Mara Mobile Veterinary Unit

Category: Wildlife | Date: Mar 21 2007 | By: admin

My last post regarding Maasai cattle sentiment disturbed some people and I found it would be fair if I clarify my point in more details.　　The point I wanted to make was importance of livestock compensation in order to reduce the incident of human wildlife conflict. The case of 3 lions was an unfortunate incident and caused unnecessary loss of wildlife since the owner could have reported to Mara Conservancy for compensation.

As I mentioned in my last post, Maasai sentiment towards cattle is the reason why people revenge when the livestock is killed by large carnivore. But we should not forget that it is this same cattle sentiment that is keeping the savannah ecosystem and wildlife alive in the area adjacent to the reserve, thus allowing wildlife to move freely between the reserve boundaries. Livestock, cattle in particular, has much more than an economical value to Maasai and most people find it difficult to change their lifestyle completely. If the land adjacent to Mara was owned by non-Maasai, especially by an agricultural tribe, the wildlife in this area would have been exterminated long time ago and all the land would be fenced off. A good example of this is the area surrounding Mount Kenya National Park, in the heart of Kikuyu land. The wildlife in this park is confined within electric fence and no wild animals are found outside of the park. People do not tolerate elephants destroying their crops nor large carnivores wondering into nearby villages. They are scared of wildlife and would report to authority when such case happens (problem animal is either translocated or shot dead).

This is not the case here in the Mara. Traditional Maasai pastoral system allows wildlife to coexist with livestock because it doesn’t involve fencing of the land and the fact that people do not mind living close to wild animals. Maasai are surprisingly tolerant of wildlife. Women wait until the elephant crosses the river so they can wash their cloths. Men do not mind walking pass the lion on the road. Children walk across the savannah full of zebra and giraffe when they are going to school. That is their daily lifestyle. Unfortunately, all these attitude change when something threatens their livestock. If you ask a Maasai what cattle means to them, they would tell you it is ‘maisha yetu’ (our life). Thus, Maasai would fight against lion or even Kuria tribe with guns (cattle thief), if it ever threatens their cattle.

This map shows Trans Mara district. The pink area is the Mara Triangle, the wildlife protected area (510 sq km) Blue area is Koiyaki-Lemek wildlife protected area on the Narok district side and yellow area is commercial wheat farms (Purko Maasai leasing their land). Then red line shows the reserve boundary, the escarpment. No fence is built around the reserve. Finally, the purple area shows the part of Siria Maasai land where you can find significant number of wild herbivores and carnivores. This area, of course is outside the reserve, in someone’s property. Good number of lions and leopards are found in the area of Olukurruk, Olerian, Kiringani, Kawai, Kimintet and Kirindoni. These are prime residential area for the Maasai, with primary schools and churches. Thick forests are scattered in the area between Kimintet and Kirindoni. This is an important feeding and breeding grounds for elephants.

This map shows the land use pattern for the same area. You can see that beige colored savannah ecosystem extends from the reserve into the Maasai land. During the dry season, herbivores move up the escarpment and graze in Maasai land and large carnivores follow the prey. The forest area (dark green area) within wildlife reserve is limited to riverine area and elephants migrate up the escarpment every night to feed. Large elephant population is found in the forest located just passed Lolgorian town, 32km away from the escarpment. If these lands become unavailable for wildlife for any reason, I truly doubt that reserve’s carrying capacity can support all the wildlife in this area. On this map, the agricultural land (light green area) on the bottom is owned by Kuria tribe (95% of wildlife poachers in Mara are of Kuria origin) and top is owned by Kalenjin and Kisii tribes. Now, we got local farmer and charcoal business encroaching from two sides of the Maasai land and commercial wheat farmers encroaching Koiyaki area on Narok side. Both are good business since you just have to lease out the land, but most Siria Maasai will not agree to lease out their land. Why? Because the same grazing ground that is supporting the wildlife outside the reserve is important grazing ground for the Maasai cattle. They cannot lease out the land because it means limited pasture for their animals. This is why I mentioned in the beginning that Maasai cattle sentiment is protecting the savannah ecosystem. The day Maasai change their attitude towards cattle is the day all wildlife habitat outside the reserve disappears. Then wildlife population living in the area as vast as reserve itself would have no place to go. I believe that Maasai are the protector of the savannah thus in turn protector of wildlife.