I think that Jan has a very good point on this one.

There is a trip report on Fodors - TAZ/KEN self drive. These people were chased away from a pride of lions in order to protect the cats. They also got a "warning" from a ranger because by taking over another vehicle they left the track for approx. half a meter.
That sounds to me as rangers now take their jobs seriously - at least in the Mara.

Hope they continue enforcing the rules.

I thought the Mara was still - drive where ever you want...?

Greetings.

Having just come back from the Mara last week, things are really bad. The Narok side is very very dry. Most of the wild animals (Talek - Sekenani) have all moved further in to the park as a result of the Masai grazing their cattle in the park.
However I was lucky to see a leopard. But then in less than 5 minutes there were around 20 vans around the area. The poor leopard had to get down from the tree and move into the thick undergrowth. One of the reasons being the drivers of a lot of the vehicles (all packed with tourists) were revving their engines, reversing trying to find the ideal spot (even off road) to view the leopard. Where were the park rangers? Busy helping one of their colleagues shift bases.
The way I see it, it is not getting any better. The vehicles keep on coming, the drivers keep on flouting rules. Its not going to be easy.

Yes, Raj, and that's also true about Samburu/Buffalo Springs reserve.....

Last year I saw a male leopard in a tree with an impala kill. We were the first ones on the scene and were careful not to get too close. But the driver called it in on the radio - and within a few minutes about 25 tourist vans came up - right against the tree with people screaming and using flash photography (it was close to dusk).

The leopard, who had taken his kill into the tree to keep it safe from lions/hyenas, snarled and finally took the kill down from the tree and took it into nearby thick bush.

I have never before seen a leopard take a kill DOWN from a tree. The leopards in Samburu are being driven to extinction by human/vehicle harrassment. The drivers don't care. The rangers are nowhere to be seen - except taking fees from vehicles at the gates and drinking beer (I saw this with my own eyes) at the gatehouses.

The drought is the worst that I can remember but let's not use it as the excuse for ungoing reserve/park mismanagement.

I would love the Kenyan Tourism office join us - or at least reads the posts.

I am really getting angry at Kenya and I feel so helpless.........

So what the fodorite wrote should be seen as an exception. No reason for any hope.

I would love to boycott the whole circus. But I know that would not be a solution. But just the thought of it is a kind of relief.

I am really looking forward to my Feb visit. The good thing is that I can speak to some of the camp owners. Maybe when they hear ot from more TO they at one stage would start thinking. But what I have seen on the other forum - American Travel Agents and Tour Operators try to paint Kenya in the most pinkish colours. Not acknowledging what they know. Like ostriches they put their heads into the sand. On their side it's also money driven thinking. Just selling. It's sad because Kenya has such great landscape and great potential to carefully introduce a quality tourism.