John Kamanga
Co-Founder and Director
Born and raised as a Maasai pastoralist in the Southern Rift valley, John has a profound understanding of the challenges that coexistence between wildlife and people brings. He was fortunate to have had both a traditional pastoralist upbringing and also a solid grounding in formal education with degrees in both Community Development and Anthropology. Twenty years ago, he was elected as leader of his Maasai community (the people of Olkiramatian) and was able to support the development of their community conservancy, and supporting governance systems before handing over office last year. Over twelve years ago, he co-founded SORALO, in order to help many more communities facing the same issues of land security, livelihoods and living with wildlife.
Samantha Russell du Toit
Programmes Coordinator / Head of Information for Action
Samantha has worked with SORALO since its creation in 2004. She helped to establish the Lale’enok Resource Centre, coordinating long-term research activities, short-term internships and supporting our Education Outreach efforts. She has recently taken on the role of coordinating all our programmes, which has meant her work now involves fundraising, communications and general coordination. She splits her time between Nairobi, the Lale’enok Resource centre, and her husband’s toursim camp. Her two children travel with her wherever she goes.
Guy Western
Head of Conserving Coexistence
Since 2010, Guy has spearheaded the establishment of Rebuilding the Pride. Recently completing his PhD, Guy combines his experience and expertise to lead our Conserving Coexistence programme, where the teams of the community Game Scouts and Rebuilding the Pride join together to help communities to coexist with wildlife across the SORALO landscape.
Rahab Wandia
HR & Admin
Wandia has worked with SORALO for over 10 years, first coming to us as an administrative assistant. Now, she oversees the financial and administrative management systems for all of SORALO’s programmes. She mans our main office in Nairobi.
Parashina Lampat
Head of Governance
Parashina heads our rangelands governance programme that focuses on securing and strengthening communities rights to land through strong and effective local governance institutions. In particular, he is spearheading the development of land use plans for communally shared lands within the SORALO landscape. He has also been in charge of the cattle breeds improvement projects initiated in Loita, Naroosura and Namanga regions within the SORALO Landscape.
Ogeli Makui
Head of Rangelands
Mercy Waithira
Thematic Lead Information Training & Communication
Mercy Njeri Waithira is a conservation enthusiast based in Nairobi, Kenya. She is passionate about working with communities in maintaining healthy ecosystems for people and wildlife. Currently, she is leading the Information, Training and Communication thematic area in SORALO. Previously, she held different positions as a wildlife ecologist, conservation educator, and independent conservation researcher. She managed projects focusing on endangered species protection, habitat restoration, conservation outreach programmes and socio ecological resilience programmes. Academically, Mercy has a BSc. Wildlife Management from University of Nairobi and an MPhil. Conservation Leadership from University of Cambridge. Some of the conservation organisations she has worked with include ZSL, Ol Pejeta Conservancy and Birdlife International. She is an alumnus of the Conservation Leadership Programme and holds advisory roles in alumni associations in her alma mater.
Dennis Lemaiyan
Ecology Officer
Hellen Kayiaa
Inclusion & Gender
Hellen is a Sociologist with over 8 experience working with community in rural, urban and peri-urban areas. She is an accomplished trainer with a track record of successfully supporting humanitarian interventions that have led to sustainable livelihoods among communities she has worked with. Hellen has been involved in research where some of the impacts studies she developed have earned recognition by researchers internationally. She has a background in counselling psychology which is key in supporting aspects of social inclusion. She has great strengths in team building skills, mobilization and communication with a special interest on matters of social inclusion. She supports the inclusion and enterprise development programme in the organization. The programme mostly focuses on women enterprises activities targeting women groups within the landscape with aim of building the capacity of women entrepreneurs to leverage on conservation benefits through eco-tourisms enterprises as way to support conservation and coexistence while also appreciate the role of women in conservation.
Isaac Mokoko
Conservancies and Conservation Coordinator Matapato
Moses Tenke
Data Analyst
Pheona Meneto
Data Analyst
Joseph Munge
Nelson Wahome
Lale_enok Camp Manager
Nixon Koitan
Purchasing Officer
Maryanneh Kasaine
Officer
Namnyak Katinge
Accountant
Jedidah Molonket
Purchasing Dept Intern
