Ol Lentille Conservancy part 4: Pastoralism for Conservation

So in order to maintain the health of the land, we are planning to put cattle back into the conservancy. It has been successfully demonstrated at world-renowned Laikipia conservation ranch Ol Pejeta that cattle, managed and herded rigorously, are very highly beneficial to wildlife habitat. Wildlife and livestock can co-exist – and apparently semi-symbiotically.

Of course, traditionally the Maasai and Samburu herdsmen already knew that. Before they were dispossessed, before East African land was privatized, subdivided and fenced, and when they roamed free with the rains and their cattle, these were the golden days for wildlife too.

A scene from Southern Kenya, outside Amboseli NP, where
zebra and cattle share grass in harmony. There are few areas left where
this can happen.

Pastoralists (lots of great info at www.iucn.org/wisp) know that looking after habitat for livestock benefits wildlife too. Also, the very essence of pastoralism is a life of adaptation. What could be more appropriate in this time of climate change – this is an interesting paper on the topic from ODI.

Running cattle with wildlife in a restricted area, and under the noses of tourists, though, provides a number of major challenges – mainly political/societal and managerial. Happily we are not breaking new ground with this. It is already well-proven and, through the Laikipia Wildlife Forum, we have access to the world experts of The Savory Institute, whose founder Allan Savory won the 2010 Buckminster Fuller Prize for his work on these matters.

Critically, these same methods can be readily applied by the community outside the Conservancy, on their grazing lands. Today, as you enter the Conservancy even an untrained eye immediately notices the dramatic difference of plant cover between grazing land (little or no grass- see these pics of land around Kimanjo) and conserved land (abundant grass and diversity of species). We can help change that.

 

We started this story in 2000 with a community who had lost 80% of their assets and income. A community with only one economic string to its bow. And now? As well as livestock, the community benefits from tourism, from community development projects funded by guests of The Sanctuary at Ol Lentille, and by employment. The Ol Lentille Project employs over 80 people: lodge staff, conservancy rangers, community health workers and school teachers. The potential for abundant grazing is around the corner; and further down the road the prospect of carbon income. The Project also intends to introduce and to help manage community bio-enterprises such as honey processing and aloe products.

Inside the Ol Lentille Conservancy- showing the amount of grass
compared to the barren grazing lands (quad bike for the entertainment of guests!)

In the final installment of this blog series next week, I’ll discuss (using info from my daily chats and consultations with community members) the societal impact of these changes and look forward to future benefits.

Bioenterprise: traditional beekeeping