A visit to Maasai Mara evokes memories that remain etched in the minds of a visitor for a long time.
Nestled at about 224km southwest of Nairobi on the Great Rift Valley region, the ecosystem is well known for its diverse wildlife and rich habitats.
It is home to one of the wonders of the world: the Serengeti-Mara wildebeest migration.
Each year, tourists are lured to the ecosystem by the more than 2 million wildebeest migrating between Kenya and Tanzania.
The wildebeest join half a million gazelle and 200,000 zebra in the perilous trek from the Serengeti Park in Tanzania to the Maasai Mara reserve each year.
The Maasai Mara ecosystem is home to about 25 per cent of Kenya’s wildlife.
It hosts more than 95 mammal species besides being a recognised Important Bird Area with 550 bird species.
About 70 per cent of this wildlife is living outside the gazetted conservation area, the Maasai Mara National Reserve.
Adjacent land owned by local Maasai communities forms key dispersal and diversity areas.
Despite being a gem, Maasai Mara is now faced with various threats.
The de-fencing will open a window to conservation. It will provide a key corridor to connect us to other conservancies
LAND FRAGMENTATION
For the last 30 to 40 years, there has been a rapid and unequal socioeconomic development in the Mara, due in part to a history of land grabbing, poor governance, corruption and a lack of transparency.
A series of failed land management and ownership regimes, including communal land managed as group ranches, has left a legacy of distrust and a lack of community cohesion.
After the failure of group ranches, the land was subdivided among members, with a few powerful individuals amassing extensive benefits, while most landowners remained disempowered and disenfranchised.
In these expansive lands, the traditional Maasai community has been eking out a living mainly from livestock raised on communal rangelands, which in turn maintains habitat for wildlife.
This is, however, threatened by the proliferation of land subdivision, which does not augur well for wildlife.
A number of socioeconomic shifts, including the increasing need for cash for school and medical fees, have made matters worse as they threaten the viability of traditional rangeland management practices.
For instance, the land subdivision is driving a rampant increase in fencing and conversion of land to uses other than traditional grazing.
For this reason, the land is increasingly getting fragmented, negatively impacting contiguous landscapes for wildlife migration and making areas under cultivation inaccessible to wildlife.
This fragmentation increases the risks from climate change, which has caused shifts in weather patterns and erratic and unpredictable seasons.
Aware of the risks associated with land subdivision, the Maasai Mara Wildlife Conservancies Association has started engaging landowners with a view to de-fencing to secure wildlife corridors.
The association was formed in 2013 to serve as a membership organisation for current and future wildlife conservancies in the Greater Maasai Mara.
They have a mandate from landowners and tourism parties to play an overarching coordination role for the Greater Mara Ecosystem stakeholders.
By conserving the greater Maasai Mara ecosystem through this network of community-protected areas, the association ensures the prosperity of biodiversity and wildlife, the regional Maasai population, recreation, tourism and the nation of Kenya for generations to come.
Today, 15 wildlife conservancies have been established in areas surrounding the national reserve.
Though they are unique in natural habitat, size and structure, all share the philosophy that wildlife and residents can co-exist and thrive.
Landowners within the Pardamat Conservation Area have taken the initiative to remove fences that are blocking wildlife.
The conservation area is important to the wellbeing of the greater Mara ecosystem.
Pardamat is adjacent to Naboisho, Olkinyei, Lemek and Mara North conservancies. It serves as a migration route from the Loita plains that connect the four established conservancies to the Mara Triangle and then to the Maasai Mara National Reserve.
Additionally, its hilly and forested terrain is cherished by elephants for browsing amid rising threats, such as unplanned development, settlements and fencing.
Pardamat Conservation Area is premised on a mixed conservation model to ensure the survival of the greater Maasai Mara ecosystem and the generation of economic benefits for local communities.
Through this model, Pardamat community’s 850 landowners have legally registered their 26,000 hectares of land as a wildlife conservation area.
DE-FENCING
The removal of fences is meant to ensure that wildlife moves freely without interruption.
Pardamat Conservation Area liaison officer Gideon Pesi said the move is having a notable impact.
"We have started seeing wild animals that were last seen a long time ago, such as wild dogs," he said.
In Pardamat, one of the newest conservancies, landowners have already leased 18,000 acres and are progressively targeting all the 64,000 acres.
Pesi said 21 rangers have been trained. He said the livestock enterprise will be set up to support fees for landowners and operations of the conservancy.
The Sh2 million pilot project of fattening steers for one year led to the sale of the first batch of such livestock at about Sh3.8 million.
To build the tourism capacity of guides and another cadre of workers in the tourism industry, a Sh270 million state-of-the-art Wildlife Tourist College is being set up at Pardamat.
"We will be encouraging people to take wildlife courses to have a smooth transition and succession," he said.
Pesi said a 100-bed camp is set to come up at the hilltop.
"The de-fencing will open a window to conservation. It will provide a key corridor to connect us to other conservancies," he said, adding some critical corridors have already been opened.
But as landowners buy the idea of removing fences, they are faced with one challenge: their livestock are becoming vulnerable to predators, such as hyenas and lions.
Pesi said there are plans to increase more of such bomas to help landowners deal with the problem.
"As we open up land to wildlife, we expect predation to increase," Pesi said.
He said the main problem is that fences have blocked wildlife corridors and dispersal areas.
Pesi said each landowner gets an Sh8,000 bursary for their children.
Karia Lemontoi has already bought the idea of de-fencing his 20 acres.
Initially, all his land was fenced. But nine months have elapsed since he brought down the fence.
"There are benefits associated with the removal of fences. I get a lease fee every month on top of the bursary given to my children," he said.
Lemontoi, who has four wives, urged those who have put up fences to remove them.
PREDATOR-PROOF FENCES
Lemontoi said he needs a predator-proof boma to keep his livestock safe from marauding wildlife, such as hyenas and lions.
These predators hide in the hills during the day only to descend on livestock, such as goats and sheep, in the dead of the night, when everyone is asleep. Owners find their carcasses in the wee hours of the morning.
Simai ole Nkoitoi has also removed fences from his 20-acre piece of land.
"I decided to remove fences because wildlife and livestock can co-exist and bring benefits," he said.
Nkoitoi has since put all his land under lease and gets paid every month.
Tiapukel Ole Solol is another landowner in Pardamat Conservation Area.
In 2015, he lost 160 goats and sheep to marauding hyenas.
"We woke up in the morning only to find out that hyenas had killed 160 goats and sheep,” he said.
Solol could only see the fresh footprints of the beast.
“Hyenas are arrogant. They had their stomachs full before killing the rest and disappearing into thin air,” he said.
Solol tried following up with the Kenya Wildlife Service for compensation but nothing has been forthcoming.
On that fateful day, Solol estimated that he lost Sh800,000.
His expansive land is being used for wildlife conservation.
To wade off wildlife attacks, Solol has secured a predator-proof boma with the help of the Maasai Mara Wildlife Conservancies Association.
The boma is made up of wire mesh and metal posts and is estimated to cost Sh200,000.
"I can sleep well now that my sheep and goats are secured," he said.
