Kenya and Tanzania are set to renew their joint commitment to protect the fragile Mara River ecosystem as top government officials, conservationists and community leaders converge in Bomet County for the 15th anniversary of Mara Day celebrations.
The four-day regional event, scheduled for September 12 to 15, will bring together stakeholders from the two East African Community (EAC) partner states to chart a common strategy for the sustainable management and conservation of the transboundary basin.
Organised by the Lake Victoria Basin Commission (LVBC), an institution of the EAC, the celebrations will climax with a main ceremony at Bomet Stadium on September 15, 2026.
LVBC Executive Secretary Dr. Masinde Bwire confirmed that Cabinet Secretaries and Ministers in charge of Environment, Water and Wildlife dockets from both countries, alongside Governors from the basin counties, are expected to attend.
“A series of preparatory meetings involving stakeholders from the two EAC partner states have already been held. The aim is to create awareness and promote conservation of this vital shared resource that millions depend on,” Dr. Bwire said.
This year’s celebrations will be held under the theme “Mara River, Diverse Lives: Keep It Thriving”— a call to action highlighting the river’s central role in supporting biodiversity, livelihoods and economies.
According to the programme, build-up activities will begin on September 12 and include exhibitions by conservation agencies, large-scale tree planting drives along degraded sections of the river, installation of beacons to demarcate riparian reserves, inter-community sports tournaments, school essay competitions and environmental clean-up exercises.
A high-level scientific and stakeholders’ forum is also slated for Bomet University on September 14, where experts are expected to deliberate on emerging threats to the river, including catchment degradation, pollution, encroachment on wetlands, and the effects of climate change.
The 395-kilometre Mara River is a lifeline for East Africa. Flowing from the Mau Forest Complex in Kenya through to Lake Victoria in Tanzania, it sustains the world-renowned Maasai Mara National Reserve and Serengeti National Park.
Its waters support the spectacular annual wildebeest migration involving over 1.5 million animals, and provide water for domestic use, livestock and large-scale agriculture for millions of people in Bomet, Narok, Migori and Mara regions.
Mara Day was established in 2012 by the East Africa Community (EAC) Council of Ministers responsible for Lake Victoria Basin affairs and is marked every year during the peak of the wildebeest migration to underscore the ecological link between the river and the migration.
Kenya and Tanzania host the celebrations on a rotational basis.
Last year’s edition was held in Butiama, Tanzania — the birthplace of founding President Julius Nyerere.
Over the past decade, the Mara Day platform has delivered key regional milestones, including the signing of a Memorandum of Understanding on joint transboundary water resources management and the establishment of the Mara River Transboundary Water Users’ Forum, which brings together communities from both sides of the border.
This year’s event in Bomet, which sits within the upper catchment of the Mara, is strategic in rallying upstream communities to protect water towers and adopt sustainable farming practices to reduce siltation downstream.
By Chris Mahandara
