GRAMMATICAS CONSULTING LTD
Briefing Note
By Dominic Grammaticas FCA
June 2026
High season is approaching. Your camps will be full. Your vehicles will be out every morning and every evening. Your guests will be expecting a world-class experience in one of the most sensitive ecosystems on earth.
Here is the question: are you confident that your impact policy is actually having an impact?
Most safari operators have a sustainability policy. It is usually well-intentioned and often well-written. But when was it last reviewed against what the science actually says about the landscape you operate in? Was it written by someone who knows the Kenyan environment, or by a department at Head Office in another country? Is it based on current ecological data or on assumptions from five years ago? And can you measure its outcomes, or does it sit in a drawer until an investor or travel partner asks to see it?
These are not comfortable questions. But they are the right ones. Guests are more informed. Travel partners are more demanding. Investors, particularly impact investors and DFIs, want verifiable data, not aspirational statements. Greenwashing is not just a reputational risk. It is a commercial one.
The good news is that the tools and networks to address this already exist. Technology platforms designed for tourism can now track environmental and social impact with structured, verifiable data, replacing the spreadsheets and guesswork that most operators still rely on. Collaborative bodies like the Mara Ecosystem Investors Association are building frameworks for coordinated action at landscape level. Operators can compete tooth and nail on the commercials, but when it comes to impact, collaboration really works. The question is whether operators are using what is available to them.
If you are heading into high season and you want to review your impact framework, connect with the right science and technology partners, or pressure-test whether your sustainability commitments are delivering real outcomes, I would welcome the conversation.
