~John Kamanga - Chairman Olkiramatian Group Ranch and South Rift Association of Landowners (SORALO)

Excerpt from Program:
"The East Africa Savannas support the greatest variety and largest aggregation of wildlife on earth. The traditional pastoral savannas are also among the most productive of any rangelands. Wildlife and pastoral livestock have coexisted for over 3,000 years without significant extinctions or degradation.

"The productivity and survival of wildlife and livestock, and the ability to coexist, depend on a common ecological strategy rooted in mobility and feeding efficiency. By following the patchy green flushes of pasture caused by localized rainfall, livestock and wildlife harvest the most digestible forage and gain access to water year round in the arid savannas.

"Drought refuges include swamps and forests that produce tall perennial herbage normally shunned because of its poor forage quality and often the high risk from disease and predators.

"The productivity and drought resilience of pastoral herds is also linked to complex social networks and reciprocity among pastoralist communities that go beyond country boundaries.

"Due to the current increase in population and change in land use, the Maasai pastoral community is searching for new ways of integrating their old ways of survival and resilience during drought with new approaches that add value to livestock production and other natural resources, including wildlife to improve their livelihoods in the fast growing market economies."