The MMNR is an integral part of the Greater
Mara-Serengeti Ecosystem, and the survival of many of the
Reserve’s exceptional natural resources is dependent on the
continued conservation of those components of the ecosystem beyond
the Reserve’s boundaries. As a number of emerging tourism
initiatives on privately owned land neighbouring the Reserve have
demonstrated, where properly nurtured, tourism in the greater Mara
is a conservation compatible land use that has the potential of
providing community landowners with a sustainable livelihood. On
the other hand, if the appropriate incentives, institutions and
management support are not in place, tourism is not a viable form
of land use, and other conservation-incompatible land uses move in,
and undermine the wider wildlife dispersal areas that are critical
to the MMNR.
Recognising this interdependence between the
Reserve and other parts of the Ecosystem, this programme (in
conjunction with actions in other programmes, such as the support
to community wildlife conservancies specified under the Community
Outreach and Partnership Programme) aims to ensure that, wherever
possible, tourism in the Reserve is developed so as to be both
compatible and complementary with the tourismproducts in
neighbouring areas. This is illustrated by the focusing of the
Reserve’s tourism product on its comparative advantages
linked to vehicle-based wildlife viewing, thereby enabling
neighbouring community areas to capitalise on niche markets, such
as walking or horseback safaris, and the complementarity of the
area’s zones to those in the neighbouring Serengeti National
Park (as set out in the Zonation and Visitor Use
Scheme).
