Category: Lodges & Camps, Tourists | Date: Jun 07 2008 | By: Kimojino

Hallo everyone.

Sorry for the silence these last couple of days, but I am pleased to say that we have been doing a two day workshop with the resident tour drivers in and around the Mara Triangle. The workshop was organised by the UK Travel Foundation and was chaired by Dr Cheryl Mvula (read more about her excellent work here) and Manny Mvula.

We would also like to thank Olonana Camp for hosting the event on Friday, and thank you to Kichwa Tembo Camp for hosting the event today.

Responsible Guiding Workshop at Olonana

We would also like to thank the following camps for sending their drivers to the workshop: Mara Balloon Safaris, Little Governors Camp, Main Governors Camp, Mpata Safari Camp, Transworld Balloons, Mara Siria and Kichwa Tembo (CCAfrica).

One of the main points to come out of the workshop was that guides should learn more about the wildlife inside the Mara, and not just focus on showing visitors the ‘Big Five’. This way their guests can have an interesting and entertaining game drive no matter what animals they see, which will also relieve some of the pressure from the main predators and stop tour drivers from crowding them.

Another main point that everyone agreed on was that drivers needed to be more confident when dealing with difficult guests, who try to insist that drivers break park rules by going too close to the animals.

Responsible Guiding Workshop at Kichwa Tembo

We also collectively agreed that stricter rules needed to be applied to the river crossings during the great migration. Both the Mara Conservancy and resident tour drivers agreed that there needed to be a limited length of time that drivers are allowed to stay at the crossing (only for one crossing), and that the number of vehicles needed to be limited further (depending on the crossing site).

Resident drivers also asked the Mara Conservancy to be stricter with the park rules and to punish drivers who broke them. They said that if we were too lenient then drivers would only keep on breaking the rules.

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