is working with people to create an enabling environment for wildlife to co-exist with livestock and managing the interaction to avoid conflict. His research interests are on understanding drivers of change in a mix-use environment to inform managers on ways to mitigate negative interactions that lead to conflicts. He is also interested in understanding community dynamics that affect the future of conservation in private or communal lands set aside for conservation.