Part one - wildlife harassment series
Kenya's legendary Maasai Mara National Reserve is such an epic game viewing destination that it's like a delicious dessert to any safari. Its vast undulating plains dotted with game and iced in an azure sky seem eternal and washed in tranquility. But now during our second day of game drives, an ingredient in that dessert was the target of tourist crowding and harassment.
About an hour into our drive we drove up behind a traffic jam that reminded me of parking lot gridlock at a shopping mall on Christmas Eve.
The catalyst for the 22 assorted vans and jeeps was a leopard sleeping in a lone sausage tree. But we were so far away, we could barely catch a glimpse of the big cat.
Drivers maneuvered vehicles giving clients a better view. A van scooted past and attempted to squeeze between a bush and a jeep. Consequently, it rammed into the jeep’s tail light. As both drivers got out to inspect the damage, our driver skirted the spectacle bringing us closer to the leopard.
The air was rife with clicking cameras and conversations from other groups. Some tourists perched on their van's back roof, hanging onto the pop-top.
The leopard didn't seem to care.
Yet wildlife harassment isn’t just a horde of vehicles parked around a carnivore or another species.
Soon after this dismal affair, a cheetah cub was hit and killed from an overzealous driver’s attempt to provide the perfect photo op for his clients, then a speeding vehicle intent on its destination struck a zebra that died hours later. And those incidents are just a taste.
Tourist congestion, hit and runs and various other aggravating activities that constitute harassment shouldn't exist in a reserve that unfolds over 580 square miles (1,500 sq. km).
Granted, managing and enforcing an area such as this is a monumental task, so I wouldn't be remiss to say I've only spotted one ranger patrol since I started traveling to Kenya in 1982.
Harassment is not unique to Maasai Mara. It's spreading like pestilence across the plains. Therefore to address the many facets of the issue, this article has evolved into nine parts.
Part two discusses enforcement discrepancies within the reserve.
Comments