Category: Tourists | Date: Jun 12 2008 | By: Kimojino

Ledama Sogirian and Nashon Lekumok in Tango one.

Many people who come here do not understand the gravity of the situation that we are facing, and often make complaints about the state of the roads. We are trying our best. We have pushed contractors to complete the grading of a government funded road right across the park, from Mara Bridge to Oloololo Gate, and we also have opened up a new road from near Serena Hotel to the Mara River, where the zebras are currently crossing.

In conjunction with the main roads, we also have up to 500km of grass tracks to maintain so that visitors are able to tour the park extensively with the minimum of damage to the ecosystem. Each year we sometimes close the less popular of these tracks and open up new ones, often suggested by resident drivers here in the Mara. The Mara Triangle may be empty right now, but when the tourists do come in a few weeks time we have to make sure that the Triangle is ready to receive their numbers.

Lekumok inspecting the route ahead of Tango One 

We are designing these tracks to take people to where they can view animals easily and also trying to take away pressure from other highly visited areas of the Triangle. For example we are trying to take away the pressure from the river zone to other areas which are not so fragile.

Tango One mowing the grass. 

In the past, we have said that we do allow off-road driving for visitors who want to leave the tracks to see the predators, but we have found that many people take advantage of this and off-road for many many kilometres. So now we have had to change the wording of our rules, and say that all off-road driving is banned, and you are only able to leave the tracks if you want to see animals of interest, like lions, cheetahs, leopards or rhinos. After which you must return to the track immediately.

It is difficult because we want people to have the best experience when they come here, but not at the cost of damaging the environment. We hope that this change in wording will influence tourists behaviour, and ensure responsible game driving.

Newly Opened Game Viewing Track.