Serengeti General Management Plan

Serengeti National Park General Management Plan
(see the Ecological Monitoring Plan in Table C.4). In support of this advocacy, SENAPA
management will influence issues affecting the Migration by taking a proactive role in efforts
to collaborate in the conservation and management of the Greater Serengeti Ecosystem.
Such actions could specifically involve investigating the feasibility of relocating Rubanda village.
Action 1.1.4: Investigate options for minimising the environmental impact of tourism
migration viewing
This final management action, not listed as a threat, has been included as a necessary check
and balance to minimise the human disturbance to the Migration created from tourism. This
will feed back into the visitor use and impact prescriptions and the Serengeti Code of Conduct
(see Target 1.1 of the Tourism Programme).
Target 1.2: Human impacts to the Mara River monitored and minimised
In recent years, the Mara River catchment has been subject to increasing human impact.
Responses to address this threat are complicated by the fact that a large proportion (65 per
cent) of the headwaters and watershed of the Mara River lies within neighbouring Kenya,
and therefore the long-term mitigation of this threat will require cooperation between Tanzania
and Kenya.
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Threats to the Mara River Threat Level Response
Decline in Mara River flow rates Very high Action 1.2.1 - 2
Water pollution Medium Action 1.2.1 - 2
River bank erosion Medium Monitoring only
As identified in the box above, the most serious threat to the Mara River is the loss of water,
and in 10 years this threat could eliminate the critical function that it serves within the Serengeti.
The factors impacting on the loss of water to the Mara River are:
� Increasing loss of forest cover in the River’s upper catchment and watercourse
� Unsustainable agricultural practices (small and large scale)
� Rapid population and settlement growth
� Weak local, national and regional policy regimes and institutional structures
Of late there have been three particularly major threats to the Mara River (Gereta et al.,
2003):
� The multi-purpose Amala hydroelectric project in Kenya (Kajiado and Narok Districts) –
entailing the construction of three dams and the diversion of a large water flow out of the
Mara River Basin into the Ewaso Ngiro to the east. It is likely that the Mara River’s dry
season and drought year river flows will be severely affected should this scheme go
ahead.
� The continued loss of forest in the River’s headwaters through encroachment and degazettement
of parts of the Mau forest.
� The rapid expansion of pump-driven water irrigation from the Mara River for commercial
horticulture, maize and sunflower production. This is large scale, and is resulting in a
massive draw-down of water from the Mara River.