As Kenya returns management of Amboseli National Park to Kajiado County, the debate over how best to conserve wildlife is intensifying. Mohanjeet Brar, Managing Director of Gamewatchers Safaris & Porini Camps, offers some important insights.
There is no conservation in Kenya without communities, and models like the Porini conservancies demonstrate how wildlife, tourism, and local livelihoods can thrive together when incentives are aligned.
Mohanjeet highlights that about 70% of Kenya’s wildlife lives on community land, not inside national parks, making community partnership essential for long-term conservation.
While only 8% of Kenya is designated as national parks and reserves, private and community conservancies now protect nearly double that area, expanding wildlife habitat and reducing pressure on overcrowded parks like the Maasai Mara. Around the Mara alone, conservancies generate over $9 million annually for local landowners, proving that conservation can deliver direct financial benefits.
Mohanjeet praises Kenya’s progressive wildlife management but warns that conservation must compete with more profitable land uses.
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