Abstract:
Indigenous ecological knowledge (IEK) of the Maasai community in the context of their interaction with
elephants around Masai Mara National Reserve (MMNR), Kenya is explored. Although Maasai community land sustains a huge elephant population, it is experiencing increased human-elephant conflict (HEC).
Focus group discussions combined with scientifically collected data were used in assessing the relevance
of IEK to elephant related ecological research. The Maasai narrated their experiences with elephants
which were then formulated into hypotheses and tested scientifically by designing experiments that were
monitored to prove the authenticity of IEK. Respondents had in-depth knowledge of some key ecological
processes. Drunken people were more likely to be attacked by elephants, and elephant movement into ad-
jacent group ranches increased with increasing wildebeest density. Elephants mainly raided ripe or mature
crops while pupils within the elephant range performed poorly in national examinations. Based on this,
there is strong evidence that IEK could be used to design sustainable conservation strategies. It is recom-
mended that understanding of IEK in mitigating HEC and its subsequent integration into HEC decision
support system is necessary in order to resolve conflicts