I received a newsletter from Let's Go Travel in Nairobi today (a bit of a surprise but apparently they finally sussed that it might be a good idea to keep in touch with former clients!!) Anyway, this was included:


"Please also be aware that for entry into the Masai Mara Game Reserve NO CASH will be accepted at the gates or airstrips. Payment at the reserve may only be made by Banker's Cheque.

Alternatively payment may be made through Somak Travel Ltd., Somak House, Mombasa Road.
P.O.Box 48495 - 00100 GPO, Nairobi.
Tel: (020) 557832, 557860.
Fax: (020) 535172, 535175. "

Did Somak Travel just appoint the relevant minister to its Board by any chance?

Sorry, I am trying to be less cynical....
Well lucky for us not carrying check books on holiday that Somak were good enough to take on the onerous task of collecting park fees on behalf of the .... actually, who..? Does this include the Mara Conservancy (sorry if not correct name - I'm not somewhere I can check - the western part)? Don't the two parts of the reserve collect fees somewhat separately?

well Kimburu

Cash money tends to evaporate in East Africa (it is a phenomenon that neither Relativity Physics nor Quantum Mechanics can explain)

have a nice day

aby

Kimburu,
I’ve got the same newsletter – the first one after buying a flying package to Samburu from Let’s Go over a year ago.
It sounds very complicated, and strange. I’ve only seen banker’s cheques in films. The newsletter says nothing about increased fees in the Mara and I can’t find any information on Somak’s website.

When you fly in, do you pay the reserve fees yourself? If so, do you pay at the gate or does the camp collect your reserve fee?

I haven't heard anything about not being able to pay in cash but maybe that's because we are paying direct to the Mara Serena BUT.. we did receive notification from our guy at Serena that the park fees have increased from $30pppd to $40pppd.

Imelda

This has been tried and failed by many operations b4. Cash will always be accepted at the park gates. Paying by check is not a functional idea. Its normally tried on the safari operations for paying the parks, and then they discover whole new sets of problems they created. The classics are the check is lost or a check is made out for the wrong amount for instances. You can use you imagination.

It is all true.

From July 1 things have changed in the Mara.

You can only get park tickets at Somak in Nairobi (cash or check) and at the gates with a bankers check!

Who knows how long this will last!

Eben
How are they treating selfdrives? Each time this has cropped up in the past, if they tried to apply to selfdrive that pitch up, it lasts a few days.
I can just see them telling a guy who has driven from London or Joburg in a 4x4 to bring a check drawn on a Kenyan Bank.

This has been tried before as already noted, but applies to those who haven't purchased prepaid tickets. Most tour outfitters in Kenya already have prepaid tickets for their client's access to the Mara, so this is not an issue. It's only those who haven't had such fees included in the price of their visit, have to pay. Again, we'll see for how long this process goes on (if/how it works)!

That's weird. We just took a flight from Nairobi to Mara and paid the entrance fees in cash LAST WEEK!!