People here say that with each day the violence continues in Kenya, it is another month that the tourists will stay away. i really hope that this isn't the case.

The Mara Conservancy published its monthly report for January last week, and what we thought at first would be a 50% drop in tourist numbers actually turned out to be 80%. We are dependent on entrance fees paid by tourists who visit the Mara Triangle, and now with no tourists visiting, park operations are paralysed and we are unable to protect the wildlife here.

Severe cutbacks have already been taken:

• Stop all compensation payments; for animals killed by predators outside the Reserve.


• Only pay community scouts with radios; we have four radios and nine community scouts, the radios will be rotated on a monthly basis.


• Stop anti-harassment vehicles Cheetah 2 & 3; only Cheetah 1 will be in operation.


• Stop incentive payments for night ambushes of poachers.


• Lay-off all casuals.


• Severely restrict the patrol area.


• Limit rations.

Asuka lists some more of the measures that have had to be taken, and we are all very worried about the situation as without any funding the Mara will quickly be out of our control, and back into the hands of poachers. Over on Mara Mobile Vet, Asuka remembers how things used to be before the Mara Conservancy:

I was working in a lodge in the Mara (1996) when Mara Conservancy was not established. Poaching and unrest were out of control in some part of Mara. Tanzanian border just near Serena was no go area for us, and there were many poacher huts inside the reserve.

I was also working in the Mara before the Conservancy came into place, and i remember that poachers used to come into the reserve and place their snares in broad daylight. Since the Conservancy started we have managed to take control of the Mara, and have caught just over 1,000 poachers as well as collecting thousands of wire snares, which has saved the lives of thousands of animals.

The anti-poaching patrols have been a huge success in the Mara, and just a couple of weeks ago I posted about one of their patrols at the end of last year. They managed to catch some poachers who had unfortunately already killed 3 wildebeest and 1 zebra using wire snare traps, but they managed to also seize 26 wire snares, 2 spears, 3 bows, 10 poison arrows, several knives and a sword. The damage caused to wildlife could have been tremendous.



With violence continuing in Kenya, and no more tourists in the Mara, the future is bleak for the wildlife in the Mara. The Mara Conservancy needs all the help it can get to raise funds, and actually need to find $40,000 a month if we are to operate properly.

Please, click on the donate box to the right of this post, and donate what you can to help protect the Mara. Please also tell everybody you know to do the same. The Mara is a very special place, which we cannot afford to lose.



Thank you to Richard Leakey for starting the appeal, as well as the WildlifeDirect team. Thank you also to wildlifeextra.com, Nothoney, and all the Japanese blogs who have highlighted our need. We still have a very long way to go.