MERC is located at the Dopoi Center, a hub of community organizing and international collaboration.
Prescott College Student Ale Gaytan conducted research on the quality of water in neighborhood of the Dopoi Center, 2016.
A Field Station of Prescott College
Dopoi houses our collaboration with our closest International Partners, and is the home of Prescott College, in Maasailand. As a field station, Dopoi hosts Collaborative Research and International Study programs,
Meeting of the Mara Guides Association, 2020.
A Hub of Community Activism
Dopoi is a resource for the Maasai community and host to many meetings, trainings and ceremonies, and a base of organizing.
Sirinyi Ole Togom and Pilot Cabo.t
A Center of Community Based Tourism
The Dopoi Center welcomes visitors looking for a different kind of tourist experience. Dopoi houses the yearly Maasai Field Guide Training Program, the office of the Mara Guides Association, the Olosho Bead Cooperative, and is the future home of the Maasai Automotive Education Center.
The Dopoi Center is located on ten acres of land overlooking the Maasai Mara Game Reserve in a rural and remote high savanna area of the Rift Valley near the town of Talek. The land is covered with acacia, olive, and other savanna vegetation and over 300 species of birds including weaver, shrike, and spurfowl. It is also inhabited by elephants, lions and other ungulate species, the latter especially during the months of June-October as it is on the path of the annual wildebeest migration from the Serengeti. The Center is surrounded by villages and their herds of cattle; several lodges are located nearby, especially along the Talek River, as well as private conservancies.
Dopoi Center and Maasai Mara Game Reserve.
Dopoi is located in a neighborhood of villages and we share the land with the larger community of people, herds of cattle, goats, sheep, and wildlife. The neighborhood includes two primary schools, and we support the community’s efforts to educate children in various ways. We also collaborate as a community on projects, most recently on a Rotary funded water project that serves the entire area.
Friends gather at a village next to the Dopoi Center, 2016.
The Dopoi Center currently houses a 5000 square foot office and classroom space, with internet and a small library, dorm style housing as well as more private accommodations, a campground for those who prefer to stay in a tent, a full kitchen and dining veranda, vegetable garden and orchard. It hosts community meetings throughout the year.
Dopoi Center common area; kitchen and faculty housing in the back.