Sunday 6 January 2008: Update 11.45 a.m.

Nairobi:

Last night was quiet in all areas and there are no reports of any incidents in any of the housing estates.

Early morning airport transfers and safari departures all went off well.

This morning all was calm in Nairobi city centre and roads past Uhuru park, and to the airports all open and traffic flowing as normal. There is a continued police presence along the highways. Some tourist vehicles took the opportunity of the calm and quiet Sunday morning to provide a city tour to tourists en route to the airport as they asked to see the city centre.

Mombasa:

Mombasa also had a peaceful night. KTF executive committee member, Khalid Shapi reports that he drove across the island and all round Mombasa to assess the situation this morning and all roads were open and life has returned to normal with residents walking peacefully on the streets and no problems.

All tourist transfers took place without any problems and all safaris departed as scheduled. Excursions are operating as normal with daytrips to Kisite Marine National Park, Wasini Island and Shimba Hills Game Reserve.

Upcountry:

No problems reported from any of the parks or reserves and all road safaris are operating as normal while air safaris from Wilson to all scheduled stops continue operating today as normal.

Hotels, lodges and camps in all the well-known parks and reserves are all operating as normal. Guests staying at Baringo Island Camp report they had a good stay, were content with all services and reports indicate that the road from Nakuru to Baringo is open and can be traversed without any problem.

The Molo, Eldoret, Kericho, Kakamega, Kisumu areas which have been the sites of serious civil unrest earlier this week are still receiving continual TV coverage of the incidents in the international media. These areas continue to be off-limits for tourists and tour operators are not taking any tourists to these areas for the time being.

Cancellations and Travel Warnings:

Owing to the Travel Warnings, large numbers of cancellations have been received across the whole tourism sector by hotels and safari operators but at this stage they are mainly concentrating on the next three weeks to the end of January. Bookings for February/March and onwards have not yet been cancelled to the same extent as it appears that there is a ''wait and see'' attitude from many clients. This shows that if the situation can be stabilised soon then there is an opportunity for recovery.

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Saturday 5 January 2008: Update 10.00 pm

Nairobi:

Once again there were no incidents today affecting tourists in Nairobi. The roads between JKIA, Wilson and all Nairobi hotels were all open and traffic was moving without hindrance throughout the day. Tourist vehicles were also able to move along Uhuru Highway throughout the day. The police were present along the highway but in reduced numbers today. There was an attempt by small crowds to march to Uhuru Park from the Karen area but the GSU / Police presence prevented access and there were no serious confrontations.

All airport transfers took place without any problems. JKIA arrivals were lower than normal as a result of the travel warnings taking effect.

There were some skirmishes in the low-income housing estates near Nairobi between residents, and police intervened, with reports indicating that one person was killed but this disturbance was confined to Dandora.

Mombasa:

At the coast things continue returning to normal. Shops are open, traffic has resumed driving into the city centre and pavement cafes are all open as usual. Markets were open and were thronged with residents shopping peacefully.

All tourist departure transfers last night, early this morning and later throughout the day took place without any problems. There were no charter arrivals from UK, France or Netherlands but there were some arrivals from Germany and Italy and also from Eastern Europe (Czech Republic, Poland).

The ODM leaders attempted to hold a march around 1pm but this was quickly dispersed by the heavy police presence and the leaders then went to Makupa police station to present a letter. This did not cause any disruption to tourists since the tour operators are not running city tours for the time being but road safaris and excursions to Shimba Hills, Shimoni, Tsavo, etc continue to operate as normal.

Upcountry:

There were no problems reported from any of the parks or reserves and all road safaris were operating as normal while air safaris from Wilson to all scheduled stops went ahead as normal.

Reports have been received from the Baringo area that some staff in hotels have felt intimidated on tribal lines as a result of the clashes in the Eldoret area and decided to move away in the interests of their own safety to Nakuru.

The Molo, Eldoret, Kericho, Kakamega, Kisumu areas have been the sites of serious civil unrest earlier this week, receiving continual TV coverage of the incidents in the international media, and continue to be tense with reports today of some incidents of arson. These areas are not suitable for tourist visitation and continue to be absolutely off-limits for tourists. No tour operators have been running tours to these areas since the unrest started last week. The roads to Eldoret have been blocked by mobs and the transport system in this area has broken down but the army has been in the area, clearing and re-opening the roads.

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Friday 4 January 2008: KTF Update 6 p.m.

Today there were no reports received by KTF from Mombasa, Up-country or Nairobi of any violent incidents.

All transfers between hotels and airport and safari departures by road from Mombasa and Nairobi took place without any problems.

It is reported that Wilson Airport has aviation fuel once again and diesel is now available again in Narok.

Today offices, banks and shops were open and public transport was operating so staff were able to make their way to work.

The shopping malls in Nairobi and Mombasa such as Village Market, Sarit Centre or Nakumatt were packed with people shopping and eating in the restaurants and food courts, giving an impression that things in the cities are now returning to normal.

Tourists who have been in the country over the last week have not been affected by the disturbances as these have taken place largely in places not frequented by tourist visitors. Very few tourists currently in the country have decided to cancel their holidays and the vast majority have opted to complete their stay and have been very content with their visit to Kenya.

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To: All KTB overseas offices

Sent: 02 January 2008 19:07

Subject: Kenya situation on the ground: update 02/01/08

Here is the situation as of now:

Mombasa

The situation in Mombasa and along the coast is calm and things seem to be returning to normal on the streets in Mombasa.

The Resident Manager of a leading international tour operator based in Mombasa gave details of the situation on the ground as follows:

“FYI there were no signs of trouble when I drove to Mombasa airport yesterday morning when our transfer buses arrived. On the drive back to our office in Mombasa around lunchtime, I was heartened to see kiosk owners had opened up and were selling basic foodstuffs and people were venturing out on the streets again – including families and children. By the time I went home in the afternoon a few matatus had started operating and although things were still very quiet at least there was no trouble. This morning, a few more kiosks have opened and there is more traffic on the roads although things are still quiet. People are moving around more freely and in town last night, the madafu sellers were out on the streets and people appeared to be trying to get their lives back to some semblance of normality! Delighted to report that all clients who left on the charter yesterday confirmed that they had had a great holiday! “

I also had a report from a leading Mombasa based tour company which indicated that they moved 100 people today in 28 different vehicles between the beach hotels and the Mombasa airport without any problem. In fact they have seen no incidents affecting tourists on the route between the airport and the beach hotels since the elections.

My daughter drove in a saloon car this afternoon from Diani on the south coast past Tiwi and Likoni to Mombasa Airport and told me that all appeared as normal and calm and there was no sign of any problem on the route.

The riots which took place in Mombasa after the announcement of the election results were fairly isolated and occurred in the Likoni area and some of the high density housing estates and slum areas. These demonstrations appear to have ended and there is a strong police presence along the main tourist routes so that order is maintained. The reports from all the tourists staying in the beach hotels is that they were not affected and they all wished to complete their stay in Kenya. The reports we have received from the ground today all indicate that all is calm and there have been no reports of any incidents.

Nairobi

The situation in Nairobi is also calm and transfers have been operating between JKIA and Wilson airports to Nairobi hotels without any problems. All my drivers have reported that the roads were normal but with a heavy police presence along the main highway. The police were ensuring that all tourist vehicles proceeded without a problem but were diverting some of the other traffic away from the city centre, public buses, matatus etc. We have had clients arriving and leaving between 0600 this morning and 2000 tonight with absolutely no signs of any unrest or insecurity.

The riots which took place in Nairobi over the last few days were all over by yesterday morning and were confined to various housing estates and slum areas. There was some rioting last night in the Huruma low-income housing estate but this was contained by the police and was confined to this area. Today offices re-opened and people were back at work. Nairobi gave the impression of returning to normal.

Safari: Parks & Reserves

No security problems have been reported in any of the parks or reserves and all safaris are operating as normal.

Up-country

We have heard no further reports of any violent incidents in other areas but it is considered that Kericho, Eldoret and Kisumu should be avoided for the time being as there were some cases of killings, destruction of property and looting in some of these areas yesterday. These are not areas normally visited by tourists and are far away from the areas where we take our clients.

Other issues

Fuel: There have been reports of fuel shortages in some areas as a result of disruption to supply caused by the insecurity in the previous three days. The Kenya Association of Tour Operators has been in touch with the fuel suppliers and it has been confirmed that there are adequate stocks of fuel available for distribution. Delivery of fuel to most stations especially within urban areas has already started and by this evening more fuel should have been distributed. Most stations within the cities of Nairobi and Mombasa will have adequate fuel by tomorrow evening.

Negative publicity, Travel Advisories and cancellations: We have been disappointed to see some of the sensational reporting which suggested that a civil war is raging in Kenya and that tourists are stranded here. Nobody is stranded as the airports are open and all the flights are operating as normal. Very few tourists have opted to leave early and the overwhelming majority have only been aware of the problems by watching international TV! We in Kenya all understand and appreciate the concerns of the international media and potential tourist visitors especially when killings and riots have taken place but we can report that here on the ground in Nairobi and Mombasa as of today all was quiet and apparently returning to a semblance of normality.

Jake Grieves-Cook
Spokesman
Kenya Tourism Federation

Monday 7 January 2008: Security Update

Nairobi

Once again there were no security problems at all in Nairobi and it was a normal Monday with busy traffic in the city centre and all offices and banks open as usual.

There were no problems for any tourist vehicles driving through the city, no delays, and all transfers to and from the airport and to the Nairobi hotels operated as normal.

Mombasa

Everything is back to normal and there were no problems affecting tourists in any of the beach resorts or in Mombasa. The Likoni ferries are in operation as normal. Some tour operators have now re-introduced City Tours once again into Mombasa and all safaris and excursions out of Mombasa continue as usual. There have been no crowds or demonstrations apart from a small group of youths attempting to hold a peaceful procession at 11 am but who were dispersed by police without any violent confrontation. All transfers and safaris continue to operate as normal from Mombasa.

Parks and Reserves

There were no reports of any problems anywhere in the parks, reserves or tourist routes. All national parks and reserves may be visited by road or air as normal. The daily scheduled services linking all the parks continue to operate as normal.

Western Kenya

Although there were no reports of any problems in Western Kenya today, we recommend that the areas beyond Nakuru to Eldoret, Kericho, Kakamega and Kisumu continue to remain off-limits to tourists for the time being. However these are not areas normally visited by tourists as part of their safari itinerary. Kenya Airways continue to operate flights to Kisumu and have added a daily service to Eldoret.

Overall there is a feeling that things are quickly getting back to normal and calm has been restored.

There is now increased attention being given to people who were displaced by the unrest a week ago. The tourism industry is joining other organisations in supporting the Kenya Red Cross in providing food and shelter – details will be provided shortly. There are adequate stocks of food and fuel in Kenya and transport services have resumed so that deliveries are being made to areas where supplies had been disrupted.

The large rallies planned for tomorrow have been cancelled and the political parties now appear to be moving towards negotiation to try to resolve the current political crisis.

Throughout the period of civil unrest and even at the height of the problems when there was continual footage of riots on TV, no tourists were harmed in any way in spite of over 30,000 international tourists being in Kenya. The tourism industry ensured that there was close liaison and communication 24 hrs a day to avoid tourists being endangered. Now it appears that tensions are being calmed and that normality has returned. It is vital that travel advisories are softened to allow tourists to visit Kenya to avoid a collapse of tourism which would have a massive negative impact on the economy and the thousands of Kenyans earning a livelihood from tourism. It would be ironic if tourists stopped coming just as the situation returned to normal whereas all hotels were running full when the violent civil unrest took place immediately after the elections.

Jake Grieves-Cook

Spokesman, Kenya Tourism Federation