DROPPING THE MASAI MARA RANKING – JUSTIFIED OR NOT
(Posted 09th December 2019)
Safaribookings.com has according to their latest rankings dropped the Masai Mara Game Reserve from last year’s 8th position to 10th position in the list of Africa’s best parks.
The website attributes the drop to a diminished visitor experience after sampling responses of nearly 2.400 travelers in over 80 countries.
In contrast was the neighbouring Serengeti named as Africa’s best park.
Kenya as a safari destination came fourth in the latest survey while Tanzania captured top spot, followed by Botswana and Zambia.
South Africa came in fifth, after Kenya, followed by Namibia, Uganda and Zimbabwe.
This gives the core East African countries three of the top 8 positions, testament to the fact that the region has many attractions when seen as a single destination.
Reactions from across Kenya were overwhelmingly negative to the survey results and personal experiences during the year, when visiting the Masai Mara, are also not in line with the survey results, putting question marks over the accurancy and sampling methodology of the survey.
This correspondent’s humble opinion is that the Masai Mara remains one of Africa’s greatest wildlife parks and certainly holds one of the top positions in Eastern Africa with game viewing generally described as excellent and award winning lodges and tented camps second to none.
