Mini Vans that
are used to carry tourists around the reserve along with trucks
Trucks with open rooftops
containing standing tourists are driven into Masai Mara National Reserve
(MMNR), Kenya. Since the 1990s this phenomenon peaks annually during the June
through October months. International tourists come from every country to
observe the ungulate migration during the dry season. The Kenyan government
established the MMNR in the 1960s for tourism attraction and economic benefits,
they also cooperated with many conservation organizations, hotels,
advertisements and managements. Masai Mara National Reserve is segregated into
3 zones (Fig. 1): reserve, buffer zone, and grazed zone (Virani et al., 2011).
Animals inside the reserve area are protected by laws against poaching and are
included in conservation plans. The buffer zone is gathered with hotels, recreation,
cultural commoditization and Maasai villages. The grazed zone recently has been
located as a large cultivation and agriculture land. MMNR is the major tourism
attraction in Kenya; in addition, there are hotels and luxury cabins inside the
reserve.
Fig 1. Map showing three zones of land use near the Masai
Mara National Reserve (Virani et
al., 2011).
Slogans, such as, “Sleeping
With the Wild” have been used in advertisements to attract tourists that want
to experience nature and wilderness. Can
recreation service and biological biodiversity (which are both ecosystem
services) be balanced? Critics such as biologists and some conservation
organizations have been conducting long studies of the ecosystem and ecology in
MMNR. Studies have shown that the animal populations have been in decline
because of anthropogenic activities. Areas near the reserve have undergone land
use changes by human activities such as agriculture, hotels, camps and markets.
Studies have shown that animal populations within the reserve and adjoining the
reserve have been declining, especially vultures and other scavenging raptors
have declined most recently (Ogutu et al., 2011; Virani et al., 2011).
Large animal populations have been declining
within the MMNR and areas nearby the reserve (Ogutu et al., 2011; Honey, 2009).
In 1977 to 2009, many wildlife populations had been reduced and some of them
even reduced to a third of their previous population (Fig 2 and 3) both in the
reserve and ranches nearby (Ogutu et al., 2011).
Fig 2 and 3. Trend of temporal species population from
1977-2009 within (blue) and outside of (green) Masai Mara National Reserve. The
shaded and larger areas are the point wise 95% confidence limits (Ogutu et al., 2011).
Many facilities have to be
built before establishing a reserve for a safari; the government has to create
roads that connect the highway to the reserve area and roads from gates to campsites
and hotels inside the reserve. Roads are major causes of fragmentation of
animals’ habitats. Building roads also increases mortality rates due to
collision with traffic.
Main
hotel cabins in the reserve
The hotels that are built inside
the reserve area require daily support from outside. Large amounts of waste are
created everyday from the hotels and camps inside the reserve. Trucks and vans
that carry fresh food, souvenirs, employees and tourists that are driven on a
daily basis also could have major impact on animal lives. Millspaugh et al.
shows that elephants are suffering from high stress levels from loud noises
(car engines) and contact with humans. It indicates that elephants will have
biological effects if they are continuously stressed. Their immune systems will
decline and will also exhibit dangerous behavior towards humans. The typical
safari style in MMNR is using mini vans to carry tourists around the protected
areas and browse for animal behaviors. Research has shown that 90% of mini van
drivers break the rule of limited distance viewing for cheetahs and lions
(Honey, 2009). Moreover, there are reports showing that drivers have been
illegally driving through grass zones and vegetation areas. It destroys the
grass and food for grazers inside the reserve. Furthermore, illegal poaching
has been indicated in several studies, especially, at the edge of reserve area
(Virani et al, 2011; Ogutu et al., 2011; Honey, 2009). The fragmentation of
wildlife habitat increases the opportunity of illegal poaching around the
protected area but also at the edge of the reserve.
Old world African vultures
Virani et al. shows the
reserve is losing important keystone species, such as, vultures and other
scavenging raptors due to wheat cultivation, food shortage, electrocution on
and collision with power lines, and the conflict between livestock ranchers and
top predators. Fig 4 shows that vulture populations decline throughout
different land uses and time periods.
Fig 4. The graph shows vulture population density within
three different zones (Virani et
al., 2011).
Power lines built to support human
activities and hotel services inside the reserve cause nest and habitat loss
for vultures and raptors. Vultures and raptors are declining throughout the
world, especially Africa. Studies indicate poisonous events in the livestock
community have a major impact on vultures and raptors mortality within the
reserve and also the areas nearby. The livestock communities, in order to
prevent wild predators from foraging livestock near the reserve have used
Furadan, a carbamate-based pesticide, to poison carcasses and persecution for
body parts (Virani et al., 2011). The poisoning event increased mortality rates
of predators such as lions, hyenas and vultures. Vultures and scavenging raptor populations
are affected because they eat carcasses and when carcasses are poisoned they
die from poisoning too. Vulture populations that are in rapid decline will
bring a severe impact on the ecosystem (MMNR), which is already destabilized
because of human disturbance. Vultures are a very important species because
they are a “cleaner” and act as a decomposer in the ecosystem because of their
unique low pH level in their stomach (Ogada et al., 2011; Virani and Jais, 2010). They keep the nutrients recycled in
the ecology and they dispose large carcasses much faster compared with other
scavenging mammals or birds. In Africa, vultures even can lead scavenging
species to find carcasses (Ogada et al., 2011; Virani and Jais, 2010). Furthermore, they prevent carcass
diseases from transmitting to other species because of their rapid rate of
decomposition and they also are not natural disease reservoirs. If vultures
were to go extinct, scavenging species, most of which are disease reservoirs,
would have to spend more time on each carcass. In addition, it gives other scavengers
a higher chance to get a virus or disease from carcasses and carry on to other
species in the ecosystem (Ogada et al., 2011; Virani and Jais, 2010). Increasing disease transmission might
kill vulnerable species that have low genetic diversity, small population size
and endemic species.
It is hard to manage an “eco-tourism” reserve because of complicated issues between wildlife protection and economic benefits. Tourism will always have an impact on the wildlife because of human activities such as, vehicles, camps, hotels and habitat fragmentation. Moreover, several studies have been conducted to prove that a trend of population decline will continuously happen within and near the MMNR and a major factor is due to human activities. The most urgent conservation plan should be protecting African vultures now because of rapid population decline and they are an important keystone species in the ecosystem. The case study in Masai Mara National Reserve is used to prove that a lack of balance between recreation service and biodiversity can have a prolonged impact on the ecosystem and local communities.
Reference:
Peer-reviewed articles---
Honey, Martha. “Community Conservation
and Early Ecotourism: Experiments in Kenya.” Environment 51.1 (2009): 46-57. Print.
Millspaugh, Joshua J., Tarryne Burke,
Gus Van Dyk, Rob Slotow, Brian E. Washburn, and Rami J. Woods. “ Stress
Response of Working African Elephants to Transportation and Safari Adventures.”
Journal of Wildlife Management 71.4
(2007): 1257-1260. Print.
Ogada, Darcy L., Felicia Keesing, and
Munir Z. Virani. “Dropping dead: causes and consequences of vulture population
declines worldwide.” The Year in Ecology
and Conservation Biology 1249.1 (2012): 57-71. Print.
Ogutu, J.O., N. Owen-Smith, H.P. Piepho,
and M.Y. Said. “Continuing wildlife population declines and range contraction
in the Mara region of Kenya during 1977-2009.”
Journal of Zoology 285.2 (2011): 99-109. Print.
Virani, Munir Z., Corinne Kendall,
Peter Njoroge, and Simon Thomsett. “Major declines in the abundance of vultures
and other scavenging raptors in and around the Masai Mara ecosystem, Kenya.” Biological Conservation 144.2 (2011):
746-752. Print.
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