Wildebeests will in future have their calving areas within Loita plains.
This will possible when the Greater Maasai Mara Ecosystem Management Plan (2023-32) is fully implemented.
The 10-year plan launched last month proposes to restore the lost historical Loita wildlife migration and wildebeest calving areas at Loita plains.
To do this, the plan proposes the establishment of two or more community-conserved areas/conservancies and several wildlife corridors in the Loita-Mosiro ecoregion.
“Since this ecoregion faces unique challenges that need to be overcome to restore habitat connectivity that has been degraded by fences, there is a need to establish community conserved areas so that the challenges can be faced collectively,” part of the plan says.
Under the plan, the Maasai Mara Wildlife Conservancies Association, a local NGO committed to the conservation of the greater Maasai Mara ecosystem, will spearhead the formation of community-conserved areas.
MMWCA will also establish its governance and management structures and assisted in the development and implementation of its management plans.
Each year, tourists are lured to the ecosystem by the more than 2 million wildebeests migrating between Kenya and Tanzania.
The wildebeests join half a million gazelles and 200,000 zebras in the perilous trek from the Serengeti Park in Tanzania to the Maasai Mara reserve around July and August each year.
Tourists throng the Maasai Mara Game Reserve in Narok county to witness the great wildebeest migration.
On the trip, they are joined by thousands of zebras, elands, and gazelles. Predators among them lions and crocodiles wait on the wings to make a kill.
The crossing into the Mara is only part of a year-long migration of the wildebeests, which begins in Serengeti in February.
In 2006, the wildebeest migration was named the 7th Wonder of the New World in a poll of experts conducted by ABC Television's Good Morning America.
It is also one of UNESCO’s Wonders of the World.
Some wildebeests calve in Kenya.
However, some have been having challenges owing to the threats facing the ecosystem.
The plan identifies some of the challenges facing the greater Mara as fencing, deforestation, declining Mara River flow, charcoal burning, human-wildlife conflict, agriculture land use, poaching and unplanned settlements.
Other challenges include urbanisation, unsustainable livestock grazing, infrastructural developments, invasive species and climate change effects.
The GMME includes an agropastoralism zone that is dominated by rain-fed farming in the north (Lemek-Maji moto), west (Trans Mara) and east (Entasekera area), and irrigated farming in the east (Narosura and Mosiro).
The plan says to improve community livelihoods livestock enterprises will be established.
The purpose of these enterprises is to increase financial returns from livestock through improved livestock husbandry and marketing.
Such enterprises can also encourage livestock owners to improve livestock quality rather than increase livestock numbers. Reduced livestock numbers in the range reduce pressure on pasture and pre-empt land degradation.
The plan says the lack of readily accessible markets and low-quality livestock products are major constraints in livestock production.
The plan will support marketing projects; construct and maintain sale yards; facilitate value additional services; and facilitate the federation of organized producer organizations.
The plan says to facilitate the establishment and implementation of community conserved areas, MMWCA will support the Loita-Mosiro ecoregion in establishing a community-based body to mobilise communities to support the re-establishment of critical wildlife habitats, while gaining tangible benefits from tourism and other social development projects.
MMWCA will also coordinate the activities of the conserved areas and promote coexistence between livestock and wildlife.
Appreciating that several community-based conservation organisations and NGOs are already working in the area, MMWCA will work with them to establish the umbrella coordinating body.
The plan says in the greater Olderkesi Conservation Area, MMWCA will work with Cottar’s Wildlife Conservation Trust (CWCT) to create community-conserved areas between Olderkesi and Loita forest to secure the habitat connectivity between Maasai Mara National Reserve and the forest and beyond in Kajiado west.
The plan says women and youth will play a crucial role in realizing its objectives if they are actively engaged in all aspects of its implementation.
For instance, many of the community rangers that conduct wildlife security activities in the Greater Maasai Mara are in the youth category, and their support is critical if wildlife security is to be ensured.
The plan has zoned the ecosystem into six zones in a bid aimed at addressing some of the threats facing the ecosystem.
The land use zones are: conservation and Tourism Zone, Conservation, Tourism and livestock Zone, Livestock Grazing Zone, Agricultural Zone, Urban Centres and Influence Zone
The plan says where multiple functions are listed per zone, the functions will be managed to coexist with each other.
The plan says human-wildlife conflicts are currently manifested in form of livestock predation, crop destruction, human injury and even death.
The main problem animals responsible for livestock predation are hyenas, leopards and lions, while elephants are responsible for most of the crop-raiding incidents.