Money & Careers
This year the wildebeests may cross the dreaded Mara River without the traditional thousands of
prying human eyes
As the Covid-19 pandemic keeps local and international tourists at bay,
tour and travel operators in Kenya continue to count losses as wild
animals take over some of the deserted leisure facilities.
From world-renowned plains of Masai Mara to the sandy beaches of the
Indian ocean, hospitality industry staff have been sent home as
expensive equipment including planes and tour vehicles left to the
vagaries of the elements.
Masai Mara, for instance, would be sprucing up in readiness for the
annual wildebeest migration, one of the wonders of the world.
This year though, the wildebeests will cross the dreaded Mara River
without the traditional thousands of prying human eyes, if current
travel restrictions remain in place.
Jackson Looseyia, a safari operator who shot to fame after his exploits
with BBC Big Cat Diaries, has never seen the eerie situation in his 30
years as a wildlife guide and tour operator.
His Tangulia Mara Camp, a 16-bed tented camp in the heart of the Mara,
is popular with Western tourists who are attracted by his vast knowledge
of Africa’s wildlife.
They have all vanished and he had no choice but close the camp in March and send his staff of 20 home.
With no humans in sight, the camp has become a resting place for vast herds of elephants and a maternity area for lions.
“Animals have taken over our camp. I recently went to survey the camp
and met a big bull elephant between my tent and the public mess.
“The jumbos are now sleeping around the tents. Lions, too, are giving birth and raising their cubs within the camp,” he says.
But wild animals camping inside his camp are the least of his worries.
The economic slump brought about by the collapse of international travel worries him more.
Between April and August this year, a period characterised by high
volume of guests in the Mara, Looseyia will be Sh11 million poorer as
tourists stay away.
Multiplied by the myriad of camps within the Mara, the loss will run into billions of shillings.
“I have never seen such a situation in my life,” he says. “The closest
we came to this was during the 2007-08 post-election violence, but
tourists were back as soon as things got back to normal.
“Even when there were terror attacks, we had some prior warnings and
some parts of the country remained open. But nobody knows when this
Covid-19 thing will end.”
Foreign guests
Laikipia hosts what are arguably Kenya’s most exclusive lodges
patronised by members of United Kingdom’s royal family including Prince
William who proposed to his wife Kate Middleton in a log cabin here.
Take the Lewa-based Sirikoi Lodge for instance. The nine-roomed lodge
was voted as best resort in the world during the 2019 Condé Nast
Readers’ Choice Awards.
To enjoy the luxuries within the three-bedroomed house, foreign guests
have to part with Sh500,000 (yes, half a million) for a night!
But according to the general manager, Maria Pipelides, hyenas and baboons have become constant ‘guests’ within the lodge.
“We have had no guest since mid-March yet we still have to pay for
licences, land leases, and insurance not to mention loss of funds for
conservation,” she said.
Things are especially hard for some operators who had already paid for their guest’s accommodation in hotels and lodges.
Ben Mugambi, for example, was in the middle of a 17-day Safari with some
foreign tourists last March when a call came from their home countries
that they terminate the trip. He had to forgo the payments made to
hotels for the guests’ accommodation.
Cancelled bookings
With Kenya’s key source markets under travel restrictions and Kenya’s
airspace still closed to passenger flights, local air operators who rely
heavily on cascading business from global carriers, have grounded their
planes.
Safarilink Aviation for instance, operates 15 daily flights ferrying
visitors to various holiday destinations in Kenya. Close to 80 per cent
of business comes from Europe and North America, the two regions with
the most cases of coronavirus.
“We had hoped to resume our flights towards the end of May. But there
are no commercial flights to Kenya. Even if they start coming, there is a
14-day quarantine period set by the government.
“How will you convince a visitor to fly here, undergo a 14-day
mandatory quarantine just to go to Masai Mara or elsewhere for a
two-week holiday?” poses Alex Avedi, the company’s chief executive.
The travel operators hope the government can come up with a system of
opening up the country while taking necessary precautions to keep the
virus at bay.
Mike Macharia, head of Kenya Association of Hotelkeepers and Caterers
reckons hotels have lost close to Sh50 billion between March and May,
money that is shared between hotel owners and operators, travel
agencies, bars and restaurants, beach operators and suppliers.
By Peter Muiruri
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