An investigation on the impact of human population on wildlife conservation in Kenya: A case study of Masai Mara National Game Reserve

Abstract

Biodiversity is facing widespread competition with humanity for space and resources. As a result, many species are increasingly coming into conflict with people, and this is particularly true of large mammals across most of the game reserves in Kenya. This study is aimed at investigating the impact of an ever-increasing human population on wildlife in Masai Mara National Reserve (MMNR) in Kenya. The study will be carried out with the objectives of finding out the different ways in which surrounding community residents and visiting ones affect wildlife in MMNR, the conflicts created between wildlife and people and how to mitigate the problems in an attempt to conserve the wildlife in MMNR. The study will be both qualitative and quantitative in nature whereby descriptive cross sectional methods were used. Data will be collected using questionnaires, one to one interviews, and direct assessments/observations, reviewing of literature, and later analyzed using statistical package and already conducted surveys from the Kenya Wildlife service (KWS) and the Masai Mara Ecological Monitoring Programme (MMEMP).