Mara Poaching, Mau Fencing, A Serengeti Road

Interviewee

James Robertson

Chairman Ker & Downey Safaris, Former Chairman of Mara Conservancy Board, NWNL Advisor

Interviewers

Alison M. Jones

NWNL Director and Photographer

In Nairobi, Kenya on March 15, 2013

Introductory Note

The Mara-Serengeti Ecosystem is a world-renowned savanna and home to a myriad of species, from bat-eared foxes and serval cats to elephant, rhino, lion, cheetah, leopards and others overseen by giraffe – as impala, topi, thousands of wildebeest and other grazers keep the grasses “mowed.” But management of this Maasai land has posed many challenges to which conservationists constantly seek solutions, all while the great Mara River runs through it. My first introduction to the Mara was on a 1985 safari guided by James Robertson, then a “kijana” [a youngster, in Swahili] in that business. But despite his youth then, he lit within me a lifelong love of the Mara and its magic – and a desire to help support its balance of nature for generations to come. This interview is a culmination of all that.

Outline

BALANCING WILDLIFE, WATER & WOODLANDS
UPSTREAM IMPACTS on DOWNSTREAM NEEDS
MARA BASIN’S VULNERABILITY & MANAGEMENT
PLANNED BURNING as STEWARDSHIP
A PROPOSED SERENGETI HIGHWAY
VISION 30 – PLANNING for the FUTURE
FENCING THE MAU FOREST
IMPLICATIONS OF a NEW CONSTITUTION
VISION 30 – PLANNING for the FUTURE

Key Quote Yes, the Mara River and its tributaries must flow without abuse through the Mara’s protected savannah and acacia woodlands. The key is what happens upstream of the Maasai Mara Reserve and Mara Conservancy. The threat of losing the Mara’s water resources from the Mau Forest is real. We know that because the Mara River has already faced situations where the Mau’s waters nearly stopped flowing down to the thirsty wildlife and dry plains below. – James Robertson

BALANCING WILDLIFE, WATER & WOODLANDS

NWNL James, I know the Mara River Basin’s extraordinary spectrum of wildlife, from aardvarks to zebras, is essential to Kenya’s tourism income and Kenyan people’s well-being. Beyond that, how does the Mara River Basin’s wildlife contribute to the balance of nature in this watershed? My concern for wildlife is heightened these days, given the rise in poaching – whether for high-priced ivory sales or local community sustenance.

JAMES ROBERTSON In some cases, who knows? Thinning the numbers of wildlife in the Mara might even be beneficial. I recall smaller migrations and burned woodland areas when I began doing safaris in the Mara. The wildebeest migration then went down to 350,000 in number. But it recovered and has leveled out in the Mara Basin to being – up and down – around 1.5 million wildebeest on the open plains.

NWNL What caused the reduction of woodlands that you mentioned?

JAMES ROBERTSON There were huge areas of woodlands that you’ve seen change just in your time in the Mara. They’re gone. Part of that woodland loss was because there were too many elephants in too small an area. When the Serengeti was suffering from heavy poaching, we probably had about 2,000 elephants in the Mara. That’s over one elephant per square kilometer. The Mara couldn’t handle that number of elephants, given their devastation on the land.

The elephants’ destruction of woodlands was a loss. Woodlands have been one large element of the many interrelated aspects of the Mara-Serengeti Ecosystem. If the Mara had more woodlands in that area, its land would probably have better-quality soil.

Of course, good things and bad things are caused by change. You’ll find that the number of grazers, like our impala, go down with the loss of the woodlands. As the woodlands increase, the grazers increase. What effect does that have on watersheds? I think you probably get more water when there are more woodlands on the Mara Plains. The same applies in the Mara’s Mau Forest headwaters – when it has more forest on it, it holds more water. And then, in the chain of consequences, when the Mau Forest supplies more water downstream, that makes the Mara Plains more sustaining for wildlife.

UPSTREAM IMPACTS on DOWNSTREAM NEEDS

NWNL For many years, you have advocated protection of the Mau Forest’s water source that supplies the Mara River, while also advocating more effective protection of the Maasai Mara itself. It seems the result of that headwaters advocacy by you and others is that there are now stronger restrictions regarding upstream development and agriculture that pulls water off of the Mara’s upstream flows.

JAMES ROBERTSON Absolutely, that advocacy has been necessary, even though the headwaters water supply is not within a protected area.

NWNL Yes, especially since the Mara flows through a protected World Heritage Site, it seems obvious, as well as critical, that upstream stakeholders must not compromise the Mara River with human sewage, chemicals or other pollutants, nor overconsume its flow of water.

JAMES ROBERTSON Yes, the Mara River and its tributaries must flow without abuse through the Mara’s protected savannah and acacia woodlands. The key is what happens upstream of the Maasai Mara Reserve and Mara Conservancy. The threat of losing the Mara’s water resources from the Mau Forest is real. We know that because the Mara River has already faced situations where the Mau’s waters nearly stopped flowing down to the thirsty wildlife and dry plains below. Especially in the last 10 years, there’s been a noticeable drop in water levels – predominately in January, February, March when the Mau is at its driest.

NWNL So, if the Mara’s Mau Forest water source is not protected, is dirtied or dries up, what will happen to the Maasai Mara as an essential and habitat for its unique wildlife that the world so appreciates?

JAMES ROBERTSON The Mara River is a critical river; and I don’t believe it will ever stop flowing. Even if the Mara River’s flow from the Mau Forest becomes extremely low, I believe water flowing in from Sand River, Talek River and other Mara tributaries, if uninterrupted, should ensure that such a scenario will not occur.

But yes, if the Mara stopped flowing, the impact would be huge. Probably the wildebeest would spend more and time in northern Tanzania. The Tanzanians would think it would be great, because Kenya would lose its tourist attraction of the wildebeests’ crossings as a spectacular destination event that everyone talks about. They are a great pull.

NWNL During the dry season in Tanzania’s Serengeti, the wildebeest – and all the animals that move with them – march north into Kenya’s Maasai Mara, because that’s where the water is and where the grass is growing. But will there always be enough?

JAMES ROBERTSON The Mara fortunately has quite a lot of water on its northern plains. Remember, there is also the Grumeti River, the Bologonja River and others. They will always keep the water flowing for the Mara’s famed wildlife.

MARA BASIN’S VULNERABILITY & MANAGEMENT

NWNL What other elements within the Mara-Serengeti ecosystem are susceptible to change due to climate change, human poaching and infrastructure development?

JAMES ROBERTSON In the northern Serengeti, one of the big issues there was it had such heavy woodland that it wasn’t suitable for grazers, like wildebeest. But that changed when there were large numbers of elephant and when fire opened up those northern Serengeti plains. Those changes allowed this migration to increase the way it has.

We spoke earlier of the Mara ecosystem woodlands, clump areas and forests that have burned and been destroyed by elephant. As well, breeding areas for many other mammals that were destroyed – causing a huge change in that ecosystem. That fire damage to the birds and smaller mammals was so great that people should be shocked at the damage done in the name of burning grassland for the wildebeest.

Changing nature’s balance is not a good thing. There should be much more control over human actions. It’s dangerous to call a spectacle like the wildebeest migration one of the world’s greatest “natural wonders,” because now that’s all everybody coming on safari wants to see. Tanzania and Kenya had an argument this year wherein the warden of the Mara blamed the warden of the Serengeti for burning huge game tracks to try and stop the migration leaving Tanzania and coming up to Kenya. This was published in Kenya’s paper, The Nation.

It’s ridiculous that migration has become the focus of the whole Serengeti Mara Ecosystem. The focus should include the grand scope of everything there. It should be the birds. It should be the smaller mammals. People have lost the big picture, the interrelationships of flora and fauna, the cascade of species. Man’s greater involvement has created a dangerous game that we are playing – as we play with nature’s schemes.

PLANNED BURNING as STEWARDSHIP

NWNL Could you talk more about the fires being set in the Mara Reserve and Conservancy? Who is setting them and why?

JAMES ROBERTSON Neal Stronach was a fire ecologist who worked in the Serengeti 1985-87. He had a great program. He wanted to teach a burning program that would probably recur on a three- to four-year basis. However, he needed to spend more time there. Unfortunately, he didn’t stay long enough to follow it through. So, what happened was that they would burn 70% to 80% of the Serengeti every year.

Last year, their burning was pretty destructive. There were huge fires lit by the rangers, because they feel it’s beneficial to the migration. It’s a park policy basically.

NWNL What about here in Kenya’s Mara Conservancy managing in “The Triangle” of the Maasai Mara National Reserve and separately in the Narok side of the Reserve?

JAMES ROBERTSON Well, Narok [headquarters for the Maasai Mara National Reserve] is amazing, because in its management they don’t burn at all. If fires come across their border, they really try to control them. While they tend to not burn too much themselves, there are 1 or 2 situations where fires are purposefully set there, but that is unusual.

The Conservancy is currently doing a program with The Livestock Research Institute/LRI to work out how grazing animals benefit from a rotational burning policy – which has worked. That is what Neal Stronach was trying to teach them in the Serengeti, where LRI has done a long-term project, as well as in the Mara and all over Kenya.

A PROPOSED SERENGETI HIGHWAY

NWNL Since we’re talking about Serengeti, a large part of the Mara River Basin, where do things stand now with the proposed Serengeti Highway?

JAMES ROBERTSON The Serengeti Highway has been put on hold, and so we’ll see. It became a political lever and could be reintroduced at any time. Kenya’s oil, now coming from the north, is shipped to Kenya’s port in Lamu. Likewise, Tanzania has its own direct route to export oil from the Congo Uganda, Burundi and Rwanda, and the Congo. If it loses that route, it loses out on revenue. Ports are valuable assets – but only if there are transport systems to get there. The Tanzania route from Lake Victoria across the Serengeti would be one of the most direct access routes to the Indian Ocean.

I think Dar es Salaam’s port is far more efficiently run than Kenya’s Mombasa/Lamu port. So, Tanzania sees a real way to win business by putting in this proposed Serengeti routing. What is needed to make that workable, vis a vis wildlife, is a proper plan with proper organization (not dictated by politics) to design that road in a better manner. Certainly, this route, as proposed ,will rear its ugly head in 5 or 10 years; and it’ll be harder to stop next time. I think it’s best to encourage getting it done the right way now.

NWNL What would be the impact on the watershed itself, as well as its wildlife, if this road crosses the Serengeti?

JAMES ROBERTSON The wildlife impact would be huge. Even a dirt road through the Serengeti would still be a road; and it would be heavily used. There would be many trucks, as we have on Kenya’s roads through Mombasa up to Nairobi/ Recently, on this road, a beautiful elephant with 120-pound tusks on both sides was hit by a truck and killed. Even a major movement of wildlife in the form of the wildebeest and zebra migration won’t stop those trucks. They don’t stop for anything.

There will be unimaginable damage that will affect that migration. I believe the moment you have a major road through a national park, it will change that park forever. Even if not at first, the road will be tarmacked eventually. It will become a major transect, and then immediately bring in huge numbers of people. The whole eastern side of the Serengeti will quickly be developed, and the western side will be of no benefit for wildlife. It really would be very detrimental in the long term. The wildebeest will keep going across.

NWNL Could fencing help mitigate the impacts?

JAMES ROBERTSON If they fenced it, then that would be the end of the wildebeest migration. That happened in Botswana where they lost over 100,000 wildebeest in one season. These animals are governed by instinct. They’ll cross a tarmacked road despite the heavy amount of transport there’d be coming from the coast up to the Congo and back again. Even the proposed alternative of a southern road would certainly have an effect. You’d probably lose a lot of areas in the southwest Serengeti. It would change those areas forever. Any road infrastructure attracts people. They settle along these roads – and the moment you have that, poaching greatly increases.

They’re building roads in southern Tanzania as an immediate conduit to move more ivory straight down to the coast and ship it out. Unfortunately, it’s obvious. That’s what happens. Great roads give great access. That new road in northern Kenya going up to the wind power farm, if continued, will offer great easy access up there. That will change that whole northern part of Kenya as well. The impacts are the same – whether in the Serengeti or Kenya.

VISION 30 – PLANNING for the FUTURE

Kenya has a new plan called Vision ’30. It is to support the people; but I don’t think it takes wildlife into consideration to the extent it should. I don’t think Kenya realizes the value of its wildlife as a national resource. The planners haven’t projected how valuable that wildlife will be in 30 years’ time. Our wildlife is a resource that could be there forever; but we need a “Vision” for that, Instead, Kenya is looking at oil. Oil is exciting. People say, “Wow, think of the riches that will come from that, and it’s quick. It’s easy.”

Yet, tourism is something that will certainly show a very marked increase in a short amount of time. If one could look at Kenya in 20, or 30 years under Vision 30, there won’t be much wildlife space left, and there’ll be many more people, including more people traveling to places like this, willing to pay even greater sums. Tourism can only go up.

FENCING the MAU FOREST

NWNL Do you think the Rhino Ark fencing plan for the Mau Forest will guarantee safety of its wildlife, such as endangered bongo to be reintroduced? And can that fencing ensure the continued flow of the Mara River, whose source is at the Mau’s Enyapuiyapui Swamp?

JAMES ROBERTSON Yes, I do I think fencing will solve both issues.

The Mara is the most amazing wildlife area I know of in Africa. Of course, it’s tied to the Serengeti, but that one area is extraordinary. I do believe if that Mau Forest is fenced, it will be protected – and so will the Mara Reserve. There’s too much political pressure now allow any weakening of today’s determination to protect the Mara long term.

It just needs a powerful entity to continue that determination. And that’s where this KLCA, the Kenya Land Conservation Association will probably play a huge part in protecting that river. Once the Mau Forest is fenced, the Mau will not change. I believe its protection will be set in stone once the forest is fenced, protected and regrown. It won’t change at all.

NWNL If this Mau Forest is fenced, is there a chance that the forest itself could become a national park and produce tourism revenue?

JAMES ROBERTSON Absolutely. Of course, it could.

NWNL What that would look like?

JAMES ROBERTSON The Mau Forest is reminiscent of the Aberdares. While it doesn’t have the Aberdares moorland aspect, it is a great gene pool for wildlife in the forest, if you could protect enough of it. What a wealthy area the Mau used to be! Yes, it could be returned to that. You really could put bongo back into the Mau, as Mike Prettejohn is spearheading now. You could return a lot of those species, and I think elephant would do extremely well.

In time, a restored and protected Mau Forest could be a great asset to this country as a wildlife protected area, as well as a healthy watershed area. We need more and more wildlife areas. The demand will be greater and greater.

NWNL Could the ancient elephant corridor that passed through the Mau back and forth from the Mara to the Aberdare Range be revived?

JAMES ROBERTSON They’re talking about corridors, but I doubt they’ll achieve that.

I fear all these national parks will become “islands in time” and become greater man-management projects keeping genetic diversity going. That’ll be hard, but the Aberdare Range is already such an island.

It’s very hard for elephant to move out of the Aberdare Range down into the low country. They did put a corridor into Mount Kenya, which is working to an extent. It’s exciting to watch those elephants move up and down; but there’s no place to which the Mau could link, due to Kenya’s greatly expanded population centers. Kenya just must control and manage the Mau Forest as an island – like Nakuru and Nairobi, both islands now.

IMPLICATIONS of a NEW CONSTITUTION

NWNL Bringing government into this conservation discussion, will changes in Kenya’s new Constitution impact wildlife and wild lands in Kenya? For instance, the Mara has been managed as two different districts, but is now under one county’s governmental jurisdiction. What effect will that have?

JAMES ROBERTSON None of us know. It will depend entirely on who is elected, what vision new politicians will have for wildlife and conservation. We may find that it changes completely. It could be fantastic.

I think there’d be too much opposition for major disruption since the Mara in general is strong as is. It would be hard for any governor to undo what’s there, and the western Maasai on the escarpment wouldn’t allow it. They will not accept seeing their revenue stream disappear to a central entity.

The Mara Conservancy uses 36% of its revenue to run the reserve and requires no assistance. It’s inspiring that there’s been very little fiscal support since the initial donations – only a few injections for specific projects. I don’t think there’s one wildlife entity that I know that survives and is donor-dependent the way the Mara Conservancy does.

The Mara Conservancy being completely independent of all outside support is the way conservation should be structured. That is successful conservation, Our Conservancy base on the western side of the Mara is tiny compared to the Narok side. If they joined the two sides of the Mara, I believe they’d only need 10-15% of the revenue to run the Greater Mara. There would be a smaller portion paid to the revenue collection companies – maybe 20%.; and then 80% would go to the communities and their well-being. That’s a huge amount of money that they would benefit from.

NWNL I understand the basis of the Mara Conservancy is that it not be donor-dependent; but rather, independent and tourism-dependent.

JAMES ROBERTSON Yes – totally tourism-dependent!

NWNL Could that ever apply to the Greater Mara as a whole, if it were run as one entity? I know Richard Leakey planned a grand “reserve fund” ten years ago or so, but that didn’t happen. Can Kenya ever get away from its wildlife being tourism-dependent?

JAMES ROBERTSON You could do so with a trust and an endowment. Imagine if the community received 70%; and management kept 30% – spending 20% to run the Reserve and putting 10% aside. Then, on an annual basis you’d save billions of shillings, which before long would create a big enough endowment to run the Mara without any tourism, a situation which otherwise would be a disaster.

Managers of the two sides must both decide to earn, produce and work. Otherwise, I think the merger of two sides of the Mara could be very detrimental. Some conservation management groups don’t want to produce income and don’t want tourism. They have enough money. I see this in a few places, including the Serengeti, where Frankfurt has funded all the rangers for the past 20 years. But ask anybody what the Serengeti rangers are like, they’ll tell you, “They’re a different version of the KGB. They’re awful.”

NWNL You probably don’t want me to print that part of it.

JAMES ROBERTSON No. You can print it. I don’t mind.

NWNL I’ve always thought it would be great if wildlife didn’t have to be tourism-dependent, because now Kenya tourism goes through such ups and down, and when tourism drops off, everybody panics and poachers come in.

JAMES ROBERTSON You are envisioning a fiscal stability that would be Heaven – that place up there that’s the perfect place…. We had $22 million come into Mara National Park and it was frittered away. We’ll never see that money again. Mara will never support itself. It’ll take a long time before tourism numbers support it.

If we had just $1 million a year to run that park, it would be a huge—it would probably cover the cost of running that park.

NWNL There is a goal! Meanwhile, you have things to do, places to go and thoughts to share with others who just arrived. So, James, I thank you, as always, for sharing your thoughtful analysis of conservation management options, wildlife needs and environmental solutions to protect Kenya’s wildlife and beauty.

Posted by NWNL on May 26, 2024.
Transcription edited and condensed for clarity by Alison M. Jones.

Mara Poaching, Mau Fencing, A Serengeti Road Mara River Basin