84% of wildlife counted in Mara live in community conservancies

Caption: A black rhino with a calf photographed in the Mara during an evidence-based survey conducted with support from WWF-Kenya in May 2023. Photo | Maasai Mara National Reserve

Majority of wildlife species, 83.7%,  counted in the last census 2021 in the Maasai Mara Ecosystem live in community conservancies with only 16.2% in the protected areas in the Maasai Mara National Reserve and Mara Triangle. 

The most abundant wildlife species in the Maasai Mara Ecosystem are wildebeests (37,281), common zebras (32358), bufallos (11,604), impalas (10610), and Thompson gazelle’s (8,278). There are 2,595 elephants in the Mara ecosystem, a slight increase from  2,493 individuals recorded in 2017. 

“Wildlife census data sharing  is important for scientific research and monitoring the trends to help make policies for wildlife management. More important is the engagement of communities to understand and appreciate how the growth of wildlife numbers can translate to prosperity and improvement of livelihoods. Conservation as a land use must be meaningful and beneficial to people for it to be sustainable.” said Samson Lenjir, National Elephant Programme Coordinator, WWF-Kenya. 

Lenjir was speaking on Tuesday, 3o May, during the dissemination of the Aerial Census of Large Mammals in Maasai Mara Ecosystem (2021) to stakeholders in Narok County.

The aerial study counted 15 large mammals, namely: wildebeest, common zebra, impala, Thomson’s gazelle, Grant’s gazelle, buffalo, topi, giraffe, eland, elephant, Kongoni, warthog, ostrich, waterbuck and lesser kudu.

Caption: A herd of elephants in the Maasai Mara Ecosystem. Photo | Doreen Munyi | WWF-Kenya

The report, prepared by the Wildlife Research and Training Institute with support of WWF-Kenya, noted that human  activities continue to mount pressure on the Maasai Mara Ecosystem with charcoal burning and tree felling destroying wildlife habitats and important catchment areas. Fencing of lands in this region is increasing and is fragementing the landscape as well as impeding wildlife movement. 

Speaking during the stakeholders’ dissemination meeting, Capt Robert Obriene, Senior Assistant Director, Community Relations and Outreach Division, Kenya Wildlife Service (KWS), said research information sharing by all partners will play a crucial role in the improvement of the management of wildlife and their habitats.

“The Ministry Wildlife, Tourism and Heritage is set to launch the National Human-Wildlife Coexistence Strategy that will address the issues of compensation, and provide elaborate mitigation strategies for dealing with human-wildlife co-existence. We’re working with the county wardens to specifically tackle the issue of wildlife corridors in their respective county spatial plans. When this is addressed, this issue will be reduced. More importantly, partners in all wildlife ecosystems must work together in sharing research information for the better management of wildlife and their habitats,” said Capt Obriene.

Other key  stakeholders represented in the wildlife census results dissemination were the Narok County Government, Maasai Mara Wildlife Conservancies Association, Kenya Wildlife Conservancies Association, Kenya Wildlife Trust, Mara Elephant Project, The Pangolin Project, Mara North Conservancy, Mara Siana Conservancy, Olare Motorogi Conservancy, Friends of Conservation Kenya, Nyekweri Olorien, Nashulai Conservancy, Nyekweri Kimintet, among others. 

By Joel Muinde