Cody has a point - until and unless KWS issues a document ordering the already completed construction to be dismantled this thing could still raise its ugly head in the future.

Also, and I hate to be a party-pooper - there continues to be uncontrolled development in the Mara (and also Samburu/Buffalo Springs Reserves). The Mara has added 35 new camps and lodges in the last 4 years with more in the pipeline (according to the Kenya Tourist Foundation which is fighting this unplanned growth). These facilities are located in the heart of wildlife corridors.

We must continue to voice our opposition - to the highest levels of the Kenyan Government - to these ill-advised, short-term money making projects which give no thought to the future of wildlife, tourism or the future of the Kenyan people.

I am not sure if any of you have yet found this, but here is a link to their website. They claim that 'less' than 500 cheetahs are left n Kenya, which is a largely misrepresented number - It is likely twice that amount, according to previous studies.

http://www.kenyacheetahfoundation.com/html/en/aim.htm

Thank you Tsavo!
I found that and find it really disturbing as it is misleading. Don't you also think it can easily be mistaken for the Kenyan chapter of Laurie Marker's CCF!
Maybe there is something CCF should do - comparable to the dispute Abercrombie&Kent had wit andBeyond about the "&" letter in the Americas.

Here is a discussion goping on as well: http://safaritalk.net/index.php?showtopic=3399

TsavoCheetah, et al....

Kenya Cheetah Foundation? Has almost the same name and logo as the reknowned Cheetah Conservation Foundation.

Their website is fascinating for what it does NOT show - they are experts on cheetah because "they have traveled to Africa" and seen many different animals. What a joke. They are "naturalists" because their "group" only two men that we know of....pose with someone's obese, pet Cheetah?

Their name, Kenya Cheetah Foundation, is of course trying to model itself on the highly respected 30-year old Cheetah Conservation Fund/Namibia and the Cheetah Conservation Fund-Kenya which are run by highly-trained conservation biologists who have brought back hope for a cheetah recover in Namibia and who began operations in Kenya about a decade ago.

What are KCF's credentials for capturing/holding rare cheetah in captivity and breeding them? I would suspect, probably none.

On explaining their project, poorly I may add, they say its vaguely about helping conserve cheetah, helping the community and - ah, yes, here it comes: Accommodating tourists on their visits to their "zoo".
It appears to me they made an effort to create a lucrative "Disney"-like theme park.

What shocks me is not the drastically under counted numbers of cheetah but that Kenya almost got sold a real bad bill-of-goods - that was caught and thwarted this time - but ALMOST MADE IT UNDER THE RADAR!

Of course, I was also appauld by all the lack of credibility on their site. But even more so, by the 'readiness to accept' of the Kenyan government. There's obviously one thing these guys do have and that's money. If they really care to help 'conserve' the cheetah in Kenya, they could have contacted CCF and invested in our programmes in Kenya. I am convinced they did indeed know of CCF, but, like you say, Kat, they only desired a lucrative tourists trap, which has nothing to do with cheetah conservation, whatsoever. What a shame.

Back to the quote written by Kat - I cannot believe they will issue more permits to have more camps and lodges built in the Mara... that is crazy. In the past 30 years I have seen that place going from dream land to an open zoo. My dad who left the Mara some 4 years ago was very sad on how it has become and wishes to keep his memories of when it was the real No. 1 spot - in the 60's to the 80's.
As far as wildlife corridors go - where there is revenue to be made - the governments or big hotel owners do not care - as long as they make revenue and income.
I was involved in a project regarding the latter which went silent because the corridors where directly in the paths of such situations. I personally spoke to the captains of the industries in Kenya, KWS at the time and the authorities... they each could not be too interested the minute we needed to take action.
Part of this reason is why I started Bushdrums.
When I left the project, I thought that more people talking and perhaps putting their thoughts together - it may arise awareness.