A viral video circulating on social media on November 22 2025 shows wildebeest appearing to turn back during their annual migration, as if their path has been blocked allegedly by a famous safari lodge in Maasai Mara.
In the footage, dozens of wildebeest can be seen hesitating at what looks like a human-made barrier, while some retreat the way they came.
Also visible are people on the property, seemingly within what used to be an open wildlife migration corridor, chasing the animals away.
The lodge in question opened on August 2025.
The social media video reignited criticism from conservationists and local leaders who argued that the camp disrupts a vital corridor used by migrating wildebeest between the Maasai Mara and Tanzania’s Serengeti.
Director of the Maasai Education, Research and Conservation (MERC) Meitamei Olol Dapash, Institute, filed a lawsuit in August 2025.
In the legal challenge, Dapash and other stakeholders accused the lodge developer, and Kenyan authorities of failing to conduct a proper Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA).
"Without the county government regulating the tourist behaviours, the tourist activities, we saw the habitat, the environment degraded so badly," Dapash said in an interview.
They also said that the lodge violates the Maasai Mara National Reserve Management Plan, which calls for a moratorium on new tourism accommodation developments until 2032.
Researchers supporting the lawsuit warned that blocking migration routes could have long-term ecological impacts. Ecologist Grant Hopcraft of the University of Glasgow said the development likely have large and long-term ecological implications for the migration.
Joseph Ogutu, a researcher at the University of Hohenheim in Germany, added that wildlife populations in the reserve have declined sharply- by more than 80 percent since the 1970s.
The lodge developer claims that all necessary approvals were obtained, and that the environmental impact assessment found the site was not a wildlife crossing point.
Narok County, also said that the development aligned with conservation efforts and operates under a legal lease.
Critics claim that the viral video is further proof of their case that the safari lodge is not just a passive observer on the migration route, but an active obstacle. They argue that the issue goes beyond tourism.
