Bright personality: Camp staff at Porini Mara, ready to welcome travellers once more
GAMEWATCHERS SAFARIS
Kenya has lost nearly 70 per cent of its wildlife during the past thirty years, cites the Kenya Wildlife Conservancies Association (KWCA). Loss of habitat, human-wildlife conlict and climate change lie at the heart of this decline; the knockon effect of which is the threat to Kenya’s tourism industry and, consequently, the livelihoods of its communities. Conservancies offer hope, says KWCA. Roughly speaking, a conservancy sees landowners select a tour operator to establish a safari camp within a block of land. The operator beneits from being able to offer safaris in an area with a higher concentration of animals, the wildlife is protected and all monies earned are shared with the landowners.
The model is a conservation success story. In the Masai Mara, where 15 conservancies cover an area of 1450 sq km adjoining the Masai Mara Reserve, the lion population has doubled in the past decade, while some 3000 households receive an income from tourism.