Court Battle Targets Ritz-Carlton Mara Camp Over Wildlife Corridor
According to court documents, the petition raises constitutional, environmental and transboundary conservation issues over the construction and operation of the Ritz-Carlton camp within the primary Serengeti-Mara wildebeest migration corridor.
A coalition of environmental and legal organisations has moved to court seeking to halt further construction and expansion of accommodation facilities within the Maasai Mara National Reserve, arguing that ongoing developments threaten one of the world’s most important wildlife migration corridors.
The petition specifically challenges the Ritz-Carlton Maasai Mara Safari Camp, an ultra-luxury lodge built along the Sand River near the Kenya-Tanzania border. The petitioners argue that the camp is located within the reserve’s environmentally sensitive Low Use Zone and Mara River Ecological Zone, where new accommodation developments are prohibited.
The case has been filed by the East Africa Law Society, Natural Justice, JustAct and the Africa Centre for Peace and Human Rights against The Ritz-Carlton Hotel Company, Marriott International Inc, Lazizi Mara Limited, the Narok County Government, the National Environment Management Authority (NEMA), the Kenya Wildlife Service (KWS) and other parties linked to the project.
The petitioners have obtained interim conservatory orders barring government agencies from authorising, approving or permitting any new accommodation developments or expansions within the Maasai Mara National Reserve, particularly in the Low Use Zone and Mara River Ecological Zone, pending the hearing and determination of the case.
According to court documents, the petition raises constitutional, environmental and transboundary conservation issues over the construction and operation of the Ritz-Carlton camp within the primary Serengeti-Mara wildebeest migration corridor.
“The petition raises constitutional, ecological, and transboundary questions of the gravest public importance concerning the construction and continued operation of the Ritz-Carlton Maasai Mara Safari Camp… within the primary transboundary migration corridor of the Serengeti-Mara wildebeest migration,” the petition states.
The organisations argue that the 20-suite luxury camp, which reportedly charges more than $3,500 (about Sh450,000) per night, was developed in violation of the Maasai Mara National Reserve Management Plan 2023-2032, which imposes an absolute moratorium on new accommodation facilities in the Low Use Zone and designates the Mara River Ecological Zone exclusively for ecological protection.
They also claim the project proceeded without a valid Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) and has been operational since August 15, 2025, disrupting at least one full wildebeest migration season without an independent ecological assessment.
“The urgency of this matter is driven by the immutable biological calendar of the wildebeest migration,” the petition states, noting that the annual migration through the Sand River corridor runs from June to October.
The petition further identifies Sala’s Camp and Elewana Sand River Masai Mara as other facilities allegedly established unlawfully within the protected ecological zones.
The organisations argue that allowing such developments undermines the reserve’s conservation framework and risks further encroachment into ecologically sensitive areas.
They cite 26 years of peer-reviewed GPS tracking data from the University of Glasgow’s Serengeti Biodiversity Programme, recognised by the United Nations Convention on Migratory Species, which they say shows the disputed development sits at the heart of the Serengeti-Mara migration corridor.
The petitioners are seeking declarations that approvals granted for the developments were unlawful and orders permanently stopping any further accommodation projects within the reserve’s protected ecological zones.
