Kenya’s successful conservation model – which has protected wildlife for decades – may be on the verge of crumbling.
The giraffes peeked out from above the trees, perhaps curious to see what the hullabaloo was about. Sensing danger, a herd of wildebeests grazing nearby beat a hasty retreat across the fields.
What had been an ordinary Saturday morning in September in the Maasai Mara, one of Kenya’s most important conservation areas, had been disrupted by club-wielding Maasai pastoralists driving herds of cattle into a vast expanse of land set aside for wildlife.
Incidents like this one are becoming more common in a land dispute that has unfolded over the past year pitting the Maasai Mara Wildlife Conservancies Association (MMWCA) against a splinter group of livestock farmers.
The disgruntled farmers lease parcels of their land to tourism operators through the MMWCA, which they accuse of cutting landowners out of key decisions and not paying them a fair slice of tourism profits. The farmers now want to renege on contracts with the MMWCA that are not set to
expire until 2025.
The outcome of the dispute could have a profound impact on the future of wildlife in and around Kenya’s Maasai Mara National Reserve, the lucrative tourist trade it anchors, and even conservation efforts beyond the country.
“Because of this model, Kenya has been recognised internationally for providing some good examples of integrating livestock production and wildlife conservation,” MMWCA CEO Daniel Sopia told Al Jazeera. “But if landowners begin pulling their land from the conservancies, it could
fracture animal habitats and constrain wildlife mobility.”
