Concern for human-wildlife conflict has increased in Africa in the last few
years. The focus on conflict provides a different prospective for problem
solving. The survival of ecosystems as a whole and wildlife in particular
are vitally dependent upon the coexistence of local people with wildlife.
The conflicts threaten the very existence of wildlife. Those conflicts take
many forms. Three forms have recently been studied in the Masai Mara area of
Kenya. They provide interesting insight to those that care about Africa, its
people and its wildlife.
The studies were done in the Mara region of Kenya which is the North or
Kenya side of the Serengeti-Mara ecosystem. The Masai Mara National Reserve
(MMNR) is within the area. Its visitor numbers peaked at over 200,000 in the
early and mid-1960s. However, due to competition from Southern Africa and
security concerns, visitation today has fallen to 100,000 visitors per year.
It is especially famous for its concentration of migratory herbivores
including 100,000 zebra and over 1 million wildebeest. The sight of hundreds
of thousands of these animals moving together through the grasslands has
been described as one of the greatest wildlife spectacles on earth. It is
also famous for its other large mammals such as the "Big Five" made famous
by safari hunting before it was closed in the 1960s. The "Big Five" did much
to promote the Kenya tourist economy in the 1960s but today that mentality
is reported to be "doing more harm than good" because of "traffic jams . . .
around prides of lions and other conflicts."
The British Government's Department of Environment, Food and Rural Affairs
funded conflict studies in the area that were conducted by graduate students
of the University of Kent, Canterbury, UK. A workshop was conducted to
develop management recommendations from the findings which were published in
March 2003 and entitled, Wildlife and People: Conflict and Conservation in
Masai Mara, Kenya, Wildlife and Development Series No. 14, International
Institute for Environment and Development, London.
Three kinds of human-wildlife conflicts were researched. Each contains some
jewels of interest. First, the impacts of tourism on wildlife within the
Reserve (MMNR). Second, the impact of tourist and the local community on the
endangered Black Rhinoceros population within the Reserve. And third, on the
human-elephant conflict in the district beside the Reserve.
The primary impact of tourism within the Reserve was caused by
uncontrollable off-road driving. The number of roads and tracks increased by
approximately thirty percent between 1991 and 1999. Although that disturbed
the animals, it did not significantly affect the distribution of seven
herbivores selected for study, the waterbuck, kongoni, impala, giraffe,
zebra, warthog and topi. The location of streams and rivers controlled the
location of the animals irregardless of the increase in number and location
of the roads and tracks. "Among all the explanatory variables that were
tested it was only the mean distance from all rivers that had a significant
relationship with species richness. Vegetation, visitor presence and
distance from roads were insignificant for those seven species."
There was a positive correlation between the visible disturbance of wildlife
and tourist vehicle speed. That was measured for five species, warthog,
wildebeest, impala, zebra and topi. Each of these animals reacted at
different distances upon the approach of a tourist vehicle and the
disturbance to each increased with an increase in the speed of the vehicle.
"Analysis indicated that there were significant differences in response
distance among the different species studied." We note that the same is
likely to be true if one was hunting instead of viewing. Topi were the least
timid to vehicle approach while warthogs were the most timid. Of course, the
"animals responded at shorter distances (slower to be disturbed) in areas
with high visitation levels than those with low visitation levels"
indicating "that most animals have become habituated to vehicles in highly
visited areas."
The warthog was the most sensitive animal to the approach of a vehicle. It
was the first to be disturbed at the greatest distance and also responded
sooner and more greatly the faster the vehicle speed. The sensitivity of the
others in descending order were the wildebeest, impala, zebra, and the topi.
The topi being the least sensitive. This means that the slower you go the
closer you can get without disturbing the animals.
"Too many vehicles around animals (more than 5 at a viewing) and driving too
close to the animals (closer than 20 meters) were the most frequently broken
visitor regulations. These were broken during 66 percent of lion viewing
events, and 57 percent . . . of cheetah viewing events . . . . The other
most frequently broken regulations were visitors remaining too long viewing
animals (more than 10 minutes when other vehicles were waiting), and driving
off road. These infringements occurred in 40 percent and 36 percent of lion
viewing events, and 36 percent and 52 percent of cheetah viewing events. . .
." Though the regulations appear reasonable, they are broken in ninety
percent of the viewing cases despite the drivers and tourists knowing the
regulations.
The Black rhino in the Masai Mara are disbursing to other areas when the
population should be building to its former density in the Reserve. The
mystery was where are they going and what is the cause of their disbursal?
The research demonstrated that all of the animals studied in the system are
declining except the elephants. The elephants are increasing. The Reserve
"is becoming less valuable for browsers such as rhinos, partly due to
elephant-induced habitat changes."
Cattle was found to be the primary culprit. "Neither tourism pressure,
expressed either as road density, vehicle density, or distance from lodges,
nor elevation had any effect on rhino distribution." "Whilst cattle do not
compete directly with black rhinos for resources, they appear to disturb
rhinos so that they do not make use of areas where cattle reside. This
disturbance is probably a result of cattle bells, and the presence of
herders and dogs with the cattle, the noise from which prevents rhinos from
resting in thickets in areas where cattle occur." A high density of cattle
certainly limits the distribution of Black rhinos. In this case, the
presence of cattle has all but eliminated the Black rhino in the cattle area
and appears to be driving them from Kenya into Tanzania where there is a
greater availability of quality woody foods as well as less conflict with
cattle.
Unlike Black rhino, the elephant populations are growing at a high cost to
other species. "Due to the danger that elephants pose to people and the
catastrophic damage that they can inflict on crops, human-elephant conflict
is more frequently reported and less easily tolerated than conflict with
other wildlife species. . . . Human and elephant deaths and injuries
increased in the 1990s. Conflict with humans is now a major conservation
issue threatening the future of elephants, especially outside of protected
areas."
Between 1986 and 2000, elephants caused thirty-five reported cases of
attacks on humans, and forty-seven attacks on humans were caused by ten
other wildlife species. The forty-seven other attacks were caused by lion,
leopard, hippopotamus, crocodile, buffalo, warthog, bushbuck, baboon, hyena
and snakes. A total of fifty-six cases of elephant attacks on humans were
recorded in the TransMara District between 1961 and 2000. "There were more
reports of human wildlife conflict for elephants (45.7%) than for other
herbivores (20.6%), predators (22.6%) or primates (10.9%)." This confirms
that, for a fact, elephants are the most dangerous animal in Africa.
"Many farms" have literally been abandoned in the TransMara District because
of crop raiding elephants. There is little that people can do to avoid
attacks of their farms. "Over the longer term, communities need to recognize
that alternative activities to farming that generate benefits from forest
and wildlife are likely to be more sustainable." Unfortunately, because of
the ban on hunting, Kenya does not have the alternatives available to other
African countries. According to the study,
The attitudes of the local community towards elephants was generally
negative because of a lack of related benefits. The resident elephant
population is found in areas where people do not derive any benefits from
tourism. The future of elephants in TM (TransMara) is bleak unless local
tolerance to elephants can be improved. This can only be achieved through
improved HEC (Human-Elephant Conflict) mitigation and increased
elephant-related benefits (Walpole & Leader-Williams, 2001).
One particularly disturbing conflict was uncovered. Elephant are impacting
school-age children. There are 132 primary schools in the TM District. "An
elephant killed one pupil while going to school in 1994. Most students in
elephant ranges therefore wait until elephants have receded back into the
forests before going to school. Many students arrive late and are always
absent, and this obviously affects their education." Therefore, an analysis
was undertaken of the performance of both schools and individual pupils. The
national examination given in ninety-six of the schools demonstrated that
both the schools and individual students performance scores were lower where
elephants were present. There was no difference between boarding schools in
and out of elephant areas where children did not have to face elephants to
get to school because they were already boarding at school. As a consequence
of this discovery, authorities are actually recommending that more children
be sent to boarding schools in areas where elephants are present. Think
about that. The elephants are closing down day schools, causing the
abandonment of farms and farming, reducing woody vegetation and reducing
practically all other animals including those endangered like the Black
rhino.
For a copy of the studies contact the International Institute for
Environment and Development, 3 Endsleigh Street, London, WCIH ODD, telephone
+44(0)207-388-2117, fax +044(0) 207-388-2826; Email: mailbox@iied.org and
ask for 11ED Wildlife and Development Series No. 14.
