One of Kenya's finest game parks is under threat from uncontrolled development of hotels and lodges, conservationists claim. The building of four new hotels, which would more than double the number of beds in Samburu National Reserve, has been criticised environmental groups which warn that elephant migratory corridors and lion breeding habitats could be destroyed.

The BBC wildlife presenter Saba Douglas-Hamilton, whose father Ian runs Save the Elephants, which operates in the park, warned that the developments would do "untold damage" to Samburu if they were allowed to go ahead.

"These current proposed developments are all along the river. There will be a huge impact on the area most heavily utilised by the wildlife," she said. "We have to be very careful how we plan for the future. If landscape planning in Samburu is not managed it will have an adverse effect on the environment and the people who rely on tourism for their livelihoods."

Save the Elephants had been threatened with expulsion from Samburu, where the group carries out conservation work protecting the region's 5,500 elephants, at the end of April. The group was given until tomorrow to leave the reserve after being accused by Samburu County Council of "publishing malicious reports". But the charity earned a last-minute reprieved after local councillors committed to protecting the reserve managed to overturn the order. Councillor Christopher Lalkalepi said Save the Elephants was now "in safe hands. They will not be chased away."

The fight to stop the new developments will continue, he added. "These mushrooming developments are against the general management plan of the reserve. Conservation is being affected. We have saved Save the Elephants - now we go on to the lodges. We want to stop them being built."

The new lodges will increase the number of tourist beds in Samburu and neighbouring Buffalo Springs reserve from 338 to 767. All will be built in pristine woodland and two of them will be at the riverside. One of the hotel sites falls within an elephant migratory corridor. An assessment of the proposed hotel carried out by the National Environment Management Authority found that it would have an "irreversible impact" on the corridor.

Since Save the Elephants was targeted, conservationists have become wary of speaking out. One campaigner, who wished to remain anonymous, said that the new lodges would do terrible damage to the very animals tourists come to see. "One is even called 'Elephant's Bedroom'," he said. "But they've taken the bedroom away from the elephant to build the lodge."

Kenya is currently enjoying a tourism boom after several poor seasons caused by fears of terrorism. Numbers fell after the 2002 bombing of a hotel in Mombasa on the Indian Ocean coast, but more than 1.8 million people are expected to visit the country this year. Many of the tourists who come to Samburu are British, and Ms Douglas-Hamilton urged tourists to "vote with their feet". "I hope they will go to places, and with companies, which are implementing good environmental practices. The whole world over we're dealing with this problem of human footprint. This is precisely what is happening in Samburu."
(By Steve Bloomfield, The Independent, 20/05/2007)