Kenya 'longs for tourists'
2008-02-19 15:34
Nakuru - There are about 1.5 million pink flamingos at Lake Nakuru National Park, but hardly anyone to admire them majestically walking along the shoreline during Kenya's high tourism season.
The country's post-election tribal violence had scared away hundreds of thousands of visitors and few people were feeling the squeeze more than the staff at the picturesque park.
Guide Timothy Letema was normally standing at the edge of the lake explaining the behaviour of flamingos, pelicans and other bird species by mid-morning.
Instead Letema told a reporter that he and others would be taking extended leave to cushion the financial blow of bloodshed that had killed more than 1 000 people, displaced 300 000 and hurt Kenya's image as a regional tourism and trade hub.
Kenyans hacked to death
A lazy buffalo looked on, free of the usual throngs of excited tourists with binoculars who deprive it of peace.
After two years of studying to be a tour guide, Letema was just another casualty of ethnic clashes that erupted after the disputed December 27 poll that had hammered the $1bn a year tourism industry, Kenya's biggest foreign currency earner.
He enthusiastically pointed to a rhino in the distance, an instinctive reaction from better days when rival Kenyan tribes were not hacking or burning each other to death not far from the sanctuary's peaceful woodlands, grasslands and rocky hillsides.
Deputy park warden Paul Opiyo puts on a brave face despite a massive fall in sales. Visitor numbers in January dropped by more than 70% from a year ago. A night-time curfew forced many employees to go home early. The park's restaurant was empty.
300 families forced to take refuge
He said: "We do not care about tribal problems or politics. The staff morale is high even though they are from many tribes", adding that violence had forced 300 terrified families to take refuge in the park about 160km north of Nairobi.
Security guards in camouflage fatigues stood near the lake with rifles in case lions charge the few tourists still drawn to the park's 450 species of birds, rhinos and other animals.
Baboons, always on the lookout for food dropped by tourists, were lonely these days, strolling through the grass.
Two students from Dubai seemed to have the 62 sq km (24 sq miles) park all to themselves, relaxing on a steep cliff overlooking the lake as the smell of marijuana from their pipe drifted through the air.
Asked if he was concerned about his safety, Salim Hashim just smiled.
He said: "God is with us", oblivious to thousands of Kenyans taking refuge from the bloodshed in a soccer stadium a few hundred metres beyond the park's gates.