The Olgulului – Ololarashi group ranch is close to the border of Tanzania and home to Maasai pastoralists. For the Maasai people, livestock are very valuable and at the centre of everything. But nowadays, it’s not easy to keep livestock. Due to severe droughts, overpopulation and therefore overgrazing, and less communal land for the Maasai, the rangelands are heavily degraded. Trees, shrubs and grass species have disappeared resulting in heavy erosion. The loss of pasture due to all the above has resulted in a decline in livestock productivity and an increase in competition between people and wildlife, especially elephants….
But….. Together with partners African Conservation Centre (ACC) and Amboseli Ecosystem Trust (AET) they started a two-year program (July 2019 – June 2021) to restore and regreen the degraded areas, and to improve the livelihoods of the communities. We selected a combination of interventions among which the digging of bunds, setting up and managing olopololi’s (dry season grazing areas) and grass seed banks and educating the Maasai communities about livestock and grazing management.
Products of the landscape: A Maásai woman milks a sheep before they enter the 'Boma' after a long day herding. They do this so fast before the lambs get a hold of the mum's (sheep) tits.
Natural Birth Control: A male goat tries to mate, but he cannot because of the plastic made Birth control, it is used not only to regulate the carrying capacity of the herd but also to regulate gene transfer, they prefer high quality individuals who have great meat or milk production.
The Pride of a community: A Maasai woman poses for a picture with part of a flock, as she wait for the others to arrive to ensure they have a proper head count before they are kept in the 'Boma'
Have a look at the progress
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