Around a hundred tourists are stranded by floods caused by heavy rainfall in the famous Maasai Mara national reserve in southwestern Kenya, a local administrator said on Wednesday.
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Torrential rains, amplified by the El Niño weather phenomenon, have already caused devastating floods in the East African country, leading to the destruction of roads, bridges and other infrastructure. At least 179 people have died since March in flood-related disasters, according to official figures.
“There are around a hundred tourists” stranded in more than a dozen lodges and camps, Stephen Nakola, administrator of the Narok West sub-district, told AFP. “This is a preliminary figure because many camps are inaccessible,” he said.
The Kenyan Red Cross said it had rescued 61 people stranded in camps, more than half of them by air. “In some camps, tents were swept away” while a bridge was destroyed, she said on X.
The Maasai Mara reserve is home to a wealth of wildlife including lions, elephants, rhinos, leopards, giraffes, hippos and cheetahs, which attracts tourists from all over the world.
During the night from Sunday to Monday, a natural dam in central Kenya burst under the effect of accumulating rains, releasing a powerful torrent of muddy water which swept away several villages below; nearly 50 people died, the deadliest episode since the start of the rainy season.
Like many of its neighbors in East Africa, Kenya experiences a particularly violent rainy season due to the El Niño climatic phenomenon which amplifies precipitation.
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