The Ritz Carlton: High-end luxury resort stirring up rage in the Mara

Ritz-Carlton safari camp in Maasai Mara. [Courtesy]

The morning sun climbs over the Loita Hills, casting a warm glow on the endless golden grass of the Maasai Mara. Here, the silence is broken yearly with rhythm of hooves pounding the ground during the eighth wonder of the world, the wildebeest migration.

Wildebeest migrate into the Maasai Mara each year in a single, massive annual movement, arriving from late July to early August and remaining in the area through October before beginning their return journey south to the Serengeti in November. This is a circular journey covering about 800 kilometres, driven by rainfall and the search for fresh grazing grounds and water.

But of late, a different sound mingles with the dawn chorus of birds and the distant roar of lions. It is the sound of a community fighting against a multi-million-shilling investment by a global chain of luxury hotels, the Ritz Carlton.

At the heart of this gathering storm, nestled along a bend in the Sand River, sits The Ritz-Carlton Maasai Mara. With 20 lavish suites where a single night’s stay costs more than many Kenyans earn in a year, the camp represents the pinnacle of luxury safari dreams. It costs up to Sh450,000 to spend a night here. 

Its opening in August was supposed to signal a bold recovery for high-end tourism. Instead, it has become a battleground between a community that insists it’s protecting the Mara and capitalists who believe in bringing in tourism dollars.

On one side stands the combined might of global brands, local investors and state regulators. On the other stands a single, determined Maasai man, Meitamei OlolOloldapash, his lifetime of activism now focused on this one patch of wilderness that is worth millions to investors but lost heritage to the community.

Between them lies a million-dollar question: what, and who, is right for Maasai Mara?

The case was filed in August by Meitamei Olol Ololdapash, a man whose name is synonymous with the fight for Maasai land and conservation. His petition lists a formidable roster of respondents: the glamorous Ritz-Carlton name, its American parent company Marriott, the local developer Lazizi Mara, the Narok County Government, the Attorney General, and the very agencies, Nema and Kenya Wildlife Service (KWS), that have just publicly defended the project.

Ololdapash’s claims cut to the bone of the wilderness. He argues the camp’s foundations are poured directly onto a crucial wildebeest corridor, a living, pulsing artery of the migration. He sees not a low-use zone, but a fatal barrier. His most explosive allegation is that the bulldozers to extract earth and lay foundation for construction moved in before the environmental assessors could finish their work, that proper procedure was trampled in the rush to build. He claims even the local community was not involved in public participation that warrants such a mega project. 

Break silence

The dispute grew so loud that it compelled two of the government’s most powerful environmental bodies to break their usual silence and speak directly to the public.

On Wednesday afternoon last week, the KWS took to its official social media channels with a detailed, technical statement. The statement was unsigned and not attributed to their Director General or head of Communications. The message was unequivocal. The camp, they said, sits squarely within a zone earmarked for sensitive tourism investment in the official Mara management plan.

The authority of their argument came from lines of data collected over generations of wildebeest migration. “Drawing on more than two decades of GPS collar data from over 60 migratory wildebeest,” the statement read, “the data showed no evidence that the camp… obstructs migration.”

It was a defense built on data and coordinates, an attempt to settle the debate with digital footprints left by animals over 23 years.

Nema, the national environmental watchdog, was not far behind. The very next day, it issued its own forceful backing. Just like KWS their statement was unsigned. The project, Nema affirmed, does not block any known animal highway. Their approval, they stressed, was not given lightly but was rooted in field studies, ground surveys, and hard science.

These were not just press releases; they were strategic government support in a very public relations war. Their target was a lawsuit gathering dust and momentum in a Narok courtroom.

Reached by phone at his organisation’s office, The Standard was told Ololdapash could not comment on the matter since his organisation and everyone in it have been gagged by a court order. 

Yet, for Ololdapash, a figure whose lifetime of advocacy is woven into the fabric of Maasai land rights and conservation, this is about far more than one camp. He frames it as a symptom of a systemic malady. “Without the county government regulating tourist behaviour and activities, we have seen the habitat degraded so badly,” he told Reuters in an earlier interview, warning of a pattern that sidelines both local communities and the wildlife they have coexisted with for generations.

The response from the developer and its partners has been a mix of clarification from a well-connected public relations firm, confidence knowing they are backed by the high and mighty and a counter-attack using State agencies.

Shivan Patel, the Managing Director of Lazizi Mara Limited, has been keen to set the record straight on one point. “The Ritz-Carlton is our brand partner,” he told local media earlier this year, “not the owner or operator.” His company, he maintains, followed the rulebook to the letter. An official environmental assessment, he insists, gave the site a clean bill of health, declaring it clear of major wildlife crossings. He expresses a weary confidence in the courts.

Marriott International, from its global headquarters, has echoed this, stating its commitment to operating responsibly and trusting that its local partner secured every required signature and stamp.

KWS, in its defence, introduced another, more cynical thread to the narrative. It suggested that some of the online outrage, fueled by dramatic photos of dusty construction sites, might be driven less by pure conservation and more by “competing commercial interests.” The implication was clear: rival safari operators, fearing the new luxury competition, were fanning the flames.

Beyond the legal jargon, the battle is about two competing visions for Kenya’s future.

Lazizi Mara paints a picture of national benefit. They project the lodge will contribute a staggering Sh3.2 billion to the national treasury in taxes and levies over the next six years. In a region where opportunity is scarce, the camp provides pay slips for 207 direct employees, supporting an estimated 1,000 family members. Local suppliers, from butchers to basket weavers, have been brought into the supply chain, with contracts worth millions of shillings.

They point to the camp’s green credentials: solar panels that power the entire operation, systems that recycle every drop of greywater, partnerships that fund anti-poaching scouts. NEMA’s own auditors have confirmed the lodge runs on a near-zero electricity carbon footprint.

To Ololdapash and a growing horde of environmentalists, these are mere consolations, not justifications. They see a dangerous precedent being set in a UNESCO-recognised ecosystem, home to what the world calls the greatest wildlife show on earth.

Their haunting question lingers in the air: How did a project of this magnitude in a place of such global significance rise so high before the public alarm was sounded?

The legal fight has also turned personal and bitter. Lazizi Mara has accused Ololdapash of waging a “trial by social media,” pointing to posts that brand them “environmental destroyers.” They have filed counter-suits, seeking retractions and damages, arguing he ignored proper appeal channels and only sued after construction was complete and approved. Whispers of old political rivalries in Narok County seep into the court filings, thickening the plot.

Spanner in the works

But as Nema and KWS protect the hotel, a letter emerged throwing a spanner in the works.  The document availed to The Standard is an official letter from the Executive Office of the President, signed by Chief of Staff and Head of Public Service Felix K. Koskei, granting a presidential exemption to a high-end hotel project linked to the Maasai Mara and Solio Ranch conservation areas.

The letter reveals that, despite a standing presidential directive suspending the issuance of licences and permits for various projects in key wildlife conservation areas, the JW Marriott Hotel was allowed to proceed as a special case. Dated April 30, 2024 and addressed to Mr. Mamo B. Mamo, the Director General of the National Environment Management Authority (Nema), the letter references an earlier communication from Shivan Patel, Managing Director of the JW Marriott Hotel in Kenya, seeking exemption from Presidential Directive No. OP/CAB.26/1/3A of 24th July 2023.

That directive had suspended issuance of licences and permits for projects in “key wildlife conservation areas,” a measure understood. to have been aimed at slowing or halting developments seen as potentially harmful to fragile ecosystems, including the Maasai Mara. In the letter, State House describes the JW Marriott Hotel as an “iconic and award‑winning multinational hotel” whose presence in Kenya “signifies the positive outcome of Kenya’s persistent efforts to create a facilitative business climate.”

It goes on to frame the exemption as part of the government’s commitment “to cultivate a favourable business environment and to facilitate both domestic and foreign investment, thereby fostering economic prosperity across the country.”

On that basis, the Chief of Staff formally grants a “one‑time exemption” from the 2023 presidential directive, instructing Nema to allow the JW Marriott Hotel to proceed with Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) Licence No. NEMA/EIA/PSR/50121 for a project in Maasai Mara and a related EIA licence for a project in Solio Ranch. The letter bears two “RECEIVED” stamps from Nema, dated May 9, 2024, indicating that the authority formally acknowledged the exemption about nine days after it was issued.

By instructing Nema to “take necessary action” on the specified EIA licences, the State House letter effectively carves out an exception to a moratorium that was supposed to apply uniformly across all key wildlife conservation areas.

Another smoking gun is the claim by the community that they were not consulted in the initial stages of construction. 

Julius Manchau Liaram a Maasai elder says in an affidavit that his signature was used in documents purporting that the hotel met community leaders for public participation before the construction began. Manchau says he never attended any meeting. “They say I went to the meeting about Ritz-Carlton.  I did not. I wouldn’t have approved it if I went,” says Manchau. 

When reached for comment Lazizi Mara Limited, the developer behind the controversial Ritz-Carlton Masai Mara Safari Camp, issued a firm position statement asserting full compliance with legal processes as a public dispute escalates into court.

In a press release issued by a local PR firm dated November 26, 2025, emphasized that the matter is under active litigation in Environment and Land Petition No. E003 of 2025, urging stakeholders to await judicial resolution.

In the statement, signed by Managing Director Shivan Patel, Lazizi Mara detailed its robust defense, claiming to have submitted “comprehensive evidence” including all correspondence with Narok County dating back to 2023, the approval letter, the lease agreement, an Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) report with public participation proof, and letters from the Nema) and Narok County confirming due process “Lazizi has formally responded to the petition,” the document state.