Community Outreach

The reciprocal impacts of the MMNR and communities on one another have increased considerably over the past few decades. This includes community activities in the wider ecosystem that are impacting on the ecology of the Reserve (as discussed above under the Ecological Management Programme), as well as incidences of human-wildlife conflict occurring when animals, and particularly large predators, disperse from the Reserve to surrounding community areas. However, many community members living around the MMNR have maintained a close relationship with the Reserve and have retained a unique sense of pride and ownership in the area, and in the exceptional natural resources it conserves.

This programme aims to capitalise on and strengthen this special relationship between the MMNR and its neighbours, as a crucial foundation for the long-term conservation of the Reserve, as well as the Greater Mara Ecosystem beyond. Key in achieving this aim is ensuring that strong and constructive relationships between the MMNR and neighbouring communities are established. This is the thrust of the programme’s first objective, which primarily focuses on the establishment or enhancement of management-community communication mechanisms and improving community awareness and appreciation of the Reserve through both outreach activities and the development of a new MMNR Education Centre, which will be used to support school visits to the area and thereby establish a growing base of support for the Reserve’s conservation.

The programme’s second objective focuses on actions to improve the array of community benefits from the MMNR, including direct benefits provided by the Narok County’s MMNR Community Support Fund, employment opportunities, and enhancing tour operator social responsibility programmes, as well as the development of tourism attractions in the wider ecosystem. The third objective complements this approach by focusing on reducing humanwildlife conflict around the MMNR, and in particular on strengthening the financial sustainability of the existing “consolation scheme” and expanding its coverage around the entire xiv MMNR, as well as the piloting of more innovative conflict prevention techniques, such as the development of “predator proof bomas” and the establishment of a “lion guardian scheme”.

The last objective in this programme focuses on enhancing conservation-compatible landuse and development in the greater ecosystem, with a particular focus in areas neighbouring the MMNR. Although beyond the immediate mandate of the MMNR’s managers, addressing issues in these areas is becoming increasingly important for the maintenance of both the MMNR tourism product, and for the conservation of the Reserve itself. Actions are included to strengthen support for the Mara Ecosystem’s growing network of community conservancies as well as cultural village associations, as well as to support regulation and management of trading centres on the MMNR’s boundary.