Mara COVID Crisis Response
When the COVID-19 pandemic brought global tourism to a standstill, the Maasai Mara conservancies in Kenya faced a crisis. These community-led initiatives, which depend on tourism revenue to fund operations, protect wildlife, and pay landowner leases, suddenly found themselves without the financial lifeline that sustains their work. Without immediate intervention, both the conservancies and the communities that depend on them were at risk of collapse.
In response, a coalition of partners, including Nawiri Group, Conservation International, and the Maasai Mara Wildlife Conservancies Association (MMWCA), created two financial mechanisms to support the region. The first was a Conservancy Operating Fund, a grant funding program designed to cover essential operating costs until tourism recovered. This ensured that the rangers patrolling the conservancies could continue their work and that critical infrastructure remained intact. The second initiative was a Lease Relief Fund, a loan facility established with support from Conservation International. This fund provided the means to maintain landowner lease payments, a crucial element of the conservancy model, which compensates Maasai families for setting aside their land for wildlife conservation.
These efforts went beyond bridging a financial gap. Wildlife, already under pressure from habitat loss and poaching, could have faced increased threats without the rangers’ protection. Human-wildlife conflict, a persistent challenge in areas where conservation borders agricultural land, could have escalated as families sought alternative means of survival. For Maasai landowners, the loss of lease payments would have forced many into difficult financial situations, possibly leading to land sales that would undermine one of Kenya's most effective conservation strategies.
These financial mechanisms supported the delicate balance between wildlife conservation and community livelihoods. This collaboration around the pandemic response demonstrated that even in times of crisis, innovative financial strategies and strong partnerships could prevent conservation setbacks with far-reaching implications.
The stabilisation of the Maasai Mara conservancies offers a vital lesson about resilience in conservation. While the tourism industry has started to recover, the pandemic underscored the vulnerability of conservation models reliant on external funding. As global attention increasingly turns to sustainable development, the Maasai Mara’s experience highlights the need to look at nature positive solutions beyond tourism revenue, to protect both nature and support the communities that steward it.