WHV MAASAI MARA PROJECT JUSTIFICATION

The Maasai community living adjacent to the reserve has for many years lived in peace with the wildlife, their land use practice has until recently been strictly pastoralism that runs concurrently with wildlife conservation. However the rise in Agriculture/ farming introduced by the neighbouring communities to the Maa community has greatly affected human wildlife relationship which was cordial. The wildlife are prone to destroy their crops on the farm and in return there has been retaliation on the part of the Maasai leading to the reduction of animal population in the vast Maasai Mara Game Reserve.

The annual wildebeest and plains zebra migration from the Serengeti to the Maasai Mara National Reserve earned the park the status of one of the Seven Wonders of the World as it’s' the only migration of its kind in the world. Rampant poaching continues to threaten the existence of one of the largest land animals in the Mara like the Elephants, Rhinoceros and the African Buffalos.

As the reserve is a wintering spot for Palearctic migrants it is therefore of most importance and significance for in-situ conservation. It is also characterized with the largest number of carnivores in Kenya i.e. lions, cheetahs, these two species are listed as threatened and play an important role inecosystem balance by keeping prey numbers in check.

The success of the conservancies may be measured by the relatively low incidents of elephant poaching in the greater Mara ecosystem since 2011 when GVDA Kenya started it’s ever first world heritage volunteers program to sensitize the Maa’ community on the importance of world heritage, wildlife and the eco system conservation. While it is believed that the country as a whole is losing more than 1,000 elephant a year to poachers, the Mara has actually seen a drop in poaching. Last year, out of a total Mara population of 4,000, only 56 elephants were poached, half as many as the previous year. There are also significant lion prides evident in the conservancies and, it must be said, in the great Mara ecosystem as a whole, this at a time where conservationists such as Botswana’s Dereck Joubert say that Africa’s lion population is declining dramatically.

Much of this signature-species conservation is down to the Maasai community benefiting from wildlife tourism. This is the main reason why GVDA Kenya incorporates fully the Maasai community in their Wildlife, heritage and the game reserve efforts. Operators say that if you take tourists and tourism revenues out of the equation a massive increase in poaching is inevitable. Some are already experimenting with alternative revenue streams and in the Mara North conservancy the ecosystem’s first abattoir has just been built and plans to market Mara Conservancy Beef are well under way.

The local and international volunteers act as young ambassadors who in turn educates the local communities about heritage site management, risks and opportunities for tourism that has helped improve tourism and cultural integration especially between the inhabitants and the international volunteers.

The World Heritage Maasai Mara Volunteers also run classroom programs related to the promotion and preservation of world heritage in Talek primary school in Maasai Mara and establishes drawing contests on World Heritage logos whereby the winners are usually awarded well.

The WHV initiative which was launched in 2008 to encourage young people to undertake concrete action and play an active role in the protection, preservation and promotion of World Heritage sites has helped save the Mara in a greater way. The initiative which consists of action camps organized by GVDA Kenya which is a youth organization has cooperated quite well with multiple stakeholders and partners, who work together for the state of conservation of World Heritage sites.

The initiative which mobilizes national and international volunteers through hands-on and awareness-raising activities for the conservation of our common cultural and natural heritage has created a positive impact to the Maa community residing around the Maasai Mara Game reserve at a wider scale.

The community has been able to learn and know the importance of World Heritage Preservation as the killing of the lions by the Maasai Morans (Warriors) as a cultural practice has declined massively as now they see the Lions as a source of income and not proof to Adulthood.

The project aims to bring local and international communities to help conserve, protect and rehabilitate the site through youth action camps and cross borders exchanges, in order to envision a sustainable natural environment in which humans live in harmony with nature.

The project aspires to promote awareness both locally and internationally among young people on the importance of Masaai Mara, to empower community teamwork and cooperation, to improve water sanitation and to prepare young people and teachers to meet present and future challenges as well as promoting education for culture and peace and international understanding.

The volunteers usually have educational activities, that promote tertiary education for the Maasai youth, young men and women alike and also promote literacy to support the Maasai community to protect and preserve the property and improve animal habitat. The volunteers also help repair and build classrooms in Maasai Mara primary school, where they improve the facilities of the school located on the edge of the Maasai Mara ecosystem, teach English in local schools and are involved in running an environmental club once a week with selected students, encouraging learning about the environment and the conservation through interactive methods such as games. The activities are held alongside local Maasai experts instructors.

The volunteers also help with the provision of assistance to local hospitals to improve healthcare in the community around Maasai Mara.

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