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The Mara
Triangle
The Mara Triangle is the North-Western part of the
The Mara
Triangle,
Kenya, and is managed by the non-governmental organisation - The Mara Conservancy on
behalf of Trans-Mara County Council (Trans Mara District).
Divided from the rest of the Masai Mara game reserve by the Mara River, the Mara
Triangle is less visited and less crowded, often with many more game animals
grazing on the plains and between the volcanic hills that distinguish this
corner of the Mara.
The Mara Triangle is one third of the Masai Mara National Reserve, with an area
of 510 km². It has two natural borders and one political; to the South West is
the Tanzania/Serengeti border, to the East is the Mara River, and to the North
West is the Oloololo Escarpment (also known as the Siria Escarpment).
The Mara Triangle is managed by the Mara Conservancy (under contract by the
Trans-Mara county council) a local non profit organisation formed by the local
Maasai, and contains a number of anti-poaching units.
There is only one lodge inside the Mara Triangle - Mara Serena - and only one
camp - Little Governors. There are camps outside of the area which also do their
game drives inside the Mara Triangle: Kichwa Tembo, Bateleur Camp, Mara Siria,
Kilima Camp and Mpata Safari Club.
The Mara
Conservancy
The Mara Conservancy is a private,
non-governmental agency that has been managing infrastructure and anti-poaching
efforts within the Triangle of Kenya’s Masai Mara Game Reserve.
In the northern tip of the Serengeti-Mara ecosystem, the Masai Mara Game
Reserve was gazetted in the late 1940s. The Mara River, descending from the
currently threatened Mau Forest, separates the Mara from the reserve’s eastern
sector.
By 1999, however, conditions in the Mara Triangle had greatly deteriorated due
to mismanagement. Poaching was rampant. Infrastructure of roads and tourists
services had all but disappeared. It was obvious that income was not being
properly distributed to the Masai communities who own the land, nor was money
being put back into maintenance of the reserve. Safaris were no longer heading
into the Mara Triangle.
The Mara Conservancy began managing the Mara Triangle June 11, 2001, based on
the premise that its most tangible and significant income would be derived from
tourism revenue. As the first public/private sector conservation partnership in
Kenya, the Mara Conservancy fulfilled its first five-year contract and entered a
new ten-year contract in October 2005. Supported by a generous U.S. donor,
creation of a new ten-year management plan was begun in 2007 and will ensure
greater, long-term security for this world-renowned game reserve.
Among the Mara Conservancy’s primary objectives is effective management of the
Mara Triangle’s riverine forest, the Mara River, the annual wildebeest and zebra
migratory phenomenon, and other flora and fauna.
The Mara Conservancy goals are to eventually reintroduce the roan antelope and
wild dog, to ensure a healthy population of threatened species such as rhino and
lion, and to study means of facilitating regeneration of the dwindling numbers
of balanites trees and forest and woodland cover in general. |
