Mara, Serengeti reveal much more about Kenya, TZ

In his article 'There is More to Tourism than Competition' on the Star edition of April 15, Wycliffe Muga made an interesting comparison between tourism setups in Kenya’s Maasai Mara and Serengeti in Tanzania.

Tourism experience in Serengeti is regarded more “premium” than the Mara’s. Why is this the case, yet it is basically the same ecosystem with the same wildlife?

It is a product of geography and differential management systems and ideology.

In his book, The Outliers, Malcolm Gladwell discusses what he cryptically calls the advantage of a disadvantage. That is where adversity becomes a resource to be harnessed, which eventually turns out to be an advantage in hindsight.

Serengeti depicts this well. The reserve is very far from Tanzania’s capital Dar es Salaam. It is also not close to the headquarters of Tanzania tourism, Arusha. Hence visiting Serengeti requires more time and budget compared to many other destinations.

International tourists spend an average of five days. Visiting Serengeti therefore takes the bulk of the average time and travel budget for the majority of tourists. This discourages those interested in destination variety.

Further, getting to Serengeti by road was only possible by expensive vehicles or flying, making Serengeti very expensive and way out of reach of the average tourist.

This favoured the Mara, which is much more accessible from Nairobi in a shorter time. And with better international access to Nairobi than Dar, many tourists to East Africa preferred Kenya.

In the process, Kenya acquired the identity of a mass safari destination, entrenched by over-investment in accommodation in Maasai Mara.

What started off as a disadvantage for Serengeti turned out to be an advantage – Serengeti had the last laugh acquiring the credentials of a premium wilderness destination and the Mara a chaotic congestion of lodges.

However, the geographical factor ends there and in comes the management factor.

Comparing Serengeti and Mara gives a good picture of the ideological differences between the two countries.

There is a frequent spat between Kenya and Tanzania over trade.

A microcosm of this plays out often between Serengeti and the Mara along the Sand River border. Kenyan tour operators always lobby to access Serengeti from Mara to do game drives for their visitors.

But the Serengeti management has persistently opposed this.

The differences are fundamental, rooted in the national values of the respective nations.

First, Kenya’s policies are founded on short-term business ambitions. As noted above, Serengeti’s wilderness value originally came from its location, away from easy access.

The tour operators in Kenya would like to circumvent this by accessing Serengeti from the Kenyan side. This would have the Mara earning the income while Serengeti provides the wilderness service.

Serengeti National Park is managed according to a plan drawn and enforced by TANAPA, the equivalent of KWS in Kenya.

In the Mara, we have no management plan. Yes, such an important national asset has no management plan to guide its use.

Typical of Kenya where business and politics hold sway, all attempts to develop a management plan for the Mara have always come a cropper, sabotaged by powerful cartels with business interests and who do not want regulation of investments. The process is underway now for the umpteenth time, one hopes it will see the light of day.

Serengeti has a research station, showcasing research, documentation and education. You can learn about the famous migration of wildebeests at this research station and the scientists have documented the whole migration pattern from Serengeti to Mara and back. This is well illustrated on a wall mural with the complex literature given in both Kiswahili and English.

In comparison, in Maasai Mara there is not even a rumour of an education centre. Hundreds of Kenyan children visit the Mara every month but there's not a place with a single chart to learn about reserve or its wildlife.

KWS has attempted to found a research station but the mistrust between it and the county government has always obstructed any long-term presence of KWS within the Mara.

But, not that this would help so much though. It’s a national problem. Even the rest of the parks under KWS have nothing comparable to Serengeti Research Station. Old research stations set up in Tsavo and Nakuru have all virtually died as Kenya hardly values long-term institutions.

In other words, the economic and political differences between Kenya and Tanzania can so easily be studied between Mara and Serengeti.

Kenya prefers greedy short-term objectives with a lot of shortcuts. While Tanzania adopts a slow-but-sure approach while investing in foundational infrastructures that are developed to high standards in all Tanzania parks.

We saw last year Kenyan drivers fighting at the Mara River wildebeest crossing point—the most phenomenal animal event in the world taking place in our country. Yet where visitors watch it from there is no viewing platform. No designated car park. Not even washrooms.

In so many respects, the Mara is a big shame compared to Serengeti.

Consultant ecologist and travel consultant. [email protected]