Part three - wildlife harassment series
When the Narok County Council managed Maasai Mara in the mid 1980s, administrators who could enforce wildlife harassment regulations were disorganized. Guiding standards were haphazard at best.
The Trans-Mara County Council and the Mara Conservancy didn't exist.
In the 1990s the reserve was divided into two sections: the Narok side, still governed by Narok County Council; and the Mara Triangle, administered by the newly formed Trans-Mara County Council.
But by the late 1990s the Triangle's infrastructure was abysmal and in such a state of disrepair that collapse was imminent, so Trans-Mara appointed the Mara Conservancy, a non-profit organization, to revitalize infrastructure and establish a prime conservation area within the Triangle.
Since then, two management styles have emerged: the Triangle preserves biodiversity and the Narok side maintains some semblance of enforcement.
Each have created their own code of conduct flyers that rangers pass out to driver/guides and visitors at various gates.
Content covers topics such as visitor etiquette, maintaining safe distances from wildlife, and crowding - ruling that no more than five vehicles at any given time can view leopards, lions and cheetahs. However, a few of the rules are not universal.
Sometimes this information is lost somewhere in the implementation process when administration runs out of copies, drivers don't receive them, they are not passed out to clients or ultimately not read.
Aware of inconsistent management and enforcement plus a plethora of other concerns that need to be tackled to preserve the Mara's biodiversity and wildlife, both county councils developed the Maasai Mara Management Plan 2009 - 2019.
An excerpt from the plan's proposal states: "Very high levels of visitor use, especially the harassing/crowding of wildlife and off-road driving in unsuitable conditions and locations, as well as rapidly expanding tourism accommodation developments in the greater ecosystem, are all having a severe impact on the Reserve's environment and exceptional natural habitats."
But the plan has yet to be implemented and the dates now read 2010 to 2020.
Trans-Mara has signed the proposal, but as of this posting, Narok County Council has not. Without those signatures the government will not approve the plan.
Part four - how effective are conservancies against wildlife harassment?
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