Category Archives: Kenya domestic tourist

Mara Triangle reports on running the Masai Mara

Earlier in December came some news reports of 26 elephant deaths that had happened in recent months in the Masai Mara area. This came a few months after a national uproar in Kenya over the deaths of 11 rhinos from a wildlife translocation program gone wrong.

The source of the stories on the elephant deaths was a report from the Mara Elephant Project (MEP), but the organization has since retracted the sensational claims.

That said, there’s a great ongoing series of reports on the management or the running of the Masai Mara game reserve by Mara Triangle. Written and archived monthly, the Mara Triangle reports give great insight into activities in the Mara, on topics like revenue collection, security updates (including poaching numbers), staff changes, rainfall, number of visitors, special arrivals, scientific research being done in the Mara, filming in the park and also on wildlife deaths.

Excerpts from different 2018 monthly reports

Revenue

  • March to May is the most difficult period as in those months, expenditure substantially exceeds revenue. March revenue was Kshs 30 million, and July was Kshs 98 million despite 44% of visitors not paying the Conservancy fee. In August they crossed the $1 million revenue mark for the first time, earning Kshs 109 million. Majority of visitors were from the Narok side which has better game viewing and management.
  • Discussions are ongoing between the Mara Conservancy and Narok County government, for the Mara Conservancy to manage all aspect of the park, through Seiya Ltd, except revenue collection, which is done by KAPS (Kenya Airports Parking Services). For that, they would retain 30% of the revenue.
  • Instances of non-residents, even Chinese tourists, posing as residents to enter the park, are common.
  • There is a high number of non-paying visitors and KAPS was asked to do a reconciliation. It found that in April 56% of visitors to the Triangle did not pay the Conservancy.
  • They have applied to Safaricom for a Paybill number so people can use their M-Pesa to pay the conservancy fee. The Paybill number (863297) has since been activated and they hope to move to a cashless system of collections.
  • Governors Balloons started paying revenue for the first time in seventeen years.
Rains and Roads
  • In 2018, the Mara had its highest rainfall since 2006 causing flooding and heavy damage to roads. The rains in the areas were the highest recorded in sixty years.
  • Heavy rains damaged roads and the management sometimes resorts to closing off some areas of the park. Vehicles crisscrossing off-road, in search of wildlife, only add to the problem. The County Government has directed that it does not want to see any saloon cars, in particular, the Toyota Probox, in the park.

Poaching and Wildlife Deaths

  • They document all wildlife deaths, the causes of these, and if there was a human involvement (versus death from natural causes), especially of elephants and rhinos and the recovery of the tusks and horns from the dead animals.
  • A District Warden from the Kenya Wildlife Service (KWS) collects all recovered ivory after each piece has been recorded and signed for. 
  •  KWS now has a trained prosecutor in Kilgoris and there are discussions on how to fund a training course for non-commissioned officers on wildlife law, preparation of statements and court procedures.
  • Sniffer dogs are an important aspect of park security, tracking poachers and thieves. New dogs are imported from overseas, trained, and extensively traded by vets.
Human-Wildlife Conflict:
  • A study found that the main actors in this are spotted hyaenas (53% of instances), leopards (32%), and then lions (15%).
  • Most households lose an average of 3.5% of their livestock to predators.
  • A compensation system has been developed: a kill is reported, rangers visit the scene to verify, photos are taken, and if approved, payment is done at the end of the month. The Conservancy is then reimbursed by the Angama Foundation.
The World-famous Migration

  • This year, 2018, saw one of the worst migrations in recent years. While newspapers report that Tanzanian authorities started fires to create a barrier for the wildebeest, something that they do every year, this did not, in fact, delay the migration  – but this was a story put out by the tourist industry to explain why safaris they sold on the basis of the migration did not, in fact, feature the migration.

  •  The heavy rain in the Serengeti in Tanzania meant the wildebeest had enough water and grass and did not need to migrate until later. Wildebeest only move from Serengeti to the Mara if they have exhausted water and foliage.  The Mara used to have its own Loita migration, but that doesn’t exist any more as the Loita wildebeest population has crashed.
Bad Manner and Tourism:
  • There are daily complaints about indiscipline and more up-market operators are avoiding the Mara during the high season. A Dutch diplomat refused to pay fine for driving off-road and then blocked a bridge.
  • There is chaos at many crossings, with as many as 300 vehicles present some with people running between them (and some of these images were shared on social media).

  •  It is very difficult to gauge how much the wildebeest are affected by too many vehicles.  The vehicles disrupt the crossing and drive the animals to quieter spots. 
  • Drivers do not obey rules, especially when they think they are not being monitored. On the 23rd (of September) we had nearly 20 vehicles around a leopard sighting .. It is most unfortunate that we can not rely on our resident drivers, (who are well-trained and from top camps) to police themselves. 
  • Campsites are sometimes left in a mess, including two cases by professional safari guides.
Other Masai Mara findings:
  • Visitors in the year included Narok Governor Tunai, Cabinet Secretaries for Tourism (Balala)  and also for Internal Security (Matiangi). Leslie Roach who had donated $200,000 when the Conservancy was started, also visited the Triangle with her family. Also, John Ward visited Serena, a day before the 30th anniversary of his daughter Julie’s death (Apparently Serena was the last place that Julie was confirmed being seen alive). Some MCA’s visited, requesting assistance and David Attenborough also visited the Mara. He is making a film about the loss of biodiversity in his lifetime and his crew also did some filming for a Netflix series on ecological habits that will be shown in August 2019.  
  • The audit for the year to June 2018 was done by  Deloitte who reported that the Triangle had income of Kshs 263 million and a profit of Kshs 10.5 million after expenses of Kshs 252 million.  
  • KAPS removed three members of staff for possible fraud.
  • Some large Flircameras donated by WWF need repair but that organization no longer has funding for the camera project.

KQ KAA Partnership at JKIA

This week, Kenya Airways and the Kenya Airports Authority – (KAA) published a joint notice about discussions towards collaboration in the management of Nairobi’s Jomo Kenyatta International Airport (JKIA).

This is not new or unique. Last year the Ethiopia government merged it’s airline, the largest airline in Africa, making it the centerpiece of a hub-strategy for Addis that incorporates the airport, passengers, logistics, training, catering and tourism). In Rwanda there is also a similar management arrangement, another soon at Tanzania, while the latest results from Emirates, in its 30th year of profit announced last month, show 14% of their revenue was from cargo and 15% was from D-nata which does ground handling and logistics for other airlines around the world including from extensive investments in Europe, Asia, and North America.

At a previous shareholders meeting (AGM), KQ Chairman Michael Joseph spoke of closer ties with the government, and the need for the airline to get in involved in route approval, and protecting Nairobi as its hub. He said that whenever a foreign leader visited or the President of Kenya went overseas, a “win” from such trips was the granting of more rights to foreign airlines to fly into Kenya, which was to the detriment to KQ, in which the government had a significant investment.

According to its latest results (June 2016 from the Auditor General of Kenya), KAA which constructs, operates and maintains aerodromes around Kenya (including 16 airports)  had Kshs 13.5 billion revenue and a Kshs 2.6 billion profit (in the previous year, this was Kshs 4.4 billion).

The revenue includes Kshs 6.7 B (billion) in passenger service charges, Kshs 1.7B from concessions and Kshs 3 B from landing and parking fees – half of which are probably paid for by Kenya Airways. JKIA handled 100,000 aircraft takeoffs/landings and processed 6.7 million passengers (out of the 9.6 million KAA handled in total) and 235 million tons of cargo.

But KAA also comes with it a lot of politics such as tussles over the composition of its board and top management and project disputes such as the Greenfield terminal at JKIA, and with private developers such as World Duty Free at JKIA and other land disputes at various airports around the country.

The newspaper report (Business Daily) also mentions that the proposed partnership with will also see Kenya Airways exempted from payments of some Value Added Tax (VAT) and the Railway Development Levy, a 1.5% tax on all imports into Kenya that is meant to finance ongoing development of the Standard Gauge Railway (SGR). 

EDIT Sept 3, 2019: Kenya Airways formally withdrew the Privately Initiated Investment Proposal (PIIP) following a quarterly meeting of its board of directors on August 27 2019.

Guide to Togo and Benin

A guest post from a media gathering trip to these two French-speaking countries that lie between Ghana and Nigeria.

Getting There: Took Ethiopian Airlines – Nairobi – Addis – Lome, then by car to Cotonou and then back to Addis and Nairobi. Ethiopian flies to both countries. Initially, I had set my trip to go into and out of Lome, but changed it mid-trip. The expense for the change was significant, but I assume it would have been minimal if I had done it that way upfront. The round trip cost was $750 plus $350 for the change.

On arrival: Arriving in Lome was easy, but the visa on arrival (American passport) was a bit of a pain of a process and wait. There was a list of the cost for every country in the world, except America and of course mine was much more than any listed. It was 10-20,000 CFA for most countries, while the US one was 27,000. I paid in USD cash, but they had to exchange it for CFA. It’s better to pay in CFA I’m sure.

Getting around: I had private transport the whole time. In both Togo and Benin, the massive majority of people move via private motorcycle. There are many bodas for hire as well. A few matatu type transportation as well and the rare taxi car for hire. The large buses were for transport to other towns and the small minivan was not seen on the highways between towns. There did not seem to be much foot traffic like you have in Nairobi. Cars and bikes were not fighting for space and everything seemed to flow smoothly.

Benin: Walking around my hotel was safe. It is next to the airport and it seemed that many of the government offices and embassies were around, so the security was higher. Many of my local friends have been pick-pocketed on the streets, but violence doesn’t seem to be as common as in Nairobi.

Togo seemed very safe overall. The crowds were smaller. A slower pace of life.

Staying in touch: It was very easy to get a local SIM card, much like in Kenya. Costs were very comparable. I forget the network in Togo, but I’m using MTN in Benin. I don’t recall if I could use Safaricom, I didn’t even try. I have not tried calling internationally on either network. Wi-Fi seems to be common, but the speeds vary a lot and the network is down often. I suspect it’s a problem with the ISP more than the local network. In Togo, my colleague’s wife happens to work at the office of the mobile company. I provided my passport and she gave me a SIM card. In Benin, a friend purchased the card for me, but I suspect it only required a copy of my ID to obtain it.

Where to Stay: I think the median cost is $60. I started at a place that cost $25 without breakfast that was a rat hole. I moved to a western level of accommodation for $80 with breakfast. All the hotels I stayed in, no matter how nice, always had AC & Wi-Fi.

The electricity was surprisingly good. I honestly don’t recall a single power cut, but I’m sure they happened. Most of the hostels had a generator.

Eating Out: Foo Foo is a staple somewhat similar to ugali. It’s wet and slimy and has more flavour to it, but fermented, like Ethiopian injera. Some forms have a lot more flavour than others with cassava being a common ingredient. No clue on the beer, but easy to get everywhere, as is French wine, even upcountry.

No clue with bar conversation is – it’s also all in French. French is a must. I had a variety of hosts with me the whole time. The only English I found was the little spoken by the staff in the hotel. I very much doubt there is a local English paper.

Shopping: In Benin, there is a very small market in front of a very nice supermarket next to the airport. It seems the majority of gifts are cloth-based. I did see some very unique, artistic metalwork. Of course, there is also the standard wooden animals. I was told there is another market, but I was not able to attend.

In Togo: I was taken to a small market with maybe a dozen stalls with a wide variety of items. For the most part, pretty similar to what you find in Kenya. There was one guy selling silver jewellery, like what you find in Ethiopia.

Sightseeing: In Togo,  there is the main museum next to their national monument, but I didn’t have time to visit. The beach is incredible, but only locals use it. There doesn’t seem to be any structured area for tourism.

In Benin, the interior mountains are incredible sites to see, massive slabs of granite, there is a very famous sighting of Mary in Dassa. A very large church has been built there and every year massive numbers of West African Catholics come for a special service and ceremony. The church is only used for this event. I’m told that the town comes to a standstill. The church could probably hold over 10,000 people and I was told the grounds outside are completely covered in standing room only. I imagine over 25,000 people attend.

Card usage is extremely rare, even for nice restaurants. Food costs vary from $1 (roadside) to $20 (nicest restaurant) for a meal. CFA is used in both Togo & Benin everywhere.  I used an ATM everywhere. They were found all over town. I used CFA for everything.

Odd Points: Partial buildings: West Africa’s way of saving money is to build their homes and churches over many years as money comes. Sadly, I have seen in rural Burkina Faso many, many ruined homes never finished. What a waste. But, from what I saw in Togo and Benin, most everything is eventually finished.

My hosts were rarely forthcoming with information and did not seem like problem solvers. I was constantly having to suggest solutions and pointing out gaps. I am not sure if I was missing culture cues or perhaps a lot was happening in the language that I was not picking up on. I appreciated that the roads seemed significantly safer.

Biggest surprise:  The road structure. There are beautiful, nice main roads, and then dirt. Nothing in between. This seemed mostly true in both countries. Many roads in both countries were not paved but made from interlacing bricks. Black market fuel seems to be very big in both countries. It’s not as obvious in Togo, but it’s done very openly all over Cotonou, and it’s half the price compared to the pump.