Wildebeest crossing the Mara river in Masai Mara. Picture by BrianScott: http://www.flickr.com/photos/brianscott/

In the past few months, one of the most predominant news item from the Kenya tourism industry has been the existence of illegal camps and lodges in the Maasai Mara game reserve. According to the Kenyan government, more than 70% of the Masai Mara lodges, safari camps and resorts are operating illegally. Kenya’s Minister for tourism, Najib Balala, went as far as threatening to shut down all these lodges (see this story).

A twin issue related to this is that some of these camps are said to be intruding in the niches of endangered species like the black rhino, threatening the already fragile ecosystem (see story here).

Of course, if these camps and lodges have not been licensed, shutting them down is a very logical action. But this would present one big problem: a drop in tourist numbers. Currently, there are approximately 108 camps and lodges in the Masai Mara area, with a total bed capacity of about 4000. If you forcefully close 70% of these, bed capacity would probably drop by the same margin (to about 1200 persons). Considering that Masai Mara is the most visited and best known game reserve in Kenya, such a reduction would affect the entire tourism sector in more than one way.

For many tourists for example, the number one reason they travel to Kenya is to go on a safari. After the safari, some choose to go to the coast for beach relaxation. Others may start with the beach holiday first, then the wildlife safari before traveling back home, but still the safari lure plays a role towards their coming. Likewise, before and after their safari, some tourists rest for a day or two in hotels in Nairobi and other towns. The consequences of a slight drop in tourist numbers in the Mara is therefore likely to be felt by the entire industry. This, I think, is why the Kenyan government is playing it soft on the “illegal” establishments.

Or may be not. In the main Kenyan newspapers today, the Narok county council ran a feature aimed at “dispelling the rumors” about mismanagement of the game reserve. You may already be aware that the Masai Mara is not administered by the Kenyan central government. Instead, it is the county council of Narok that manages the park for the benefit of the neighboring Masai community. You probably also know that around the Mara, you can find plenty of African wildlife outside the officially protected or gazetted game reserve. In fact you can enjoy a relatively good safari experience outside the reserve.

Narok county council’s argument therefore is that there are only 19 lodges and camps within the gazetted area. The remaining 89  are outside the park. As such, the claims that these camps are driving some animal species to their extinction are misinformed.

So the question remains, between the government of Kenya and the Narok county council, who is telling the truth? And why is the government not acting on their threats to close the illegal lodges down, if indeed they are not licensed and they are not paying taxes?

Only time will tell, perhaps.

Besides several other good reasons, the Masai Mara game reserve remains the most preferred wildlife safari destination in Kenya chiefly because of the great wildebeest migration. This well-documented and dramatic natural event involves over one million wildebeest accompanied by a few other antelopes and hundreds of thousands of zebras.

Wildebeest crossing a river during the great migration. Image courtesy of Wikimedia commons (http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Connochaetes_taurinus_-Wildebeest_crossing_river_-East_Africa.jpg).

Some of the most thrilling moments of the migration are when the animals cross the crocodile-infested Mara river. These are the moments most tourists hope to witness when they book their safari to the Mara around July and August. Unfortunately, the migration is a very spontaneous event and therefore it is very hard to precisely predict when the herds will arrive from Serengeti national. Sometimes they cross into the Mara as early as late June, other times as late as September. This year (2009), the first crossing was witnessed in the first week of July (see this news article).

Even when not crossing the Mara or Grumeti rivers, the wildebeest are in almost constant movement within the Serengeti plains in Tanzania, with their migration pattern largely dependent on the rains and pasture availability. The migration therefore has no real beginning or end, the wildebeests start their unending pilgrimage the moment they are born.

What many people may not know is that, besides the wildebeest migration, there are other similarly spectacular sights involving wild animals in Africa. The bat migration in Zambia, and the Ruaha wildlife spectacle in Tanzania are some of these.

Zambia’s Mass Bat Migration

Every year in the October-December period, millions of straw-colored fruit bats move in mass through the Kansaka national park in Zambia. People who have witnessed this event regard it as one of the greatest wildlife spectacles in the world. Twice a day, at dawn and at dusk, the “flying foxes” blacken the skies as they fly to or from their night-time feasting on the seasonal fruits in Kasanka. During the day, the bats roost on every available tree in the forest, in itself an amazing sight to behold. Considering that Kasanka national park is not a very well-known wildlife destination, it is perhaps no surprise that such an astonishing event can remain almost unknown. One traveller who witnessed the migration first-hand describes it in the Wanderlust travel website.

The Ruaha wildlife spectacle

The national parks and game reserves in Tanzania’s southern safari circuit are largely unexplored, in comparison to those in the northern safari circuit. Probably because they are less accessible, these parks remain unchanged for centuries, and are wildlife havens.

Ruaha national park is one such park. It derives its name from the great Ruaha river, the site at which one of the most interesting wildlife drama takes place. Generally, the park is arid and very dry throughout the year. It is however driest from May to December, during which period all animals in the park are drawn to the banks of Ruaha river. With all these animals together, what unfolds right at the river banks is really dramatic: animals courting and mating, predators hunting down their prey, animals fighting, etc. Nowhere else in Africa will you get such a wildlife safari experience.

Ruaha national park has a lot more to write about. I will probably write a post about it in the near future.