Massai up to no good again
May 13th, 2006, 05:46 PM
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Massai up to no good again
Interesting article in today's Standard at:
http://www.eastandard.net/hm_news/ne...eid=1143952460
The Maasai are now threatening to bring in 12,000 from their group ranches to disrupt hotels and lodges in Amboseli. They are further threatening to set up parallel revenue collection gates.
They disrupted travel in the Mara recently by blocking tourists from entering the reserve. It appears the government sent in security forces and things seem under control at the moment.
The Maasai are under the mistaken impression that they will all be getting rich. In fact, very few of them will benefit. In the past the Council in charge of the Mara had collected millions, and it went into a very few deep pockets, didn't help their people, and improvements were not made.
This will need watching over the next few weeks to see how it plays out.
http://www.eastandard.net/hm_news/ne...eid=1143952460
The Maasai are now threatening to bring in 12,000 from their group ranches to disrupt hotels and lodges in Amboseli. They are further threatening to set up parallel revenue collection gates.
They disrupted travel in the Mara recently by blocking tourists from entering the reserve. It appears the government sent in security forces and things seem under control at the moment.
The Maasai are under the mistaken impression that they will all be getting rich. In fact, very few of them will benefit. In the past the Council in charge of the Mara had collected millions, and it went into a very few deep pockets, didn't help their people, and improvements were not made.
This will need watching over the next few weeks to see how it plays out.
May 14th, 2006, 10:08 AM
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Africnow:
Some year back Amboseli was made a National Park to be run by KWS with a percentage of the proceeds to go to the local Maasai community. With what remained KWS obtained enough funds to allow them to be functional throughout Kenya. For a better understanding of the Maasai in the Mara and Amboseli read "Wildlife Wars" by Richard Leakey.
A little less than a year ago President Kibaki ILLEGALLY degazetted Amboseli and gave it to the Maasai. Numerous wildlife organizations tried bringing it to court for a legal decision since it was an ILLEGAL move (and they knew it would be disastrous for wildlife). The government and appropriate people have either failed to show up for the court hearings or failed to bring appropriate papers with them. The last hearing last week was again postponed until July (read www.saveamboseli.net) because the Maasai Council member was unavailable.
No one is trying to deny the Maasai their percentage of proceeds. What they are saying is that the Maasai do not have the knowledge or means to RUN a park that is already ecologically fragile. Add to that the fact that KWS will not be deriving the income they need to function throughout Kenya and wildlife will be the ones to suffer.
The Maasai mistakenly think they will all get rich if they take over the park. What in fact will happen is that their Council will receive funds. However, as in the past with the Narok Council with the Mara, millions disappeared, money went into a few deep pockets, improvements weren't made and the people didn't benefit at all.
If you talk with people who knew the Mara 20 - 30 years ago they will tell you how much it has deteriorated. Garbage around, roads deteriorated, off-road driving, too many lodges and camps. People don't want to see the same thing happen in Amboseli where, because of the salinity of the soil, it is so very fragile already.
A reserve in itself is not a necessarily a bad thing. Samburu is a reserve. The difference is that the Samburu people care for the wildlife they live amongst. Indeed one of the Samburu killed a bull elephant a couple of years ago, it was the Samburu people themselves who turned him in.
The Maasai in the Amboseli area are a different bunch indeed. Over the past five years (nine trips) I have many photos and videos of speared elephants. The Maasai wiped out all the rhinos in Amboseli and most of the lion prides in the past. They don't have the knowledge, understanding or caring of the wildlife in their area.
Even though KWS is there for wildlife, if a tourist were to be raped/murdered in the park, KWS and the GSU would be there immediately. What would the Maasai do for an injured or assaulted tourist?
With 12,000 Maasai using the park at their will, there will be no room for wildlife lovers or wildlife.
In February there were already thousands of cattle in the park. Because of the drought, KWS was lenient and let the Maasai water their cattle. The cattle grazed on the food the wildlife needed. And did you know, elephants will not drink from a waterhole where cattle have been and defecated? So if the Maasai let all their people bring in all their cattle, the wildlife will disappear entirely.
If indeed the Maasai want to RUN the park, then they should get KWS-type training, working with wildlife NGO's, get some business degrees and become educated as what they would need to do to run the park/reserve to benefit all.
Some year back Amboseli was made a National Park to be run by KWS with a percentage of the proceeds to go to the local Maasai community. With what remained KWS obtained enough funds to allow them to be functional throughout Kenya. For a better understanding of the Maasai in the Mara and Amboseli read "Wildlife Wars" by Richard Leakey.
A little less than a year ago President Kibaki ILLEGALLY degazetted Amboseli and gave it to the Maasai. Numerous wildlife organizations tried bringing it to court for a legal decision since it was an ILLEGAL move (and they knew it would be disastrous for wildlife). The government and appropriate people have either failed to show up for the court hearings or failed to bring appropriate papers with them. The last hearing last week was again postponed until July (read www.saveamboseli.net) because the Maasai Council member was unavailable.
No one is trying to deny the Maasai their percentage of proceeds. What they are saying is that the Maasai do not have the knowledge or means to RUN a park that is already ecologically fragile. Add to that the fact that KWS will not be deriving the income they need to function throughout Kenya and wildlife will be the ones to suffer.
The Maasai mistakenly think they will all get rich if they take over the park. What in fact will happen is that their Council will receive funds. However, as in the past with the Narok Council with the Mara, millions disappeared, money went into a few deep pockets, improvements weren't made and the people didn't benefit at all.
If you talk with people who knew the Mara 20 - 30 years ago they will tell you how much it has deteriorated. Garbage around, roads deteriorated, off-road driving, too many lodges and camps. People don't want to see the same thing happen in Amboseli where, because of the salinity of the soil, it is so very fragile already.
A reserve in itself is not a necessarily a bad thing. Samburu is a reserve. The difference is that the Samburu people care for the wildlife they live amongst. Indeed one of the Samburu killed a bull elephant a couple of years ago, it was the Samburu people themselves who turned him in.
The Maasai in the Amboseli area are a different bunch indeed. Over the past five years (nine trips) I have many photos and videos of speared elephants. The Maasai wiped out all the rhinos in Amboseli and most of the lion prides in the past. They don't have the knowledge, understanding or caring of the wildlife in their area.
Even though KWS is there for wildlife, if a tourist were to be raped/murdered in the park, KWS and the GSU would be there immediately. What would the Maasai do for an injured or assaulted tourist?
With 12,000 Maasai using the park at their will, there will be no room for wildlife lovers or wildlife.
In February there were already thousands of cattle in the park. Because of the drought, KWS was lenient and let the Maasai water their cattle. The cattle grazed on the food the wildlife needed. And did you know, elephants will not drink from a waterhole where cattle have been and defecated? So if the Maasai let all their people bring in all their cattle, the wildlife will disappear entirely.
If indeed the Maasai want to RUN the park, then they should get KWS-type training, working with wildlife NGO's, get some business degrees and become educated as what they would need to do to run the park/reserve to benefit all.
May 14th, 2006, 11:36 AM
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Amboseli that became a NP in 1974 has been a huge net loss for the people living there and they were simply not, until recently, given the very insufficient compensation that had been promised them. The Maasai coexisted peacefully with wildlife for hundreds of years while the forefathers of most Fodorites were wiping out the wildlife of Europe and North America. The spearings of elephants were desperate measures to avenge being treated by their own government as of so much less importance than wildlife and tourists.
The degazetting of Amboseli by President Kibaki was illegal and done to win a referendum that he lost anyway. And even if Olkejuado County Council can’t possibly be as corrupt as Narok County Council, they are probably not prepared enough to run Amboseli on their own. I would like to know of a solution that would be fair to all parts (anyone???). Anyway, Amboseli is a very small park and can’t work as an island – the whole surrounding ecosystem has to be taken into consideration. And, what happens when the snows of Kilimanjaro are gone??? Maybe Fodorites who care about Amboseli should stop using fossil fuels? That means to definitely not travel by air anymore. It’s an impossibly harsh sacrifice, but nothing compared to the sacrifices imposed on the Maasai.
The degazetting of Amboseli by President Kibaki was illegal and done to win a referendum that he lost anyway. And even if Olkejuado County Council can’t possibly be as corrupt as Narok County Council, they are probably not prepared enough to run Amboseli on their own. I would like to know of a solution that would be fair to all parts (anyone???). Anyway, Amboseli is a very small park and can’t work as an island – the whole surrounding ecosystem has to be taken into consideration. And, what happens when the snows of Kilimanjaro are gone??? Maybe Fodorites who care about Amboseli should stop using fossil fuels? That means to definitely not travel by air anymore. It’s an impossibly harsh sacrifice, but nothing compared to the sacrifices imposed on the Maasai.
May 14th, 2006, 11:43 AM
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Has anyone understood the recent problems in the Mara? Apparently members of the group ranches are protesting against new rules that tourist staying in camps on the group ranches will have to pay park fees to the County Council when entering the reserve. Hasn’t everybody “always” had to pay park fees? When I was staying at a camp outside the reserve, part of the payment for accommodation where fees to the group ranch and then I had to buy park tickets.
May 15th, 2006, 02:46 AM
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Jan -
I appreciate your explaining your POV. I will certainly add "Wildlife Wars" by Richard Leakey to my very long reading list. I am currently reading his "Origins Reconsidered". But I have also read "no man's land" by George Monblot. I must admit that Nyamera's remarks do seem to be much more balanced. People are at least as important as the animals, no?
I appreciate your explaining your POV. I will certainly add "Wildlife Wars" by Richard Leakey to my very long reading list. I am currently reading his "Origins Reconsidered". But I have also read "no man's land" by George Monblot. I must admit that Nyamera's remarks do seem to be much more balanced. People are at least as important as the animals, no?
May 15th, 2006, 09:47 AM
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Nyamera:
I've just received an answer for you regarding the Mara.
"If you stay outside of the Mara and then enter the Narok County Council area, correct you have to pay park entrance fees.
However, the Maasai group ranches and the Narok County Council had had an arrangment whereby if you stay in one and pay park fees in one area (i.e. Mara Triangle) then you could enter the other areas without paying an additional fee (like it used to be in Samburu with Shaba and Buffalo Springs).
What they want to do now is if you stay in one area, and then enter another for game drives, you would have to pay again. The main issue is people staying on group ranches outside the Narok County Council area and then entering the Narok County Council sector for game drives but not paying fees. This is the issue under dispute as I understand it".
Hope this helps answer your question.
I've just received an answer for you regarding the Mara.
"If you stay outside of the Mara and then enter the Narok County Council area, correct you have to pay park entrance fees.
However, the Maasai group ranches and the Narok County Council had had an arrangment whereby if you stay in one and pay park fees in one area (i.e. Mara Triangle) then you could enter the other areas without paying an additional fee (like it used to be in Samburu with Shaba and Buffalo Springs).
What they want to do now is if you stay in one area, and then enter another for game drives, you would have to pay again. The main issue is people staying on group ranches outside the Narok County Council area and then entering the Narok County Council sector for game drives but not paying fees. This is the issue under dispute as I understand it".
Hope this helps answer your question.
May 15th, 2006, 03:27 PM
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hi jan, i sent that note to my tour op-this is what she sent me. she is out of kenya at the moment-so not much here.
but it tells us what we need to know.
cheers, d
"Hey David, yes, we are all fighting this! Its a nightmare!"
Melinda
but it tells us what we need to know.
cheers, d
"Hey David, yes, we are all fighting this! Its a nightmare!"
Melinda
