This Kenya Forum posting is important, for Kenya, Kenyans, the world, everyone. We are asking all readers to pass it on and particularly the link to the article in the British newspaper, The Guardian, entitled ‘The Masai Mara: It will not be long before it’s gone’ by a Jessica Hatcher with photographs by Guillaume Bonn.

THE WORLD TAKES NOTE – BUT ARE WE?

The Masai Mara and the annual migration, one of the great wonders of the world, with all it means to Kenya, environmentally, economically and culturally, is facing oblivion because of corruption, environmental degradation and unsustainable tourism. Now the world is taking note but are we truly doing so here in Kenya?

Yes, we read of the destruction of our wildlife virtually every day in Kenya’s newspapers but is anything being done to really solve the problem?

Today’s Standard, for example, reports that three men have been found ferrying Zebra meat to Nairobi. Today’s Star newspaper reports that poachers have been found with 17kg of elephant tusks at Tiribe in Kwale. Last week the Standard reported on Thursday of the 1.8 tonnes of Kenyan ivory seized in Singapore, and two days before highlighted a study that warned that giraffes face extinction in ‘Kenya and Africa as a whole’.

CORRUPTION IN NAROK

Now The Guardian has published a major article that catalogues the threat to Kenya’s environment and its wildlife in the Masai Mara. In doing so The Guardian points toward the corruption in the Narok area, and other factors, that are causing the destruction of this wonderful and valuable habitat.

‘It will not be long before it is gone, unless some drastic and urgent steps are taken now”, Joseph Ogutu, a scientist who studies the Mara’s fauna told The Guardian.

Read the article and weep but don’t just sit there. It’s time something was done before it is too late. You can help – pass it on.

Here’s the link to ‘The Masai Mara: It will not be long before it’s gone’: http://www.theguardian.com/travel/2013/aug/23/masai-mara-tourism-politics. And here also is the link to the slideshow with narration by Jackson Looseyia, a guide in the Masai Mara for over 26 years, discussing the impact of tourism on the national reserve: http://www.theguardian.com/world/audioslideshow/2013/aug/23/masai-mara-audio-slideshow-photography.