Name: Is a Kenyan safari resort blocking wildebeest migration?
Uploaded: 2025-12-17T14:32:57.469Z
Duration: 2 min 34 s
Description: A court in Kenya is scheduled to hear a case over whether a luxury safari resort is blocking an important wildlife migration corridor. Activists of the indigenous Maasai community sued Ritz-Carlton owner, Marriott.

A court in Kenya is scheduled to hear a case over whether a luxury safari resort is blocking an important wildlife migration corridor. Activists of the indigenous Maasai community sued Ritz-Carlton owner, Marriott.

The Ritz-Carlton Luxury Safari Camp, recently opened in Kenya's Masai Mara Game Reserve, is at the center of a legal dispute over its potential impact on the annual wildebeest migration. Conservationist Meta May Olol-Dapash has taken the hotel owner, Marriott, to court, arguing that the resort was built on a key migration corridor and could disrupt one of the world's major wildlife spectacles.

Kenya Wildlife Service and the Environment Authority have stated that the hotel does not interfere with migration routes, citing environmental assessments and due diligence. The case has also raised questions about government exemptions for new developments in the reserve, as a 10-year suspension on new projects was in place when the hotel was approved.

Is a Kenyan safari resort blocking wildebeest migration?

In the months since it opened, the Ritz-Carlton Luxury Safari Camp has received a lot of attention, but not the kind the hotel may have hoped for. Its rooms, costing up to $3,000 a night, boast stunning views of Masai Mara Game Reserve. But conservationists like Meta May Olol-Dapash say the property was built on a wildlife migration corridor and will block one of the seven natural wonders of the world, the wildebeest migration. He's taken the hotel owner, Marriott, to court to force them to demolish it. He spoke on camera in August before the court imposed a gag order. That was the last crossing point. There are other places in the middle, but you cannot tell wildebeest today you are going to cross the Sand River from the middle or south of where you are, that kind of thing. This is a tradition, something they've done over the years, and that ought to have been respected because interfering with this natural path would mean that the wildebeest behaviour has to change, their mental programming has to change. According to Kenya Wildlife Service, the hotel does not pose a problem. In a statement, KWS said the location of the Ritz-Carlton Safari Camp and other five safari camps do not fall within, obstruct or interfere with any wildebeest migration corridors. The case also raises questions about preferential treatment. The government gave the hotel chain a one-time exemption to build inside the game reserve. That's despite a 10-year suspension on new developments. For some of us who care about the environment, who care about wildlife, welcome that directive with great appreciation. Now Ritz-Carlton was built just months ago, even in spite of that directive still being in place. The hotel's management, together with their Kenyan partner, Lazizi Mara, insist they followed all the necessary steps to get their building permits and licences. The Environment Authority, which assessed the hotel's impact and issued several of its building licences, echoed the Wildlife Service, adding that this conclusion was grounded in factual evidence and rigorous environmental due diligence. Olol Dapash now says what's at stake is not just the hotel, but the wildlife spectacle the tourists hope to see.

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