In many developing countries, the major river basins have been the last to be developed because they were regarded as too difficult or costly for human settlement. Planners of river basin development are becoming wary of projects which call for eventual destruction of wildlife habitats and wildlife altogether, as in other East African countries, that wildlife can be of great touristic value and thus serves one of multiple aims. After waterpower, agricultural development is the most common justification given for interfering with river regimes in developing countries. In order to achieve meaningful development in a river basin, the land use in the whole basin should be examined as a basis for putting forward alternative development proposals. The Tana River clearly demonstrates the problems which many developing countries face in their efforts to bring about developments in a river basin. The lower Tana is in an arid and semiarid region of Kenya.