Kenyan activists have filed a new court case seeking to halt the construction and expansion of luxury lodges inside the Maasai Mara, warning that further tourism development threatens one of the world’s most famous wildlife ecosystems.
The case, filed at Kenya’s Environment and Land Court, argues that several existing lodges were built illegally and that additional accommodation projects could further disrupt the annual Great Migration, when more than 1 million wildebeest move across the wider Mara-Serengeti ecosystem.
The petitioners — the East Africa Law Society, Natural Justice, JustAct and the Africa Centre for Peace and Human Rights — are asking the court to block any new developments or expansion of accommodation facilities inside the Maasai Mara reserve until 2032.
They are also seeking declarations that several lodges are operating illegally in the reserve, including the Ritz-Carlton lodge, Sala’s Camp and Sand River Masai Mara by Elewana.
The legal challenge is separate from a petition filed last year that sought to stop the opening of a new Ritz-Carlton safari lodge in the reserve.
Local Maasai herders and activists have long raised concerns that high-end tourism projects are damaging habitats, restricting traditional grazing areas and threatening community livelihoods.
Kenya’s wildlife agency last year rejected accusations that the Ritz-Carlton lodge was blocking the wildebeest migration corridor. Marriott International, which owns Ritz-Carlton, the wildlife agency and the three lodges named in the case did not immediately respond to Reuters requests for comment.
The court has scheduled an initial hearing for July 20.