There are two major goals underpinning the
MMNR’s zonation scheme: the protection of the
Reserve‘s exceptional ecological values, especially the
sensitive ecological habitats and breeding areas for rare species
along the Mara River, and the strengthening and upgrading
of the Reserve’s tourism product. The underlying
challenge to achieving these aims is: how to optimise the
Reserve’s tourism revenues, while at the same time improve
the MMNR tourism product and reduce the impacts of tourism on the
Reserve’s natural environment, upon which tourism depends.
Addressing this challenge in the MMNR is particularly important
because of the Reserve’s role as the flagship of both the
Kenyan and Greater Mara Ecosystem tourism product. Upholding the
reputation and standard of the MMNR as the international wildlife
destination and the flagship of Kenya’s tourism industry is
therefore a vital overall aim of this management
plan.
The zonation scheme addresses this challenge by
focusing on the nature of the tourism product on offer in the MMNR.
Specifically, the scheme is designed to strengthen
the premium or high value, low
volume tourism product on offer in the Reserve, alongside
implementing improvements to the budget,
or high volume, low value tourism product that the
Reserve has traditionally offered. The aim is to ensure the
continuation of the traditional budget tourism model, but enhance
the overall MMNR tourism product by complementing it with the new
premium tourism product, which has the potential of generating
greater economic returns with lower environmental impacts. This new
dual tourism product with a stronger focus on premium tourism is
the direction that Kenya’s tourism industry is in any case
moving towards, and offers, especially in times of global economic
uncertainty, more stability and greater sustainability. The new
tourism model is in line with the key principles of the tourism
pillar of Kenya’s Vision 2030, which aims at
making Kenya one of the top ten long-haul global tourist
destinations, through upgrading existing destinations and offering
a range of diverse and high end visitor
experiences by 2012.
The zonation scheme achieves these ends through
the spatial separation of the two discrete tourism products that
will be provided in the Reserve. The High Use Zone,
covering those areas that are presently used by the majority of
Reserve visitors, will cater for the Reserve’s budget tourism
product, but with enhanced management to ensure a higher quality
wildlife viewing experience with less overcrowding. In contrast
the Low Use Zone, covering those areas that have in the
past been characterised by low visitation, will cater for the
Reserve’s new premium tourism product, with lower visitor
densities and providing a sense of exploration and solitude. One
further category of zone is included in the scheme,
the Mara River Ecological Zone, which forms a 1.5km
strip on either side of the Mara River, and is established to
protect this zone’s sensitive riverine forests, rhino
breeding areas, wildebeest crossing points, and the Mara River
itself.
High Use Zone
Low Use Zone
Mara River Ecological Zone
As a basis for determining the prescriptions
applying to each zone category, the zonation scheme describes the
current levels of visitor use in each zone (incorporating visitors
originating from both outside and inside the Reserve), which
provides the basis for determining the Limits of Acceptable
Use on future visitor numbers for each zone. This in turn
enables the number and size of any additional accommodation
facilities that will be permitted during the 10-year lifespan of
the management plan to be established. The analysis shows that the
MMNR is already exceptionally heavily used; with high season
visitor densities in the Mara River and High Use Zone over 10 times
those found in other High Use Zones in other Kenyan protected areas
(such as Tsavo East and West National Parks). As a result, in order
to maintain the quality of the visitor experience and the tourism
product on offer, no additional, or expansion of existing,
tourism accommodation facilities are permitted in either the Mara
River Zone or the High Use Zone. Visitor densities in the Low
Use Zones are significantly lower than elsewhere in the MMNR, but
nevertheless are much higher than corresponding visitor densities
in low use zones in other protected areas. However, in order to
consolidate the new premium tourism product on offer in this zone
and to enhance the zone’s revenue generation, the zonation
scheme provides for the establishment of a limited number of small,
highend tourism facilities in the zone. However, this will be
accompanied by the closure of several existing but
inappropriately-located special campsites, as well as the
opportunistic permanent and seasonal camps that have sprung up in
recent years on some special campsites. Specifically, the scheme
allows for: three new ecocamps and one new ecolodge in the
CCN section of the MMNR; and, one new ecolodge and one
new ecocamp in the CCTM section of the
Reserve.
In order to ensure that all facilities in the MMNR
are operating to the highest environmental and management
standards, and to prevent the gradual migration of facilities from
one type to another, the zonation scheme also sets out a series of
detailed prescriptions for each of the four types of accommodation
facilities permitted in the MMNR (lodges, ecolodges, ecocamps, and
special campsites), including the maximum bed capacity, concession
area, amenities allowed, building restrictions etc., to which all
existing and any new the facilities in the MMNR must
conform.
The scheme also includes prescriptions on the
visitor activities that are permitted in each zone. As a primary
mechanism for differentiating between the tourism products on
offer, the Low Use Zone is restricted to four-wheel drive
vehicles. Visitors using 4WD vehicles in the Reserve will in
future have to pay a surcharge, but in return they will be able to
use the entire Reserve including the Low Use Zone, where they will
experience lower visitor densities and will also be allowed
to drive off road (according to specific guidelines). By
comparison, visitors using two-wheel drive vehicles will be
restricted to the High Use and Mara River Zones, but will not have
to pay the surcharge. There will be no off road driving permitted
in the High Use and Mara River Zones, because of the severe risk of
environmental damage occurring in these zones with their high
visitor densities.
Visitor activities in all three zone types will be
primarily restricted to game driving and sightseeing balloon
flights. Other activities found in other Kenyan protected areas,
such as walking safaris, night drives and horseback safaris, will
not be permitted in the MMNR. This is to enable the surrounding
community areas of the Greater Mara Ecosystem to capitalise on
these niche markets, giving the community areas a potential tourism
boost, while at the same time fulfilling the diversification
prerogatives of the tourism pillar of Vision 2030. With
regard sightseeing ballooning in the Reserve, the zonation scheme
demonstrates that existing densities of balloons operating in the
Reserve are already extremely high (around 37 times higher than in
the neighbouring Serengeti National Park), and that to avoid a
negative impact on the Reserve’s environment and tourism
product, a maximum of 15 balloons will be permitted to
operate in the Reserve during the lifespan of this plan,
including balloons taking off from outside the
Reserve.
