Ecosystem Management-Masai Mara

Ecosystem:

Savannah ecosystem divided by Mara river & fertile regions of woodlands and grasslands near river, further away are open plains with trees and shrubs
Annual zebra and wildebeest migrations, home to large variaties of mammals
Previously dominated by acacia bushes, home to tsetse fly, carrier of African trypanosomiasis, a sleeping sickness, but most has been cleared by government, grazing and forest fires

Farming:

Used traditionally as livestock grazing area
Practised traditional method of semi-nomadic farming
Tribes frequently moved depending on climate and presence of tsetse flies allowing vegetation to recover
Grazing now limited to areas on edge of reserve, tribes prevented from entering local park
Larger herds graze grassland area and trees are removed for fuel, soil erosion risk increases
Level of cultivation has increase, grassland converted to cropland, reliance on fertilisers as nutrients in soil are used up

Ecotourism:

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