Mwanza. Kenya will host the 15th Mara Day celebrations next week, bringing together officials and stakeholders from Kenya and Tanzania to discuss the conservation of the Mara River ecosystem.
The four-day event will run from September 12 to 15, 2026, in Bomet County, with the main celebrations scheduled for September 15 at Bomet Stadium.
The event comes as the two East African Community (EAC) partner states continue efforts to protect the Mara River, a shared water resource that supports wildlife, tourism, agriculture and communities in both countries.
Executive Secretary of the Lake Victoria Basin Commission (LVBC), Dr Masinde Bwire, said senior officials from Kenya and Tanzania, including Cabinet secretaries and ministers responsible for relevant sectors, are expected to attend.
“A series of meetings between representatives and stakeholders from the two EAC Partner States have been held to prepare for this important event, whose aim is to create awareness and promote the conservation of the Mara ecosystem,” said Dr Bwire.
The celebrations will include tree planting, environmental clean-up campaigns, exhibitions, sports and games, essay competitions and the marking of riparian setbacks along the Mara River.
A stakeholders’ forum will be held at Bomet University on September 14 before the main celebrations the following day.
Mara Day was established in 2012 after the 10th Sectoral Council of Ministers for the Lake Victoria Basin declared September 15 an annual day for raising awareness about conservation and sustainable management of the Mara River Basin.
The date falls during the annual wildebeest migration between Tanzania’s Serengeti National Park and Kenya’s Maasai Mara National Reserve, linking the event to one of East Africa’s best-known wildlife spectacles.
The Mara River Basin is shared by Kenya and Tanzania, making cooperation between the two countries central to its management.
Previous cooperation has included a memorandum of understanding between Kenya and Tanzania on the management of transboundary water resources and the establishment of the Mara River Transboundary Water Users’ Forum.
Kenya’s hosting of this year’s event follows Tanzania’s hosting of the 14th Mara Day celebrations in Butiama District, Mara Region, in 2025.
The theme for this year’s celebrations is “Mara River, Diverse Lives: Keep It Thriving”, translated into Swahili as “Mto Mara, Uhai wa Viumbe, Tuuutunze.”
