A coalition of regional lawyers and environmental organisations has launched a fresh battle in the constitutional court, seeking to halt new luxury tourism developments in the Maasai Mara, near the Kenya-Tanzania border, arguing that approvals breached environmental laws.
The petition, filed in the Environment and Land Court in Nairobi, targets a chain of luxury facilities including the Ritz-Carlton Maasai Mara Safari Camp, Sala’s Camp and Elewana Sand River Masai Mara over their alleged presence in protected ecological zones within the Maasai Mara National Reserve.
Petitioners, including the East Africa Law Society (EALS), Natural Justice, JustAct and the Africa Centre for Peace and Human Rights, argue the developments threaten one of the world’s most important wildlife migration routes.
‘The Maasai Mara is Kenya’s most internationally recognised wildlife destination, contributing billions of dollars annually to regional tourism revenues. Allowing luxury developments to be sited within primary migration corridors based on an EIA issued in 26 days, without GPS data, without cumulative assessment, and in defiance of the reserve’s own statutory management plan, would be catastrophic for every conservation area across Kenya and the East African Community,’ says the petitioners.
The case names Marriott International, Ritz-Carlton Hotel Company, Lazizi Mara Ltd, Narok County Government, the National Environment Management Authority (Nema), the Attorney General, Kenya Wildlife Service (KWS) and two other luxury safari operators as respondents.
The respondents are yet to file their responses in the fresh suit.
The petitioners want the court to stop any new accommodation developments in the Maasai Mara National Reserve’s ecologically sensitive zones while the case is heard, arguing that the dispute has constitutional, ecological and cross-border implications affecting the Serengeti-Mara ecosystem.
‘The urgency of this matter is driven, in the first place, by the immutable biological calendar of the wildebeest migration. The annual crossing season through the Sand River corridor commences in June of each year and continues through October,’ says the petitioners.
They have also asked the court to refer the matter to the Chief Justice for the appointment of a bench of at least five judges, saying it raises substantial constitutional questions that have never been determined by Kenyan courts.
The case marks the latest chapter in a long-running legal battle over the Ritz-Carlton Maasai Mara Safari Camp, a luxury lodge operated by Lazizi Mara under the Marriott brand near the Sand River on the Kenya-Tanzania border. The Ritz-Carlton Camp has been operational since August 2025.
According to the petition, the camp was developed despite a moratorium imposed under the Maasai Mara National Reserve Management Plan 2023-2032, which suspended new accommodation developments because tourism pressure had exceeded the reserve’s ecological carrying capacity.
The petitioners argue the lodge was built within the reserve’s low-use-zone, where accommodation facilities are not permitted, and close to the Mara River Ecological Zone, which is reserved primarily for conservation.
The organisations allege that approvals issued by Narok County and Nema were unlawful, saying environmental impact assessments failed to accurately identify the site’s location within a key wildlife migration corridor and did not adequately assess ecological impacts or public participation.
They also challenge a 2024 presidential exemption to Lazizi that allegedly allowed the project to proceed despite the moratorium.
‘The Presidential exemption from the conservation moratorium was, in substance, an exemption from the environmental protection regime governing the Maasai Mara National Reserve. Section 27 declares it void,’ they say, asking the court to declare the exemption unconstitutional.
The petition further contends that scientific evidence based on 26 years of GPS tracking data from the Serengeti Biodiversity Programme shows the development sits within the core migration route used annually by about 1.36 million wildebeest crossing between Tanzania’s Serengeti and Kenya’s Maasai Mara.
It alleges the camp has disrupted wildlife movement and contributed to shifts in migration patterns.
Beyond the Ritz-Carlton development, the petition also targets Sala’s Camp and Elewana Sand River Masai Mara, alleging they similarly occupy protected ecological zones contrary to the reserve’s management plan.
The petitioners ultimately want the court to order an audit of all accommodation facilities operating within the Low Use Zone and Mara River Ecological Zone and, if found unlawful, direct restoration of the affected environment.