Kenya and Costa Rica - Comparing Environmental Policies in 16 Countries - page 198

support due to accusations of favoritism and corruption. 9 A further dif-
ficulty was that the elephant population rebounded too much. Elephants
became more common after hunting was outlawed in 1973. Food was
insufficient. They began to destroy all the plants in the parks. They even
uprooted baobab trees to get the water stored inside. Poaching contin-
ues to be widespread. Elephant overpopulation is less a problem than in
southern Africa.
The Maasai have frequently been on the forefront of conflicts over land.
In 1911 the British signed a treaty with the tribe's nominal leader ceding
the rich grasslands of Nairobi and Laikipiak. The Maasai were forced
onto arid reserves, which could not support their cattle as well. In 1945
the government declared many of their reserves to be national parks and
expelled the Maasai and their livestock. These pastoralists do not eat
meat from wild game and their flocks did not eat the same plants as the
wildlife, so they had been a compatible match. After independence, the
World Bank funded the Livestock Development Project to convert their
rangelands to Western-style commercial beef farming. Traditional com-
munal land tenure was abolished, and the Maasai were given legal title to
group ranches in 1968. The program was a fiasco. The ranches were not
compatible with the existing tribal boundaries, the elected boards did not
match the real tribal leadership, and the people wanted to continue their
freedom to move about. In 1989 the government abolished the program
and subdivided the land for individual ownership. This further destroyed
traditional leadership. It caused exploitation of the land because the old
system of nomadism had allowed time for grass to regrow. Maasai were
able to sell their land for a profit to other tribes, but this left them without
grazing territory. Today, more outsiders live in the sectors than Maasai.
Further pressure comes from foreign nature groups that oppose grazing
in the national parks. 10
The Maasai Mara Game Reserve in the southwest has been a prime
attraction for half a century. In 1961 the Game Department and the
Maasai people agreed to develop the reserve cooperatively, with the for-
mation of the Narok County Council. A core area was set aside for the
animals, but nearby they built access roads and leased land for hotels. The
Council appointed a warden and hired staff. The Maasai people were to
share the revenues from the leases and gate fees. Other parts of the reserve
could be leased by the tribes for hunting and photography. When Kenya
banned hunting in 1977 income went down. Over the years complaints
have emerged about corruption, claiming that powerful politicians in the