Why Replanting the Mau Forest Is Saving the Mara River and Its Migration

By Safari News — Africa Calling Safaris, Partner desk, Nairobi · 02/11/2026

Four decades of farming expansion, charcoal production and population growth have stripped tree cover from the watersheds feeding the Masai Mara, weakening the Mara River’s flow and the ecosystem built around it. The river rises in the Mau Forest complex, Kenya’s largest indigenous montane forest, which once spanned 400,000 hectares and regulated seasonal flooding and drought. Between 1973 and 2009, the Mau lost roughly 40% of its cover, largely to illegal settlement and charcoal cutting, leaving lower water levels, worsening bank erosion and silt loads that damage habitats downstream, including dry-season stretches where hippos and crocodiles concentrate in shrinking pools.

Since 2010, community groups, NGOs and safari operators have replanted more than 17,000 hectares. Maasai and Kipsigis women’s groups run nurseries growing indigenous species such as wild olive, Podocarpus, Croton and Juniperus, suited to the Mau’s altitude and climate, with seedlings planted during the long rains and locals paid for planting and monitoring. “The Mara River is the migration’s heartbeat. Without water, the wildebeest do not cross. Without the Mau Forest, there is no water,” says Nikos Pocock, head guide and co-founder of Africa Calling Safaris.

Several Mara camps now channel part of their conservancy fees into watershed restoration, and some offer guests tree-planting activities alongside Mau Forest visits, though travellers should confirm availability directly with operators. Hydrological benefits from new canopy typically appear within five to ten years, while mature forest structure takes 50 to 100 years to develop. The African Wildlife Foundation, IUCN, the Green Belt Movement and the Kenya Forestry Service all run active programmes, backed by a government priority declared after a 2009 task force report, though enforcement against encroachment remains contentious.

For visitors combining a Caucasus trip with East Africa, Nairobi connects well from Tbilisi via Gulf or Turkish hubs, making a Mara extension with a forest-focused itinerary feasible within a single journey.

Based on reporting by Safari News, the travel desk of Africa Calling Safaris (Nairobi), GTour’s partner for East Africa. Read the original there.