Row over new Maasai Mara properties

Encroachment by developers into the world-renowned Maasai Mara National Reserve has sparked a bitter row between the Kenya Tourism Federation and the National Environmental Management Authority.

The industry lobby on Tuesday accused Nema of being behind the encroachment of the reserve by developers which was now threatening the existence of wildlife and the ecosystem.
Nema on its part said that it had issued licences to the developers in accordance with the law.

“All environmental impact assessment (EIA) licenses issued in the Maasai Mara ecosystem are procedural and have followed due process, and are in line with the provisions of the Environmental Management and Coordination Act, ” the state agency’s public relations officer, Ruth Musembi said in a statement.

She said in approving the projects, Nema had worked closely with lead agencies who confirmed that they had no objection to the licensing of the projects in the reserve.

KTF complained that the proliferation of unplanned development of tourism facilities in the Maasai Mara that is at the heart of the wildlife corridor has put the integrity of Kenya as a leading tourism destination at stake.

Despite plan

Lobby chairperson, Lucy Karume, and the organisation’s environment chairman, Allan Earnshaw, led more than 20 tourism private sector investors in voicing their displeasure with Nema.

They said that in the last four years, over 35 new camps and lodges have sprung up in the reserve and several others are about to be approved despite a new management plan for the Mara supported by both the Narok and Trans Mara county councils in Rift Valley province.

“Nema has also just licensed a cheetah rehabilitation sanctuary to create a zoo at the main entrance of the national reserve,” they said in a press conference.

The organisation asked the Kenyan government to intervene and stop the unplanned and unregulated developments.