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Will Mara drivers ever be responsible?

Category: Lodges & Camps | Date: Jun 17 2008 | By: Kimojino

William and I have spent most of the day closing off all the tracks that lead from the bottom road to the river between Olpunyata and Serena. It is a tiring job of shifting stones in the midday sun and even more frustrating when you find that drivers have mostly ignored the road blocks by going round the stones and damaging the delicate river area further.

Road Closed!

Road Closed!

I can tell from the tracks that it was drivers from another lodge this time who went round the stones, and managed to make a brand new road next to the water in just a couple of days.

13 Responses to “Will Mara drivers ever be responsible?”

Sarah Skinner, on 17 Jun 2008

Hi There…Will - dont forget to send me your email and I will forward on the email copy I have of the ‘guides guide to guiding’. Happy to send to Kimonjino (hello!) - could become very useful in some aspects perhaps!
Cant wait for Sept…back again to my ‘2nd home’ aka Ndovu!
speak soon, sarah

William, on 17 Jun 2008

Hey Sarah.

Will do. For some reason the connection is playing up today and it’s been almost impossible to get websites up - especially Facebook.

Will be in touch today.

kimojino, on 18 Jun 2008

Hallo Sarah and thanks alot for the guides guide to guiding.Hope to see you at Ndovu in september.

William, on 18 Jun 2008

Last night, a driver from yet another lodge went around the extended line of stones - that small patch you see in the photo between the stones and the water.

Jim from Mass USA, on 18 Jun 2008

Have you tried requiring the lodges & camps to get permits to send drivers to the Mara? The permits would require listing driver’s names and vehicle ID/tag numbers. If a driver then violates the rules, you might fine the driver AND suspend the permit for that lodge or camp for 1,3 or 5 days … etc. If the lodge or camp is barred from driving in the Mara, I would think they would immediately discipline or fire the driver because the tourists would be screaming. So too, it wouldn’t be fair, I suppose, to punish the tourists, on whom the Mara depends. Obviously, I have no experience on the ground over there, but whatever you do, you have to hit them where it hurts to get their attention. If you get petty, they will just break more rules out of resentment.

Sarah Skinner, on 18 Jun 2008

Hey Joseph…no problem…have lots more stuff from where that came from…..fresh off doing my field guides license, so picked up a fair bit of stuff and the guides guide to guiding was one of them…makes a funny read to! …Lots of wildlife research articles on predators as well that I have collected in few years - many specific to Kenya & the Mara if you ever want me to send across…I have travelled to the Mara many times and know the issues that are faced there, its always a tough one to talk about standards of guiding etc………. be great to see you in Sept …looks like I have some new roads to map on the GPS to! (I have been creating a GPS map of the Mara as best I can for our self drives and mapping lion pride areas/sightings) ps just sent message via FB..

Jim from Mass USA, on 18 Jun 2008

I probably do not know from where I speak, so ignore my last. I probably broke Steven Covey’s rule of seeking to understand before seeking to be understood, as well.

Sabra from AZ USA, on 18 Jun 2008

What an outrage - as if the Mara does not face enough challenges! It occurs to me that some tourists would pay (bribe) drivers to cross the barriers, so that fines would be no deterrent. My experience says that not all tourists are properly respectful of their hosts… Other thoughts: Are these drivers KPSGA members? Report them! Send names of drivers, their lodges and/or safari companies to National Geographic, BBC Africa, ASTA (American Society of Travel Agents); ask that the names be published and the drivers/lodges/safari companies be blackballed or censured.

asuka, on 19 Jun 2008

Kimojino came back yesterday with his hands bleeding from carrying stones all day. I wish tour operators, lodges and drivers could see how much effort Kimojino and other rangers put into protecting the fragile environment… I believe it is up to individual tourist to be “responsible visitor to Mara” and tell his/her driver to not to engage in such a offence.

BRIDGET KOTCHIE, on 20 Jun 2008

Hi wonder if you can tell me how to get a full copy of ” A Guides Guide to Guiding ”
Many Thanks
Bridget Kotchie.

bridgetkotchie@tiscali.co.uk

Sabra from AZ USA, on 20 Jun 2008

By coincidence, I was just looking at Travel + Leisure magazine, which included Kichwa Tembo on its list “T+L 500″, World’s Best Hotels, as #1 in Kenya. I suggest you contact the magazine editors and inform them of the irresponsible behavior of one of the lodge’s guides. I think readers of the magazine who travel to Africa would be VERY interested in that information. I have tried myself to email to the editors but their links are not functioning right now; I will try again. Here’s the website: http://www.travelandleisure.com/tl500/2008/hotel/kichwa-tembo-masai-mara. Keep up your excellent and important work!

Sarah Skinner, on 21 Jun 2008

Hi Bridget - The book is by a chap called Garth Thompson - you can order via any bookshop in the UK (Amazon), although can take sometime in some cases as its a SA book thats not usually stocked. Also try SA field guide association FGASA (www.fgasa.co.za) if you struggle getting it ordered in uk. Comes from SA but does not usualyy take a any more than a couple of weeks.

kimojino, on 21 Jun 2008

Thank you everyone for all these comments on this subject.
Today the management of the camp concerned met with the Mara Conservancy and we are pleased to say that they took this incident very seriously.

It was a very positive meeting and we believe that a stronger relationship will now be forged between the Conservancy and the Camp. We will keep you updated as things progress.

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