In the majestic plains of the Maasai Mara, the coronavirus pandemic spells economic disaster for locals who earn a living from tourists coming to see Kenya's abundant wildlife.
“We were fully booked in June but now we have zero bookings. Nothing. It's terrible,” said Jimmy Lemara, the manager of an eco-lodge in the private Ol Kinyei conservancy. Some work as cooks, guides and security guards in the lodges while others give tours of their traditional homes or sell homemade crafts to tourists.People in Talek, a dusty town situated at one of the entrances to the Maasai Mara national reserve, are gloomily buckling down, hoping for better days.
“This is terrible. Everything is stuck. Everything is shut down. [I have] never seen something like that,” said tour guide Petro Nautori who has had no work since January. “Because we're getting little and it's not enough to sustain the family for a living, I had to sell two goats worth about 12,000 shillings to put on top of what I'm getting to keep me going,” said Julius Sanare, head chef at the eco-lodge in Ol Kinyei.Residents said the Maasai are instead selling their animals on the black market for a pittance to unscrupulous buyers taking advantage of their desperation.