5 mi
5 km
KE
NYA
TAN
ZA
NIA
Mar
a
M
ar
a
Mara
Kawai
Nyamongo
Gibaso
Mara Bridge
OLOISUKUT
MARA
NORTH
SERENGETI
NATIONAL PARK
Es
oi
t^
O
lo
ol
ol
o
E
sc
ar
pm
en
t OLORUKOTI
PLAIN
TANZANIA
Fences in the
Masai Mara
study area
Tracked wildebeest
locations since 2019
Cropland
Tracked wildebeest
locations 1999-2013
Tourist camp
or lodge
Built-up area
River Airstrip
Road
Core parks
Fully protected areas that
prohibit agriculture and hunting
Community-managed lands in Kenya
that prioritize wildlife conservation
and sustainable land use
Masai Mara wildlife conservancies
MAP
AREA
AFRICA
ASIA
KENYA
TANZANIA
1.06 million
(2018)
6.18 million
(2018)
Population in park-adjacent regions
30.4%
increase
KENYA
(NAROK COUNTY)
45.2% increase
4.74 million
(2009)
TANZANIA
(ARUSHA, MARA, SIMIYU)
0.73
million
(2009)
KEN
TANZYA
AN
IA
MARA
SIMIYU
NAROK
ARUSHA
SERENGETI
N.P.
MASAI MARA
NAT. RES.
Nairobi
Lake
Victoria
AREA
ENLARGED
Population density
Low High
HUMAN IMPACTS ON THE HERDS
More fences, more tourist traffic, more farms siphoning off water:
These factors aren’t the only reasons wildebeests are visiting
Kenya’s Masai Mara less often and staying a shorter time. But such
human-made changes are undeniably having an impact. This region
is where ungulates normally wait out the dry- season months, from
July to October. Many then chase the rains southward back into
Tanzania, while a smaller, resident group moves east to the Loita
Plains—a local migration experts fear may be going extinct.
POPULATION GROWTH
Large families and good jobs led to a
striking increase in the human popula-
tion around the Masai Mara from 2009
to 2018. Pastoral groups that historically
moved with their livestock now are
permanent fixtures on land where
wilde beests once roamed freely.
Thousands of miles of fences,
ranging from high-power electric
barriers to traditional enclosures
made from tangled branches,
have been installed since 2011.
GPS tracking collars help
experts document changes in
wildebeest migration patterns.
Tourist-packed jeeps
that can disorient and
intimidate wildebeests
could be contributing
to a troubling decline
in Mara River crossings.