Category: Great Migration, Lodges & Camps | Date: Jul 12 2008 | By: William

Wildebeest today on the move toward Milima Tatu

I went round most of the lodges and camps who are in or use the Mara Triangle yesterday delivering the posters for the Most Responsible Guide 2008 Award. There were some very nice camps indeed which would have looked lovely with guests in them.

In response to the comments left on the previous post, tourism is not as high as we had hoped for July. The industry is forecasting 50% for the months of July and August, although some of the camps I visited yesterday were completely empty. Forecast for the rest of the year after August, is back down to 20%.

It is true that there are many lodges and camps in the Masai Mara with over 4,000 beds, however the Masai Mara reserve falls under two county councils; Narok and Trans-Mara. The Mara Triangle is in Trans-Mara and is managed independently from the Narok side, and is dependent on the beds (guests) in lodges and camps in the Mara Triangle, or who use the Mara Triangle.

Wildebeest massing today.

So out of 4,000 beds in the Masai Mara, only 186 of these beds are inside the Triangle: 150 beds at Serena and 36 at Little Governors. We also collect revenue from four more lodges outside of the reserve who use the Triangle for their game drive: Olonana (24 beds), Mpata Safari Club (40 beds), Mara Siria (12 beds) and Kilima (20 beds).

This means that the Mara Conservancy collects park gate fees from those who sleep in a grand total of 282 beds. Which is not much compared to the Narok side; 850 beds inside the reserve (at the last count) and about 3,000 outside. This does mean less revenue for us, but it is what keeps the Mara Triangle so unique and beautiful - even when the tourists were here there were many parts of the Triangle which you could have all to yourself.

Before the crisis hit in January we could manage on 282 beds. There are of course those who came into the Triangle and weren’t staying at the lodges, and the average revenue collection (before the crisis) for the Mara Triangle was US $3 million a year, with the Conservancy share being 36% of that, at about US $1.2 million - we are a not-for-profit organisation, and so all of this went into park operations.

With so many empty beds at the moment things aren’t looking so good for the Conservancy, and neither will it anytime soon. Please, if you are able, think about setting up a monthly donation for the Triangle. We would truly appreciate it as it will help us in the long term.

Thank you.

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Category: Great Migration | Date: Jul 07 2008 | By: William

Click here for eye feast.

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Category: An Urgent Appeal, Great Migration | Date: Jul 03 2008 | By: William

Wildebeest on the opposite hill in Serengeti.

Tourist projection for the month of July and August is 50% occupancy.  For the rest of the year it is expected to fall back to 20% like it has been up until now. This means that our situation will remain dire until 2009, however this is not an appeal for money (although if you have some it will help a lot) but instead we need ideas on how to fundraise for the long term. We thought that things would improve, which they have slightly, but unfortunately not as much as we had hoped.

I went out with Kimojino this morning to see the wildebeest massing on the Serengeti side. I have yet to see the great migration and only saw the ends of it when I was here setting up the Mara Triangle blog in November last year. There were just a few hundred of the wildebeest left in the Triangle, leaving in long lines like trails of smoke from an extinguished fire.

Today we left before dawn and carried out an anti-animal harassment patrol from Serena to Mara Bridge. Naitoi and Kimojino have handed out a few fines these past couple of weeks and it was impressive to see the drivers now behaving. In fact they were polite and courteous, which unfortunately was not often the case. We will continue to build on our relationship with the drivers, and we are pleased that the Travel Foundation have started a Most Responsible Safari Guide 2008 Award.

Kimojino and I will be putting up the posters at park gates and also in the staff canteens of the surrounding lodges.

This morning as we approached Mara Bridge we could see large amounts of wildebeest massing in the Serengeti (see photo above), and crossed over into Narok side to where they were also gathering at the Sand River.

Wildebeest and Zebra taking water at Sand River.

We were quite far away so these pictures are at the end of a zoom, but we also managed to take a video - click here to see it.

It’s quite an incredible sight; the whole hill opposite was covered in wildebeest and the noise was, well, much more melodic than the zebras who were coming in from the North the other week.

So it looks like the Song of the Wildebeest will be crossing into the Mara soon. When it does, we’ll be sure to let you all know.

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