International hotel chain Marriott International is set to debut its luxury The Ritz-Carlton brand in Africa with an exclusive luxury tented safari lodge in the Maasai Mara, as it also navigates a late-stage controversy that exemplifies the uncertainties that investors face in Kenya.
- •The Ritz-Carlton Maasai Mara Safari Camp, situated in Narok County close to the border with Tanzania, is set to officially open on August 15th in a ceremony to be presided over by Narok County Governor Patrick Ole Ntutu.
- •The camp will host 20 tented suites, 2 bridges, a restaurant, and other facilities on a 49.4 acre piece of land sitting on the banks of the Sand River.
- •The project, spearheaded by Lazizi Mara Group, is now facing some late-stage questions on approvals that have seen a flurry of back and forth letters between a local activist, regulators, and the Narok County Government.
The exclusive luxury camp, where reservation rates start from US$3,500 per person, per night, promises visitors the chance to “connect with the untamed beauty of the Sand River where wildlife gathers during the Great Migration” as well as the chance to explore the Kenya-Tanzania Border Stone that links the Maasai Mara and Serengeti ecosystems.
The Maasai Mara is one of Kenya’s most prominent tourist attractions. Its attractions are often defined by the annual Great Migration, one of the Seven Natural Wonders of the World, a clockwise migration of more than a million wildebeest from the Serengeti, into the Maasai Mara and back.
“Each guest will enjoy a bespoke adventure based on their ultimate safari. From breathtaking wildlife encounters to personalised service in the heart of the savannah, every moment is designed to inspire, leaving guests with a renewed sense of wonder that will stay with them long after they leave,” Helen Leighton, Marriott’s Vice President, Luxury Brands, EMEA, said in April.
Each suite will also include a personalised butler service, and the camp has been designed as an eco-friendly ecosystem utilising solar power, rainwater harvesting, and waste reduction.
“Hosting a Ritz is a great honour for any destination,” Mohammed Hersi, a hotelier who once served as chair of the Kenya Tourism Federation said in a post on X, “Kenya has always been perceived as a mass-market destination, which is not the image we want to project. Only 20 bespoke tents are available, positioning Kenya as a high-yield destination.”
Why The Ritz Chose the Mara
With a presence in 30 countries, The Ritz-Carlton has become synonymous with luxury and exclusivity, appealing to high-net worth travellers seeking a bespoke experience in its hotels and resorts. It’s property in Kenya, Marriott’s second in the national reserve after the JW Marriott Maasai Mara Lodge, is its first in Africa.
“This is the first Ritz safari lodge in Africa; they bypassed all other contenders-Botswana, Tanzania, South Africa-and chose Kenya,” Hersi added on X.
According to the Narok County government, from whom Marriott is leasing the land the safari lodge sits on, the project fits into broader plans to lower the impact of tourism on the community and the ecosystem while maximizing value.
“The preferred model of low-impact and high-value tourism in Narok County is premised on two interdependent and interrelated rationales: an ecological conservation rationale and a socio-economic empowerment rationale,” Mayiani Ole Tuya, County Secretary, Narok County, says.
“The ecological rationale holds that a lower tourist footprint will lessen the pressure on the fragile ecosystems and habitats vital to wildlife in the Maasai Mara National Reserve. This will in turn enhance the quality of the tourism products and visitor experience in the National Reserve,” he added.
Tourism is Narok County’s main source of own-source revenue, a critical measure for devolved units as they seek to rely less on the funding they get from the national government. In the last three months of 2024, which coincides with peak tourism season, the county made KSh. 2.98 bn, raking in more than the capital city by KSh. 794 million. From July 2024 to March 2025, Narok was one of only five counties that managed to raise over 75% of their own-source revenue targets, achieving 99%.
“The Ritz-Carton Maasai Mara Safari Camp has also created employment opportunities for the local community and promoted cultural tourism and social responsibility programmes, which in turn generate the much-needed revenue for the County Government of Narok,” Ole Tuya said in a letter dated 29th July and copied to senior county and national government officials.
Most of the investments in traditionally pastrolist have been geared towards tourism, which is one of Kenya’s main economic sectors. For some counties and the national government, these investments have become even more critical after the pandemic which gutted the tourism industry and whose effects are still being felt in communities and supply chains.
The Letters
In the lead up to the luxury property’s launch, a flurry of letters that began with a demand letter by a local activist to Anthony Capuano, the President and CEO of Marriott International, has threatened the future of the project. In the first letter dated July 24th 2025, Dr. Maitamei Ole Dapash, the Director of Maasai Education, Research and Conservation (MERC) Institute, claimed the project has been set up in a critical migratory route and habitat for black rhinos and buffalos.
A second letter by Dr. Mamo B. Mamo, Director General of the National Environmental Management Authority (NEMA) confirmed the environmental authority approved the project on 14th May 2024.
“An inspection by Environmental Inspectors from the Authority on 31st July 2025 confirmed compliance of the facility to the EIA license and conditions therein,” Dr. Mamo said in the letter dated 6th August.
Dr. Dapash, who has unsuccessfully run in every election since 2007, demanded, among other things, evidence of environmental regulatory compliance, land lease and use agreements, and due diligence reports. He also threatened to pursue “legal, diplomatic, and international advocacy measures to halt this development.”
In a second letter six days later, this time addressed to the county government, Dr. Dapash termed the project as ‘desecration’, referring to Marriott International as a ‘foreign commercial entity acting in concert with powerful individuals.’ He reiterated his threat to halt the project, despite the fact that its development has been public information for years.
“Narok County and NEMA are the lead agencies and realise the importance of the Mara and its special ecological place. We have rigorous approval mechanisms for such projects,” Tuya said.
Both NEMA and the Narok County Government have maintained that The Ritz-Carlton project is built outside migratory routes and has all relevant approvals.
Projects in traditionally pastoralist lands have always faced some pushback from mainly around community involvement and environmental impact. Despite sufficient safeguards in law and practice about how such investments interact with the host communities and the ecologies they are set up in, the presence of late-stage hurdles such as threats to halt project development long post-approval have also become a favored means to shakedown investors, especially close to election years.
According to the MERC website, Dr. Dapash unsuccessfully ran for the county’s Senate seat in 2022, after running for the Narok North constituency seat in the previous elections. Insiders in the hospitality sector have revealed that the last-minute controversy has been accompanied by unofficial overtures for millions of shillings to ‘allow’ the project’s launch. The Kenyan Wall Street could not ascertain the veracity of these claims.
Even where investors remain undeterred, the long-term impact means that while Kenya might rank highly among the best places to invest in the region, any investments in the country have to be accompanied by the uncertainty of extra hurdles meant to benefit individuals over communities.
The harassment of both local and foreign investors in Kenya has lessened significantly in recent years but some ripples prevail, continuing to disrupt investments, and with that, the development of the greater Kenyan economy. For investors looking to expand their foothold in the country, each project has become an endlessly shifting game of uncertainty.
