The majority of us think of African Safaris as being a wildlife photographers paradise but for me it's far from that, more like hell for some nature and wildlife areas.
Overcrowding, overgrazing, over consumerism, corruption and poor wages is a great risk to the local wildlife.
Some of the privately owned reserves in South Africa have strict guidelines about how many vehicles can be around a sighting at any given time. That can only be done in controlled circumstances where staff can enforce the rules. The Mara is more open, more of a free-for-all, where anything goes. And the funding just isn't there — whether through corruption or the siphoning off of entry fees into "general revenue," aka private profits — to enforce the rules. And there are rules. The situation is quite different in the Serengeti, just across the border in Tanzania, is more of a traditional national park, with its own staff of rangers, enforcers, etc. etc., where there can be real consequences for breaking the rules. Very, very different — but not ideal, if you ask the Masai who were forced out decades ago, when the park was first opened.
"A 2018 study showed that cheetahs living in parts of the Masai Mara with a high density of tourist vehicles raised fewer cubs than those in low tourist areas - a worrying trend for a species with only around 7,000 mature animals left in the wild." Vivienne Nunis BBC News, Kenya. Published 5 October 2021
Above video for illustration purposes (it's not me)
Many assume that the biggest threat to Africa’s wildlife is poaching, but it is, in fact, land encroachment. Local communities, such as the semi-nomadic Masai, border major national reserves and come into conflict with wildlife and their migratory and hunting patterns. Wildlife threatens the agriculture and livestock of the nearby Masai communities, while animals venturing too close to humans risk being killed. In response, certain private owned reserves partner with the Masai to create designated areas for wildlife to roam free without human interference.
Here's more in-depth studies