Maasai Mara Management Plan

Inside the Reserve, escalating pressures from tourism development and growing visitor numbers drawn by the world-renown of the Reserve’s wildebeest migration and other exceptional natural resources are leading to a decline in the quality of the tourism product, and to a deterioration of the natural habitats on which the Reserve’s tourism product is based, which is in turn leading to a major decline in several of the Reserve’s charismatic wildlife species. Outside the Reserve, there is growing pressure from local communities to use the Reserve’s pastures and water sources for livestock, because of the diminishing supplies of these resources in the wider ecosystem and deteriorating community livelihoods. Rapidly changing land-use in the Greater Mara Ecosystem and uncontrolled tourism infrastructure development is also leading to diminishing dispersal areas and migratory corridors for the Reserve’s wildlife, and escalating poaching and human-wildlife conflict. In the face of all these and other challenges, the Narok County government and the Reserve’s management has been unable to respond adequately to the changing circumstances, lacking as it does a clear road map for the future management of the Reserve in a changing world, and also lacking the financial resources, manpower and infrastructure to address the emerging challenges. In response to these serious concerns about the future of the Reserve, the Narok and Trans Mara County Councils (now succeeded by Narok County) together with the Mara Conservancy (which is responsible for managing the Mara Triangle section of the Reserve) resolved in May 2007 to develop a new 10-year management plan for the Reserve, the first management plan for the Reserve to be developed for more than 40 years. The initial planning process, which was spread out over the period 2008-2012 was co-financed by the two councils together with the Mara Conservancy and the African Wildlife Foundation (AWF), who also provided technical support and facilitation for the planning process. The Conservation Development Centre (CDC) was enlisted to facilitate the planning process and to draft the eventual management plan, working hand-in-hand with Reserve managers and stakeholders and under the oversight of a Core Planning Team made up of county representatives, key stakeholders and managers. The finalisation of the plan was put on hold as a result of the dissolution of the county councils in 2013. Subsequently, the Narok County, successor to the two former county councils, took over responsibility for the development of the new management plan, which led to an intensive period of activity to update the draft management plan in 2015-2016. However, the planning work was again put on hold in the lead up to the 2017 general elections. In August 2020, work again commenced on finalising the new management plan, prompted by the major challenges to the MMNR caused by the COVID-19 pandemic, especially the impacts on the Reserve’s economic viability as a result of the sudden collapse of tourism in the area. While without doubt a major setback for the Reserve, the post-pandemic recovery period vii has provided a significant opportunity to put the management of the Reserve on a strong footing for the future, and this management plan is designed to help fulfil this. Final approval of the management plan was postponed as a result of the 2022 general elections, but in early 2023 the new Narok County administration picked up the baton once again leading to the final review and approval of the plan by Members of the Narok County Assembly at a retreat held in early February 2023, followed by signing into law of the plan by the Narok County Governor on 21 st February 2023. The main aims of the new management plan are to:  Ensure conservation of the Reserve’s globally significant biodiversity  Maintain the role of the MMNR as the flagship of Kenya’s tourism industry  Improve on a sustainable basis the revenues generated by the MMNR, to support increasing community livelihood and PA management needs  Provide a practical management framework to support MMNR managers in carrying out their day-to-day management responsibilities. In order to achieve these aims, the new plan sets out a set of stakeholder and management agreed goals (the purpose statements and objectives) that Reserve managers will aim to achieve, and a series of prescriptions and management actions that will be implemented in order to ensure these goals are achieved.The plan mainly focuses on the management of the Reserve itself, although to a limited degree it also addresses issues beyond the Reserve that are impacting on the area, such as regarding ecological and community issues. At the heart of the plan are the Visitor Carrying Capacity and Zonation and Visitor Use Scheme chapters and the four management programmes, each of which cover an essential aspect of reserve management. These four programmes are: the Ecological Management Programme, the Tourism Management Programme, the Community Outreach & Partnership Programme, and the Protected Area Operations Programme The process used to develop the new management plan as well as the plan’s structure were based on the Kenya Wildlife Service’s Protected Areas Planning Framework, or PAPF, which aims to provide a planning standard for all of Kenya’s parks and reserves. The plan is the result of extensive participation by the MMNR’s many stakeholders and represents a consensus viewpoint on how this priceless natural and economic asset of the Maasai people and of the nation should best be managed and conserved in the future. In total, 47 separate stakeholder meetings were involved in the development of the plan. Narok County government acknowledge the significance of the Reserve as a priceless heritage of the Maasai community as well as to the Reserve’s tourism investors and operators. Accordingly, a concerted effort has been made to ensure that the views of these major stakeholders have been incorporated into the plan.