Ukambani borders three major national parks and reserves: Tsavo East National Park, Tsavo West National Park, and Amboseli National Park. The Kamba territories adjacent to these protected areas experience wildlife-human conflicts, have histories of hunting and poaching, and have increasingly engaged with conservation as an economic and cultural domain.
Wildlife Boundaries and Human-Animal Conflict
Tsavo East and Tsavo West, comprising over 20,000 square kilometers, are immediately adjacent to Kitui and Makueni counties. Amboseli, smaller but ecologically significant, borders Kamba areas near the Kenya-Tanzania border. The wildlife in these parks, particularly elephants, buffalo, and lions, occasionally move beyond park boundaries into settled Kamba areas, raiding crops and threatening livestock and human safety.
Elephant crop raiding is particularly costly for Kamba farmers. Elephants can destroy an entire year's harvest of maize or other crops in a single night of feeding. The economic loss from wildlife damage is significant for communities already living at subsistence levels. Compensation schemes exist but often fail to fully reimburse losses or are difficult to access.
Poaching History
The Kamba territories, particularly Kitui, have experienced intensive poaching of elephants and other valuable wildlife. Ivory poaching was especially severe in the 1980s and early 1990s, when soaring international ivory prices incentivized illegal hunting. Local hunters and outside poaching syndicates operated in the borderlands between settled areas and the parks.
The poaching period resulted in severe elephant population declines in Tsavo. By the 1990s, the ivory trade ban and increased anti-poaching efforts began to slow poaching, though illegal wildlife trafficking has persisted. Some Kamba communities and individuals were involved in poaching networks, generating income from a resource they had historically hunted.
Kamba as Wildlife Rangers and Guides
In response to colonial-era prohibitions on African hunting, and subsequently through conservation employment, many Kamba have become wildlife rangers, anti-poaching patrol members, and wildlife guides. Rangers employed by the Kenya Wildlife Service (KWS) patrol Tsavo parks, protect wildlife from poachers, and manage human-wildlife conflicts.
Kamba wildlife guides work for safari lodges and tour operators, leading tourists through Tsavo parks and sharing knowledge of animal behavior and park ecology. This employment builds on traditional Kamba hunting knowledge (tracking skills, understanding of animal behavior, knowledge of terrain) but redirects it toward protection rather than extraction.
The ranger and guide professions have provided sustainable livelihood for some Kamba, though wages are often modest and working conditions can be difficult and dangerous. Some rangers have been killed by poachers or by wildlife in the course of their duties.
Conservation and Kamba Land Rights
A fundamental tension exists between conservation (particularly fortress conservation models that exclude local people) and Kamba land and resource rights. Tsavo parks were established by colonial authorities without consultation with or compensation to Kamba communities who historically used Tsavo territories for hunting, gathering, and occasional dry-season pastoralism.
The exclusion of Kamba from their ancestral lands for conservation purposes raises questions about justice, sustainability, and who benefits from conservation. While KWS has provided some employment to local people, the primary beneficiaries of wildlife tourism revenue have been international and Nairobi-based tourism enterprises rather than Kamba communities.
Wildlife-Based Tourism and Development
Tourism revenue from Tsavo parks could theoretically benefit surrounding Kamba communities, but the benefit distribution has been limited. Community-based tourism enterprises, wildlife conservancies, and tourism revenue-sharing schemes exist but are underdeveloped. Some Kamba communities have established private wildlife conservancies on their lands, allowing wildlife to exist on community land and generating revenue through tourism and conservation payments.
The potential for wildlife-based tourism and conservation to provide sustainable income remains significant but depends on more equitable benefit distribution and on addressing human-wildlife conflict effectively.
Climate Change and Wildlife Corridors
Climate change has intensified drought in Tsavo parks and surrounding areas, stressing both wildlife populations and pastoral communities. Wildlife migration corridors (movement routes animals use between protected areas and surrounding lands) have become more critical as climate variability increases.
The Kamba term silanga, referring to community-managed water and land conservation, includes concepts of allowing wildlife movement while maintaining human livelihoods. Community conservancies have experimented with creating wildlife-friendly land management practices that accommodate both human settlement and wildlife movement.
See Also: Kamba Hunting Tradition, Ukambani Environment, Kamba and Climate Change