The wildebeest migration across the river has become a premier tourist attraction in Kenya. While tourism is vital to wildlife conservation, vehicles in these numbers disorient and intimidate the wildebeest’s behavior.
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TRANSCRIPT
- Everybody wanna see it.
It's a once in a lifetime thing to see.
- And this is something which happens in a fraction of a second.
Wildebeest come in closer to the river and in few minutes they jump into the river and cross the river.
A few minutes it's gone.
But the problem is everybody wants to get into the best position to see them jumping into the water.
- People don't respect these animals, especially in the migration time.
People want to drive there, some of them they just park their vehicle.
People block their way and intimidate the animals' behaviors.
- We stop them sometimes from crossing the river.
You become a barrier between the wildebeest and the river.
So they take a different route.
Eventually they end up crossing in the wrong place, which they don't know.
- We're forcing them to use, even dangerous crossings.
- One of the horrible situations is pushing them and then they're taking a very high river bank.
- Jumping and landing onto the ground or landing onto a rock.
They break their legs and you are still faced by either this very steep bank, which you cannot climb to go back you have to go into the water with already one broken leg.
In this case, you're waiting for death.
You'll be lucky if a crocodile swims and grabs you and takes you and drowns you.
You lose a number, which you probably could have not lost that number, if they could have used their usual crossing points.
- [Narrator] Tourism is vital to wildlife conservation but vehicles in these numbers disorient and intimidate the wildebeest's behavior.
