20/08/2026
My dear followers,
due to the recent sad news of another killing of a female cheetah with cubs in the Masai Mara National Reserve (Nempiris) and the new information that 72 vehicles were counted these days at a cheetahsighting (Milele) i decided today to inform my followers that i not only feel its a bad time for the promised Ngao-book release (a story that happenes during the pandemic years in an nearly empty Mara), but also i will not mark future photo releases from the Masai Mara as Mara pictures, as i will also no longer post cheetah names. Wildlife pictures can have an advertising effect imo to bring people to regions in africa or going for a sighting of special named cat - like as a prominent status - that they wouldnt do choosed by their own decisions/informations and less public internet informations. Its a small step that not everybody will understand and agree, but i feel personally better doing so and perhaps other photographers rethink and maybe are inspired that there is a certain point in my thoughts.
I am a cheetahambassador, my whole life, seeing the Mara for over 40 years (!), i dont want to be part of the problem. Cheeetahpictures must be taken under ethical conditions and rules as i always take care for. Visitors to the parks are necessary to keep conservation running, but its like with a drug: an overdosage can have negative sideeffects. The Mara needs time to recover and heal. Masstourism does effect not only the cheetahpopulation, it does affect the holy grail aswell: the great migration. Enough seen wher gnus are blocked in their route by newly build lodges, by waiting vehicles that cant move, because there are so many. How bad must people feel who have watched the cheetahkills in the last months (Namunyak, Nora, Nempiris). I do hope that the authorities of the community run Mara Gamereserve are learning and begin to understand where their responsibilities are.
