Drivers’ protest leaves tourists to Mara stranded

Hundreds of tourists visiting the Maasai Mara were stranded after tour drivers blocked the road to the game reserve in protest against the highway’s poor condition.

The protesters barricaded the road at Narok town, paralysing transport along the busy Narok-Maai Mahiu road for more than two hours.

They said the 85-kilometre Narok-Sekenani road had deteriorated and was impassable during the peak season.

The peak season in Maasai Mara Game Reserve starts when hundreds of wildebeest cross from Serengeti National Park in Tanzania to Mara in Kenya.

Led by Kenya Tourists’ Drivers and Guides Association vice-chairman Andrew Mungatana, the protesters asked why a road leading to such a tourist facility would be neglected for over a decade.

Mr Mungatana decried the government’s reluctance to address the issue yet the park generated billions of shillings in revenue.

During the weekend protest, the official noted that a contractor deployed to repair the road left the task undone yet the government had paid the company Sh390 million.

“The company only repaired 20 kilometres yet they pocketed the money. What about the remaining 65 kilometres?” he asked and accused the Narok County Council of failing to repair the roads which are under its jurisdiction.

Mr Mungatana said the council claimed the roads in the park were good.

“The council should emulate private firms like the Mara Conservancy which governs the Maasai Mara in Trans Mara region which has good roads,” he said as he appealed for the intervention of the Tourism minister and save the multi-billion-shilling sector.

Lobby chairman Joseph ole Parpai claimed there were airline cartels which sabotaged efforts to repair the road.

The road, he said, was driving its 6,000 members out of business due to high costs.