13-Mar-10 2:00 PM CST

New Safari Lodge Feels the Heat Over Black Rhino

A new safari lodge in the Maasai Mara National Reserve is dogged by concerns that it will endanger the survival of the black rhino.

Conservationists opposed to the project have now taken the fight to the cyberspace.

A new report by wildlife authorities shows that the lodge that opened March 6 is located on a critical conservation area.

According to the report compiled by the acting chief game warden of the Mara Triangle Samson Parsime Lenjir, activities at the 30-bed Olkeju Ronkai Lodge will compromise conservation of the endangered black rhino.

The report says the open riverine ecosystem with wood vegetation and grasslands is an important habitat for the black rhino.

Statistics in Mr Lenjir’s report show rhino sightings in the area declined between January 2006 and December 2009. From 12 rhinos sighted in the area in February 2006, there were none by the end of 2009.

“According to data collected from the Kenya Rhino Programme Surveillance Patrol Log, the number of rhino individuals seen per month in the area where Olkeju Ronkai has been set up has not only dropped but disappeared altogether since construction of the lodge started in June 2008,” the report says.

Hassan ole Kamwaro the owner of the Olkeju Ronkai Lodge, blames the opposition to his venture on his political detractors and competitors in the tourism industry who, he says, are keen on seeing him close shop.

He singled out the owners of a big lodge in the Mara for blame, saying they had monopolised the lucrative tourism industry and are keen to stop new entrants from gaining a foothold in the market.

He further accused Kenya Tourism Federation (KTF), the umbrella body for tour operators, of being run by a clique that owns more than 30 lodges in the Mara.

These individuals, he said, should not run KTF and Kenya Tourist Board (KTB) due to conflict of interest as they have denied other investors, especially local people, fair play.

The former Transport Licensing Board boss accused the government of failing to deal with the allegedly illegal lodges and camps.

“We have obtained all the relevant licences as stipulated by the law,” Mr Kamwaro said, showing the licences he obtained from the ministries of Health, Environment and Fisheries, among others, to show that the lodge has met all requirements to operate.

“Out of 108 properties in the Maasai Mara, only 29 per cent have the necessary licences to operate. The rest are doing business illegally. The government should not apply double standards when it comes to matters of licensing and environment,” he said.

“Why is the government sitting on the inter-ministerial report on the Maasai Mara one year after the task force completed its work and handed it in?”

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