Several days ago I received an email from a friend here in the U.S. who is also a Kenya wildlife lover. She has been on safari 13 times. As with all of us, she hates the traffic jams, driving off-road, harrassing wildlife that we all do. She jokingly stated we should form a "gray panthers" organization (most would probably be elderly people) who would volunteer to be traffic cops in the parks/reserves. We both laughed about it.

However, the more I think of it the more I like her idea. I know I certainly would be willing to volunteer my time for a week in Amboseli and three weeks in Tsavo. I'd even rent a vehicle to use on my own, pay my own park fees and lodging. The problem would be to get KWS to agree with it. However, because they are already so money hungry, they might just see the merits of this. If we were allowed to be issued the olive green uniform (without badges, etc) and book of tickets in triplicate, it could raise huge sums of money for KWS. You see a driver breaking the rules, you pull up along side him, note the safari company and license number on the triplicate ticket, check off a box of what offense he is being cited for and give him the original. The other two copies would go to KWS, one for their files and one they can send to the guy's boss. If he gets one ticket he or his company just pay the fine. After a third offense he loses his right to enter the parks/reserves for a long period of time.

Is this something that any of you would be willing to do given the chance? We all seem disgusted by this behavior and yet KWS (and no-one else) does nothing about it. As long as KWS recognized the volunteers and let drivers know that a group would be out watching and ticketing, it might just work. What do you think?

jan, sounds a bit freeky but i think i could work...
but i guess kws would never ever do somebody else do its job - much better. it's all about guy's way of thinking regarding interfering with their competences, hierarchy etc.

Why walk around in green overalls and all that?
I believe it would be enough if you took obvious photos of the driver and the scene and report them.
If this would happen often enough, KWS would probably react. To start off more efficient, you could pre-arrange it with KWS but then you get the ball of burocracy rolling

Has anybody read any of Tom Sharpe\\\'s novels?......If you have........ Need I say more?

Indecent Exposure & Riotous Assembly come to mind!

Sorry Kipper - I am not familiar with any of his work. What is it about?

Carsten: Just taking pictures and writing down information doesn't work. A friend of mine did that recently and sent the information to KWS. Unfortunately someone sent her entire email with her email address to the offender and she got very threatening emails stating the only reason she had reported him was because he was Muslim and other very bad things.

Thus if one could convince KWS that a volunteer group helping KWS with traffic patrol and raising money for them might work, it would at least have some official connotation and perhaps poor drivers wouldn't take it personally and would be unable to threaten anyone.

Surely not every report would be a success but as complaints about the same drivers or companies pile up I am sure it would have an effect.

Anyhow, I was just sceptical if green overalls would make a difference, not about having KWS involved.
I only suspect that KWS would hesitate to give such authority to people outside their organization.

You could contact KWS and ask them if they are interested in a group of volunteers supporting them. You have nothing to loose. Mention what happened to your friend and explain that this requires co-operation.