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I know who you are, and if you do it again I’ll fine you!

Category: Lodges & Camps, Tourists | Date: Jun 13 2008 | By: Kimojino

It is such a beautiful day today in the Mara. These last few days it has been overcast and we have been feeling the cold, but this morning the sun eventually broke free and from then until now the day has been too beautiful.

Masai ostriches in the morning sun.
Masai ostriches in the morning sun.

I went out for a final drive this evening to monitor the few tour drivers that are out and about. I caught a couple of drivers who were too close to the lions, about 5 metres away from where they were lying and so I told them that they need to keep the full 25 metres distance between them and the animals. It was good to see that the resident drivers were all respectful of this distance when they approached the lions.

I was rather annoyed however when later on in Olpunyata I saw this.

Tour Driver ignores closed road.

Tour Driver ignores closed road. 

Annoyed not only because the road is clearly closed, but because I recognise the tyre tracks and know that this is a resident driver.

The track leads to a very fragile area next to the river, and we must ensure all that we can to protect it from overuse.  I wish that the tourists in the car had spoken up when they saw this as they too must have known this was wrong.

Around Olpunyata

Closed road leading to the fragile river area. 

Today with William Deed we have worked out how we will distribute the digital cameras that you kindly donated. We will post more about this tomorrow.

Please also feel free to receive the latest blog posts from the Mara Triangle to your email inbox by clicking here. It takes just two seconds, and you’ll always stay up to date and feel part of this beautiful land. Karibu!

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4 Responses to “I know who you are, and if you do it again I’ll fine you!”

sheryl, washington dc, on 14 Jun 2008

Maybe you need bigger stones on the road? Did you catch the tour driver and remind him that he’s breaking the rules?

s.

William, on 14 Jun 2008

Hey Sheryl

The stones are a clear and recognised sign that the road is closed. The tour driver caught using this road is resident to the Mara Triangle and so knows exactly what this means.

One of the things that the Mara Conservancy was picked up on during the responsible tour driving workshop was being too lenient with the drivers and letting them off with a warning - and this came from the resident drivers themselves. Today, when caught, the driver himself admitted to knowing that this particular road was closed.

Dana-Phoenix Arizona, on 14 Jun 2008

I can see from this photo that the stones clearly represent “Don’t drive here”. Very disappointing that the driver ignored this, was warned and did it again.

kimojino, on 17 Jun 2008

It was very sad that many of the resident drivers at the camps/lodges within the Triangle had just attended the responsible guiding workshops held on 6 and 7.6.08 at Olonana and Kichwa Tembo camps respectively.
Among the issues discussed were respecting park rules and regulations, just to find the same Drivers violating them ignorantly.Mara Conservancy will not tolerate ignorance of any sort and penalties are meted out to all involved, and so far four drivers have been fined kshs.2000.

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