Jedidah Nankaya
The Maasai Mara Nationa Reserve (MMNR) is famous for wildebeest migration and named the 7th wonder of the world and is famous for the big five. The MMNR Reserve provides the best opportunity for wildlife viewing and enjoyment of nature-based tourism where guests are treated to early morning and late evening game drives on a spectacular landscape. On average, MMNR Reserve receives an average of 300,000 tourists per year. As a result, the reserve has a huge economic contribution to the local community. However, visitor's activities can have massive impacts on protected area vegetation, soils, and wildlife (Marion et al 2016), such as wildlife disturbance and harassment, habitat loss, and modification of wildlife behavior.
A study conducted by Walpole et al., 2003 identified the presence of too many safari vehicles around animals (more than five at a viewing), driving closer than 20 meters to animals and chasing wildlife during game drives as the most commonly broken regulation in MMNR.
This project seeks to raise awareness on unregulated driving (offroad driving) through training and education with a goal of raising awareness on the impacts of off-road driving so as to promote responsible tourism among tour/ safari drivers, park managers, hotel managers, and tour guides both in the park and in the conservancies.
Fieldwork will be conducted to determine the motivation for off-road driving. Field work will involve conducting face to face interviews with tour guides, tour drivers and hotel/ camp managers to understand the motivations to off road driving, to find out whether they are aware of the existing parks rules and regulations. We will identify the offroad hotspots and document the vegetation types that are mostly affected by offroad driving. This information will be shared with County Government of Narok who the custodian of Maasai Mara National Reserve is to inform park regulations and policy. The findings of our ecological survey will be used to map out the hotspot areas, where the park management can increase surveillance. After data collection, we will analyse the data collected using quantitative data analysis methods and findings will be used to inform the training.
Overall, the capacity building training will go a long way in strengthening the adherence to the park’s regulations and guidelines and raising awareness of the impacts of offroad driving on wildlife and habitats. The project will add to the current efforts on biodiversity conservation in the larger Mara ecosystem.