KWS Rejects Claims Ritz-Carlton Safari Camp Disrupts Wildebeest Migration

The Kenya Wildlife Service (KWS) has dismissed claims that a newly opened luxury safari camp in the Maasai Mara National Reserve is blocking the annual wildebeest migration.

In a statement issued on Thursday, 27 November, KWS described the allegations as inaccurate and said the Ritz-Carlton Safari Camp operates within a legally approved low-use tourism zone under the Maasai Mara National Reserve Management Plan (2023–2032). 

The agency stressed that the migration remains a core conservation priority and highlighted recent government measures, including Cabinet approval to protect the Nairobi National Park–Athi-Kapiti wildlife corridor, as part of wider efforts to safeguard ecological routes across the country.

Concerns intensified after a video circulated online showing wildebeests struggling to cross the Mara River, apparently blocked by a barricade and redirected by people believed to be camp workers. The footage was shared with claims that politically connected developers had interfered with the migration route with government approval.

Subsequent checks confirmed that the video is not recent. It was filmed in 2020 and shows wildebeests encountering obstacles linked to the Mara Ngenche Safari Camp, a luxury facility situated at the confluence of the Mara and Talek rivers. 

The camp’s strategic location near a key crossing point has long raised concerns among conservationists. At the time, then Tourism Cabinet Secretary Najib Balala publicly criticised the development and urged Narok Governor Samuel Tunai to intervene.

The video’s re-emergence has revived discussion over how tourism infrastructure affects wildlife movements in the Maasai Mara, a region under growing pressure from expanding development and increasing visitor numbers. Although the Ritz-Carlton camp was wrongly associated with the incident, the episode signals ongoing tensions between commercial investment and ecological protection.