Kenya crisis strains human-animal balance in parks

By Daniel Wallis

MAASAI MARA, Kenya (Reuters) - A rocky cliff overlooking the Maasai Mara Game Reserve marks a new front line in a conflict between people and wildlife that threatens the revival of Kenya's $1 billion tourism industry.

Riots and ethnic violence that exploded after a disputed December 27 vote scared away almost all the foreign holidaymakers who had made the sector the top earner for east Africa's biggest economy.

The disappearance of tourist dollars has disturbed the delicate balance between predators in the reserve and the Maasai tribesmen living next to it, by causing the breakdown of a compensation scheme meant to stop them hunting lions.

And this could have long-term effects.

A few tourists have begun to return to Kenya, but numbers are tiny and the political uncertainty is far from resolved.

This week, opposition supporters took to the streets again to vent their anger at a deadlock over forming a power-sharing cabinet, a key element of a deal to end the violence that claimed at least 1,200 lives after President Mwai Kibaki's re-election.

Pictures of police firing tear gas at protesters and tires burning in the streets of Nairobi's largest slum made headlines again, threatening to further damage the country's image abroad.

The Maasai of the Oloololo Escarpment, that looms over the reserve, have been hit hard, with only a trickle of visitors now coming to the park. It used to attract about 300,000 a year.

"We used the benefits we got from tourism to build schools and pay tuition fees," said Maasai elder Manie Kipas, wrapped in a traditional checked red robe, in Enkereri, a "cultural village" near the escarpment.

Kipas and a dozen other elders had just held a crisis meeting with a ranger from the Mara Conservancy, the non-profit organization that manages the west of the reserve.

Gate receipts have plummeted 80 percent and the Mara Conservancy is facing a monthly shortfall of at least $50,000.

This means it is unable to pay the Maasai when predators kill valuable livestock. Some Maasai are now vowing to hunt down the big cats stalking their animals, even though many realize this would ultimately hit their earnings.

"It's very important that we live alongside the animals," said Kipas.

LAST LEGS

The Maasai Mara reserve, an expanse of savannah grassland with some of Africa's best game viewing, covers 1,500 sq km (580 sq miles) and is held in trust by the government for the indigenous Maasai, a semi-nomadic, cattle-herding community.