Site Seeing

The 2013 Wildlife Act created the enabling conditions for conservation to become a viable land-use, but several interlinked factors compromise this possibility. 

And while traditional Maasai livelihoods depend on livestock raised on communal rangelands, which in turn maintains habitat for wildlife, a number of socio-economic shifts, including increasing needs for cash for school and medical fees, are threatening the viability of traditional rangeland management practices.

 A weak cash economy and limited job market has contributed to on-going land subdivision, with land being sold to outsiders who have little interest in the sustainable management of natural resources. This subdivision is driving a rampant increase in fencing and conversion to land uses other than traditional grazing. 

Land is becoming increasingly fragmented, negatively impacting contiguous landscapes for wildlife migrations and making areas under cultivation inaccessible to wildlife. This fragmentation increases the risks from climate change, which has caused shifts in weather patterns and erratic and unpredictable seasons.