The latest from Kenya reveal that the parliamentary budget committee has allocated a billion Kenya Shillings to upgrading the main road from Narok to the Masai Mara Game Reserve although this was met with some level of uncertainty. This road is important because it is the key link in the Kenyan safari circuit but it has been in bad shape for decades therefore affecting the tourism industry. This road has been among those planned to be worked upon but on all occasions, nothing has been done and one wonders where the money went because too much money has been allocated in the past for that road and there is nothing to show for.
The Masai Mara is part of the Serengeti / Masai Mara ecosystem and the annual migration of the big herds of wildebeest and zebras for this year is almost here which is one of Kenya’s main tourism attractions attracting tens of thousands of tourists from the different corners of the world into the reserve. Most of them use this exact road although others fly, it will therefore be very embarrassing for the country if that event came when the road is still in such a bad condition.
Many tourists have opted for flying because of the poor state of the road, although it is more expensive, it saves tourists valuable time so they can spend on game drives instead of on bad roads giving them bad backs. Several other comments aimed at the logistics of the funding, saying that first will the budget have to be presented, debated and approved and only then can funds be allocated to be used fro repairing that. This is stretching the time frame and dashing any hopes that the visitors to the Masai Mara for this year’s migration will see an instant change in road conditions which is so poor now.
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