Kenya: Saving Maasai Mara From Itself
The Nation (Nairobi)
November 29, 2006
Jeff Otieno
Construction of new hotels, camps and lodges in the Maasai Mara - one of Kenya's tourism gem - has been outlawed.
The move, the Government says, is aimed at saving the ecosystem from degradation. The reserve is one of the world's most popular tourist destination. It is facing difficult times owing to human encroachment and mushrooming of hotels, lodges and camps.
The announcement comes after the annual wildebeest migration - which occurs between Mara Game Reserve and Serengeti National Parks - was named one of the seven new wonders of the world by a major American television.
While making the announcement, aired by ABC television network, a major American channel, the panel of experts singled out the uniqueness of the Mara-Serengeti ecosystem and the preservation it provides to both flora and fauna.
Expected to increase
Currently, there are more than 43 tourist facilities in the Mara, with a total bed capacity of 4,000. But the number is expected to increase as new lodges spring up every year.
The new trend is worrying the Kenya Tourism Board, which is now warning of an imminent environmental degradation.
"We have to control encroachment of settlements into the park to ensure the quality is maintained," says KTB chairman Jake Grieves Cook.
About 70 per cent of the establishments are in the dispersal areas, also referred to as group ranches.
Environmentalists have for a long time warned that the number of animals roaming the undulating landscape may reduce drastically if nothing is done to control human settlements, hotels and lodges.
In fact, the 1,510km squared reserve might lose one of its rare spectacle - the annual migration of more than 10,000 wildebeests from the neighbouring Serengeti National Park, which attracts thousands of tourists around the world.
The wildebeests cross the crocodile infested Mara River in July and feed on the lush grass in the table-land savannah landscape. They deposit an estimated 60,000 tonnes of dung on the Mara before heading back to the Serengeti in September.
"We had to take the radical decision because everybody who wants to put up an hotel or a lodge is heading to Maasai Mara. This will compromise the quality of the area," says minister Morris Dzoro.
The KTB managing director, Dr Achieng Ongong'a, concurs, saying diversification of tourism products must be encouraged to ease pressure on Maasai Mara.
To ensure this is done, a committee has been formed under the Ministry of Tourism and Wildlife to draw up guidelines on construction within and outside protected areas.
Mr Dzoro says the Mara ecosystem has to be protected from man-made causes if it is to continue being one of the best tourist destinations in the world.
A visit by the Nation revealed that a problem is, indeed, in the offing. Constructions are taking place near the borders of the reserve, interfering with free movement of animals inside and outside the park. It also affects the animals' breeding habits.
A national park or a game reserve needs a buffer zone - open space beyond the boundaries of protected areas - to act as wildlife corridors and breeding grounds. In the Mara, this area is under threat.
Small urban centres comprising houses made of stones, mud and corrugated iron sheets are also coming up in a desperate attempt to cash in on tourism.
Centres which have come up in the recent past include Mararianta, Sekenani and Aitong, all on the Narok side.
Ololoolo, which was on the Transmara side, was demolished after the Mara Conservancy which manages part of the reserve that extends into the district reached an agreement with the residents.
Ploughed back to communities
The problem is giving players in the industry sleepless nights as the Mara - shared by Narok and Transmara districts - generates about Sh520 million annually.
Out of the total revenue, 19 per cent is ploughed back to the communities bordering the game reserve.
Subdivision of Mara group ranches such as Lemek, Koyiaki, Siana, Naikarra, Kimintet Olonkolin, Moyoi and others into individual holdings is opening up the area to small and large-scale farming.
The area where sub-division is taking place forms the dispersal perimeter of the Mara, and also act as a wildlife corridor and a breeding site.
"We are worried. There are changes in land use, with irrigation farming slowly creeping in near the reserve. This will be a problem in future," says Kolongo Maurice of Mpata Safari Club.
He cites a case where lodge owners sought help from the provincial administration to stop a large-scale farmer from using the Mara River for irrigation last year when the drought was at its peak.
Something has to be done soon. The Mara-Serengeti ecosystem is a sensitive natural resource that could easily be degraded by uncontrolled planning and development.
Halting constructions in the reserve comes at a time when the Government is in the process of popularising domestic tourism.
The project, co-ordinated by the Tourism ministry, follows concerns over low domestic tourism figures.
Tourism ministry official David Kigochi says the project involves popularising tourist destinations and distributing promotion materials to companies, schools and colleges.
"Kenyans are yet to appreciate tourism. This is what the ministry wants to change," he says.
The official, who heads the project, says there is much more to tourism than coastal beaches, where the majority of elite Kenyans spend their Easter and Christmas holidays. "The hinterland has attractive sites that many people don't know about," he Mr Kigochi.
Plan for the ecosystem
To salvage the Mara from negative human activities, players in tourism have crafted a plan for the ecosystem. It aims at halting irreversible damage to the industry, owing to unplanned development.
The association brings together county councils, environmentalists, hotels and lodges. It has already sent a Sh103 million proposal to the Tourism Trust Fund to try and buy out people owning pieces of land around the reserve.
"We want to leave an open space and ensure the buffer zone is not settled for free movement of animals," says Siampei Parmois of the Mara Conservancy. The conservancy manages the reserve on behalf of the Transmara County Council.
The plan is important because a chunk of the animal population resides outside the parks.
Mr Parmois's colleague, Mr Sarisar Nkadaru, a deputy administrator, says the project will buy out about 200 people to create the buffer zone.
The chief executive officer of the Tourism Trust Fund, Dr Dan Kagagi, confirms that the organisation has received the proposal and is studying it.
"The business advisory committee will look at it and, if approved, a field appraisal will be conducted," he says.
Dr Kagagi adds that the project advisory committee will then forward the recommendations to the board, which will make the final decision.
Extend plan beyond Mara
However, he says, unplanned construction in the Mara has to be checked. "This is why we started consensus building on the issue way back in 2003".
The programme to protect tourist attractions and ensure quality services will not be confined to the Mara, but will also include Western, Tana, North Rift and Samburu areas.
"It will also identify places where hotels can be built, besides accessing the capacity to different destinations, the appropriate number of hotels for different areas and the bed capacity," Dr Kagagi says.
The poor state of infrastructure has been a major let-down to tourism. Roads leading to the country's major game parks and reserves are in a pathetic state.
Accessing Maasai Mara during the rainy season is virtually impossible as roads leading to the popular destination are reduced to cow paths.
Tour drivers, hotel owners and tourists alike complain every year about the poor state of the roads, but very little has been done so far.
Dr Kagagi says the programme will also seek ways of improving the roads in and outside the protected areas.
"It is a process that would have happened 10 years ago. The good thing is that people have now realised that we need to do something or lose the resource altogether."
To streamline the industry, Mr Dzoro says the ministry is formulating a sessional paper and a Tourism Bill, which will soon be tabled in Parliament.
The Bill will involve the review of Acts such as the Hotel and Restaurant Act Cap 494, Tourism Industry Licensing Act Cap 381 and Wildlife Conservation and Management Act Cap 376
