Each year the Mara-Serengeti Ecoregion of Kenya and Tanzania experiences one of nature’s spectacles. In May, more than 1 million wildebeest, over 200,000 zebras and about 400,000 Thomson gazelles migrate westward from the Ndutu Plain of Tanzania in search of food and the region’s most fragile resource, water. This migration, Earth’s largest, reaches the Mara River in Serengeti National Park in August and continues northward, eventually crossing the border into Kenya’s Masai-Mara National Reserve.

In many ways this migration is invaluable in its uniqueness, but it also has tangible economic value. The Mara-Serengeti migration, and the animals that make it, is a main attraction for tourists visiting both Kenya and Tanzania. Income from visitors accounts for over 30% of Tanzania National Parks’ revenues and provides significantly more income to the array of service industries catering to visitors.

In light of the clear biodiversity and economic values of the Mara-Serengeti Ecoregion, it is alarming to note that flows in the Mara River are threatened by increasing water demands from agriculture, mining, and a growing human population. Coming years are likely to see a significant reduction in flow and decline in quality, especially during the dry season. The consequences of flow reductions will be severe. During an intense drought in 1993 nearly 400,000 wildebeest and uncounted other species died.

To avert such an unnatural catastrophe and to ensure the natural resilience of the Mara-Serengeti Ecoregion, GLOWS and its local partners are working to establish a reliable estimation of the water needs of the protected areas and then to ensure that these needs are met through sustainable national and transnational water management programs.

As a first step in this process, GLOWS sponsored the participation of key partners from the Mara in a training course in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania, entitled “Assessment and Management of Environmental Water Allocations for Rivers”. The five-day course was conducted by UNESCO-IHE Institute for Water Education and introduced participants to the technical and legal dimensions of environmental water allocations. GLOWS sponsored the participation of partners from Masai Mara National Reserve, Serengeti National Park, the Lake Victoria and Wami-Ruvu Basin Offices of the Tanzanian Ministry of Ministry of Water Resources and Livestock Development, and the Narok District Water Office or the Kenyan Ministry of Water Resources and Irrigation. Participants gained valuable knowledge and skills that will be applied this year in joint GLOWS activities to quantify the environmental water needs of the Mara River and dependent ecosystems.

The value of the training is best expressed in the words of Samson Lenjir, Senior Warden at Masai-Mara National Reserve in Kenya, who commented after the course that “I have spent my working life on wildlife management but now realize that the future of the Serengeti system depends on managing the Mara River.”

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