By Reuters |
July 12th 2020 at 12:00:00 GMT +0300
SafariLink flight at Kitale airstrip. [Beverlyne Musili, Standard]
For Kenyan-based safari operator Safarilink, June is the busiest time of
year, as the company's small planes ferry tourists to
national parks in
Kenya and Tanzania to witness the majestic annual migration of 2
million animals.
This year, the coronavirus outbreak has brought those adventures in Kenya’s Maasai Mara and Tanzania’s Serengeti to a halt.
Like other African airlines, Safarilink Aviation grounded its planes in
March after Kenya closed its borders and stopped air travel, part of
efforts to curb the spread of the disease.
"During this period, we carry, just going to the Mara, about 10,000
passengers per month,” said Alex Avedi, Safarilink Aviation’s CEO. "As
you can see all the aircraft are parked, there is no one going to see
this magnificent spectacle."
Safari lovers typically flock the region hoping to witness hundreds of
thousands of wildebeest that run the gauntlet of hungry crocodiles as
they cross the Mara river in search of greener pastures on the
Kenya-Tanzania border.
Across Africa, wildlife reserves and parks have closed their gates as
tourists stay home, hitting the continent’s multi-billion-dollar tourist
industry and leading to job cuts and loss of income for thousands.
“There is a whole community around those conservancies that are
definitely impacted and effected by (there being) no visitors. All the
people who provide groceries, food, the guides, housekeeping, the
barmen, its unfortunate,” Avedi told Reuters.
Many lodges outside Nairobi have been forced to close.
However, in the heart of Nairobi’s National Park, one campsite run by
safari company Gamewatchers reopened on June 12. The camp adheres to
strict health guidelines, testing its staff for Covid-19 and checking
visitors’ temperature.
"The feeling that today we have opened up even with the conditions is
great," said Joseph Lelenguya, the manager of Nairobi Tented Camp.
Most of its visitors at the moment are people who live in Nairobi, like
Pierre Chaumont, who moved to Kenya from France seven years ago.
"We saw lions this morning, buffalo, wild ostrich,” Chaumont told Reuters.
But it will take time for foreign tourists and their dollars to come
back, Avedi said. “It might take a 2- to 3-year recovery,” he said.
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