Electric Bikes and Solar Safari Vehicles Take Root in Kenya's Maasai Mara

Rangers patrolling Kenya's Maasai Mara are increasingly moving through the grasslands without the rumble of a petrol engine. Joshua Kijape, a Mara-Siana ranger attached to Entumoto Safari Camp, has spent the past year on an electric motorcycle, using its near-silent motor to approach wildlife and, when needed, poachers.

"With this bike, I can get closer to the animals without disturbing them," he said. "And when you are following poachers, they cannot hear you coming."

The shift is part of a wider effort to extend Africa's energy transition into wildlife reserves, replacing fuel-powered transport with vehicles charged by the sun. Conservation operators in the Mara are assessing whether electric mobility can lower fuel and maintenance costs while reducing noise in a key ecosystem — a question that gains urgency during the annual wildebeest migration, when animals, tourists and conservation teams crowd the reserve.

Jason Knauf, CEO of the BBC programme The Earthshot Prize, said the development shows the transition reaching beyond cities. "The Mara is one of the world's most demanding environments, and if clean technology can prove reliable, affordable and effective there, it strengthens the case for scaling it across other conservation landscapes and remote communities," he said.

For ROAM, the Nairobi-based electric motorcycle company behind Kijape's bike, the Mara serves as an engineering test of whether a Kenyan-built e-bike can handle rough tracks, long patrols and remote conditions. CEO Filip Lovstrom said eliminating the noise of petrol bikes creates a quieter environment that benefits both animals and tourists, and argued that economics could drive wider adoption. Instead of hauling petrol from the port of Mombasa into nature, he said, operators can charge vehicles with solar power on site.

ROAM's e-bike covers about 160 kilometres between charges, but longer patrols will require charging points along routes. Because the bikes can plug into a standard 10-amp socket, Lovstrom said, stations can be built around relatively small solar and battery systems.

The market extends beyond conservation. Communities near wildlife areas often depend on motorcycles where roads are poor and alternatives scarce. Emboo River Camp in the Mara has used electric safari vehicles since 2019, charging them exclusively with solar power, according to co-founder and co-director Loic Amado.

"It's an extremely good use case for electric vehicles," Amado said. "They're silent, sustainable, environmentally friendly and most importantly economical."

What began as an experiment has grown through his other firm, EERA LAB, into a broader sustainability operation supporting 25 lodges across East Africa with solar power, wastewater treatment and electric-vehicle conversions. Emboo has expanded its EV fleet and more than tripled its solar energy system to meet demand.

Kenya has only a small number of electric safari vehicles in operation, concentrated in the Mara and a few other conservation areas, though the concept is drawing larger operators. Amado said Asilia, which runs about 20 lodges across East Africa, now operates its electric fleet. EERA LAB has also developed a dashboard tracking energy generation and consumption, water levels, recycling and the solar power used to charge vehicles.

Converting conventional safari vehicles costs between $35,000 and $45,000, Amado said, but the investment can pay for itself in roughly two and a half to three years through fuel and maintenance savings. "It's all running on sunshine, and we have plenty of it," he said.

For Amado, the aim goes beyond replacing individual petrol vehicles. "Our goal is to make the Maasai Mara net zero by 2035," he said.