There will be no tourists to marvel at the movement of more than three million wildebeest from Serengeti National Park in Tanzania after all the hotels shut down due to Covid-19.
Every year, the Maasai Mara, hosts over 300,000 domestic and international tourists that earn the Narok County government over Sh2 billion in revenue through gate fees.
Traders who sell artifacts in curios, and hotels in Narok town-the gateway to the Masai Mara Game Reserve, have closed shop rendering hundreds jobless and desperate.
For the first time, hotels at the Maasai Mara Game Reserve are grappling with empty beds even as the annual wildebeest migration is set to kick off this month.
There will be no tourists to marvel at the movement of more than three million wildebeest from Serengeti National Park in Tanzania after all the hotels shut down due to Covid-19.
Every year, the Maasai Mara, known for its large population of lions, leopards, cheetahs, elephants and millions of herbivores, hosts over 300,000 domestic and international tourists that earn the Narok County government over Sh2 billion in revenue through gate fees.
‘“Presently, the hotels, lodges and tented camps in the Mara have no visitors compared to rates of between 90 percent and 100 percent during the normal tourists peak season,” said the game reserve's chief warden James Ole Sindiyio.
Mr Sindiyio said March, April and May are traditionally low tourist months, but never before in its almost 60-year existence has the 1,510 square-kilometre reserve been as deserted as it is presently.
“The annual wildebeest migration is just about a week or two away, where millions of gnus will begin the march North, only this time, the phenomenon that pulls thousands of tourists to the banks of Mara River will exclusively be nature’s affair,” said Mr Sindyio.
The spectacle normally starts in mid-June to October. Hotels, lodges and tented camps in Maasai Mara which depend on tourists, have closed as coronavirus scare continues to take a toll on the sector.
Traders who sell artifacts in curios, and hotels in Narok town-the gateway to the Masai Mara Game Reserve, have closed shop rendering hundreds jobless and desperate.
Mr Felix Migoya of the East Africa tour drivers and guides association said most tour operators had taken a big hit from the pandemic when they were forced to stop operations in the Mara.
He said the situation has been worsened by cancellation of inbound flights that has seen the decrease in the number of tourists to the region.
Major tour operators estimated that more than 250,000 people who directly or indirectly depend on travel would lose livelihoods.
Narok county governor Samuel Tunai who is also the council of governors Chairman for tourism and Wildlife had earlier said the closure of hotels at the Masai Mara Game Reserve would hit the county’s revenues.
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