Cry Me a River

Lifeblood of the savanna Trail of tears Enapuiyapui, it’s called, this sunken Enapuiyapui’s trail of tears begins in her enclave surrounded by reeds and a for- thick indigenous forests. The trees have est that’s a mere dot on a map of the been harvested for timber, baring the ‘dark continent’. It is said of this swamp to the hot African sun. A chan- cry me a small, 5.2-hectare swamp in northern ging climate and less dependable rain- Kenya that its inner reaches conceal fall have further depleted its waters. The the head of a snake, with the sinuous swamp is evaporating, the star grass and body hiding in the long shadows of water lilies are drying up. cedar trees that line the water’s murky In 2007, WWF-East Africa conducted a edge. The reptile’s tail emerges in a survey of Enapuiyapui’s biodiversity. ‘[The far-distant lake, believed to be Lake swamp] is a micro-catchment area, col- Victoria. lecting water mostly during heavy rains,’ The tale belongs to two groups of says WWF’s John Nyangena. ‘It is of eco- In northern Kenya, a small swamp with a people, the Ogiek and the Maasai, who logical and socio-economic importance have lived on the boundaries of the at national, regional and international long name is evaporating. It is just one watery wilderness for a long time and levels, by itself and through its connec- symptom of a drying region, but the ripple have made their peace with its legendary tion to the Mara River. Were Enapuiyapui effects are being felt as far afield as Lake serpent. For generations, the swamp’s to die, so would the Mara.’ Victoria, for it is here that the waters that Y-shaped arms have offered them shelter, The Mau Forest is the largest indi- water and pasture for livestock, thatch- genous montane forest in East Africa. feed the mighty Mara River – and all who ing grass for huts and medicinal plants With Kenya’s highest rainfall, it is also depend on her – rise. Cheryl Lyn Dybas for the sick. the country’s largest water catchment took a close look at why it is happening, Now, say the elders, Enapuiyapui is area. Several rivers originate there: in herself falling ill. Outsiders, they claim, addition to the Mara, the Ewaso Ng’iro, and what’s being done to change it. have wrought changes in the land, Sondu and Njoro spring from beneath threatening the swamp and stirring the the Mau’s trees. They feed Lake Victoria, TEXT BY CHERYL LYN DYBAS snake from its slumber. Their warnings Lake Nakuru and Lake Natron. encompass more than Enapuiyapui, Enapuiyapui is surrounded by the though. They reach to three nations: Kiptunga portion of the Mau Forest. Kenya, Tanzania and Uganda, two Without Enapuiyapui and Kiptunga, the swamps, one of the world’s largest lakes Mara River would be a hardened river-  and the 395-kilometre-long river that bed. ‘In some seasons, it almost is,’ says links them all. Brian Heath, director of the Mara Two rivulets emanate westwards from Conservancy, a public–private partner- Enapuiyapui. They gather strength as ship between land managers and the they flow across the land, forming first local Maasai community. Since 2000, the Nyangores River, then the Amala, the conservancy has been the steward to become the mighty Mara River that of the north-western section of the connects Kenya’s famed Masai Mara 1 500-square-kilometre Masai Mara with Tanzania’s Serengeti plains, meld- National Reserve. This remote edge, ing them into one ecosystem. called the Mara Triangle, makes up one- At its end, the Mara River is enfolded third of the reserve. by Enapuiyapui’s sister swamp, the Unlike many rivers in the Mara– Masurura. Along the way, it brings crit- Serengeti ecosystem, the Mara is peren- ical drinking water to wildlife, livestock nial, or always-flowing. Seasonal rivers and people, first in the Mau Forest, such as the Sand and sometimes the then in the rangelands, through the Talek run dry in months other than Masai Mara National Reserve and those between March and May, the time Serengeti National Park and finally to of the ‘long rains’, and between October Lake Victoria, its waters lapping the and December, when the ‘short rains’ shores of Kenya, Tanzania and Uganda. fall. Or fell. Enapuiyapui has reason to weep: the As a result of global climate change, drying Mara River has driven Maasai ‘the rains are more and more unpredict- elders to suicide, felled children with able, starting late, ending early or never typhoid, turned millions of fish belly- arriving at all,’ says Heath. Droughts are up and disrupted age-old animal migra- more frequent. In some years, the Masai tions. The lifeblood of this savanna, the Mara resembles the US Midwestern dust- Mara River may soon need a transfu- bowl of the 1930s, when the land and the

sion – of water. life that depended on it were parched. 

Anup Shah/NPL/PhotoAccess

46 AFRICA GEOGRAPHIC • november 2011 www.africageographic.com 47 Lifeblood of the savanna Trail of tears Enapuiyapui, it’s called, this sunken Enapuiyapui’s trail of tears begins in her enclave surrounded by reeds and a for- thick indigenous forests. The trees have est that’s a mere dot on a map of the been harvested for timber, baring the ‘dark continent’. It is said of this swamp to the hot African sun. A chan- cry me a small, 5.2-hectare swamp in northern ging climate and less dependable rain- Kenya that its inner reaches conceal fall have further depleted its waters. The the head of a snake, with the sinuous swamp is evaporating, the star grass and body hiding in the long shadows of water lilies are drying up. cedar trees that line the water’s murky In 2007, WWF-East Africa conducted a edge. The reptile’s tail emerges in a survey of Enapuiyapui’s biodiversity. ‘[The far-distant lake, believed to be Lake swamp] is a micro-catchment area, col- Victoria. lecting water mostly during heavy rains,’ The tale belongs to two groups of says WWF’s John Nyangena. ‘It is of eco- In northern Kenya, a small swamp with a people, the Ogiek and the Maasai, who logical and socio-economic importance have lived on the boundaries of the at national, regional and international long name is evaporating. It is just one watery wilderness for a long time and levels, by itself and through its connec- symptom of a drying region, but the ripple have made their peace with its legendary tion to the Mara River. Were Enapuiyapui effects are being felt as far afield as Lake serpent. For generations, the swamp’s to die, so would the Mara.’ Victoria, for it is here that the waters that Y-shaped arms have offered them shelter, The Mau Forest is the largest indi- water and pasture for livestock, thatch- genous montane forest in East Africa. feed the mighty Mara River – and all who ing grass for huts and medicinal plants With Kenya’s highest rainfall, it is also depend on her – rise. Cheryl Lyn Dybas for the sick. the country’s largest water catchment took a close look at why it is happening, Now, say the elders, Enapuiyapui is area. Several rivers originate there: in herself falling ill. Outsiders, they claim, addition to the Mara, the Ewaso Ng’iro, and what’s being done to change it. have wrought changes in the land, Sondu and Njoro spring from beneath threatening the swamp and stirring the the Mau’s trees. They feed Lake Victoria, TEXT BY CHERYL LYN DYBAS snake from its slumber. Their warnings Lake Nakuru and Lake Natron. encompass more than Enapuiyapui, Enapuiyapui is surrounded by the though. They reach to three nations: Kiptunga portion of the Mau Forest. Kenya, Tanzania and Uganda, two Without Enapuiyapui and Kiptunga, the swamps, one of the world’s largest lakes Mara River would be a hardened river-  and the 395-kilometre-long river that bed. ‘In some seasons, it almost is,’ says links them all. Brian Heath, director of the Mara Two rivulets emanate westwards from Conservancy, a public–private partner- Enapuiyapui. They gather strength as ship between land managers and the they flow across the land, forming first local Maasai community. Since 2000, the Nyangores River, then the Amala, the conservancy has been the steward to become the mighty Mara River that of the north-western section of the connects Kenya’s famed Masai Mara 1 500-square-kilometre Masai Mara with Tanzania’s Serengeti plains, meld- National Reserve. This remote edge, ing them into one ecosystem. called the Mara Triangle, makes up one- At its end, the Mara River is enfolded third of the reserve. by Enapuiyapui’s sister swamp, the Unlike many rivers in the Mara– Masurura. Along the way, it brings crit- Serengeti ecosystem, the Mara is peren- ical drinking water to wildlife, livestock nial, or always-flowing. Seasonal rivers and people, first in the Mau Forest, such as the Sand and sometimes the then in the rangelands, through the Talek run dry in months other than Masai Mara National Reserve and those between March and May, the time Serengeti National Park and finally to of the ‘long rains’, and between October Lake Victoria, its waters lapping the and December, when the ‘short rains’ shores of Kenya, Tanzania and Uganda. fall. Or fell. Enapuiyapui has reason to weep: the As a result of global climate change, drying Mara River has driven Maasai ‘the rains are more and more unpredict- elders to suicide, felled children with able, starting late, ending early or never typhoid, turned millions of fish belly- arriving at all,’ says Heath. Droughts are up and disrupted age-old animal migra- more frequent. In some years, the Masai tions. The lifeblood of this savanna, the Mara resembles the US Midwestern dust- Mara River may soon need a transfu- bowl of the 1930s, when the land and the

sion – of water. life that depended on it were parched. 

Anup Shah/NPL/PhotoAccess

46 AFRICA GEOGRAPHIC • november 2011 www.africageographic.com 47 Dust devils of grasses and sands whirl across the plains like the tumbleweeds of the American West

Wildimages/istock.com

Time of the dustbowl its back to cool off. It finally quits the spot, merest shower falls from the thunder- The first few months of 2011 echo that finding it too shallow, Wako believes, and heads. A rainbow, the universal sign of dusty period. It’s early March and villagers lumbers up a trail that cuts into the river’s hope, appears. wonder where the rains are. At the steep side. In East Africa, severe droughts occurred Purungat Bridge in the Mara Triangle, I Despite warnings that the rains would in 1949–52 and 1972–73. ‘If there were peer over the edge. The Mara River below prevent passage from place to place, I’ve another such drought,’ says Emmanuel is more sandbar than waterway. At my come to the Mara in March. Black cotton, Gereta, a retired ecologist from Tanzania side is Kenyan Tari Wako, the lead driver- as the region’s porous soils are termed, National Parks, ‘the Mara River would guide for Ker & Downey Safaris, the would swallow any Land Cruiser foolhardy disappear for months.’ He studies the world’s first, and arguably best-known, enough to attempt a rainy season crossing river through the lens of a scientific safari company. We’re deciding whether of the savanna. But the roads – or tracks, field called ecohydrology, a blend of ©alison jones/danitadelimont.com rocks exposed by the low water level are as Wako calls them – are dry. Too dry. ecology and the study of moving water, in fact crocodiles. ‘It’d be better if they Dust devils of grasses and sands whirl like that in rivers. It shows that a Mara ‘In tough times, a healthy Mau Forest ABOVE In 2009, the ‘short rains’ were late and in that long, were rocks than crocs,’ says Wako. ‘Rocks across the plains like the tumbleweeds of River gone dry would lead to the col- would offset some of these effects.’ dry season harvests failed and cattle starved. don’t need water.’ the American West. Lions, leopards and lapse of the Masai Mara–Serengeti’s Founder and board member of the Mara LEFT Wildebeest mass on the banks of a low-flowing Mara The river is so low even crocodiles are cheetahs, crouched in hunting mode, heed herbivore populations and, in turn, the Conservancy, Robertson has spent River. There are concerns in some scientific quarters that if another severe drought were to strike East Africa, the river threatened. Their sinewy forms are usually the direction of the scouring winds. predators that prey on them. ‘The Mara decades visiting the Mara–Serengeti, could disappear for months. well hidden beneath the water’s surface, Elephant backs, sand-blasted, seem a shade River is vital to this ecosystem, especial- sometimes for months at a stretch, and is the better to snap up unsuspecting ani- lighter than the rest of their bodies. Their ly during droughts,’ says Gereta, ‘but its a keen observer of the changes in the PREVIOUS SPREAD The Mara River snakes its way south through Kenya, bringing life-sustaining water to thousands mals drinking at the river. Now, the crocs trunks, and those of trees nearby, are cov- flow rates during dry spells have river. ‘When you extract water for the of people, cattle and wild animals, including large numbers are left high and dry, exposed to their ered in Masai Mara dust. Will the long decreased by more than 65 per cent irrigation of wheat and maize crops of crocodiles. Over-utilisation and poor management of the would-be prey. A deep-water bend where rains come this year and, if so, when? since 1972.’ downstream of the Mau Forest,’ he says, river, combined with a volatile climate, however, are jeopard- ising the river’s ability to service all who depend on it. more than 100 hippos usually wallow has Wako points to the far horizon, across It all comes down to the deforesta- ‘the problem only gets worse. By the been reduced to a pond. Today a lone the border and into Tanzania. Clouds have tion of the Mau, says James Robertson, time the river reaches the Masai Mara, it

hippo tosses excrement-filled water onto gathered. Mixed with the sun’s rays, the chief executive officer of Ker & Downey. has sustained a lot of blows.’ 

48 AFRICA GEOGRAPHIC • november 2011 www.africageographic.com 49 Dust devils of grasses and sands whirl across the plains like the tumbleweeds of the American West

Wildimages/istock.com

hippo tosses excrement-filled water onto gathered. Mixed with the sun’s rays, the chief executive officer of Ker & Downey. has sustained a lot of blows.’ 

48 AFRICA GEOGRAPHIC • november 2011 www.africageographic.com 49 MARA RIVER

Are the wounds A river wounded These are far from the only deaths caused Enapuiyapui Are the wounds mortal? Perhaps not to by low flows in the Mara. In February 2011, Swamp Mau Forest mortal? Perhaps the river – yet. But to the humans and the lifeless bodies of silvery fish lined the not to the river. But wildlife that depend on it, the answer banks. It wasn’t the first time fish had died is a sad yes. Scientists Christopher in the Mara or its tributaries, but it was one to the humans and Amala Dutton and Amanda Subalusky of Yale of the worst, with more than five million LAKE KENYA Nyangoras wildlife that depend University in the US have witnessed found at the confluence of the Mara and VICTORIA on it, the answer is the effects first-hand. For three years, the seasonal Moyan River. It’s whispered a sad yes they have journeyed to the Mara’s that a sudden change in the weather result- banks, measuring river levels and col- ed in a heavy mist that covered the water’s lecting water samples. surface, smothering the fish. To scientists, TANZANIA Masai Before the short rains arrived in 2009 the explanation is a low amount of dis- Mara NP – late again – harvests of crops like solved oxygen in the water. The most com- N wheat failed. But more died than grain mon cause is a huge ‘bloom’ of tiny floating Mara River Talek Masurura U fields. The Maasai, carrying nothing plant plankton. The bloom, usually a result Swamp Sand but weapons, blankets and gourds of of excess fertiliser washed into the stream, milk, moved their starving livestock to uses up most of the oxygen. Mara River catchment area any green pasture they could find. It Conservationists, however, suspect the didn’t help. The fields were ‘littered deaths were attributable to agro-chemicals with the carcasses of cattle that had such as carbofuran, a toxic pesticide, flow- that the river is even lower than it was in OPPOSITE The Mau Forest is Kenya’s largest water just dropped dead,’ says Subalusky, ing into the river. Agricultural land use in the drought of 2009.’ catchment area, but extensive deforestation for agriculture is affecting the flow rates of the Mara and other rivers. ‘leaving no meat, not even enough for the Mara River watershed has increased by Low water flow or not, zebras and other vultures to pick at.’ In the wake of the 200 per cent over the past three decades, species come to the river this March – in BELOW Zebra in the Masai Mara National Reserve drink drought, many Maasai elders commit- with recent figures showing that more droves – because the situation elsewhere is from the river. ted suicide. than 62 per cent of the households are even worse. On an orange-tinged morn- All through that hot, dry season, smallholder farms. ing, Heath suggests finding a spot along Subalusky and Dutton collected water As of writing, the reasons for the fish the river and simply waiting. ‘There’s vir- TREES FOR THE MARA samples from the Mara and its tribu- kill remain unknown, or unreported, tually no water on the Serengeti side in Set high on a bush-cloaked hill, Mara Serena tary, the Talek. ‘The Talek smelled of although the Kenya Wildlife Service is Tanzania,’ he says, ‘so everything is cross- Safari Lodge is like an eyrie above the Mara raw sewage,’ remembers Dutton, ‘and conducting an investigation. Ultimately, ing into the Masai Mara in search of it. River. Its long views across the savanna en- the water was discoloured and frothy.’ it’s the Mara’s water level that is behind Usually we wouldn’t see zebras in these sure it a ringside seat at what is often called More than 50 colonies of the microbe the catastrophe, and it has dropped to numbers at this time of year, they’d still ‘the greatest wildlife show on earth’. Escherichia coli, or E. coli, which is what may be an all-time low. be over in the Serengeti.’ In the star-lit darkness, I’m asleep in one found in animal faeces, were growing Brian Heath and some colleagues took Dawn spills across the Mara as we hear of the lodge’s beautiful rooms when I hear in a one-millilitre sample of water from photos of the river at the New Mara the first hoofbeats. Stripes cloud our a low huffing growl nearby. Walking to the the Talek. The US Environmental Bridge near the Kenya–Tanzania border, vision: first tens, then hundreds, then balcony doors, I spot the dim outline of a Protection Agency standard for safe and compared them with images snapped thousands upon thousands of zebras leopard on the lodge’s grassy hillside. For the drinking water is less than one colony at the same spot by Dutton and thunder their way to the river. They dip briefest of moments, the eyes of the big cat of E. coli per 100 millilitres of water. Subalusky in February 2009. ‘By compar- their heads and drink Enapuiyapui’s life- meet mine, then its spotted body disappears

The Talek River had 5 000 colon- ing them,’ says Subalusky, ‘we can deduce giving waters.  into the trees. The next night, it appears ies per 100 millilitres of water. again. On the third night, it’s gone, vanished ‘There was no rain to wash faeces into the tangled woods along the river. from ungulates on the nearby plains ‘For the leopards and all the wildlife, and into the river,’ says Dutton. ‘So where for ourselves, we need to preserve the was it coming from?’ He suspects that savanna and the river,’ says Paul Chaulo, high numbers of tourists in lodges manager of the lodge. ‘We also need to along the Talek may have contributed save the Mau Forest hundreds of miles to the problem. away. That’s where it all begins.’ Months earlier, low river levels fos- Serena Hotels’ (www.serenahotels.com) tered a typhoid outbreak in districts policy is to ‘set a benchmark for responsible along the Mara. As water levels dropped, tourism in the communities in which we sanitation, already a major problem in operate,’ says managing director Mahmud many small towns, grew worse. The Jan Mohamed. For the Mara Serena Safari bacterium Salmonella enterica, found in Lodge, that community extends to the forest. water contaminated with faeces, led to In May, Serena Hotels staff journeyed to the the disease. Healthy villagers walked forest’s Nderit section, where they planted five kilometres every day to alternative 13 000 seedlings. ‘We have a stake in the water sources at freshwater springs. future of the river,’ says Mohamed. ‘There- Despite their efforts, several young chil- fore we also have one in that of the forest.’

©alison jones/danitadelimont.com dren died of typhoid that year. Purdy Photography/istock.com

www.africageographic.com 51 MARA RIVER

www.africageographic.com 51 LIUWA’S CARNIVORES MARA RIVER

Rainbow over the Mara? ‘Like the wildebeest and the zebra, The news is not all bad, though. the Mara doesn’t have a minute to Organisations and individuals – and, lose,’ says Jackson Looseyia, a Maasai apparently, species – on all sides of the who owns a tented camp called Rekero Mara are coming together to try to on the banks of the Talek River, not save it. Last November, as thousands far from its confluence with the Mara. of wildebeest crossed the river on their The camp has joined forces with annual migration between the plains Dutton and Subalusky, offering the of the Serengeti and the Masai Mara, a scientists a 24-hour-a-day water sam- calf was caught in the undertow. pling site that’s ‘safe for river access Crocodiles circled. Throngs of tourists even in the middle of the night,’ says watched as the calf struggled to the Subalusky. river’s far edge. ‘To everyone’s amaze- But once the long rains arrive and ment,’ says Heath, ‘a hippo came to the tourist season ends, Rekero Tented its rescue, gently pushing it to the Camp virtually disappears. ‘We pack riverbank – and safety.’ everything up,’ says Looseyia, ‘because But the hippo’s dedication didn’t it’s all temporary. We leave behind lit- stop there. Within 10 minutes it spot- tle but the site on which the camp is ted a tiny zebra crossing the same perched.’ Dutton applauds Rekero’s We have the opportunity stretch. The zebra, too, was fighting to approach. ‘If all tourism facilities in to improve management stay above the torrent. Once again, the Mara took such care, we wouldn’t practices while the Mara the Good Samaritan hippo, as it have to worry about human impacts became known, guided the youngster from inside the protected area.’ Other is still flowing. Let’s not out of the water. Masai Mara properties are working wait until it’s only a trickle

towards the same goal, among them the custodians of the river on local, regional, ABOVE The Mara River ends its journey amongst the Mara Serena Safari Lodge. (Read about national and international scales. Only water hyacinths of the Masurura Swamp on the shores of Lake Victoria. the lodge’s project in the Mau Forest on then will the Mara River survive, and page 51). thrive.’ OPPOSITE The long rains did arrive this year, greening Helping both tourist properties and In September, the first steps toward the Masai Mara and strengthening the flow of the river. More encouragingly, initiatives such as the WWF-backed riverside villages is the award-winning greater cooperation were taken when, Mara River Water User’s Association and the Lake Mara River Water User’s Association following training sessions sponsored by Victoria Basin Commission are finding ways to better manage this vital resource. (MRWUA), a community-based water re- the LVBC, eight local councils from sources management organisation. With Kenya and Tanzania agreed to work WWF involvement, MRWUA staff mem- together to promote best practices with bers teach environmental education, regard to the management of the Mara maintain tree nurseries and offer instruc- River basin. tion in water and soil conservation best Like the heroic hippo, we need to be practices. Among their most successful Good Samaritans for the entire waterway, projects is the planting of riverbank- otherwise its fate may mirror that of the stabilising fruit trees. Great Ruaha River in Tanzania, which The way to a healthy Mara River may ceased flowing altogether in the 1993 dry ultimately lie in two reports published last season, possibly due to irrigation for agri- year: ‘Biodiversity strategy and action plan culture. Since then, it has shrivelled to for sustainable management of the Mara nothing every dry season and stays that River basin’ and ‘Assessing reserve flows way for increasingly long periods. ‘It for the Mara River’. Joint efforts of the should be a dire warning for the Mara Lake Victoria Basin Commission (LVBC) of River,’ says Subalusky. ‘We have the the East African Community, WWF and opportunity to improve management the US Agency for International Develop- practices while the Mara is still flowing. ment’s Global Water for Sustainability Let’s not wait until it’s only a trickle.’ Program, the reports light the way to Or until Enapuiyapui’s tears have run cooperative management of the river. dry. AG Tom Okurut, former executive secretary of the LVBC, spent long hours working on The ‘long rains’ fell in western Kenya in the documents. ‘The secret to the Mara’s July 2011, bringing welcome relief to the success,’ he states, ‘is that the citizens of dry and dusty land. Since then, the Mara Kenya and Tanzania, and of nations River (and its tributary the Talek) have near and far, need to see themselves as been flowing strongly. naturepl.com/anup shah/wwf

52 AFRICA GEOGRAPHIC • novembeR 2011 www.africageographic.com 53 LIUWA’S CARNIVORES MARA RIVER

52 AFRICA GEOGRAPHIC • novembeR 2011 www.africageographic.com 53