Hostname: page-component-84b7d79bbc-lrf7s Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-07-31T05:36:52.106Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Measurements of Impact of Tourist Off-road Driving on Grasslands in Masai Mara National Reserve, Kenya: A Simulation Approach

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  24 August 2009

Augustine E. Onyeanusi
Augustine E. Onyeanusi
Affiliation:
Forestry Research Institute of Nigeria, Federal School of Wildlife Management, Private Mail Bag 268, New Bussa, Kwara State, Nigeria.
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Extract

A quantitative measurement of tourist off-road driving was conducted in Masai Mara National Reserve, Kenya. Off-road driving was simulated in a grassland area of the Reserve that was heavily used by tourists. A mathematical model was employed to estimate the overall impact of tourist off-road driving on the Reserve's grassland communities.

The results of off-road driving simulation experiments showed that damage increased with the number of vehicular passes. Off-road driving was more destructive to the vegetation at the loops than on the straight. The magnitude of the estimated loss due to extrapolation of the findings of the simulation experiments to the whole reserve was very small. The aesthetic quality of the reserve was, however, adversely affected by the off-road driving, as was, doubtless, the privacy of the animals.

Type
Main Papers
Information
Environmental Conservation , Volume 13 , Issue 4 , Winter 1986 , pp. 325 - 329
Copyright
Copyright © Foundation for Environmental Conservation 1986

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Burney, D. A. (1980). The Effects of Human Activities on Cheetah (Acinonyx jubatus Schr.) in the Mara Region of Kenya. Unpublished M.Sc. thesis, University of Nairobi, Nairobi, Kenya: xii + 219 pp. (typescr.).Google Scholar
Greig-Smith, P. (1957). Quantitative Plant Ecology. Butterworths, London, England, UK: [not available for checking].Google Scholar
Mburugu, J.M. (1982). Masai Mara National Reserve. Ministry of Tourism and Wildlife… Newsletter, 3(5), pp. 34–9.Google Scholar
Owen, D.F. (1979). Drought and desertification in Africa: Lessons from Nairobi Conference. Oikos, 3, pp. 139–51.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Polunin, N. & Eidsvik, H.K. (1979). Ecological principles for establishment and management of national parks and equivalent reserves. Environmental Conservation, 6(1), pp. 21–6, illustr.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Saba, A.R.K. (1974). The Ecology of Lions (Panthera leo massaicus Neumann) in the Masai Mara Game Reserve, Kenya. Unpublished M.Sc. thesis, University of Nairobi, Nairobi, Kenya: ix + 115 pp. (typescr.).Google Scholar
Taiti, S.W. (1973). A Vegetation Survey of the Masai Mara Game Reserve, Narok District, Kenya. Unpublished M.Sc. thesis, University of Nairobi, Nairobi, Kenya: x + 540 pp. (typescr.).Google Scholar
Thorsell, J.W. (1981). Mara Ballons. Africana, 8(1), p. 34.Google Scholar
Western, D. (1978). The impact of tourist vehicles on the grassland of an East African National Park. Proceedings of the 5th Regional Wildlife Conference for Eastern and Central Africa, held at Holiday Inn, Gaborone, Botswana, 3–7 July, pp. 235–46.Google Scholar