Kenya Wildlife Service (KWS) says that the controversial Ritz-Carlton Masai Mara Safari Camp does not sit on a wildlife migration corridor.
In a statement posted on its social media handles, KWS which mans all Kenya’s parks and game reserves said the property is situated in a ‘designated tourism investment low use zone’.
”The zonation in the reserve were established based on comprehensive scientific assessment, ecological sensitivity analyses and special planning frameworks jointly developed by the National and County Governments,” it says in the statement.
The defense comes as a huge relief to Laziz Mara Ltd, the firm that developed and operates the luxury camp under the Ritz-Carlton brand. The firm had on Wednesday put up a spirited fight against a petition in court that accused it of obstructing the famous wildebeest migration in the Mara plains. (https://mainstreetupdates.com/ritz-carlton-masai-mara-respondswe-are-compliant/ )
KWS further says a viral video that has been alleged to be an obstruction by the camp staff is old and a concern it addressed in previous years of 2018 and 2020.
”Several of the images, pictures and narratives circulating online relate to historical events that were addressed…These materials may also reflect opposing and competing commercial interest surrounding tourism investments in the Mara,” it adds.
According to KWS, there are five permanent safari camps and over two seasonal camps along the Sand River where the Ritz-Carlton camp is. “And none has received such negative publicity, like it is receiving now” the agency notes.
”The long-term wildebeest collar data indicate that the entire Maasai Mara National Reserve is a general dispersal area for the wildebeest…without a specific preferred route or corridor,” KWS insists.