As discussed throughout this objective, roads play
a vital part in ensuring a high quality visitor
experience,
and in enhancing management access and security
patrols reach across the entire area. The upkeep of roads
to
a good standard is essential to ensure that the
benefits that the new roads have been developed to provide
are
sustained, and that the resources and expenditure
involved in their development are not wasted. It is
therefore
vital that MMNR management has sufficient
operational plant and equipment to ensure that the
existing
and any new roads can be maintained, and that the
cost of this maintenance is minimised. To
achieve
this, early in the implementation of this plan a
needs assessment will be carried out by managers on the
CCN
side of the Reserve to identify and prioritise key
road construction equipment shortfalls. On the CCTM
side,
the MaraConservancy has only recently purchased
new road construction equipment, and has already
identified
the requirement for two mechanical shovels, one
compactor and one tipper truck to fill the
shortfalls
likely to be experienced during the lifespan of
this management plan. In addition MMNR management
will
investigate the potential of more cost effective
alternative methods of road maintenance, such as simple
preventative
maintained techniques that have been experimented
with elsewhere such as dragging objects, such
as tyres behind tractors to create temporary
tracks, or the use of “front runners” to grade
and maintain dirt
and gravel roads.
