RAINS MESS UP SAFARIS TO THE MASAI MARA
A number of accounts were received overnight from Kenya that torrential rains had led to the closure of the Mai Mahiu Narok road, a crucial throughfare enroute to the world renowned game reserve, forcing safari busses and 4x4s to turn back with clients unable to reach their camps and lodges.
Repairs to the presently flooded road it was learned could take several days and no information was forthcoming about when the road would reopen for traffic, forcing tourists and their safari companies to make expensive alternate arrangements to fly them out of the game reserve to Nairobi so that travelers scheduled to leave the country would not miss their flights, while others had to fly into the Mara as their road safari was unable to proceed.
The road between Narok and the Sekenani gate, notorious in the past as a car killer and spine wrecker, as well as other entry points to the reserve, were all receiving massive amounts of rainfall, making it even for the sturdiest of 4x4s almost impossible to progress.
Game drives, according to one source, at least in some sections of the Mara, were staying on the main tracks for fear of getting stuck in axle deep mud , making this rainy season one of the heaviest in many years.
Safari operator sources however were prompt to assure this correspondent and their clients that with the flying alternative available no safari tourist had to leave the country without seeing the big five in the Mara, albeit for some added payments needed for airtickets. Watch this space.
19 May
